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The professional skills required to be a successful engineer continue to grow and expand as the engineering disciplines evolve. In the United Kingdom, the Engineering Council has released the latest version of the Accreditation of Higher Education Programmes (AHEP). AHEP4 as it has become known covers a wide range of topics central to engineering disciplines. As well as traditional core professional and subject requirements for engineering this document introduces challenges for the future such as sustainability, EDI, and cybersecurity. In addition, there is an expectation that appropriate digital skills for engineers form part of the toolkit for engineers as they move towards chartered engineering status. This paper discusses the digital skills that will enable engineers to develop their skill set as engineering professionals, enhance their employability by developing digital skills in the context of their engineering specialism and ensure that they have the digital skills to enable their activities to contribute to the betterment of society. In the paper the work done to embed digital skills in the engineering curriculum will be discussed. We will then go on to discuss the work done with engineering employers to identify the digital skills expectations for graduates entering employment and finally how the continued professional development process for digital skills can be embraced as engineers move through their careers. The session will conclude with a discussion on how colleagues from the UK and from Malaysia can work together to develop a framework to support engineers in developing their digital skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to study more about young entrepreneur participation toward halal food industry. Many studies stated that halal food industry demand is growing rapidly in both Malaysia and global. The current situation in Malaysia is precisely targeting the youth to act as organizer and participant in Malaysia halal food industry. The factors which may influence the participation of young entrepreneurs includes job happiness, intention, perception, attitude, social norms, perceived behaviour, and financial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Floods in Malaysia are described as flash floods and monsoon floods by the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID). Forecasting is a specialized form of predictive analysis used to predict future trends or behavior from existing data. Weather forecasting predicts the weather in the future from current data circumstances. As flood forecasting models become more accurate, however, their capacity to accurately predict flooding decreased as the forecast continues. Therefore, to understand the different techniques used to forecast flood levels, a systematic review of the literature was conducted. This paper's main objective is to examine the most common variable used to forecast floods, utilizing the systematic review technique. From the main focus, we can identify the research questions, such as the most commonly used prediction method and its accuracy. In the end, two of the most common variables used for flood forecasting are rainfall and water level. This study's data can help others forecast floods using standard variables that yield the best accuracy possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the laboratory result on compaction characteristic for soft soil subgrade which was stabilized by using waste paper sludge ash (WPSA). The soft soil sample was collected from Banting Selangor, Malaysia named as Banting soft soil and classified as slightly sandy Clay with intermediate plasticity. Additive of WPSA is a finely waste product produced from the incinerated waste paper. In ASTM C618, this WPSA samples are categorized as Type-C fly ash due to the high free lime (CaO) content (>20%) and possesses some cementitious and pozzolanic, resulting in the self-cementing characteristics. Therefore no entire activators such as lime are required. Objectives of this study are to determine the dry density and moisture content of Banting soft soil stabilized by WPSA through the different energy and method of compaction and to determine the Atterberg limit properties of Banting soft soil stabilized using WPSA. Several percentage of WPSA (4%, 8%, 12% and 16%) was used to stabilize the soft soil. Meanwhile the compactions methods are used in this study are standard proctor test and modified proctor test. The Atterberg limit properties testing involved the liquid limit testing, and plastic limit testing. The result showed the plasticity indexes of soft soil stabilized with series percentage (4%, 8%, 12% and 16%) of WPSA were reduced parallel to the increment of liquid limit and plastic limit result. Meanwhile, the compaction result for stabilized soft soil showed an increment dry density value followed by decrement of moisture content for modified compaction and standard compaction. However, 4% WPSA were giving the best of optimum moisture content and maximum dry density stabilized soft soil from modified compaction. From this experimental study, it shows that WPSA has a significant and effective to improve the geotechnical properties of soft soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysia is facing serious challenges in dealing enormous quantities of waste paper sludge produced in the country every year. This enormous quantity causing major economic problems and environmental problems over the paper and board industry. In order to confront with the economic problems associated with waste disposal costs, which make up almost half of the cost of wastewater treatment, there is a need to provide a viable solution to the reuse of waste and by reducing the use of natural resources. Hence, a comparative analysis of the experimental results novel properties of fresh and hardened concrete with recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) with different substitution of waste paper sludge ash (WPSA) as a partial substitute for cement is presented in the paper. Recycled aggregates is made by crushing the waste concrete cube laboratory tests. Recycled aggregate is made by crushing the concrete waste at laboratory. Utilize of WPSA and RCA is estimated to produce significant gains in strength performance (determine the strength characteristics of concrete structures) and properties of workability and water absorption for each series of mixed. Therefore, the application of those testing method were measured the quality of concrete, so that they can perform satisfactorily as structural element. The findings demonstrated that the WPSA and RCA seems to contribute to the favourable concrete compressive strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chlorine-based bleaching agent can brighten the pulp effectively, but it harms the environment, especially water pollution. Thus, hydrogen peroxide, a total chlorine-free (TCF) bleaching agent is applied in this research to bleach pulp derived from Sesbania grandiflora. Sesbania grandiflora is being chosen as raw material due to its ideal characteristics as pulp source and native in Malaysia. This research aims to determine the effects of hydrogen peroxide on Sesbania grandiflora pulp and evaluate the paper properties made from Sesbania grandiflora pulp. The research was carried under different bleaching durations, 20 minutes, 40 minutes and 60 minutes under a constant temperature of 50°C and 3% concentration of hydrogen peroxide. The physical, optical and mechanical properties of Sesbania handsheet were measured according to the standard TAPPI. The overall result presented a significant effect on kappa number and handsheet brightness but little on mechanical properties. The longer bleaching duration gave the least kappa number of the Sesbania pulp, thus, improving the brightness of the Sesbania handsheet. However, it did not affect the strength properties of the handsheet. In this research, 60 minutes of bleaching duration on Sesbania grandiflora pulp exhibits the optimal bleaching performance without compromising paper mechanical properties significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behavioral biometric traits are not fully distinguished in recognition tasks, but they can improve the overall performance of biometric recognition systems by adding them. The behavioral biometric studied in this paper is related to keystroke dynamic. This paper examines the touch keystroke dynamics of computer users for the purpose of identifying their culture by using four different SVM kernels. It has been confirmed that racial classifications can be made by gathering keystroke data from 250 respondents representing various culture in Malaysia. Results show that different culture categories display different typing patterns. The classification is made using four SVM kernels and a comparison of the accuracy results is shown. The four kernels are Linear, Quadratic, Cubic and Fine Gaussian. The linear kernel has provided the highest accuracy and consistent readings compared to other kernels for the four features evaluated for dynamic keystrokes, namely press-press time, release-release time, press-release time and release-press time. The linear kernel has the highest accuracy reading of 92.4% for classification using press-press time features for the Malay vs Chinese category. