Places In Malaysia Research Articles

A Preliminary Study of Diversity and Distribution of Family Rubiaceae in Gunung Stong State Park (GSSP), Kelantan

This study was conducted to identify the diversity and distribution of Family Rubiaceae in Gunung Stong State Park (GSSP), Kelantan. Rubiaceae family is one of the broad and important families of flowering plants in the botanical and has potential for human, medicinal uses and other functions. This species has been found in various places in Malaysia, but in Kelantan which has only a few recorded data related to Rubiaceae. The main objective of this study is to measure the diversity and distribution of Family Rubiaceae in Gunung Stong State Park (GSSP), Kelantan using a random sampling method. It shows Rubiaceae family that was recorded at GSSP consists of 9 species with 41 individuals belonging to 6 genera. The diversity index for Family Rubiaceae was determined using Shannon Wiener -Index (H’) was calculated at 1.60 and Simpson’s Index (D) was 0.67. Species collected, recorded, and compared with several characteristics such as vegetative, flower, and fruit. Hence, the result presented was intended for the stakeholder to update the database to assist stakeholders in managing high conservation value forests (HCVF).

Gas chromatography mass spectrometry couple with quadrupole time-of-flight (GC-QTOF MS) as a powerful tool for profiling of oxygenated sesquiterpenes in agarwood oil

Agarwood (Aquilaria malaccensis) is very well known as the most expensive wood in the world due to its wide applications in perfumery, cosmetic traditional medicine, and religious ceremonies. The study aimed to give an in-depth characterisation focusing on marker compounds in A. malaccensis from different places in Malaysia. The establishment of an oxygenated sesquiterpenes chemical profile of the fungus-infected agarwood oil was achieved by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC–MS) coupled with quadrupole time (QTOF) technique. Aroma compounds were identified as sesquiterpenes and oxygenated sesquiterpenes where agarospirol was found in samples of all locations (3.12%, 3.54%, 3.36% and 2.26% from Melaka, Pahang, Kelantan A and Kelantan B respectively) and also N-hexadecanoic acid as one of the major compounds. Both compounds were further isolated by Prep-GC and confirmed by NMR. This study provides a reference for agarwood oil analysis from different origins in Malaysia.

Malaysia as a Film Location for Foreign Production

The foreign film industry is one of the creative industries that has helped a lot to generate the country's economy and improve the tourism sector. The arrival of foreign film production can enhance the country's reputation through the introduction of science and culture to the world community through film. In addition, the creative industry is able to introduce interesting places in Malaysia to be used as filming locations. Indirectly can promote Malaysia as a destination of choice for filming purposes. In addition to helping promote the country, job opportunities can be created for artists and behind -the -scenes crew. Various factors must be identified as to why foreign production companies make Malaysia one of their filming locations whether in the category of films, drama series, documentaries or television programs. This study aims to identify the focus location for the purpose of filming foreign films and also look at the attractions and facilities such as incentives provided by the government to the production of these foreign films for filming in Malaysia.

Arabic and English Loan Words in Bahasa: Implications for Foreign Language Pedagogy

Many Arab students are currently pursuing their education at Malaysian institutions, and they have to study Bahasa Malaysia as a university requirement to be able to communicate with people in the local community. Therefore, this study aims to help Arab students learn Bahasa easily as Bahasa contains many loan words from Arabic and English. This article gives Arab students examples of Arabic and English loan words with which they are familiar and shows them the different phonological adaptations of Arabic and English loan words in Bahasa as the Arabic, English and Bahasa sound systems are different. A corpus of non-technical Malay words that are commonly encountered in public places in Malaysia was collected and analyzed. A contrastive analysis of Arabic and Malay, and English and Malay phonological systems was performed. Different homogenization processes are applied to Arabic and English loan words depending on the differences between Arabic and Malay, and English and Malay. Examples of Arabic loan words in Malay are: menara, Sabtu, Ahad, Akhir, tahniya. Examples of English loan words in Bahasa are: stesen, kelab, tren, kompleks, imigresen, destinasi. Further implications for learning Bahasa Malaysia by Arab students are given.

