Economic Integration, Foreign Direct Investment And Growth In ASEAN Five Members

This study examines the effects of economic integration on FDI flows and the effects of FDI flows on economic growth in ASEAN5 countries. ASEAN, as an RTA is facing economic threats from China and India and other RTAs. Individually, the economies of ASEAN are small. To face the threats, ASEAN need to integrate economically to form a larger market size and functionally to facilitate the attraction of capital inflows to achieve medium and long run growth in the hub and spillover effects in the peripheral countries. The study applies panel data techniques (unit root and cointegration tests) on annual data from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Singapore over the period from 1970 to 2005. After confirming the stationarity and long-run relationships, we applied the Pedroni’s FMOLS method to estimate the variable coefficients. We found market size, economic integration, human capital, infrastructure and existing FDI stock to be robustly significant (1%) to FDI for ASEAN5. We also found that FDI economic integration and human capital to be robustly significant (1%) to economic growth, manufacturing sector growth and high technology sector growth for ASEAN5. The FDI flowing into ASEAN5 was found to be market seeking in nature while human capital was found to be inversely proportional to the per capita income of the five countries. The high level of elasticity of existing FDI stock on FDI inflows suggest the existence of bottlenecks or saturation of FDI inflows arising from sectoral bias. The effect of FDI on economic growth of ASEAN5 countries was found to be higher for countries with higher per capita income. At the same time, the human capital variable was found to be higher in elasticity as the growth variable move from economic growth to manufacturing growth to high technology growth. Coupled with strong intra-industry trade in the manufacturing sector of ASEAN5, an integrated approach to draw in FDI and promote manufacturing and high technology growth should be accelerated. The machinery and electrical appliances industry contributes the highest trade in the region and is highly integrated in intra-industry trade within the region. The key hubs of the industry within the region are Malaysia and Singapore. From the robust significance of integration level, human capital, FDI inflows and growth, an integrated open liberalization approach must be adopted with particular focus on human capital development, for ASEAN5 to meet the challenges ahead

Night Eating Syndrome and Its Association with Sleep Quality and Body Mass Index Among University Students During the Covid-19

Night eating syndrome (NES) is a disordered eating behaviour characterized by hyperphagia at night and is often accompanied by a sleep disturbance. This study aims to determine the prevalence of NES and its association between sleep quality and body mass index (BMI) among the private university students during the Covid-19. A total of 166 students from a private university participated in this cross-sectional study. Online self-administered questionnaires were used to collect and determine socio-demographic data, BMI, NES, and sleep quality. NES was assessed using Night Eating Diagnostic Questionnaire (NEDQ) while sleep quality was assessed using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Questionnaire (PSQI). The results showed that 38.6% of the participants were engaging with NES, 45.2% were having poor sleep quality and 25.9% were overweight or obese during the Covid-19. There were significant associations between NES with sleep quality and BMI, which students with NES were found to have poorer sleep quality (r=0.306, p<0.001) and higher BMI (r=0.024, p=0.763). In addition, poor sleep quality was found to be positively associated with BMI (r=0.161, p=0.038). Males (AOR=2.198, 95% CI=1.005-4.808) and poor sleepers (AOR=1.176, 95% CI=1.028-1.346) were the risk factors of NES. In conclusion, the prevalence of NES, poor sleep quality, and overweight and obesity were at an alarming rate. NES was found to be related to both poorer sleep quality and higher BMI among the students. Therefore, interventions such as behavioural and cognitive therapy should be implemented to promote healthy eating behaviour among university students

Early Mobility Practice in Selected Ministry of Health Intensive Care Units in Sarawak: Perceived Barriers and Facilitators of Early Mobility Protocol Adherence among Nurses

