Public complaints: An instrument to improve services in public institution of higher learning in post modern era. Case study: Student Affairs Department in Universiti Utara Malaysia

Jurgen Habermas dan Anthony Giddens are among other postmodern thinkers have proposed the theory of public sphere and social reflexivity. Because postmodenism has undermined the structure and function of the society and gives extra power to the periphery and individuals, the rise for individual participation in voicing out their need and wants is seen as important so that decision made at the top rung of the society reflect the masses. According to Habermas, in post modern era where tradition is lacking, people are losing trust and confidence in an abstract system – the system governing them beyond their immediate surrounding. To encounter it, citizen should be given power to participate in decision making. Habermas idea is supported by Giddens with his social reflexivity concept that suggests inputting public trust back into social institution. In coherence with this argument, the paper will discuss on the public complaint in public institution which is seen as a way to improve public services. The study is carried out in Student Affairs department in Universiti Utara Malaysia in 2003. The objectives of the study is to measure the level of awareness of the services offered at the Complaint Unit HEP and complaints by the students of the university. The paper will then discuss the findings and suggests ways to improve existing systems so that the quality of service is further enhanced

Qualified audit reports of local authorities in the northern states of Malaysia

The reliability of information presented in the financial reports of local authorities is of utmost importance to enable the public to measure their performance in terms of efficiency and effectiveness in using public resources. The task to provide such an assurance lies with the Auditor General, who has been entrusted to enforce the auditing compliance regulations. A certificate in the form of “unqualified,” “qualified,” “adverse,” or “disclaimer” accompanied by a report on the financial affairs of the local authorities concerned will be issued after the Auditor General completes the audit of the local authorities’ financial statements. Our study on 14 local authorities comprising municipal and district councils in the Malaysian States of Perlis, Kedah and Penang found that the Qualified Certificate is the common type of audit certificate issued to the local authorities concerned during the period 1997-2001(inclusive of both years). Discrepancies in “Fixed Assets Register” ranked first among the audit incidents that led towards non-compliance to the audit procedures. This was followed by discrepancies in “Other Receivables” and “Cash Flow Statements” which ranked second and third positions respectively. Our finding also shows that size does not grant any advantage to the bigger local authority in reducing the number of audit incidents

Design and Development of In-Line Optical Amplifiers

Fiber optic technology is not entirely perfect, even with its amazing capabilities. As the transmissions cover larger distances, signal loss occurs and amplification is required. Hence, to transmit information over longer distances, the optical signals need to be boosted. The conventional method of boosting these signals is by using the electrical repeaters. The concept of electrical repeaters may sound attractive, but it poses several problems. This is because repeaters can only work at specific bit rate, wavelength and modulation format. The need for optical amplifiers has arisen because the repeaters concept delays the transmission and may introduce noise in the signal. Optical signals require amplification at different points on communications links. There are three types of amplifiers located along this link. The first type is the power amplifiers that are placed directly after the optical transmitter. Secondly, there are the in-line amplifiers that operate with a signal in the middle of a fiber-optic link and lastly, the pre amplifiers, which magnify the signal before it reaches the receiver. In this research, the design and development of optical amplifiers focused only on in-line amplifiers. Among the variety of optical amplifiers, Erbium doped fiber amplifiers were chosen as the optical amplifiers because erbium is the most efficient active medium that allows optical signals to be transmitted over very long distances without the need for signal regeneration. In this thesis, the hands-on experiments of the in-line optical amplifiers design were carried out. The design models comprised single and double stages of Erbium doped fiber amplifiers setups. At the single stage device level, testing was conducted to study the effects of the design parameters that are pump power, Erbium doped fiber length, signal wavelength and input power. The analysis on the double stage Erbium doped fiber amplifier was carried out for the device level testing based on the effects of the performance parameters i.e., gain, output power, noise figure and Amplified Spontaneous Emission level with the inclusion of tunable band pass filter. The results showed that the double stage amplifiers had a greater advantage compared to the single stage. The double stage Erbium doped fiber amplifiers with tunable band pass filter and the utilization of the backward pumping scheme had increased the gain more than that with the forward pumping scheme. The noise problem created in the Erbium doped fiber amplifiers was the main source that contributed to the high Amplified Spontaneous Emission. The concatenated chain caused the Amplified Spontaneous Emission to accumulate. Hence, inserting a tunable band pass filter in the design reduced the noise figure. Varying the parameters and selecting the suitable setup can improve the performance of the in-line amplifier system. The results of the study showed the most suitable design setup is the double stage Erbium doped fiber amplifiers, which increase the gain but reduce the noise leve

