This study assesses the short-term and long-term interactions between firm performance, financial education and political instability in the case of Malaysia Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The simultaneous insertion of financial education and political instability within the study is done intentionally to inspect the effect of these two elements in one equation for the Malaysian economy. Using the bound testing methodology for cointegration and error correction models, advanced within an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) framework, we examine whether a long-run equilibrium connection survives between firm performance and the above mentioned independent variables. Using this method, we uncover evidence of a positive long-term link between firm performance and financial education, as well as a negative long-term relationship between firm performance and political instability. It has been suggested that SME owners enhance financial literacy and to be cautious about political indicators of the country
The inhibitive action of a blend of sodium nitrite/sodium hexametaphosphate (SN+SHMP) on corrosion of carbon steel in simulated cooling water systems (CWS) has been investigated by weight loss and electrochemical polarization technique. The effect of temperature, velocity, and salts concentrations on corrosion of carbon steel were studied in the absence and presence of mixed inhibiting blend. Also the effect of inhibitors blend concentrations (SN+SHMP), temperatures, and rotational velocity, i.e., Reynolds number (Re) on corrosion rate of carbon steel were investigated using Second-order Rotatable Design (Box-Wilson Design) in performing weight loss and corrosion potential approach. Electrochemical polarization measurements
... Show MoreIn this work, the effect of vortex shedding on the solar collector performance of the parabolic trough solar collector (PTSC) was estimated experimentally. The effect of structure oscillations due to wind vortex shedding on solar collector performance degradation was estimated. The performance of PTSC is evaluated by using the useful heat gain and the thermal instantaneous efficiency. Experimental work to simulate the vortex shedding excitation was done. The useful heat gain and the thermal efficiency of the parabolic trough collector were calculated from experimental measurements with and without vortex loading. The prototype of the collector was fabricated for this purpose. The effect of vortex shedding at different operation condition
... Show MoreThis study was conducted in the Poultry farm of the animal during the Production department, Iraqi during the (Ministry of Science and Technology) period from 3-9-2001 to 8-4-2002. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of low – level chronic aflatoxicosis on performance (body weight, feed conversion efficiency and mortality), Serum biochemistry and activity of some enzymes (GOT,GPT, ALKP, LDH). A total of 300 male chicks of broiler breeder (Faw–Bro) were used. Chicks at day 1 of age were fed diets contaminated with aflatoxine at levels of 0, 0.3, 0.6, 0.9, 1.2, and 1.5 the feeding period were extended to 8 weeks. The data were subjected to analysis of variance by the completely randomized design. The results showed
... Show MoreThe Main Outfall drain pumping station in Nassiriyah is an important part in operation system of the Main Outfall Drain (MOD) where it reduces the water levels in the U/S area of its and converted through Syphon freely under the Euphrates, its consists of several parts: U/S Basin, Station Building which contains 12 pumps, and Head Basin with Syphon, This station suffers from high levels especially in D/S area due to the current situation which is represented by establishing of dyke with pipes on MOD which located at 24 km from D/S of pumping station and Al-Khamisiyah Canal which located at 2.3 km from the U/S of dyke which feeds(Al Hammar Marsh) during drought season, several scenarios were adopted in order to expl
... Show MoreThe ferric oxide nanoparticles (Fe2O3) which are deposited at interface which is related to hole collecting buffer layer [poly(3,4-ethyl-enedioxythiophene): poly(styrene-sulfonate) (PEDOT: PSS)] as well as regioregular poly(3-hexyl-thiophene): Zinc oxide nanoparticles (P3HT): (ZnO) active layer have been considerable increasing the performance of solar cell. Also, the solar cell devices have been fabricated with a weight ratio of 1:0.7, 1:0.8, 1:0.9 and 1:1 of P3HT and ZnO, respectively. In addition, photo physical characteristics regarding such devices with different value of the weight ratio were examined. This work is indicating that the absorption spectrum related to blend will be broad
... Show MoreThis paper proposes a novel finite-time generalized proportional integral observer (FTGPIO) based a sliding mode control (SMC) scheme for the tracking control problem of high order uncertain systems subject to fast time-varying disturbances. For this purpose, the construction of the controller consists of two consecutive steps. First, the novel FTGPIO is designed to observe unmeasurable plant dynamics states and disturbance with its higher time derivatives in finite time rather than infinite time as in the standard GPIO. In the FTGPO estimator, the finite time convergence rate of estimations is well achieved, whereas the convergence rate of estimations by classical GPIO is asymptotic and slow. Secondly, on the basis of the finite and fast e
... Show MoreExperimental tests were conducted to study the behavior of skirted foundations rested on dry medium sandy soil subjected to vertical and inclined loads. To achieve this goal, a small-scale physical model was designed and performed which contained an aluminum circular footing (100 mm) in diameter and (10 mm) in thickness and skirts with different heights, local medium poorly graded dry sand is placed in a steel soil container (2 mm) thick with internal dimensions (1000 mm x 1000 mm in cross section and 800 mm in height). The main objective of this study was to evaluate the response of skirt attached to the foundation at different skirt (L/D) ratios (0.0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5) and is subjected to point load at different angles of inclinat
... Show MoreIn this research, a sensor for chemical solutions was designed and formed using optical fiber-based on a surface Plasmon resonance technology. A single-mode optical fiber with three different diameters (25, 45 and 65) µm was used, respectively. The second layer of the low refractive fiber was replaced by gold, which was electrically deposited at 40 µm thickness. For each of the three types of optical fiber, different saline concentrations (different index of refraction) were used to evaluate the performance of the refractive index sensor (chemical sensor) by measuring its sensitivity and resolutions. The highest values we could get for these two parameters were 240mm/RIU, and 6*10-5 RIU respectively, when the diameter of a
... Show MoreSerious gases have been highly related to being prejudiced against human life within the environment. The evolution of a trustworthy gas sensor with an elevated response is of major importance for detecting various hazardous gases. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanotubes (TNTs) are favorable candidates with considerable potential and stellar performance in gas sensor applications. In this work, we have studied the effect of voltage on preparing TiO2 nanotubular arrays via the anodization technique for gas sensor applications. A simple electrochemical anodization approach was used to synthesize titanium dioxide nanotubes. Diverse techniques of characterization were used to evaluate TNTs. The results gained from fi
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