Early Mobility (EM) of patient during ICU stay is essential to enhance short-term functional outcomes, shorten duration on mechanical ventilation and hospital length of stay. Mobilising ICU patients remains a challenge evidenced by poor adoption of EM practice in ICU. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of EM practice, adherence rate of EM protocol, perceived barriers to and facilitators of EM protocol adherence at the five government hospitals in Sarawak. A quantitative, cross-sectional study was conducted at Sarawak General Hospital, Sarikei, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri Hospital. A four-week audit was carried out to determine the prevalence and adherence rate of EM protocol in ICUs. The perceived barriers and facilitators of EM protocol adherence among the ICU staff nurses were determined by using self-administered questionnaire consisting of socio-demographic characteristics, perceived barriers and facilitators of EM protocol adherence. The prevalence of EM practice and adherence rate of EM protocol were calculated based on defined formulas. Descriptive statistics were used to characterise the samples and analyse the perceived barriers and facilitators of EM protocol adherence. Multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis was performed to identify the determinants of perceived barriers and facilitators of EM protocol adherence. During the four-week audit, a total of 1344 patient-days was audited for EM practice in the MOH ICUs Sarawak after excluding seven missing data. The prevalence of EM practice in the MOH ICUs Sarawak was 65.6% (n=882 patient-days). An average adherence rate of EM protocol was 52.5% among the five government ICUs in Sarawak. The greatest barrier to EM protocol adherence was behaviour-related barriers, which included inadequate staff (72.3%), and unavailability of necessarily equipment (70.3%); followed by attitude-related barriers, which comprised concern of health care provider’s safety (50.9%), and patient’s safety (50.3%). The top five perceived facilitators identified were presence of a dedicated physiotherapist (96.8%), acquiring more equipment for EM and interdisciplinary teamwork (96.4%), skill training on EM (96.8%), education on EM and role clarity of each discipline (92.3%). The determinants of perceived barriers to EM protocol adherence were years of professional service and experience in ambulating patients with ETT in-situ. Those with one-year seniority in professional service had 0.02%, 0.01% and 0.14% lesser knowledge, attitude, and behaviour-related barriers scores, respectively. Those with experience in ambulating patients with ETT in-situ had 0.2 and 1.9% lesser knowledge and behaviour-related barriers score, respectively. Experience in ambulating patient with ETT in-situ (b = 0.1, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.25%) was the significant determinant of perceived facilitators of EM protocol adherence. This study provided preliminary data on the EM practice in the five government hospitals in Sarawak. The findings of this study indicated that the adoption of EM protocol remains a challenge in the Sarawak ICUs. The implementation of EM had to take in consideration of perceived barriers, facilitators and determinants identified in the local context. Reinventing ICU culture with multidisciplinary teamwork and collaboration to promote EM is key to address the barriers in EM implementation. Keywords:Early mobility, barriers, facilitators, adherenc

Tud-1 supported vanadium-doped titania photocatalyst

New photocatalyst of Techniche Universiteit Delft-1 (TUD-1) supported 5 mol% V doped TiO2 (5V-TiO2 /TUD-1) exhibited enhanced activity in methylene blue photodegradation. XRD results revealed the presence of both anatase and rutile phases in the V-doped TiO2 sample. After loading onto TUD-1, the crystallinity of the sample dropped significantly, implying well dispersion of both V and TiO2 on the TUD-1. DRUV-Vis results suggested alteration of Ti species in the presence of TUD-1. Besides, the band gap energy of V-doped TiO2 decreased after loading onto TUD-1. The sample 5V-TiO2 /TUD-1 possessed high surface area of 626 m2 /g. The photocatalytic performance of the sample was evaluated through the photodegradation of methylene blue under UV irradiation. It has been demonstrated that 5V-TiO2 /TUD-1 was a better photocatalyst compared to TUD-1 and unsupported V-doped TiO2 . The current findings strongly indicated that TUD-1 played an important role as support to improve the photocatalytic activity of V-doped TiO2

Using two-tier bitwise interest oriented QRP data structure for high clustering through interest similarity in SWB P2P systems

