Information Commerce (i-Commerce) Usage and Purchase Decisions Among University Students During COVID-19

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between information commerce usage and purchase decisions made by university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/Methodology/Approach – Survey questionnaires were distributed to students at public and private universities through a variety of online platforms. Data was collected from 151 respondents within a two-week period and analyzed using IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 26 for descriptive (i.e., mean, standard deviation, reliability test, model fit test) and inferential (i.e., correlation and regression for hypotheses testing) purposes. Findings and implications – The findings indicate that, while students engage in information commerce for its convenience, their usage of it is unrelated to the degree of trust. Nonetheless, price comparison has a sizable influence on how information commerce is used. Additionally, information commerce usage has an effect on purchase intention, while purchase intention is found to be a significant predictor of purchase decisions. Limitation – This study examined factors that influence the usage of information commerce among students in Malaysian universities, as well as their purchase intention, on a rather small sample size. Originality – This may be the first study to define information commerce usage, with its results confirming students’ purchase behavior and demonstrating that online shopping simplifies their lives. Surprisingly, the findings suggest that the degree of trust does not influence the usage of information commerce. This contradicts previous studies conducted by Anas et al. (2021) and Viktoria et al. (2021)

A nationwide survey on awareness and knowledge about Bronchial Provocation Test (BPT) amongst doctors in Malaysia

ABSTRACT Background: Bronchial provocation test (BPT) is widely used internationally not only to evaluate bronchial responsiveness in conditions especially asthma, but is also utilized as a marker of control, severity and prognosis for asthma. However, the uptake of BPT in certain countries including Malaysia remains low. We aimed to explore this lack of knowledge by assessing the current level of awareness and knowledge on BPT amongst doctors in Malaysia. Methods: A nationwide web-based questionnaire targeting doctors was sent through social media (Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram) and Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) mailing lists between 1 October 2020 – 5 February 2021. Results: In all 415 survey responses were analysed from doctors of various grades namely medical officers to consultants. A total of 404 (97.35%) encountered patients with asthma in their daily practice. According to specialty: 169 (40.72%) were from primary care, 121 (29.16%) internal medicine, 50 (12.05%) pulmonary medicine and 75 (18.07%) others. Only 163 (39.28%) were aware of BPT as a tool to diagnose asthma. 232 (55.90%) and 124 (29.88%) regarded BPT as an important test and felt confident to refer patients for BPT respectively. Of those participants who were not confident to refer: 35.17% were unsure of BPT indications, 33.21% were unsure of centres providing BPT, 8.17% cited logistic reasons, 6.04% were concerned of possible BPT side effects. 387 (93.25%) wanted more training in BPT. The median BPT knowledge score was 20% (1 out of 5). Awareness and knowledge were affected by specialty but not by: region of practice, gender, age and grade from logistic regression analysis. Conclusion: Various national level programs and targeted local interventions are much needed to increase the awareness, knowledge and uptake of BPT in Malaysia

Saltwater crocodile and Tomistoma Skeletal and Dental Assessments

In Sarawak, there are two types of crocodiles namely, Crocodylus porosus (saltwater crocodile) and Tomistoma schlegelii (Tomistoma). There were several documentation related to C. porosus skeletal structures, but not for T. schlegelii. Misattribution incidents involving skeletal remains of crocodiles in wildlife forensic field are likely to occur without a proper guideline to be referred to. The aims of this study are to examine and document details on the skull, dentition and other bones of both species. The exhumed skeletal remains were subjected to standard morphological assessment. The structure of C. porosus skull obtained in this study is similar to previous documentation. Tomistoma’s skull has unique taxonomical characters namely the possession of long and narrower snout, D-shaped eye sockets, long and sharp-pointed protruding bones of quaratojugal, straight maxillae and dentary, smooth surface skull, elongated triangle suborbital fenestrae, round shaped internal nares, and the supraoccipital of T. schlegelii is visible from the edge of parietal or from the dorsal view. For teeth arrangement, C. porosus has heterodont dentition, while T. schlegelii has almost approaching homodont dentition. C. porosus has blunt-pointed and irregular size of teet h, whereas T. schlegelii has sharp and similar size teeth. Both taxa showed similar structures of vertebral columns. Additionally, osteoderms of T. schlegelii are relatively larger compare to C. porosus. Information gathered in this study is useful for future forensic identification involving crocodiles in Malaysia

