A preliminary study of rural women entrepreneurs: Characteristics and business success factors

This paper aims to identify a demo-socio-economic profile of rural women entrepreneurs and investigate the elements of how cultural values, Islamic values, social and environment, individual beliefs, and opportunities/infrastructure have influence on the successful of rural business women.In this preliminary study, a total of 36 respondents in northern area of Kedah were interviewed.This study found most of the entrepreneurs are married and have some previous working experience.The result shows that almost 80 per cent of respondents believe in religion, work hard, and always thankful to God. They highlighted the importance of exposure to entrepreneurships since childhood, and keeping good manners as the most important factors in influencing the success of the business.In terms of Islamic practice, a total of 80.6 per cent agreed that the business must be ‘halal’ and trustworthy is a must in each transaction involved.This study further discovers that the biggest challenge is to balance the time between family and business

The impacts of socio-economic activities towards improving the quality of life among rural women

Malaysian government has implemented various economic and social programmes in rural Malaysia to promote development and to alleviate poverty.Studies prove that the impacts of development and poverty alleviation programmes can improve significantly among women if programmes are designed for both gender due to the different nature in roles and responsibilities between rural man and woman.This study is to determine the impacts of development programmes towards the quality of life of rural women and their households.Both quantitative (surveys) and qualitative (in-depth interviews and focus group interviews) data collection methods are used for this research.Almost all respondents in this study agree that the economic programmes have contributed to increase respondents’ income and provide financial support to increase their business capital.The respondents also agree that the programmes have improved their quality of life and most importantly the study discovers that the respondents’ personal qualities have improved such as their skills and knowledge, their confident level and attitude

Tradition, child labour, religous misconception, insecurity among women and under-aged educational achievement in north-eastern geo-political zone of Nigeria

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between tradition, child labour, religion, and insecurity factors with the educational achievement of under-aged in the North-eastern Nigeria.Female children are denied education in contrast with their male counterparts due to tradition, religious- misconceptions. Female under-aged, as the product of the denial to education during their childhood are molded into adults without education.Using available scholarly literature, the researchers conceptually explored the factors impeding the womenfolk and the educational achievement of under-aged.The findings indicated that tradition, child labour, religious misconception, insecurity drastically affect women and the educational achievement of under-aged. Theoretically, the study contributed in literature provision on educational achievement. Methodologically, the study made contributions in filling gaps in studying insufficient literacy among women under-aged educational achievement. Practically, the ministries of education, youths development and women’s affairs can apply the result to improve the life of women and the educational achievement of under-aged in relation to tradition, child labour religious misconceptions and insecurity

A study on the effects of environment on curing characteristics of thixotropic and room temperature cured epoxy-based adhesives using DMTA

This study investigated the thermal properties of three room temperature curing adhesives containing nano-particles which were thixotropic and shear thinning which allowed injection into overhead holes when exposed to different environmental conditions. Viscosity and shear stress of the adhesives were measured as a function of shear rate. The thermal behaviour of the adhesives were measured using dynamic mechanical thermal analysis following exposure to different temperatures and humidities which included temperatures of 20°C. 30°C and 50°C, relative humidities of 65% RH, 75% RH and 95% RH, soaked in water at 20°C and placed in the oven at 50°C. The dynamic thermal properties reported include storage and loss modulus, the loss tangent and the glass transition temperature (Tg). For nano- and micro-particles filled adhesives, the Tg increased with the temperature increase, even though the adhesives were subjected to high humidity and this was due to further cross-linking. The results showed that room temperature cured epoxies were only partially cured at room temperature

Tahap penguasaan kemahiran proses sains dan hubungannya dengan pencapaian kimia di kalangan pelajar tingkatan empat daerah Johor Bahru

