State Of Selangor Research Articles

Creating Fun Time in Teaching-Learning Experiences through Teachers’ Teamwork, Humor, and Innovative Behavior

According to the Malaysian Ministry of Education's (MOE) national education model, the education system is meant to produce people who are knowledgeable, competent, and able to contribute to the nation's improvement. Educators must demonstrate unique actions to nurture their students seamlessly and systematically, according to the idea. The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical study that looks at the impact of humor and teamwork on teachers' innovative behaviors in Malaysian secondary schools. The goal of this study was to find out how engaged teachers are in innovative behavior (IB) in terms of idea generation (IGEN), idea promotion (IPROM), and idea implementation (IIMPL), as well as to look at the relationship between humor (HUM) and teamwork (TW) and IB (IB). This quantitative study was conducted using a survey of 354 selected respondents. The respondents were selected from 4,319 teachers in two different zones in the state of Selangor by using the stratified random sampling technique. The findings suggest that there is a good level of teachers’ engagement in idea generation, and a moderate level of idea promotion and idea implementation behavior. The findings also reveal that humor and teamwork are positively and significantly correlated to innovative behavior. Overall, this study provides a better insight into how humor and teamwork contribute to teachers’ innovative behavior.

Factors Influencing Domestic Tourist Preference of Holiday Destination in Malaysia During theCovid-19 Pandemic: A Conceptual Framework

The COVID-19 global pandemic has negatively impacted local tourism industries worldwide, including in Malaysia where the tourism industry contributes significantly to the country’s economic income and employment opportunities. While sector has received regulatory financial assistance to sustain their business and retain employees, more market measures are needed to promote domestic tourism as the main vehicle for filling the tourist income gap from the decline in inbound international tourist arrivals. Similar previous studies were focused on business-as-usual conditions with unrestricted international travel, however there is a research gap focusing on tourism in Malaysia under current conditions of recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework to investigate affordability, quality of service, health and safety compliance and access to facilities and amenities and to better understand how these factors influence domestic tourist preference of holiday destination in Malaysia during the pandemic. A sample of 384 respondents from the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya and the state of Selangor in Malaysia will be selected by using random sampling technique. Regression analysis will be conducted to assess the research hypothesis

Industry 4.0 and Business Policy Development: Strategic Imperatives for SME Performance

Industry 4.0 presents companies with new prospects to renovate industrial manufacturing processes and increase value creation, has promised several optimizing strategies for improved business performance. The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between innovation capability and employee capability on organizational performance among Small and Medium Scale industries entrepreneurs. Following a positivist research philosophy with a quantitative, cross-sectional descriptive study design, the study addressed three direct and two indirect relationships in the model. The research followed the expectation Resource-Based View Theory to test the theoretical model. Following stratified random sampling, this research using 384 SME entrepreneurs from the Selangor state of Malaysia. The study applied Smart PLS-SEM to analyze the data. The results show that SME firms' innovation capability and employee capability positively correlate with business performance. The study also shows the partial mediation effect of technology change on innovation capability and business performance and employee capability and business performance. Research extends practical and theoretical implications to the stakeholders of SMEs and businesses.JEL Classification: L25, L26, L29How to Cite:Govindarajo, N. S., Kumar M, D., Shaikh, E., Kumar, M., & Kumar, P. (2021). Industry 4.0 and Business Policy Development: Strategic Imperatives for SME Performance. Etikonomi, 20(2), 213 – xx. https://doi.org/10.15408/etk.v20i2.20143.

