This paper investigates the insights and experiences of multiple social actors towards different streaming school and to examine in what ways ‘national unity’ is affected by a different streaming school in Malaysia particularly within a multicultural society. Although the discussion in this paper is related to the Malaysian educational system, the social actors that contribute to this discussion are not the ones involved in policy making or policy executing. Data from the study came from twenty semi-structured and six focus group interviews with social actors of different ethnic groups (Malay, Chinese, and Indians). The use of thematic analysis in analyzing interview data for this study reveals the paradoxes in social actors’ perceptions and different experiences towards the schooling system. The findings show that there should be a dynamic and peaceful coexistence of diversity of culture so that none of the members of the society feel marginalized especially the minority and sub.....

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This study aimed to examine the metabolic cost during tyre and rope functional training. 20 male youth aged between 20 and 24 years old with average age (22.05 ± 1.46) were recruited for this study. Participants involved in three types of exercise that uses rope and three types of exercise using a tire. Metabolic cost (Metabolic Equivalent of Task value, oxygen consumption, energy cost, and pulse rate training) during training was measured using a special tool called portable metabolic analyzer. Results showed the average MET value for exercises using rope and tires for 10 minutes was 7.25 ± 1.62. The average recorded oxygen consumption was 1655.05 ± 295.703) mL · min -1. While the average energy used is 74.75 ± 14.78 kcal or 7.47 kcal · min -1. The average pulse rate during a 10-minute exercise function was 153.15 ± 13.28 per minute. Overall, using rope and tire as tools for resistance training would give many advantages for the functionality development among the individuals...

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This quantitative survey aims to measure the overall body fat, BMI, abdominal fat and the risk of cardiovascular diseases among 60 Tamil school teachers from Kuala Selangor District, Selangor. The subjects voluntarily participated in this study. The total body fat, Body Mass Index (BMI) and abdominal fat were measured using Omron Karada Scanner, meanwhile PACER test was used to measure cardiovascular endurance. The descriptive analysis showed, 71.67% Tamil school teachers from Kuala Selangor were found to be in the category of excessive body fat and obese. BMI levels, showed that 26.68% were overweight, 48.33% teachers were in level pre-obese till to obese stage III. Abdominal fat levels showed that 70% teachers were at risk. While only 20% of them having good cardiovascular fitness. The inferential analysis showed that there were significant differences in overall body fat and cardiovascular endurance between male and female subjects but BMI and abdominal fat levels showed no signific.....

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This study aimed to determine the association between sleep quality (SQ) and physical fitness components among 13-14 years old male students in a secondary school in Kota Kemuning Selangor, Malaysia. The sample consist of 162 students purposively selected according to their physical fitness levels (SEGAK test score). They were in three categories; higher (A score: 4.33±0.21, N=54), intermediate (B score: 3.27±0.26, N=54) and lower (C score: 2.35±0.36, N=54). The SEGAK tests were consist of BMI, step test, push-up, curl-up, and sit and reach. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) selfreported questionnaire was used to measure SQ. The descriptive analysis and Pearson Product Moment test were used to analyze the data. The results showed 51.8% of the students with higher fitness level, and 42.6% of the intermediate level reported “very good” SQ while only 25.9% of the lower fitness level had “very good” SQ. The correlation between overall SQ score and total fitness score was (r=.....

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Background: Evidence revealed that aquatic exercises are safer than land-based exercises and it allows increased movement amplitude and energy expenditure for obese, middle-aged, or elderly people, it is important to ascertain the physiological effects of aqua aerobic exercise on health among the obese students. This study aimed to determine the effects of aqua aerobics exercise on cardiovascular fitness (VO2max and resting HR) and weight loss (weight, BMI, and WHR) among obese students. Methods: Fifty healthy obese college students (22.28±1.83 years) with minimum BMI value of 28 kg.m-², voluntarily took part in this study. They have been divided randomly into an exercising group (n=25 and BMI=33.11±5.32kg.m-2) and control group (n=25 and BMI=33.64±3.12kg.m-2). The exercising group participated in an aqua aerobic exercise at 60-75% of maximum HR for 60 minutes, three times per week for 12 weeks. The changes (by pre and post-test) in weight, WHR, resting HR and VO2max were measured .....

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the repeated sprint ability (RSA) performance among university soccer players. Twenty-four university representatives were voluntarily recruited as participants of this study and were asked to perform the RSA test that was modified which includes change of direction component in it. Participants were required to perform the RSA test in two conditions, with and without ball. Sprint time, fatigue index (FI) and percentage of decrement score of sprinting (Sdec) were analysed and compared between both protocols. Results showed that the sprint time without ball was significantly faster compared to sprint time with ball. Besides that, the FI and Sdec were shown to be significantly higher in with ball condition compared to without ball condition. Due to the drop of performance seen in the with ball condition, it shown the need for coaches and athletes to enhance the ability to move fast with ball, as this will enhance their team ability to control t.....

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This study aimed to identify the importance of interpersonal relationship skills that need to be addressed for the development of education and the effectiveness in teaching. The need of interpersonal relationships that emphasized on the social and emotional development of students have also become the focus of the study. The role of interpersonal communication skills is seen from the teachers’ ability to master various forms of skills which includes speaking skills, classroom control, teaching techniques and the use of effective communication. This qualitative case studies are based on detailed information from five excellent teachers obtained through in-depth interviews and observation. The information was analysed in an interpretive and descriptive approach based on the themes that appeared and triangulation data techniques is done to determine the validity and reliability of the results. The study found interpersonal relationships skills played an important role in creating attra.....

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This paper concerns with the effect of exchange rate on gross domestic product (GDP) in the five founding member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN-5) namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Philippines. From theoretical perspective, exchange rate depreciation is a sign of economic failure in developing countries. However national economic perspective shows its merit in the increasing size of output. In this paper analysis, a set of panel data is used in which the time period was from 1980 to 2014 for the exchange rate variable of each member country. For the variable of GDP, the time period was from 1981 to 2015. In the pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation, the real exchange rate coefficient had a statistically significant effect on the GDP level in the five member countries. The results showed that exchange rate depreciation would cause an increase in the countries' level of GDP. The implication from this research is that exchange ra.....

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The Malaysian Government has been continuously encouraging the engineers, the practitioners, and the construction industry to use the Industrialised Building System (IBS), which is considered to be an important part of modern method approach of construction. According to Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), there are five main parts of IBS, namely precast component systems, steel framing systems, formworks systems, prefabricated timber framing systems, and blockwork systems, which have started to replace the traditional construction method. The objective of this study is to identifies the blockwork manufacturing process and also to identifies the decisive factor to setting up blockwork manufacturing plant. The methodology used in this study is relied on the qualitative approach. Data collection process was done by conducting observation to the location of the blockwork manufacturer and conducting interview with duration 45 minutes to 1 hour. The number of interviewee that in.....

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The construction industry makes up an important part of the Malaysian economy. Due to unpleasant working condition and the availability of cheap foreign worker, government has implemented the Industrialised Building System (IBS) for government project. This study aims to identify the payment issue of Industrialised Building System (IBS) in Malaysian construction industry and propose the recommendation to the IBS industry to make a better financial management for IBS project. This study employs quantitative and qualitative approach to collect information on the payment issue of Industrialised Building System (IBS) which involved contractor, manufacturer, developer and academician. This study is expected to help the contractor to maintain their business with especially at the early stage of construction which involved huge capital investment for the IBS project. The outcome of this study will encourage construction industry especially IBS contractor to have better understanding on financ.....

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