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precast concrete is one of Industrialized Building System (IBS) types that is mainly used in Malaysia. Even though precast shows promising performance in ongoing project but in building maintenance, precast shows otherwise. This is due to the usage of the conventional method (paper-based report/unsystematic data of maintenance which is Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) and by integrating it with BIM technology will help in enhance maintenance. BIM shows its benefits through maintenance by showing its coordination in design and three-dimensional visualization. This paper help into identifying the requirement of integrating CMMS and BIM technology in precast building maintenance. An interview was conducted to gain the objective of the study. Results showed that there are two requirements to support CMMS and BIM integration in maintenance management which is a complete and organize data and a compilation of a standard requirement that stated by the department (e.g., Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia, Syarikat Air Selangor and JKR). This resulted in the creation of a crucial aspect of the maintenance management system that uses emerging technology to aid engineers at precast building in improving their present maintenance management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurial intention, as the preliminary idea of pursuing new ventures. Entrepreneurship is an important component to enhance the country's economic growth and sustainability as well as to meet the challenges of globalisation, such as increasing the unemployment rate among students. The objectives of this paper are to determine the relationship between personality, government support and entrepreneurship education with entrepreneurial intention among business students from selected public university in Malaysia and to measure the predictor of entrepreneurial intention. This study is quantitative in the form and questionnaires distributed to collect information from respondents based on the size of 100 samples and use convenience sampling method. The data obtained through questionnaires is analyzed and evaluated by correlation and regression testing. The results showed that all moderate linkages with entrepreneurial intentions. Government support also show the the most impact on the entrepreneurial intention. This paper provides a comprehensive framework that contributes to conceptualization and assists the Government and academic in enhancing skills and courses to increase the desire of business students to become future successful entrepreneurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of the country is not only focusing on the role of government alone. The private sector and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) also play important role in ensuring that the public will get the benefits of sustainable development. The NGOs play a major role at grassroot level since they are close to community for implementing the programmes that will benefit to the community as a whole. They do have expertise and skills to deliver the services to the communities. Understanding the important role of the NGOS, this paper will explore their roles and contributions towards the community development in Malaysia. The research focused on members of NGO in Malaysia. The questions asked about their roles and contributions towards communities. The descriptive analysis will be discussed throughout the paper. This paper also will highlight the future relationship that should be focused by the NGOs and other stakeholders like government and corporate organisations towards creating sustainable development for the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promotional activities are among the most significant aspects in ensuring continual visits and engagements from visitors to heritage sites and institutions, including museums. An ineffective marketing technique will make it challenging to attract visitors and communities. This leads to the decrease number of visitors, undermining the fundamental mission of museums as an informal educational establishment for the public. However, few studies have been done on a promotional strategy for museum management in Malaysia. This paper seeks to bridge the gap by exploring the current museum's marketing technique, using the Kelantan State Museum as a case study. It aims to look further into the museum's promotional strategy, the involvement of responsible bodies, and the challenges in promoting the museum, specifically during the covid-19 pandemic. The research employed a qualitative design with purposeful approaches and snowballing techniques by interviewing the personnel at the Kelantan State Museum. The collected data were then analysed by applying Braun and Clarke's six-step thematic analysis methodology. The results identified three main themes: marketing strategies and activities, collaboration between stakeholders and challenges going forward. The overarching findings highlighted major stakeholders and their degree of participation in museum promotion. This paper also discussed the challenges posed by the museum management in promoting their establishment to the public. This include issues such as visitor expectations, funding cuts and digital adaptation; and the cessation of many museum hubs for physical visitations due to the Covid-19, leading to new rules being presented to adapt to the recent changes in ensuring visitors' safety. It is believed that the new norm has impacted the museum management's efforts to promote their institution, necessitating the development of new strategies to increase public participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Coronavirus Disease 2021 or COVID-19 has affected almost all individuals around the globe. Consequently, Malaysia is one of the nations that has been facing tremendous changes in various sectors due to COVID-19. As the number of positive cases is on the rise, the Malaysian government has executed its National COVID-19 Immunization Program to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and the severity of disease in case a vaccinated person is infected. However, there are also individuals who have contributed to vaccine refusal due to many factors including misinformation about vaccines, religious beliefs, lack of knowledge, and awareness. Therefore, this paper presents a combination of instructional design and cognitive load theory named CoLoMo model, to increase the awareness of COVID-19 among parents. The CoLoMo model is a theory for mobile application development involving three elements in mobile instruction design which include platform, design, accessibility, and design page. These elements have been chosen prior to the target users which are parents or adults. The three cognitive load theory types in this model are intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive load. The combination of the mobile interaction design and cognitive load theory types will affect the user's cognitive performance which are concentration, learning capabilities and attributes. This paper also discusses the previous research on the implementation of cognitive load theory through mobile applications. Several strategies that emphasize different relevant cognitive processes which are useful to consider when developing mobile applications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The period of substantial economic ambiguity such as recession and economic crisis had urged us to boost the savings rate as people forgo their current consumption expenditure to compensate for an unpredictable financial future. The