bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Load balancing for Software Defined Network using Machine learning
Authors: Et. al. Aashish kumar,
Published: April 2021

Software-Defined Networking is one of the most revolutionary and prominent technology in the field of networking. It solves the problem that our traditional network faces. Still it can face a problem of bottleneck and can be overloaded. To overcome this issue, various researcher has it given various works but they are based on two or three-parameter to perform load balancing and also they are static or dynamic. We have proposed an intelligent technique that forwards the packet i.e. TCP/UDP packet traffic based on several parameters (based on 12 parameters discussed in the latter part of this section). Based on these parameters, we have applied the trained machine using KMeans [1] and DBSCAN [2] clustering algorithm and also determine the optimal number of clusters. We have tested it on the huge number of packet that are 5000, 10000, 20000, 50000, 100000, 10000000.We have also compared there results of the KMeans and DBSCAN algorithm and also discussed researchers view
Performance and Scalability Evaluation of the Wireless Body Area Network using Castalia Simulator
Authors: Kaur Manjot
Published: April 2021

Castalia is a model for WLAN (WSN), body areas (BAN), and low-power networks, which are commonly frequently used in research and technology, for networking devices. This paper, provides a simple assessment of Castalia’s memory use and computing time over a number of scenarios and characteristics of Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs). While, WBAN gives you the ability to monitor patients closely, but it presents many new challenges too. HKernel parameters like network size, simulation time, and mobile node fraction are, however, unique to demonstrate the scalability potential of Castalia.  We analyze our results and clarify the success of the simulator against intuitive results. Also examined in traffic adaptive approaches are IEEE 802.15.4 standard called Zigbee and IEEE 802.15.6 standard called baseline MAC. In fact, the procedures are also compared, the distribution ratio (PDR) are compared and the energy demand is evaluated. They are evaluated. Castalia users should use the tests and their interpretations as a guide to assess the drawback of their simulations, as well as to select criteria that balance performance consistency. We also demonstrate future users the efficiency capabilities of Castalia-3.2
Practices, Attitudes, and Knowledge towards COVID-19 among North-Indian Residents during the outbreak of the COVID-19
Authors: Et. al. Krishan Tuli,
Published: April 2021

There have been several measures adopt to manage the increase of COVID-19 in India. To combat the COVID-19 Pandemic faced by the nation, Govt. of India has in employ gigantic amount of procedures like Lockdown, aggressive testing, infusing funds to improve the financial system, present incentives to various sectors, promoting digital dealings, e-learning, etc. The challenge remains the acceptance and adoption of these by people of India. The need will be to educate people about this epidemic and increase their knowledge in the direction of it so that extend of the same can be slowed down. Majority people have not only to change their practices but also their attitude towards life. The lifestyles are bound to be affected due to COVID-19 across India. Through this study we will try to gauge on these aspects. For this a survey on people of Tricity (Chandigarh/ Mohali/ Panchkula) was conducted. The questionnaire included 20 questions to assess the understanding of the residents on the measures adopted for the prevention of disease and what they are doing on their own to come out of this. The study is based on their confidence level, knowledge level and the practices they are adopting towards this epidemic. The study found not too high levels of knowledge scores of the respondents. However, the results showed high levels of confidence and practices followed in such situation. The results of the demographic analysis revealed the knowledge scores showed significant differences existed between the groups based on gender and age. However, no significant differences are found for attitude and practices across the groups based on gender and age.
The Awareness and Implementation of Foodbank Program in Malaysian University
Authors: Et. al. Johanisma JAMIN,
Published: April 2021

The Foodbank Malaysia Foundation (YFBM) is a foundation that has been established to introduce as one of the initiative to help the underprivileged to access food which indirectly reduces the issue of food waste among Malaysians. Foodbank Malaysia Program has been introduced as a program to help anyone to make sure they can eat per day without any problem and this includes university students in Malaysia. Indeed, it is very important to distribute the food from the foodbank program to those university students who are in need to make sure all the underprivileged students get help from the university authorities. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to measure the level of awareness and to analyze the implementation of foodbank program among students. A total of 350 students were selected using simple random sampling method. The data were analyzed descriptively via Statistical Package for the Social Science Version 25.0 (SPSS version 25.0). Using descriptive statistics, the finding indicated that the university students had a high level of awareness about the foodbank program with a mean score value 3.61 and the result for the implementation of foodbank program among university students showed a high level with a mean score 3.99. Based on the Linear Regression Analysis results, the overall findings indicated that students’ foodbank awareness were closely related to the implementation of foodbank program in university with β=0.732
The Implications of Modern Technology (Gadjet) For Students Learning Development in University
Authors: Et. al. Siti Marpuah,
Published: April 2021