Improving the energy values of rice straw and oil palm empty fruit bunch in ruminant feeding

Rice straw and oil palm empty fruit bunch were treated with urea and commercial effective microorganisms to study their ability to breakdown fibres, improved in protein and energy values. In rice straw, the crude protein and crude fibre treated with urea and urea + effective microorganisms showed significant differences from the untreated control. The neutral detergent fibre and nitrogen free extract values in the rice straw treatment did not show significant differences. Metabolizable energy values decreased with the treatment groups compared to the control. The results of keeping the treated rice straw in anaerobic plastic bags up to 30 days showed no significant breakdown of fibre components in the control and urea treated groups. But there is a significant dropped in the neutral detergent fibre in urea+effective microorganisms treatment. In oil palm empty fruit bunch, there were no significant differences seen in the crude protein, crude fibre, acid detergent fibre, neutral detergent fibre, nitrogen free extract and metabolisable energy values. Storage showed decreased in energy values in all treated groups. The addition of urea and microbes showed improved protein level and in the reduction of the fibre components in rice straw only

Effectiveness of HIV/AIDS educational intervention in increasing knowledge, attitude and practices for primary school teachers in some part of Africa

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is virus that weakens the immune system of the body through destruction of the white blood cells. Whereas, AIDS term as; acquired immune deficiency syndrome is a disease due to the infection of HIV. Knowledge of health, and practices among teachers of primary school are scanty. Studies indicated that few teachers have heard or even became aware that HIV/AIDS is a viral infectious, and some of them lacked the knowledge about its mode of transmission with low attitudinal behaviours. Thus, this review paper discusses some health promotion measures and relevant information regarding, how the use of educational intervention in primary school teachers, could help in reducing the incidence cases of HIV/AIDS in Africa. We therefore recommend effective educational intervention programmes should be set for primary school teachers, in order that the teachers and the students could have a sound knowledge of health practices that will change their attitude which in turn reduce the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission

Teori pascamoden dan krisis sosial: Penjelasan teori ke atas fenomena sosial

Kertas kerja ini akan membincangkan beberapa teori pemikiran postmodernism dan cuba mengenalpasti elemen-elemen utama teori tersebut. Turut dibincangkan ialah mengenai perubahan pemikiran dalam era pascamoden dan implikasi pemikiran tersebut ke atas fenomena sosial hari ini. Kejatuhan teori besar dan munculnya teori-teori kecil membawa kepada kemajmukan pemikiran dalam postmodernism sehingga menyebabkan rasionaliti perseorangan di angkat menjadi sebagai hukum dalam merasionalisasikan tindakannya dalam sesuatu komuniti dan masyarakat. Keadaan ini sedemikian dikaitkan dengan munculnya beberapa fenomena krisis sosial yang berleluasa akibat daripada pemikiran era pascamoden yang lebih bersifat mementingkan individu atau ahli masyarakat itu sendiri sehingga timbulnya krisis kepentingan di mana nilai individu itu melebihi kepentingan sesebuah masyarakat. Kertas ini akan mengaitkan masalah keteraturan sosial yang compang-camping disebabkan oleh kejatuhan grand theory ini. Beberapa isu akan diutarakan dan akan mengaplikasi beberapa pemikiran pascamoden dalam memahami krisis masyarakat. Akhir sekali implikasi ke atas masyarakat masa depan akan dibincangkan jika pemikiran sebegini dibiarkan berleluasa dan menjadi dogma pemikiran dalam sains sosial. Cadangan akan dibuat dalam mengurangkan dan mengawal pemikiran pascamoden agar komuniti mutmainnah dapat dibangunkan dan lebih bertolak ansur ke atas keperluan manusia sejagat