Information Behavior of the Malaysian Managers and Their Perceived Needs of Information and Knowledge Managers

This study explored the information behaviour of business executives particularly those in the managerial positions in the services and banking industries in Malaysia. Among the components of information behaviour investigated involved their information use – types, sources, and criteria. The investigation was also extended to understand about effective information management and the need for information and knowledge managers from the managers’ collective perspectives. Using survey questionnaires with open and close-ended questions on one hundred and forty five respondents, the findings provided rich and meaningful information about information requirements of managers and their perceived needs for competent information and knowledge managers in terms of their desired roles and competencies. The findings may assist in the effective provision of services by information or knowledge managers within the organizations and the development of more effective information system for resource sharing and inter/intra organizational collaboration or in other word a knowledge management system (KMS)

Malay Speech Intelligibility Test (MSIT) for Deaf Malaysian Children

This paper presents a novel approach to objectively measure speech intelligibility of deaf Malaysian children using nonsense syllables as test words. In this study, speech intelligibility of deaf children is measured through the ability to say simple syllables (consisting of a consonant and a vowel) for all the 22 Malay consonants. The MSIT score should indicate how well these children can produce speech; the higher the score, the better their speech intelligibility. The MSIT have been tested with twenty deaf and ten normal hearning Malaysian children and has been verified by five naïve and two expert listeners. The application of the test is presented as speech intelligibility index for deaf children in a deaf school. The successful development of the MSIT system serves to assist speech pathologist, therapist, teachers and parents of deaf children to determine the level of Malay speech deficiencies and the effectiveness of corrective measures taken

Acute Pancreatitis severity scoring index: Prospective study to identify determinants in Pakistan

Introduction: The purpose of the study was to compare different parameters used in Ranson’s Criteria, Bedside Index of Severity in Acute Pancreatitis (BISAP), Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE-II), and modified computed tomography severity index (MCTSI) for predicting the severity of acute pancreatitis and formulate a new scoring system to assess the severity of acute pancreatitis based on their prognostic severity index in the local population. Materials and Methods: This prospective pilot study was conducted at Rawalpindi Medical University allied hospitals from August 2019 to December 2019. All patients with a diagnosis of acute pancreatitis were included in the study through non-probability convenient sampling. Different scoring parameters were entered into standardized proforma. Results: 100 patients were included in the pilot study with a mean age of 46.53 ± 15.324. Among 24 parameters from APACHE-II, Ranson’s, BISAP, and MCTSI, only 11 parameters, Pleural effusion (PE), Pancreatic necrosis (PN), LDH, serum Calcium (Sca++), Pulse, GCS, MCTS1, Base deficit, Po2, BUN-24, and BUN-48 were significantly related(at 10% level of significance) with the severity of acute pancreatitis. Similarly out of 24, 10 parameters AST, LDH, Sca++, Pulse, PE, PN, Base deficit, MCTS1, Po2, and BUN 48were significantly covered more than 50% of the area in AUC analysis. Our proposed criteria based on 9 parameters LDH, Sca++, Pulse, PE, PN, Base deficit, MCTS1, Po2, and BUN 48which were blowing by the two methods (ANOVA and ROC). The sensitivity and specificity were higher with our proposed criteria 93.1% and 60.6%respectively as compared to the Ranson’s, modified Ranson, BISAP, and APACHE-II criteria. Conclusion: The newly proposed criteria for the assessment of the severity of AP is superior as compared to old criteria

The Establishment Of Strategic Program In Research Support Service (SPIRESS) In USM Library

Along with the modernization, Malaysia Higher Learning Institutions (HLIs) have implemented multiple kinds of transformation plans. Currently, there is a comprehensive transformation plan written in Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-2025 (Higher Education) (MEB) (HE) as a guideline for Higher Learning Institutions (HLIs), Polytechnics and Community Colleges. Hence, the HLIs Libraries or known as Academic Libraries were intangibly pressured to perform new roles and services in order to fulfil the future demands in the rapid pace of Research and Development (R&D) landscape. This paper shares Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Library’s experience in developing the new service segments called Strategic Program in Research Support Service (SPiReSS). The introduction of SPiReSS was intended to facilitate students and academicians research activities. Five service segments were introduced namely as Mendeley, Easy-to-Write with Microsoft (MS) Word, Open Access Publication, Google Drive, and Google Scholar. This paper described comprehensively on how the USM Library implement the SPiReSS project especially in terms of developing the service model, enhance the Academic Librarians capabilities, analyzing the participants’ feedback, and explain the types of challenges the Academic Librarians encounter. The SPiReSS project has triggered the interest of HLIs community especially in USM. Due to the remarkable result, the SPiReSS project should create more service segments in order to substantially supporting the research activities in HLIs

The Establishment Of Strategic Program In Research Support Service (SPIRESS) In USM Library

Along with the modernization, Malaysia Higher Learning Institutions (HLIs) have implemented multiple kinds of transformation plans. Currently, there is a comprehensive transformation plan written in Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-2025 (Higher Education) (MEB) (HE) as a guideline for Higher Learning Institutions (HLIs), Polytechnics and Community Colleges. Hence, the HLIs Libraries or known as Academic Libraries were intangibly pressured to perform new roles and services in order to fulfil the future demands in the rapid pace of Research and Development (R&D) landscape. This paper shares Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Library’s experience in developing the new service segments called Strategic Program in Research Support Service (SPiReSS). The introduction of SPiReSS was intended to facilitate students and academicians research activities. Five service segments were introduced namely as Mendeley, Easy-to-Write with Microsoft (MS) Word, Open Access Publication, Google Drive, and Google Scholar. This paper described comprehensively on how the USM Library implement the SPiReSS project especially in terms of developing the service model, enhance the Academic Librarians capabilities, analyzing the participants’ feedback, and explain the types of challenges the Academic Librarians encounter. The SPiReSS project has triggered the interest of HLIs community especially in USM. Due to the remarkable result, the SPiReSS project should create more service segments in order to substantially supporting the research activities in HLIs

Abstract Information Behavior of the Malaysian Managers and Their Perceived Needs of Information and Knowledge Managers

This study explored the information behaviour of business executives particularly those in the managerial positions in the services and banking industries in Malaysia. Among the components of information behaviour investigated involved their information use – types, sources, and criteria. The investigation was also extended to understand about effective information management and the need for information and knowledge managers from the managers ’ collective perspectives. Using survey questionnaires with open and close-ended questions on one hundred and forty five respondents, the findings provided rich and meaningful information about information requirements of managers and their perceived needs for competent information and knowledge managers in terms of their desired roles and competencies. The findings may assist in the effective provision of services by information or knowledge managers within the organizations and the development of more effective information system for resource sharing and inter/intra organizational collaboration or in other word a knowledge management system (KMS)