The development of modern technology (gadgets) has led to the widespread use of Internet channels for everyday use among students at the University. Student engagement in the use of gadgets is usually online through mobile phones, computers, tablets and laptops. Generally, social media engagement with modern technology is a new phenomenon experienced by University students who are seen to have implications for their learning. The main objective of the study was to identify the positive and negative effects of gadgets on the development of student learning at the University. In addition, the researcher proposes steps to help students overcome the negative effects of excessive use of gadgets. This study was conducted using quantitative method that is by using ‘google form’ involving only 50 respondents consisting of students  Moral Studies Subject of Year one (I) at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia. The results show that the positive effects of the gadgets can help students find information on the subject and make it easier to complete their assignments. Also, using gadgets or modern technology can improve their quality of work. While the negative effect of the use of modern technology on learning is that students spend a lot of time playing video games, surfing social media and others that are on the smartphone. To overcome these negative effects, researchers suggest that every student should be good at dividing time to carry out tasks as students by prioritizing work over video games and social media.
Water Treatment and Purification in Fiqh Perspective
Authors: Et. al. Wan Ainaa Mardhiah Wan Zahari,
Published: April 2021

Water is the primary source needed to ensure human and other creature life continuity. There are a lot of water on this planet, but increasingly this water is not where it is needed or it is of inadequate quality (purity) for human consumption or other beneficial for example industrial, agricultural and so on purposes. Contaminated water supply causing harm to human body health and also contributes to extinction to the certain creature. Thus, water-saving or wise water usage is an important matter in Islam. Reuse of wastewater or sewage water is a solution to the water crisis problem faced nowadays. The contaminated water is purified and treated by certain processes. Water purification or treatment water is introduced to produce pure and clean water. However, discussions and debates among experts and societies continue to occur because the water is categorised as pure water but not purify (musta'mal) and impure water and not purify (mutanajjis). Therefore, this study aims to identify the concept and method of water purification and treatment (تطهير الماء) according to Fiqh perspective. Methodology of this study is qualitative approach by using document analysis by analysing several classic Fiqh books by four mazhab (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafie and Hanbali). Hence, this study can discover the water purification method suggested in Fiqh perspective to be applied by Muslim communities in Malaysia.
Malaysia’s strength in women leadership: success factor in localising the United Nations sustainable development goals
Authors: Et. al. Shahnaz Shahizan,
Published: April 2021

Countries worldwide pledged to achieve the targets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) introduced by the United Nation (UN) by the year 2030. Malaysia, amongst other developing countries, may need to focus on the localisation of the UN SDG led by women representatives, to ensure its success. This research aims to illustrate some of the many strengths that this country has, in achieving the successful localisation of the SDG, which is the existing knowledge of the SDG, and evidence of exhibited commitments to SDG related activities by selected women in focus group studies. Findings from a questionnaire distributed to 628 women representatives in Malaysia suggests substantiated SDG localisation efforts and prioritised goals according to the locality. With further examination on other strengths and weaknesses in the future, this research justifies reasons in entrusting women local leaders to ensure the successful implementation of the UN SDG in Malaysia and to be made a model for similar developing nations of the world.
Analysis of Da’if & Mawdu’ Hadith in the Book of Ta’lim Al-Muta’allim by Shaykh Al-Zarnuji
Authors: Et. al. Arwansyah bin Kirin,
Published: April 2021

Ta’lim al-Muta’allim’s book by Sheikh al-Zarnuji is a turath book containing ethics and manners of learning and teaching between teachers and students. This book is famous and distributed in the Archipelago especially in Malaysia and Indonesia. It is also widely used in pesantran or pondok nowaday. Sheikh al-Zarnuji used hadiths of prophet Muhammad s.a.w as the main source and hujjah in Ta’lim al-Muta’allim’s book. He also included some other categories of hadith including da’if and mawdu’ hadiths. The issue is Ta’lim al-Muta’llim’s book contains many da’if and mawdu’ hadiths and have been referred by Muslim. This study is very important to understand the method and rule of practicing of da’if and mawdu’ hadiths. Hence, this study aimed to analyse da’if and mawdu’ hadiths contained in Ta’lim al-Muta’llim’s book. The methodology of this hadith is qualitative method by using content analysis approach toward Ta’lim al-Muta’llim’s book. Thus, the finding for the analysis of 40 hadiths in this book found that only 30% hadith can be used for fada’il al-amal if fulfilled the conditions by the ulama’s. Hence, thematic analysis is important to be done in order to ensure the quantity of da’if and mawdu’ hadiths in this book and also to ensure the da’if hadith can be practiced only for fada’il al-amal matter.
Ethnic and Religious Tolerance: Barrier Factors and Improvement Measures Based on Malay Youth Perspectives in Malaysia
Authors: Et. al. Zahrul Akmal Damin ,
Published: April 2021

