Working Capital Management and Firm Performance

This study examines the relationship between working capital management and firm’s performance in Pakistan. Data used in this study is based on 199 non-financial listed firms for 2006-2016. This study uses three proxies to measure the working capital management, namely, ICP, ACP and APP. To fill the gap in existing literature, this study uses both accounting-based (ROA) and market based (Tobins’ Q) measures of firm performance. According to the results, ICP, ACP and APP negatively influence the ROA while ICP and APP positively and ACP negatively influence the Tobins’Q. The relationships remain same when two controls firm age and firm size are added into model. The results of this study are useful for the financial managers of firms in Pakistan and other developing countries

Visualizing Student's Difficulties in Learning Calculus

AbstractVisualization is well recognized as a powerful problem representation process for solving mathematical problems. Van Garderen and Montague (2003) emphasizes that good problem solvers generally construct a representation of the problem to facilitate understanding. The purpose of this study was to investigate student's performance in solving Calculus problems and further analysed student's difficulties in solving the problems. It is clear from the protocol analyses that some students require special treatment such as further tutorial session in correcting their misconception. Also students need to monitor their steps in problem solving or deriving problem solution. Much attention should be directed to fostering student's ability to plan for problem solution. If this is not done, the students are likely to become progressively more confused and in the long run they may not survive in their mathematics problem solving experiences

Contractors’ Strategic Approaches to Risk Assessment Techniques at Project Planning Stage

Abstract — The construction industry is still plagued by poor quality, poor workmanship, poor safety and health environment, and poor practices. The current main problem in the Malaysian Construction Industry is delayed projects under the Ninth Malaysia Plan. The idea of introducing formal risk assessment among Malaysian contractors during the project planning stage is a proactive approach to achieve project objectives. Therefore, this research intends to achieve the following objectives: (1) to investigate the contractors’ approaches of risk assessment techniques at the project planning stage, (2) to investigate the consequences of risk assessment techniques at the project planning stage, and (3) to determine the appropriate risk assessment techniques in dealing with the potential risk factors at the project planning stage. The research methodology applied for this research includes literature reviews and questionnaires. Findings from this research show that the application of risk assessment techniques in the Malaysian Construction Industry is still moderate. Hence, it is suggested that these contractors should try to implement formal risk assessment techniques during the project planning stage in order to achieve the project objectives.Keywords - Risk; Risk Assessment; Contractors; Project Planning Stage; Construction Industry

The effect of thermal to the diameter of Nd : YAG crystal during growth process

The Nd:YAG crystal grown in a pure argon atmosphere using Czochralski method with ADC (Automatic Diameter Control) r.f. heating is reported.The conditions required to grow Nd:YAG single crystals are described. The pull rate was 0.75 mm/h with a seed rotation of 15 rpm. All runs were made with growth along the c-axis direction

Visual Representations in Mathematical Word Problem Solving Among Form Four Students in Malacca

AbstractLearning how to solve mathematical problems has been a long withstanding difficulty faced by students and has been given constant focus in mathematical development. Successful problem solvers spend more time analyzing a problem and they will find all the alternatives related to the situation. Therefore many educators (Cai, 2003, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000; Smith, 1991) agreed that teaching mathematics through problem solving hold great promise. Furthermore, according to the Malaysian Curriculum Development Centre (2003), one of the important objectives in teaching mathematics is to develop student's mathematical problem solving skills. Mathematical problems are not simply computational tasks type but are problems which also require appropriate selection of strategies and decisions that lead to logical solutions. Word problem solving is one of the important components of mathematics problem solving which incorporate real-life problems and applications. However, many researches revealed that students express great difficulties in handling a word or story problem. This study examined the use of visual representations which posed great difficulties in most mathematical tasks. Secondary students were given the 15Mathematical Processing Instrument (MPI) adapted from Hegarty and Kozhevnikov (1999). This study examined 381 students from eight secondary schools in three different districts in Malacca. Results indicated that less than two percent of the problems were solved using pictorial representation and most of the students preferred to used schematics solutions

Cognitive and Affect Outcomes of Group Learning among Secondary Learners in Bangladesh

