Effects of equity and debt financing on SME performance in Malaysia

This study is to examine and verify the existence of relationship between the source of capital via equity and debt financing, and the performance of small and medium enterprise (hereafter SME) in Malaysia.The study is run based on of postal survey using cluster sampling method. It comprises of 177 samples of Malaysian SMEs involving in manufacturing and agriculture sectors. Subsequently, two research hypotheses are developed and analysed.It is found that equity financing has significant positive relationship on the business performance, while debt financing is insignificant.The study suggests that SMEs in Malaysia to employ equity financing as a source of business capital, for its potential (capability) in affecting the performance of business

Well-being of medical students and their awareness on substance misuse: a cross-sectional survey in Pakistan.

Objective: To investigate psychological well-being and substance abuse among medical students in Pakistan. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was conducted in six medical colleges across Pakistan. Final-year medical students were interviewed by either a postgraduate trainee in psychiatry or a consultant psychiatrist. Results: A total of 540 medical students were approached, 342 participated and the response rate was 64.5%. Mean age was 23.73 years (SD 2.45 years), 52.5% were male and 90% single. Two out of every five respondents reported that work/study at medical school affected their personal health and well-being. A considerable proportion of students were aware of alcohol and smoking as coping strategies for stress in medical students. The main factors causing stress were heavy workload (47.4%), relationship with colleagues (13.5%) and staff (11.9%). A total of 30% reported a history of depression and 15% among them had used an antidepressant. More than half were aware of depression in colleagues. The majority of respondents said that teaching provided on substance misuse in the areas of alcohol and illegal drugs, management/treatment of addiction, and models of addiction was poor. There was significant association (p = 0.044) between stress and awareness about alcohol as a coping strategy for stress among medical students. A significant negative association was also found between medical colleges in public sector (p = 0.052), female gender (p = 0.003) and well-being. Conclusion: The majority of the medical students reported a negative impact of heavy workload on their psychological well-being. Significant numbers of medical students think that substance misuse is a coping strategy for stress. Teaching on addiction/addictive substances is poor at undergraduate level in Pakistani medical colleges

Evaluation of solvent extraction of Amaranth betacyanins using multivariate analysis

The present study was aimed at assessing the effect of solvents on the yield and the color properties of amaranth extract. Two species of amaranth namely Amaranthus gangeticus and Amaranthus blitum were extracted with water, methanol and ethanol. Seven parameters like betacyanin content, total soluble solids, lightness (L* ), redness (a* ), yellowness (b* ), hue angle (h* ) and chroma (c* ) were analyzed to assess extraction efficiency. Correlation analysis was carried out to assess the linear association among the analytical variables. Principal component analysis was used to establish the relationships between the different analytical variables and to detect the most important factors of variability. Among the two varieties, Amaranthus gangeticus extract contained about two and half time more betacyanin with half of total soluble solids compared to Amaranthus blitum. Water is the best as solvent for extracting betacyanin from Amaranthus gangeticus and ethanol in case of Amaranthus blitum. Among the analytical parameters, a* and c* were perfectly correlated. Three principal components were found among the seven analytical variables accounting 88% of total variability. The first principal components mostly reflected the redness (a* ), whereas the second principal components reflected the betacyanin content, total soluble solids and lightness (L* value)

Modelling and determination of physico-chemical and morphological properties of microencapsulated red amaranth powder

Amaranth betacyanin, responsible for a red or violet colour, is extracted from Amaranthus gangeticus by using the water extraction method and microencapsulated by spray drying. The physicochemical and morphological properties of microencapsulated betacyanins are assessed as influenced by the inlet temperature and the maltodextrin concentration. The process was conducted using a mini spray dryer and maltodextrin is used as an encapsulating agent. Central composite design is applied and thirteen experiments are carried out. The responses are betacyanin retention, moisture content, water activity, particle densities, particle size, colour values and antioxidant activity. The quadratic effect of the inlet temperature is determined to be positive on betacyanin retention whereas the antioxidant is affected by the linear change of maltodextrin concentration. The moisture content and water activity of spray-dried betacyanin powders are insignificantly affected by inlet temperature and maltodextrin concentration individually. Only the effect maltodextrin concentration is found to have a significant effect on colour value. Particle densities and sizes are slightly affected by the process conditions studied

Game-based learning application for high school history lesson of Rentap / Syed Muhammad Naim Syed Idris

