Effects Of Leisure Education Programme On Leisure Benefits And Motivation Among Rural Iban Adolescents In Sibu, Sarawak

Introduction: Leisure education is becoming an important concept in the Western world, but less established and practiced in Malaysia. Evidence has shown the positive effects of leisure education programme to reduce adolescent’s engagement in risky behaviours, such as substance use, sexual behaviour, obesity, and internet addiction, which are detrimental to adolescent’s health and well-being. This study was aimed to examine the effects of leisure education programme on leisure benefits and motivation aspects among rural Iban adolescents in Sibu, Sarawak. Methods: The study employed a pre-post evaluation design. Convenience sampling was used to select the participants.Thirty four Iban adolescents from two longhouses had completed 9-hour leisure education programme for three weeks. Respondents were surveyed before and immediately after the intervention to observe changes in knowledge of leisure benefits and free time motivation scales. Data were analyzed with the use of Wilcoxon signed ranks tests. Significance level was set at p<0.05. Results: The leisure education intervention showed improvement in respondent’s knowledge on benefits of leisure time, but no significant changes was detected in all five motivation types (intrinsic, amotivation, extrinsic, introjected and identified). Conclusion: The leisure education intervention conducted had effectively improved the knowledge of the respondents on leisure benefits. Therefore, leisure education service can be considered to promote a balanced and healthy leisure lifestyle among adolescents. Keywords: Adolescent, Knowledge, Leisure Education, Motivation, Rura

Effects of Leisure Education Programme on Leisure Benefits and Motivation Among Rural Iban Adolescents in Sibu, Sarawak

Leisure education is becoming an important concept in the Western world, but less established and practiced in Malaysia. Evidence has shown the positive effects of leisure education programme to reduce adolescent’s engagement in risky behaviours, such as substance use, sexual behaviour, obesity, and internet addiction, which are detrimental to adolescent’s health and well-being. This study was aimed to examine the effects of leisure education programme on leisure benefits and motivation aspects among rural Iban adolescents in Sibu, Sarawak. The study employed a pre-post evaluation design. Convenience sampling was used to select the participants. Thirty-four Iban adolescents from two longhouses had completed 9-hour leisure education programme for three weeks. Respondents were surveyed before and immediately after the intervention to observe changes in knowledge of leisure benefits and free time motivation scales. Data were analyzed with the use of Wilcoxon signed ranks tests. Significance level was set at p<0.05. The leisure education intervention showed improvement in respondent’s knowledge on benefits of leisure time, but no significant changes was detected in all five motivation types (intrinsic, amotivation, extrinsic, introjected and identified). The leisure education intervention conducted had effectively improved the knowledge of the respondents on leisure benefits. Therefore, leisure education service can be considered to promote a balanced and healthy leisure lifestyle among adolescents

Quantum Monte Carlo treatment of elastic exciton-exciton scattering

We calculate cross sections for low energy elastic exciton-exciton scattering within the effective mass approximation. Unlike previous theoretical approaches, we give a complete, non-perturbative treatment of the four-particle scattering problem. Diffusion Monte Carlo is used to calculate the essentially exact energies of scattering states, from which phase shifts are determined. For the case of equal-mass electrons and holes, which is equivalent to positronium-positronium scattering, we find a_s = 2.1 a_x for scattering of singlet-excitons and a_s= 1.5 a_x for triplet-excitons, where a_x is the excitonic radius. The spin dependence of the cross sections arises from the spatial exchange symmetry of the scattering wavefunctions. A significant triplet-triplet to singlet-singlet scattering process is found, which is similar to reported effects in recent experiments and theory for excitons in quantum wells. We also show that the scattering length can change sign and diverge for some values of the mass ratio m_h/m_e, an effect not seen in previous perturbative treatments.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures. Revision has updated figures, improved paper structure, some minor correction

Enhancement of thermal and mechanical stabilities of silicon doped titanium nitride coating by manipulation of sputtering conditions

This study investigates the influence of substrate (AISI M42 tool steel) bias voltage (from −30 to −80 V), on the mechanical properties of magnetron sputtered TiSiN coating derived from Ti and Si targets. Thermal stability, microstructure (crystallite size, microstrain, lattice constant), morphology and mechanical (hardness, Young's modulus, residual stresses) properties, of the deposited TiSiN coatings, were investigated with synchrotron powered X-ray diffraction (SR-XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and nanoindentation techniques. Rietveld analysis, of the in-situ SR-XRD, in the temperature range of 25–800 °C, demonstrated cubic TiN form in (Ti,Si)N solid solutions, with TiO2 and Ti2O3 identified at lower bias voltages. Density functional theory supplemented the experimental results. Increase in the bias voltage resulted in: (i) a decrease in Si content, (ii) significant smoothening of surface morphology, (iii) change in the phase composition and microstructure, (iv) improved oxidation resistance and thermal oxidation threshold, and (v) hardness and Young's modulus of the coatings increased up to 50% to 33 GPa and 450 GPa, respectively

