This paper aims to address those methodological issues by exclusively applying the newest modification to the Money Demand Model (MDM) in the form of the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to estimate the Malaysian shadow economy (SE) from 1985 to 2020. Methodological errors and spurious regression issues hindered earlier studies on the Malaysian SE. Some studies included Malaysia in their analyses alongside other Asian countries with similar levels of development, without accounting for the distinct economic environments of these countries. This study accounts for the influence of economic uncertainty (EU) and structural breaks. The study finds that Malaysia's SE averaged 40.8% of its official gross domestic product (GDP), peaking in 1995–1996, after which it gradually declined and stabilized around 39.4% of GDP. This substantial size highlights the critical need for tailored economic policies to manage SE growth effectively. The findings not only provide a clearer under.....

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The immune system is essential for the defense against infections and is critically implicated in various disorders, including immunodeficiency, autoimmunity, inflammation and cancer. The current study includes a new design of palmitoylated derivatives of thioglycolic acids (PTGAs) capable of triggering innate immune responses. The new series were accessible through a three-step synthetic route, including N-palmitoylation, Claisen–Schmidt condensation and thia-Michael addition. Their structures were elucidated using different 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic techniques and their purity was confirmed by elemental analysis. The most active PTGAs induced a 12–26-fold increase in the expression of TNF-α and IL-1β mRNA and triggered a marked release of NO in isolated macrophages. These levels were comparable to the responses elicited by heat-killed E. coli and S. aureus. The position of the palmitamide chain and aryl substitution had a significant effect on the TNF-α and IL-1β mRNA expre.....

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This study observed that many teacher professional development programmes are designed without considering teacher’s voice. The present study addresses this gap by designing an online speaking skills upskilling programme that is based on a group of ESL teachers’ needs. The study employed the mixed methods research approach. Using the convenience sampling, 104 ESL teachers answered an online needs analysis survey. In the qualitative phase, an online interview was carried out with seven teachers who took part in the upskilling programme. Based on the findings, two conclusions can be made. First, for an upskilling programme that focuses on the enhancement of the speaking skills to be successful, psychological constructs such as self-esteem and anxiety need to be considered at the design stage. Second, as the programme was conducted fully online, having synchronous sessions is an important design feature. There are two implications. Firstly, it underscores the importance of integrating.....

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Even though mobile tourism analysis is developing, there is still a lack of literature regarding its formation patterns which makes the picture of its evolution incomplete. The evaluation in this study was carried out in general by emphasizing the evolution of exploratory analysis on the theme of "mobile tourism". This article aims to determine the increasing development of mobile tourism in terms of the number of publications, journals, authors, and the most relevant citations. Then analyze the itinerant tourism distribution map based on grouping, with merging, joint citation, collaboration network analysis, and joint word assessment, and interpret the conceptual structure of the country's co-occurrence and collaboration network regarding its visual representation. The method used is a descriptive approach through bibliometric analysis. An in-depth search of the Scopus database and RStudio software was conducted, screening, analyzing, and interpreting 752 relevant articles from 2014 t.....

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Background. The development of tactical and technical skills is critical for young athletes engaged in team sports, particularly in field hockey, where quick decision-making and strategic play are essential for success. Objectives. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a structured tactical and technical training module on the performance of field hockey players (U-16) in Malaysia. Materials and methods. A quasi-experimental design was used, involving 40 participants who were randomly assigned to either an intervention group (n = 20) or a control group (n = 20). The intervention group underwent an eight-week tactical and technical training module, while the control group followed their regular training regimen. Pre-test and post-test assessments were conducted to measure knowledge and performance in four key areas: ball action/direction, opponents’ action, positioning, and action during changing situations. The data were analyzed using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (M.....

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Self-efficacy in English language learning is directly correlated with the success of the students in learning English, the models they follow at each level, the encouragement and suggestions received by their groups, and the evaluations their teachers provide them. As an innovation for the traditional teaching method, the flipped classroom teaching model can affect the formation of self-efficacy in English language learning from the above four aspects. It has a theoretically positive promotion of self-efficacy. The study employed a quasi-experimental approach and semi-structured interviews to investigate whether the flipped classroom teaching model has a positive impact on self-efficacy in English language learning of the students of Chinese higher vocational colleges. The results showed that flipped classroom had a significant positive impact on students’ self-efficacy in English language learning. © The Author(s) 2024...

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Forecasting haze is essential for protecting the environment, the economy, and public health. It assists authorities in taking preventative action to lessen the adverse effects of haze episodes and boost community resistance to air pollution. The goal of this study was to create a model for haze prediction by using two methods, multiple linear regression and chaos theory. In this study, chaos theory forecasts haze using univariate time series which is PM10, whereas multiple linear regression (MLR) utilizes multivariate time series for its predictions, namely ambient temperature, wind speed, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and sulphur dioxide. Data for this study will be collected during the southwest monsoon from an industrial area in Klang, Selangor. The results of these two models will be compared to determine which model gave better performance. With these predictive models, policymakers and relevant authorities can receive timely alerts, allowing them to implement prevent.....

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Business model innovation is crucial for enhancing company performance. This study aims to investigate the relationship between the six dimensions of sustainable business model innovation and company performance among Chinese electric vehicle brands. A structural equation model is constructed based on a comprehensive literature review and hypothesis development. Using PLS-SEM, this study empirically analyzes questionnaire data collected from the top 12 electric vehicle brands in China to explore the relationship between these six core dimensions and company performance. The results indicate that innovation in “value proposition to customers”, value creation, value delivery, and “value of residual” have a significantly positive impact on the performance of Chinese electric vehicle brands. However, value capture innovation and “value of after-sales service” innovation were not found to be statistically significant. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the mechanism thr.....

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With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, recommendation systems have been widely applied in various fields. However, in the art field, art similarity search and recommendation systems face unique challenges, namely data privacy and copyright protection issues. To address these problems, this article proposes a cross-institutional artwork similarity search and recommendation system (AI-based Collaborative Recommendation System (AICRS) framework) that combines multimodal data fusion and federated learning. This system uses pre-trained convolutional neural networks (CNN) and Bidirectional Encoder Representation from Transformers (BERT) models to extract features from image and text data. It then uses a federated learning framework to train models locally at each participating institution and aggregate parameters to optimize the global model. Experimental results show that the AICRS framework achieves a final accuracy of 92.02% on the SemArt dataset, compared to 81.....

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Augmented Reality (AR)is a technology that augments reality with two‑ or three‑dimensional computer‑generated imagery (CGI), objects, or information, and allows users to interact efficiently. The aim ofthis study was to measure the effectiveness ofAugmented Reality (AR) application in teachingHuman Body anatomy and determine the attention and confidence level which contributes to learning motivation among sports school students before and after using a particular AR application online, hybrid and face to face teaching. This pre‑post experimental study conducted among 32 sports school students in BukitJalil Sports School who registered for human anatomy subject. A written testwas conducted on the topic of human body anatomy after teaching using the traditional method. Then the same group of pupils learned human body anatomy using Augmented Reality application. Apost‑testwas conducted to evaluate the understanding and achievement. The pair sample t‑testwas used to determine t.....

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