Browsing by Author "Mohd Izzuddin Mohd Tamrin, Ph.D"

Memorising the holy Quran has been the motivation for most Muslims due to the advantages that it offers, in this life and the hereafter. The robust process of memorising the holy Quran is expected to cause changes in the brain regions which is associated with the memory encoding, storage, and retrieval capacity. The main areas in the brain that are involved with memory encoding, storage, and retrieval capacity are the amygdala, hippocampus, cerebellum, and prefrontal cortex. At the moment, the analysis of neuroplasticity is limited to be analysed in binary image because gray-scale analysis requires the usage of more robust image processing techniques. Therefore, this study aims to investigate and characterise the complexity of textual memorisation brain structures using fractal analysis between huffaz and non-huffaz by means of global box-counting analysis, global FFD analysis, and VOI-based analysis. The study recruited 47 participants (mean±SD age, 22.55±1.472 years) from students of IIUM Kuantan Campus. Huffaz group had their 18 months of memorisation training at Darul Quran, Kuala Kubu Bharu, Selangor. The brain MRI images were acquired before being pre-processed using Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM) toolboxes with MATLAB as platform. Processed images were then thresholded with three thresholding techniques to find the best thresholding method; Otsu, midpoint and hysteresis. Otsu method was proven to be the best thresholding technique (mean±SD, 2.3801±0.953) with a significant difference (p<0.01) tested with ANOVA. Global box-counting and FFD analysis were conducted on the brain MRI images concurrently with VBM to find out the possible brain regions with neuroplasticity. Both analyses found no significant statistical difference between brains of huffaz and non-huffaz (p>0.05), with VBM analysis also could not find any activated voxel brain regions. VOI-based analysis found nine significant areas (p<0.05); two for box-counting analysis (angular gyrus and medial temporal gyrus), six for FFD analysis (BA20, BA30, anterior cingulate, fusiform gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus and frontal lobe), and only a single area (BA33) have shown significant volume differences between huffaz and non-huffaz using VOI-based analysis. BA20 is part of the temporal cortex in the brain, BA30 is located at isthmus of the cingulate gyrus, while BA33 is located at the anterior cingulate gyrus of the brain cortex. All these Brodmann areas involve heavily in memory encoding, memory storage, and retrieval capacity of humans. The results have highlighted the sensitivity of VOI-based analysis because of its local analysis, as compared to the global analysis by box-counting and FFD. These findings have shown that brain neuroplasticity was managed to be detected using VOI-based analysis, and that neuroplasticity due to memorisation process occurred by involving multiple brain areas and regions, and not solely on a single area or a region. To conclude, the application of ability of fractal analysis has been proven to detect structural changes occurrence in brains of huffaz as compared to non-huffaz.

Libraries in most of the academic university always strive to serve the customers research needs. This include by investing on library online databases. Library online databases subscribed by the library were regarded as a main source for researchers. Many researchers investigated on the effectiveness of the electronic resources in the library. However, little is known on the impact of library online databases among academic members in Malaysia. The objective of the research, mainly is to evaluate the library online databases' effectiveness and their impacts on academic members. The participants of the study are from the Faculty of Engineering and Science in University of Malaya (UM), International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM). The research used a quantitative descriptive research design using the survey as a principal approach for data collection. A set of questionnaires comprised of three parts are used in the research. The data was analyzed using SPSS. As for data analysis, Descriptive statistics (frequencies, means, percentage, standard deviations) and analytical techniques such as correlation, regression and cross-tabulation were used. In correlation analysis, academic members’ satisfaction relationship with each factor was examined separately to measure the direction and strength of each relationship. In the second technique, regression analysis was used to ascertain which of the strongest explanatory power factors has when those factors are combined in a regression model. The findings of this research provide useful information on the impact of library online databases among academic members. Findings from this research can be used by university administrators in planning, evaluating and executing the use of library online databases. The findings conclude that there is a positive relationship between satisfaction and information quality, system quality and service quality.

The world scenario has been changed by Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and many factors including new opportunities, fast-growing businesses, technological changes, and challenges have forced every part of the world to produce self-regulating and to pre-found skilled oriented individual. Driven by this compulsion the high education institutions (HEI) around the globe are integrating ICT tools and utilizing the latest technologies in order to provide quality education to their citizens. In this regard Ministry of Education (MOE) Kuwait has launched many plans and invested a lot in the implementation of technology in HEIs. HEIs mainly consists of Universities. There is no comprehensive study in order to assess the adoption of ICT in the universities by all main stakeholders of Kuwait as well as no empirical study have been conducted on the overall effectiveness of ICT in the HEI (s). The effectiveness of any new technology depends upon acceptance and proper utilization of technology by all stakeholders. Subsequently, realizing the importance of ICT availability and success in all parts of society, this research aimed to understand, investigate, explore, and assess the ICT adoption in the universities of Kuwait. Meanwhile, in order to assess the adoption and utilization of ICT by students and academicians in their daily work, this research proposed a model by adopting variables Performance Expectancy (PE), Effort Expectancy (EE), Social Influence (SI), Facilitating Conditions (FC), Behavioural Intention (BI), and Use Behaviour (UB) from Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) with external factors such as Compatibility, Perceived Needs, Self-efficacy, Complexity, and Culture. The proposed research model was validated through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using Smart-PLS software. A total of 401 were collected through stratified random & purposive sampling methods using five-point Likert scale. Research findings indicate that nine out of eleven hypotheses were found to be statistically significant. Moreover, BI, compatibility, PE, and FC were found most significant factors that influence UB to accept ICT. Results further revealed that 54.1% variance in BI and 45% in UB is explained. Besides, many theoretical and methodological contributions for academicians, this research seizes many significant practical and theoretical implications for researchers, practitioners, information, and many other governmental and non-governmental institutions.