exigency of saving amid new normal endemic is vital for economic growth and recovery. Hence, this paper is aimed to analyze some macroeconomic factors such as interest rate, inflation rate, household income, government consumption expenditure, and the household final consumption expenditure that can influence the household savings in Malaysia by using the ordinary least square method (OLS). This paper utilizes the secondary data sources from the World Bank Data and Department of Statistics Malaysia over the period from 1999 to 2019. The findings manifest that a new predictor variable which is the government consumption expenditure, as well as the household final consumption expenditure had a negative significant effect on household savings whereas household income and interest rate are known as less significant factors. Nonetheless, inflation rate is found insignificant towards the household savings in Malaysia. Therefore, this paper implies the exploration of factors affecting household savings could be useful to policymakers, investors, and financial advisors to help sustaining the macroeconomic wellbeing and hence raise the standard of living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prevalence of obesity in Malaysia is one of the highest among the Asian countries and it is one of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease which is the main cause of death in Malaysia. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between obesity and mortality rate and find its association with sociodemographic factors such as education and household income. This time-series study used secondary data from World Bank data and Household Income Survey (HIS), and it used annual data from 1990 to 2019. ADF test is used to test the stationarity. Simple linear and multiple linear regression were used in this paper to study the relationship between mortality with obesity, education, and household income. Multicollinearity, heteroskedasticity and R-squared were used to define the best regression model in this study. This study found that mortality was positively associated with obesity. Besides, the findings also shows that there was an inverse relationship between obesity and education, meanwhile positive relationship appears between obesity and household income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysia has targeted to achieve 40% of renewable energy (RE) by 2035. It is evident that solar energy shall contribute the largest portion of the target due to the abundant resources of solar in Malaysia. Nevertheless, Malaysia should not limit its' RE resources to only solar energy. This includes RE in the likes of wind energy. Although generally Malaysia has comparatively low annual average wind speed, numerous studies have shown that there are several areas with relatively higher annual average wind speed. These areas may potentially be considered for wind energy development. Several methodologies have been utilized by researchers to identify such areas. Several researchers opted to develop wind maps to identify the potential area in Malaysia for wind energy development. Interpolation methods such as Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) and Kriging are commonly utilised in wind mapping studies as these methods are effective to estimate the wind speed at unmeasured area. This paper reviews the comparison between the wind speed interpolation methods which are IDW and Kriging for wind energy applications in Malaysia. Among the interpolation parameters compared include input, results and validation. The way forward proposed by this paper will aid as a reference for future advances in wind mapping in Malaysia and its surrounding region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID 19 disease has spread worldwide, disrupting the economy, society, education, and health. It became crucial to understand the transmission curve and identify the best action in combating this highly transmissible epidemic. Epidemiological parameters of the deterministic Susceptible-Infected-Removed (SIR) model are widely used in explaining the characteristics and behavior of the disease spreading. Disease like COVID-19 is highly influenced by the uncontrolled factors of randomness, hence in this paper, the deterministic susceptible-infected-recovered-death (SIRD) model is extended to the stochastic SIRD (SSIRD) model. SSIRD model takes into consideration the noisy behavior of the process which explains the uncontrolled effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. The epidemiological parameter of the model changes throughout the epidemic due to external factors such as enforcement and public obedience to the control measures as well as the changes in healthcare facilities. These parameters need to be estimated. This paper estimates the epidemiological parameters of the SSIRD model using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method of the Metropolis Hasting algorithm. The COVID-19 data from Malaysia and Indonesia are used and the dynamical behavior of the COVID-19 outbreak in both countries is simulated. The results show the parameter changing due to the uncontrolled factors influencing the trend of the pandemic curve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shift from paper-based to web-based practice is a significant trend, as paper-based practice consumes time, is prone to error, and is more prone to data loss, all of which lead to inefficiency. Smart farming or agriculture 4.0 defined the new era of agriculture that moving toward digitalization. However, the absence of a centralized information system, which results in information asymmetry among agricultural sectors. One of the keys to success is reaching out to farmers with pertinent agricultural information at the appropriate time and platform. The purpose of this study is to design and create a dynamic web-based knowledge management system for the dissemination of agricultural knowledge in Malaysia. A centralized information system capable of achieving information symmetry, in which all important information is accessible to all participants. Creating an advanced learning environment allowing for virtual engagement between external and internal stakeholders via a web-based knowledge management system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term damage to the country's progress may result from tax evasion. An increasing number of businesses in Malaysia are not paying their fair share of taxes, and this is especially true for Goods and Services Tax (GST), according to the latest annual statistics. Even with the new Sales and Services Tax 2.0 (SST 2.0), businesses are likely still seeking to avoid paying tax, as seen by the past experiences of the GST. Many in Malaysia's business community, especially those in charge of smaller companies, are worried about how SST 2.0 would damage their bottom lines. SMEs also have been reported as having more opportunities for tax non-compliance than individuals. There are many factors that contributed to non-compliance issues among SMEs such as sector, size, and ownership. Thus, this paper is intended to study the differences between those factors towards SST 2.0 non-compliance. This study is conducted via a personally administered survey questionnaire to SME owner-managers in the northern peninsular of Malaysia, covering the state of Kedah, Perlis, Penang, and Perak. The list of SMEs obtained from the Department of Statistics, Malaysia indicated a total of 198,645 SME establishments in the northern 4 states, and the final random samples of 390 SMEs were chosen. This study built upon prior studies and the experiences of GST during the year 2015 to 2018, adjusted to suit the newly reintroduced SST environment, and thus add a contribution to indirect taxation literature and practices in Malaysia. The result of analysis via t-test and ANOVA revealed that there are significant differences between sector, size, ownership of the SMEs, and the probable area of difficulties. The probable of difficulties is indeed divided into technical and procedural requirements as well as system and documentation requirements in specific. This research indirectly enhances and improves the body of knowledge on the acceptance of SMEs in SST 2.0 compliance as well as on the theory as a whole. However, there are still rooms for improvement and a gap to be covered that could be taken care of in future research perhaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global average life expectancy has increased