Corporate Board Attributes and Dividend Pay-out Policy: Mediating Role of Financial Leverage

TAHIR, Hussain,MASRI, Ridzuan,RAHMAN, Mahfuzur Korea Distribution Science Association 2020 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.7 No.1

The relationship between corporate board attributes and dividend payout is already established yet mediating role of leverage in not been examined in Malaysian market. Therefore, this study aims to examine the mediating effect of financial leverage on the relationship between corporate board attributes and the dividend pay-out policy. A sample of 203 non-financial firms listed on the BURSA Malaysia between 2005 and 2018 were analysed using SmartPLS 3.0. The findings show that there is a partial mediating effect of financial leverage on the relationship between board members age, board diversity and dividend pay-out policy. Financial leverage also mediates the relationship between number of women on board, CEO-duality and dividend pay-out policy. However, financial leverage doesn't mediate the relationship between board size and dividend pay-out policy. This study offers insights to policy-makers to develop a better corporate governance as well as a guidance to firms in the construction and implementation of their corporate governance policies in relation to financial leverage. This study also shed light on the influence of efficient corporate board attributes on dividend pay-out policy and financial leverage for firm growth. This study concludes that corporate board attributes impact capital structure and thus, firms may change its payout policy.

An Efficient Rif Algorithm for the Classification of Kantowski-Sachs Spacetimes via Conformal Vector Fields

Tahir Hussain,Uzma Nasib,Fawad Khan,Muhammad Farhan 한국물리학회 2020 THE JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY Vol.76 No.4

In this paper, we classify the Kantowski-Sachs spacetimes via conformal vector fields (CVFs). A Maple algorithm using the `Exterior' package is used to reduce the set of conformal Killing equations to the reduced involutive form (Rif). The algorithm yields a tree, known as the Rif tree, where the branches of the Rif tree give the potential metrics for which the spacetimes under consideration may possess proper CVFs. The set of conformal Killing equations is solved for all the branches of the Rif tree to obtain the explicit forms of CVFs. Some physical implications of the obtained metrics are also discussed.

Do Board Traits Influence Firms' Dividend Payout Policy? Evidence from Malaysia

TAHIR, Hussain,RAHMAN, Mahfuzur,MASRI, Ridzuan Korea Distribution Science Association 2020 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.7 No.3

The study aims to investigate factors that determine dividend payout policy using 336 non-financial firm year observations covering the period 2005 to 2016 in Malaysia. We found a significant positive relationship between corporate board size, board members average age, board tenure and dividend payout policy. We also found a strong negative effect and statistically insignificant relationship of board diversity, board independence, CEO duality and dividend payout policy. Additional, financial leverage has a negative effect on dividend payout policy. It is also noticed that firms with diverse boards are more likely to pay dividends and tend to pay larger dividends than those with non-diverse boards. Our results suggest that board diversity has a significant impact on dividend payout policy. Impact of board diversity on dividend payout policy is particularly conspicuous for firms with potentially greater agency problems. Our findings are consistent with the argument that corporate board traits enhancement positively affect the dividend payout policy which is beneficial for shareholders. This study offers useful insights into the current global debate on board traits and its implications for firms. The dividend payout policy signals good news to investors. Corporate board traits and firm's financial decision are the factors that disrupt the dividend decision.

Optimization analysis of the absorption-stabilization process for fluid catalytic cracking unit

Hussain Muhammad Saddam,Ahmed Ashfaq,Yibin Liu,Amin Muhammad Nadeem,Zahoor Tahir,Saleem Muhammad Afnan,Roh Kosan,Hussain Murid,Abu Bakar Muhammad Saifullah,박영권 한국화학공학회 2023 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.40 No.7

The absorption-stabilization process (ASP), an important part of petroleum refinery used in the end-use products of petroleum (such as stable gasoline, liquid petroleum gas, and dry gas), is energy-intensive and has low product quality. Aspen Plus process simulator was used for the development of the ASP process model. The developed process model was validated with the actual plant data. The validated model was used to optimize to minimize the cost of the ASP. This work shows that the optimization analysis of the ASP can further improve the product quality and reduce thermal energy consumption. In the new process, changing feeding parameters of supplementary absorption oil, stripping tower intermediate reboiler, and feeding position of stabilization tower reduced the C3 contents of dry gas considerably and lowered the C2 and lighter contents of LPG. Additionally, the new process saved 1.32 MW of thermal energy consumption compared with the existing process. The operating cost has been reduced from 10.921 million USD annually to 9.830 million USD per year. Furthermore, the cost-saving effect of this optimization is about 9.99% (1.091 million USD per year).

