Is there evidence of polarisation in Malaysia? An application of Wolfson's polarisation index

This paper examines income distribution and the question of polarisation in Malaysia. Wolfson (1994, 1997) has shown that inequality measures such as the Gini index are unable to capture changes in the share of income held by the middle-income group. Thus, analysis that examines only the inequality aspect of an income distribution might have missed relevant aspects of how the distribution of income has really changed. Wolfson (1994) suggests that when examining a distribution of income, measures related to polarisation should be included. Therefore, besides investigating the question of how income is distributed, there is a need to investigate the question of polarisation, which is a new aspect that has emerged in the discussion of income inequality in recent literature. This question appears to be an aspect of distributional change that has been neglected in the study of income distribution in Malaysia. Here, the analysis on the question of polarisation is done by employing polarisation index that has been proposed by Wolfson (1994). The data used in this study is the Malaysian Family Life Survey (MFLS) data

Crude Palm Oil Price Forecasting: Box-Jenkins Approach

A univariate ARIMA model developed by Box-jenkins was utilised to forecast the short-run monthly price of crude palm oil. The appropriate model for forecasting was found to be (0, 2, 1) (0, 1, 1) 6' This model indicates that the original crude palm oil series is non-stationary and contains some elements of multipliCity, hence inheriting moving average process. The identified ARIMA model induced the data series into a stochastic one, making it a suitable model for forecasting crude palm oil prices in the short term

Estimating the Income and Substitution Effects on the Demand for Poultry Meat

This study attempts to analyze the factors underlying the demand and consumption trends of POUltry meat in Malaysian. Specifically, it explores the poultry, meat consumption due to changes in prices and income and the interaction in demand between floury meat and the components of the rest of the meat market. To obtain the parameters of the demand model for poultry meat, two estimation techniques were used in estimating the demand model, namely single and instrumental variables approach, while Slutsky equations were utilized to estimate the income and substitution effects of poultry meat with the other components of the meat ma diet. The results indicate that poultry meat is a normal good while both beef and pork are substitutes to poultry, meat. However, mixed results were obtained for poultry meat and fish. Based on the magnitude of the substitution effect and cross p17ce elasticity, it is concluded that the demand for fish is independent of the other components of the meat market

Drying and Milling Cost Functions of Paddy: Empirical Estimates for Government Processing Complexes in Malaysia

In this paper, the statistical cost function approach was used to model the drying and milling cost for government paddy/rice processing complexes in Malaysia. The quadratic and inverse cost [unctions were estimated. The results suggest that there exists cost economies at relatively high output levels for both the drying and milling operations. Examination of output data indicates that a large number of government paddy mills operate at low outputs, with cost economies unexploited

Pricing and Causality Among Selected Fats and Oils

This paper studies the nature of price relationships among selected prices of five fats and oils (palm oil, soybean, coconut, fish oils and tallow) to provide empirical evidence as to the competitive structure of the fats and oils market. The fats and oils market is highly competitive and price is shown to be simultaneously discovered by the market with minimum lags and distortions. Statistical causality models developed by Granger, Sims and Haugh-Pierce were used to examine this hypothesis. Inferences are made as to the applicability of the models in understanding the nature of the market

Structure, electrical transport and Magneto-Resistance properties of La5/8Ca3/8MnO3 manganite synthesized with different manganese precursors.

We synthesized the polycrystalline manganite of La5/8Ca3/8MnO3 with three different manganese routes prepared through a solid state reaction method. The effects of the manganese route selection on the structure, electrical transport and magneto-transport properties were examined in this study. The samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and SEM to identify their structure and morphology. XRD analysis confirmed that all samples were in single phase with orthorhombic structure and belonged to the Pnma space group. The average grain sized samples with manganese route of Mn2O3 and MnCO3 had a grain size of 1.2–8.7 μm and 2–7.5 μm, respectively. For the MnO2 route, the sample had a small melt-like shape with higher porosity. The metal–insulator transition temperature, TMI, for LCMO (Mn2O3), LCMO (MnO2) and LCMO (MnCO3) samples were 270 K, 266 K and 258 K, respectively. All the samples showed negative magneto-resistance with significant increase in value near the TMI temperature. The highest CMR (colossal magneto-resistance) ratio was found in LCMO (Mn2O3), -22.06% at 270 K, followed by -16.69% for LCMO (MnO2) at 80 K, and 15.2% for LCMO (MnCO3) at 100 K in a 1 T magnetic field

Peran Ganda Wanita dalam Keluarga Poligami Studi pada Ibu Rumah Tangga di Desa Mabodo Kecamatan Kontunaga Kabupaten Muna

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk bentuk-bentuk peran ganda wnita dalam keluarga poligami, dan faktor pendukung dan penghambat wanita dalam berperan ganda dalam keluarga poligami di Desa Mabodo, Kecamatan Kontunaga, Kabupaten Muna. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian deskriptif kualitatif melalui wawancara langsung kepada, ibu rumah tangga yang berperan ganda dalam keluarga poligami, suami yang berpoligami, dan Kepalah Desa Mabodo. Sedangkan metode pengambilan sampel secara puposive sampling, dengan jumlah informan 13 (tiga belas) orang. Penelitian ini dilaksanakan di Desa Mabodo, Kecamatan Kontunaga, Kabupaten Muna. Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa bentuk-bentuk peran ganda wanita dlam keluarga poligami yaitu, a) peran produktif, b) peran reproduktif, c) peran sosial. Kemudian faktor pendukung wanita dalam berperan ganda terdiri dari, a) faktor ekonomi, b) faktor sosial, c) faktor budaya. Dan faktor penghambat wanita dalam berperan ganda yaitu, a) berbagai sektor cenderung bersifat patriarki, b) rendahnya akses yang dimiliki perempuan dalam hal sumber daya ekonomi

Integrating rhythmic syllable with tonguing drills in elementary brass instruments instruction

Various rhythm syllable systems that are based on the concept that prioritises ‘sound before symbol’ are known to be able to enhance students’ ability to read music notations. To date, these systems are yet to be integrated with basic brass instrumental skills such as tonguing. This research examines the effect of the rhythm syllable system when it is applied as an integrated teaching approach for novice brass instrument learners by combining rhythm learning with articulation. A teaching experiment was conducted with 90 elementary trumpet students assigned randomly into three groups. Each group underwent five weeks of intervention with a single content but using different approaches of rhythm learning. Data analysis showed significant differences among the groups, and the group that used the adapted rhythmic syllable approach achieved the highest both in rhythm accuracy and articulation clarity, followed by the group that used Kodaly syllables and the control group that did not apply any particular syllable system. The integrated rhythmic syllable reduces the time of learning the brass instrument while eliminating the redundancies resulting from compartmentalised teaching. This research has extended the scope of application of the rhythmic syllable system beyond musicianship training. It indicates that methods in musicianship training can be localised for specific purposes in instrumental learning