astonishingly. However, problems such as household income inequality, high unemployment and the continuous impact of economic growth have prevented Malaysia's life expectancy from increasing. This paper studies the effect of macroeconomic variables on life expectancy in Malaysia from 1991–2019. The data was collected from the World Bank and the Department of Statistics Malaysia. For this purpose, the analysis of the study is to use the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach. The results show that household income variables and economic growth variables have a positive and significant effect on life expectancy in the long run, while only the economic growth variables have a significant effect on life expectancy in the short run. Therefore, the country needs to allocate greater expenditure on economic development because it can increase Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and reduce the inflation rate. Besides, people can have extra money to get better health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The palm oil industry is one of the most important agro-based industries in Malaysia, with more than 400 palm oil mills nationwide. These mills are generally self-sustained in energy by converting empty fruit bunch (EFB), palm mesocarp fibre (PMF) and palm kernel shell (PKS), into energy. However, palm fuel burned in boilers have caused severe air pollution problems due to improper boiler operation and inefficient air pollution control systems. This results in emission of bottom ash particulates from multicyclone and electrostatic precipitator (ESP) hopper after combustion. This paper discusses the characteristics of palm fuel, namely PMF, PKS and EFB, based on proximate analysis, gross calorific value, ultimate analysis and element composition. Morphology of bottom ash emitted from multicyclone and ESP was also examined using scanning electron microscope (SEM). EFB was found to have the ' highest moisture content of 63.1% among others, while mixture of PMF and PKS had the highest volatile matter of 54.5% and fixed carbon of 18.5%. PMF has the highest calorific value of 2993 kcals/kg among others. The bottom ash from multicyclone and ESP exhibited particulate sizes ranging from 18.4 to 68 µm and 10.9 to 44.6 µm, respectively. These were considered as preliminary results which require further future research. The outcomes of this study are useful for mitigation of fine particulate emission from air pollution control system in the palm oil mill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States and China are strong trading partners of Malaysia, with about 23% of total exports in 2017. Therefore, the trade war pressures since 2018 between the United States and China have affected the Malaysian economy. Thus, this paper aims to analyse the effects of the war on the Malaysian stock market using a threshold network approach. Then, the networks examine the changes of important stocks before, during and after the trade war in which the periods are taken from 16th March 2017 until 31st May 2021. The important stocks are determined by four standard centrality approaches, namely degree centrality, closeness centrality, betweenness centrality, and eigenvector centrality. This paper uses 240 companies of the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Emas Index to create the Malaysian stock market networks. The results show that Dagang Nexchange Berhad and Jaya Tiasa Holdings Berhad have higher connectivity with other stocks during the turmoil period and after the turmoil period respectively. Besides, Dagang Nexchange Berhad acts as the most important stock according to all centrality measures. The findings of this study give an insight to the government regulators and investors with information regarding the current topological structure of Malaysia's stock market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals must begin saving money early to meet their future personal and household needs. It is important to focus on savings as soon as possible to achieve a healthy and stable economy after retirement. Retirement expectations can be unrealistic since many believe retirement is still a long way off. Insufficient money made it difficult for people, particularly B40 groups in Malaysia, to continue their monthly savings due to a restricted budget in the face of rising living costs. The majority of the B40 group in Malaysia are struggling with the issue of not having enough money to support the desired lifestyle after retirement, and this issue has deteriorated over time. This concept paper proposes financial literacy, future expectations, self-awareness, social influence, and financial management as predictive factors for the B40 group to plan for their retirement savings, applying the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and supported by prior studies. Due to this interest, this paper proposes a conceptual framework for the factors affecting the retirement decisions of B40 groups in Malaysia. The suggested framework could benefit all, especially B40 groups, in term of how they prepare themselves for retirement life. Related organizations can use the proposed model to encourage early retirement savings among Malaysians, especially the B40 group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safety procedures at highways are essential to ensure safe, clean and accessible roads and highways. The workers were often exposed to hazardous situations, as seen by numerous accidents involving highway workers on the road in recent years. Safety technologies in the highway construction work zone may help improve the roadway construction and maintenance workers' safety. This paper reviews the statistics of road accidents in Malaysia, highway work zone safety problems and existing applications of safety sensor systems as an improvement of safety technology in the construction work zones. As an improvement towards the safety technology, Signal Warning Detector (SWAD) system was developed to increase the safety at highway work zone especially on PLUS highways in Malaysia. The development of the SWAD system's parameter setting was discussed later in the methodology section of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Once German Government had declared their Industry 4.0 strategy, many countries also followed suit to set their aim on promoting the manufacturing computerization in their country. However, there is a gap between the existing machines and the technology advances in Industry 4.0 such as cloud computing, internet of things, system integration and etcetera. The lack of experience to develop the industry 4.0 infrastructure is also one of the major obstacles in the developing countries. The aim of this paper is to address the challenges of implementing industry 4.0 Technology in machine-based manufacturing for small and medium companies. This paper focuses on Malaysia's Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that are undergoing Industry 4.0 transformation in order to serve as a reference for other developing countries like Malaysia in which a lot of SMEs are facing similar challenges. Based on the literature review and real cases in collaboration with companies in the industry, the challenges of data collection and system interoperability as well as the solutions are presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a hybrid rule-based machine learning approach to produce a student profiling model for University Selangor (UNISEL) a state-owned private higher education institution in Malaysia. This project attempts to address UNISEL's interest by proposing a student profiling model that can assist in predicting student intake using existing data from a survey conducted by UNISEL among its current students. Maintaining a healthy student intake is vital to ensure the continuity of any private educational institution. Hence, this research aims to predict student intake towards academic entrance in UNISEL based current data profile using hybrid rule-based methods subject to past student intake data to improve better decision-making process. The two algorithm that had been selected using the hybrid rule-based machine learning approach combines rule-based (i.e., expert system) with multi-level machine learning (i.e., K-Mode's clustering and decision tree classification) to produce the final student profiler model. This paper first outlines the assumptions made before dividing the proposed approach into five main phases: data cleaning, feature extraction and