A SUBCLASS OF ANALYTIC FUNCTIONS DEFINED BY USING MITTAG-LEFFLER FUNCTION

( Tahir Mahmood ),( Muhammad Naeem ),( Saqib Hussain ),( Shahid Kjan ),( Şahsene Altinkaya ) 호남수학회 2020 호남수학학술지 Vol.42 No.3

In this paper, new subclasses of analytic functions are proposed by using Mittag-Leffler function. Also some properties of these classes are studied in regard to coefficient inequality, distortion theorems, extreme points, radii of starlikeness and convexity and obtained numerous sharp results.

Carbon sequestrating fertilizers as a tool for carbon sequestration in agriculture under aridisols

Tahir Mukkram Ali,Hamza Ameer,Noor-us-Sabah,Hussain Sajad,Xie Zuoming,Brestic Marian,Rastogi Anshu,Allakhverdiev Suleyman I.,Sarwar Ghulam 한국탄소학회 2022 Carbon Letters Vol.32 No.7

Carbon is a part of all living creatures and it is the chief constructing block for life on this planet carbon occurs in several appearances, mainly as plant biomass, organic matter in soil, as gas CO2 in the air and dissipated in seawater. Soil carbon exhausts when production of carbon increases than carbon contribution. Soil comprises nearly 75% of total carbon existing on land, more than the quantity stockpiled in living animals and plants. So, soil plays a major part in maintaining a stable carbon cycle. Over the previous 150-year-period, the quantity of carbon present in the air has amplified by 30%. Majority of scientists thought that there is a straight relationship amongst amplified levels of CO2 in the air and increasing global warming. One anticipated technique to diminish atmospheric CO2 is to escalate the global packing of carbon in soils. Therefore, there is a necessity to manage soils because soil comprises more inorganic carbon as compared to the atmosphere and more organic carbon as compared to the biosphere. Soil is also thought to be a lively and important constituent in global carbon discharge and potential of sequestration. Carbon sequestration, known commonly as C-storage, can be acquired by different controlling practices, and the size of various management techniques, to enhance C-storage of soil and offer a key basin for atmospheric CO2, can be assessed most persuasively from studies conducted over long time that underwrite exclusive data on soil C accumulation, losses and storage. Sequestration happens when input of carbon enhances as compared to output of carbon. Soil carbon sequestration is the method of relocating CO2 from the air in to the soil with crop leftover and additional organic solids and in a configuration that is not instantly emitted back to the atmosphere. This review focused on beneficial role of carbon sequestrating fertilizers (press mud, boiler ash and compost) in carbon sequestration and soil properties.

Association of the CYP17-34T/C Polymorphism with Pancreatic Cancer Risk

Hussain, Shahid,Bano, Raisa,Khan, Muhammad Tahir,Khan, Mohammad Haroon Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2016 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.17 No.no.sup3

Pancreatic cancer is a leading cause of fatality worldwide. Several population studies have been conducted on genetic diagnosis of pancreatic cancer but the results from epidemiologic studies are very limited. CYP17A gene has a role in disease formation but its influence on pancreatic cancer is unclear. A polymorphism in the 5'UTR promoter region of CYP17A1-34T/C (A1/A2) has been associated with multiple cancers. The aim of the current study was to assess associations of this polymorphism and socio-demographic risk factors with pancreatic cancer. A total of 255 and 320 controls were enrolled in the study, and were genetically analyzed through PCR-RFLP. Statistical analysis was conducted with observed genotype frequencies and odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs were estimated using unconditional logistic regression. The impact of socio-demographic factors was accessed through Kaplen-Meir analysis. According to our results, the A2/A2 genotype was significantly associated with pancreatic cancer (OR=2.1, 95%CI = 1.3-3.5). Gender female (OR=2.6, 95%CI=1.8-3.7), age group 80s/80+ years (OR=2.2, 95% CI=1.2-4), smoking both former (OR=4.6, 95% CIs=2.5-8.8) and current (OR=3.6, 95% CI=2-6.7), and family history (OR=7.1; 95%CI = 4.6-11.4) were also found associated with increased risk. Current study suggests that along with established risk factors for pancreatic cancer CYP17A1-34T/C may play a role. However, on the basis of small sample size the argument cannot be fully endorsed and larger scale studies are recommended.

