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Recruitment is a process of identifying individuals who have the potential to create a quality staff that will ensure the achievement of a company's goals and mission. Many employers are interested in recruiting capable graduates. However, there are still employers who do not offer a salary equivalent to the student's qualifications. Accordingly, this study aims to determine the recruitment pattern for Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) graduates from 2015 until 2020.  It identifies graduates of UTHM, a public technical university who receive salaries equivalent to their qualifications at the Diploma level. It also aims to identify employers who consistently hire UTHM graduates from the designated years. This empirical study analyzed raw data from the Graduate Tracer Study online system administered by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia. The respondents consisted of 1302 diploma graduates at UTHM. The results of the study show that only 32% of graduates receive a salary commensurate with their diploma qualification. This shows a high mismatch between the job salaries and qualifications of graduates. Further results also found that there are 43 companies consistently recruiting UTHM Diploma Graduates from 2015 to 2020. Attentively, JST Connector (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd is the most consistent company in recruiting UTHM Diploma graduates with a total of 15 employees in that period.

There was  range of disadvantages in the informal roadside metalwork fabrication apprenticeship practice in north western Nigeria that includes the lack of appropriate technical skills to better serve the society.  The purpose of this research was to identify those technical skills needed for the informal roadside metalwork fabrication apprenticeship practice in Nigeria. To this effect an investigation was carried out through a survey research, using questionnaire instrument and interview as entailed by methodological triangulation. The survey research was conducted using 140 population of master craft persons from sampled workshops in seven states of North West geo-political zone of Nigeria, using a structured questionnaire instrument. Interview of 10 participants was made, who were randomly selected from, industry-based trainers, lecturers and instructors within the seven states in north western Nigeria. The interviews were conducted to ensure a balance result. Open coding was made, followed by Axial coding. Selective coding was lastly made and the results were interpreted as it complemented the descriptive results which entailed the methodological triangulation method. To validate the results obtained from methodological triangulation, eleven Delphi panel of experts were involved. Binary analysis and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance (Kendall’s Wa) were used to measure and determine the consensus of the experts on the technical skills items. Positive results were obtained because the level of consensus between the participants was 0.621. The results also indicated inter-judge reliability. Suggestions were made for the improvement of the sector, as the appropriate and valid technical skills needed were outlined. Keywords: Technical skills, apprenticeship practice, validation, improvement, needs.

Performance assessments such as laboratory practice in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) are difficult to measure because they are subjective in their characteristics, which can cause bias. The use of a rubric scoring scale is suitable for measuring students’ practical competency as it could translate the qualitative criteria into quantitative forms on a grading scale. The purpose of this study is to analyse the effect of rater severity for the performance of component installation of an electronic circuit project using Many-Facet Rasch Measurement (MFRM). Nine raters have examined the competency performance of 68 students using a four-point rating scale rubric consisting of 16 items. This study was conducted at three vocational colleges. The results showed that all raters measured with different severities but very high consistency. The effect of rater severity did not exist at the group level but exhibited at the individual level. It can also be examined that all raters were biased on the item and also towards students, either by being severe or lenient. Thus, the rubric cannot eliminate the effect of bias during the assessment. However, it can help raters to be consistent so that they have the same understanding when translating the rubric. These findings have implications for the psychometric quality of the electronic circuit project performance assessment.

A novel approach for the low-cost bioadsorbent for the removal of leachate pollutants is presented herein. In this study, limestone is combined with zeolite in order to fabricate biocomposite media with different ratios. Results revealed that limestone-zeolite biocomposite adsorbed ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3-N) and COD, which could possibly be used for the adsorption of NH3-N and COD efficiently from leachate. The optimum mixing ratio by means was carried out using series of batch experiments for limestone and zeolite to measure the remediation of NH3-N and COD in a stabilized leached. The optimum ratio for limestone and zeolite in the remediation of NH3-N and COD obtained were at 25:15 (82%) and 30:10 (75%), respectively. Indeed, the prepared limestone-zeolite biocomposite is a low-cost and effective adsorbent was potential used to derive the NH3-N and COD for a promising adsorption efficiency from stabilized landfill leachate.

Kitchen wastewater that is discharged to the environment is one of the contributing factors to water pollution in developing countries. Adsorption is one of the emerging technology of biological treatments that is an environmentally friendly for the removal of pollutants. Banana trunk fiber with chitosan as an adsorbent was investigated for minimizing COD and ammonia from the kitchen wastewater. The raw kitchen wastewater sample used in the study was collected from the Arked food court located in Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia in Johor (Malaysia). The optimum of ratio, pH, shaking speed and contact time for COD and ammonia removal were determined. The result indicated the optimum mix ratio of fiber with chitosan, pH, shaking speed and contact time respectively was 50:50, pH 7, 125 rpm and 120 minutes based on the adsorption of COD (87%) and ammonia (90%) by banana trunk fiber with chitosan. Kinetic study of the results gave a pseudosecond order the R2 was closed to unity which was 0.998. It will significantly be considered for efficient removal of organic and nutrient pollutants present in kitchen wastewater treatment.