selection, model formulation and model testing. Results shows that the project managed to propose a creative workaround that suited the use-case presented to produce the student profiler model in predicting student intake in UNISEL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precast concrete is one of the most common forms of Industrialized Building System (IBS) in Malaysia. Although it performs well in ongoing projects, it performs poorly in building upkeep. This is due to the use of the conventional approach of maintenance, Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS), which will be enhanced by merging it with BIM technology. BIM demonstrates its value in maintenance by demonstrating design coordination and three-dimensional modelling. This paper help into identifying the factor lacking awareness of CMMS and BIM integration for precast building maintenance. An interview was conducted to gain the objective of the study. Results showed that one out of 6 interviewee is aware of the CMMS and BIM integration for building maintenance. It shows that there is a lacking awareness of the integration of this technology for building maintenance. The factors of this lacking awareness are due to lack of professional interactive, lack of research on BIM implementation and training expenses and the learning curve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A one-dimensional (1-D) seismic site response analysis were conducted using the nonlinear (NL) methods to assess the peak surface acceleration (PSA) and soil amplification. 10 profiles were selected from Peninsular Malaysia site. Three earthquake time history such as Loma Prieta, Acheh and Ranau were scaled to 0.03g, 0.07g and 0.10g and applied to all sites. The results showed that the calculated PSA and soil amplification factor are higher at soil types C compared to soil types D. Moreover, the NL results showed that deamplification did occur in the soft soils of Peninsular Malaysia. The paper contributes to the seismic site-response studies for soil amplification in Peninsular Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysia is strategically located at the crossroad between East and West. Due to this ideally location, this country has been exposed to many foreign influences and cultures. The Portuguese was the first colonial power that set up their establishment in the Peninsular Malaysia. This was then followed by The Dutch and later on by The British. Among these three colonial powers, it was the British that ultimately secured their sovereignty on this land. Under British administration, Malaysia has adopted their architectural styles with strong local identities that fit with the climate of the country. These influences can be observed in many heritage hotel buildings across Malaysia especially Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Perak and Melaka. This paper will be focused on the heritage in colonial building, interior design of the landmarks and how this aspect provide profound heritage exemplar for Malaysia rich and long history. The purpose of this study is to identify the evolutionary features of the interior design and the sustainability of the original characteristics. The research will be carried on by studying the heritage colonial building include interior architecture requirement. Ultimately, recommendations and guidelines in designing interior architecture at colonial building areas with strong heritage inspiration can be published. In conclusion, this study is to discuss the condition or criteria of the interior architecture in heritage building for future references. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dialect exists due to the boundaries of geographical area where the speaker lives. Through this boundary there are various local dialects such as Kedah, Terengganu, Kelantan and so on. Similarly, it is also apparent with the sub-dialects in respective states. In fact, researches concerning dialects in general have been variously conducted. This is also concerning researches in Kedah dialect in particular because Malaysia is rich with local dialects and that researches about dialects have never stopped until now. Therefore, this paper is written with a purpose to conceptualise the vocabulary of adjectives in Kedah dialect (KD) based on the speakers' understanding and knowledge about the dialect. This study is applying the urban dialectology approach pioneered Labov, Trudgill and Idris [11, 9, 21] with some modifications. There are six adjectives that have been chosen using interview technique and word list style conducted at some districts in Kedah. The findings of the study showed that the speakers conceptualised the vocabulary based on their own understanding and knowledge. Nonetheless, most Gen Z speakers have never heard of the vocabulary. Hence, it is hoped that this study will contribute to the sociolinguistics development in Malaysia, and to retain the legacy of Malay dialects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a real-world school timetabling problem (STP) at a school in Malaysia. The previous studies of solving real-world datasets of STP were focused more on the approaches, rather than the details on generating the real-world of STP datasets. This study aims to provide details on producing the real-world datasets of STP based on the XHSTT dataset format. The real-world case problem has the same constraints as depicted in XHSTT dataset and are categorized into three difficulty levels which are easy, normal and hard based on the difficulty level of preassigned teachers. The STP timetable in this study was obtained from a primary school located in the north of Kedah, Malaysia. Next, the XHSTT dataset was solved using the KHE construction method to produce the solution. The proposed solutions adheres to all the hard and soft constraints set for the datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current pandemic situations have worsened the economic situations in most developing countries. Malaysia is one of a developing country that has been impacted by covid-19 badly. In Malaysia, cases of Covid-19 is arising everyday especially in the year of 2021. Many have losses their job and income, and they were out of resources to support their families, and providing food for families becomes a challenge. Due to that, students who have been sent to home from university have to face this as well. Therefore, this paper intends to highlight food security and its impact towards academic performance by providing framework and determines the research trends of the area of food security and academic performance. A conceptual framework here explained the progress and event that may happen in future if unbalance diet were practiced by the community. Next, this research adopts a method of web-based data search for studies related to food security and academic performance. Result shows that the trend of this research is keep increasing according to the year. Current research concludes that food security is important for nation wellbeing and sustainable development of a country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to develop a sampling frame and develop a probability-based sampling design for Muslim consumers who have experience in purchasing halal cosmetic products from various website in Malaysia. A 'sampling frame' is the sampling units in a population and their locations. It may consist of a listing of sampling units, or it may be based on a map of the population area within which sampling units can be observed. For Muslim consumers with experience in purchasing halal cosmetics from websites, it is common for no list of individual to exist. After the sampling frame of Muslim consumers was established, the probability sampling technique was used to determine the sampling size. The results are beneficial for researchers to serve as a guideline to conduct quantitative research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In line with the development of Industry 4.0 which takes place in almost every country in world. Malaysia also not left behind in adapting this transformation which initially has been outlined in Industry 4.0 Blueprint in the year of 2018. Then continued to that, Construction 4.0 eventually introduces in 2021 where it become as strategic plan for construction industry to gear up for 4th Industrial Revolution. As a part of construction professional in construction industry, Quantity Surveyors (QS) also being affected with this transformation and changes is needed in their roles