In order to excel in school or university, students need to understand all the subject that they learnt in university or school. To do this, the student must maintain a level of enthusiasm and discipline to learn all the required skills to master certain subject. However, history subject has always been one of the least favourite subjects for secondary school students. Game-based learning is considered as an alternative in this research to overcome the problem of the demotivation of learning history. Only the history of Rentap is taken specifically to make the research feasible since making the game for all the historical figure is too time consuming. The motivational value of a game is studied, along with the ways to incorporate those values into the game-based learning application developed in the research. The effective ways to teach facts of history to the player while playing the game is explored as well. The research overcome those problem by making the game-based learning application a battle-focused gameplay, with the student need to know and understand the facts of Rentap in order to progress through the game. This can be implemented by asking the players the question of Rentap after each battle to receive the battle rewards. The storyline of the application also been loosely followed the Rentap facts and instead more humorous and light-hearted so that the players will has a more satisfying game experience. The application is then will be tested to a group of Form 2 student. A series of question will be asked to the students before and after the students has tested the application to ensure the effectiveness of the application. The results shows a significant improvement between pretest and post-test. This shows that the system successfully completed its objective

Experience quality and visitor satisfaction at water theme park / Syed Mohd Naim Syed Wahid

The objectives of the study were two-folds: firstly, to identify the factors those influence the experience quality among the water theme park visitors. Second objective is to examine the relationship between factors of experience quality at the water theme park and visitors' satisfaction. Experience quality based on immersion, surprise, participation and fun factors. Primary data was employed in this study and 385 Sunway Lagoon Water Theme Park visitors responded to the questionnaires adopted from previous study and IBM-Statistical Package for Social Science software was used to analyze the data. Descriptive analysis method was used to achieve first objective by analyzing the factors of experience quality, whereby the findings indicated that the fun factor become the most important factor of experience quality followed by immersion, participation and surprise. Meanwhile, correlational analysis method was used to examine the relationship between the experience quality factors and visitors' satisfaction. The study revealed that there exist significant strong positive relationship between experience quality factors and visitors' satisfaction (r = .719, p-value = .000). The study concluded that to increase the total number of visitors to visit the theme park, efforts should be undertaken by the theme park management whereby the management should provide additional surprising activities as well as to formulate better service, reliable security and privacy place associated within the context of water theme park facilities

Pengaruh Ilmu Mantik Terhadap Polemik Kalimah al-Tawhid: Satu Kajian Terhadap Khatimah al-Sa‘adah. [The Influence Of Logic On The Polemic Of Kalimah Al-Tawhid: A Study On Khatimah Al-Sa’adah]

Polemik kalimah al-tawhid merupakan polemik yang berlaku antara tiga orang tokoh ilmu kalam di Maghribi pada sekitar abad ke-10, 11 dan 12 H dalam pentafsiran ungkapan la ilaha illa Allah. Mereka ialah Abu Muhammad ‘Abdullah al-Habti al-Kabir, Abu ‘Abdillah Muhammad al-Kharrubi al-Tarabulsi dan juga Abu ‘Abdillah Muhammad al-Yasitani. Ketiga-tiga tokoh tersebut mempunyai tafsiran yang tersendiri dalam memahami ungkapan kalimah al-tawhid berdasarkan metode ilmu nahu, mantik dan juga ilmu kalam. Namun, perselisihan tersebut membawa kepada pertelingkahan yang serius sehingga Abu ‘Ali al-Hasan bin Mas‘ud al-Yusi mengatakan bahawa perselisihan ini menyebabkan setiap kelompok menyalahkan kelompok yang lain hingga ke tahap menyesatkan. Ahmad bin Hasan al-Jawhari menerusi Khatimah al-Sa‘adah cuba mengharmonikan perselisihan ini dan menjelaskan makna bagi kalimah al-tawhid berdasarkan kaedah ilmu nahu, mantik dan juga ilmu kalam. Memandangkan ilmu mantik mempunyai peranan yang mempengaruhi pentafsiran setiap kelompok tokoh tersebut, kajian ini menganalisis peranan dan pengaruh ilmu mantik dalam pemahaman kalimah al-tawhid yang dibahaskan menerusi metode kajian kepustakaan dan analisis teks berdasarkan teks Khatimah al-Sa‘adah serta dokumen karya ulama yang berkaitan. Hasil kajian mendapati ilmu mantik berperanan dalam memberikan kefahaman yang benar mengenai kalimah al-tawhid. Ini amat penting bagi memastikan kefahaman yang benar mengenai kalimah al-tawhid terjaga daripada sebarang kesilapan.The polemic of kalimah al-tawhid is a polemic that took place between three figures of kalam in Morocco around the 10th, 11th and 12th hijri centuries in the interpretation of the la ilaha illa Allah. They are Abu Muhammad 'Abdullah al-Habti, Abu 'Abdillah Muhammad al-Kharrubi al-Tarabulsi  and also Abu 'Abdillah Muhammad al-Yasitani. The three figures have their own interpretations in understanding the expression of the kalimah al-tawhid based on the methods of arabic syntax, logic and also kalam. However, the disagreement between them and their followers has led to a serious conflict that Abu 'Ali al-Hasan  bin Mas'ud al-Yusi  said that this disagreement has caused each group to blame the other group to the point of accusing each other faith as a deviant teaching. Ahmad bin Hasan  al-Jawhari through Khatimah al-Sa’adah tried to harmonize this dispute and explain the meaning of the kalimah al-tawhid based on the methods of arabic syntax, logic and also kalam knowledge. Since logic has a role and influence that affects the interpretation of each group of figures, there is a need to study how the influence of logic in understanding this polemic. Therefore, this study was written to analyze the influence of logic on the polemic of the kalimah al-tawhid through the method of library research and the process of text analysis based on the text of Khatimah al-Sa’adah as well as related scholarly documents. The results of the study found that logic indeed has a role in understanding the word al-tawhid with a correct understanding. This is very important to ensure a genuine understanding of the word al-tawhid from any mistakes

