Modelling tourism demand from United Kingdom to Maldives: a cointegration analysis

Maldives depends heavily on tourism industry. According to 2016 Tourism Yearbook, the demand for international tourism remains robust despite political and economic conflicts around the world. In 2015, tourist arrivals grew at a pace of 4% exceeding the long-term average (3.8%) for the sixth consecutive years (Ministry of Tourism, Maldives, 2016). Europe has been one of the major market generators for Maldives tourism since 1990’s. At the end of 2015, United Kingdom was the third largest market with 7.5% market share behind Germany and China. The aim of this paper is to examine the short run and long run demand for tourism to Maldives by United Kingdom. Using quarterly data from 2006Q1 to 2016Q4, the paper examines the significance of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of United Kingdom, tourism price and cost, as well as exchange rate in determining the important factors for tourist arrivals. The paper employs a cointegration approach that is the bounds testing approach within the ARDL framework which has been used previously in tourism demand model. The findings are consistent with the theory and existing literature whereby income, tourism price and transportation cost are important determinants for tourism demand in Maldives

The Relationship between Public Expenditure, Corruption and Poverty in Nigeria

Poverty in Nigeria affects about 67% of the population who have insufficient means of supporting their families. World Food Programme have spent $126million on food assistance in Nigeria, yet majority are hungry. Government, through its expenditures, provided public goods to improve welfare and reduce poverty, but all is to no vail because it is mostly affected by bureaucratic bottlenecks and corruption. This paper investigated the long-run consequence of corruption in a model of public expenditures and poverty in Nigeria, to test the hypothesis of “grease or sands the wheels”. The sources of data were; Central Bank of Nigeria, National Bureau of Statistics Nigeria, and World Bank for 21 years (1996-2016). The study employed the ARDL bounds test. The findings revealed a long-run relationship between public expenditures, corruption and poverty. The aspect of expenditures on economic sector is significant, while that of social sector is not. Corruption is positively related to poverty, this is despite increase in corruption index, which remains below 30% (still corrupt since it’s less than 50%), hence, making the public expenditure not to impact on poverty, sanding the wheels. The study suggested some measures to enhance corruption index thereby allowing public expenditure to impact on poverty

Prácticas genéricas académicas: nivel de integridad

Previous studies show that there are still issues of integrity among academics. Therefore, the focus of this study is to identify academics’ level of integrity in practicing their generic tasks. Based on the data collected via questionnaires, 164 academics evaluated themselves at a high level of integrity in their generic task with the mean score of 9.45 over 10.0. Academics also evaluated themselves as at a high level for all integrity values with the mean score of 9.41 to 9.54 that are for prudent, sincerity, accountability, credibility, self-discipline, and trustworthy. The implication is that, academics need no training to upgrade their integrity. However, from time to time, it is good to have a reminder of good deeds specially to ensure integrity becomes a culture among academics.Estudios previos muestran que todavía hay problemas de integridad entre los académicos. Por lo tanto, el objetivo de este estudio es identificar el nivel de integridad de los académicos al practicar sus tareas genéricas. Sobre la base de los datos recopilados a través de cuestionarios, 164 académicos se evaluaron a sí mismos con un alto nivel de integridad en su tarea genérica con un puntaje promedio de 9.45 sobre 10.0. Los académicos también se evaluaron a sí mismos como de alto nivel para todos los valores de integridad con un puntaje promedio de 9.41 a 9.54 que son prudentes, sinceridad, responsabilidad, credibilidad, autodisciplina y confianza. La implicación es que los académicos no necesitan capacitación para mejorar su integridad. Sin embargo, de vez en cuando, es bueno tener un recordatorio de las buenas acciones, especialmente para garantizar que la integridad se convierta en una cultura entre los académicos

