bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Tuai Rumah in Brunei Darussalam: Continuity and Challenges
Authors: Li Pang Li
Published: March 2019

Research on the Iban community in Brunei Darussalam, whose lifestyles and leadership structure are recognized by the government, is scarce. This paper is an attempt to understand the role of the Tuai Rumah, the leader of an Iban longhouse and a recognized administrative position in the country’s local administration as well as the challenges they face in ‘administrating’ in their community. The community’s culture and tradition are endangered as younger members of the community have moved to urban areas in search of employment and better access to public services and are not exposed to their ancestors’ traditional lifestyles. It is possible that the institution of the Tuai Rumah may be abolished in the next decade unless the government re-consider strategies to improve and invest in rural development.
From Po-li to Rajah Brooke: Culture, Power and the Contest for Sarawak
Authors: Walker John Henry
Published: March 2019

This article explores Sarawak’s remoter past from the emergence of an early Indianised state at Santubong until the accession as Rajah of Sarawak of James Brooke. Through an analysis of Sarawak Malay oral histories, the Negara-Kertagama, Selsilah Raja Raja Sambas and the Selsilah Raja RajaBerunai, the article confirms and extends IbLarsens’s findings, that extensive periods of Sambas’s rule over Sarawak has been overlooked by successive scholars. The article also explores the ways in which Malay oral and traditional histories can be used in western historiographic traditions to illuminate the remoter past. Keywords:Indianisation, Sarawak, Sambas, Brunei, DatuMerpati, Sultan Tengah
YOUNG ADULT SARAWAKIAN PURCHASE INTENTION ON JUNK FOOD BASED ON PACKAGING DESIGN ELEMENTS.
Authors: Siali Fadilah , Lin Winnie Kii Lin , Abdu Shakur Mahani Muhammad , Ayob Norazirah
Published: March 2019

An effective proactive product promotion is much needed to compete in the today’s competitive global market. Together, the product packaging has come to play an important role to influence consumers’ purchasing intention. The purpose of this study is to examine consumers’ perceptions towards packaging design elements and to determine the most influential factors on their purchase intention. A survey was conducted using self-administered structured questionnaires from 385 young adult respondents in Kota Samarahan and Kuching, Sarawak. Two junk food packaging with different package designs and attributes were used in this study. Major results show that thepackaging colour, graphic, size, shape, material, and information have significant relationship withpurchase intention. The finding could provide important insights to marketers and foodmanufacturers to adopt an appropriate packaging strategy for junk food to attract more sales fromthis particular group of consumers.Keywords: Purchase intention; Packaging; Design; Consumer Perception; Junk food
THE PERCEPTION OF MEDICAL STUDENTS IN CLINICAL YEARS TOWARDS BEDSIDE TEACHING IN UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK (UNIMAS)
Authors: Roslan Nur Amir Luqman , Tang Betty Jin Jin , Bohan Noor Syafawani , Veerakumar Hashveena , Kendong Siti Maryam Ahmad , Talip Saiful Bahri
Published: March 2019

This study was done to survey on the different perceptions among medical students toward bedside teaching that includes both the pros and cons of this type of learning method. A 130 clinical year students (Year 3, Year 4, Year 5) from Faculty of Medicine and Health Science (FHMS) of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) participated in this study. Questionnaires consisted of three different sections were distributed and the collected data were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test. From the study, it was found that, clinical year students had perceived differently regarding the bedside teaching mainly on three aspects. These includes the care given by students to their patients, the increased risk of exposure to diseases, and more than 1 lecturer per group during teaching (P<0.05). Majority of the students agreed that bedside teaching is the most straight forward method to convey knowledge, promoting better understanding, encouraging active learning, developing better clinical skills and nurturing crucial ethical aspects. Students also agreed that bedside teaching in UNIMAS can be improved by respecting confidentiality of patients, summarising each discussion session, encouraging feedback and using simple terms during teaching session,. As conclusion, from this study, it was found that there were a few different in the perceptions toward bedside teaching between clinical year students of UNIMAS.Keywords: Bedside teaching, Medicine, Learning method, Knowledge
INCULTURATION: BLENDING CHRISTIANITY INTO LOCAL CULTURE
Authors: Benedict Mugok Robinson bin , Chai Elena
Published: March 2019

As Christianity seeks to spread its mission around the world, they face cultural barriers in a way that Christianity is not always easily acceptable to the non-European settings due to the differences in values and cultural practices. In order to cope with such challenges, the churches established inculturation and equivalent policies in evangelizing and minister the non-western communities worldwide. In Kampung Bungan Besar, Matu, a Melanau-populated village, Christianity at the present time is the main religion alongside with the minority practitioners of traditional belief. The growing of Christianity from a totally ‘foreign’ religion to the main religion among the Melanau can be associated with the missionary efforts, and it is the inculturation process that ensured the triumph of the mission. Liturgical inculturation and object-centered inculturation is the most obvious two inculturation strategies used in spreading of the gospel message among the Melanau.
RECYCLING PRACTICES AND PERCEPTIONS AMONG RURAL PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN IN SJK CHUNG HUA ASAJAYA, SAMARAHAN, SARAWAK
Authors: Kaur Parveen , Foong Chai Nyet , Jawaid Arif
Published: March 2019

