Even from the first centuries before Christ, it could be seen that the Indian arts, culture and literature had spread to the Malay islands. Initially, the coming of Indians to the Malay Islands was centered on business. Eventually, in the course of time, trade connections turned into cultural connections. With cultural connections, Indian arts and literature began to be rooted in the Malay islands. Due to that, the famous epics of the Mahabharata and Ramayana were translated into the ancient Javanese language and were used. Mahabharata stories from ancient Javanese language had been translated into Malay language. After the conversion of the Malays into Islam, the Mahabharata stories had been translated into Malay language followed by translations from the Arabic and Persian languages as well. Mahabharata stories In Malay literature are more prominent in their puppet shows.    ..

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Based on the analysis of student achievement throughout Vocational Colleges in Malaysia, it was found that the Microcontroller subject had the lowest achievement compared to other subjects. The results of the achievement analysis also show that students have difficulty achieving good results in the subject of Microcontroller. This indicates the need for improved implementation of the Microcontroller teaching and learning system implemented in the classroom. In regard to this matter, this study aims to identify the difficulty level of the six main topics (unit 1 - 6) and sub-topics in ETN5044 as well as the perception of the lecturers and students towards the existing module and the teaching and learning methods of the Microcontroller subject. The findings of this study shall initiate the phase of developing a learning module for the Microcontroller (ETN5044) subject using Problem Based Learning (PBL). The needs analysis also aims to determine whether the product meets the learning need.....

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The research is aimed to find the most efficient implementation strategies  by Gauss numerical   methods  for  solving  stiff  problems  and  the  best  error  estimation  in  the variable  stepsize setting. The numerical methods considered as a research methodology are  the  2-stage   (G2)  and  3-stage  (G3)  implicit  Runge-Kutta  Gauss  methods.  Two strategies  by Hairer  and   Wanner  (HW)  and  Gonzalez-Pinto,  Montijano  and  Randez (GMR)  schemes  were  implemented.  The   variable  stepsize  setting  employed  the simplified Newton is modified to fit according to HW and  GMR schemes in solving the nonlinear  algebraic  systems  of  the  equations.  The  error   estimation  for  the  variable stepsize setting is computed using extrapolation technique with stepsizes  h  and  h  2 . HW and GMR schemes used the transformation matrix T to improve the efficiency of the methods and  also compared with the mod.....

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Issue of skilled and knowledge worker is an issue that frequently discussed among agricultural training institutions and employers in the sector. It is viewed seriously by Malaysian government through Agrofood Policy 2011-2015 by emphasising agricultural workers that are highly skilled and knowledgeable to assist Malaysia achieves high-income developed nation status. However, what are the characteristics of those high skilled and knowledge workers? This question is the base of this research. By using qualitative approach, modified Delphi technique / method is chosen as the research framework. Eleven experts from various stakeholders such as agriculture lecturer, leaders of agricultural training institutions, agricultural instructor and agricultural industry employer in Malaysia. Finding reveals ten characteristics of k-workers that are needed to enable them to have high employability skill in order to satisfy / fulfil national requirement of skilled workforce. This finding can be used .....

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The purpose of this study is to analyse lower primary science textbooks (grade 1-3), which were implemented by the Ministry of Education in Malaysia, in terms of thinking skills. To achieve this, a tool for content analysis including thinking skill items will be constructed. Two science teachers have be trained to conduct the content analysis for grade 1-3 science textbooks, the reliability and validity of analysis have be verified using Cohen’s kappa statistic. From the results, it can be seen clearly that Prioritizing”, “Evaluation” and “Detecting Bias” thinking skills are not included at all in the science textbook from year one until year three. While, the most frequent critical thinking skills are “attributing”, “analysing”, “Grouping and Classifying” and “Sequencing” gradually. Most of the skills have been in the pictures for year one, and in the “text” and then within the “picture” and finally within the “activities” for both of year two a.....

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This research aimed to develop and examine the effects of a simulation board game for learning  shipping management in two higher education institutions. A provisional board game design framework  was proposed by referring to the game-based learning literature. Based  on  the  framework,  an   instance  of  shipping  management  board  game  was developed, standing on the discreet event  simulation of a realistic shipping process and activity.  The  framework  was  converted  into   game  mechanics  for  constructing  the gameplay by applying a transparent process of gameplay,  while enforcing face-to-face interaction among players. The design of the board game was validated  by 27 experts through a playtesting session; and the effects of the board game usage was examined  through  a  non-equivalent  control  group  pre-test/post-test  quasi-experiment.  Edumetric tests   were  administered  to  measure  the  effects  of  the  boar.....

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Many studies have been done in addressing work-family conflict (WFC) among employees working in organizations. Thus, the focus of this study is to address WFC that has been faced by currently working and studying adults, and examine its relationship with their health and stress condition. In addition, this study examines the moderating effect of social support between WFC and working student’s health and stress condition. The sample for this study consists of working students enrolling in part-time programs in UniversitiPendidikan Sultan Idris, Malaysia. Questionnaires were distributed to students pursuing part-time programs in Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris. The questionnaire was developed based on past literature and proposed research framework. The questionnaire comprised of questions regarding WFC, stress, health, social support and demographic questions. Findings from the research indicated that WFC, faced by working students in UPSI, were significantly related to stress, he.....

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This  study  aimed  to  analyze  the  impact  of  employee  ownership  on  the  organizational  performance  of  state-owned  firms  with  the  mediation  of  employee  loyalty,  motivation and  satisfaction, and psychological ownership as a moderator in Pakistan. Agency theory is used as a  theoretical underpinning to operationalize the research framework. This study employed   quantitative  research  design.  The  data  was  collected  through  primary  and secondary data  collection tools. For primary data, a survey was conducted on a sample of 283 employees of the  state-owned firms under the scheme of employee ownership. The secondary data was collected for  financial performance, productivity, and financial cost. The findings showed a significant,  positive impact of employee ownership on net profit margin  (β=1.3198), return on assets   (β=1.167),  and productivity (β=0.0087), while the negative impact on financial cost (β.....

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The problem of an unsteady magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and heat transfer over a stretching/shrinking permeable sheet with ohmic heating is studied in this paper.  Using a nonlinear partial differential equations system, the physical problem is modeled and transformed into ordinary differential equations using similarity transformation.  Along with the boundary conditions, the equations are solved numerically using bvp4c in the MATLAB software and a comparison with previous literature shows an excellent agreement.  The effect of suction parameter, unsteady parameter and magnetic parameter in porous plate are discussed.  The results show that the velocity profile and skin friction coefficient increases when suction parameter increases.  Furthermore, the increase in magnetic and unsteady parameters resulted in the increase in the velocity profile and the skin friction coefficient respectively...

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We investigated bird species richness and feeding guilds in two contrasting habitat types i.e. forest and developed areas in Muallim district of Perak, Peninsular Malaysia. Field surveys were conducted by using point-count observation along transects and mist-netting methods to determine the presence of bird species in the forest and developed areas. There were 28 species of birds from 23 families found in these habitats, where 13 species were found in forest and 15 species in the developed areas. The species richness was similar between forest and urbanized habitats. Forest birds were mainly frugivores and frugivore-insectivores whereas those from developed areas were insectivore-granivores and insectivores. Insects are important food resources in both habitats. Our results suggest that the availability of food resources in a locality may partly influence the community structure of Avifauna where conversion of forest into developed areas may induce shifts in the distribution of feedin.....

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