Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin Research Articles

CONTEXTUALIZING NUSANTARA STUDIES

Jonus stands for Journal of Nusantara Studies, a university journal of Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Malaysia. This journal is not a mere study about Nusantara, instead it encompasses a wide range of academic disciplines in humanities and social sciences, embracing (but not limited to) culture, history, language, education, social, politics, communication, psychology, development, tourism, arts, economy, science and technology (in sociocultural terms) and international relations in the region currently belonged to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Even though clearly stated in ancient native sources―especially in Nāgara-Kěrtāgama (a 14th century Javanese-Majapahit poem dated 1365), Pararaton (a writing of the 14th century Majapahit-Javanese kingdom), and Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals - the historical record of Old Malay Sultanate during their reign in Melaka)―and also bears very significant meaning to the indigenous communities, the word ‘Nusantara’ is yet universally used. In addition, understanding about it is still very vague and misleading. Therefore, it is worthy to give a brief account of what the term ‘Nusantara’ means based on the native primary sources. Nusantara is a unified geographical region of indigenous communities that covers the entire part of Southeast region of Asia. In fact, its geopolitical coverage is almost identical to Southeast Asia. Even though in the 13th and 14th centuries (during Kertanegara and Majapahit kingdoms) it centered at Javanese, in our contemporary times, the term ‘Nusantara’ has become common among the indigenous communities in the region. While ‘Southeast Asia’ is a foreign term, ‘Nusantara’ deeply conveys historical, cultural and sentimental values of the natives of this region. It fertilizes a form of sense of belonging that is often pronounced as ‘a compatriot kin’ (bangsa serumpun) based on their common ancestors, spoken language, beliefs, way of life, and skin colours, besides their domiciles. It is within this spirit that ‘Nusantara’ is chosen as the title of this journal.Cite as: Anwar, Od. M. (2016). Contextualizing nusantara studies. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 1(1), 1-6.

Study on personality dimension negative emotionality affecting academic achievement among Malaysian medical students studying in Malaysia and overseas.

Personality dimension negative emotionality is known to be associated with academic achievement. The present study focuses on the influence of negative emotionality (neuroticism) on the medical students’ academic achievements. The main objective of this study was to ascertain the negative emotionality scores among the first year Malaysian medical students studying in Malaysia and India, further to find out the association between negative emotionality and their academic achievements. The current study sample includes 60 first year Malaysian medical students from Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia, and USM-KLE IMP, Belgaum, India. They were selected by convenient sampling technique. The Medico-Psychological questionnaire was used to find out the negative emotionality scores among the students and these scores were compared with academic scores. The data were analyzed using SPSS- 20. Thus, the study result goes with the prediction that there is a significant correlation between academic achievement and negative emotionality. We concluded that negative emotionality has a negative impact on medical student’s academic achievement regardless of the fact whether they study in their own country or overseas.

Antibiotic prescribing and resistance: knowledge level of medical students of clinical years of University Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia.

The innovation of penicillin by Dr Alexander Fleming in 1928 and its use in clinical practice saved many lives, especially during the Second World War. Tuberculosis still carries a significant public health threat and has re-emerged over the past two decades, even in modern countries where tuberculosis was thought to be eliminated. The World Health Organization defines antimicrobial resistance as the resistance of a microorganism to an antimicrobial drug that was initially effective for treatment of infections caused by the microbe. Therefore, the findings of the current study will provide data to enable the design of a new educational program to better equip our students in confronting antimicrobial resistance. This study was a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey, which was undertaken in the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia. The study participants were students of the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery program (MBBS) of Year III, IV, and V. A total of 142 out of 164 (86%) medical students returned the questionnaire. Specifically, the year-wise breakdown of responses was 29% (41), 39% (55), and 32% (45) for Year III, IV, and V, respectively. Among the study respondents, 28% (40) were male, and the remaining 72% (102) were female. In all, 67% of the participants felt more confident in “making an accurate diagnosis of infection/sepsis.” The majority (88%) of the study participants stated that they would like more training on antibiotic selection. This research has found that there is a gap between theoretical input and clinical practice; the students are demanding more educational intervention to face the threat of antimicrobial resistance.

Antifungal Properties of Malaysian Tualang Honey and Stingless Bee Propolis against Candida Albicans and Cryptococcus Neoformans

1 Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Medical Campus, Jalan Sultan Mahmud, 20400 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia 2 Faculty of Health Sciences, UniSZA, Gong Badak Campus, 21300, Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia. 3 Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Health Campus, 16150, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia.

