Determinants of physical activity participation among the Universiti Putra Malaysia students

Background: The prevalence of non-communicable diseases in Malaysia are still rising, despite a slight increase in the prevalence of physical activity from 64.8% to 66.5% according to National Health and Morbidity Surveys 2011 and 2015. This rising trend is mostly related to environmental, socio-economic changes in relation to the development of a country. Determining the gap and improving the environmental health policy and strategy would be helpful for the community. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Universiti Putra Malaysia from September 2015 to May 2016.The sample size was calculated by using two-proportion formula and the proportionate stratified sampling method was used in this study. The short version of International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was used for physical activity measurement and the Physical and Social Environmental Scales (PASES) was used to measure the physical and social environmental factors. Result: The prevalence of physical activity participation in this study was 72.2%. The majority of the respondents were below 24 years of age (61. 4%), female (63.8%) and Malay (75.1%). The female respondents were less likely to participate in physical activity than male (p= 0.01) (OR= 0.558; CI: 0.358-0.869). The respondents who agreed to have poor neighbourhood safety (p=0.034) (OR=0.623; CI: 0.403-0.965) and good social cohesion (p=0.005) (OR= 1.956; CI: 1.23 - 3.11) were more physically active. Conclusion: The predictors of physical activity participation were female, the neighbourhood safety, and social cohesion

Correlates of Stress among Adult Male Inmates in a Local Prison, Malaysia

Background: Prison is a place of confinement especially for lawbreakers which can have an impact on mental health including stress. Yet, very few studies examined stress among prison inmates. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and correlates of stress among adult male inmates in a local prison in Malaysia. Subjects and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted at a medium security prison in peninsular Malaysia. A sample of 460 inmates was selected for this study. The dependent variable was stress. The independent variables were sociodemographic characteristics, biological influence, psychological factor, childhood related history and offence related history. Stress was measured by pretest and validated Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale, which was categorized into high and low stresses. The data were collected by questionnaire and in depth review. The data were analyzed by chi-square and logistic regression. Results: The mean (SD) age of respondents was 38.33 (8.90) years. The preva lence of stress among the inmates was 55.2%. After adjusting for the covariates, stress was associated with depression (aOR= 4.03; CI 95% 2.64 to 6.15; p<0.001), age (aOR= 2.35; CI 95% 1.57 to 3.53; p<0.001), and history of childhood labor (aOR= 1.80; CI 95% 1.03 to 3.15; p= 0.040). Conclusion: More than half of the study subjects experience stress, with depression being the strongest predictor. Further study is needed to understand the causal relationship between the two for effective intervention can be in place for this vulnerable group. Keywords: stress, adult, male, inmate, priso

Prediction of Cutting Force in End Milling of Inconel 718

This paper presents the effect of cutting parameters on the cutting force when machining Inconel 718. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used in the experiment, and a Box–Behnken design was employed to identify the cause and effect of the relationship between the four cutting parameters (cutting speed, feed rate, depth of cut and width of cut) and cutting force. The ball-nose type of end mill with donwmill approach was maitained througout the experiment. The forces were measured using Kistler dynamometer during straight line machining strategy. The result shows that the radial depth of cut was the dominating factor controlling cutting force, it was followed by axial depth of cut and feed rate. The prediction cutting force model was developed with the average error between the predicted and actual cutting force was less than 3

Executive cash compensation and tax aggressiveness of Chinese firms

We examine the influence of corporate compensation policies on firms’ tax aggressiveness in an emerging market where executive compensation is primarily in cash form. Based on a hand-collected dataset of 958 firm-year observations of Chinese listed firms for the 2006-2012 period, we find that firms paying higher executive cash compensation are associated with lower tax aggressiveness. This relationship also holds for the excess cash compensation measures which control for executive shareholding, firm profitability, size, growth opportunity, and board independence. We further document that mutual funds ownership pressure firms paying higher compensation to reduce their tax aggressiveness, suggesting adverse selection by mutual funds on firms exhibiting risky tax avoidance activities. High leverage offsets the negative link between cash compensation and tax aggressiveness, indicating a complementary effect between debt and tax avoidance, and, hence, suggesting that creditor monitoring is weak. These results are robust to the system-GMM estimation, which simultaneously account for the endogeneity of executive compensation, tax aggressiveness, ownership and control, leverage, and corporate governance. Our findings on Chinese firms have important policy implications for developing countries around the world with concentrated ownership structure, weak institutional environment, widespread corruption, ineffective rule of law, and ongoing significant social and political transformation