and practices. The focus of this paper is to identify the emerging technologies in Construction 4.0 which have been currently adapted in Quantity Surveying practices. The data were collected using quantitative method via questionnaires survey among Quantity Surveyors in Malaysia. Based on the data obtained, emerging technologies in Construction 4.0 have been divided into 3 technology cluster. Ideally, Cluster 1 (Simulation and Modelling) and Cluster 2 (Digitalization and Virtualization) are slowly being adapted in Quantity Surveying practices meanwhile Cluster 3 (Smart Factory) are less being demanded and adapted in QS profession. Due to that, the result proven that Quantity Surveyors are currently taking their steps and grows towards adapting Industry 4.0 waves in their profession. This research is significant in providing an insight for other professionals in construction industry towards managing transformation of Construction 4.0 as well as Industry 4.0 in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The palm oil industry forms the backbone of the Malaysian agricultural economy and is indexed as one of the National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs). Despite the rapid demand for palm oil, the labor shortage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has reduced harvest activity since the dependability on human labor is still high. Based on this scenario, the way forward to resolve the issue is through the implementation of mechanized equipment to assist plantation activities. However, the output rate based on the implementation of mechanized equipment in the Malaysian palm oil industry is still unclear. In this regard, this paper aims to develop a simulation model that mimics the operation of the mechanized equipment in the palm oil mill using a discrete event simulation (DES) approach. The related mechanized equipment has been considered in the simulation model to resemble the palm oil mill operation, namely clarification, extraction, sterilization, and stripping stations. As a result, it is found that the sterilization process contributes to the longest waiting time (122.89 seconds) and the highest number of waiting (3.04 tons). In contrast, stripping stations turn the lowest percentage of resource utilization. By improving the utilization of identified mechanized equipment, the dependability on human labor can be reduced gradually. Consequently, it will increase the harvest output known as Fresh Fruit Branches (FFB) yield and crude palm oil (CPO) production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, numerous theoretical models were introduced to explore the interaction between psychosocial factors and mental health. This paper systematically reviews previous research on the interaction of psychosocial factors with mental health among workers in Malaysia. A comprehensive systematic literature review was performed using PRISMA protocol through electronic databases including Web of Science, Scopus, Dimensions.ai, and ProQuest. The search included articles published between the years of 2017 to 2021. A total of 18 articles was found to offer appropriate evidence towards psychosocial factors and their relationship with mental health among workers in Malaysia. Prevalence of mental health among workers was documented between 10% to 100%. The identified psychosocial factors were high job demands, poor social support, workplace bullying, shift work, job insecurity, working overtime, discrimination at work, financial support issue, and work-family conflict. This review provides a fundamental understanding of the association between perceived psychosocial factors on the workers' mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the oil and gas industry, managing large quantities of produced water on a daily basis as the production blocks mature over time can be challenging, alarming for an effective and equally efficient treatment system to be embarked. A great solution would be to transform the produced water into a solar pond. Salt-gradient solar ponds (SGSP) are capable of storing large amounts of heat that could be used for producing electricity. Studies relevant to sodium bicarbonate solar ponds and its corresponding low-grade energy harvest are still at a pioneering stage, particularly in Malaysia. Thus, this paper investigates possible techniques and approaches to optimize thermal efficiency of solar ponds, using simulated produced water with high sodium bicarbonate content for power generation. It was determined that the best time to acquire the highest lower convective zone (LCZ) temperature is between 12 to 3 pm, when sun peaks right above the head. Also, addition of 18.8 litres of hydrochloric acid (HCl) had significantly reduced the pH and turbidity level of the pond, removing algae while improving solution clarity and heat storage at LCZ. Utilization of neoprene rubber sheet and black soil as insulators had proven to optimize the solar pond thermal efficiency, yielding highest LCZ temperature of 52.3°C with a maximum temperature difference of 18°C. Besides, the application of thermoelectric generator (TEG) to convert heat energy into sensible power output was explored through simple laboratory-scaled design and set-up, where a total of eight TEG modules were required to produce 0.28W of electricity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to classify Malaysian drivers' driving styles (DS) using the Multidimensional Driving Styles Inventory (MDSI). Previously, an MDSI study was performed in Malaysia but was not carried out using the native language. In this study, 430 respondents participated, and the MDSI data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The Malaysian driving style profile distribution was then determined using the three methods: sum scores by the factor, weighted sum scores, and Barlett's method. Besides, the differences between the sociodemographic variables for the proposed driving styles were also reported. The results revealed five Malaysian driving style factors: careful, risky, angry-impatient, dissociative, and anxious. The sociodemographic variables' results significantly affect careful, risky, angry-impatient, and anxious driving styles. This study indicates that Malaysian MDSI provides valid measures and useful instruments to classify the types of driving styles in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysia is now ready to adopt Industry 4.0 as a vital tool for transitioning to a new industry. The major focus of this article is on Industry 4.0's challenges and benefits. Inadequate time and effort, higher investment, lack of expertise and knowledge, and lack of internet coverage and IT facilities are some of the challenges associated with adopting Industry 4.0. Many other benefits of Industry 4.0 implementation include higher productivity, increased competitiveness, increased opportunities for collaborative working and knowledge sharing, cost reduction, flexibility and agility, and improved customer experience. As a result, this article contributes to a more realistic knowledge of Industry 4.0. As a final note, this paper offers some directions for firms wishing to implement Industry 4.0 with great success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inclusion of the greatest number of people into the formal financial system is one of the fundamental motivations behind Islamic financial principles. Following the Global Financial Crisis, Islamic finance was able to overcome its financial losses and maintain its stability. Islamic insurance (Takaful) has served its communal responsibility well for enabling society during the crisis through postponement of premium contributions and continuous protection. This element translates into Islamic insurance integrating social finance instruments. However, the existing financial inclusion index is mainly built based on the banking perspective. The paper aspires to model the role of Islamic insurance in the Financial Inclusion Index in Malaysia. The proposed model to investigate this issue is by using a two-stages Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The benefit of this analysis includes reducing the dimensionality of the data, thus enabling us to better generalise the interpretation of the financial inclusion index. The constructed Takaful products-integrated financial inclusion index would allow policymakers to better assess the state of financial inclusion in Malaysia, thereby formulating more targeted and effective policies in the effort to enhance financial