Motivators and barriers to oral hygiene self‐care among adolescents in Malaysia: A qualitative study

Having good oral hygiene self-care, especially a regular toothbrushing habit will promote lifelong oral health. Therefore, understanding the factors that influence an adolescent's oral hygiene behaviour is important in developing effective oral health programmes for this age group. This study aimed to explore the motivators and barriers to adolescents' oral hygiene self-care by exploring the perspectives of secondary school students from three government schools in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. Focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted with Form 2 (14-years-old) and Form 4 (16-years-old) students from selected secondary schools in Selangor using a semi-structured topic guide until data saturation was reached. Data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using framework method analysis. A total of 10 FGDs were conducted involving 77 adolescents. The motivators for good oral hygiene self-care were appearance, fear of oral disease, consequences of oral disease and past toothache experience. The barriers for oral hygiene self-care were poor attitude towards oral care, lack of confidence in toothbrushing skills, snacking habit and the taste of toothpaste. Understanding the motivators and barriers to adolescents' oral hygiene self-care is the first step in designing effective oral health education messages. The findings from this study can be used as a guide for oral health education programmes and development of materials that fulfil the needs of the adolescent population.

Pathogenic Variability of the Jackfruit-Bronzing Bacterium Pantoea stewartii Subspecies stewartii Infection to Jackfruit Varieties and Its Pivotal Plant Hosts in Malaysia

Infection with Pantoea stewartii subspecies stewartii, which causes jackfruit-bronzing disease, is a huge problem faced by the jackfruit industry in Malaysia. This study was carried out to assess the disease ratings and aggressiveness performance of 28 Pantoea stewartii subspecies stewartii isolated from jackfruit-bronzing diseased jackfruits from four collection areas (Jenderam in Selangor State, Maran and Muadzam Shah in Pahang State, and Ipoh in Perak State) in Peninsular Malaysia, inoculated into jackfruit varieties (Tekam Yellow J33, Hong J34 and Subang Chap Boy J39), the sweetcorn variety, Mas Madu (two-week-old seedlings and nine-week-old seedlings), the cucumber variety, Rocky, and the pineapple variety, MD2. The results revealed that Pantoea stewartii subspecies stewartii produced symptoms upon all inoculations in the pathogenicity testing, thus fulfilling Koch’s postulates, except in the case of J39 and sweetcorn (two-week-old seedlings). No disease symptoms (disease rating 0) were observed in J39 and sweetcorn (two-week-old seedlings) within 14 days post-inoculation (14 dpi). The disease progression (based on disease ratings) proved that the jackfruit variety J39 was the most resistant, whereas J33 and J34 were susceptible to jackfruit-bronzing disease. The disease ratings of the 14-dpi period revealed a variability of disease progression among the 28 bacterial isolates, where the isolate JEN-14 had the fastest and highest disease ratings when inoculated into J33, J34, nine-week-old sweetcorn seedlings, cucumber, and pineapple. Likewise, the AUDPC value, based on disease rating, across the 28 isolates indicated that JEN-14 is the most aggressive and significant of the isolates (J33, J34, nine-week-old sweetcorn seedlings, cucumber, and cucumber pineapple inoculation; p < 0.05). Even though isolates from Jenderam (other than JEN-14) and Maran had better disease ratings and the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) values than isolates from Muadzam Shah and Ipoh, no significant differences were found among the isolates (p < 0.05). Based on our findings, we identified the isolate JEN-14 as the best potential candidate to assist in jackfruit-bronzing disease resistance breeding in the future. Last but not least, the methods, disease ratings, and variations of the aggressiveness profiles among the isolates from this study may be beneficial and significant by providing disease-rating references and appropriate screening approaches when selecting the most appropriately aggressive isolates for evaluating the defense response in the disease resistance breeding program.