Leachate are very high strength wastewaters that contain a variety of pollutants that pose a serious threat to the environment if appropriate control measure is ignored. Composite adsorbent is an emerging, interesting and attractive alternative to conventional adsorbents and having the ability to act as catalysts due to their high reactivity and excellent selectivity towards specific pollutant compounds. This study investigated the potential of biocomposite adsorbent made from a combination of chitosan, feldspar and zeolite (CFZ) for the treatment of Iron (Fe) from leachate wastewater. Leachate characterization and batch adsorption experiments was conducted to determine the optimum conditions for pH, dosage and contact time parameter in the removal of Fe. The result shows that the concentration of Fe was 15.82 which exceeded the recommended limit. The optimum conditions also occurred at pH 5 with 6 gram of biocomposite dosage and at 180 minutes contact time. The corresponding removal efficiency for Fe is 90% with 0.0127 mg/g uptake capacity

Plant waste such as Delonix Regia Pods (DRP) have the potential to be used as adsorbents. A study of lignocellulose delonix regia pods was carried to assess ammoniacal nitrogen removal from natural rubber wastewater. Sample wastewater was taken from the rubber processing industry and characterization was carried out. Outcomes from the analysis shows that the ammoniacal nitrogen concentration was 66 mg/L and higher than the recommended wastewater discharge standards. Batch experiments were conducted on the effect of dose, pH, shaking speed and contact time parameters for optimum condition. The results revealed that the optimal dosage, pH, shaking speed and contact time is 4.5 g, pH 8, 150 rpm and 120 minutes with ammoniacal nitrogen removal efficiency of 74.3 % and the adsorption capacity of 1.22 mg/g. Pseudo second order kinetic model was found to fit the data better and the R2 obtained was 0.9992. From the study, it can be concluded that the media can be used for the removal of ammoniacal nitrogen in natural rubber wastewater and subsequently reduce environmental pollution. Hence, it can be sustainable and environmentally friendly.

Plant waste such as Delonix Regia Pods have the potential to be used as absorbents. A study of activated carbon derived from delonix regia pods was carried out for the removal COD in natural rubber wastewater. Sample wastewater was obtained from the rubber processing industry and characterized to determine the level of pollutant content. Results of the analysis of wastewater characterization shows that the COD value was 5196 mg/L which is above discharge standards. Laboratory experiments was conducted to determine the optimum dosage, pH, shaking speed and contact time using response surface methodology. The results showed that the optimal dosage, pH, shaking speed and contact time were 4 g, pH 8, 150 rpm and 100 minutes with COD removal value of 70.65 %. The model F-value obtained for COD was 68.27 with the Prob. > F value of < 0.0001 indicating the significance of the model. The predicted versus the empirical data were relatively close to each other, therefore the developed models sufficiently described the response and variables interaction in the adsorption process. The results also indicate the suitability of the adsorbent for application in a sustainable wastewater treatment. It is recommended that further study be carried out to assess its application for other pollutants derived from non-rubber industries.

Waste paper sludge (WPS) is produced by the paper industry during the wastewater treatment process of paper production. The disposal techniques of WPS pose a great concern for the environment. This study focuses on the evaluation of WPS as an alternative absorbent material to activated carbon (AC) for the removal of contaminants from stabilized landfill leachate. Ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were identified as the two major contaminants in landfill leachate. Both AC and WPS were mixed together in different ratios. The optimum replacement for the absorbent was determined using the batch technique. The adsorption batch study was carried out under the optimum pH of 7, with a shaking speed of 200 rpm and a contact time of 120 minutes. The adsorption isotherms indicated that the Langmuir model was better fitted to the experimental data as it was found to have the highest regression values. The Langmuir adsorption capacities for COD and NH3-N were 32.26 mg/g and 21.60 mg/g, respectively. The optimum replacements were initially at two different ratios of 2:2 and 3:1 based on the optimum removal of COD and NH3-N, respectively. However, the final optimum replacement for the absorbents (AC: WPS) in this study was the ratio of 2:2 due to the higher removal of COD (85.9%) and NH3-N (49.3%).

