George Town Festival (GTF) is a month-long festival that commemorates the inscription ofGeorge Town as a Cultural World Heritage Site (CWHS) by UNESCO in July 7, 2008. Inaugurated in 2009, the festival was scheduled to be an annual event. The objectives of GTF are three-fold: (i) to celebrate UNESCO George Town Cultural World Heritage Site (the Site) and to showcase the unique diversity of local culture and heritage; (ii) to present an annual international festival to showcase local and international performances and enrich the cultural environment of Penang; and (iii) to serve as a catalyst in raising wider public interest in the arts and to encourage cultural exchange and dialogue. Nevertheless, since the commencement of GTF between 2010 and 2019, much has been debated that the festival lacks of local representations. Despite its controversial debate, very few studies had been carried out. Hence, the aim of this present study is to systematically review a considerable amount of past .....

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The purpose of this study is to determine the use of Cognitive Research Trust (CoRT) Program to teach expository writing for primary Year 6 students. The participants of this study comprised of 25 students who have acquired basic language skills, however they struggle to write good essays as they do not know the techniques to elaborate ideas. The data of this mix-mode study were collected through tests (Pre-test and Posttest) and interview. The test results showed that the mean score of the Post-Test was significantly higher than the mean score of the Pre-Test. The findings from the interview showed that the participants had positive response towards this intervention and it was a helpful tool to improve their writing skill. The findings strongly suggested that CoRT program could be a useful technique in assisting the teaching and learning process of writing skills.  ..

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Increase in the number of population in the lowelevation coastal zone has increase the importanceto reduce the risk of coastal and nuisance flooding, especially during high tide. This study attempts to generate forecast of high tide data using several statistical approaches such as seasonal naive model, Holt-Winter, Theta method and seasonal autoregressive and moving average method. Based on the decomposition plot using additive components of the time series, there are seasonal components in each data sets and increasing trend can be observed at Permatang Sedepa and Bagan Datuk, while decline follows by slowly increasing trend can be seen at Pelabuhan Klang station.Among all methods applied to the time series data,Theta method gives the lowest error for Pelabuhan and Permatang Sedepa with accuracy of 0.0403 and 0.0457 respectively, while Holt-Winter method gives the lowest error for high tide data at Bagan Datuk with accuracy of 0.0456. Malaccastraits serves various purposes including .....

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Biopolymers have been used as a replacement material for synthetic polymers in scaffold forming due to its biocompatibility and nontoxic properties. Production of scaffold for tissue repair is a major part of tissue engineering. Tissue engineering techniques for scaffold forming with cellulose-based material is at the forefront of present-day research. Micro- and nanocellulose-based materials are at the forefront of scientific development in the areas of biomedical engineering. Cellulose in scaffold forming has attracted a lot of attention because of its availability and toxicity properties. The discovery of nanocellulose has further improved the usability of cellulose as a reinforcement in biopolymers intended for scaffold fabrication. Its unique physical, chemical, mechanical, and biological properties offer some important advantages over synthetic polymer materials. This review presents a critical overview of micro- and nanoscale cellulose-based materials used for scaffold preparati.....

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Innovative technology on intelligent processes for smart home applications that utilize Internet of Things (IoT) is mainly limited and dispersed. The available trends and gaps wereinvestigated in this study to provide valued visions for technical environments and researchers. Thus, a survey was conducted to create a coherent taxonomy on the research landscape. An extensive search was conducted for articles on (a) smart homes, (b) IoT and (c) applications. Three databases, namely, IEEE Explore, ScienceDirect and Web of Science, were used inthe article search. These databases comprised comprehensive literature that concentrate on IoT-based smart home applications. Subsequently, filtering process was achieved on the basis of intelligent processes. The final classification scheme outcome of the dataset contained 40 articles that were classified into four classes. The first class includes the knowledge engineering process that examines data representation to identify the means of accomplish.....

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Research on the Malay cultural landscape in the Malay Archipelago is based on several factors, which include function, tradition, and the Malay culture. These factors are widely found inMalay literature, which plays a significant role in designing the landscape of Malay culture. Malay literature includes Old Malay manuscripts, Hikayat Melayu (Malay folktales), and Malay poetry, all of which are based on the beliefs, mindsets, and culture of the Malay community. These are demonstrated in a tangible or intangible manner through the environment of the traditional Malaylifestyle, inherent in Malay life values and in the symbolism of places. This review employed a document analysis to identify the elements and components of the Malay cultural landscape and its metaphorical aspects, as reflected in the aforementioned four types of Malay literature. Moreover, this review obtained information on the elements of the Malay cultural landscape that determine and explain the nature, function, and s.....

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This paper reviews literature on using songs particularly action songs among ESL/EFL students. Several recent studies have found out action songs help the pupils to improve their English language skills. The use of action songs is hoped to help the pupils to enjoy learning during English lessons and to help them to be more focused and active in the lessons. Findings from the reviewed revealed that songs particularly action songs can improve students’ English proficiency skills, motivation and attitude with regard to the use of songs in classroom and teachers’ and students’ perception of using songs. It shows that songs strengthen memory and recall, increase language skills and promote socials skills and cooperation.  ..

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This review research analyzes literature on the use of higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) in EFL/ESL classrooms. Several recent studies have discovered HOTS helping the students think critically and innovatively. The use of HOTS is aimed to help the students to be independent, problem- solver and decision-makers in the future. Findings from the reviewed showed students are interested in learning HOTS activities but teachers lack expertise and motivation. Teachers should comprehend and apply HOTS in their teaching process with global competencies. Several recommendations are made by the researchers for enhancing the HOTS such as (1) sending the teachers to additional courses and professional development training, (2) providing adequate resources and technical infrastructure that related to HOTS and (3) proper guidelines from the Ministry.  ..

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The research investigates the effects of cooperative learning strategy to ameliorate Malaysian ESL students’ speaking skills. It is not an uncommon issue that ESL/EFL (English as Second/Foreign Language) students face some difficulties to interact fluently in English language, in fact, it is a problem faced by students not only in Malaysia but around the world. The Malaysian Education Ministry is working deliberately on increasing students’ English language proficiency in order to unlock all sort of doors for students to excel in their future endeavors. In order to improve ESL students’ speaking skills, an appropriate strategy is crucial in teaching-learning process. This paper also investigates of the ESL students towards cooperative learning and their motivation towards speaking skills. This study is believed to be beneficial to the students, academicians and also the policy makers.  ..

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In recent years, the development of nanoparticle materials for water treatment has received great attention. From an industrial technological view point, the application of nanomaterials in the twenty-first century for water treatment will be the focal point of advanced materials design, processing and progress. In this context, the potential utilisation of different types of flocculants to clean up contaminated water becomes important to address the tremendous increase of water pollution resulting from continued high-level global industrialisation. A number of researchers have investigated the effectiveness of various nanoflocculants for this purpose. Although these nanoflocculants have been reported to successfully treat contaminated water, their flocculation performances are different. To the best of our knowledge, there is no review article which summarises the application and performance of nanoflocculants in the treatment of water containing various types of contaminants. This re.....

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