AbstractGroup learning (GL) is well recognized as a successful pedagogy in mathematics education. The purpose of this research study was to compare the effects of GL and conventional learning on 2-aspect: cognitive outcome ‘mathematics achievement’ and affect outcome ‘attitudes toward mathematics’ among secondary learners in Bangladesh. Quasi-experimental design was administered for the experiment with 168 full-time students into 2-group: an experimental (EG) group (n=84) and a control (CG) group (n=84). EG was exposed to GL treatment while CG was taught using conventional learning method for the duration of 15-week. Data were collected using students’ mathematics achievement test and attitudes toward mathematics questionnaire. Both EG and CG were compared using independent-sample t-test. It was found that GL had significant effect on mathematics achievement [t (166)=34.25, p<0.05] and attitudes toward mathematics [t (166)=49.72, p<0.05]. The MANOVA with repeated measure was employed to determine the main and interaction effect of GL on test-time and achievement. The multivariate tests indicated a significant main effect of time, Wilks’ Lambda=0.065, F (1, 166)=2373.307, p=0.000, η2=0.935; a significant interaction effect of GL by time, Wilks’ Lambda=0.310, F (1, 166)=369.802, p=0.000, η2=0.690. These findings suggest that GL is more effective than conventional learning in mathematics teaching. As such GL can be effectively incorporated to improve students’ mathematics performance in secondary schools in Bangladesh

An examination of effects of online scaffolding on students' online behavior and reaction

Many researchers emphasize the effectiveness of online interaction with scaffolding in enhancing learning and performance. However, little is known about the students' behavior and reaction toward participation in online interaction, and whether scaffoldings have any effects on students' behavior or not. This study utilized times series data to investigate how students' usage of offered instructional tools in an online interaction could change their behavior as well as considered reaction. The results obtained by weekly observations confirmed that there were noticeable changes on students' behavior and reaction within scaffolding time with a same drop in both weeks 7, and 10. Such changes seemed to be associated with differences in times they spent for using the instructional tools. Students' opinion about the usefulness of online scaffolding was consistent and aligned with their online behavior

Mathematical learning attributes impacting students' performance in Sarawak

The purpose of the study is to examine the mathematics learning attributes in mathematics classroom at the secondary school level in Malaysia. Students’ responses related to mathematics learning attributes were sought. A survey was conducted using a set of questionnaire (62 items) among rural secondary school students in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia. Four hundred and fifteen responses were collected. Self-reported students’ achievement in school based assessment was used as the measurement of mathematics performance which later was collapsed into categorical variables. Logistics Regressions was used to examine the significant predictors contributed to mathematics performance. The study indicates Learning Styles and Teaching Practices are predictors of students’ higher achievement in mathematics while other learning attributes are in place. This finding concurred with other studies which stressed the importance of teaching strategies and practices in mathematics learning class. Mathematics teacher must adapt their teaching technique according to their students’ learning style preferences and beliefs on mathematics to improve learning. This study will contribute to rural school educational research. The findings in this study would expand the current body of knowledge and data about the importance of learning attributes in pedagogical context. The study provides valuable information to teachers and school administrative to create effective learning program matching the needs of the students

Adopting Contractors’ Risk Management (CIRIM) Framework using Multi Dimensional Theories

In general, many contractors in Malaysia are found to have a limited expertise in developing an appropriate strategy to mitigate project risks. Consequently, this has led contractors struggling to complete the project on schedule, within the client’s budget and quality parameters. This was proven by the current issues on the delayed projects reported in the Ninth Malaysian Plan. Currently in Malaysia, there is no existing risk management framework specifically designed for contractors. Thus, the idea of introducing CIRIM among the Malaysian contractors is a proactive approach to achieve better project objectives. This paper therefore proposes to introduce the CIRIM framework to be adopted by the Malaysian contractors. The research methodology applied in the main research includes literature reviews, questionnaires and interviews. It is found that although there are some forms of risk management systems being used in the Malaysian construction industry, most of them are not well structured, documented and implemented in a formal manner. Therefore, the idea of establishing the CIRIM framework among Malaysian contractors is paramount and justified.Keywords: Risk Management, Contractors, CIRIM, Construction, Malaysia

UTILIZATION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN MATHEMATICS LEARNING

Attention to integrate technology in teaching and learning has provided a major transformation in the landscape of education. Therefore, many innovations in teaching and learning have been technology-driven. The study attempted to examine what is engineering students’ perception regarding the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in mathematics learning as well as investigate their opinion about how ICT can be integrated to improve teaching and learning processes. The subjects were Iranian engineering students from two universities. The finding showed they are fully aware of importance of ICT in teaching and learning mathematics. Whilst, they were feeling comfortable and confident with technology, they do not have more experience of using technology in mathematics classes before. The findings supported the other studies, which indicated the potentials of ICT to facilitate students’ learning, improve teaching, and enhance institutional administration as established in the literature.Keywords: Technology, Mathematics Learning, Facebook, Attitude Toward ICT DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22342/jme.5.2.1498.138-14