inclusiveness in Malaysia. The society, of which more than half are practicing Islam and especially those in the rural areas, would benefit from greater financial well-being when the emphasis is given to Takaful products to give them access to the financial system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a study on the relationship between income inequality and mortality by states in Malaysia. Even though there are several persuasive evidences to support the association between income inequality and mortality, research in this field is still progressing. This study aims to develop a new mortality model that incorporates the income inequality variable and subsequently to forecast the mortality rates for Malaysia until 2024. The data used are Gini Index and mortality rates for each state of Malaysia which are extracted from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) from 2007 to 2018. Using the Pearson correlation coefficient, this study identifies the effects and significant level of income inequality on mortality for each state in Malaysia respectively. This study extends the Lee-Carter mortality model by including the new variable of income inequality factor to estimate the mortality rates. Next, ARIMA model is used to forecast the mortality rates from 2016-2024. Results show that almost all states in Malaysia experience positive relationship between income inequality and mortality. This indicates that most states in Malaysia which have higher value of the age component relative to Gini Index would positively affect the mortality experience significantly. The extended Lee-Carter model is deemed to fit the mortality rates better as compared to the original model. The forecasted results show that children and elderly are expected to have lower mortality rates as compared to adults. This study provides better understanding on the effect of income inequality on mortality and produces a reliable mortality forecasts reflecting the income inequality factor for Malaysian population. The development of new mortality model can benefit actuaries in pricing the insurance and annuity products appropriately and strengthen the social security and public health of Malaysia effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysia's rare earth elements from saprolite are highly potential to be recovered as an alternative resource to China's rare earth supply due to its high concentration of non-radioactive rare earth elements source. Separation of high-purity lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), and yttrium (Y) obtained from Malaysian sources required multi-stages of solvent extraction (SX) and a multi-separation circuit. A massive number of multi-stage fractional SX is necessarily attributable to the similarity of physiochemical properties between the adjacent elements. Process design, data analysis, and prediction of process behavior of rare earth element extraction are multifaceted tasks. Process simulation is an ideal candidate for this complex task. The application of Xu's cascade extraction principles for process simulation of separation of La, Ce, Pr, Nd, and Y was discussed in this paper. A simulation model of HDEHP-HCl cascade fractional SX had been used to simulate the recovery of the elements from Malaysia saprolite. All the process properties, estimation of separation stages, purity, and recovery behavior were determined by Xu's cascade extraction principles. Process simulation results mapped out the space-feasible cascade fractional SX circuits and identified the optimal design parameter required to achieve the targeted purity and recovery. Material distribution and balance tables were used to evaluate the separation of the elements in each stage from the initial stage to the final stage. The production output was measured by predicting the output of the extraction of La, Ce, Pr, Nd, and Y. Even though it lacked an optimization attribute, it is crucial to get an insight into the recovery worthiness of the elements from a particular source. The process simulation predicted the separation stages (extraction and scrubbing stages), the recovery behavior of each circuit, and the production output of La, Ce, Nd, Pr, and Y. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rain attenuation is significantly affecting the FSO performance of a free-space optical communication system. Kuching/Samarahan region is situated in Malaysia state which is under tropical climate zone. The rain distribution is recorded high due to having rain season year-round. It worst when turn to monsoon season where the precipitation rate is expected high and dense. It is crucial to design the effect FSO system to ensure good quality transmission beam signal. This paper is focus on Kuching/Samarahan zone as the preliminary result to investigate the rain pattern and effect over FSO propagation. The investigation it focuses on that region is due to development that area to implement fully digital economy which need supported by high speed and capacity data that can be produced by optical technology. Therefore, FSO technology can perform this task. The rain data is collected from Malaysia Meteorology Department (Met Malaysia) which for three years 2017, 1018 and 2019. The performance will measure the effect of scattering coefficient, rain attenuation and geometrical loss. It is expected heavy rain will contribute the great impact over FSO link. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused severe repercussions that has affected many lives in Malaysia especially university or college students who still struggle with studying in the ongoing pandemic which physical distancing and quarantine are in place. Most of the educational institutions in the world were closed and the teaching and learning activities were placed online. Students have been severely impacted both physically and mentally, as some students are unable to manage their time for academic work due to a lack of motivation caused by online learning and other factors. This study aims to investigate the impact of social media and time management during the pandemic for students and to develop a mobile app to assist students who are facing time management issues or social isolation during this pandemic. This paper presents the architecture and the tools being used to develop the mobile app. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism industry has become an important sector for Malaysian economy through foreign exchange earnings and employment opportunities where generally increases the economic development of the country. Due to significant effect to Malaysia economy, it motivated us to come up with the best model for forecasting both outbound and inbound tourists in Malaysia. Hence, this paper aims to develop the best model for forecasting outbound and inbound tourists in Malaysia by using Box-Jenkins SARIMA model and multilayer feedforward neural network (MFNN) model. The dataset used was monthly basis, recorded from January 2010 to December 2019, and was split into in-sample data from January 2010 to December 2017 and out-sample data from January 2018 to December 2019. The accuracy of the models was measured by using MAPE. By applying SARIMA and MFNN to the dataset, results shown MFNN model is more accurate than the SARIMA model to forecast outbound and inbound tourists in Malaysia. The paper provides implications for policy makers and suggestions for future tourism forecasting models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Malaysia, sustainable development is getting momentum within organizations, businesses, and even communities. In Higher Education, we can observe that green initiatives have been taken on campus, although community awareness is still at an average level. As a result, the emphasis of this study was on UTMSPACE community's green environmental awareness, which included their study location at the UTM Kuala Lumpur campus. The introduction to this study and the concerns that arise will be the first section of this paper's structure. The literature review on green awareness, initiatives, and motivation will be covered in the second half of this study. A preliminary investigation was conducted among Diploma students in SPACE UTM Kuala Lumpur. The goal of the first inquiry is to determine the green awareness among the students. According to the poll, 132 students took part in the short online survey. We quizzed them on their thoughts of green awareness implementation, and the results of the analysis were presented in a