Digital map of zoo negara using geospatial information system (GIS) approach

National Zoo of Malaysia or Zoo Negara is one of popular tourist attraction places in Malaysia that receives many visitors every day. Providing the best service and tour information for large volume of visitors every day is the main objective of Zoo Negara. However, the current issue facing by Zoo Negara is its current information medium where they still use printed paper-based mapping system. This medium is not helpful enough for the visitors to navigate inside the zoo as the information is insufficient and troubles Zoo Negara management in updating their map as well. In this paper, we propose a GIS-mobile based application that provides visitors with digital map. The digital map includes information about animals and events inside the zoo. Visitor can also view their current location and visited track on the map using navigation module. Zoo Negara management can regularly update their map and recent information easily through database.

IOT System: Water Level Monitoring for Flood Management

The present of natural disaster such as flood cause loss of life, property, devastation of livestock and agriculture. Flood is known as yearly disaster in Malaysia because of the monsoonal rainfall. Therefore, a system that provide an informative flood notification system that give early warning need to be develop to reduce the losses and early notification to the community in the affected area. The notification system will involve GSM network due to the coverage of GSM network is widespread and mostly available in any places in Malaysia. The notification messages will be sent to user in that area, such as head of village, police station and nearest safety agencies. System architecture designed using Arduino UNO acts as microcontroller of system that will perform various actions such as to observe height of water, temperature and humidity and send SMS through GSM shield. In order to validate the accuracy of proposed system, experiment was conducted using small scale prototype to simulate the real flood conditions. The system will provide real time and reliable measurement of water height and send SMS notification.

Tamar Jalis’ Bercakap Dengan Jin or Discourse with the Jinn: A Modern-Day Malay Odyssey

In April, 1981 Variasari, a Malay vernacular magazine that deals in the occult and the paranormal, published its first series of supernatural horror thriller written by a writer who went by the pseudonym Tamar Jalis titled Bercakap Dengan Jin or Discourse with the Jinn. The stories were apportioned into 284 series which saw the final instalment published in January, 2005. It was an unprecedented event in the history of Malay vernacular magazines’ success story. The story is about a teenager named Tamar who accompanied his grandfather, a faith healer and ghost buster of extraordinary prowess, on his journey to several places in Malaysia and Indonesia in the late sixties to help those who were in dire needs of assistance in fighting demonic–related cases. This paper attempts to discuss the collection of stories as a modern-day Malay odyssey. It will discuss four important elements in the story: the narratives of wandering; the ritualistic strands in the story; the theme of endurance as a mode of heroism; and the feminist role in the narratives. These are some of the elements that make the series of stories appeal to its die-hard fans. The series of stories simply had an uncanny effect on the Malay psyche. In its own unique way, the series of stories is akin to a modern-day Malay odyssey.

Diversity of Pteroptyx Fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) and Their Display Trees at Klias Peninsula, Sabah, Malaysia

Congregating fireflies are among the most marvellous organisms that fill the mangrove forests with “living fireworks”. These dainty creatures emit bioluminescence to attract mates by nightfall. Fireflies from the genus Pteroptyx aggregate on mangrove trees lighting up the riverine of several places in Malaysia, and this natural phenomenon provides local communities with lucrative business opportunity. Unsustainable management can bring disastrous consequences to the natural population of these graceful beetles. Without information on the current status of Pteroptyx fireflies in Klias Peninsula, any variation of this population in the future would be untraceable. This study was carried out to document the diversity of Pteroptyx fireflies and to identify their display trees in Klias Peninsula which is known as a firefly watching hotspot in Sabah. A total of four firefly species are found in Klias Peninsula, namely Pteroptyx tener Olivier, Pteroptyx malaccae Gorham, Pteroptyx valida Olivier, and Pteroptyx bearni Ballantyne. Pteroptyx tener is the dominant species in both Weston and Garama rivers while Pteroptyx bearni is the dominant species in Teratak River. The overall sex ratio on the display trees in Klias Peninsula was significantly biased towards the male. Seven mangrove species were selected as display trees by the congregating fireflies, particularly Excoecaria indica L. (Family Euphorbiaceae), Hibiscus tiliaceus, Nypa fruticans, Rhizophora apiculata, Avicennia alba, Excoecaria agallocha L., and Sonneratia alba J. Smith (Family Lythraceae)-IUCN Red List. Information on the display tree species provides indispensable information for conservation and rehabilitation purposes while information on the Pteroptyx firefly species composition and abundance can be used as reference to track the spatial and temporal variation of firefly communities.

