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

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

Mechanical properties of caco3 extracted from cockle shell with high density polyethylene (HDPE) for biomaterials in bone substitute application

This study was conducted to produce CaCO3 powder extracted from cockle shells as bioceramic materials which later combined with high density polyethylene (HDPE) as the polymer to produce composite as the final product. For CaCO3 clarification, the powder form of bioceramics was analyzed using FTIR, SEM and EDX analyses. Then, the composites produced were tested for mechanical properties via tensile and hardness tests. Firstly, the wasted cockle shells were all washed to remove dirts and soaked in regular water overnight before left to dry at room temperature. Then, they were all ground up between range 100 – 200 µm several times until the required size were obtained. The spectrum for FTIR showed identical result as previous work at reading 857.22cm-1 which represent vibrational bonds that can be attributed to the characteristics of external plane bending vibration of carbonate. After the confirmation, it was added to the melted HDPE to produce stronger composite via injection moulding method. Injection moulding process was to produce the sample into the shape of dumbbell to perform mechanical tests, tensile and hardness test with three parameters for each weight ratio. It could be concluded that pressure, velocity and temperature affecting the hardness of samples. In this research, the greatest value of Young’s modulus and maximum force which are 852.2 MPa and 271.457 kN, respectively. In conclusion, cockle shell could become great biomaterial as it provide good in mechanical properties. Furthermore, the source also abundantly available and with the fully usage of this waste to something more useful, it is able to reduce contamination to the earth. Then, the combination with any polymer is able to produce strong composite that could apply in any field. For this research, the composite is focus in biomaterial usage, especially in orthopaedic field for bone implant. For instance, CaCO3 are proved to be function at higher temperature, and further future works might be required to search the maximum temperature that this material could achieve