The Effect of Lean Manufacturing on the Financial Performance: Case of the Manufacturing Companies in South Lebanon

Businesses have been trying to implement new business initiatives such as lean manufacturing to stay alive in the latest competitive market place. Such initiative concentrates on cost reduction by removing the non-value added activities to achieve better financial performance. This study examined the effect of lean manufacturing on financial performance from the perspective of managers in the industrial sector in South Lebanon. The methodology of this study was quantitative in which 152 self-administered questionnaires were distributed randomly among managers. The data was analyzed using SPSS software. Descriptive statistics were identified and proposed hypotheses were tested using Pearson correlation and regression analysis. The results showed that lean manufacturing has a significant and positive effect on financial performance. Future studies are encouraged to expand the research to other regions in Lebanon over a longer time horizon and apply different quality improvement tools

Self-Efficacy and Self-Independence in Promoting Self-Employment Intention among University Students

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of self-efficacy and self-independence in promoting self-employment intention among university students. This study is developed based on entrepreneurial intention described by Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991) and Shapero and Sokol (1982). Although the evidence showed that one-third of new entrepreneurs in the United States were those individuals with the ages of 30 and below (Kuratko, 2005) butstill not all graduate students are willing to choose entrepreneurship as their career. There are still a limited number of students who are willing to start a business soon after they graduate from the university (Hisrich and Peters, 2002). Therefore, it is the aim of this study to investigate both roles of self-efficacy and self-independence in influencing the decision to choose self-employment as a career among university students. The respondents for this study were university students in Sabah, Malaysia. 400 questionnaires were distributed in this study resulting only in 260 usable questionnaires. Based on the results of this study, it was found that both self-efficacy and self-independence have a significant relationship with self-employment intention. This study, therefore, through its research and findings has contributed significantly to both theoretical and practical implications. This study is able to provide the information on the factors that determine self-employment career among university graduates

Current fed multilevel converters for high current power applications

Phd ThesisThe majority of the worldwide installed power inverters today are voltage source inverters followed by current source inverters where the concluding decision lies with the performance of the applications besides the usual economic reasons. Recent active development in the current source inverter areas has seen the emerging of various generalized multilevel current source inverter topologies analogous to the existing multilevel voltage source inverter families. To date, the multilevel current source inverter families have been classified principally by the physical appearance of their basic structures and also by the number of current sources employed. The existing multilevel current source inverter topologies are unpopular for present applications due to reasons such as big sizes, high control complexity and low reliability; which circumstances are often associated to massive component counts and multiple requirements of current sources. Therefore, this research has been focused on the single-phase single-source generalized multilevel current source inverter for this apparent advantage; where this thesis proposed a novel generalized multilevel current-source inverter topology with the lowest component utilization while employing just a single current source. In addition, the proposed topology can conveniently achieved dc current balance with a simple low frequency switching strategy for the five- and nine-level current outputs. From comparison analysis, the proposed topology has significantly less number of components employed compared to the nearest topology, which implies low implementation cost. The experimental results verify the characteristics and performances of the proposed topology acquired by computer simulations.ministry of education, Malaysia and also to my employer the University Malaysia Pahang (UMP) for the financial suppor

Freezing of fresh Barhi dates for quality preservation during frozen storage

AbstractFresh harvested dates are perishable and there is a need for extending their shelf life while preserving their fresh like quality characteristics. This study evaluates three different freezing methods, namely cryogenic freezing (CF) using liquid nitrogen; individual quick freezing (IQF) and conventional slow freezing (CSF) in preserving the quality and stability of dates during frozen storage. Fresh dates were frozen utilizing the three methods. The produced frozen dates were frozen stored for nine months. The color values, textural parameters, and nutrition qualities were measured for fresh dates before freezing and for the frozen dates every three months during the frozen storage. The frozen dates’ color values were affected by the freezing method and the frozen storage period. There are substantial differences in the quality of the frozen fruits in favor of cryogenic freezing followed by individual quick freezing compared to the conventional slow freezing. The results revealed large disparity among the times of freezing of the three methods. The freezing time accounted to 10min for CF, and around 80min for IQF, and 1800min for CSF method