Ethnic and religious unity is a thing that every country wishes for not exempting Malaysia. Tolerance among the population is very much expected to achieve this. Nevertheless, ethnic and religious diversity in Malaysia is often seen as a challenge for realizing tolerance and thus creating unity. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze the barrier factors for ethnic and religious tolerance while at the same time identifying proposals for improvement measures to tolerance among the community. Hence, the Focus Group Discussion or FGD study design was used by involving 20 Malay youth informants as information providers. As a result of the analysis it can be concluded that there are six themes that exist as a barrier factor to ethnic and religious tolerance, namely (i) social gap; 38.06 percent, (ii) political debate; 16.42 percent, (iii) religious differences; 16.42 percent, (iv) economic inequality; 11.94 percent, (v) rights and constitution; 11.94 percent, and (vi) primordial sentiment; 5.22 percent. Meanwhile, in addressing the problem of ethnic and religious tolerance, the informants also proposed four perspectives on improvement measures i.e. (i) social empowerment; 71.19 percent, (ii) political role; 15.25 percent, (iii) the rule of law; 10.17 percent, and (iv) maintaining the image of Islam; 3.39 percent. The issues are important to be scrutinized because the practice of good ethnic and religious tolerance can unite the community, thereby driving the stability and progress of the country.
Evaluating impact of the education foundation law in management system of the private Indonesian Islamic school
Authors: Et. al. Muhammad Syaifudin,
Published: April 2021

In this paper, we evaluate the impact of the education foundation law in the management system of the private Indonesian Islamic school. Islamic schools or madrasas are the goal of the Muslim community to educate their children where Islamic knowledge and sciences technologies are combined. The private madrasas were initiated, established and organised by the governing boards. Rapidly growing of the private madrasa but lack of management system makes the Indonesian government to stipulate law number 16 of 2001 and law number 28 of 2004. A total of 251 respondents from various foundations among six cities in Indonesia were contacted and interviewed. Instrument analysis was performed using the Rasch model approach through the Winsteps program. We observe that three groups of respondents have the same characteristics of answers. It indicates the tendency of respondents to more agree and practice the mentioned items. The respondents were found to face great difficulties when answering dual positions and authority of the governing boards. We conclude a small impact of the applicable law in the management system of the private madrasa.
UTHM Muslim Students Proficiency on the Ahl Sunnah Wal Jamaah Background, Characteristics and Aqeedah Methodologies
Authors: Et. al. Shakila Ahmad,
Published: April 2021

Ahl Sunnah Wal Jamaah (ASWJ) is a name given to a dominant group of Muslims who adhere to the teaching brought by Rasullah SAW and his companions. In Malaysia, ASWJ  Asyai’rah has its place in the main stream and is being used in  Islamic education modules at all levels of studies starting from pre-school up to secondary school. As a result it has been able to create uniformity and harmony in Muslim students way of thought when they are at tertiary level. It is expected that  all Muslim students undergo a formal education process about ASWJ background, characteristics and methodologies that are used in aqeedah discussion. The article is intended to explain a research pertaining to Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia muslim students proficiency towards ASWJ background, characteristics and methodologies used in discussing aqeedah.  A total of 236 diploma students were involved in the study. At the time of the study, the students were undertaking Introduction of Islamic Studies (UQI10402) course that was offerred  by the Department of Islamic Studies, Centre for General Studies and Co-curriculum during a special semester. Students were required to respond to 20 items serving as indicators on ASWJ background, characteristics and methodologies.  5 points likert scales were employed  in the Google Form survey. The findings indicates a very high level of students proficiency on the ASWJ backgrounds and characteristics (mean=4.620). However, upon anlysis there are four items in methodologies indicating a high level of proficiency(mean=3.915 to 4.169).  The findings is hoped to give valuable information to the related authorities  in strengthening the  ASWJ  aqeedah module namely;  UTHM Islamic Centre, Ahl Sunnah Wal Jamaah Institute,UTHM, UTHM General Studies and Johor Islamic Council.
Systematic Literature Review: Implications of Mental Illness on Life and Working Integrity
Authors: Et. al. Nor Shela Saleh,
Published: April 2021