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE ISSUES OF TENANCY MANAGEMENT PRACTICE: THE CASE OF COMMERCIAL WAQF PROPERTIES IN MALAYSIA

This paper concerns the sustainability of the commercial waqf properties (CWP) in regards to tenancy management (TM) since the waqf properties were underperformed due to large rental arrears in some states. The objective of the study is to investigate the issues of tenancy management that limit the achievement of the financial sustainability of CWP. This research adopts the qualitative approach which employing in-depth interviews at seven (7) CWP as a case study that covered the state of Johor, Selangor, Penang and WPKL. Semistructured interviews were conducted with six (6) waqf property managers (WPM) and twenty-one (21) tenants to get their perspective regarding the issues of tenancy management according to TM attributes. From the findings, it was found that the tenancy businesses attribute is the most issues voiced by the tenants and WPMs followed by tenancy agreement, rental determination and enforcement. Meanwhile, tenant selection and waqf property manager attributes are less critical. Hence, the solutions have been proposed to improve the sustainability of CWP while Shariah principles and waqf needs are being adhered to in the full spectrum of waqf tenancy management.

Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients seeking COVID-19 testing in a private centre in Malaysia: Is there a role for private healthcare in battling the outbreak?

ObjectiveThis cross-sectional observational study summarized the baseline characteristics of subjects who underwent COVID-19 molecular testing in a private medical centre located in the state of Selangor in Malaysia between 1 Oct 2020 and 31 Jan 2021. We compared the baseline characteristics between subjects who were tested positive and negative of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and identified risk factors which may be predictive of SARS-CoV-2 positivity.Methods and findingsA total of 36603 subjects who were tested for COVID-19 infection via molecular assays at Sunway Medical Centre between Oct 1, 2020 and Jan 31, 2021, and consented to participate in this observation study were included for analysis. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize the study cohort, whereas logistic regression analysis was used to identify risk factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 positivity. Among the reasons listed for COVID-19 screening were those who needed clearance for travelling, clearance to return to work, or clearance prior to hospital admission. They accounted for 67.7% of tested subjects, followed by the self-referred group (27.3%). Most of the confirmed cases were asymptomatic (62.6%), had no travel history (99.6%), and had neither exposure to SARS-CoV-2 confirmed cases (61.9%) nor exposure to patients under investigation (82.7%) and disease clusters (89.2%). Those who presented with loss of smell or taste (OR: 26.91; 95% CI: 14.81–48.92, p<0.001), fever (OR:3.97; 95% CI: 2.54–6.20, p<0.001), running nose (OR: 1.75; 95% CI:1.10–2.79, p = 0.019) or other symptoms (OR: 5.63; 95% CI:1.68–18.91, p = 0.005) were significantly associated with SARS-CoV-2 positivity in the multivariate logistic regression analysis.ConclusionOur study showed that majority of patients seeking COVID-19 testing in a private healthcare setting were mainly asymptomatic with low epidemiological risk. Consequently, the average positivity rate was 1.2% compared to the national cumulative positivity rate of 4.65%. Consistent with other studies, we found that loss of smell or taste, fever and running nose were associated with SARS-CoV-2 positivity. We believe that strengthening the capacity of private health institutions is important in the national battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the importance of public-private partnership to improve the quality of clinical care.

Relationship Between Leadership, Resilience, and Competence Amongst Police Officers in Klang Valley, Malaysia

Excellent human resource development prioritizes organizational performance development elements. Organizational performance in Malaysia&amp;rsquo;s public sector is a concept that still needs to be explored. To date, improvements to leadership quality in order to enhance employee competence is one of the areas of study that has become the focus of researchers in the field of human resource development. In fact, leadership quality is also influenced by a person&amp;rsquo;s self-resilience to changes &amp;ndash; one such example is police officers&amp;rsquo; competence in order to perform their duties well. This study aims to assess the relationship between self-resilience and the leadership qualities of police officers. The study involved the Royal Malaysia Police of the state of Selangor. The study which used a simple randomized quantitative method involved 105 respondents comprised of police officers and other members of the force. Findings of the study indicate highest positive relationships between leadership and competency, resilience and competency, and resilience and leadership, with r values between 0.791 to 0.864. However, the relationship between leadership quality based on education level and length of service (work experience) was not significant. This study shows that there are several elements in human resource development and performance management that can be improved by emphasizing on the leadership aspect in order to improve the competencies of police officers in Malaysia.