Recycling is one of the best ways to have a positive impact on the world in which we live in. In this modern hectic world of ours, people are indulging in activities which harm the environment. It is vital to educate our future generation in the preservation of our pleasant environment by not only polluting but also spreading crucial diseases. The purpose of this research is to understand the recycling practices and perceptions among rural primary school children. The sample for this study included Primary Three to Primary Six (N=16, M=11.31 years) school children with different ages and ethnic groups. The research was carried out in SJK Chung Hua Asajaya, Samarahan, Sarawak. This study used both qualitative and quantitative methods to collect the data. Face-to-face interviews guided by questionnaires as a tool determine the habits and practices on recycling activity. Findings of this study indicated that majority of the school children have good habits of recycling in both school and at home. Their perceptions indicated that they were aware on the importance of recycling in preserving the environment. This study would benefit the people in rural areas to be aware on the importance of recycling and how they can practice and improve their habits in recycling. School plays an important role in cultivating this practice. Recycling will help the town council and related institutions to giveindividuals a better quality of living.
TRADITIONAL HANDICRAFTS AND THE USE OF NATURAL RESOURCES AMONG THE IBAN OF BALAI RINGIN, SERIAN
Authors: Larry Sait Eva Kristin , Mersat Neilson Ilan , Kiong Wong Swee
Published: March 2019

This study investigates the possible gaps in current indigenous knowledge in the use of natural resources, specifically in traditional handicraft making. The Iban women are known for their traditional weaving skills. However, due to various reasons, this knowledge is declining. Through interviews and focus group discussions, the knowledge on the types and availability of resources in the respective areas, as well as the gap of knowledge in resource use and management between the older and younger generations and its cause were identified. Through observation, while traditional baskets and mats are still used by the Iban today, most of the traditional handicrafts made using natural materials seen in the longhouses are relics from the past, made by previous generations. The scarcity of raw materials such as rattan and wood has resulted in the decline of the production of such handicrafts. Though the skills of making these baskets especially among younger generation are eroding, the cultural significance of this basket among Iban community should not be forgotten.
The Iban Textiles
Authors: Chelum Alexander , Durin Anna , Lim Keh Nie Connie , Hamizan Muhammad Qawiem , Samaroon Mohd Jefri
Published: March 2019

The Iban traditional textiles are very well decorated with beautiful motifs. Some motifs are small and simple but some are complex (Durin, 2011). Both the simple and complex motifs are embedded meaning and symbols which depict the Iban traditional culture especially their traditional beliefs. This research aims to relate the motif of the Iban Textile and their traditional belief. Secondly, this research is also to analyse the usage of Pua Kumbu traditionally and currently. The data collection are carried out through observation and interviewing the experts in Iban textiles weaving in Kuching, Betong and Bintulu. The analysis method is used for the data collection is content analysis. In the research finding it is proven that the usage Pua Kumbu currently is not only confined to ritual purposes but also for the daily used as decorative accessories. It’s also proven, not only the Iban community weave the Pua Kumbu but few communities also weave the Iban’s textile motif. For example, Azmeer Sharkawi in Betong.
The Iban Traditional Religion: Miring
Authors: Bilon@Senang Bibiana Motey , Tugang Noria
Published: March 2019

This paper aims to discuss about the offering ceremony, which is one of the traditional cultures performed by the Iban in Sarawak. Miring is performed to give honor to their Gods (Petara), Holy Spirit (Orang Panggau & Bunsu Antu) and souls of their dead ancestors (Petara Aki-Ini) whom they invited to their various festivals. If the supernatural is not fed, they will not obtain the necessary kindness in which will cause disaster. The arrival of Christianity led to the fact that almost all the Iban left their pagan religion. At the same time, the Iban community today is less aware of the offering ceremony procedure. Fieldwork was carried out at several locations in Saratok, Betong, Sarawak. The data are collected through participant observation technique and through face-to-face interview with the informants. The interviewed informants were selected based on their expertise in the origins, customs and cultures of the Iban community. Results show that not all of the Iban perform the miring ceremony. Lack of ritual specialists and conversion to Christianity among the Iban are the causes of this ritual to be less performed. The Iban community today faces many challenges in maintaining and practicing the traditions inherited by their ancestors. Even though there are changes and differences of miring performed by the Iban community in Sarawak, their aims and needs remained the same, and that is to beg for the gods’ protection and avoid unwanted or bad thingsto happen.
Natural State Modeling of Singapore Geothermal Reservoir
Authors: Tjiawi Hendrik , C. Palmer Andrew , J. H. Oliver Grahame
Published: March 2019