Mental health problems in society are becoming new and more distressing as explained by the Ministry of Health Malaysia and the World Health Organization. Mental problems occur amongst working adults, the elderly, adolescents and children, men and women. Recent research confirms that the causes of mental health problems are due to genetic problems, personal problems, financial problems, learning pressures and stress at workplace. The effects of mental health problems can lead to depression, emotional tension, personality disorder and suicide. In order to obtain a wealth of information, researchers have accompanied critical analysis studies by viewing at several empirically established from previous studies. The first finding shows that mental illness classified as a brain disorder, an emotional disorder and an abnormal attitude. The second finding explains that the level of mental health knowledge among students is still low. The third study examines the causes of schizophrenia, which have four causes of the disease, namely genetic factors, drugs, work stress and poverty. The fourth finding explains the experience of caring for a mentally ill person who is also having trouble in the life of the patient's family. Generally, this study explains that mental illness is a problem that has various negative effects on various people. Implications of mental illness transpire over the long term if treatment not properly performed. Therefore, proactive initiatives prerequisite to be taken by all parties to ensure the quality of life of the people will perfect and normal devoid of interruption of mental illness.
The Contribution of Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) towards World Culture
Authors: Et. al. Nik Kamal bin Wan Muhammed,
Published: April 2021

In Indian tradition, the religious development of a person is completed when he experiences the world within himself. Sri Ramakrishna, a Bengali temple-priest propagated a new interpretation of the Hindu scriptures. Without formal education, he interpreted the essence of the scriptures with unprecedented simplicity. With deep insight into the rapidly changing social scenario, he realized the necessity of a humanist religious practice. Therefore, adopting a modern perspective, this paper attempts to highlight the contribution of Sri Ramakrishna in India towards the world culture. Qualitative methods through a systematic sociohistorical analysis that summarized the literature based on documents, books and journals are used in this paper. The results show that the Ramakrishna Mission movement has contributed significantly to Indian civilization in education, humanity, literature and spirituality. Although they are not politically involved, their contribution remains significant in shaping a free-thinking, self-respecting and fearless citizen towards British colonial in India.
Johor Military Force (Jmf): The Only Royal Security Force in Malaysia
Authors: Et. al. Muhaymin Hakim bin Abdullah,
Published: April 2021

The unique feature of the state of Johor that distinguishes it from other states in Malaysia is the existence of its own royal security force known as the Johor Military Force (JMF) or ‘Askar Timbalan Setia Negeri Johor’ (ATSN). The JMF was established in 1886 by the late Maharaja Abu Bakar as contained in the Loyalty Agreement signed by the Johor state government with the British government at the Colonial Office, London. The JMF once served as a state defense fortress besides assisting the police in ensuring security in the state of Johor. With the inclusion of Johor into the Federation of Malaya, JMF has remained until now but its role has shifted to the security of the family of Sultan of Johor and its assets only. Now, after a century, today's generation is less knowledgeable about the role and historical value that exists with this JMF team that needs to be known and preserved. This article aims to provide an explanation on the existence of the JMF team in more depth to the current and future generations. Library research was used with reference to the printed documents housed in the National Archives of Johor Branch and the Johor Royal Museum in addition to the research on digital media through the ‘History Channel’ documentary. The results of the study show that the existence of this team needs to be fully preserved and further research needs to be done thoroughly to ensure that its historical value continues to be preserved from time to time.
ModifiedCritical Incident (mCIT): AMeans to Uncover Experience of Mobile Social Messaging System Using Informant-SpecificCues
Authors: Et.al FazillahMohmad Kamal
Published: April 2021

Part of Human-computer interaction (HCI)researchevolves around understanding of the experiential aspects of users -their what, why and how of technology use in the domestic setting which is always privy to the users. The process of understanding is often not straightforward and a reliable means to develop thisHCI knowledge is deemed necessary. This article describes a study whereCritical Incident Technique (CIT) was adapted to HCI research and applied in the context of social messaging system use in understanding technology-mediated familial bonding enactment.CIT often involves the recalled critical incidents – or significant instances of a specific activity as experienced by research participants to recognize similarities, differences, and patterns, and to seek insights into how and why people engage in the activity of interest.However, such approach may contaminate the reliability and trustworthiness of the findings. Thus, our adapted version of CIT utilizes the procedures and logic of CIT, but differs in two ways: 1) Relying on situated and informants’ genuine critical incidents to elicit experience of interaction and 2) ‘uncritical’ incidents were also included as complementary to critical incidents to cueing informants on the phenomenon of interest. This uncritical incident represents negative evidence to counter the drawback of existing technique.Considering both critical and uncritical incidents in the studyhas provided a bigger picture and rich descriptions of the technology-mediated familialbonding enactment from both lens ofgenuine incidents and informants.
Cultivating the Ideal Teamwork through Real Software Development Project Experience
Authors: Et.al Salfarina A
Published: April 2021