Unmet Healthcare Needs Among Elderly Malaysians.

PurposeOlder people often have chronic diseases which require a continuity of care over the long term. Countries undergoing population aging need to ensure that older people are receiving the care they need. This study assesses the prevalence of, reasons for, and factors associated with unmet healthcare needs among older people individuals in Malaysia.Patients and MethodsThis cross-sectional study used data collected during 2018–2020 from 1204 older adults aged 60 and older selected from Selangor state, Malaysia. A comprehensive face-to-face interview based on the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES-BM) questionnaire was administered to gain information on unmet healthcare needs, socioeconomic factors, health-related factors, and measures of function (activities of daily living, depression, visual impairment, hearing impairment, memory impairment, and walking impairment). Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze factors associated with their unmet healthcare needs.ResultsOverall, the percentage of older people respondents with unmet healthcare needs is 6.6%. The most reported reasons for forgoing or delaying healthcare were lack of knowledge about healthcare and financial barriers to care. The inability to travel alone (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.51), being overweight (aOR 1.88), and having self-reported depression (aOR 2.23) were each associated with a higher likelihood of having unmet healthcare needs in their daily life.ConclusionThe prevalence of unmet healthcare needs among older people in this part of Malaysia is lower than that reported in some other countries. However, it is possible to further reduce unmet healthcare needs by improving people’s knowledge and attitudes about appropriate healthcare utilization, strengthening financial protection measures and providing support to people at high risk of having unmet healthcare needs.

Detection and Characterization of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) Infecting Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) in Malaysia

Turmeric (<em>Curcuma longa</em> L.) is among the herbs cultivated in Malaysia, and it is of agricultural, medicinal and socio-economic importance. <em>Cucumber mosaic virus</em> (CMV) has been reported in vegetables, ornamental crops and weed hosts in Malaysia, thus, denoting the long existence of the pathogen in the agroecosystem of the country [1]. Ten samples of turmeric, consist of seven plants showing mosaic, yellowing and chlorosis, and three non-symptomatic samples (Figure 1), were collected from a commercial farm in the state of Selangor in Peninsular Malaysia.

EXPLORATORY SPATIAL DATA ANALYSIS (ESDA) ON COVID-19 CASES IN MALAYSIA

The Malaysian government implemented The Movement Control Order (MCO) on 18 March 2020 to control the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the third wave that started in September 2020 during the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) phase saw a continuous increase in the number of cases. In this study, the exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) was used to analyse the existence of COVID-19 spatial clusters. Moran's index was used to map the spatial autocorrelation (cluster) to showcase the spreading patterns of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. The study results indicated significant changes in the COVID-19 hotspots over time. At the beginning of 2020, the state of Selangor and Sarawak were the first locality to become a significant COVID-19 hotspot. Furthermore, this research showed all affected areas during the study period. Overall, a non-random distribution of COVID-19 occurrences was detected, thus suggesting a positive spatial autocorrelation. Many parties are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially those involved in healthcare provision, financial assistance allocation, and law enforcement. Other sectors such as the economy, education, and religion are also affected. Therefore, the findings from this study will provide useful information to all the related governmental and private agencies, as well as policymakers and researchers.

GIS-based air quality modelling: spatial prediction of PM10 for Selangor State, Malaysia using machine learning algorithms.