The existence of hot springs coupled with the apparent anomalous high heat flow has sparked interest in the potential for geothermal development in Singapore. This geothermal resource may be potentially significant and could be exploited through Engineered Geothermal System (EGS) technology, i.e. a method to create artificial permeability at depth in granitic or sandstone formations as found under Singapore. The apparently ever-increasing fossil fuel price has made the cost of using the EGS technology more viable than it was in the past. Thus, to assess the resource, a numerical model for the geothermal reservoir has been constructed. Mass and heat flows in the system are simulated in 2D with AUTOUGH2.2, and the graphical interface processed through MULGRAPH2.2. Natural state calibration was performed to match both the observed and the expected groundwater profile, and also to match the hot water upflow at the Sembawang hot spring, with simulated flowrate matching the hot spring natural flowrate. The simulation gives an encouraging result of 125 - 150 °C hot water at depth 1.25 – 2.75 km.
Incorporating Floodplain Inundation as a Strategy in Flood Mitigation Plan
Authors: Y.S. Mah Darrien , A. Bustami Rosmina , J. Putuhena Frederik
Published: March 2019

This paper is promoting the awareness that nature and engineering structure can co-exist together. Natural floodplain inundation is usually restrained to separate floodplain lands for human uses. In contrary to conventional flood control systems, a vision of restoring floodplain inundation in Kuching Bypass Floodway is presented as a flood mitigation plan. Modelling of the approach indicates a reduction of flooded areas up to 61%. By means of modelling, portions of floodplains are virtually preserved in their natural states and functions, a role that often has been undervalued. Floodplain permits storage and conveyance of floodwaters. At the same time, it provides replenishment of the adjoining wetlands. The strategy proves beneficial to both human and natural systems. It also calls for a systemic change in flood management that we can live with the natural forces instead of forbidding them.
A Prototype Rule-Based Expert System for Travel Demand Management
Authors: Mansyur Resdiansyah , O.K Rahmat Riza Atiq , Ismail Amiruddin
Published: March 2019

In this research, a prototype rule-based expert system for travel demand management (TDM) in selecting suitable policy was designed and developed. This expert system suggests a process for travel demand management policy implementation, and offers guidance and advice on the selection of effective and appropriate policies. The system is supported with an object-oriented modeling in the knowledge abstraction and representation, and the interactions with the system are performed through a friendly graphical user interface (GUI). The prototype of the system was developed in shell expert system platform (KAPPA-PC). The outcomes obtained by the current prototype show that the used rule-based expert system architecture resulted in successful computerized intelligent decision support software that is easy to maintain, modify, and extend.
Study of Soil Erosian at a Site near Chemical Engineering Laboratory in UNIMAS
Authors: Taha Fizzahutiah , R. Kaniraj Shenbaga
Published: March 2019

Soil erosion is one of the problems of environmental concern. Natural causes such as rainfall and human development activities are the two main factors that can cause soil erosion. In order to control soil erosion, especially in urban areas, the bare soil surface needs to be covered by plants as much as possible. Re-vegetation, the best permanent erosion control measure, might take time to be complete. Therefore, some suitable temporary measures should be applied to minimize the amount of soil loss. Topographical features and climate are among the factors that determine the amount of soil erosion. In order to control the rate of erosion, it is important to estimate the amount of soil loss. Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) is one of the approaches to estimate the rate of soil loss. In this study, the topographical features of a site prone to erosion within University Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), were investigated by field survey. Laboratory experiments were carried out on soil samples collected from the site. Theparameters for use in USLE were evaluated. The soil loss at the site in 2011 was estimated as 52.85 t ha-1 and the soil erosion risk atthe site was categorized as moderately high.
An Analysis of Unsignalised Intersection Using aaSIDRA Software
Authors: Jamil Wan Al-Junaidi , Wan Ibrahim Wan Hashim
Published: March 2019

This thesis discusses about the use of Akcelik & Associates Signalised & Unsignalised Intersection Design and Research Aid (aaSIDRA Intersection) Software in the analysis of unsignalised intersection in Sarawak, Malaysia. aaSIDRA Intersection software was used to analyse the data which were manually obtained through traffic volume study carried out at the two junctions during the morning peak period and also helps in producing the capacity and Level of Service of the intersection. Four parameters were analysed in this thesis: critical gap, follow-up time, proportion of heavy vehicles or motorcycles and total number of vehicles for each of the approaches of the intersection. Referring to the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM), these variable parameter values are determined and then the expected output of the aaSidra being used in the analysis of this study are average control delay, existing level of service, and capacity of the junction. Fixed values to be input into SIDRA Intersection are obtained from the traffic volume study. The input influences the value for the average control delay which assists in determining the Level of Service of the intersection. These output values are highly influenced by the respective input values. All factors analysed under four parameters to determine the level of service of the two junctions were contributing equally and correlates with each other and there was not one that exceeds the other factor. The critical factors affecting the level of service are critical gap and traffic volume.
Selection Criteria and the Related Sub-Criteria for the Selection of Standard Form of Contract for Construction Projects in Sarawak
Authors: Nee Ting Sim , Wei Chin Lin
Published: March 2019