It is proven by many studies that software project failures are driven by not just from a single reason but multiple factors, combined and somehow closely related to each other. Basically, failure in projects is when the software developed is not delivered within time, within stipulated budget and of poor quality. All these rooted from poor project management and certainly in agreement with findings reported in the literature. Realizing the importance of this aspect in ensuring software project success, this paper presents our efforts in preparing future software practitioners to become readily equipped especially with teamwork essence through gaining real project work experience with the industry. Emphasizing the application of Teamwork Quality (TWQ) constructs, we invited several software houses to be part of our teaching plan and assigned our students in 12 teams from SSE4301 course to the projects initiated by each company. 14 weeks duration of coursework were given to these students to carry out their projects and at week 15 they delivered a presentation of their product in front of the industrial supervisors, lecturers and the rest of the class for assessment. Our premise is ideal teamwork influences the success of a software project. We believe this small effort capable to instill and cultivate ideal teamwork among the students when dealing with real clients and different set of expectations. Apart from that, we hope the implementation of our teaching plan that incorporated the industry involvement directly would be able to transform and elevate the landscape of teaching and learning we have been practicing for all these years.
Evaluating Students’ Reaction to Lectures Using Facial Expression Recognition
Authors: Et.al Arshaad Mohiadeen
Published: April 2021

Interaction between lecturers and students plays a critical role in defining one's view of a lecture. However, with an increasing number of students enrolled in universities every year and limited classroom space available, classrooms are often overcrowded. As a result, it is fairly difficult for lecturers to immediately observe the learning feedback from all students on the lecture being delivered. In this paper, we propose a tool named Facial Expression Analysis Tool (FEAT) to help lecturers in universities in evaluating the effectiveness of their lecture by evaluating their students’ facial expression based on three facial expressions: bored, satisfied or confused. The tool utilizes dual CNN for detection and classification. FEATreceives the video feed via an IP camera from the classroom, and analyzes and stores the information on a cloud database. The aggregated information from the database is further filtered, and the statistical details are displayed on a visual dashboard on the web. The tool was evaluated in a real classroom environment and found to have achieved a good accuracy. The tool provides useful insights for the lecturers to better observe their students’perception on their lectures and improve their teaching approach if required.
Psychology Software Tool (PST) For Specific Language Impairment Person
Authors: Et.al Y.H. Ch’ng
Published: April 2021

Specific Language Impairment (SLI) is a disorder categorized by the inability of an individual to master spoken and written language, despite the absence of any apparent handicapping conditions. Many tools have been developed to diagnose or treat SLI, but these tools are largely made up of standalone components which must be utilized separately to obtain sufficient data for the diagnosis and treatment of SLI. Furthermore, some of these components are either very expensive or not widely available. As a result, therapists have faced many inconveniences when trying to treat individuals suffering from SLI. Hence, the development of an integrated, cost-effective Psychology Software Tool (PST) to diagnose and treat SLI is being developed as a solution to counter the inconveniences currently faced by SLI therapists. As a tool by SLI therapists to diagnose and treat SLI within children, the Psychology Software Tool offers standardized questionnaires with a special method to diagnose SLI will be presented in both text and audio, while a webcam will be used to deduce the amount of focus which is given by the patient to comprehend a particular element displayed on the screen. The diagnosis shall take into account the accuracy of answers provided within the questionnaires, the time taken to provide those answers and the aforementioned degree of focus. In terms of SLI treatment, the tool will also provide music therapy for SLI patients to work towards better speech production and comprehension. In short, PST will simplify and enhance the process of diagnosing and treating SLI patients.
High Impact Educational Practice through First Year Experience: Case of Undergraduates in UNIMAS
Authors: Et.al Shafinah Rahim
Published: April 2021

A compulsory course known as Soft skills and Basic Volunteerism offered at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) adopted the High Impact Educational Practices (HEIPs) through First Year Experience. This course aims at imparting soft skills among all students in UNIMAS, taken in their first semester of their program. The main course learning outcomes are to develop personal and social skills, academic skills, and conduct volunteerism activities. The course learning units were designed to assist students adapting smoothly to the new university environment while improving academic and people skills. A survey to gauge students’ perception about their learning skills was conducted before the course began and another survey was conducted after the course ended. In the assessment, the students reported group activities relating to meeting faculty members and academic advisors as reflections in e-portfolio platforms. In terms of personal gain, the majority admitted to increased self- confidence to communicate in English as a result of participating in public speaking, presentations and a variety of volunteering projects. Suggestions for future include out campus activities, use of high technology digital training materials and diversification of assessment reflective of the complete soft skills course.
Interactive Kahoot! - An Application to Enhance the Learning of Accounting Subject in School
Authors: Et.al Hazeline Ayoup
Published: April 2021