Rapid urbanization has caused severe deterioration of air quality globally, leading to increased hospitalization and premature deaths. Therefore, accurate prediction of air quality is crucial for mitigation planning to support urban sustainability and resilience. Although some studies have predicted air pollutants such as particulate matter (PM) using machine learning algorithms (MLAs), there is a paucity of studies on spatial hazard assessment with respect to the air quality index (AQI). Incorporating PM in AQI studies is crucial because of its easily inhalable micro-size which has adverse impacts on ecology, environment, and human health. Accurate and timely prediction of the air quality index can ensure adequate intervention to aid air quality management. Therefore, this study undertakes a spatial hazard assessment of the air quality index using particulate matter with a diameter of 10 μm or lesser (PM10) in Selangor, Malaysia, by developing four machine learning models: eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), random forest (RF), K-nearest neighbour (KNN), and Naive Bayes (NB). Spatially processed data such as NDVI, SAVI, BU, LST, Ws, slope, elevation, and road density was used for the modelling. The model was trained with 70% of the dataset, while 30% was used for cross-validation. Results showed that XGBoost has the highest overall accuracy and precision of 0.989 and 0.995, followed by random forest (0.989, 0.993), K-nearest neighbour (0.987, 0.984), and Naive Bayes (0.917, 0.922), respectively. The spatial air quality maps were generated by integrating the geographical information system (GIS) with the four MLAs, which correlated with Malaysia's air pollution index. The maps indicate that air quality in Selangor is satisfactory and posed no threats to health. Nevertheless, the two algorithms with the best performance (XGBoost and RF) indicate that a high percentage of the air quality is moderate. The study concludes that successful air pollution management policies such as green infrastructure practice, improvement of energy efficiency, and restrictions on heavy-duty vehicles can be adopted in Selangor and other Southeast Asian cities to prevent deterioration of air quality in the future.

Carbon stock of disturbed and undisturbed mangrove ecosystems in Klang Straits, Malaysia

Ecosystem carbon stocks were compared in three island mangrove forests, subjected to different anthropogenic stresses, close to Port Klang in Selangor State on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Carbon stocks in living biomass, litter, deadwood and soil were quantified, and the carbon isotopic signature in mangrove soils was also measured, to estimate their carbon source. We hypothesize that carbon stock would be more readily available in undisturbed mangroves. The results indicated that, in general, soil organic carbon pool comprised the majority of the ecosystem carbon stock, while dead organic matter made a negligible contribution. The highest ecosystem carbon stock was measured in the permanent undisturbed mangrove reserve on Pulau Klang. Carbon isotope data revealed that disturbed mangroves in Pulau Ketam had a more enriched δ13C signature of soil samples compared to the other two sites. The soil organic carbon in Pulau Ketam was mostly derived from mangrove materials (92.8%). The results suggested that the organic carbon accumulated in the soils was not only regulated by the burial of mangrove-derived organic carbon, but also the site conditions.

First Report of Lasiodiplodia theobromae Causing Postharvest Fruit Rot on Guava (Psidium guajava) in Malaysia.