A Feasibility Study on Business Consulting Services to Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by Public University in Malaysia

Realizing the potential market opportunity for business consulting services for Small Medium Enterprises or SMEs and the need for university to generate its own income, most public universities in Malaysia plan to embarks on business consulting services with the vision of enhancing SMEs capabilities to its full potentials. Furthermore, it also means that public universities can capitalize its resources (infrastructures and human capital) to spearhead revenue-based activities. This feasibility study has enabled public university, the Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) in this study to clearly see what business the entity is in and where it is headed. The university no longer sees itself as simply in the business of consulting industry. It now sees itself in the business of developing talent in SMEs sector. By defining the business in this way the university has identified possible new services such as contract service agreements and training. It sees new opportunity in helping SMEs Malaysia by capitalizing enterprising brains at public university via the establishment of strategic business unit (SBU) with its branding – “Empowering SMEs – Nurturing Leaders”.

Comparative study on drug safety surveillance between medical students of Malaysia and Nigeria.

BackgroundInternationally, there is a remarkable achievement in the areas of drug discovery, drug design, and clinical trials. New and efficient drug formulation techniques are widely available which have led to success in treatment of several diseases. Despite these achievements, large number of patients continue to experience adverse drug reactions (ADRs), and majority of them are yet to be on record.ObjectivesThe purpose of this survey is to compare knowledge, attitude, and practice with respect to ADRs and pharmacovigilance (PV) between medical students of Malaysia and Nigeria and to determine if there is a relationship between their knowledge and practice.MethodA cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey involving year IV and year V medical students of the Department of Medicine, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin and Bayero University Kano was carried out. The questionnaire which comprised 25 questions on knowledge, attitude, and practice was adopted, modified, validated, and administered to them. The response was analyzed using SPSS version 20.ResultsThe response rate from each country was 74%. There was a statistically significant difference in mean knowledge and practice score on ADRs and PV between medical students of Malaysia and Nigeria, both at P<0.000. No significance difference in attitude was observed at P=0.389. Also, a statistically significant relationship was recorded between their knowledge and practice (r=0.229, P=0.001), although the relationship was weak.ConclusionNigerian medical students have better knowledge and practice than those of Malaysia, although they need improvement. Imparting knowledge of ADRs and PV among medical students will upgrade their practice and enhance health care delivery services in the future.

Understanding of Gold Investment Among Muslim Professionals in Terengganu, Malaysia

Gold investment is a good alternative to maintain financial stability, especially during the global economic turn-down and uncertainties. This becomes a common phenomenon among Muslims today due to the availability of its multiple products, techniques, marketing plans in the current market. Many Muslim investors are eager to get involved in the gold investment, however, some of them do not realize about there are certain products, techniques and marketing plan which are not invalid from a legal standpoint. Therefore, this study was carried out in order to explore about the basic understanding of gold investment among Muslim professional investors. This is a field study that employed the quantitative method where data were obtained through questionnaires. The respondents comprised 300 Muslim professionals from three selected higher institutions which are located in Kuala Terengganu namely Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). The result of linear regression analysis indicated that, seven significant predictor variables were contributing factor to the level of knowledge about basic gold investment among Muslim professionals in Kuala Terengganu. This suggests that, nul hypothesis were rejected and it could be concluded in general, the seven predictor variables were contributing about 73.9 per cent (r = 0.859) changes of variance in the level of their knowledge about basic investment gold. While a total of 26.1 percent change in variance was influenced by other variables which do not contribute to this analysis. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n3p110

The Study on the Accuracy of Classifiers for Water Quality Application

Dirty water is the world's biggest health risk. When water from rain roads into rivers, it picks up toxic chemicals, dirt, trash and disease-carrying organisms along the way. Many of our water resources lack basic protections, making them vulnerable to pollution from factory farms and industrial plants. Due to that, a classification model is needed to present the quality of the water environment. In this paper, the data mining techniques are used in this research by applying the classification method for water quality application. Various classifiers were studied in order to find the most accurate classifier for the dataset. This paper presents the comparison of accuracies for the five classifiers (NB, MLP, J48, SMO, and IBk) based on a 10-fold cross validation as a test method with respect to water quality from the datasets of Kinta River, Perak Malaysia. This study also explores which classifier is suitable to classify the dataset. The selected attributes used in this study were: DO Sat, DO Mgl, BOD Mgl, COD Mgl, TS Mgl, DO Index, AN Index, SS Index, Class, and Degree of pollution. The data consisted of 166 instances and obtained from the East Coast Environmental Research Institute (ESERI) of Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA). The result of MLP and IBk performed better than other classifiers for Kinta River dataset because these classifiers showed the highest accuracy with the same percentage of 91.57%. In the future, we will propose the multiclassifier approach by introducing a fusion at a classification level between these classifiers to get a higher accuracy of classification.