Construction contract refers to an agreement which in enforced by law; standard form is printed form of contract to define responsibilities to various parties involved to complete the construction works. Malaysian construction industry relies essentially on a number of standard forms namely the JKR Sarawak Form of Contract, PWD 203A, PAM, IEM and CIDB forms to execute its construction projects. However, with the number of choices available and without a clear selection guide, selection of an appropriate standard form for the particular projects has hinged on the familiarity of the form users with the particular form. This study aims to identify the selection criteria that can be used for standard form selection. The study form looks into the current practice and how decisions are made to select the appropriate standard form. Selection criteria are identified and this research carried out verification works with local construction industry players via questionnaire survey method. Results from questionnaire survey also indicated that standard forms are usually predetermined by the client in tender stage. It is also shown that some of the respondents have limited exposure to certain standard forms of contract. With the selection criteria identified, it is hopeful that a selection guideline can be developed.
Utilisation of Recycled Aggregate as Coarse Aggregate in Concrete
Authors: P.C. Yong , D.C.L Teo
Published: March 2019

In this rapid industrialised world, recycling construction material plays an important role to preserve the natural resources. In this research, recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) from site-tested concrete specimens were used. These consist of 28-days concrete cubes after compression test obtained from a local construction site. These concrete cubes are crushed to suitable size and reused as recycled coarse aggregate. The amount of recycled concrete aggregate used in this research is approximately 200 kg. Many researchers state that recycled aggregates are only suitable for non-structural concrete application. This research, however, shows that the recycled aggregates that are obtained from site-tested concrete specimen make good quality concrete. The compressive strength of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) is found to be higher than the compressive strength of normal concrete. Recycled aggregate concrete is in close proximity to normal concrete in terms of split tensile strength, flexural strength and wet density. The slump of recycled aggregate concrete is low and that can be improved by using saturated surface dry (SSD) coarse aggregate.
A Study on Suitable Habitat for Swiftlet Farming
Authors: S. H. Ibrahim , W.C. Teo , A. Baharun
Published: March 2019

Swiftlet farming is a new industry in Sarawak as compared to other long-standing industries such as rubber, palm oil and timber. It is one of the businesses that involved a small capital investment that could generate enormous returns in the future. Swiftlet farming involves the conversion of human-centric building into structures for Swiftlet. The purpose of this conversion is to let Swiftlet for nesting and protect them. The design and construction of such building will also helps to accommodate Swiftlets' population. The nest of the Edible-nest Swiftlet rank amongst the world's most expensive animal products. Therefore, in order to increase the productivity of bird nest, study of the suitable habitat for Swiftlet should be done thoroughly. Environmental factors such as air temperature, surface temperature, relative humidity, air velocity and light intensity are the key factors for a successful Swiftlet farm house. Internal air temperature of building should be maintained from 26°C to 35°C, relative humidity from 80% to 90%, low air velocity and light intensity less than 5 LUX. Proper ventilation and installation of a humidifier could help the building to achieve the desirable range of environment factors. Location of structure will also be considered from direct sunlight direction to reduce the internal temperature. Only licensed Swiftlet farming is legal.
Experimental Validation of EnergyPlus® Simulation of a Single Storey Building
Authors: Baharun Azhaili , Ibrahim Siti Halipah , Abdullah Mohammad Omar , Koon Beng Ooi
Published: March 2019

EnergyPlus® simulated indoor temperatures of a single storey building at the east campus of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, for April and June, are validated with measurements taken in 2007.The measured local outdoor temperature was used together with the global solar radiation, wind velocity, relative humidity and cloud cover measured at the Kuching airport to replace the typical meteorological year (TMY) values in the EnergyPlus® weather (EPW) file to fonn a Modified EPW weather file at the time/date of experiments. The remaining fields of the Modified EPW contain TMY data including the direct and diffuse solar radiations and the 'sky's' infrared radiation, which is also present at night.Analysis of the temperatures at the windows simulated with the EPW and Modified EPW weather files for the April and June experiments show the strong influence of the outdoor temperature and importance of the global solar radiation in the weather file and local outdoor temperature is used in the Modified EPW.Day time peak mismatches between the measured indoor air temperature and the indoor air temperature simulated with the Modified EPW is 2 to 3 deg C. These are due to the use of the TMY direct and diffuse solar radiations in the heat balance algorithms at the outside surfaces. The corresponding night time mismatches are less than 1 deg C because the TMY values of the long wave infra-red radiation emitted from molecules and particles in the atmosphere in the Modified EPW are used in simulation.
Performance of Profiled Steel Sheet Dry Board System Under Flexural Bending and Vibration
Authors: Ahmed Ehsan , Ahmad Ghazali
Published: March 2019

