The effects of cost of living and household dependency on household debt and its composition in Malaysia

The past decade has witnessed a notable increase in household debt across countries, which raises concerns on its impact on social and economic aspects. Although household debt plays an important role in supporting the economy to grow, a continuous rise in the debt level may bring serious economic consequences. Hence, understanding the potential factors that contribute towards the significant rise in the debt level is useful for policy implications. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effects of the cost of living and household dependency on household debt and its composition in Malaysia where the roles of income level, interest rates and housing prices are the control variables. By using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) modelling approach, this study revealed that in the long run, income level, housing prices and old age dependency have positive influences on both total household debt and mortgage debt while an inverse relationship was observed on the effects of interest rates, cost of living and young age dependency on both types of debt. This finding is also similar to the case of consumer debt except for the role of housing prices which exhibit a negative relationship. This study also discovered that in the event of any short-term deviation in the household debt model the mortgage debt will adjust faster compared to the consumer debt, which may be due to risks associated with mortgage debt which is typically lower since it is secured with assets and thereby any short-term deviation will be easily adjusted. Finally, the inclusion of the structural break in the debt model revealed that the break effects are significant in all the models and thereby support the importance of considering their presence in the analysis to prevent biased estimation

Impact Assessment of SPC Tools on Quality Improvement in Pakistani Industrial Environment: A Dynamic Case Study

Whether one belongs to service or production industry, Quality is always a big issue for business persons and the customers. If we do not have any means of measuring the performance of manufacturing Unit in trouble, how can we improve it? As W. Edwards Deming said “If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it”. Everybody in the field of TQM is familiar with control charts and statistical process improvement for Quality. A number of tools, including the Six Sigma tool box, are made up of seven simple tools: flow chart, check list, histogram, Pareto chart, cause and effect diagram, scatter diagram, control chart. The Japanese call them "seven QC (quality control) tools, which have been used for decades to support quality improvement efforts to solve the problem. Usually variation is the only main reason for varying or low quality of their product/service, increasing dissatisfaction among customers and decreasing business credibility as a result. For that purpose, we chosen a business organization “Silver Lake Foods Pvt. Ltd.” as a study object, as management of SLFL was highly willing to cooperate. SLFL is a Food Manufacturing organization which produces food items like Biscuits, toffees, candies and chocolates, drinks etc. Management of SLFL has found that the process average for critical characteristics i.e. weight, taste etc. were out of control and causing big losses. In some cases, they have some ideas about possible causes. However, in most cases, they do not want or lack of knowledge and resources restrict them to carry out experimental design to find out the reasons for the change or decline quality.We have decided to use statistical process control (SPC) procedures for quality control, quality improvement and then ultimately towards total quality management.There were some ideas about possible causes but, as in most cases, they were reluctant or lacking the knowledge and resources to perform experimental design to find out the causes of variation or the causes of decreased (/ing) quality. We decided to use statistical process control (SPC) program to make the steps towards quality control and from quality control to quality improvement and then ultimately towards TQM. The Proposed study intends to find out impact of SPC tools in Quality improvement in Pakistani Industrial environment by studying Silver Lake Foods Pvt. Ltd. This  research also identify the main  sources of variations and bottlenecks  through dynamic use of SPC tools and  suggest recommendations regarding higher quality improvement and customer satisfaction levels in future. Keywords: Six Sigma tool box, TQM, Customer satisfaction, SPC tools, SLFP (Silver Lake Foods Pvt. Limited), Food industry, Quality improvemen

Contamination of Water Resources by Food Dyes and Its Removal Technologies

Food dyes comprise different groups which impart color to a wide range of food products. Food products are mainly purchased and consumed by people because they are nutritive and flavorsome and have an attractive color. Food color stimulates appetite and enhances its esthetic appeal of food on table for customer. With sky rocketing industrialization and modernization, the worldwide production of dyes in 2010 was forecasted to be 2.1 metric tons. It has been estimated that 15% of total dyes produced worldwide are discharged to water bodies which adversely affect aquatic ecosystem. Dyes in water reduces its transparency, thereby declining light penetration in the water, hence influencing photosynthesis which consequently reduces dissolved oxygen which is an alarming situation for both aquatic flora and fauna. Dyes wastewater discharged from huge number of industries like textile, leathers, paint, food, pharmaceutical etc. and deteriorating the aquatic environment and pose threat to living organism. The presence of dye molecules in water channels is an emerging alarm to an environmental scientist. An environmental friendly and self-sustainable treatment method should be explored to address this problem. Therefore, this work elaborates the various methods used for removal and degradation of dyes in water, although some processes have a common shortcoming like production of secondary pollution to the environment. This chapter have tried to highlight the important application of food dyes, their contamination and their toxic effect. Herein we also focus on remediation techniques like separation (adsorption, filtration, etc.) and degradation (chemical, biological and electrochemical oxidation) of dyes in aqueous solution. The mechanism and pros and cons of different methods are explored and discussed briefly

An Empirical Analysis of Inventory Turnover Performance Within a Local Chinese Supermarket