Perceptions of students in different phases of medical education of the educational environment: Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin.

BackgroundThe Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) was planned and designed to quantify the educational environment precisely for medical schools and health-related professional schools. DREEM is now considered a valid and reliable tool, which is globally accepted for measuring the medical educational environment. The educational environment encountered by students has an impact on satisfaction with the course of study, perceived sense of well-being, aspirations, and academic achievement. In addition to being measurable, the educational environment can also be changed, thus enhancing the quality of medical education and the environment, and the medical education process. The objective of this study was to assess the educational environment of the Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) undergraduate medical program from the students’ perspective. The study expected to explore UniSZA medical students’ overall perceptions, perceptions of learning, teachers, atmosphere, academic self-perception, and social self-perception using the DREEM questionnaire.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted to study the perceptions of the students toward the educational environment of UniSZA as a new medical school, using the DREEM questionnaire. All medical students of UniSZA from Years I–V enrolled in the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery programs were the target population (n=270). Therefore, the universal sampling technique was used. The data were analyzed using the SPSS 20 software. This study obtained ethical clearance from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UniSZA.ResultsA total of 195 out of 270 students responded. Respondents included 31% males and 69% females. The overall DREEM scores were significantly higher (P<0.001) for females than males.ConclusionThe medical students at UniSZA showed a positive perception of their educational environment. The new medical faculty, established for only a few years, has achieved an above-average, conducive educational environment for students. Most of the students showed a positive perception for the entire five domains tested in the DREEM survey. Females were consistently satisfied with UniSZA’s educational environment, and self-perception was high, as compared to male undergraduates.

Evaluation of doctors' performance as facilitators in basic medical science lecture classes in a new Malaysian medical school.

BackgroundDidactic lecture is the oldest and most commonly used method of teaching. In addition, it is considered one of the most efficient ways to disseminate theories, ideas, and facts. Many critics feel that lectures are an obsolete method to use when students need to perform hands-on activities, which is an everyday need in the study of medicine. This study evaluates students’ perceptions regarding lecture quality in a new medical school.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study conducted of the medical students of Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin. The study population was 468 preclinical medical students from years 1 and 2 of academic year 2012–2013. Data were collected using a validated instrument. There were six different sections of questions using a 5-point Likert scale. The data were then compiled and analyzed, using SPSS version 20.ResultsThe response rate was 73%. Among 341 respondents, 30% were male and 70% were female. Eighty-five percent of respondents agree or strongly agree that the lectures had met the criteria with regard to organization of lecture materials. Similarly, 97% of students agree or strongly agree that lecturers maintained adequate voices and gestures.ConclusionMedical students are quite satisfied with the lecture classes and the lectures. However, further research is required to identify student-centered teaching and learning methods to promote active learning.

The Role of Peer Facilitator in Enhancing English Language Proficiency in a Simulated Environment

For many learners, language class can be anxiety-provoking than other courses. Mostly, university students are seen to have language anxiety especially in their second language learning. They tend to be nervous when using English language in the formal situation like in classroom. English Outdoor Programme (EOP) in 2011 as part of informal setting was carried out by Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) in an effort to improve the standard of English of its students. The study aims to explore the role of peer facilitators in assisting the students learning English during the EOP from the view of participants and the peer facilitators themselves. This research applies mixed method approachusing questionnaire and interview with both participants and peers involved in this programme. Data obtained from the questionnaire was analysed using SPSS and data from interview was analysed using thematic coding to answer the research objectives given. A significant finding is the positive role the peer facilitators had in the participants’ language learning process; not only for the participants but also the peer facilitators themselves.