The concept of “Small-World” paradigm has been used by many peer-to-peer (P2P) systems to achieve high clustering and low number of hops to arrive to its desired target. This approach intends to improve performance of P2P systems. The Small world concept requires that the architecture of a P2P system to achieve high cluster coefficient and low average hop between any two randomly chosen peers. In this research, we propose an enhanced hierarchical overlay network by incorporating the concept of Small world into the base hierarchical architecture. This research adopts the Query Routing Protocol (QRP) data structure of a hierarchical P2P network by storing the interest information of files in the leaf peers in the network. The QRP in the leaf peers will be aggregated and propagated to the SuperPeer so that interest information could be used to form short-range, medium-range and long-range links with other SuperPeers to achieve low average hop. As peers join and leave the network, a proposed rewiring protocol is used to ensure peers are clustered by interest to form high clustering coefficient so that search activities are yielding higher relevance results in a more predictable fashion. We simulated the porposed small world P2P using test scenarios to evaluate recall rate of the small world P2P system. Our simulated results evaluate and benchmark our proposed Small-World Bee (SWB) overlay network with iCluster [3], Firework Query Model [5] and Limewire [1] to assess performance obtained and goals achieved in the research work so that future research directions could be planned

Mass spectrometry-based metabolomics approach for metabolite profiling and biomarker discovery of Acanthaceae medicinal plants and tissue cultures

Clinacanthus nutans (Sabah Snake Grass) and Strobilanthes crispus {daun pecah beling) from the family of Acanthaceae, are gaining research interest as the plants have been reported to possess various bioactivities. The present study was aimed to profile and identify the biomarker compounds of C. nutans and S. crispus plants and its tissue cultures using GCMS-based metabolomics approach. Using this high-throughput instrument coupled with advanced chemoinformatics softwares, the plants were found to rich with squalene, pentacyclic triterpenoids such as lupeol, betulin, phytosterols such as stigmasterol, campesterol and others such as alpha­tocopherol, didecan-2-yl phthalate, beta-tocopherol. As the metabolomes of C. nutans and S. crispus unfold, it is believed that such information will play critical role in the standardization and development of herbal drugs derived from the plants in the future

Environmental Efficiency Assessment of U.S. Transport Sector: A Slack-based Data Envelopment Analysis Approach

Sustainable transportation in the U.S. is essential for long-term economic growth and mobility, and environmental preservation. Using a non-radial slack-based measurement data envelopment analysis (SBM-DEA) model and state-level data, this study assesses the environmental efficiency of the transportation sector in the U.S. from years 2004 to 2012. In addition to environmental efficiency, carbon efficiency and potential carbon reduction were estimated for the 50 U.S. states. The findings of this study reveal that U.S. transportation sector was environmentally inefficient; U.S. states had an average transportation environmental efficiency score below 0.64. Therefore the states could substantially reduce carbon emissions to improve the environmental efficiency of their transportation sectors

Fermentation kinetics of some oil palm by-products as ruminant feeds.

The ruminant industry in Malaysia is still not self-sufficient where smallholder farmers keep the majority of ruminant livestock. Limited pasture and poor quality forages urge them to find alternative feedstuffs which are cheaper, of satisfactory nutritive value and available throughout the year. Oil palm by-products meet these criteria, however their fermentation kinetics in the rumen need to be evaluated. The in vitro fermentation kinetics of selected oil palm by-products, namely the oil palm fronds (OPF), palm kernel cake (PKC) and decanter cake (DC) were evaluated using the in vitro gas production technique. The by-products were assessed at inclusion levels of 100% (raw 100% by-product), 15% (15% by-product + 85% concentrate feed, w/w) and 30% (30% by-product + 70% concentration feed, w/w). The in vitro fermentation of the oil palm by-products was carried out in 100 mL sealed syringes with 0.25 g of substrateand 25 mL of rumen fluid-buffer mixture (1:4 v/v), which were incubated at 39ºC under anaerobic condition for 48 h. Evaluation of the fermentation kinetics was performed on the following parameters, namely gas production, rumen pH, protozoal population, volatile fatty acid (VFA) and long chain fatty acid (LCFA) profiles compared with concentrate feed which acted as the control. The decanter cake (DC) at inclusion levels of 15% and 30% yielded similar gas production, rumen pH, VFA, and total unsaturated fatty acid profile as the concentrate feed. However, the 15% and 30% DC significantly increased the total C18:1 trans fatty acids (p<0.05) compared to the concentrate and the other by-products. It is concluded that the decanter cake showed the greatest potential to be included into ruminant livestock feed which should reduce feed costs, although the increase in the unhealthy trans fatty acids must be taken into account

