Purpose: This study aims to investigate the impact of economic vulnerability upon entrepreneurial competencies (i.e. commitment competency, conceptual competency, opportunity recognition competency, organizing competency, relationship competency and strategic competency) among respondents from varied development initiatives established by the eKasih program (National Poverty Data Bank) in Peninsular Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach: Upon adopting the cross-sectional design, data were randomly gathered from selected 300 micro-entrepreneurs from the list of development organizations available in the eKasih (National Poverty Data Bank), located at four states in Peninsular Malaysia. The quantitative data were gathered by performing structured interview sessions from September until November 2017. Findings: The outcomes of the study displayed that economic vulnerability has a significantly negative effect upon commitment, opportunity recognition, organizing and strategic competency. On the other hand, the results showcased that economi c vulnerability has a significantly positive effect on competency, but insignificantly positive impact upon conceptual competency. Originality/value: These study outcomes appear to extend the scope of the resource-based view, apart from enriching the existing entrepreneurial competency literature, particularly within the Malaysian context. Hence, it is recommended that the government of Malaysia and development organizations should focus on maximizing the level of competency among micro-entrepreneurs as a viable approach to decrease the effect of economic vulnerability.

The main goal of the nationhood education is to instill the sense of loyalty and passion into the nation. In a Malaysian context, several academic subjects at higher education such as Malaysian Studies, Ethnic Relations and National Language have been implemented in order to achieve the goal. Malaysian Study is one of the compulsory courses offered by all private universities in Malaysia that is intended to educate students with national values, patriotism and belongingness to the country. However, past empirical evidence show that many students have a lack of interest to learn such subject. Therefore, the current study investigated contributing factors to students’ academic achievement and also examined students’ attitudes towards that subject. Using quantitative approach, the current study categorized four main factors namely the suitability and interest in syllabus, being active in class, early preparation and revision, types of enjoyable activities, interest in teaching aids and good class attendance. Using questionnaires and SPSS software as the main tools in this study, the mean score, frequency and percentage were obtained. It is concluded statistically from this study that students’ perception of their lecturers play a significant role in determining their learning outcomes in Malaysian Studies, while the lecturers are of the opinion that learning environment is a factor which contributes significantly to the students’ achievement in this subject. The current study suggests that the teachers build upon excellent rapport with students and create an attractive and enjoyable environment to get the students to dynamically involve in the classroom activities and learn the Malaysian Studies enthusiastically and efficiently.

Many physical aspects emerging from the local structure and micromotions of liquid particles can be studied by utilizing the governing model of micropolar liquid. It has the ability to explain the behavior of a wide range of real fluids, including polymeric solutions, liquid crystals, lubricants, and animal blood. This earned it a major role in the treatment of many industrial and engineering applications. Radiative heat transmission induced by a combined convection flow of micropolar fluid over a solid sphere, and its enhancement via nanoparticle oxides, are investigated in this study. An applied magnetic field and a constant wall temperature are also considered. The Tiwari–Das model is used to construct the mathematical model. An approximate numerical solution is included using the Keller box method, in which its numerical calculations are performed via MATLAB software, to obtain numerical results and graphic outputs reflecting the effects of critical parameters on the physical quantities associated with heat transfer. The investigation results point out that a weakness in the intensity of the magnetic field, or an increment in the nanoparticle volume fraction, causes an increment in velocity. Raising the radiation parameter promotes energy transport, angular velocity, and velocity.

In solving large scale problems, the quasi-Newton method is known as the most efficient method in solving unconstrained optimization problems. Hence, a new hybrid method, known as the BFGS-CG method, has been created based on these properties, combining the search direction between conjugate gradient methods and quasi-Newton methods. In comparison to standard BFGS methods and conjugate gradient methods, the BFGS-CG method shows significant improvement in the total number of iterations and CPU time required to solve large scale unconstrained optimization problems. We also prove that the hybrid method is globally convergent.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to improve the socio-economic condition of low-income households in Malaysia, many products and services are available, including access to working capital and enterprise development training programs. This study examined the impact of access to working capital and micro-enterprise development training programs on household income and economic vulnerability among participants of development initiatives in the eKasih (national poverty data bank) in Peninsular Malaysia.Design/methodology/approach: Adopting a cross-sectional design, the authors collected data randomly from the selected 300 micro-entrepreneurs from the list of development organizations available in the eKasih (national poverty data bank) located in four states of Peninsular Malaysia. Quantitative data were collected through structured interviews with the respondents from October to November 2017.Findings: Both the length of participation and total amount of economic loan were found to increase the household income. However, there was no positive and significant impact of total number of training hours on household income. Interestingly, length of participation was found to reduce the level of economic vulnerability, except total amount of economic loan, and total number of training hours.Originality/value: Despite the overwhelming empirical evidence, the findings indicated that the impact of enterprise development training programs was inconclusive. The effect of total amount of loan on economic vulnerability was also inconclusive. Hence, both policy makers and development organizations should understand how their programs benefit the poor households that can be improved through new implementation strategies.

This analysis focuses on extending and developing some previous studies of energy transport through nanofluids to include the states of combined convection flow of a Williamson hybrid nanofluid that flows around a cylinder. Mathematical models that simulate the behavior of these upgraded nanofluids are constructed by expanding the Tiwari and Das model, which are then solved numerically via Keller box approaches. The accuracy of the results is emphasized by comparing them with the previous published outcomes. Nanosolid volume fraction $0\le \chi \le 0.1,$ combined convection $-1\le \lambda \le 5,$ radiation factor $0.1\le R\le 6,$ Weissenberg number $0.2\le We\le 0.9,$ and magnetic factor $0.1\le M\le 1$ are the factors that have been taken into consideration to examine the energy transfer performance of Williamson hybrid nanofluid. Numerical and graphical outcomes are obtained using MATLAB, analyzed, and discussed in depth. According to the outcomes, the Weissenberg number reduces energy transfer and friction forces. Both the combined convective coefficient and the radiation factor improved the rate of energy transfer and increased the velocity of the host fluid. The fluid velocity and rate of energy transfer can be reduced by increasing the magnetic factor. The nanoparticle combination of silver and aluminum oxide (Ag-Al₂O₃) has demonstrated superiority in enhancing the energy transfer rate and velocity of the host fluid.