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This study examines sociodemographic and lifestyle factors associated with knowledge of calories.

Data were analysed from the Komuniti Sihat Pembina Negara (KOSPEN) 2016. Logistic regressions were used to examine the effects of sociodemographic and lifestyle factors on knowledge of the definition of calories, recommended caloric intake and the effect of calories on body weight.

The results revealed that large proportions of respondents did not know the definition of calories (51.33%), recommended caloric intake (95.50%) and the effect of calories on body weight (64.89%). The proportions of respondents having knowledge of calories varied by income, gender, ethnicity, educational level, marital status, employment status, urbanization of states, smoking status and awareness of body mass index (BMI). Respondents were less likely to have knowledge of calories if they were low-income earners, non-Malays, less-educated, unemployed, smokers and unaware of their BMI.

Sociodemographic and lifestyle factors play an important role in affecting knowledge of calories. Policymakers should make a concerted effort to improve knowledge of calories among adults with different sociodemographic backgrounds and lifestyle profiles.

This study provides several contributions to the literature: (1) The country of interest is Malaysia, where the prevalence of obesity is high and studies related to knowledge of calories are lacking. (2) In addition to knowledge of recommended caloric intake, knowledge of the definition of calories and the effect of calories on body weight factors are considered. (3) Apart from sociodemographic variables, smoking behaviour and awareness of BMI variables are included in the analyses.

This study investigates factors contributing to residential mortgage loans default by utilizing a unique dataset of borrowers' default data from one of the pioneer lending institutions in Malaysia that provides home financing to the public. Studies on mortgage loan default have been extensively examined, but limited studies utilize the individual borrower's data, as financial institutions generally hesitant to reveal their customers' data due to confidentiality issue.

This study uses logistic regression model to analyze 47,158 housing loan borrowers' data for the year 2016.

The findings suggest that male borrowers, Malay and other type of ethnicity, guarantor availability, loan original balance, loan tenure, loan interest rate and loan-to-value (LTV) ratio are the significant factors that influence mortgage loans default in Malaysia.

Future studies may expand the sample by employing data from other types of financial institutions that would give greater insights as findings might vary due to differences in objectives, functions and regulations. In addition, the findings are subjected to the censoring bias where future studies could perform the survival analysis to control for censoring bias and re-validating the findings of the present study.

The findings provide valuable insights for lending institutions and the government to formulate housing loan policy in Malaysia.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study in the context of emerging economies that uses financial institution's internal data to investigate factors of mortgage loan default.

This paper aims to demonstrate how the five phases of design for six sigma approach as defined by define-measure-analyse-design-validate (DMADV) are adopted towards the development of an optoelectronic product to address the unexplored development issues related to micron-scale tolerances of internal diameters in plastic moulded parts. In addition, the structured product development approach is used to address the critical-to-quality (CTQ) characteristics that define the quality of the final product.

In line with DMADV, the presented methodology used various tools at each development stage to address key requirements of critical concern in the project. This included the ideal use of computer-aided design (CAD) simulation tool to identify CTQ parameters, failure mode effect analysis as a predictive tool to identify the major defects, while adopting root-cause-analysis to identify the fundamental causes of the major defects, design of experiment, and statistical analysis using Minitab Software for data-driven decision-making.

The two major defects that hindered the mass production of quality products were eliminated, and the overall development of the product significantly improved. Additionally, a quality control strategy approach was implemented to “lock in” the quality.

The case study presented develops and adopts a structured approach from DMADV with the key focus of addressing a micron-scale tolerance conflict between the design and manufacturing tolerance requirements of an optoelectronic product. The uniqueness of the case study is the adoption and application of CAD simulation at the Define phase of the DMADV process to address the CTQ issue of the product developed.

This study aims to examine the effects of celebrity negative publicity on attitude towards brand, corporation, brand reputation and corporate reputation, both directly and through the moderating effects of social media involvement, brand commitment, identification and attribution (both types). Associative network theory has been used to explain these effects.

A quantitative survey of 550 respondents was carried out in London and surrounding areas. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data.

The findings suggest that celebrity negative publicity affects brand reputation and corporate reputation. Further, the moderating effects of social media involvement and brand commitment on attitude towards brand and corporation, identification on attitude towards brand, attribution types on attitude towards corporation were not found.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to examine the effects of celebrity negative publicity on attitudes towards brand, attitude towards corporation, brand reputation and corporation reputation, directly, and through the moderating effects of attribution (both types), identification, commitment and social media. Findings from this study will minimise the gap in the literature on the topic and will help managers and policymakers to understand the effects of celebrity negative publicity in detail.

As situational changes result in changing consumption patterns, this study aims to understand the entertainment consumption shifts during and after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Particularly, how users’ habits and use behavior have changed and how these constructs subsequently impact their continuance intention has been investigated. The study proposes a research model based on customer value and habit theory.

The study proposes a research model based on customer value and habit theory. The data collected during (n = 192) and after (n = 138) COVID-19 situation in the over-the-top (OTT) platforms setting through purposive sampling was analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The study elucidates that customer perceived value (utilitarian and hedonic values) impacts habit and continuance intention in different situations: during and after COVID-19. It was also shown that habit partially mediates the influence of utilitarian and hedonic values on continuance intention. Further, the extent of use had a negative moderation effect on the habit-continuance intention relationship during COVID-19 but did not moderate the relationship in the post-COVID-19 situation. Finally, it was demonstrated that the effect of utilitarian value increased, whereas that of hedonic value decreased on the continuance intention of OTT platforms in the after-COVID-19 situation compared to during COVID-19.

Although set up in the OTT context, the practitioners from other online entertainment services, and any online service in general, may utilize the study findings to reinforce habit and continuance intentions to address unwanted consequences due to situational changes. The study suggests to the OTT service providers ways to facilitate the habit formation of OTT users. The study recommends constant monitoring of the extent of the use of OTT consumers and user engagement tactics for nurturing the OTT consumption habits of heavy users. The recommendations for maintaining and strengthening the perceived value-continuance intention relationship were also made, which would help the OTT service providers immensely.

The study establishes the mediation effect of habit and the robustness of perceived value in determining continuance intention in varying situations. The results also highlighted the changes in the impact of perceived value and habit on the continuance intention of OTT platforms. The study also advances the literature by demonstrating the differential influence of the extent of use on the habit-continuance intention relationship during and after COVID-19.