Tax compliance and small and medium enterprise operators: an intra-cultural study in New Zealand

Despite the economic importance of the tax collection process undertaken by small and medium enterprises (SMEs), little is known about their tax compliance behaviour in general, and particularly in relation to cultural factors. With the growing cultural diversity of SME ownership, there is a need for an intra-cultural study of how SME operators comply with tax regulation. This knowledge is important for both tax authorities and the business community in identifying cultural factors that may hinder successful tax compliance, so that remedial actions can be taken to improve compliance by SMEs. This qualitative study applies Hofstede’s (1980, 2001) cultural framework to examine the differences in the tax compliance behaviours, attitudes, and perceptions of European, Maori, Asian and Pacific SME operators in New Zealand. As the aim was to gain rich and in-depth understanding of the tax compliance dynamics of ethnic SME operators, additional perspectives were sought from tax practitioners and business experts to provide insights into the influences of networks, time and risk orientations, and SME operators’ perceptions of the tax authority. To achieve that, 59 ethnic SME operators, tax practitioners, and business experts were interviewed between 2006 and 2010. The study found some collectivistic groups used their networks to lower their tax compliance costs, whereas others were required to fulfil their group’s obligations, thereby hindering their ability to pay their taxes on time. Groups with higher uncertainty avoidance, long term time orientation and masculinity traits had better record keeping systems and fewer tax compliance problems. High power distance groups showed greater reverence and fear towards the tax authority and tax practitioners. The Asian SME operators who participated in this research showed the least difficulty with filing their tax returns and paying their taxes on time, whereas the Europeans experienced some difficulties and the Maori and Pacific SME operators encountered the most problems. Given that, tax compliance activity can no longer be thought of as culturally neutral, as is assumed in some tax compliance research. Since Hofstede’s work was based on a quantitative methodology, the qualitative design of this study aimed to validate and understand Hofstede’s dimensions in the tax compliance context for SME operators intra-culturally. The qualitative approach generated rich content in terms of providing real tax compliance stories, perceptions and experiences that highlighted some difficulties created by cultural incompatibility with the New Zealand tax requirements. The study also offers suggestions to the tax authority, policy makers and business community to reduce the likelihood of noncompliance amongst SMEs. In order to comply with the tax regulations, there is a need for SME operators to modify and adapt their cultural values to align with the tax requirements, as failure to do so will result in tax compliance difficulties. In addition, the tax authorities also need to be culturally aware that some ethnic groups may have difficulties complying due to their cultural values, thereby requiring targeted assistance and monitoring measures

Drying Characteristics and Product Quality of Lemon Slices Dried with Hot Air Circulation Oven and Hybrid Heatpump Dryers

In this research, drying characteristics and product quality of Coulomb-force-assisted heatpump and oven dried lemon slices were studied. Lemon slices with 3 mm thickness each, were dried using oven and Coulomb-force-assisted-heatpump dryer with and without auxiliary heater at different drying conditions. It was found that the drying rate of the lemon slices dried by all drying methods showed only falling rate states, which indicates the drying kinetics were controlled by internal moisture diffusion. Oven drying of lemon slices at 60°C showed the highest drying rate among all, followed by oven dried slices at 50°C, Coulomb-force-heater-assisted-heatpump (CF-HT-HP) dried slices at 31°C, Coulomb-force-assisted-heatpump (CF-HP) dried slices at 22°C, oven dried slices at 40°C and heatpump dried slices at 22°C. The average effective moisture diffusivity value for the slices dried with these drying methods was found in the range of 16.2 to 63.8´10-4 mm2min-1. In terms of quality assessment, CF-HP dried lemon slices retained the highest amount of Vitamin C as compared to the lemon slices dried by other drying methods. However, it retained relatively lower amount of total phenolic content (TPC) as compared to oven dried products. Among of all, CF-HP drying method produced dried lemon slices with the highest Vitamin C (6.74 mg AA / g dry weight) whereas oven dried lemon slices at 50°C preserved most of the TPC in the dried slices, which recorded as 13.76 mg GA / g dry weight