Pre-service special education teachers’ professionalism and preparation in terms of child sexual abuse

This study aimed at examining Jordanian pre-service special education teachers’ professionalism and preparation on the topic of child sexual abuse (CSA). Qualitative research data from interviews with 20 pre-service special education teachers were analysed using thematic analysis. The results showed that these participants generally hold avoiding behaviour toward speaking about CSA as it is an unspoken taboo. Participants also hold low levels of professionalism on the topic of CSA. The results also demonstrate that they felt that their preparation programme is inadequate and desired more content and pedagogy courses that relate to CSA. Implications and recommendations are presented in light of the study findings.     

Negotiating class,ethnicity and modernity: the ‘Malaynisation’ of P. Ramlee and his films

Early Malaysian national cinema disseminates a social reconstruction process aimed at reconstructing Malay supremacy at the centre of a specific geographical, political, economic and cultural space. Aptly termed as ‘Malaynisation’, this process occurred during the Golden Age of Malaysian cinema through the films of P. Ramlee. While existing as a capitalist film culture located within an ethnically diverse society, early Malaysian cinema through Ramlee have produced a significant number of mono-ethnic representations solely focused on the culture, language and lifestyles of the Malays. As such, the articulation of the politics of inclusion and exclusion in Ramlee’s films articulates a right-wing nationalist sentiment that upholds the sovereignty of the dominant Malays while undermining other ethnic communities. The nature of these representations enunciates the context of an ‘imagined community’ which locates the formation of a particular type of nationalism within a social, political and cultural communicative space. This paper examines the construction of the ‘modern Malay’ identity in Ramlee’s films and the nationalist discourse in Ramlee’s films as an attempt at producing the idea of a nation as a continuous narrative of national progression by presenting the postcolonial Malays as a modern, successful and dominant force.     

Physical environment as a 3-D textbook: design and development of a prototype

The use of the physical environment as a three-dimensional (3-D) textbook is not a common practice in educational facilities design. Previous researches documented that little progress has been made to incorporate environmental education (EE) into architecture, especially among the conventional designers who are often constrained by the budget and building area requirements. This article presents an exploratory project to develop a prototype for the 3-D textbook. The author does not formulate ideas and concept based on the pre-determined specs in a design brief. Instead, the design solution evolved through a qualitative case study conducted at the Green School in Bali, Indonesia. Data were collected through a series of interviews and on-site observations. The qualitative findings uncovered four design features for the 3-D textbook. A prototype was subsequently developed using the design features as a blueprint. The prototype serves as a testing ground for new ideas as well as a platform to promote awareness and acceptance of the 3-D textbook among the practitioners. Consequently, this article attempted a significant proposition to bring together architecture and EE, thus potentially contributing to a field of knowledge that embraces design and education.     

Broadcast diamond channel: Transmission strategies and bounds

This paper proposes a new multiuser communication model in which a source with broadcast capabilities wants to transmit two different messages to two different destinations in the case that no direct links between the source and its destinations. In this channel model, two parallel half-duplex relays are used to extend the transmission. For this communication model, an outer bound to the achievable capacity is initially derived. Then, two distinctive transmission schemes are characterized such that the source can transmit to the two destinations. In each scheme, the transmission is split into two phases. Specifically, in the first phase, the source can broadcast different messages to the two relays. Then, in the second phase, the two relays can forward the source’s signals into their destinations. Based on the transmission on each scheme, the achievable rate region is characterized. Further, we derive the optimal duration of each phase. The theoretical analyses are followed by many numerical examples that compare between the different transmission techniques and also show the points at which the capacity is achieved.     

Factors influencing Malaysian public attitudes to agro-biotechnology

Despite considerable research in advanced countries on public perceptions of and attitudes to modern biotechnology, limited effort has been geared towards developing a structural model of public attitudes to modern biotechnology. The purpose of this paper is to identify the relevant factors influencing public attitudes towards genetically modified (GM) soybean, and to analyze the relationship between all the attitudinal factors. A survey was carried out on 1,017 respondents from various stakeholder groups in the Klang Valley region. Results of the survey have confirmed that attitudes towards complex issues such as biotechnology should be seen as a multifaceted process. The most important factors predicting support for GM soybean are the specific application-linked perceptions about the benefits, acceptance of risk and moral concern while risk and familiarity are significant predictors of benefit and risk acceptance. Attitudes towards GM soybean are also predicted by several general classes of attitude.     

Orthogonal Polynomials and Padé Approximation

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Programme Quality Assessment by the Implication of Variable Entry Qualifications on Students' Performance

Since its inception 30 years ago, the then Department of Engineering Science, Institut Teknologi MARA (ITM) was given the responsibility of preparing all the students in the first year engineering programmes by giving enough knowledge in basic science and mathematics. The nation's vision to become a fully‐industrialised economy by the year 2020 required all institutes of higher learning (IHLs) in Malaysia to increase their intake of students in the science and technology courses, especially in engineering. However, at the upper secondary education level, students have the freedom to choose between the science‐based or non‐science combination of subjects. This has led to a dearth of science‐based students enrolling in IHLs. Because ITM believes that it is possible to educate individuals from various backgrounds, the engineering courses are open to students with a variety of academic qualifications. Special bridging courses were designed and created for such students since late 1996. The success or failure of the new courses can be assessed after the students have gone through the proper first year engineering courses which consist of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. This paper reports on a pilot study on the pioneer groups of students with variable entry qualifications to assess the effectiveness of the courses. The study involved the analysis of the students’ examination results as a performance indicator, and it was found that the bridging programme for non‐science students needed to be redesigned. It is also proposed that to improve the quality of the programme, and hence students’ performance, a regular review be conducted, student support activities be continued and to expand the use of self‐study materials.