This study was conducted to examine the effect of using Kahoot! on students’ achievement of their accounting subject. The accounting subject is viewed as a difficult subject and was often dislike by many students. Therefore, this study hopes to provide evidence on a tool that may attract students to learn accounting subject known as Kahoot!. The study used a pre-experimental case study research design with explanatory sequential mixed method. A sample of 22 Malaysian students aged 16 years was selected from a school in northern Peninsular Malaysia. The instrument used was a pre-test and post-test which contained 30 multiple choice items. The Kuder-Richardson reliability value (KR20) is .85. The t-test result shows that there is a significant difference between the pre- and post-test accounting subject achievement scores of the students. Interviews indicates that the students enjoyed learning using Kahoot! and it helps them to be more engaged with the subject.
Inquiry-Based Learning Approaches to Enhance Engagement among Post Graduate Students in Research Methodology Courses
Authors: Et.al Aspalila Shapii
Published: April 2021

Lecturers teaching research methodology courses often feel concerned when discovering many students attempted research without the necessary research methodology skills even after completed compulsory faculty-organized research methodology (RM) courses. The lack of research knowledge and skills is evident when the submitted research proposal deemed not robust enough to qualify for a feasible study.  Scholars identify lack of deep learning during RM courses as the main factor since the courses are perceived as not having context and uninteresting hence there was little engagement with the material. Inquiry-based Reflectice Learning (IBL) has been argued to effectively rectify this as its pedagogies involve students in discovery learning that  uses  activities that are regulated by students. IBL requires students to apply questioning and researching skills to explore, conduct analysis, communicate, and reflect on information. In the study, inquiry-based instruction was used to encourage students to develop multiple perspectives and encourages empathy with the subject and eventually enhance engagement. The study involves a reflective cases study of research methodology courses to explore the lecturer’s classroom practice using IBL and the students’ experiences participating in IBL activities. st. The methodology used involve conducting a needs analysis via Google Form survey, interviewing and document analysis of the lecturers’ teaching plans and field notes and the reflections by both the lecturers and students. The findings from the survey indicate that most students admit they have minimal research skills and require assistance particularly practical research skills. Data from the reflections and field notes also show that students feel engaged with discovery activities conducted, while the lecturer feel students understand better and more engaged with IBL activities conducted. The study has shed significant input on the needs of RM students, participants’ experiences, and the challenges of implementing RM course using IBL. Some recommendations to facilitate more deep learning experiences among postgraduate students taking RM courses are also proposed.
Facebook as a Pedagogical Tool in Fostering Students’ Critical Thinking Skills
Authors: Et.al Jamaliah Abdul Majid
Published: April 2021

This study examineswhether the implementation of Facebook as a pedagogical tool enhances critical thinking skills among final year accounting students who enrolled in financial statement analysis course. A Facebook group was set up and students were encouraged students to use the Facebook group as a platform to discuss and share resources relating to their group project. The critical thinking skills is analysed based on students’ achievement in addressing thegroup project, which is assessed using a rubric for critical thinking skills. The study finds that the use of the Facebook group fosters critical thinking skills among students with the Facebook group (the experimental group) as compared to students without the Facebook group (the control group). These findings are noteworthy since final year accounting students are struggling with critical thinking skills, yet it is an essential skill for accounting professionals. The results of this study is hoped to encourage educators in the digital age to make use of social media as a technology-enhanced learning environment for the benefits of students.
Prediction of Student Dropout in Malaysian’s Private Higher Education Institute using Data Mining Application
Authors: Et.al Nurhana Roslan
Published: April 2021

Student dropout issue is a major concern among the academics and management of the university. The higher rate of student dropout impacted the university reputation such as reducing student enrollment, affecting the revenue of the university, financial losses for the country, and increase the existence of a social problem among the students. In this study, 2 popular classifiers were utilized to predict the student dropout namely decision tree and logistic regression model respectively. Several sets of experimental setting were employed which include three set of data partitioning - along with different types of decision tree and regression model. As for the logistic regression model, different data imputation and transformation method was tested to ensure that the model built is valid. A total of 7706 student data extracted from one of the private universities in Malaysia database (between year 2018-2019) to assess the capability of the classifier. The classifier performance is evaluated using machine learning performance measure of accuracy and misclassification rate. The result indicates that, decision tree - chi-square (2 branches) achieved slightly better classification performance of 89.49% on 80/20 data partitioning. The chosen model also identified the most important variable for accurate prediction of student dropout. Application of this model has the potential to accurately predict at risk student and to reduce student dropout rates.
Collaborate and Engage with Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Transforming Teaching for the 21st Century Learners
Authors: Et.al Sarah Shaharruddin
Published: April 2021

