Orientasi pasaran: kompetensi keusahawanan dan prestasi PKS di Malaysia

The contribution of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in economic and social growth and promoting competitiveness among most nations has been well researched. However, the inconsistencies of findings reported in the literature triggered the need to further research on the factors affecting SME performance. Therefore, this study was designed to examine the direct effect of market orientation, entrepreneurial competencies and entrepreneurial orientation on SME performance in Malaysia. The study also aimed to determine the mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation on the relationship between market orientation and performance, and between entrepreneurial competencies and performance. A quantitative survey design was adopted, and data were collected from the SMEs registered with the SME Corp. The study also employed a systematic random sampling technique. Statistical analysis has been carried out to test the study hypotheses using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The findings indicated that significant and positive relationship exists between market orientation and performance, entrepreneurial competencies and performance, and between entrepreneurial orientation and performance. On the mediation relationship, the findings also revealed that entrepreneurial orientation mediate the relationships between market orientation and performance, and between entrepreneurial competencies and performance. This study contributes mainly to the current literature on how entrepreneurial orientation mediate both market orientation and entrepreneurial competencies and SME performance relationships especially in the Malaysian context where similar studies are generally scarce. Moreover the study specifies a strategy on how to improve the performance of the SMEs. The study concluded with a discussion of the theoretical and managerial implications, the limitations as well as suggestions for future research

Extrapancreatic actions of incretin-based therapies on bone in diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is correlated with modifications in bone microarchitectural and mechanical strength, leading to increased bone fragility. The incretin hormones, with a classical effect to increase insulin secretion following food ingestion, are now postulated to have important direct effects on bone. As such, glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) has dual actions on bone cells; enhancing bone�forming activity of osteoblasts and suppressing bone resorption by osteoclasts. The sister incretin of GIP, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), is also suspected to directly influence bone health in a beneficial manner, although mechanism are less clear at present. The physiological actions of incretins are attenuated by dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP-4) activity and it is speculated that introduction of DPP-4 inhibitor may also positively affect quality of the skeleton. As such, this thesis evaluates the potential beneficial effects of a DPP-4 resistant GIP analogue, namely [D-Ala2 ]GIP, on osteoblastic-derived, SaOS-2 cells, and also preliminary in vivo studies on the impact of genetic deficiencies of GIPRs and GLP-1Rs on bone mineral density and content. Further studies characterised the beneficial effects of incretin-based therapies on metabolic control, bone microstructure and bone mechanical integrity in animal models of pharmacologically-, genetically- and environmentally-induced diabetes. GIP and related stable analogue increased bone-forming biomarkers in SaOS-2 cells and importantly, [D-Ala2 ]GIP was shown to be more potent than native GIP. Knockout mouse studies revealed that both GIPR and GLP-1R signaling are important for optimum bone mass. All diabetic mouse models displayed reduced bone mass, altered bone micromorphology and impairment of bone mechanical strength, similar to the human situation, confirming their appropriateness. The incretin-based therapeutics, [D-Ala2 ]GIP and Liraglutide, in streptozotocin-diabetic significantly increased bone matrix properties, indicating recovery of bone strength at the tissue level. The beneficial effects of administration of [D-Ala2 ]GIP�oxyntomodulin on bone health in db/db mice were more prominent as the Oxm analogue did not only improve bone strength at tissue level, but also at whole-bone level. These modifications were independent of metabolic status. Twice-daily Exendin-4 therapy improved glycaemic control and increased work required to resist bone fracture in high-fat fed mice. It was also established that Sitagliptin had neutral effects on bone microstructure and mechanical strength in high-fat mice. In summary, these data demonstrate the negative impact of diabetes mellitus on normal skeleton development and bone quality. Moreover, this thesis highlights the growing potential of incretin-based therapies for ameliorating bone defects and improving the increased fragility fracture risk associated with diabete