The effect of financial literacy on investment decision making in southern Lebanon

This study examines the effect of financial Literacy on investment decision making among investors in South Lebanon. Financial literacy is expressed in terms of knowledge and awareness while investors‟ decision-making is described as the act of investors and the way they interpret, anticipate, investigate, and assess the steps and transaction for decision making. This includes investment risk, investment decision model and process. To achieve the research objective, a quantitative approach was applied in which 150 self-administered questionnaires were collected using convenience sampling. The sample includes customers of four different Banks in South Lebanon. The data was analyzed using SPSS software. Descriptive statistics were identified and proposed hypotheses were tested using Pearson correlation and multi-regression analysis. Results showed a positive significant relationship between financial literacy and investment decision making. Future studies are encouraged to expand the research to other regions in Lebanon over a longer time horizon in addition to applying other variables.peer-reviewe

Antiplasmodial Activity of Some Medicinal Plants Used in Sudanese Folk-medicine

Ten plants indigenous to Sudan and of common use in Sudanese folk-medicine, were examined in vitro for antimalarial activity against schizonts maturation of Plasmodium falciparum, the major human malaria parasite. All plant samples displayed various antiplasmodial activity. Three plant extracts caused 100% inhibition of the parasite growth at concentrations of plant material ≤ 500 ug/ml. The two most active extracts that produced 100% inhibition of the parasite growth at concentration of plant material ≤ 50 μg/ml were obtained from the seeds of Nigella sativa and the whole plant of Aristolochia bracteolata. The ten plants were phytochemically screened for their active constituents. The two most active plants showed the presence of sterols, alkaloids and tannins

The use of Malaysian herbs for female sexual dysfunction among women in Pahang, Malaysia

Female sexual dysfunction (Mati Putik) is a disorder related to sexual desire, arousal, and orgasm among women and the prevalence worldwide has reached 12% in 2020. Traditional medicine such as herbal consumption is a common alternative to treat or prevent female sexual dysfunction (FSD). As recorded in the Malay Medical Manuscripts, Manjakani, Halba, Adas Pedas, Zafaran, and Sirih were herbs described to treat FSD and thus is the focus of this study. Even the use of herbs has become a trend nowadays, however the knowledge regarding the herbs among the users in Malaysia is inconclusive. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) on herbs used to treat FSD among women in Kuantan, Pahang. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Kuantan, Pahang between April 2021 and July 2021. A total of 91 respondents were recruited among women that fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria for this study. Convenience sampling has been done for this study and self-administered online questionnaires were distributed among the respondents. All the data from the respondents were analysed through the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) (IBM SPSS Statistic 20). This study shows that the respondents had low knowledge (n=86; 94.5%), moderate attitude (n=62: 68.1%), and low practice (n=68; 74.7%) on usage of herbs for FSD. There were significant association has been detected by using Kruskal-wallis test in terms of occupation with the practice score of the respondents. A significant correlation was identified using Spearman coefficient between knowledge and attitude (r=0.309, p=0.003) and knowledge and practice (r=0.435, p<0.001) of the respondents. It is recommended to have more future studies in relation to the knowledge attitude and practice on the usage of herbs among women who were diagnosed with FSD especially in larger community. In future, these studies will result in promoting further initiatives to strengthen the knowledge and give a right guidance on the usage of herbs among women for them to lead a better quality of lif

Dividend Policy in Malaysia: A Comparison of Determinants Pre and Post Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance

This study was aimed at examining the differences between dividend policy determinants pre- and post-Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (MCCG) 2012. Several factors, including profitability, lagged dividend, free cash flow, debt, firm size, investment opportunities and market risk were tested. The study investigated a total number of 631 non-financial firms in Malaysia that covered 7830 firm-year observations from 2005 to 2011 (pre-MCCG) and from 2013 to 2019 (post-MCCG). The study used pooled Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and random and fixed effect, with a robust standard error. The results demonstrated that from seven factors tested only four factors were found to be significant in determining dividend policy in pre-MCCG, and five factors in post MCCG. The pre-MCCG test revealed that before the revised MCCG 2012, the factors determining dividend policy were as follows: profitability, lagged dividend, debt, and firm size. However, there were slight changes in the range of determinants affecting dividend policy, Post-MCCG 2012. The post MCCG test revealed that profitability, lagged of dividend, and firm size consistently determined firm dividend policy; however, debt was no longer a significant determinant of dividend policy post MCCG. Additionally, investment opportunity and market risk were found to be significant determinants of dividend policy post-MCCG in 2012