A nationwide survey on awareness and knowledge about Bronchial Provocation Test amongst doctors in Malaysia

Background: Bronchial provocation test (BPT) is widely used internationally not only to evaluate bronchial responsiveness in conditions especially asthma, but is also utilized as a marker of control, severity and prognosis for asthma. However, the uptake of BPT in certain countries including Malaysia remains low. We aimed to explore this lack of knowledge by assessing the current level of awareness and knowledge on BPT amongst doctors in Malaysia. Materials and methods: A nationwide web-based questionnaire targeting doctors was sent through social media (Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram) and Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) mailing lists between 1 October 2020 - 5 February 2021. Results: In all 415 survey responses were analysed from doctors of various grades namely medical officers to consultants. A total of 404 (97.35%) encountered patients with asthma in their daily practice. According to specialty: 169 (40.72%) were from primary care, 121 (29.16%) internal medicine, 50 (12.05%) pulmonary medicine and 75 (18.07%) others. Only 163 (39.28%) were aware of BPT as a tool to diagnose asthma. 232 (55.90%) and 124 (29.88%) regarded BPT as an important test and felt confident to refer patients for BPT respectively. Of those participants who were not confident to refer: 35.17% were unsure of BPT indications, 33.21% were unsure of centres providing BPT, 8.17% cited logistic reasons, 6.04% were concerned of possible BPT side effects. 387 (93.25%) wanted more training in BPT. The median BPT knowledge score was 20% (1 out of 5). Awareness and knowledge were affected by specialty but not by: region of practice, gender, age and grade from logistic regression analysis. Conclusion: Various national level programs and targeted local interventions are much needed to increase the awareness, knowledge and uptake of BPT in Malaysia

Multimodality endoscopic treatment for tracheobronchial stenosis secondary to endobronchial tuberculosis

Introduction: Tracheobronchial stenosis secondary to endobronchial tuberculosis (TSTB) is a rare but devastating complication of TB. Endoscopic interventions (EI) might be an attractive alternative for patients unfit for surgery but little is known on whether the efficacy of EI can be affected by airway features. Methods: Retrospective study of EI performed for TSTB patients at interventional pulmonology unit of Serdang Hospital, Malaysia. Results: Our cohort comprised of 9 patients with mean age of 33.9years (SD10.43). All had dyspnoea, 33% had stridor, 44% had cough. Of CT and bronchoscopy performed, 67% had tracheal stenosis, 44% right main bronchus involvement, 22% left main bronchus involvement. 33% had multilevel airway involvement. Of airway features, 67% had pure short segment membranous concentric stenosis. Remaining 33% had extra adverse airway features (22% bronchomalacia;11% thick fibrotic band). All cases were performed with rigid bronchoscopy under general anaesthesia. All underwent balloon dilatation of stenotic segment; 78% had topical mitomycin-c (TMC) application and 11% did mechanical coring of stenotic segment. Procedure was deemed successful (sustained symptomatic benefits of ≥3 months) in 67% cases. All unsuccessful cases had adverse airway features. Of complications, 22% developed self-limiting airway tear (0.5cm) during procedure. None developed TMC related complications. Conclusion: EI appears to be an attactive option for TSTB patients. We postulate that EI might produce more sustainable benefits in those with pure short membranous concentric stenosis without adverse airway features. Future studies are needed to define the exact role of EI for TSTB patients

Scoring matrix framework for threat factor profiling model

One of the important requirements in preparing for an information security risk management system is to construct a threat profiling model that can be used to identify and classify threats. The threat profiling model provides an organization with a complete set of information including pattern of threat scenarios and analysis on the threat they encounter. However, an organization must set objectives and results of a threat profiling, as well as metrics in order to measure, appreciate and counter the potential threats. The main contribution of this paper is the framework of the threat scoring which extends our previous findings on combinations of components found in referred threat models. Furthermore, to the best of our knowledge, threat scoring framework has not been investigated by any previous approaches. In fact, the computed threat score enables the quantification of the degree of threat severity which is an important benchmark for an organization to plan their countermeasure actions. Therefore, a scoring matrix framework for Threat Factor Profiling (TFP) model that includes identification and classification of threat is proposed. The purpose of this framework is to identify threats based on activity within an information system of an organization. The Threat Profile Report presents the collected data of threat based on the predetermined matrix