A Quantitative Study of Quality of Life (QOL) on Postgraduate Students in Universiti Sains Malaysia

A Quantitative study was done to analysis Quality of Life (QOL) between Iranian and Malay postgraduate students in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). For this purpose, data were elicited from 35 Iranian and 35 Malay students through a WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire. WHOQOL-BREF has 26 questions and four broad domains namely: Physical health, Psychological, Social Relationships and Environmental domains. Sample characteristics were determined using means and standard deviation and Independent t-tests uses to consider differences for the domain of QOL in two groups of postgraduate students. The participants were of the same language proficiency. Results showed that the internal consistencies (Cronbach alpha) in physical health, psychological, social Relationships and environmental domains are 0.74, 0.79, 0.61, and 0.72, respectively. Moreover, domains are evaluated 60.5 ±10.6, 62.9±11.3, 64.5±14.5, 60.2±10.1 for Malay postgraduate students, and 66.5±13.5, 64.5±16.1, 63.6±17.7, 59.4±13.4 for Iranian postgraduate students, respectively. According to these results, the physical domain is only significant between two groups (P<0.008). Furthermore, our study indicates QOL is in the middle level (50 – 75 %) for all postgraduate students. This study provides comprehensive information that can be applied to improve education quality in national and international students

THE ROLE OF THIRD PARTY FUNDS ON DISTRIBUTION OF WORKING CAPITAL LOANS AND INCOME AT PT BANK SULSELBAR MAROS BRANCH

The purpose of this study was to determine the role of third party funds in the distribution of working capital loans and income at PT Bank Sulselbar Maros Branch. The type of research used is descriptive qualitative where the author describes the results of observations and analyzes based on 2016-2018 data obtained in the field. The writing of this final project is the result of research conducted at PT Bank Sulselbar Maros Branch. After conducting research and analyzing the discussion, it was found that: 1) Third party funds play an important role in the distribution of working capital loans; 2) The purpose of capital credit is to assist the business of individual customers or business entities that need funds to expand their business; 3) PT Bank Sulselbar Maros Branch earns income from interest on placement of third party funds with other banks, income from loan interest and income from Fee Based Income

Collaborative product development implementation between Malaysian auto suppliers and their customer

Whilst the evidence indicated that supplier involvement in product development resulted in reduced development cost, improves product quality, reduces lead time and enhances flexibility, the mechanism for adapting and managing it to fit an.other culture and organisation is a challenging endeavour. In the Malaysian automotive industries, this collaborative effort had been mostly motivated by the government policies and initiated by the anchor firms. The work reported in the paper describes features of this collaboration carried out by Proton, the pioneer automotive manufacturing company in Malaysia. The objective of this paper is to examine the factors for successful collaborative product development endeavours. The study identifies how collaborative product development is presently being organized and managed in the automotive industry in Malaysia. The product development process is traced to the three aspects involved in collaborative product development; the buyer, the supplier and the process that involves both parties. The findings from this study suggest that from the buyer perspectives, selection of suppliers determines the success of this effort. For the supplier, it is important for them to have technical and design expertise. Factors that involve both the suppliers and buyers include early supplier involvement and buyer-supplier relationships

Factors Influencing the Role of Farmer Groups in Increasing Rice Farm Production

The increased rice production can be realized through the role of farmer groups as a forum for farmers to plan and carry out rice farming every planting season. This study aims to identify the factors that influence the role of farmer groups in increasing rice production, and analyze how much influence these factors have on the role of farmer groups. This research uses a quantitative descriptive method. The sampling technique was carried out purposively using the Random Sampling technique, namely by taking 25% of the total population of 280 farmer group members so that the sample results were 70 people. The data of this research are primary and secondary data. Primary data were obtained through interviews using questionnaires with members of farmer groups, while secondary data were sourced from the relevant agencies. The data obtained were then analyzed using multiple linear regression analysis consisting of the F test and t test. The results showed that the factors of motivation, independence, and characteristics of the members of the farmer groups influenced the role of farmer groups in increasing rice production with a coefficient of determination (R2) of 60.1%. Meaning that the influence of other factors outside this study was only 39.9%.   Keywords:  Characteristics, farmers, motivation, production, rice, role, self-relianc

Study on moisture-cured Polyurethane as undercoating layer for Metallization

In this work a technique of metallizing substrate via electroless plating using moisture-cured polyurethane (MCPU) system as the undercoat is presented. MCPU prepolymer was prepared by mixing polyethylene glycol divinyl ether and diphenylmethane-4, 4’-diisocyanate in 1:1 ratio. The effects of etching time as well as curing period on the surface characteristic of MCPU undercoating were investigated. Contact angle measurements, FTIR and SEM were employed to study the changes on the surface of the treated MCPU undercoatsprior to electroless nickel plating. Electroless plating was performed using nickel bath and visual inspection was performed after completing the electroless plating cycles. Relative increase in wettability of the treated MCPU was observed. The surface became hydrophilic after subjecting to mild etching for 1 minute. SEM analysis revealed different pitted structures on the treated MCPU that were cured at different periods. FTIR analysis of the treated MCPU showed some chemical changes marked by the presence of free hydroxyl group and decrease of CH (methylene), urethane C=O, urethane amide and ether peaks. FTIR also showed the sign of further NCO reaction, which indicates by the decrease of NCO peak and increase of NH and urea C=O peaks. The standard pull-off testing method (ASTM D 4541) was employed to evaluate the adhesion strength of nickel deposits coated on MCPU undercoating layer.The test results revealed that curing period and etching time influence the adhesion performance.The results also show that at a selected curing period, prolong etching time will decrease the adhesion strength. Meanwhile prolong curing period will improve the adhesion strength