Guava (Psidium guajava L.) is an economically important tropical fruit crop and is cultivated extensively in Malaysia. In September and October 2019, postharvest fruit rot symptoms were observed on 30% to 40% of guava fruit cv. Kampuchea in fruit markets of Puchong and Ipoh cities in the states of Selangor and Perak, Malaysia. Initial symptoms appeared as brown, irregular, water-soaked lesions on the upper portion of the fruit where it was attached to the peduncle. Subsequently, lesions then progressed to cover the whole fruit (Fig.1A). Lesions were covered with an abundance of black pycnidia and grayish mycelium. Ten symptomatic guava fruit were randomly collected from two local markets for our investigation. For fungal isolation, small fragments (5×5 mm) were excised from the lesion margin, surface sterilized with 0.5% NaOCl for 2 min, rinsed three times with sterile distilled water, placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated at 25 °C with 12-h photoperiod for 2-3 days. Eight single-spore isolates with similar morphological characteristics were obtained and two representative isolates (P8 and S9) were characterized in depth. Colonies on PDA were initially composed of grayish-white aerial mycelium, but turned dark-gray after 7 days (Fig. 1B). Abundant black pycnidia were observed after incubation for 4 weeks. Immature conidia were hyaline, aseptate, ellipsoid, thick-walled, and mature conidia becoming dark brown and 1-septate with longitudinal striations, 25.0 - 27.0 ± 2.5 × 13.0 - 14.0 ± 1.0 μm (n = 30) (Fig.1C, D). On the basis of morphology, both representative isolates were identified as Lasiodiplodia theobromae (Pat.) Griffon & Maubl. (Alves et al. 2008). For molecular identification, genomic DNA of the two isolates was extracted using the DNeasy plant mini kit (Qiagen, USA). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of rDNA and translation elongation factor 1-alpha (EF1-α) genes were amplified using ITS5/ITS4 and EF1-728F/EF1-986R primer set, respectively (White et al. 1990, Carbone and Kohn 1999). BLASTn analysis of the resulting ITS and EF1-α sequences indicated 100% identity to L. theobromae ex-type strain CBS 164.96 (GenBank accession nos: AY640255 and AY640258, respectively) (Phillips et al. 2013). The ITS (MW380428, MW380429) and EF1-α (MW387153, MW387154) sequences were deposited in GenBank. Phylogenetic analysis using the maximum likelihood based on the combined ITS-TEF sequences indicated that the isolates formed a strongly supported clade (100% bootstrap value) to the related L. theobromae (Kumar et al. 2016) (Fig.2). A pathogenicity test of two isolates was conducted on six healthy detached guava fruits per isolate. The fruit were surface sterilized using 70% ethanol and rinsed twice with sterile water prior inoculation. The fruit were wound-inoculated using a sterile needle according to the method of de Oliveira et al. (2014) and five-mm-diameter mycelial agar plugs from 7-days-old PDA culture of the isolates were placed onto the wounds. Six additional fruit were wound inoculated using sterile 5-mm-diameter PDA agar plugs to serve as controls. Inoculated fruit were placed in sterilized plastic container and incubated in a growth chamber at 25 ± 1 °C, 90% relative humidity with a photoperiod of 12-h. The experiment was conducted twice. Five days after inoculation, symptoms as described above developed on the inoculated sites and caused a fruit rot, while control treatment remained asymptomatic. L. theobromae was reisolated from all symptomatic tissues and confirmed by morphological characteristics and confirmed by PCR using ITS region. L. theobromae has recently been reported to cause fruit rot on rockmelon in Thailand (Suwannarach et al. 2020). To our knowledge, this is the first report of L. theobromae causing postharvest fruit rot on guava in Malaysia. The occurrence of this disease needs to be monitored as this disease can reduce the marketable yield of guava. Preventive strategies need to be developed in the field to reduce postharvest losses.

First Report of Colletotrichum siamense causing Anthracnose on White Frangipani (Plumeria alba L.) in Malaysia.