Can ESG increase firm value in the banking institution and financial services in Malaysia? An insight from social norm theory

This paper aims to ascertain the impact of environmental, social and governance (ESG) on Malaysian banking institutions and financial services. The study examined 24 firms from the banking institution and financial services obtained from DataStream. The study used OLS, random effect and fixed effect analysis with robust standard error. To ensure robust result, the study uses two stages lease square to solve for potential endogeneity concerns. The finding reveals that ESG increase firm value significantly in all analysis. The study also discovered that social pillar score negatively moderates ESG and firm value. Research limitations/implications: The data is only limited to Malaysia’s banking institution and financial services. Thus the results may not be extrapolated into other industries. A manager should promote the ESG agenda to obtain a better firm valuation among investors, especially those concerned with the ESG agenda. By applying the perspective from social norm theory, the study shows that empowering social responsibility disclosure (create positive credibility to investors) significantly adds value within banking institutions and financial services firms in Malaysia. The study also discovered that the social pillar has a significant moderating effect on ESG and firm value relationships

Metanarrative Characters in Burhan Shawi’s Mazes: The Narrator as a Model

تنبثق فكرة هذا البحث من دراسة عنصر مهم من عناصر بناء الشخصيات في متاهات (برهان شاوي) المتنوعة التي شكلت ثيمات أساسية بنى عليها عالمه الروائي المختلف من خلال توظيف (ما وراء السرد) فيها، ولأهميتها وحضورها في متوالياته السردية تناولنا شخصية (الراوي) في متاهاته المتسلسلة منطقيا، وتظهر أهمية (الراوي) في كونه يشير إلى أكثر من دلالة، بصفته شكلاً مرتبطاً بمؤلف يعيش في بيئة حضارية وثقافية يتأثر بها ويحمل همومها ويحاول بالكتابة أن يكون فاعلاً فيها على أن تغيير مفهوم شخصية (الراوي) وتعددها في رواية ما بعد الحداثة الذي مارس لعبة السرد بمستوى الزمن، من دون أن يقع اسيراً لهذه اللعبة، تاركاً الحرية لأصوات الشخصيات أن تقول راوياً عنها بصوته، بغية فسح المجال لزوايا الرؤية المتعددة هو ما استدعى الوقوف عند هذه الثيمة متتبعين توظيف (شاوي) لها، واعتمدنا في بحثنا هذا على منهج استقرائي في تحليلنا لنصوص (المتاهات) للكشف عن طبيعة علاقة (الراوي) بالشخصيات، ولذا يمكننا القول: إن (الراوي) هو أحد أقطاب العملية التواصلية بين المؤلف والقارئ اوبين العالم المتخيل والواقع، وقد تعددت رؤى النقاد والباحثين فيه.The idea of&nbsp; this research stems from the study of an important element of character building elements in Burhan Shawi's various mazes، which formed basic themes on which he built his different world of fiction by employing (meta-narrative) in it . And because of its importance and presence in his narrative sequences . We dealt with the character of (the narrator) in his mazes Logically sequential، and the importance of (the narrator) appears in that . It refers to more than one indication as a form associated with an author who lives in a civilized and cultural environment that he is affected by and bears its concerns and tries through writing to be active in it. And who played the game of narration through the level of time, without being captive to this game, leaving the freedom for the voices of the characters to say a narrator about them with his voice, in order to make way for the multiple angles of vision. We follow an inductive approach in our analysis of the texts (labyrinths) to reveal the nature of the relationship of (the narrator) with the characters، and therefore we can say that (the narrator) is one of the poles of the communicative process between the author and the reader or between the imagined world and reality . And the visions of critics and researchers have multiplied around it