During the COVID-19 pandemic, attempts to nurture learners by educators to become more active and motivated learning experiences are getting more challenging. Since the past three months of the remote learning implementation, lecturers and students used various platforms to meet and teach the students virtually during the quarantine period and giving teaching materials. This study attempts to explain how online collaboration is integral in keeping learners engage and empower them which is becoming an important trend in the 21st century. A survey was conducted using questionnaire collected from 450 students studying in Universiti Utara Malaysia which looked on their knowledge of using Moodle and Microsoft Teams during the remote learning session and also explored the differences of the survey result from different student background based of gender, age and prior computer knowledge, on their behaviour and their perception on relationship building between their peers and lecturers in remote learning.This study found that by using remote learning platforms such as Moodle and Microsoft Teams effectively with focusing on collaborative elements, students gained better perception by studying them as a group rather than individual context which this study would show that online collaborative learning indeed plays an important elements for students achievement and their understanding of the knowledge they acquire. It is imperative for learners and educators to be mindful of these disruptive drivers and in becoming skillful talents to meet the changes spearheaded in the Industry Revolution 4.0 and the 21st Century Learning Design.
Assessing the Quality of MCQs in the Final Examination of UUM Foundation Students
Authors: Et.al Nurul Syazanabinti Hishamuddin
Published: April 2021

The multiple-choice question (MCQ) format is commonly used to assess student knowledge as it is able to accommodate a large number of participants. The advantages of MCQs are that they are easy to handle and the results are able to be obtained quickly. To ensure that students are effectively tested, it is important to analyse the quality of MCQs by assessing the questions or items using educational measurements. The aim of this study is to assess the quality of MCQs of final exam questions of foundation students by using the Difficulty Index and Discriminant Index. The sample for this study is the Introduction to Philosophy final exam paper which is one of the courses taken by foundation students. The analysis involves 33 graded final exams and 20 MCQ items. The findings showed that there are 3 items that are ‘good’ that can be retained, 9 items that are considered as ‘fair acceptable/not acceptable’ which can be retained or revised, and 8 items that should be revised or discarded. The results of this study show that it is important to assess the quality of items in the assessment as it is able to change the selection of items in the assessment.
Alternative and Online Assessment in the Context of Outcome Based Education: A Practical Guide
Authors: Et.al Rohana Sapawi
Published: April 2021

Alternative assessment measures the learner’s ability and proficiency in performing complex tasks that are related to the intended learning outcomes and relies on direct measures of target skills in a specific knowledge or skill-domain. Meanwhile, online assessment is an assessment conducted in an online environment on a fully automated platform. Both types of assessments are getting a substantial attention worldwide due to their many advantages. However, several factors must be taken into consideration in implementing the alternative and online assessment in an outcome- based education (OBE) system. Thus, this paper provides a practical guide to alternative and online assessment in the context of OBE - including the constructive alignment, student learning time and development of assessment rubrics. Other considerations are also discussed, namely the validity and reliability of the alternative and online assessment, and deterring plagiarism and cheating.
The Impact of Web 2.0 Tools on Economics Education
Authors: Et.al Ruhaida Saidon
Published: April 2021

Economics education has been overly paired with traditional "chalk and talk" teaching methods. However, educators must shift the conventional teaching approach to more innovative teaching methods that allow students to engage more effectively in the learning process. This study attempts to evaluate the impact of Web 2.0 tools on students’ interaction and engagement in learning Principles of Economics course. The data on the lecturer's observation, together with the engagement and expectations of forty-four students in the Principles of Economic class were used in this study. This study adopted Gibbs Reflective Model in gathering and analyzing the data. The findings indicate that the application of Web 2.0 has increased the students’ engagement and performance in learning Principle of Economics and making teaching and learning more effective and interesting compared to traditional teaching method. The results imply that current Web 2.0 tools can be successfully integrated into Economics education.
Analysing Liquidity, Credit Risk and Deposit Money Banks Profitability in Nigeria
Authors: Minh Hieu
Published: April 2021

This study examined the impact of liquidity and credit risk on profitability of selected deposit money banks(DMBs) in Nigeria. The study adopts an empirical longitudinal research design and used data set covering 7-year period from 2012 to 2018 from the annual reports of five DMBs. Pearson Correlation and multiple regression techniques were used in empirical analysis and testing of hypotheses. The result shows that there is a significant relationship between liquidity and profitability measured as return on equity (ROE). There is an insignificant relationship between credit risk variables and profitability (ROE). The paper recommends that optimal level of liquidity should be maintained to reduce cash sterility in the assets of banks. Though credit risk is not a main determinant of bank profitability; effective strategies should be put in place to monitor, control and manage credit risk.
Smart Energy Home Management Using Hybrid system
Authors: Et.al Vigneshwaran Perumal
Published: April 2021