This paper describe the experimental performance of Profiled Steel Sheet Dry Board system (PSSDB) against out-of plane bending and vibration. The PSSDB panel consists of plywood attached to the top surface of profiled steel sheet by self-drilling and self-tapping screws. Profiled steel sheet dry board panel has been used successfully as flooring system in few construction projects within Malaysia. As a lightweight flooring system, human induced vibration is becoming increasingly vital serviceability and safety issues for such panel when it is covering relatively longer span or area. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the factors affecting the structural performance and also to consider the effects of vibration in building such flooring system. This paper will focus on theoretical and experimental procedures to determine the overall performance of PSSDB system due to flexural bending and vibration. Each parameter that effect the perfonnance of PSSDB system against vibration and flexural will be discussed in this paper. It is found that PSSDB panel with a practical span length have a natural frequency well above of 8Hz and hence, considered comfortable to the occupants of building in teens of vibration.
The Behavior of Strength Properties from Three Different Tree Boles of Aras in Sarawak
Authors: Ismaili Gaddafi , Abu Bakar Badorul Hisham , Abdul Rahim Khairul Khuzaimah
Published: March 2019

Aras had been selected and tested in small clear specimens. Sampling of test specimens are made from three sections of the tree bole namely from bottom, middle, and top parts. This paper looks into the information of strength properties from three sections of sampled. The strength properties test required are the modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity and compression stress parallel to grain. Meanwhile, the physical properties' test referred to moisture content and basic density. The testing conducted in two different conditions of the trees, which were referred to green and air-dry condition. It was found that the average mean values for modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity and compressive stress parallel to grain tested at green condition were 47.52N/mm2, 6358.56N/mm2 and 22.42N/mm2 respectively meanwhile at air-dry condition were 70.49N/mm2, 8217.64N/mm2 and 34.07N/mm2 respectively. Meanwhile, the average mean values for moisture content at green condition were 83.34% whilst at the air-dry condition were 12.33%. Basic density remains unchanged from both conditions.
Reading Skills in English using Jolly Phonics at a Chinese Primary School
Authors: Ling Ha Mei , Mohamad Fitri Suraya
Published: March 2019

This study investigates the viability of using a phonics programme for Primary One students who are studying at a National Type Chinese School in Sarawak, Malaysia.  Jolly Phonics is a Synthetic Phonics Programme that is used to address common reading problems. In this study, Primary One students who learn Mandarin as their main language in school, while learning English and Malay Languages at the same time. The phonics consists of teaching reading with five skills, namely learning the letter sounds, letter formation, blending, segmenting and tricky words.  39 students participated in the study. Two groups were formed to compare performances between those who used the phonic programme and those who attended the regular English classes. Data was collected on pre and post-test achievements for both the experimental and control group. Findings revealed that the phonics programme did not significantly impact the students’ reading ability when compared with performances of those who attended regular lessons which used existing methods of teaching reading skills for English language learning at the Chinese medium school.    

 Keywords: Night reading ability; non-native English language learners; phonics; Chinese school; foreign language learning
Patterns of Young Children’s Number Sense Development as Assessed by How Many Hidden Game
Authors: Ompok Connie Cassy , Doig Brian , Tambagas Maria
Published: March 2019

Using games as a context for assessing children’s mathematical abilities is not unusual, but this study investigated the potential of games designed specifically for the purpose of assessment. Children in prior-to-school settings in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, were exposed to a range of such games, including the how many hidden game, which focuses on number sense, which is the subject of this paper. Children’s responses while playing the game were recorded, and we report the range of successful responses to the game, as well as the age of the children involved.

 Keywords: How many hidden; assessment; mathematical abilities; number sense; game
Crossover of Discrete Emotion and its Effect on Employees’ Wellbeing
Authors: Abang Suhaili Dayang Siti Aisah , Hassan Zaiton , Ahmad Zaidi Adruce Shahren
Published: March 2019

The purpose of this study is threefold, that is, to examine discrete emotion and how it could contribute to the crossover phenomena in organizations, to examine how crossover affect employees’ burnout and engagement, to develop a theoretical framework of discrete emotion as mediator and its crossover in the relationship between job demand, resource and employees’ wellbeing. This paper examined past studies from Proquest, SAGE, Springer, JStor and Emerald online Database that are related to discrete emotion, spillover-crossover model, burnout and engagement. Fifty papers were reviewed from the online databases within the year 2004 to 2015. Findings show that discrete emotion has some effect on employees’ wellbeing through crossover phenomena process. Positive emotions, such as, joy and happiness can accelerate a person’s recovery from the physiological effects of negative emotions. Employees react to the antecedent and possess a discrete emotion. Employees’ discrete emotion makes crossover towards colleagues and triggers the intensity of their psychological state (engage, burnout). Practical intervention for human resource development professionals were suggested to assist employees and organizations on making it known about knowledge on discrete emotion and how it can affect employees’ wellbeing. This research produces a theoretical concept to examine the predictive potential of discrete emotion that leads to crossover phenomena in determining employees’ burnout and engagement.Keywords: discrete emotion; spillover-crossover; burnout; engagement
Gender Differences in Work-Family Balance Factors
Authors: Sian Yi Chai , Hassan Zaiton , Abang Othman Abang Ekhsan
Published: March 2019