The Relationship between Public Expenditure, Corruption and Poverty in Nigeria

Poverty in Nigeria affects about 67% of the population who have insufficient means of supporting their families. World Food Programme have spent $126million on food assistance in Nigeria, yet majority are hungry. Government, through its expenditures, provided public goods to improve welfare and reduce poverty, but all is to no vail because it is mostly affected by bureaucratic bottlenecks and corruption. This paper investigated the long-run consequence of corruption in a model of public expenditures and poverty in Nigeria, to test the hypothesis of “grease or sands the wheels”. The sources of data were; Central Bank of Nigeria, National Bureau of Statistics Nigeria, and World Bank for 21 years (1996-2016). The study employed the ARDL bounds test. The findings revealed a long-run relationship between public expenditures, corruption and poverty. The aspect of expenditures on economic sector is significant, while that of social sector is not. Corruption is positively related to poverty, this is despite increase in corruption index, which remains below 30% (still corrupt since it’s less than 50%), hence, making the public expenditure not to impact on poverty, sanding the wheels. The study suggested some measures to enhance corruption index thereby allowing public expenditure to impact on poverty

Governance, Public Expenditure, Trade and Poverty Reduction in Sub-Saharan African Countries

When policies and programmes are designed and implemented successfully by governments, it tends to improve development indices such as reducing poverty, when governance is good. The paper examined the impact of governance, public expenditure and trade on poverty reduction in some selected Sub-Saharan African countries, using Pool Mean Group (PMG) with data spanned for 21 years (1996-2016). The results show a long-run association between governance, public expenditure, trade and poverty reduction in SSA. Also, control of corruption, political stability, government expenditure, and trade reduces poverty by enhancing the Human Development Index (HDI) in the long run. This outcome implies that improving governance (control of corruption and political stability) is vital for reducing poverty as it increases the adequate performance of public expenditure and as well as promote trade in SSA

Determinants of crime in Malaysia: evidence from developed states

Despite the alarming statistics and growing concerns over crime, the study of crime in Malaysia has received little attention and is largely neglected by the literature on crime in general. Thus, this study is an attempt to add to the existing literature on crime research in developing countries, specifically, in Malaysia. This study aims to determine the socioeconomic and socio-demographic determinants of crime in four developed states of Malaysia from 1990 to 2008. The study utilises fixed effects to examine the determinants of crime in selected states. The findings reveal that GDP per capita, unemployment rate, population density and the number of police officers are significant determinants of total and property crime. On the other hand, violent crime is determined by population density and number of police officers only. The robustness test shows that both population density and the number of police officers are the determinants of property and violent crimes

Intellectual Property Rights (IPRS) and unemployment: empirical evidence from developing economies

Developing countries rely on imitation and innovation to boost their economic growth. The debate on innovation and imitation has been the focus of empirical research with the implementation of strengthening Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs). This is because IPRs may affect developing countries in terms of employment and economic growth. Theoretical studies have proven the relationship, but empirical studies on this topic are scarce. Thus, this study aims to examine the effect IPRs on unemployment in selected developing economies. System-GMM estimator is adopted by utilizing panel data for a sample of 47 developing countries from 2008-2014. This study considers the direct effect of IPRs protection on unemployment. The empirical analysis shows that stronger IPRs protection escalates unemployment in these countries as evidenced by a positive and significant relationship between these variables. As most of the technology by developing countries rely on imitation activities thus, stronger IPRs protection increases unemployment and the effect of IPRs protection on unemployment are positive

Governance, public expenditure, trade and poverty reduction in Sub-Saharan African countries

When policies and programmes are designed and implemented successfully by governments, it tends to improve development indices such as reducing poverty, when governance is good. The paper examined the impact of governance, public expenditure and trade on poverty reduction in some selected Sub-Saharan African countries, using Pool Mean Group (PMG) with data spanned for 21 years (1996-2016). The results show a long-run association between governance, public expenditure, trade and poverty reduction in SSA. Also, control of corruption, political stability, government expenditure, and trade reduces poverty by enhancing the Human Development Index (HDI) in the long run. This outcome implies that improving governance (control of corruption and political stability) is vital for reducing poverty as it increases the adequate performance of public expenditure and as well as promote trade in SSA

Ripeness Level Classification of Oil Palm Fresh Fruit Bunch Using Laser Induced Fluorescence Imaging