Fatty Acid Methyl Esters as Biosolvents of Epoxy Resins: A Physicochemical Study

The C8 to C18 fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) have been compared as solvents for two epoxy resin pre-polymers, bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (DGEBA) and triglycidyl paminophenol ether (TGPA). It was found that the solubilization limits vary according to the ester and that methyl caprylate is the best solvent of both resins. To explain these solubility performances, physical and chemical properties of FAME were studied, such as the Hansen parameters, viscosity, binary diffusion coefficient and vaporization enthalpy. Determination of the physicochemical parameters of FAME was carried out by laboratory experimentations and by calculation from bibliographic data. The Hansen parameters of FAME and epoxy resins pre-polymers were theoretically and experimentally determined. The FAME chain length showed a long dependence on the binary diffusion parameters and kinematic viscosity, which are mass and momentum transport properties. Moreover, the vaporization enthalpy of these compounds was directly correlated with the solubilization limits

Recent developments in the characterization of superconducting films by microwaves

We describe and analyze selected surface impedance data recently obtained by different groups on cuprate, ruthenate and diboride superconducting films on metallic and dielectric substrates for fundamental studies and microwave applications. The discussion includes a first review of microwave data on MgB2, the weak-link behaviour of RABiTS-type YBa2Cu3O7-d tapes, and the observation of a strong anomalous power-dependence of the microwave losses in MgO at low temperatures. We demonstrate how microwave measurements can be used to investigate electronic, magnetic, and dielectric dissipation and relaxation in the films and substrates. The impact of such studies reaches from the extraction of microscopic information to the engineering of materials and further on to applications in power systems and communication technology.Comment: Invited contribution to EUCAS2001, accepted for publication in Physica C in its present for

Wave functions and decay constants of BB and DD mesons in the relativistic potential model

With the decay constants of $D$ and $D_s$ mesons measured in experiment recently, we revisit the study of the bound states of quark and antiquark in $B$ and $D$ mesons in the relativistic potential model. The relativistic bound state wave equation is solved numerically. The masses, decay constants and wave functions of $B$ and $D$ mesons are obtained. Both the masses and decay constants obtained here can be consistent with the experimental data. The wave functions can be used in the study of $B$ and $D$ meson decays.Comment: more discussion added, to appear in EPJ

Two-to-one resonant multi-modal dynamics of horizontal/inclined cables. Part I : theoretical formulation and model validation

This paper is first of the two papers dealingwith analytical investigation of resonant multimodal dynamics due to 2:1 internal resonances in the finite-amplitude free vibrations of horizontal/inclined cables. Part I deals with theoretical formulation and validation of the general cable model. Approximate nonlinear partial differential equations of 3-D coupled motion of small sagged cables - which account for both spatio-temporal variation of nonlinear dynamic tension and system asymmetry due to inclined sagged configurations - are presented. A multidimensional Galerkin expansion of the solution ofnonplanar/planar motion is performed, yielding a complete set of system quadratic/cubic coefficients. With the aim of parametrically studying the behavior of horizontal/inclined cables in Part II [25], a second-order asymptotic analysis under planar 2:1 resonance is accomplished by the method of multiple scales. On accounting for higher-order effectsof quadratic/cubic nonlinearities, approximate closed form solutions of nonlinear amplitudes, frequencies and dynamic configurations of resonant nonlinear normal modes reveal the dependence of cable response on resonant/nonresonant modal contributions. Depending on simplifying kinematic modeling and assigned system parameters, approximate horizontal/inclined cable models are thoroughly validated by numerically evaluating statics and non-planar/planar linear/non-linear dynamics against those of the exact model. Moreover, the modal coupling role and contribution of system longitudinal dynamics are discussed for horizontal cables, showing some meaningful effects due to kinematic condensation

Discrete symmetries, invisible axion and lepton number symmetry in an economic 3-3-1 model

We show that Peccei-Quinn and lepton number symmetries can be a natural outcome in a 3-3-1 model with right-handed neutrinos after imposing a Z_11 x Z_2 symmetry. This symmetry is suitably accommodated in this model when we augmented its spectrum by including merely one singlet scalar field. We work out the breaking of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry, yielding the axion, and study the phenomenological consequences. The main result of this work is that the solution to the strong CP problem can be implemented in a natural way, implying an invisible axion phenomenologically unconstrained, free of domain wall formation and constituting a good candidate for the cold dark matter.Comment: 17 pages, Revtex

The 3-3-1 model with S_4 flavor symmetry

We construct a 3-3-1 model based on family symmetry S_4 responsible for the neutrino and quark masses. The tribimaximal neutrino mixing and the diagonal quark mixing have been obtained. The new lepton charge \mathcal{L} related to the ordinary lepton charge L and a SU(3) charge by L=2/\sqrt{3} T_8+\mathcal{L} and the lepton parity P_l=(-)^L known as a residual symmetry of L have been introduced which provide insights in this kind of model. The expected vacuum alignments resulting in potential minimization can origin from appropriate violation terms of S_4 and \mathcal{L}. The smallness of seesaw contributions can be explained from the existence of such terms too. If P_l is not broken by the vacuum values of the scalar fields, there is no mixing between the exotic and the ordinary quarks at the tree level.Comment: 20 pages, revised versio