The Influence of Management and Silvicultural Practices on The Incidence of Heart Rot in Acacia Mangium Plantations

Acacia mangium Willd., a major exotic timber species used in the Compensatory Forest Plantation Program for the product ion of saw logs, was found to be infected by heart rot. To evaluate the incidence and severity of heart rot in A. mangium plantations, a study consisted of laboratory investigations and field surveys was conducted. The laboratory studies include isolation of fungi from infected tree, determination of wood density, microscopic observations, and chemical wood analyses. Field surveys were conducted at five plantations, namely Rantau Panjang Forest Reserve (RPFR), Bukit Tarek Forest Reserve (BTFR), Kemasul Forest Reserve (KFR), Setul Forest Reserve (SFR), and Ulu Sedili Forest Reserve (USFR)

The relationship marketing as a determinant of customer satisfaction in Islamic banking services management

The purpose of this study is to identify the dimensions that determine whether customer satisfaction in Islamic banking services has been conducted at the Institusi Pengajian Tinggi Awam (IPTA) in Perlis involving two institutions, namely Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UNIMAP) and Universiti Teknologi Mara (UITM) Perlis.The collection of the principal data was accomplished by using a survey paper to answer the study’s research questions.It involved 224 customers using the Islamic banking services.This study was analysed using the Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS) by applying descriptive analysis and inferential analysis (Independent T-test, One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Correlation Pearson). This study finds that there are some different relationships in terms of position at the university level of education in the demographic characteristics analysis towards customer satisfaction. Most of the dimensions related to customer satisfaction in the Islamic banking services are positively correlated with each other (commitment, product knowledge, competence, service encounter).This study proves that this research is useful to academicians by providing new empirical evidence of relationship marketing with customer satisfaction in the Islamic banking industry.The results of this study can encourage bank managers to learn how to improve commitment, product knowledge, competence and service encounter in Islamic banks’ services to customers

Heavy metals analysis of batik industry wastewater, plant and soil samples: a comparison study of FAAS and HACH colorimeter analytical capabilities

Zinc (Zn), iron (Fe) and copper (Cu) were chosen as representative of heavy metals for this study. The aim of this study was to analyze these heavy metals concentration in batik factories effluent. Samples from soil and plant nearby the factories were collected and analysed using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer (FAAS) and HACH colorimeter. Results showed differences among the concentration of Fe, Cu and Zn from samples measured by both instruments

The effects of commercial flower honey and turmeric on dermal wound in rats

Twenty healthy rats, ten adults (2-month-old) and ten young (1-month-old), were used in this study. Four skin biopsies were created at the dorsum of each rat under general anesthesia. The wound was each treated with honey, turmeric powder, turmeric-honey paste and a blank (control). The wounds were photographed on day 0, 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9. Wound area reduction was measured on day 9 after which the rats were euthanized. The skin samples were taken for histology. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the healing between treatments in young and adult rats. However, honey was the best treatment with the highest healing scores, followed by control, turmeric and honey-turmeric paste. Honey-turmeric paste resulted in a severe wound infection thus delayed healing

Community Acceptance of Knowledge Sharing System in the Travel and Tourism Websites: An Application of an Extension of TAM

The presence of customer community in tourism websites is an added value service that enable customers to read about other tourists’ experience. This knowledge sharing of other people’s experience is perceived as more neutral and trustworthy and help to reduce tourist’s perceived risk. However, the deployment of tourist knowledge sharing through the Internet has yet to be measured. This paper presents the result of a study conducted to determine whether the perception of trust, risk and sharing have an effect on the sharing of information at the tourism website. The study was conducted, using the tourism website, www.virtualtour.com which has 400,000 members. A research team member became a member of the community group and befriended community members by taking part in the experience sharing sessions with them to gain their confidence. A survey was then conducted by sending questionnaires via personal e-mails to 1131 members and a total 262 completed questionnaires were returned and used in the analysis. The result yield preliminary evidence that perception of trust and perceived sharing resulted in positive behavioural intention of sharing. In addition, this research also produced preliminary evidence that perceived risk resulted in a negative behavioural intention of sharing. This research also contributed to the much needed measurement of users acceptance of knowledge management systems in e-commerce applications. The findings of this research is consistent with other TAM research findings especially on the constructs of perceived usefulness, ease of use and intentional behaviour

PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT VIOLATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR

A psychological contract is an implicit understanding between a group of employees and their employer that arose as a result of a particular leadership style. Psychological contract violation (PCV) is said to occur when there is a perceived breach of promise that leads to an emotional and affective response. The literature on PCV posits a number of antecedents and outcomes of PCV. This study seeks to develop a model of PCV by linking it with justice and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). It is argued that the antecedents of PCV lead to a sense of  injustice. These will then create the emotional response that is indicative of PCV. It is also argued that an outcome of this PCV experience is reduced OCB and the emergence of a new outlook towards employment relationship. Data was collected from a Malaysian company that initiated a voluntary separation scheme as part of an effort to downsize its work force. The finding of this study provides partial support for the model