Arduino WIFI power switch appliances and motion sensor for energy saver / Muhammad Fakhrul Naim Nasarudin and Syed Muhammad Shahir Syed Hasan

This report is describe the development of the low cost WIFI-power switch appliances and motion sensor for energy saver and safety using Arduino. Energy saver and safety is one of the crucial things nowadays. The demand of electricity has become higher than what electric company can supply. It make the price of electricity become higher. That’s why it is important to save energy as much as possible. Also, electric energy is dangerous for human body to take, therefore, it is crucial too to have a safety measures in everything that is connected to electric. In this project, WIFI module esp8266 esp-01 is used as a receiver that will receive signal from cloud server which is either to turn on the switch or turn off the switch without directly touch to the electric source. Other than that, motion sensor also being used in this project. This sensor will detect any motion and then turn the switch on. If there is no movement, the switch will turn off automatically. This will encourage more of energy saver. Commonly, a company need to spend a lot of money to cover their worker that get injured by electric shock and they also need to spend money on waste things such as electric that run without anyone using it. But with this device, a company could save their money and workers safety become more secure. This device can turn on or off switch from far which is more safe than directly touch from source and also, if there is no movement, the switch will not turn on which is will be as a backup plan if worker forget to close the switch before go back home from work. It will save energy and secure the worker safety. Thus, the objective of this project has been achieved

In-vitro evaluation of the shear bond strength and fluoride release of a new bioactive dental composite material

The aim of this study was (1) to determine and compare the shear bond strength (SBS) of a bioactive composite ?Activa Bioactive Restorative? with and without bonding agent and a nanocomposite ?Filtek Z350 XT/ Z350? and (2) to measure and co

Total knee arthroplasty: Risk factors for allogeneic blood transfusions in the South Asian population

Background: Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is the recommended treatment for end-stage knee osteoarthritis. Considering the various risks associated with intra and postoperative blood transfusions, better understanding is required with respect to the risk factors contributing to a greater possibility of blood transfusion during or after surgery. Although literature highlights several such factors, our study is among the first to identify these risk factors in the South Asian population which differs from other populations in several ways. Methods: The study consists of a review of 658 patients undergoing TKA from 2005 to 2015. Data was obtained from patient medical records and was analysed using logistic regression analysis. The relationship between each predictor and the outcome variable was calculated as an Odds ratio (OR), the threshold of significance for which was p = 0.25 and p = 0.05 for univariate and multivariable analysis respectively. Results: The mean age of the patient population was 63 years (78% female), 25% of whom received one or more blood transfusions. Multivariable analysis revealed 5 significant independent predictors for increased risk of blood transfusions including bilateral knee surgery (OR:5.51), preoperative anemia (OR:4.15), higher ASA (American Society of Anaesthesiologists) status (3-4) (OR:1.92), female sex (OR:3.44) and BMI (Body mass index) ≤30 (OR:1.79) while increasing co-morbidities and age (\u3e60) were found to be insignificant. Conclusions: The factors identified for the South Asian population are largely similar to those for other populations. Identification of high risk patients will permit the application of an international multipronged approach which not only targets the modifiable risk factors but also the decision making process and blood management protocols in order to minimize the transfusion associated risks for a patient undergoing a TKA