Macromolecular Prodrugs of Aspirin with HPMC: A Nano Particulate Drug Design, Characterization, and Pharmacokinetic Studies

Muhammad Ajaz Hussain,Khawar Abbas,Muhammad Sher,Muhammad Nawaz Tahir,Wolfgang Tremel,Mohammad Saeed Iqbal,Muhammad Amin,Munair Badshah 한국고분자학회 2011 Macromolecular Research Vol.19 No.12

This article presents the synthesis of novel hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC)-aspirin (ASP) conjugates,i.e. macromolecular prodrugs, through the reaction of HPMC with ASP after its in situ activation by 4-methylbenzenesulfonyl chloride. The highly pure ASP prodrugs obtained by this homogeneous and elegant esterification method were characterized using different spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques. Nanoparticulate drug design was successfully achieved by the conversion of free hydroxyls of the polymer into acetates. Transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy showed nanoparticle formation with the major population size distribution of around 450 nm. Nevertheless, the pharmacokinetics of the HPMC conjugates were studied using high performance liquid chromatography. The pharmacokinetic data indicated that a single dose of 132.6 mg of HPMC-ASP was well tolerated in animal studies without any adverse effects. The maximum plasma concentration (C_max) of HPMC-ASP was found to be 14.6 μg·L^-1 with a t_max of 1 h. The plasma half-life and clearance and the volume of HPMC-ASP distribution were 4.6 h, 3.23 L·h^-1, and 21.8 L·kg^-1, respectively. The elimination of HPMC-ASP followed first-order kinetics with r^2 of 0.9643. The results presented in this paper show the great potential of HPMCASP as a more effective, safe, and stable prodrug.

Shock Graph for Representation and Modeling of Posture

Nooritawati Md Tahir,Aini Hussain,Salina Abdul Samd,Hafizah Husin 한국전자통신연구원 2007 ETRI Journal Vol.29 No.4

Skeleton transform of which the medial axis transform is the most popular has been proposed as a useful shape abstraction tool for the representation and modeling of human posture. This paper explains this proposition with a description of the areas in which skeletons could serve to enable the representation of shapes. We present algorithms for two-dimensional posture modeling using the developed simplified shock graph (SSG). The efficacy of SSG extracted feature vectors as shape descriptors are also evaluated using three different classifiers, namely, decision tree, multilayer perceptron, and support vector machine. The paper concludes with a discussion of the issues involved in using shock graphs to model and classify human postures.

Effect of body weight at photostimulation on productive performance and welfare aspects of commercial layers

Raziq Fazal,Hussain Jibran,Ahmad Sohail,Asif Hussain Muhammad,Khan Muhammad Tahir,Ullah Assad,Qumar Muhammad,Wadood Fazal,Gull-e-Faran 아세아·태평양축산학회 2024 Animal Bioscience Vol.37 No.3

Objective: Due to current selection practices for increased egg production and peak persistency, the production profile, age at maturity, and body weight criteria for commercial layers are constantly changing. Body weight and age at the time of photostimulation will thus always be the factors that need to be adequately addressed among various production systems. The current study was carried out to determine the effects of pullets' body weight (low, medium, and heavy) on their performance, welfare, physiological response, and hormonal profile. Methods: With regard to live weight, 150 16-week-old pullets were divided into three groups using a completely randomized design (CRD) and held until the 50th week. One-way analysis of variance was used to evaluate the data under the CRD, and the least significant difference test was used to distinguish between treatment means. Results: In comparison to the medium and light birds, the heavy birds had higher body weight at maturity, an earlier age at maturity, and higher egg weight, eggshell weight, eggshell thickness, egg yolk index, breaking strength, egg surface area, egg shape index, egg volume, and hormonal profile except corticosterone. However, the medium and light birds had lower feed consumption rates per dozen eggs and per kilogram of egg mass than the heavy birds. Light birds showed greater body weight gain, egg production, and egg specific gravity than the other categories. At 20 weeks of age, physiological response, welfare aspects, and catalase were non-significant; however, at 50 weeks of age, all these factors—aside from catalase—were extremely significant. Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that layers can function at lower body weights during photostimulation; hence, dietary regimens that result in lighter pullets may be preferable. Additionally, the welfare of the birds was not compromised by the lighter weight group.