Plumeria alba L. is a flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae and widely cultivated in Malaysia as a cosmopolitan ornamental plant. In January 2020, anthracnose lesions were observed on leaves of Plumeria alba planted in Agricultural Farm, Universiti Putra Malaysia, in Selangor state, Malaysia. The disease mainly affected the leaves with symptoms occurring with approximately a 60% disease incidence. Ten symptomatic leaves were sampled from 3 different trees in the farm. Symptoms initiated as small circular necrotic spots that rapidly enlarged into black lesions with pale brown borders. Diseased tissues (5×5 mm) were surface-sterilized with 70% ethanol for 1 min, rinsed three times with sterile distilled water, dried on sterile filter papers, plated on PDA and, incubated at 25 °C with a 12-h photoperiod. A total of seven single-spore isolates with similar colony morphologies were obtained from tissue samples. After 7 days, the colonies raised the entire margin and showed white-to-gray aerial mycelium, orange conidial masses in the center and appeared dark brown at the center of the reverse view. The conidia were 1-celled, hyaline, smooth-walled, cylindrical with narrowing at the center, averaged (13-15 μm × 3 - 4 μm) (n=40) in size. Morphological characteristics of the isolates were similar to those detailed in taxonomic description of Colletotrichum sp. (Prihastuti et al. 2009). For molecular identification, genomic DNA of two representative isolates, PL3 and PL4 was extracted from fresh mycelium using DNeasy Plant Mini Kit (Qiagen, USA). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, actin (ACT) and calmodulin (CAL) genes were amplified using ITS5/ITS4 (White et al. 1990), ACT-512F/783R (Carbone and Kohn 1999) and CL1C/CL2C primer sets (Weir et al. 2012). A BLAST nucleotide search of GenBank using ITS sequences showed 100% identity to Colletotrichum siamense ex-type culture ICMP 18578 (GenBank accession no. JX010171). ACT and CAL sequences showed 100% identity with C. siamense ex-type isolate BPD-I2 (GenBank accession no. FJ907423 and FJ917505). The sequences were deposited in GenBank (ITS: accession nos. MW335128, MT912574), ACT: accession nos. MW341257, MW341256, CAL: accession nos. MW341255 and MT919260). Based on these morphological and molecular characteristics, the fungus was identified as C. siamense. Pathogenicity of PL3 and PL4 isolates was verified using four healthy detached leaves of Plumeria alba. The leaves were surface-sterilized using 70% ethanol and rinsed twice with sterile water before inoculation. The leaves (three inoculation sites/leaf) were wounded by puncturing with a sterile needle through the leaf cuticle and inoculated in the wound site with 10-μl of conidial suspension (1×106 conidia/ml) from 7-days-old culture on PDA. Four leaves were used as a control and were inoculated only with 10-μl of sterile distilled water. Inoculated leaves were kept in humid chambers for 2 weeks at 25 °C with 98% relative humidity on a 12-h fluorescent light/dark period. The experiment was repeated three times. Anthracnose symptoms were observed on all inoculated leaves after 3 days, whereas controls showed no symptoms. Fungal isolates from the diseased leaves showed the same morphological characteristics as isolates PL3 and PL4, confirming Koch's postulates. C. siamense has been reported causing anthracnose on rose (Rosa chinensis) in China (Feng et al. 2019), Coffea arabica in Thailand (Prihastuti et al. 2009) and mango leaf anthracnose in Vietnam (Li et al. 2020). To our knowledge, this is the first report of Colletrotrichum siamense causing leaf anthracnose on Plumeria alba in Malaysia. Accurate identification of this pathogen provides a foundation in controlling anthracnose disease on Plumeria alba.

Isolation and Characterization of Novel Phages Targeting Xanthomonas oryzae: Culprit of Bacterial Leaf Blight Disease in Rice.

Background: Bacterial leaf blight (BLB) disease caused 80% of disease incidence in paddy in Kedah and Selangor states of Malaysia. The pathogenic bacterium, Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), is one of the destructive pathogens infecting lowland irrigated and rainfed paddy in Asia's tropical and temperate environments. Bacteriophages (or phages) have been proposed to control the pathogen due to their efficacy and safety aspects. Material and Methods: In this study, a total of 70 Xoo-phages were isolated from termite which living in rice-growing area. Results: 2 lytic phages NΦ-1 and NΦ-3 were selected due to the high titer of the virus. Electron microscopic analysis showed that those phages belonged to the family Podoviridae, order Caudovirales with short noncontracted tails. Moreover, these phages have a narrow host range specifically target Xoo with a higher burst size. Whole-genome sequencing showed that the Xoo-phage NΦ-1 and NΦ-3 consists of a linear double-stranded DNA molecule of length 41,151 and 38,454 bp, respectively. Conclusion: This study successfully characterized two novel Xanthomonas phages and their potential as antimicrobial agents against BLB disease in rice.