The Upbeat association Sandwiched Between Physical Exercise and Stressfree Academic Performance amid Medical Students of Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin

Background: Majority of students tend to have their own preferred pastime physical exercise in dealing stress and to benefit them in their academic piece. Aim: The present cross sectional survey is aimed to probe the positive networking between physical exercise and academic performances amongst future medical professionals in Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA). Review of literature: The reviews of previous researches validate that there may be some short-term improvements of stress related positive mental activity such as memory enrichment but the long-term improvement of academic achievement as a result of more vigorous physical activity is not well corroborated. The relationship between physical activity in student and academic outcomes requires further exposition. Justification: Since previous research did not clearly state the positive relationship between exercise carried out by students and academic excellence in a longer time span, therefore our research aims to find out apt exercise(s) that students prefer in improving their mental state and in turn academic enrichment among both preclinical and clinical phase MBBS students in UniSZA through survey done by questionnaires. Expected outcome: The outcome of this research will hopefully benefit not only the medical students of UniSZA but also others by encouraging a healthy lifestyle and also reduce the incidence of chronic health diseases. Methodology: The respondents are the future medical professionals (year I to V) of UniSZA residing in MAIDAM with 100 in number which includes both genders and different races. Results and Interpretation: The following yardsticks were scrutinized through the questionnaire and were tabulated as per the detail furnished. i.e. choice of exercise, period of practice, duration of exercise per session, past and current CGPA results, and their level of stress. Conclusion: From this cross sectional study among future UniSZA meducationists, it could be postulated that the choice of physical exercise may have an impact on stress-free academic performance.

STUDENT TEACHERS PERCEPTION TOWARDS TEACHING PRACTICUM PROGRAMME

One of the requirements to qualify as a teacher is to undergo a teaching practicum during which one gains teaching experience. This practicum is considered as the most significant way in helping student teachers to become effective classroom teachers. This study investigates UniSZA student teachers perception towards teaching practicum and the challenges encountered by them. 45 Diploma in Teaching of English (TESL) Semester 5 students at the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics (FLL), Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) were chosen as respondents. The research employed qualitative methodology with questionnaire administered to examine the respondent’s answer for every question asked. The findings indicated that the student teachers have different perception and expectation regarding teaching practicum but most of them looked forward to it. The result of this study also highlighted two prominent challenges encountered by the student teachers that were to adapt with the school environment and the classroom management. Findings of this study would provide a deeper understanding on the Teaching Practicum organized by the Faculty of Languages and Communication.

A Study of the Understanding amongst Academia towards the Islamic Concept of Breastfeeding

Understanding the importance of breastfeeding from the Islamic perspective is important in ensuring the success of breastfeeding particularly amongst working mothers. The focus of this research is the understanding of the Islamic perspective on breastfeeding amongst university intellectuals who are considered to be highly educated and a role model for other women. This is a field study that employed the quantitative method where data were obtained through questionnaires and an interview with a specialist in the Islamic Family Jurisprudence (Fiqh). A total of 140 respondents were selected from the Malaysian higher education institutes such as UiTM Kuala Terengganu, University Malaysia Terengganu and Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Kuala Terengganu. The results showed that the respondents have a sound understanding with regards to breastfeeding from the Islamic perspective, scoring an average mean value of 2.67-3.92. This finding indicates that knowledge about breastfeeding according to Islam is an important foundation to the successful practice of breastfeeding. n, Development and mobilization in Iran are evaluated on the grounds of LEED for school rating system. In addition, Roshangar Primary school which was successfully built in accordance to the mentioned Iranian design principle is selected as the case study of research. Through a visual analysis, current practice of these design principles can be examined and presented in a clear view. The shortcomings of the above mentioned design principles will be discovered afterwards and recommendations will be presented in the conclusion of research.

A Structural Approach on Students’ Satisfaction Level with University Cafeteria

This study was carried out to identify the relationship between the food quality, price fairness, staff performance, and ambience of the university cafeteria with students’ satisfaction. The survey method was employed in testing the proposed hypotheses via a structured self-administered questionnaire. This survey was conducted in Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) and a total of 93 undergraduates were selected for questioning via convenience sampling method. The results were generated by using the Structural equation modeling (SEM) technique via AMOS 21.0 computer program with maximum likelihood estimation. Based on the SEM technique, food quality and price fairness are the two most important dimensions that influence the students satisfaction on cafe service quality. Next, the students give less priority to staff performance and ambience. The results were differing from the previous study. The university cafeteria should take serious measurement in improving the food quality and price for long term sustainability.