DISASTER MITIGATION AND RESPONSE OF GOVERNMENT: COMPARATIVE STUDIES BETWEEN KELANTAN, MALAYSIA AND JIGAWA, NIGERIA

The incessant occurrences of natural and human induced disasters have become a serious menace to the World most especially in the developing countries or societies. The low level of technological know-how employed to combat disasters adds to the problem. This paper looks at the implication of lack of political will using unpolished and inaccessible methods of managing risks and disasters in both rural and urban areas of the two selected places in Malaysia and Nigeria at the expense of cheap, reliable, precise method of management and remote sensing technologies. The aim of this work is to compare the political will of the government on disaster management and asserting the roles of government and social workers in assisting the victims. Mixed method research design was adopted for the work. Data collected with the secondary data and interview Schedule for the affected community people. This was administered to a group of people in both country, which comprises male and female in the Kelantan and Jigawa respectively. The researcher conducted an interview with the participants to see how they viewed the government response to disaster management. The focus of the data collection was on the roles of government regarding the mitigation of disaster in the two community in line with family welfare. The purpose of the study was to compare the responsiveness of the both countries governments and to show how both can learn from each other’s mistakes and generally learn from developed countries.

Assessment of Wind Energy Potential in Three Different Locations of Malaysia

In this study, wind energy potential in three different stations in Malaysia in period of 5 years is analyzed. Base on Weibull distribution parameters, the mean wind speed, wind power density and wind energy density is estimated for each defined location. Although there are many works about wind potential in Malaysia, however a few of them have been provided a comprehensive study about wind power in different places in Malaysia. According to the findings, the annual mean wind speeds indicates that the highest wind speed variation is about 2 m/s and is belonged to the Subang station and the highest wind speed is 3.5 m/s in in Kudat. It is also found that the maximum wind power densities among these three sites are 22 W/m2, 24 W/m2 and 22 W/m2 in Kudat station in January, February and September respectively. The results of the study show that as the second parameter for Weibull model, the highest wind energy density has been 190 kWh/m2 per year in Kudat and the lowest one has been about 60 kWh/m2 in Kuching.

High Nighttime Ground-Level Ozone Concentrations in Kemaman: NO and NO2 Concentrations Attributions

ABSTRACTHigh nighttime ozone (O3) concentration levels were observed in Kemaman, Terengganu, and results were compared with those in other places in Malaysia. In this study, the contribution of precursors [nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2)] and meteorological factors wind speed, and wind direction) toward long-term high nighttime O3 over the period of 1999 to 2010 was evaluated. During this period, the recorded highest nighttime O3 ground level was 89 ppb with more than 25% surpassing 20 ppb. Analysis shows that minimal decreasing trends were measured in Kemaman. Lower nitrogen oxide (NOx) concentrations restricted the sinking agents; thus, reducing the depletion rates allowed O3 to remain in the atmosphere. Minimal associations were observed between the O3 concentration level and the speed and direction of wind. Accordingly, the largest contributor toward high nighttime O3 ground level concentration in Kemaman was most probably NOx concentration.

Vertical Greenery System as Public Art? Possibilities and Challenges in Malaysian Urban Context

Integrating public art with Vertical Greenery could promote sustainable principle in public spaces. Therefore, to investigate the possibilities and challenges of integrating Vertical Greenery with public art, this paper reviews nine projects in public spaces at urban places in Malaysia, as reference studies. It explores diverse dimensions of Vertical Greenery, types of public art and how they fit each other. The findings show that there are various types, systems and methods of Vertical Greenery applied in Malaysia and in coherent with the operational definition for public art used. Yet, Vertical Greenery's promoters deal with several challenges in encouraging its vast application in urban Malaysia.

Mapping of government land encroachment in Cameron Highlands using multiple remote sensing datasets

The cold and refreshing highland weather is one of the factors that give impact to socio-economic growth in Cameron Highlands. This unique weather of the highland surrounded by tropical rain forest can only be found in a few places in Malaysia. It makes this place a famous tourism attraction and also provides a very suitable temperature for agriculture activities. Thus it makes agriculture such as tea plantation, vegetable, fruits and flowers one of the biggest economic activities in Cameron Highlands. However unauthorized agriculture activities are rampant. The government land, mostly forest area have been encroached by farmers, in many cases indiscriminately cutting down trees and hill slopes. This study is meant to detect and assess this encroachment using multiple remote sensing datasets. The datasets were used together with cadastral parcel data where survey lines describe property boundary, pieces of land are subdivided into lots of government and private. The general maximum likelihood classification method was used on remote sensing image to classify the land-cover in the study area. Ground truth data from field observation were used to assess the accuracy of the classification. Cadastral parcel data was overlaid on the classification map in order to detect the encroachment area. The result of this study shows that there is a land cover change of 93.535 ha in the government land of the study area between years 2001 to 2010, nevertheless almost no encroachment took place in the studied forest reserve area. The result of this study will be useful for the authority in monitoring and managing the forest.