Influx of women in the paid labor force had been identified as one of the important factors in raising awareness about work-family balance in organizations in developed countries in the west. The same phenomenon also occurs in Malaysia. Malaysia is considered as having traditional gender role ideology, whereby men and women have separate role in the workplace and in the family. Specifically, this study aims to identify whether there are differences in perception between men and women in public sector towards factors associated with work-life balance. Work-life balance factors examined in this study are work demands, supervisor support, organization’s family-friendly policies, family demands, work-family conflict (WFC) and family-work conflict (FWC). Sixty questionnaires were administered to employees in a government health training institution in Sarawak, Malaysia. Data were analyzed using SPPS version 17 and independent t-Test was employed in testing the hypotheses. The study found that men and women are significantly different in terms of supervisor support, work-family conflict and family demands. However, there was no significant difference between men and women employees with regard to work demands, family-work conflict and utilization of family-friendly policies. In line with previous Western findings, women experienced higher level of work to family conflict (WFC) than men employees. In addition, women also reported higher family demands than men. These findings strengthened the traditional gender role ideology ascribed by majority of Malaysians and lend support to the gender role theory. Therefore, the organization could provide relevant training, such as, time and stress management. Supervisors could be trained to be more aware of work-family balance issues faced by their employees and assist them accordingly.Keywords: work-family conflict; family-work conflict; gender
Attitudes of University Students towards People with Disabilities in the Social Context: A Preliminary Study
Authors: Anuar Azzahrah , Ghazali Nor Mazlina
Published: March 2019

The article highlights on the previous literature on the attitudes of college or university students towards people with disabilities in the social context globally. The article also includes factors that influence the willingness of college or university students to build relationship with people with disabilities in the social context (such as friendship, dating, and marriage) and perceptions of students that add to the existing challenges encountered by people with disabilities. When perception is being measured in a more specific dimension, such as, in the social distance context, it provides a practical means to understand people’s awareness towards disability.Keywords: university student attitude; people with disabilities; social context
Viewing Islamic Art Museum Exhibits on the SmartPhone: Re-examining Visitors’ Experiences
Authors: Othman Mohd Kamal , Ee Young Ng , Aman Shaziti
Published: March 2019

Mobile Guide technologies in public spaces, particularly museum are not new and have changed the way visitors’ access information during their visit. Smartphone applications (apps) are increasingly popular because it can be accessed before, during and after the museum visits. This has impacted the way exhibitions are designed and the resulting visitor experience. Therefore, it is important to measure what effect the use of smartphone technology has on visitor experience. An “in the wild” study was conducted to investigate visitor experience in Islamic Art museum, both with and without Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (IAMM) Mobile Guide (smartphone apps). A total of 55 participants took part in the study. The Museum Experience Scale (MES) was used to measure visitor experience, whilst the Multimedia Guide Scale (MMGS) was used to measure visitors’ experiences with the IAMM Mobile Guide. Results showed that scores on all components of MES suggested a positive experience at the IAMM with the component of meaningful experience being the highest score, followed by the component of knowledge and learning. Scores on the MMGS also showed a positive experience in using the mobile guide with learnability and control scored the highest, followed by general usability.Keywords: user experience (UX); visitor experience; museum; smartphone; applications; mobile guide
Does Talking about Emotion Help Eyewitness Memory? The Role of Emotional and Factual Retelling in Memory Accuracy
Authors: Abdul Ghani Kartini , Choon Ning Lau
Published: March 2019

Eyewitnesses typically talk about the traumatic events that they have experienced based on their memory. This research aimed to investigate differences between emotional and factual retelling of eyewitness in terms of memory accuracy and error. Participants watched a traumatic robbery video and were instructed to recall the events in detail. Participants were divided into three retelling conditions where they: a) discussed the robbery in a factual way, b) focused on discussing their emotional response, and c) performed unrelated tasks. Results showed that eyewitnesses who talked about their emotion recalled less detailed memories and made more errors in free recall while eyewitnesses who focused on factual detail seem to be able to maintain their memory accuracy of the event.Keywords: eyewitness memory; emotional retelling; factual retelling; memory accuracy; memory error
Exploring the Possible Influence of Women’s Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) on Their Decision to Opt Out from Organizational Career to Self-Employment
Authors: Mohamad Hipiny Edawati , Abdul Halim Farida
Published: March 2019

The purpose of this study is to explore the possible influence of women’s entrepreneurial orientations (EO) on their decision to opt out from organizational careers to self-employment. It examines how women account for these transitions, reasons for opting for self-employment and experiences of self-employment. This research employs the qualitative methodology using semi-structured interviews as the main data collection tool. The study revealed that the entrepreneurial orientations of the women under study are commonly associated with the generally successful entrepreneurial behaviour of risk-taking, creative, proactive, competitive, aggressive and confidence. This suggests that enterprises and their women owners may benefit from efforts to increase their levels of entrepreneurial orientation in order to survive the dynamic, fast-paced and complex business environment characterized by shorter life cycles, globalization, and continuous improvements in technology. Hence for the women under study with higher entrepreneurial orientation levels, their transitions from their organizational career to self-employment or small business ownership are seen as attractive career moves.