Kurikulum sains di sekolah negara kita telah mengalami pelbagai reformasi, demi mencapai matlamat ke arah pembentukan negara industri. Mulai tahun 2002 pelajar tingkatan empat telah mempelajari sains melalui kurikulum KBSM yang baru (yang disemak semula). Kurikulum sains KBSM yang baru memberi penekanan terhadap pemerolehan pengetahuan dan penguasaan proses sains, melalui pendekatan pembelajaran berfikrah. Penguasaan kemahiran proses sains yang baik di kalangan pelajar membolehkan mereka berfikir secara kritis, proaktif untuk menyelesaikan sesuatu masalah dalam kehidupan harian dengan berkesan. Persoalannya: Adakah kurikulum sains di sekolah negara kita dilaksanakan dengan berkesan, demi mencapai matlamatnya? Adakah terdapat bukti yang menunjukkan penguasaan proses sains pelajar mempengaruhi pencapaian mereka dalam mata pelajaran kimia ? Justeru, kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenalpasti tahap penguasaan beberapa kemahiran proses sains, seterusnya menentukan sama ada terdapat hubungan antara tahap penguasaan kemahiran tersebut dengan tahap pencapaian kimia di kalangan pelajar. Seramai 300 orang pelajar dari 7 buah sekolah di daerah Johor Bahru, dipilih secara rawak berlapis, telah dilibatkan dalam kajian. Segala maklumat dikumpulkan melalui instrumen Ujian Penguasaa Kemahiran Proses Sains (UPKPS) dan Ujian Pencapaian Kimia (UPK). Darjah kebolehpercayaan (alfa croncbach) bagi kedua-dua instrumen UPKPS dan UPK yang digunakan dalam kajian ini adalah masing-masing 0.8989 dan 0.7635. Hasil kajian menunjukkan tahap penguasaan kemahiran proses sains, khususnya kemahiran membuat inferens dan mengenalpasti pemboleh ubah, serta tahap penguasaan kimia di kalangan pelajar adalah sederhana. Walau bagaimanapun, tahap penguasaan pelajar terhadap kemahiran membuat hipotesis, mentafsir maklumat seterusnya membuat ramalan berasaskan maklumnat yang diperolehi adalah baik; manakala, pelajar menghadapi masalah untuk menguasai kemahiran mengeksperimen. Terdapat korelasi positif yang rendah antara kemahiran proses sains pelajar dengan pencapaian mereka dalam kimia

Bending behaviour of dowelled mortise and tenon joints in Kempas / Rohana Hassan, Azmi Ibrahim and Zakiah Ahmad

Mortise and tenon are commonly used as timber connections between beam and column with enhancement by pultruded dowel. At present the data on the performance of mortise and tenon joints manufactured using Malaysian tropical timber is not available. Therefore there is a need to provide such data for better guidance and references in design purposes. This study investigates the behavior and strength properties of dowelled mortise and tenon timber connections using selected Malaysian tropical timber with different types of dowels namely steel and timber. Bending tests were performed on mortise and tenon beam-column joints of Kempas when plugged with steel or wood dowel. It is found that pegging the connections with the respective steel and timber dowels resulted in a bending load capacity of 6.09 and 5.32 kN, taken as the average of three samples, the latter being 12 % lower than former. Visual observation of the failed test pieces revealed steel dowels exhibiting yield mode Im and wood, mode IIIs. The wood dowels yielded in bending at one plastic hinge point per shear plane with an associated wood crushing while the steel dowels remained practically undeformed with an associated crushing of the main member

Livelihood strategies and income generating opportunities: A case study on rural poor households in Kedah, Malaysia

The objectives of this paper are to uncover the livelihood strategies of the poor households in managing their incomes to sustain the household members' welfare and whether the strategies can be translated as opportunities for poverty alleviation.Adopting qualitative data collection method, an in-depth interview method is used to retrieve information on the expenditure pattern of the households and the underlying reasons for doing so.Five households with various demographic backgrounds are chosen from Mukim Laka Temin, Kubang Pasu District.This study discovers the expenditure of each poor household is managed by a woman and each household has its own unique livelihood strategies which are based on the type of jobs of the household members and the households' spending arrangements.All households prioritize their expenditure, food as the main priority, followed utility bills, transportation, education and others. Most households constantly receive financial supports from various sources such as government agencies and individuals in terms of zakat and donation.The study suggests the livelihoods strategies adopted by the households can be translated into opportunities for the poor households to improve their socio-economic status if the members receive proper provision of trainings and capitals

Parallel Glueline of Withdrawal Capacity for Mengkulang Glulam

The failure modes and load-carrying capacity of timber connection can be predicted using European Yield Model (EYM). In the load-carrying capacity formula, an unknown parameter for Mengkulang Glulam with the bolt as a fastener, is the withdrawal capacity, Fax,Rk (kN). In this research, the withdrawal capacity tests were conducted with respect to the difference in bolt diameter and glue line existences. The results showed the larger diameter 18 mm parallel with the glue line giving the highest withdrawal capacity and resistance when compared to the same diameter without glue line and 14 mm diameter with and without the glue line. Keywords: Engineered Wood Product (EWP); Structural Material; Withdrawal Capacity; European Yield Model (EYM) eISSN: 2398-4287© 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v6iSI4.303

Bending Behavior of Splice Connection for Mengkulang Glued Laminated Timber Beam

This paper presents the experimental bending strength of steel dowelled splice glulam timber made of 'Mengkulang' species. Bending tests were conducted under a four-point bending load. Six (6) glulam specimens with 45mm x 90mm x 1800mm were loaded. Three (3) specimens were full beams as the control and three (3) splice beams dowelled with grade 8.8; 20 mm diameter steel rod. The embedded length of the steel dowel was 60mm and glued at 2mm thickness on both sides. Results show that the bending strength of the glulam control beam performed 74.18% higher than the splice beams with an increment of 58.26% displacement. Keywords: Structural material, flexural strength, failure mode, dowelled connection eISSN: 2398-4287© 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI:https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v6iSI4.302