The optimal conditions for the reduction of COD and NH3-N using cockle shells (CS) from a stabilised landfill effluent were analyzed. The influence of two variables (adsorbent dosage and pH) were analysed through the application of response surface methodology (RSM) and central composite design (CCD). Quadratic models were developed for the removals of COD and NH3-N parameters. The optimum conditions for removal of 65.6% and 53.6% for COD and NH3-N respectively was achieved at pH 6.34, adsorbent dosage of 20.21 g having 0.888 desirability value. The model F-value obtained for NH3-N removal Prob. > F value of 0.0001 with F-value of 104.21 was obtained. Similarly the Prob. > F value of < 0.0001 for COD with F-value of 82.74 was obtained, these P-values confirmed the significance of the model. The predicted response versus the experimental response depicted that the experimental data were relatively close to the predicted data. Thus, the generated models significantly enclosed the correlation between the process variables and the response.   GMT Detect languageAfrikaansAlbanianArabicArmenianAzerbaijaniBasqueBelarusianBengaliBosnianBulgarianCatalanCebuanoChichewaChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)CroatianCzechDanishDutchEnglishEsperantoEstonianFilipinoFinnishFrenchGalicianGeorgianGermanGreekGujaratiHaitian CreoleHausaHebrewHindiHmongHungarianIcelandicIgboIndonesianIrishItalianJapaneseJavaneseKannadaKazakhKhmerKoreanLaoLatinLatvianLithuanianMacedonianMalagasyMalayMalayalamMalteseMaoriMarathiMongolianMyanmar (Burmese)NepaliNorwegianPersianPolishPortuguesePunjabiRomanianRussianSerbianSesothoSinhalaSlovakSlovenianSomaliSpanishSundaneseSwahiliSwedishTajikTamilTeluguThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduUzbekVietnameseWelshYiddishYorubaZulu AfrikaansAlbanianArabicArmenianAzerbaijaniBasqueBelarusianBengaliBosnianBulgarianCatalanCebuanoChichewaChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)CroatianCzechDanishDutchEnglishEsperantoEstonianFilipinoFinnishFrenchGalicianGeorgianGerm

Natural rubber processing wastewater contains high concentration of organic compound, colour, nitrogen, and other contaminants. This study evaluated a chitosan bead as an adsorbent in adsorption process for natural rubber wastewater treatment. The effects of adsorbent dosage, pH, shaking speed and contact time and adsorption isotherm on colour adsorption onto chitosan beads were evaluated using batch experiments. Meanwhile, Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were used to validate the experimental data. Maximum removal of 71.5%, for colour was observed for an adsorbent dosage 4.5 g, pH 7, and shaking speed 150 rpm. Equilibrium was achieved in 120 min. The equilibrium data were fitted to Langmuir isotherm model when compared with Freundlich isotherm models.

Performance assessments such as laboratory practice in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) are difficult to measure because they are subjective in their characteristics, which can cause bias. The use of a rubric scoring scale is suitable for measuring students' practical competency as it could translate the qualitative criteria into quantitative forms on a grading scale. The purpose of this study is to analyse the effect of rater severity for the performance of component installation of an electronic circuit project using Many-Facet Rasch Measurement (MFRM). Nine raters have examined the competency performance of 68 students using a four-point rating scale rubric consisting of 16 items. This study was conducted at three vocational colleges. The results showed that all raters measured with different severities but very high consistency. The effect of rater severity did not exist at the group level but exhibited at the individual level. It can also be examined that all raters were biased on the item and also towards students, either by being severe or lenient. Thus, the rubric cannot eliminate the effect of bias during the assessment. However, it can help raters to be consistent so that they have the same understanding when translating the rubric. These findings have implications for the psychometric quality of the electronic circuit project performance assessment.

Abstrak: Pentaksiran prestasi seperti amali dalam pendidikan teknikal dan vokasional (PTV) sukar diukur kerana subjektif dan boleh menyebabkan bias.  Penggunaan skala pemarkahan berbentuk rubrik dikatakan sesuai untuk mengukur kompetensi amali pelajar kerana telah menterjemahkan kriteria kualitatif kepada bentuk kuantitatif secara skala penarafan. Namun begitu pembinaan rubrik bukanlah perkara yang mudah terutamanya dalam menentukan skala penarafan. Oleh itu satu kajian telah dijalankan untuk menentukan kesesuaian skala penarafan yang digunakan dalam pembinaan rubrik kompetensi amali berdasarkan analisis kefungsian skala bersandarkan model Pengukuran Rasch Pelbagai Facet (MFRM). Kajian ini telah dijalankan di tiga buah Kolej Vokasional. Seramai sembilan pemeriksa telah memeriksa kompetensi amali pelajar elektronik dengan menggunakan rubrik empat mata yang telah dihasilkan ke atas 68 orang pelajar.  Analisis kefungsian skala menunjukkan taburan frekuensi bagi setiap kategori adalah tidak teratur. Walau bagaimanapun, nilai fit pengukuran menghampiri 1. Selain dari itu juga nilai ambang dan nilai fit masih lagi berada di dalam nilai yang diterima. Secara keseluruhannya skala penarafan yang digunakan di dalam rubrik sesuai dengan sedikit penambahbaikan pada deskriptor yang paling ekstrem.   Abstract:  Performance assessments such as laboratory practice in technical and vocational education (TVE) are difficult to measure because they are subjective in their characteristics, which can cause bias. The use of a rubric scoring scale is suitable for measuring students’ practical competency as it could translate the qualitative criteria into quantitative forms on a grading scale.  However the development of rubric is not easy especially in determine the rating scale. Therefore the study was conducted to determine the appropriateness of rating scale used in the construction of rubric based on the analysis of scale functionality of Many Facet Rasch Mea