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The information age witnessed the democratisation of education with an exponential growth in the enrolment of postgraduate students in almost all universities around the world. However, high attrition and low completion rates among students have been an immense threat to the key performance of the university system. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of institutional support, supervisory practices, and students' self-management and research skills on postgraduate students' motivation to graduate on time (GOT). The data were collected from 191 postgraduate students from three universities in Malaysia using a survey questionnaire. The quantitative data were analysed using the PLS-SEM approach. The results revealed that research skills, institutional support and self-management skills significantly influenced the postgraduate students' motivation to GOT. Furthermore, research skills were identified as the strongest predictor of the motivation to GOT. Additionally, research skills mediated the relationships between institutional support, students' self-management skills and postgraduate students' motivation to GOT. However, supervisory practices toward GOT were not supported either by direct or indirect effect. The study has far reaching implications for the postgraduate students, supervisors, and institutions of higher learning.

This study aimed to identify the different types of factual, conceptual and procedural errors among the six-years-old preschool children. The data were collected from 45 children from 3 kindergartens. The children responded to a Math worksheet which had 20 addition problems based on the early numeracy curriculum. The worksheet was validated by two experienced early childhood teachers. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyze the data. A total of 166 errors which occurred in the addition work of the participants were analyzed and categorized under 9 different types of addition errors. Further, the study revealed that 58% of the total errors were conceptual, 28% were factual and the remaining 14% were procedural errors in the addition operations. To gain deeper insights to the quantitative findings, seven children were identified and interviewed based on the nine errors. Findings from the interviews further corroborated the quantitative findings that, these children experienced misconception of mathematical knowledge, lack of procedural skills and memorizing facts which are inter related and precursors of each other. The findings of this study will facilitate teachers to adopt effective interventions and teaching methods to improve mathematical learning. The error analysis allows educators and content developers to understand the key development of young learners' knowledge and abilities in addition operations.

This study investigates the pivotal role of trust in bridging the effects of transformational leadership on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). The study was conducted using a multilevel longitudinal approach with 276 employees in 71 teams from private medium-sized organizations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Transformational leadership was found to be positively related to: (1) three facets of trustworthiness (ability, benevolence, and integrity); (2) trust in the leader; and (3) OCB. All three facets of trustworthiness mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and trust in leaders. In addition, trust in the leader mediated only the relationship between the benevolence facet of trustworthiness and OCB. As OCB is inherently benevolent, these findings not only are consistent with the principle of compatibility, but they also contribute to theorizing about 'how' trust plays an important role in the influence of transformational leadership on employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Evidence‐based dental practice provides patient‐centred, compatible and efficient interventions and forms the basis for health profession education. So far, there is a paucity of data about Malaysian undergraduate dental education and the role of evidence‐based dentistry in it. The current research aimed to study the level of knowledge, attitude, practice and confidence of dental undergraduate students in Malaysia towards evidence‐based dental practice. Methods: This cross‐sectional study included final‐year undergraduate dental students (N = 645) who completed a pre‐tested self‐administered questionnaire that analysed the domains of perceived knowledge, practice, critical appraisal and attitude towards evidence‐based dentistry. We further explored the association between these domains with the type of curriculum, sex, prior research experience and EBD training. Results: A total of (n = 526) students participated (response rate of 81.55%). About 92% knew about evidence‐based dentistry. Whilst 58% had undergone formal training in evidence‐based dentistry, 90% of the respondents showed an overall positive attitude towards evidence‐based dentistry. However, only 45% of them practised it most of the time. Schools with an integrated curriculum showed more willingness and practised evidence‐based dentistry more frequently (p < 0.001). More than 50% of the participants rated their confidence in appraisal as moderate. Conclusion: Our findings revealed that Malaysian dental undergraduate students who are well aware of evidence‐based dentistry displayed a positive attitude towards it. The type of dental curriculum had a significant association with practice and attitude towards evidence‐based dental knowledge and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Oral Leukoplakia is the second most common oral potentially malignant disorder encountered in day-to-day clinical practice, with an overall global prevalence of 4.11%. The rate of its malignant transformation varies worldwide. Aims & Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess CD 138 and CD43 immunoreactivity in oral epithelial dysplasia. Materials & Methods: Immunohistochemistry was performed on fifteen formalin-fixed oral epithelial dysplasia tissues for CD 43 (n=15) and CD 138 (n=15) which were obtained from archives at Oral cancer research and coordinating centre, Malaysia. Results: The expression of CD 43 in non-hematopoietic tissues was negative in all cases, but epithelium with dysplastic alterations had low or weak CD 138 expression between dysplastic tissue and non-dysplastic epithelium, there was a substantial difference in staining intensity. Conclusion: Oral carcinogenesis is a multistep process, and cancer driver genes have been shown to have vastly diverse effects in various tissues. CD 138 expression was shown to be lower in tissues undergoing dysplastic alterations, which could be a sign of oral epithelial dysplasia with a high risk of malignancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to adapt, translate and validate the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Dentistry (MREALD-30) instrument for the Orang Asli population in Malaysia. Methods: After translation and cross-cultural adaptation, interviews were conducted with 326 participants of the Temuan tribe from village Kampung Tering in Johol, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. The instrument's validity was assessed using the scores of MREALD-30, which were compared based on occupation, monthly household income, educational attainment, general literacy, use of dental services, and three dental outcomes. A questionnaire containing socio-behavioral information and validated Malay Oral Health Impact Profile (M-OHIP-14) was also administered. The reliability of the MREALD-30 was assessed by re-administering it to 30 subjects after two weeks. Its correlations evaluated convergent and discriminative validity of MREALD-30 with the level of education and dental visiting habits, monthly household income, respectively. Predictive validity was assessed with M-OHIP-14, while construct validity was evaluated by exploratory factor analysis using the Rasch model. Results: The internal consistency of the MREALD-30 measured by Cronbach's alpha was 0.89. The test–retest reliability was excellent (ICC 0.95, k = 0.85). MREALD-30 exhibited good construct validity. Rasch analysis showed two factors, and infit mean-square statistics for MREALD-30 were all within the desired range of 0.50–2.0. The discriminant validity and predictive validity were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Conclusions: MREALD-30 showed very strong reliability, good construct, discriminant, and predictive validity, but poor convergent validity. Overall, it showed good psychometric properties and can be used in these community settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing consensus among experts that tooth carving exercises have become obsolete with ostensibly no place for them in the modern dental curriculum. Although many reasons have been cited in support of this argument, a sizable majority approve the idea of tooth carving being an integral part of the dental curriculum. In grappling with this conundrum, it was ascertained that there is a lack of studies on the students' perspective about the relevance of tooth carving exercises in Malaysia. To assess the perception and attitude of Malaysian dental undergraduates towards tooth carving exercises and its relevance in the practical and clinical setting. A cross-sectional study was undertaken among years 3 to 5 dental undergraduate (UG) students from 13 dental schools in Malaysia. A questionnaire was adopted from previous studies with permission. The survey was disseminated electronically via google forms and data was analyzed using SPSS 22 and presented as percentage. About 75% of the students agreed that tooth carving exercises helped them identify and reproduce the morphology of teeth in lab and clinical settings and differentiate normal from anomalous teeth. However more than 90% of the students believed that computer aided 3D software would help them learn tooth carving more effectively. Overall, 71% of them felt that tooth carving exercises were useful. Tooth carving exercises are perceived as useful and add value to dental anatomy learning. However, to make the exercises more appealing to the students, implementation of alternate teaching methods, is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and Objectives: The objective of the study is to compare blended classroom methodology with the traditional didactic lecture for teaching dental undergraduate students. Methodology: This cross-sectional comparative study was conducted on 45 year 5 bachelor of dental surgery students at a private university in Malaysia. Students were divided into two groups. One group was assigned for a traditional didactic lecture and the other group for blended classroom methodology using "flipped class." Lecture notes containing a PowerPoint presentation and related videos on the topic "Odontogenic Infections" were uploaded 1 week before in the university intranet, which was made accessible to students of the blended group, followed by an interactive classroom session. For the other group, a traditional didactic lecture was arranged by an oral surgeon using the same PowerPoint and video. An assessment was conducted for students in both groups 1 week later, and scores were compared. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 21. Chi-square and Student's t-test were used. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: A significant difference was found in posttest knowledge assessment between the two methods. While traditional didactic lecture showed a mean of 5.2 correct answers, the blended method showed a mean of 9.5 correct answers (P < 0.001) out of ten. Furthermore, the percentage of students with correct answers was more in the blended method as compared to the traditional lecture. Conclusion: The present study concluded that the flipped method was better than traditional lecture in teaching dental undergraduates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]