Energy balance is one of the main criteria to operate the grid in stable condition. If there is any energy imbalance occurs due to increase in demand then the grid will not operate in stable condition. Increase demand is one of the major issues facing by grid. To address this problems many countries promoting the renewable energy generation this will support the grid to avoid energy imbalance problem. Prosumerplay a key role in this situation, where they can utilize the generated energy and remaining surplus power can integrate it to the grid. While utilising the renewable power generate it should be controlled and monitored effectively so that we can reduce the tariff cost. Solar panels installed in house need to  bemonitored continuously to improve the performance of battery. In this paper, the power line communication (PLC) compliant with Home Plug is implementing to check energy consumption. The system design is composed of three components: Driver circuit, ac supply, and smart device application. This system will switch over from solar energy consumption to AC supply according to the load requirement. This scheme will maintain the performance of a PV system and contribute to enhancing home energy  management system. The system design was stimulated with Matlaband verified with the hardwareresults.
The Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on UiTM Melaka Students’ Learning Session
Authors: Et.al Nurul Asma Mazlan
Published: April 2021

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the Restricted Movement Order (RMO) due to COVID-19 to March - July 2020 semester students of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Malacca. Through a confirmatory factor analysis, the student understanding scale was validated in three dimensions: technology acceptance, teaching approach and student readiness in the practice of Open and Distance Learning (ODL). The article also analysed the relationship between student understanding and the three variables. A total of 370 respondents had been selected using purposive sampling method using SPSS analysis. The result showed that there is a weak relationship between teaching approach and student understanding with the correlation of 0.355. It is followed by the moderate relationship between teaching approach and student understanding with the correlation of 0.613. Meanwhile, student readiness and student understanding have been identified as a very strong relationship with the correlations of 0.743. The findings also found that student readiness has the highest mean as compared to other factors. This result specified that the students of UiTM Melaka are not fully prepared mentally and physically for an inclusive ODL approach. They felt that ODL is very incumbering and difficult in understanding the content of learning sessions especially for the subjects related with calculations.
People’s Islamic Religious School (SAR) in Northern Malaysia: Administrative Model for Notable Achievements
Authors: Et.al Nazmi @ Nazni Noordin
Published: April 2021

People’s Islamic Religious School (PIRS) or Sekolah Agama Rakyat (SAR) in Malaysia is a non-sponsored religious school that needs a paradigm shift to become more visible and luminous in the national education system. The management of school that is not guided by an effective administrative model will effect on the school excellence. The continuity of the schools excellent performance depend heavily on the efficiency and effectiveness of the SAR administration. Generally, most of the SAR administration are based on each administrators discretion without relying on one common acceptable model for all SAR. Therefore. only a handful of SAR manage to excel in their operations. This study is done in order to identify the administrative practice and the challenges faced by SAR administrators in managing the SAR, based on these scenario. Eight SAR administrator in three northern state of Peninsular Malaysia (namely Kedah, Penang, and Perlis) were interviewed individually using a semi structured questions in this qualitative research. Data collected from the interview were then analyse with Atlas t.i version 8 (AV8) content analysis software. Findings indicated six administrative practice commonly adopted by selected SAR’s administrators that makes them the finest and most outstanding SAR administrators of their respective states. The findings also suggested one administrative model that could be used by all SAR as a guide to ensure smoothness and excellence of each SAR in order to produce and develop great leaders of the future with Islamic teachings as its root
Developing Students’ Critical Thinking Skills Using the Field Laboratory for Geography Education (Case Study on Mount Galunggung, Tasikmalaya, West Java, Indonesia)
Authors: Et.al Ruli As’ari
Published: April 2021

Purpose of the study: This study aimed to analyze the needs of the field laboratory for geography education which functions as an outdoor learning medium.

Methodology: The method applied in this study was descriptive qualitative research using three stages, namely preliminary needs analysis studies, field analysis studies through observation and satellite image overlay, and field function analysis for learning purposes.

Main Findings: The results indicated that the open space (environment) can function as a laboratory that can be used for teaching and learning, research, and community services. In addition, critical thinking skills that can be developed in the field laboratory for geography education included analytical skills, synthetical skills, identifying and problem-solving skills, concluding skills, and evaluating or assessing skills.

Applications of this study: This study provides geography teachers with information to develop a field laboratory as a learning resource.

Novelty: There are very few studies that examine field laboratories, whereas field laboratories are indispensable to develop students’ critical thinking skills.