The Impact of Supervisory Inputs on Postgraduate Students

Pengawasan telah menjadi isu utama dalam studi di sekolah pascasarjana. Pengawasan dapat didefinisikan sebagai hubungan orang per orang secara intensif dan interpersonal. Pengawas dirancang untuk dapat memfasilitasi perkembangan akademik mahasiswa baik terkait dengan tugas maupun penelitian mereka. Paper ini menunjukkan betapa kompleksnya bidang pengawasan terhadap mahasiswa, yang dipengaruhi oleh banyak faktor, di antaranya latar belakang sosial, kepribadian pengawas dan mahasiswa, hubungan yang berkembang di antara mereka, keahlian pengawas, dan masalah-masalah yang dihadapi oleh para mahasiswa. Paper ini mendiskusikan pentingnya input-input kepengawasan dalam proses pengawasan, dan juga meneropong hakikat interaksi sosial antara pengawas dengan mahasiswa. Sasaran yang dituju dalam paper ini adalah untuk mengembangkan pengawasan yang efektif terhadap mahasiswa sekolah pascasarjana guna menghasilkan modal sumber daya manusia yang unggul. Kata kunci : pengawasan, mahasiswa pascasarjana, input kepengawasan, dan pengawasan efekti

Acidity and Charge Characteristics of Marine Alluvial Soils from Carey Islands, Selangor

Six soil series from Carey Island were investigated to determine their acidity and charge characteristics. The study showed that the soils contained high amounts of basic cations, Al and S042-, which were reflected by their low pH and high electrical conductivity. The soils were highly buffered below pH 5.5 and this was found to be highly correlated to Al content. Further, it was found that negative charges on the clay surfaces increased with increase in soil pH. These observations' are contrary to the fact that the clay minerals in these soils are of the permanent charge type

Epitope mapping of Anti-YB-1 antibodies using truncated proteins

Increased expression and nuclear localization of Y-box-binding protein-1 (YB-1) are associated with drug resistance and tumor progression. Detection of YB-1 primarily depends on the recognition of YB-1 antibody on its epitopes. To determine the epitopes binding of anti-YB-1 A-16 and 59-Q antibodies, three YB-1 truncated proteins were generated using bacterial expression system and their aberrant migration were reported. Epitope mapping analyses revealed anti-YB-1 A-16 antibody recognized epitope at 1-127 amino acid residues of YB-1, whereas 59-Q antibody was reactive with epitope at 61-127 amino acid residues. Based on our findings, 59-Q antibody was suggested used in the future study to avoid ambiguity

Multistrategy Self-Organizing Map Learning for Classification Problems

Multistrategy Learning of Self-Organizing Map (SOM) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is commonly implemented in clustering domain due to its capabilities in handling complex data characteristics. However, some of these multistrategy learning architectures have weaknesses such as slow convergence time always being trapped in the local minima. This paper proposes multistrategy learning of SOM lattice structure with Particle Swarm Optimisation which is called ESOMPSO for solving various classification problems. The enhancement of SOM lattice structure is implemented by introducing a new hexagon formulation for better mapping quality in data classification and labeling. The weights of the enhanced SOM are optimised using PSO to obtain better output quality. The proposed method has been tested on various standard datasets with substantial comparisons with existing SOM network and various distance measurement. The results show that our proposed method yields a promising result with better average accuracy and quantisation errors compared to the other methods as well as convincing significant test

Biostabilised icosahedral gold nanoparticles: synthesis, cyclic voltammetric studies and catalytic activity towards 4-nitrophenol reduction

A green and cost-effective biosynthetic approach for the preparation of icosahedral gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) using an aqueous leaf extract of Polygonum minus as reducing and stabilising factor is described. The reduction of Au3+ ions to elemental Au rapidly occurred and is completed within 20 minutes at room temperature. The size of the nanoparticles is highly sensitive to the AuCl4 −/leaf extract concentration ratio and pH. Transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction data indicated that the nanoparticles were in a crystalline shape (face-centred cubic), mostly icosahedral and nearly monodispersed with an average size of 23 nm. Cyclic voltammetric studies suggested that flavonoids, such as quercetin and myricetin present in the leaf extract had a tendency to donate electrons to Au3+ ions and the formation of elemental Au was possible due to the transfer of electrons from these flavonoids to Au3+ ions. Infrared absorption of the AuNPs and the leaf extract revealed that the oxidised (quinone) form of quercetin and myricetin were presumably the main stabilising agents in the formation of stable nanoparticles. The present biosynthesis of AuNPs was simple, rapid, cost-effective and environmentally friendly. The newly prepared biostabilised icosahedral AuNPs show good catalytic activity in the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP)

The Relationship Between Job Satisfaction and Psychological/Physical Health among Malaysian Working Women

Background: The workplace environment has a great influence on employees' health. Job dissatisfaction has been widely recognised as a workplace stressor that can influence employees' psychological and physical health statuses. However, job satisfaction is a multi-dimensional concept, and it is necessary to investigate its different facets and their unique consequences. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the relationship between the nine facets of job satisfaction and psychological health and somatic complaints (i.e., sleep disorders, headache, gastro-intestinal and respiratory problems). Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 567 Malaysian women working in the public sector. Data collection was conducted using a series of self-administered questionnaires. Results: The results of this study show that there is a link between job satisfaction and psychological distress as well as four somatic complaints. Satisfaction with the nature of work was the strongest predictor for psychological distress, sleep disorders, headaches and gastro-intestinal problems. Conclusion: From the results of this study, we conclude that there is a link between job satisfaction and the health status of employees. In addition, job satisfaction levels vary across different dimensions and can even differ from an individual's feelings of global job satisfaction. Policies and practices should focus on improving working conditions to enhance the fit of the job and the employee

THE ROW-COLUMN CONFOUNDED 2\u3csup\u3em\u3c/sup\u3eX4\u3csup\u3en\u3c/sup\u3e FACTORIAL DESIGN AND ITS DIFFERENT FRACTIONS

The row-column confounded 2mX4n factorial designs and its different fractions can be constructed and analyzed using pseudo factors in the 4n portion. (Examples are shown

THE USE OF PSEUDO FACTORS IN 4\u3csup\u3en\u3c/sup\u3e, 8\u3csup\u3en\u3c/sup\u3e, 2\u3csup\u3em\u3c/sup\u3eX4\u3csup\u3en\u3c/sup\u3e, 2\u3csup\u3en\u3c/sup\u3ex8\u3csup\u3en\u3c/sup\u3e FACTORIAL DESIGNS

The confounded factorial designs of the experiments 4n, 2mX4n, 8n, etc, and their different fractions can be constructed and analyzed using a suitable method of pseudo factors known as Rotation-Conversion Method. An example is shown

Morphology, Mineralogy and Chemistry of an Ex-Mining Land in Ipoh, Perak

A study was carried out to characterize the 20.3 ha of ex-mining land at Kg. Kepayang Baru, Ipoh. The study shows that the ex-mining land can be classified into three groups i. e., sandy, clayey and a mixture of sandy and clayey deposits. The bases, organic carbon, phosphorus and nitrogen contents are very low. The cation exchange capacity is low, but pH is very high. The dominant minerals in the clay fraction are kaolinite, mica and chlorite