 Keywords:  Women’s careers, entrepreneurial orientation, opting out
Reliability Analysis of Supervisory Styles Inventory: A Preliminary Study
Authors: Ghazali Nor Mazlina , Jing Wen Josephine Lo , Anuar Azzahrah , Aden Edris
Published: March 2019

The study aims to investigate the influence of the supervisory styles on supervision outcome among undergraduate counsellor trainees. Empirical gap and methodological gap are delivered through this study by considering Malaysian context as the background of the study and taking undergraduate population with heterogeneous sample involved. System Approach to Supervision (SAS) Model serves as the basis to carry out the study. This study is quantitative in nature with correlational research design to study both the influence and relationship between supervisory styles and supervision outcome (counsellor trainees’ satisfaction). The pilot study involved 30 students from the Bachelor of Counselling (Honors) program at UNIMAS who are undergoing their practicum training. Stratified random sampling technique is utilized to select the respondents. The Supervisory Style Inventory (SSI) instrument measures three subscales (attractive, interpersonally-sensitive and task-oriented style). The three subscales have reported high reliability analysis. The result showed that SSI has a high reliability analysis ranging from α = 0.868 to α = 0.924. The reliability values of the three subscales are reported respectively as follows: (i)attractive at α = 0.92; (ii) interpersonally-sensitive α = 0.87; and (iii) task-oriented α = 0.92. The SSI instrument is reliable for measuring the supervisory styles of supervisors towards supervisees. Implications of the findings for counsellors, supervisors, trainee counsellors and area for future research are discussed with regard to attractive, interpersonally-sensitive and task-oriented.  

 Keywords: Reliability; supervisory styles inventory; trainee counsellors; preliminary study
DISSEMINATING KNOWLEDGE THROUGH TAGS: RECOMMENDING TAGS FOR SCIENTIFIC RESOURCES
Authors: Us Saeed A. , Afzal M.T. , Latif A. , Tochtermann K.
Published: March 2019

Knowledge diffusion has prime importance for generation of new knowledge. The creation of new knowledge is not possible without referring or consulting the past work. Two very important potential flows related to knowledge diffusion can be observed in the common practice of researchers. First, in scientific research knowledge diffusion estimation using citation counts is generally used to establish the value of knowledge which inflates citations. Second the researchers use cited work to search the connected and related resources. Recently the social and collaborative phenomena termed as Web 2.0 has spurred new era of knowledge and information flow on the web. Its potential for the growth and diffusion of scientific knowledge has not been well explored. The emerging social and collaborative applications, such as tagging and bookmarking, are transforming the ways scientists and researchers organize their personal and collaborative information spaces. These bookmarking and tagging applications provide open data and rich metadata resources such as tags. Past research shows that the bookmarking and tagging can be used as a supplementary indicator for measuring research popularity and knowledge diffusion. However the current work exploits author keywords of scientific publications to link these resources with relevant tags extracted from a social bookmarking application such as CiteULike. This work compares, for a focus resource, the tags extracted from CiteULike based on author keywords with their corresponding tag cloud of CiteULike. The result shows that system extends the authors keyword set with social tags providing links to rich and focused resources in CiteULike. This also enhances the serendipitous discovery of emerging concepts related to the focused resource. Such a system may enhance the discovery of related and popular resources for researchers. This dataset has been made available publicly for scientific community.
A HYBRID KANSEI ENGINEERING SYSTEM USING THE SELF-ORGANIZING MAP NEURAL NETWORK
Authors: Teh C.S. , Lim C.P.
Published: March 2019

Kansei Engineering (KE), a technology founded in Japan initially for product design, translates human feelings into design parameters. Although various intelligent approaches to objectively model human functions and the relationships with the product design decisions have been introduced in KE systems, many of the approaches are not able to incorporate human subjective feelings and preferences into the decision-making process. This paper proposes a new hybrid KE system that attempts to make the machine-based decision-making process closely resembles the real-world practice. The proposed approach assimilates human perceptive and associative abilities into the decision-making process of the computer. A number of techniques based on the Self-Organizing Map (SOM) neural network are employed in the backward KE system to reveal the underlying data structures that are involved in the decision-making process. A case study on interior design is presented to evaluate the efficacy of the proposed approach. The results obtained demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in developing an intelligent KE system which is able to combine human feelings and preferences into its decision making process.
TRADITIONAL MALAYSIAN MUSICAL GENRES CLASSIFICATION BASED ON THE ANALYSIS OF BEAT FEATURE IN AUDIO
Authors: Norowi N.M. , Doraisamy S. , Wirza R.
Published: March 2019