Retail inventory is an important indicator for retailers as well as their shareholders and suppliers. Inventory enables retailer to sell products to customer but excessive or slow moving inventory also add extra cost. For shareholders and suppliers this is an indication of retailer’s bright or grim future. The aim of this research is to analyze the inventory turnover’s impact on the performance variables of profit margin percentage and sale surprise in one of the retailing firm of Hubei province China. We will study if inventory turnover is affected by profit margin percentage and sale surprise similarly across all categories and modes of operation in retail firm or there is some variation in the known behavior. We will be testing our hypothesis on data of a large local supermarket chain that operates in the Hubei province of China. They have multiple supermarkets in the tier 1 and tier 2 cities of the province. We investigate correlation of inventory turnover with profit margin percentage and sale surprise across different categories and modes of operation. The analysis reveals that there is a negative correlation between Inventory Turnover and profit margin percentage, while positive correlation exists between Inventory Turnover and Sale surprise across all categories and modes. But its rate of correlation varies between categories and channel structure

Rational use of antibiotics--a quality improvement initiative in hospital setting

Objectives: To minimise irrational use of antibiotics by implementing guidelines for antibiotic usage in obstetrics and Gynaeocology.Methods: The observational study was conducted from January to December 2010 at the maternity unit of Aga Khan Hospital for Women and children, Kharadar, a secondary care facility in Karachi, Pakistan. Data was collected from medical records related to the study period. Prophylactic antibiotics were given according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists recommendation 2009. Surveillance was done by surgical site infection rates and infectious morbidity. Data was analysed on SPSS 13.Results: Therapeutic antibiotic use was rationalized, reducing the use of therapeutic antibiotics from 97% (n= 160/165) in January 2010 to 8% (n=10/125) in December 2010. Surgical site infection rates were less than 5%. Cost of antibiotics per patient decreased by 90%. Decrease in the length of stay and workload on nursing staff was also observed.Conclusion: Implementing guidelines for antibiotic use in obstetrics and gynaecology and translating it into our protocols was effective in decreasing the irrational antibiotic consumption and increasing the rational use of antibiotics in the hospital

The Effect of Product Variety on Inventory Turnover in Different Modes of Operation

We study the effects of product variety on operational metrics - inventory turnover and on sales in different mode of operations. Research has shown that performance metrics can vary in different mode of operations. Using 41 months of data from a large retailer, we show that correlation of product variety with inventory turnover and sales is not always negative or positive as shown in previous studies. This correlation can vary depending upon the mode of operations and type of product. Our study highlights impact of increased product variety on inventory turnover and sales in different mode of operations that has previously been overlooked in studies of retail product variety and inventory management. It also quantifies the impact of product variety on inventory turnover and sales

eLEM: A novel e-Learner Experience Model

Many e-learning artefacts have been developed and promoted based on their ability to enhance learning and e-learner experience. However, there is a lack of precise definition of what the e-learner experience implies and associated models to inform this experience. This paper introduces a novel e-Learner Experience Model (eLEM) along with its roots in: (i) e-learning domain research, and (ii) user experience/usability. It also proposes a definition for the e-learner experience model based on the particularities of e-learning. eLEM has been derived based on a state of the art literature review and consists of a number of constructs along with measures of their effectiveness in evaluating the e-learner experience in an e-learning environment. eLEM has been comprehensively evaluated using a set of sufficient and representative case studies. It has also demonstrated modelling the e-learner’s experience in various contexts and identified four key challenges for further research. Finally, the eLEM has been integrated with the HeLPS e-learning framework and contributed to validating its process-centric models

Towards a generalised e-learning business process model

Modelling learning scenarios is central for e-learning domain. This has been manifested in the proliferation of the different Educational Modelling Languages, as well as in developed e-learning models. However, the existing modelled scenarios are deficient as they lack flexibility and the agility to respond to the dynamic nature of an e-learning process that is suitable to answer learners’ needs. This paper proposes a novel approach to develop a generalised business process model from a set of related business processes sharing the same goals and associated objectives. The proposed approach has been applied in the e-learning domain, which demonstrated its ability to develop a generalised e-learning business process model that is derived from the existing pedagogical models and technology-enhanced learning artefacts. Moreover, the proposed approach has been evaluated to test its effectiveness in generalising a set of business processes, which paves the ground to apply it in different contexts. The generalised e-learning business process model has been modelled using the industrial standard Business Process Modelling Notations (BPMN 2.0) so that processes can be dynamically enacted in service-oriented environments and, at the same time, adapting to answering e-learners’ learning requirements

Associating Perinatal Mortality With Diet By Adapting Robust Clustering Using Links For Categorical Variables

Perinatal Mortality (perinatal death), is death of a neonate within 6 days (early neonatal mortality) or from 7 – 27 days of birth (late neonatal mortality). Food consumed by an expectant mother is said to have an impact on the pregnancy outcome apart from other factors. For the past few years, perinatal mortality rate has been increasing in developing and under-developed parts of the world. Two-thirds of the world’s perinatal deaths occur in only 10 countries, and Pakistan is ranked third amongst these countries. These deaths have not been studied widely, in fact they have been under-reported and these reports have not even been considered in any attempts made to improve birth outcomes in developing nations [1]. Nutritional, socioeconomic, demographic and health advice seeking behavior factors are responsible for higher mortality rates in countries such as Pakistan. Data mining and machine learning can be used to identify factors that are responsible for such high infant mortality rates as it is an important factor indicating progress on Millennium Development Goals. In this paper, we discuss how using ROCK we can cluster expectant mothers as per the food intake and identify major food items causing perinatal mortality