Effect of seeding time on the formation of gold nanoplates

Metallic nanostructures, such as gold, is very sensitive to the dielectric environment of the materials due to strong dependency of plasmon on shapes and sizes. Thus, its unique properties are very good and can be used as sensing material in plasmonic sensor. This paper reports a study on the surface density on the formation of gold nanoplates with variation of seeding time. The gold nanoplates have been grown on a quartz substrate using seed mediated growth method. In this study, the seeding time was varied from one to three hours and labelled as MP1, MP2 and MP3. The XRD analysis shows two peaks of the diffraction angle occurs at the plane (111) in position ~ 38.2º and plane (200) at ~ 44.20º. Through variation of the seeding time, the optimum surface density is 61.8 % with a total of 43.7 % of the nanoplates shape from sample MP2. The optical absorption spectrum of the sample shows two resonance peaks, ~ 550 nm and 660 nm, which are corresponding to the transverse surface plasmon resonance (t-SPR) and the longitudinal surface plasmon resonance (l-SPR) respectively. Thus, in this study, it is found that the seeding time affected the growth of the gold nanostructures with optimum seeding time of two hours. Longer seeding time caused the growth of stacking nanogold and it is not suitable to be used in sensing application because of its broad and wider optical spectrum

Pelancongan dan pembangunan komuniti

Kertas kerja ini membincangkan ciri-ciri pelancongan yang boleh menjadikannya sebagai satu agen pembangunan, terutama dalam aspek pembangunan keseluruhan sesebuah komuniti. Perbezaan antara pengukur yang digunakan untuk menilai pembangunan pelancongan turut diberi penekanan. Seterusnya, kertas kerja ini memperkenalkan pembangunan pelancongan berasaskan komuniti (community-based tourism) dan bagaimana pembangunan pelancongan yang mengambil pendekatan sedemikian berupaya menghasilkan pembangunan kepada komuniti itu sendiri. Setty (1994) mendefinisikan komuniti sebagai sekumpulan manusia yang bukan sahaja tinggal di satu wilayah yang mempunyai sempadan yang tetap (territorial boundary), tetapi juga yang disatukan oleh persamaan dalam cara hidup dan amalan mereka seperti amalan pemakanan, pemakaian, pekerjaan dan sebagainya. Menurut Robinson (1996) pula, ahli-ahli dalam sesebuah komuniti mungkin berbeza dari segi kumpulan etnik, agama, jantina, tahap pendidikan, peringkat umur dan ekonomi. Perbezaan ini membawa kepada perbezaan minat, kuasa dan kekayaan(Robinson, 1996). Namun begitu, ahli-ahli komuniti saling berinteraksi dan berhubungan dalam aktiviti-aktiviti kehidupan mereka dan ini menimbulkan sentimen komuniti (community sentiment) yang menyatukan mereka. Sentimen ini menghasilkan semangat kekitaan, kemuafakatan serta perasaan tanggungjawab ke atas apa yang berlaku di dalam komuniti di kalangan ahli ahlinya. Dalam kertas kerja ini juga, sebuah komuniti Melayu di negeri Kedah dikenal pasti dan digunakan sebagai contoh, di mana satu produk pelancongan telah berjaya dibangunkan oleh ahli-ahli komuniti itu sendiri. Kedudukan pembangunan pelancongan di dalam komuniti ini sebagai pelancongan yang berasaskan komuniti turut dibincangkan di akhir kertas kerja ini

The Reality of the Practice of Knowledge-Exchange Processes between the Ministry of Education and the Jordanian Universities from the Perspective of School Principals and Educational Supervisors in Jerash Governorate

The purpose of this study was to show the reality of practicing knowledge-exchange processes between the ministry of education and the Jordanian universities from the perspective of principals and educational supervisors in Jerash governorate, and to recognize the impact of the variables (gender, job title) in the degree of their estimations to the practicing degree of knowledge-exchange processes. A sample consisted of (128) principals and supervisors was chosen randomly, and used the descriptive survey methodology. To achieve the aim of the study, a questionnaire consisted of (47) items was built and distributed on (5) domains. The study results showed that the estimations of principals and educational supervisors in Jerash governorate to the practicing degree of knowledge-exchange processes between the ministry of education and the Jordanian universities were moderate. And the results also showed that there were no significant statistical differences at the level of statistical significance (α=0.05) in the degree of sample\u27s estimations to the practicing degree of knowledge-exchange processes between the ministry of education and the Jordanian universities due to the variables of the study (Gender, Job Title)

Bank managers' perception of the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs

The literature on the characteristics needed for entrepreneurial success has been widely discussed. Successful entrepreneurs have been found to possess a set of skills and attributes that include an ability to inspire others, autonomy and a high level of endurance. Entrepreneurs demonstrate a propensity to take risks and are ready for change.They also possess social skills such as persuasiveness, low need for support, low conformity and lack of emotionalism.The objective of this paper is to understand how successful entrepreneurial.characteristics are perceived from the perspectives of bankers.The finding may prove beneficial in the entrepreneurs' preparation of loan applications from banks