Interest on automated genre classification systems is growing following the increase in the number of musical digital data collections.  Many of these systems have been researched and developed to classify Western musical genres such as pop, rock or classical.  However, adapting these systems for the classification of Traditional Malay Musical (TMM) genres which includes Gamelan, Inang and Zapin, is difficult due to the differences in musical structures and modes. This study investigates the effects of various factors and audio feature set combinations towards the classification of TMM genres.  Results from experiments conducted in several phases show that factors such as dataset size, track length and location¸ together with various combinations of audio feature sets comprising Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT), Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs) and Beat Features affect classification.  Based on parameters optimized for TMM genres, classification performances were evaluated against three groups of human subjects: experts, trained and untrained.  Performances of both machine and human were shown to be comparable.
Trace Element Assessment in Fingernails of Adult Females
Authors: NGAU LAURA DINES , WEE BOON SIONG , SALIM NAZARATUL ASHIFA ABD
Published: March 2019

Trace elements play a significant role in giving nutritional benefits to the body because they act as essential cofactors for all physiological processes. However, there are some trace elements which may bring more harm than good when entering the human body. Due to its ability to incorporate trace elements in an amount that is proportional to an individual’s dietary intake and environmental exposure, human fingernails are suitable biomarkers in assessing the health status of an individual as they reflect on the trace element concentration present in the body. This study has analysed fingernail samples of 23 adult females residing in Kuching and Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia for four elements, namely Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn. By using flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (FAAS), the mean elemental concentrations found in fingernail samples of research participants were 171.8 ± 33.8 μg/g for Zn, 27.8 ± 14.8 μg/g for Cu and 2.64 ± 0.94 μg/g for Pb. Cd concentrations were not able to be detected as they were below the detection limits. A standard reference material, NIST 1568b Rice Flour was used to verify the methods used in elemental analysis using FAAS. Independent t-test which was used to compare the means of Zn and Cu between vegetarians and non-vegetarians showed no significant differences for both elements. Moreover, correlation analysis showed negative correlations between Cu/Zn pair and Pb/Zn pair, whereas significant positive correlation was obtained for Cu/Pb pair. The overall data from this study showed good agreements with data obtained from studies in other countries. Therefore, the current data in this study represents the latest background elemental concentrations in fingernails of the residents in Kuching and Kota Samarahan, Sarawak.Keywords: Adult females, fingernails, flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (FAAS), trace elements
Inventori Fonem Vokal Dialek Melanau Rajang (Belawai)(An Inventory of Vowel Phonemes of the Melanau Rajang dialect)
Authors: KAWI MARINA , ABANG SUHAI DAYANG SARIAH
Published: March 2019

Kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengkaji inventori fonem vokal yang wujud dalam dialek Melanau Rajang di kawasan Belawai di bawah pentadbiran Daerah Tanjung Manis, Sarawak. Kajian ini merupakan kajian lapangan dengan menggunakan kaedah temu bual untuk mendapatkan data. Sebanyak 250 senarai daftar kata Swadesh (Samarin, 1967) digunakan sebagai panduan pengumpulan data. Dalam kajian ini, dua orang informan berlainan jantina yang berumur dalam lingkungan 40 dan 60 tahun telah dipilih berdasarkan kriteria-kriteria pemilihan informan menurut Asmah Haji Omar (2001). Dalam menganalisis data, kaedah kualitatif telah digunakan berlandaskan kepada pendekatan struktural. Hasil kajian membuktikan bahawa terdapat sebanyak lapan (8) jenis fonem vokal yang wujud dalam dialek Melanau Rajang di kawasan Belawai iaitu empat (4) vokal depan [i, e, ε, a], satu (1) vokal tengah [ə] dan tiga (3) vokal belakang [u, o, ɔ]. Selain itu, distribusi/alternasi bagi kesemua fonem vokal dalam dialek Melanau Rajang di kawasan Belawai turut dibincangkan dalam kajian ini. Dapatan turut menunjukkan bahawa fonem vokal yang aktif ialah fonem vokal [a, i, u], manakala fonem vokal yang tidak aktif ialah vokal [ɔ, o, ε, ə, e].Kata kunci: Alternasi, Fonem, Fonologi, Melanau Rajang, Struktural
Eksploitasi Pekerja Asing, Halangan dan Cabaran di Sektor Pembinaan(Exploitation of Foreign Workers, Obstacles and Challenges in the Construction Sector)
Authors: MARJUKI MAIZATUL AZIAN
Published: March 2019

Kehadiran pekerja asing amat penting untuk pembangunan ekonomi. Kehadiran pekerja asing ke negeri Sabah juga menjadi isu paling besar dan sukar untuk diselesaikan sejak tahun 1990an. Pekerja migran datang ke negara Malaysia untuk mencari pendapatan walaupun mereka ditawarkan gaji yang rendah, keadaan tempat kerja kurang selesa dan dipaksa bekerja lebih daripada waktu yang sepatutnya. Ini telah mendorong berlakunya kegiatan perdagangan orang. Kementerian Dalam Negeri (KDN) berusaha memansuhkan sistem pengambilan pekerja asing melalui ejen atau syarikat tertentu dan menggubah dasar pengurusan pekerja asing.Kata kunci: Cabaran, eksploitasi, halangan, Malaysia, migran, pekerja asing