Determination of heavy metal levels in fishes from the lower reach of the Kelantan River, Kelantan, Malaysia

This study aimed to assess the concentrations of cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni) and lead (Pb) in the tissues of fish collected from the lower reach of the Kelantan River, Malaysia. Fishes were collected using gill nets during the dry and wet seasons. A total of 78 individual fish were caught and comprised 6 families, 11 genera and 13 species. The dorsal muscle was analysed using a graphite furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS). The mean concentration of Cd in Chitala chitala (0.076 mg/kg) was above the critical limit values of the European Commission (EC), World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The mean concentrations of Cd in Barbonymus gonionatus and Tachysurus maculatus were already at the level of concern, whereas the other species were approaching the limits of permissible levels. No fish samples were found to have a Ni level higher than the permissible limit of 0.5–0.6 mg/kg set by the WHO (1985). Osteochilus hasseltii (0.169 mg/kg) and T. maculatus (0.156 mg/kg) showed high Pb concentrations. The concentrations of heavy metals were found to be elevated in the wet season (p<0.05). Omnivorous fish were detected with elevated concentrations of Cd and Ni, whereas carnivorous fish had the highest concentration of Pb. The concentrations of Cd and Pb in fish tissues were positively correlated with fish weight (p<0.05). This study determined that the fish species caught in the Kelantan River were contaminated with non-essential metals (Cd, Ni and Pb). Nevertheless, the heavy metal concentration in the fish tissues, with the exception of C. chitala, O. hasseltii and T. maculatus, did not exceed the EC, FAO, Malaysian Food Act (MFA) or WHO guidelines

Pembinaan metriks ekuiti jenama Universiti

Pembinaan metriks ekuiti jenama bagi universiti adalah penting kerana sehingga kini masih tiada metriks khusus bagi mengukur ekuiti jenama yang dimiliki oleh sesebuah universiti. Metriks ekuiti jenama untuk mengukur ekuiti jenama produk serta perkhidmatan didapati tidak menepati keperluan pengukuran ekuiti jenama universiti. Maka, kajian ini dibuat untuk mengenalpasti dimensi-dimensi metriks yang penting dalam mengukur ekuiti jenama universiti. Dalam membina metriks ekuiti jenama universiti ini, metriks pengukuran produk dan perkhidmatan berdasarkan kajian lepas telah diubahsuai untuk memenuhi keperluan pengukuran ekuiti jenama universiti. Analisis faktor terhadap 27 dimensi dari kajian lepas telah menghasilkan 12 dimensi dalam pengukuran ekuiti jenama universiti yang penting dan harus dititikberatkan oleh sesebuah universiti dalam membangunkan ekuiti jenama mereka. Antaranya adalah kualiti, kepercayaan, penerimaan dan warisan. Kajian ini juga telah menemui dimensi kepimpinan sebagai satu dimensi penting dalam mengukur ekuiti jenama universiti

Understanding deviant teachings and its features among muslim youths: a case study of UNIKL students

This paper presents the understanding of deviant teachings and its features among UniKL students and their opinions towards this issue. This paper will be focused on one of branch of UniKL institutions which is British Malaysian Institute at Gombak. 5 features characteristic of deviant teachings stated while focusing on two of the famous deviant teachings in Malaysia; Ayah Pin and Tuhan Harun. A questionnaire distributed asking understanding of student towards deviant teachings and its feature. Results shown that students are well aware on this issue, however, it is important for teachers to prioritize this matter and ensure that all students are aware and understand the concept of deviant teaching in order to protect their faith from anything that deviates from the true teachings of Islam

Antioxidant and xanthine oxidase inhibitory activities of persicaria hydropiper.

Five different polarity fractions of methanolic extract from Persicaria hydropiper, which are consumed as vegetables, were evaluated for its total phenolic content, and antioxidant activities by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging, ferric thiocyanate, and xanthine oxidase inhibition assays. Particularly, higher phenolic content was exhibited by butanol and ethyl acetate fractions with the values of 224.38 and 68.95 mg GAE/100 g dry extract, respectively. Both butanol and ethyl acetate fractions exhibited higher 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity with IC50 values of 28.61 and 25.55 μg/ml. Meanwhile, both fractions also were shown to inhibit xanthine oxidase activity compared to other fractions with IC50 values of 28.72 and 165.25 μg/ml. As for the ferric thiocyanate method, all the fractions except hexane fraction showed similar activity against lipid peroxidation and were comparable to butylated hydroxyl toluene, with percentage of inhibition from 95 to 98%