THE BENEFITS OF ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION OF MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING PRACTICES IN MALAYSIAN SMES

Malaysia is a primary destination for smart manufacturing and high technology activities. However, as businesses grow and compete, there is high pressure on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to improve their organizational performance, diversify and expand their business, and support stakeholders' interests. Management accounting practices (MAPs) are likely to allow businesses to achieve such objectives as the use of financial and non-financial information at the management and operational level will assist in planning, control, and decision-making subsequently. This increases profit and sales while reducing operational cost, improving quality, and strengthening stakeholders’ relationships, including enhancing customer value. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a system that allows businesses to achieve these enhancements as the ERP software integrates various automated processes related to technology, inventory, finance, services, and human resource management. The review of studies in the field of MAPs has found that the operational, tactical, and strategic benefit from the ERP system implementation may affect MAPs in SMEs; hence, this study aims to examine the possible relationships that may exist between operational, tactical, and strategic benefits of ERP implementation and MAPs among Malaysian SMEs. Data was collected using online questionnaires from 150 managers from SMEs in the state of Selangor. Using Structural Equation Modeling (AMOS), the study found that both operational benefit and strategic benefit of ERP system implementation had significant positive relationships with MAPs in Malaysian SMEs. The implications of the research findings of this study are discussed.

Climate Change-Friendly Behavior: A Review of Preservice Teachers

To date, climate change is a major issue debated globally. Climate change has impacted human life and the environment. Mitigating the effects of climate change requires individuals with friendly behaviour towards climate change. This study aimed to examine the relationship of preservice teachers' friendly behaviour towards climate change through the level of knowledge, awareness, risk perception, and attitude of preservice teachers. This study involved 256 preservice teachers at four universities in the state of Selangor. A questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale was used for the purpose of data collection. The data obtained were analysed using SPSS 23.0 software. The results of the study indicated that there was a significant but moderate relationship between awareness and risk perception with the climate change-friendly behaviour of preservice teachers. The study also found that there was a significantly weak relationship between knowledge and attitudes towards preservice teachers’ climate change-friendly behaviours. Preservice teachers have the knowledge and awareness of climate change that has a negative impact on socio-economy and disrupts the ecosystem of the human life. However, this awareness does not influence the preservice teachers to demonstrate attitudes and behaviours towards reducing the effects of climate change.

Development of M-Learning Implementation Instrument Based on Competency-Based Education: Rasch Analysis

This study was undertaken to produce empirical evidence of validity and reliability of the m-learning implementation instrument constructed based on competency-based education using Rasch Model Analysis. It aims to validate the instrument by using tests in Rasch analysis such as item polarity, fit measure, principal component analysis and reliability. The questionnaire was distributed to 55 teachers teaching Upper Secondary Vocational Programme (PVMA) in the states of Johor and Selangor. Analysis of the Rasch Measurement Model was performed using Winsteps software version 3.69.1.11. The final instrument recorded 47 items that can be used to measure the eight constructs of the study. This study shows that the Rasch Measurement Model can help researchers build a good instrument as the items constructed offset psychometric standards.

Exploring the Views of Mosque Committee Members on Mosque Religious Education Programs in Gombak

There are a multitude of social problems characterised by the growth of crime rate of violence, religious disintegration, hatred, religious disunity and tension. Such problems have raised serious attention from various parties as they lead to social disintegration and will eventually harm social security as a whole. The phenomena could be attributed to the lack of religious understanding; a critical factor in constructing the moral behaviour of human beings. A study has been conducted to obtain feedback from mosque committee members on the nature of mosque religious education curriculum. Focus Group Discussions had been conducted by engaging relevant stakeholders of mosques in order to identify the views of mosque committee members on the mosque religious education curriculum in the district of Gombak, a district in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. The findings have been analysed using thematic analysis. The findings show that mosque committee members highlighted several issues which concern mosque religious education structure, education resource, participants content of curriculum, teaching and learning approaches and their expected outcomes. The findings increase the understanding on the roles of mosque as centre to acquire knowledge for sustainable development. The information can be used as bases for the development of Mosque Religious Education Curriculum.