Tingkat Kematangan Tandan Buah Segar (TBS) kelapa Sawit merupakan faktor penentu kualitas crude palm oil (CPO) yang dihasilkan pabrik kelapa sawit. Metode penyortiran TBS setelah panen atau sebelum memasuki proses perebusan pada umumnya dilakukan secara manual mengandalkan penglihatan dan pengalaman. Metode ini rentan kesalahan dan bersifat subyektif. Metode pencitraan berkembang sangat cepat karena kemajuan dalam bidang komputer dan teknik pengolahan citra, khususnya untuk sistem sortasi dan grading. Penelitian ini mengunakan metode pencitraan fluoresensi yang diinduksi laser untuk mengakses dan mengklasifikasi tingkat kematangan TBS kelapa sawit. Hubungan antara tingkat keabuan dan tingkat kekerasan buah TBS dianalisa. Sampel terdiri dari 27 TBS kelapa sawit varietas Tenera. Tingkat kematangan dikategorikan oleh pemanen berpengalaman menjadi mentah, matang, dan lewat matang. Tiga bagian TBS yaitu pangkal, tengah, dan ujung disinari laser dioda 640 nm mengenai 5 buah pada tiap bagian. Kemudian citra direkam mengunakan kamera CMOS monokrom. Selanjutnya 15 buah tersebut diuji tingkat kekerasan mengunakan penetrometer. Klasifikasi tingkat kematangan dilakukan mengunakan K-mean clustering. Hasil penelitian memperlihatkan bahwa metode pencitraan fluoresensi yang diinduksi laser potensial digunakan dalam mengklasifikasi tingkat kematangan TBS. Tingkat kekerasan buah berkorelasi positif terhadap tingkat keabuan citra TBS. K-mean clustering memperlihatkan tiga kelompok tingkat kematangan yang terdiri dari 0, 1 dan 2. Ripeness levels of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) are the main factor to determine the quality of crude palm oil (CPO) produced by Oil Palm Mill. Sorting oil palm FFB after harvest or before entering the boiling process is generally done manually which relies on human vision and experience. Imaging methods has developed vastly due to advances in computer and image processing techniques. This study used a laser-induced fluorescence imaging to access and classify the ripeness levels of oil palm FFB of Tenera variety. The relationship between gray value and the level of firmness of FFB fruit was analyzed. The samples consisted of 27 oil palm FFB categorized  by experienced harvester as unripe, ripe, and overripe. Laser light was shone on equatorial part of each FFB such that 5 fruitlets were covered by laser light, then the image of the front part was acquire using a monochrome CMOS camera. The step was repeated for basil and apical parts in sequent. All 15 fruitlets were testing for the firmness level using a penetrometer. Ripeness level classification was done using K-mean clustering. The results showed that the laser-induced fluorescence imaging method are potential to be used to determine the ripeness levels of FFB. The fruit firmness is positively correlated with the gray value of the image of FFB. K-mean clustering shows three ripeness centroid of 0, 1 and 2 . Keyword: Fluorecence Imaging, Oil Palm, Fresh Fruit Bunches, Firmness, Laser Induced Fluorecenc

Rancangan Perniagaan ETR 300 Syarikat 4-10-C Sdn Bhd / Mastura Abdul Aziz [et al.]

4-10-C Sdn Bhd adalah syarikat memproses bahan mentah untuk dijadikan plastik. Syarikat ini beroperasi di Kawasan perindustrian Gurun, Kedah. Syarikat ini beroperasi pada 1 Januari 2002. Syarikat ini memproses bahan mentah untuk dijadikan plastik. Di samping itu juga, syarikat ini merupakan pembekal kepada pengilang-pengilang yang mengeluarkan barangan plastik. Perusahaan plastik ini adalah sebagai satu bahan kepenggunaan yang direka khas bagi mempelbagaikan produk yang berasaskan plastik. Dan secara tidak langsung menjadi sumber pengganti kepada bahan asli seperti kayu, getah, besi dan sebagainya