Design of Microstrip Bandpass Filter with Defected Microstrip Structure (DMS)

This paper presents a novel design of Chebyshev wideband bandpass filter (BPF) realized using microstrip with Defected Microstrip Structure (DMS) to produce bandpass and band reject characteristics simultaneously. This new class of filter is designed based upon λ_g0/4 short-circuited stubs structure of 7th degree. The filter exhibits wide bandwidth response from 3 to 6 GHz with a return loss, S11, better than - 20 dB and insertion loss, S21, of around -0.1 dB respectively. While, the DMS exhibit a band reject response better than -20 dB at a frequency of 5.2 GHz with a narrow bandwidth. Therefore, the integrated BPF and DMS produce wideband bandpass and band reject response simultaneously in order to remove any undesired signals in the passband of the bandpass response. This design is simulated on a Roger Duroid RO4350 with a dielectric constant,ε_r of 3.48 and a thickness of 0.508 mm. The simulation results show a promising performance that could be further examined during fabrication and experimental works in a laboratory. This type of filter is useful in any RF/ microwave communication systems particularly to eliminate any undesired signals in wideband applications. The reduction of overall physical volume and weight as well as cost and maintaining its excellent performance can also be achieved using this technique

Supply chain leadership: A systematic literature review and a research agenda

The main purpose of this study is to improve the understanding and comprehension of the supply chain leadership concept. To this aim, the paper systematically reviews and synthesises the current academic literature in this emerging field, unveiling research gaps and discussing a future research agenda. The review was performed by selecting papers from leading journals in the operations and supply chain management field (using the Scopus and Web of Science academic search engines). Overall, 51 relevant papers were identified through the review process. After providing an overview of classical leadership theories, the paper introduces a definition for the supply chain leadership concept. The theoretical characterisation of such concept is then investigated, through the identification of dominant leadership theories employed to explain and characterise supply chain leadership. Also, the study provides a thematic analysis of supply chain leadership styles and their influence on supply chain practices. Employed research methodologies, along with geographical specificities and supply chain orientations of previous studies, are also scrutinised. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to provide a holistic systematic literature review in the supply chain leadership domain. Therefore, this contribution is an important first step in order to establish robust theoretical frameworks involving the constructs of supply chain leadership and to provide a foundation for further studies in this field

Correlation of open cell structure with properties of green rubber foam from epoxidised natural rubber/reclaimed rubber glove / M.A. Mahamood...[et al.]

A promising impact absorber foam material was produced from epoxidised natural rubber (ENR) and reclaimed rubber (RR) with the addition of sodium bicarbonate (SBC) as a blowing agent. This study is part of our effort to develop green rubber foam from reclaimed rubber from glove. It focuses on the effect of different ENR/RR ratio of 100/0, 90/10, 70/30, 50/50, 30/70 and 0/100. The samples were prepared by melt compounding using a Haake internal mixer and expanded via two step heat transfer foaming process. The physical characteristics (expansion ratio, density and water absorption) and impact absorption by drop ball testing of ENR/RR foams were studied. The results showed significant correlation between the rubber blend ratios with generated pore structures towards the properties of the foams. From the experimental values, ENR/RR with the ratio of 90/10 yielded the rubber foam with the highest relative density of 0.85 as well as the lowest water absorption rate of 0.1 g/hrs. This foam cell characteristics resulted in improved energy absorption behaviour. Sample with optimum pore size of ~0.36 mm shows the highest energy absorption of up to 0.65 joules compared to others

Identifikasi Kemampuan Berpikir Kreatif Siswa dalam Menyelesaikan Soal Open Ended Pada Materi Larutan Elektrolit Dan Non-Elektrolit

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui kemampuan berpikir kreatif siswa dalam menyelesaikan soal open-ended pada materi larutan elektrolit dan non-elektrolit di SMA Negeri 1 Gorontalo. Pendekatan yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah kualitatif dengan jenis penelitian deskriptif. Responden penelitian ada 43 siswa kelas X IPA 1 di SMA Negeri 1 Gorontalo. Pengumpulan data diperoleh dengan cara observasi, pemberian tes dan dokumentasi. Data yang digunakan berupa data hasil tes kemampuan berpikir kreatif siswa yang menggunakan 3 indikator yaitu indikator kefasihan (fluency), keluwesan (flexibility), dan kebaruan (originality). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pencapaian rata-rata kemampuan berpikir kreatif siswa pada indikator kefasihan (fluency) memperoleh nilai 69,37% (kategori baik), indikator keluwesan (flexibility) siswa mendapatkan nilai sebesar 61,53% (kategori baik), dan indikator kebaruan (originality) memperoleh nilai 56,58% (kategori cukup)