Encouraging students’ active classroom partcipation through the use of participation rubrics and scoresheets.

The teaching of English Language in Malaysian Polytechnic focuses on Communicative English. Many English lecturers are facing uphill task in encouraging the students to communicate and participate in classroom activities in order to implement the syllabus. The students are very awkward and shy towards the language and that leads the lecturers to explore ways to assist students to eliminate this problem

Hj. Samuri Sate Kajang Office Automation Using Lotus Notes Application

The advances of modem computer technology today have prompted offices to automate their office processing. As businesses continue to expand, the need to automate office processes increases. It is vital to incorporate computer technology to remain competitive. The main object of this study is to create a working system capable of routing forms and saving data in the database. It is to collect information such as staff information and new branch addresses. It allows employees to request stationeries online where the processing and routing is done by the office system. It also has a discussion database that helps employees to communicate among themselves. The discussion database allows the placing of comments and notices for others to view. The system was built using Lotus Notes version 5, a powerful workflow tool. Graphics were modified using Sierra Home SnapShot Express. The text was written using both the in-built word processor of Lotus Notes and Microsoft Word 2000. This system simplifies work and allows for faster document processing. The system is kept open to allow future upgrades and modification

The Effects of Moisture Content and Temperature on the Storability of an Orthodox, Intermediate and a Recalcitrant Forest Tree Seed

The effects of seed moisture and storage temperature on storability of an orthodox (Instia palembanica), an intermediate (Swietenia macrophylla) and a recalcitrant (Hopea odorata) forest tree seed were studied. The objectives were to determine the critical and optimum moisture and storage temperature for storage of each of the three species, and to evaluate the potential of these seeds for cryopreservation at ultra-low temperatures of liquid nitrogen. The study was divided into four parts of three experiments, each being for one of the three species. In Part I, the effects of desiccation on seed viability were evaluated. The orthodox seed, I. palembanica, has low shedding moisture of 10%. It was tolerant to desiccation as its critical and optimum moistures were low at 6% and 8-10% respectively. For the intermediate seed, S. macrophylla, it was more sensitive to desiccation. Its shedding moisture was high at 37% and it could not withstand excessive desiccation as its critical and optimum moistures were high at 1 5% and 25% respectively. The recalcitrant seed, H. odorata, has very high shedding moisture of 48% and was highly sensitive to even slight desiccation. Its critical and optimum moistures were very high at 29% and 32-35% respectively

Bounds on Elasticities With Optimization Frictions: A Synthesis of Micro and Macro Evidence on Labor Supply

How can price elasticities be identified when agents face optimization frictions such as adjustment costs or inattention? I derive bounds on structural price elasticities that are a function of the observed effect of a price change on demand, the size of the price change, and the degree of frictions. The degree of frictions is measured by the utility losses agents tolerate to deviate from the frictionless optimum. The bounds imply that frictions affect intensive margin elasticities much more than extensive margin elasticities. I apply these bounds to the literature on labor supply. The utility costs of ignoring the tax changes used to identify intensive margin labor supply elasticities are typically less than 1% of earnings. As a result, small frictions can explain the differences between micro and macro elasticities, extensive and intensive margin elasticities, and other disparate findings. Pooling estimates from existing studies, I estimate a Hicksian labor supply elasticity of 0.33 on the intensive margin and 0.25 on the extensive margin after accounting for frictions.Economic

Vocabulary Size and Usage: Enriching Lexicon Via Reader Response

Effective use of appropriate vocabulary has always been associated with mastery of a language but little attention is given to vocabulary building in the ESL classroom. A six week study based on a combined experiment on reading and interactive vocabulary instruction conducted amongst eighty advanced Malaysian fifth formers from four schools, tested the hypothesis that L2 students exposed to a combination of regular periods of reading and interactive vocabulary instruction of stylistics and canonical literary text would show significant increase in their ability to respond to literary text. The students' lexical richness and lexical frequency profile was measured via a computer software known as Vocabprofile. The results of the study showed that it was possible to obtain a reliable measure of lexical richness, which was stable across a cross section of L2 students. It was established that ESL speakers could increase their lexical richness with additional assistance from other sources within a specified period. However, their lexical variation does not increase at a similar pace or match the level of native speakers' writings

Effects of Elevated Temperatures on Microwave Incinerated Rice Husk Ash blended Concrete

Concrete subjected to rapid heating at high temperatures causes spalling of concrete. Spalling occurs when the tensile stress due to the pore pressure exceeds the tensile strength of concrete. Agricultural waste such as rice husk ash (RHA) is disposed through open burning. This contributes to elevating air pollution problems and causes respiratory diseases. This research studies the possibility of using RHA as a partial replacement for cement in concrete subjected to elevated temperatures, hence simultaneously providing a solution for spalling and air pollution problems. The objective of this study is to evaluate MIRRA as a supplementary cementitious material with reference to strength of hardened concretes and identify the optimal level of replacement of cement to improve concretes resistance to elevated temperatures. Tests were conducted on normal and RRA blended concrete. This included tests on compressive strength, fire resistance, Ultrasonic-Pulse Velocity and Scanning Electro-optic Microscope. Results show that MIRRA at 800°C with 5% partial replacement of OPC is the optimum mix proportion that maximizes concretes resistance to elevated temperatures

Development of efficient experimental strategies for the cryopreservation of problematic tropical rain forest tree germplasm

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