descriptive manner. We suggest student involvement activity based on preliminary research to improve environmental awareness among the UTMSPACE community by engaging in green environment initiatives. However, because to the Covid-19 pandemic, a variety of green environmental actions can be undertaken or implemented. As a result, in the methodology section of this study, we propose a mobile application design to ensure that green awareness activities are practicable and at a constant pace, in order to ensure social distancing and activities can be done by individuals. As a result, in order to achieve this goal, we created a mobile application to raise green awareness among the campus community, which we will demonstrate at the end of this paper. The content of the mobile apps will be structured using aspects from the UI World Universities Ranking Based on Green Metric and UTM Sustainable Campus's sustainability project area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) expands globally, international competition rises, thus, requiring the industry to be steadfast in its efforts to be at par with other international players within the nation. To overcome this, it is with the view that the help of technological digitalisation in construction is deemed significant throughout a project‟s cradle-to-cradle lifecycle. Building Information Modelling (BIM) in its application has been widespread within the construction scene. The technological adoption, nonetheless, brought about challenges to the present method of the construction process. In addition, organisations face difficulties in embracing the innovative revolution of digitalisation due to the present legalese which was made for conventional construction processes. Existing contractual solutions do not identify facilitation towards BIM‟s specific roles, processes and outcomes. Therefore, the paper is aimed to ascertain setbacks particularly legal issues brought about by the usage of BIM within the construction industry worldwide against Malaysia. The paper undergoes an investigation of past publications worldwide through a narrative literature review in uncovering the scepticism and a lack of enthusiasm for its adoption. The study found eleven variables within four main themes on contractual issues surrounding BIM. The identification of these issues, hence, would further assist in the contractual status of BIM within the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TVET is the key to Malaysia's future as an advanced nation. The supplies for the local skilled workers are in very high demand, especially for the construction industry from these TVET graduates. Past research has found that self-efficacy is a critical factor for graduates' career success. However, the self-efficacy among these TVET graduates is questionable. Therefore, this paper aims to conduct a systematic narrative review on the effect of self-efficacy on academic perseverance and career pursuance among TVET graduates. The literature finds there are relationships between self-efficacy among the factors (i.e., motivation and outcome expectations). The findings of this paper are expected to explore and contribute to the understanding of self-efficacy from the perspective of education, training, and the working environment for the TVET graduates. Thus, it will form the foundation for an extended investigation to propose TVET Capability Approach Framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Malaysian construction industry, the Bumiputera contractors held special benefits, among others, a special policy on the allocation for participation in public projects. However, failure amongst Bumiputera contractors in delivering the project according to specifications has become an issue for the Government and there is a need to address the issue. There are various ways to improve the contractor's performance, among other initiatives are training and development and thus it is essential to look into these aspects to find a solution to the problem in the construction industry. The scope of this paper is limited to Bumiputera contractors attending training programs by PKK. Questionnaire surveys were distributed to a sample of 350 Bumiputera contractors physically and online. 269 questionnaires were received, covering five different regions in Malaysia. This paper analyses four (4) major aspects which are significant in addressing the impact and importance of training towards contractors' development and organizational performance concerning the industry requirement. Subsequently, a list of elements related to each aspect is ranked according to importance based on the survey which is important to be included in designing the training and development modules for contractors. All the findings lead to the establishment of a preliminary framework of training and development. Among the major recommendations is toconduct a Training Needs Analysis (TNA) to find the best direction for content and structure in the Bumiputera contractors' training and development programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Culture and heritage are two significant components that need to be understood and appreciated by key stakeholders such as local authorities, residents, users, etc., within rural and urban development. Having reliable and holistic data on a particular culture and heritage, including taking the local wisdom of a community into account, could help in understanding the community and developing a meaningful place for the present and future generations. Whereas local communities arrange, practise, comprehend, and apply a system of values and norms based on their knowledge of and experience with interacting with the environment is referred as local wisdom. It is very instrumental in interior design and can also be integrated into designing a space. To preserve tangible and intangible cultural assets, cultural mapping is used to understand a place and is also a fundamental issue in any redevelopment projects. This paper takes Zhongshan Building to study the local social-cultural identity elements of The Zhongshan Building, which are reflected in the interior environmental design. In this paper, the author focused on examining the application of local wisdom in interior design that is connected to the design development. To carry out the goal of this paper, the two-method methodology was conducted; (a) desk research, and (b) a SWOT Analysis. On the other hand, a pilot survey of the respondents is also required to complete this study, and the result shows that the respondents do acknowledge The Zhongshan Building as a creative hub. Through the discussion of this paper, The Zhongshan Building plays a vital role in portraying the creative culture as a creative hub in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. The strength of the interior environment and the significance of local wisdom on site can re-defined the meaning of the building and show the identity of The Zhongshan Building. For future reference, this paper suggests that any research instruments for future data collection in heritage buildings should be considered significant without ignoring the elements of the local wisdom of a community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural land development focuses on settlements and agricultural areas are crucial to be managed efficiently. This paper highlights the FELDA settlement area as in Malaysia FELDA has become an established organization that manages both the rural settlements and the crop areas well. The Felda scheme has changed the lives of landless residents by providing housing, employment, income from agribusiness shareholders, and the ownership of valuable land titles. Improving productivity and the quality of rural settlement and crop area plantation operation is one of the most difficult challenges and groundwork. Therefore, determining the highest and best use and ensuring the sustainability of the development needs to be catered for. This paper will conceptualize the elements essential for SHBU, and then, from the SHBU model, it will further develop the assessment of land suitability for crops and other land uses. This shows that the framework can assist in determining the highest and best use of the available land. The findings can be implemented in other rural areas within other agencies concerned with managing and developing rural and regional areas, such as RISDA, FELCRA, UDA and other rural development agencies in Malaysia [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]