Reading Trends and Perceptions towards Islamic English Websites as Teaching Materials

This paper is a study of the reading trends and perceptions of Muslim Malaysian undergraduate students towards Islamic English websites as pedagogical materials in English language classrooms. Data was collected through a set of questionnaires to 180 students from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and Universiti Sultan ZainalAbidin (UniSZA). The findings revealed that the students were self-motivated to read the materials to gain spiritual knowledge and to use the knowledge to deal with personal challenges. It also shows that the students recommend that the materials are used for pedagogical purposes in the learning of the English language. The study proposed that texts that bring enjoyment, inspiration, spiritual knowledge and personal development are used as reading materials in English lessons for Muslim students. This would enhance the motivation to read more whilst improving the proficiency of the English language.

Hubungan Pembelajaran Bahasa Arab Menerusi KeLiP dengan Pencapaian Pelajar

The development of e-Learning is very promising at all levels of education. Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) has developed an e-learning or known as Kelip in 2006. However, the impact of e-learning on student achievement has no further explanation. Thus this quantitative study is aimed at exploring whether the use of e-learning, also known as KeLiP at the University of Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), is able to improve student’s achievement among the excellent students of language (PCB) and the below-average students of language (PKCB). The comparisons between the achievements of both groups are also studied. This experimental study involved 69 UniSZA diploma students taking the Arabic Language Proficiency course level 2 (UBA 1022). The students have been learning through KeLiP for 10 weeks with content materials from the UBA 1022 module which were presented electronically in the form of graphics, images, sounds, videos and hyperlinks. Pre and post test was conducted to evaluate student achievement. The study shows that the use of KeLiP has improved PCB and PKCB achievements with a mean of 26.545 per cent. The excellent students’ performances (PCB) continue to maintain their excellence over PKCB with a mean difference of 11.72 per cent. This study proves that KeLiP is able to improve student’s achievement overall and thus serves as an encouragement for the wide use of KeLiP among students and lecturers.

Comparative Study of Professionalism of Future Medical Doctors Between Malaysia and Bangladesh

Md. Zakirul Islam, Abdus Salam, Asadul Mazid Helali, Zaida Rahman, Wan Putri Elena Wan Dali, Salwani Ismail, Nor Iza A Rahman, Mainul Haque Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Eastern Medical College, Comilla, Bangladesh. Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 3 Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Gonoshasthya Samajvittik Medical College & Hospital, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 4 Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Enam Medical College, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 5 Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FPSK), Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Terengganu, Malaysia.

Automatic alkaloid removal system.

This alkaloid automated removal machine was developed at Instrumentation Laboratory, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin Malaysia that purposely for removing the alkaloid toxicity from Dioscorea hispida (DH) tuber. It is a poisonous plant where scientific study has shown that its tubers contain toxic alkaloid constituents, dioscorine. The tubers can only be consumed after it poisonous is removed. In this experiment, the tubers are needed to blend as powder form before inserting into machine basket. The user is need to push the START button on machine controller for switching the water pump ON by then creating turbulence wave of water in machine tank. The water will stop automatically by triggering the outlet solenoid valve. The powders of tubers are washed for 10 minutes while 1 liter of contaminated water due toxin mixture is flowing out. At this time, the controller will automatically triggered inlet solenoid valve and the new water will flow in machine tank until achieve the desire level that which determined by ultra sonic sensor. This process will repeated for 7 h and the positive result is achieved and shows it significant according to the several parameters of biological character ofpH, temperature, dissolve oxygen, turbidity, conductivity and fish survival rate or time. From that parameter, it also shows the positive result which is near or same with control water and assuming was made that the toxin is fully removed when the pH of DH powder is near with control water. For control water, the pH is about 5.3 while water from this experiment process is 6.0 and before run the machine the pH of contaminated water is about 3.8 which are too acid. This automated machine can save time for removing toxicity from DH compared with a traditional method while less observation of the user.

Professionalism of future medical professionals in Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia

Professionalism with high moral character should be developed from the schooling time of the students. The objective of this study was to explore the professionalism of medical students. It was a cross-sectional study conducted on 108 year-I and year-II medical students of session 2012-2013 selected conveniently at UniSZA, Malaysia. Data was collected using a mixed type of validated instrument and analyzed using SPSS. Year-I and year-II were 86% and 98% respectively. Only 27% respondents were male and 73% were female. Mean professionalism scores for year-I and year-II were 175.20 and 172.91, while for male and female were 172.31 and 174.58 respectively. No significant differences observed between gender (p=0.536) and study-year (p=0.484). However, 34% year-I and 19% year-II students defined professionalism diversely while 18% and 9% were un-responded. Professionalism is a braod-concept; a burning issue worldwide. Teachers should emphasis on core elements of professionalism which are unique for all professions.