Pelajar-pelajar Malaysia di Institusi-institusi Pengajian Islam di India: Analisis Bermula dari Tahun 1947 sehingga 1990

This article discusses Islamic High Learning Institution in India that had been a learning centre for Malaysian students since 1947. Beside alHaramayn in Makkah and Madinah, al-Azhar in Cairo, India also considered as one of the centre for Malaysian student to pursue their studies in Islamic knowledge. The two renowned Islamic institutions in India are Darul ’Ulum Deoband and Darul ’Ulum Nadwat al-’Ulama. This analysis is based on the document of Malaysian student registration in India that had been preserved by National Archives of Malaysia. It contains information of Malaysian’s student that had been registered as a member of Malaysian Student Association in India. This analysis will ∗ Faisal bin Ahmad Shah, PhD, adalah pensyarah kanan di Jabatan al-Qur’an dan al-Hadith Akademi Pengajian Islam Universiti Malaya. Jurnal Al-Tamaddun, Bil. 4 (2009) 157 – 176 158 focus on the number of Malaysian student in India from 1947 until 1990, their birth places in Malaysia, the year they reached India, the name of their institution in India, the main factor of their studies in India and introduction with some of the Malaysian scholars graduated from these institutions. These findings will benefit researchers in giving a general view of the importance of Islamic India institution and it significant in producing quality Malaysian scholars in Islamic studies.

An application of a new extreme value distribution to air pollution data

PurposeExtreme value model is one of the most important models that are applicable in air pollution data. This paper aims at introducing a new model of extreme value that is more suitable in environmental studies.Design/methodology/approachThe parameters of the new model have been estimated by method of maximum likelihood. In order to relate to air pollution impacts, the new extreme value model was used, applied to carbon monoxide (CO) in parts per million (ppm) at several places in Malaysia. The objective of this analysis is to fit the extreme values with a new model and to examine its performance. Comparison of the new model with others is shown to illustrate the applicability of this new model.FindingsThe results show that the new model is the best fit using the method of maximum likelihood. The new model gives a significant impact of CO data, which gives the smallest standard error and p‐values. The new extreme value model is able to identify significantly problems of air pollution. The results presented by the new extreme value model can be used as an air quality management tool by providing the decision makers means to determine the required reduction of source.Originality/valueThe new extreme value model has mostly been applied in environmental studies for the statistical treatment of air pollution. The results of the numerical and simulated CO data indicate that the new model both is easy to use and can achieve even higher accuracy compared with other models.

Sinensetin, eupatorin, 3 ′-hydroxy-5, 6, 7, 4 ′-tetramethoxyflavone and rosmarinic acid contents and antioxidative effect of Orthosiphon stamineus from Malaysia

An HPLC method was developed for the separation and determination of three methoxylated flavones:sinensetin (SEN), eupatorin (EUP) and 3 ′-hydroxy-5,6,7,4 ′-tetramethoxyflavone (TMF) and rosmarinic acid (RA), a caffeic acid derivative in Orthosiphon stamineus (OS). All the compounds were separated using a reversed phase C18, Lichrosorb column with the mobile phase of methanol-water-tetrahydrofuran (45:50:5 v/v). The HPLC method was applied for the quantification SEN, EUP, TMF and RA in OS from different places in Malaysia. The results showed significant variation in the amounts of these markers in methanolic extracts of leaf samples from different parts of Malaysia. A variation in antioxidant activities, ranging from 55.5% to 84.2% and variations in total phenolics, ranging from 6.7 to 10.1 mg caffeic acid/g dry weight of the methanol extracts, were observed. Antioxidative potency of the methanol extracts was comparable to that of pure quercetin and the synthetic antioxidant butylated hydroxylanisole (BHA).