Tensile property of melt mixing co-polypropylene with waste polymer at different composition ratios

In order to implement economical way of managing unwanted substances, waste polymer (WP) can be recycled instead of throwing it away. It can be reused via "sink-float" technique and mixed with another binder like co-polypropylene (co-PP) to enhance the mechani-cal properties of the material. This is because co-PP is a bit softer but has better impact strength, much tougher and more durable than polypropylene (PP). Two materials underwent injection moulding with 170°C temperature to produce dog bone samples for tensile test. The test started with 10% up until 80% of WP content mixed with co-PP. Tensile test speed used for this experiment was 5mm/s. Stress vs. strain graph was obtained from the test and the modulus of elasticity was obtained by using the stress over strain formula. The stress versus strain result for the composite with WP is lower than that of co-PP, proving that WP is more brittle compared to the more elastic co-PP. Morphological analysis of surface structure based on Optical Microscope (OM) indicates that co-PP has smooth surface while WP has a rough surface

Estimating Efficiency in Domestic and Foreign Islamic Banking and Its Determinants among Three Neighboring Countries – Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei

This study attempts to investigate the technical efficiency (TE)of domestic and foreign Islamic banks and its determinants for three neighborhood countries namely Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei that spans over the period from 2006 to 2014.This study employs a two stage procedure involving data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach to measure banks’ efficiency while the parametric (t-test) and non-parametric (Mann-Whitney [Wilcoxon] and Kruskall-Wallis) to guage the difference in the efficiency between the domestic and foreign Islamic banks. Then, ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions is utilized to analyzed the determinants of technical efficiency. The results show that domestic Islamic bank for all countries exhibit significantly higher technical efficiency than foreign Islamic banks, which is consistent with home field advantage theory. The regressions on determinants results indicate that bank size and management quality have a negative and significant relationship with technical efficiency of Islamic banks, whereas market power and liquidity indicate a significantly positive relationship with technical efficiency of Islamic banks. The findings of this study give the banks’ stakeholders, regulators, banks’ managers and investors an important insight about the technical efficiency of Islamic banks and its significant determinants

Tyre Safety Performance on Asphalt Pavement in Malaysia Climate - Analysis through Finite Element Method

Interaction characteristics between tyre and asphalt pavement surface are one of the important aspects that need to be taken into consideration in maintaining the safety of driving through increasing the effectiveness of tyre and optimizing the possibility of skidding, especially during hydroplaning conditions. Lower quality of tyres in terms of tyre life, bad tyre rethreading, low tyre material quality plus lack of awareness by road users can be considered the main factors in occurrence of car accidents in Malaysia. The study is done on the contact performance between tyre surface and asphalt pavement in hot and humid Malaysia climate, with the application of Finite-Element Method. In maintaining or increasing the safety features of tyre, several parameters such as rotational speed, vehicle weight, tyre-road contact friction will be studied through computer simulation. It is estimated that increment of loading, surface contact between tyre and road pavement will increase, thus increasing the frictional contact. It is shown that effective frictional characteristic is needed, where traction, braking, life of tyre can be optimize

Do the home field, global advantage, and liability of unfamiliarness hypotheses hold? empirical evidence from Malaysia

The study explores the home field, global advantage, and liability of unfamiliarness hypotheses in the Malaysian banking sector. The results indicate that Malaysian banks have exhibited productivity progress mainly attributed to technological progress. The authors find negative relationship between foreign and government ownership and bank productivity. Likewise, the publicly listed banks have been relatively less productive compared to private banks, thus rejecting the market discipline hypothesis. The empirical findings suggest that foreign banks from the North American countries to be the least productive banking group lending support to the home field advantage and the limited form of the global advantage hypotheses

Risk factors and a predictive model for under-five mortality in Nigeria: evidence from Nigeria demographic and health survey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Under-5 mortality is a major public health challenge in developing countries. It is essential to identify determinants of under-five mortality (U5M) childhood mortality because these will assist in formulating appropriate health programmes and policies in order to meet the United Nations MDG goal. The objective of this study was to develop a predictive model and identify maternal, child, family and other risk factors associated U5M in Nigeria.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Population-based cross-sectional study which explored 2008 demographic and health survey of Nigeria (NDHS) with multivariable logistic regression. Likelihood Ratio Test, Hosmer-Lemeshow Goodness-of-Fit and Variance Inflation Factor were used to check the fit of the model and the predictive power of the model was assessed with Receiver Operating Curve (ROC curve).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This study yielded an excellent predictive model which revealed that the likelihood of U5M among the children of mothers that had their first marriage at age 20-24 years and ≥ 25 years declined by 20% and 30% respectively compared to children of those that married before the age of 15 years. Also, the following factors reduced odds of U5M: health seeking behaviour, breastfeeding children for > 18 months, use of contraception, small family size, having one wife, low birth order, normal birth weight, child spacing, living in urban areas, and good sanitation.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study has revealed that maternal, child, family and other factors were important risk factors of U5M in Nigeria. This study has identified important risk factors that will assist in formulating policies that will improve child survival.</p

‘Measuring’ Physical Literacy and Related Constructs: A Systematic Review of Empirical Findings

BACKGROUND:The concept of physical literacy has received increased research and international attention recently. Where intervention programs and empirical research are gaining momentum, their operationalizations differ significantly.OBJECTIVE:The objective of this study was to inform practice in the measure/assessment of physical literacy via a systematic review of research that has assessed physical literacy (up to 14 June, 2017).METHODS:Five databases were searched using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses for Protocols guidelines, with 32 published articles meeting the inclusion criteria. English-language, peer-reviewed published papers containing empirical studies of physical literacy were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis.RESULTS:Qualitative methods included: (1) interviews; (2) open-ended questionnaires; (3) reflective diaries; (4) focus groups; (5) participant observations; and (6) visual methods. Quantitative methods included: (1) monitoring devices (e.g., accelerometers); (2) observations (e.g., of physical activity or motor proficiency); (3) psychometrics (e.g., enjoyment, self-perceptions); (4) performance measures (e.g., exergaming, objective times/distances); (5) anthropometric measurements; and (6) one compound measure. Of the measures that made an explicit distinction: 22 (61%) examined the physical domain, eight (22%) the affective domain; five (14%) the cognitive domain; and one (3%) combined three domains (physical, affective, and cognitive) of physical literacy. Researchers tended to declare their philosophical standpoint significantly more in qualitative research compared with quantitative research.CONCLUSIONS:Current research adopts diverse often incompatible methodologies in measuring/assessing physical literacy. Our analysis revealed that by adopting simplistic and linear methods, physical literacy cannot be measured/assessed in a traditional/conventional sense. Therefore, we recommend that researchers are more creative in developing integrated philosophically aligned approaches to measuring/assessing physical literacy. Future research should consider the most recent developments in the field of physical literacy for policy formation