Reinforcement of Dental Composites by Electrospun Nanofibers Research Proposal

Reinforcement of Dental Composites by Electrospun Nanofibers - Research Proposal Example Our work draws support from the background researches concerned with the application of nanoscaled reinforcing materials and organic-inorganic hybrid nanocomposites synthesized by conventional soft chemistry procedures on various innovative industrial products. The principal look out of the following investigation is also based on the previous studies conducted to understand the intricate mechanisms behind the phenomenon of dissipation of energy that is hypothesized to be one of the definitive factors for hiking the index of fracture toughness in solid composites. (Composites Science and Technology, 2008) Past researches show that this energy dissipating phenomenon implicating increase in the fracture toughness is far more definitive and effect enticing for nanocomposites compared to ordinary composites having micron scaled fibers. In the following investigation we attempt to understand and interpret the reasons associated with mimicking such kind of mechanical strength and structure d toughness after reinforcing the resinous polyacrylate matrices of the dental composites with hyperbranched polymeric nanofibers. ... (Saudi Dental Journal, 2006) Though such research is always critical and is undoubtedly clouded by several other unaccountable factors, like, the inherent clinical design of the prosthesis, deformations of the dental base, climatic wear and tear of the metal supports, conditions leading to accidental damages along with the gender, age and total span of usage of the wearer; the plausible causes arising from the discrepancies in the mechanical index of the denture material itself, was the only object of our interest for pursuing further investigations along relevant lines. Therefore, it is undoubtedly clear that the primary objective of this research is to record and understand the effects of the covalently bonded nanoscaled organic reinforcements on the performance and durability index of the recently used dental composites. By designing composites of polyacrylate resin matrices modified with commercial dendritic polymers, like polyesteramide and polyester, we need to create a variati on from the previous investigations by incorporating electrospun polyamide nanofibers into the system and test their effect on the overall mechanical strength of these composites. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The nanofibers will be synthesized by electrospinning three different polymers that are Poly Vinyl Alcohol (PVOH), Poly-L-Lactide Acid (PLLA) and Nylon 6 (Polycaprolactam or Polyamide or PA6) and they are to be used with the Hybrane modified acrylate resin matrix of the composites at different weight percents and particle diameters. The compressive strength, diametric tensile strength, linear shrinkage index and flexural strength will be measured at different concentrations and diameters. The morphology of the

Product definition Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Product definition - Coursework Example It is one of the most famous fashion line in the contemporary society has attraction clients from a global perspective (Jacobs, 2013). The following are the major reasons why clients purchase this product taking into consideration the five levels of product definition: This is usually the basic product and clients tend to focus on the purpose, which the product was intended. In the case of Louis Vuitton Women’s Trench Coats, clients focus on acquisition of the trench coats in order to provide warmth during rainy and cold seasons. In this level, the major focus of the clients to a product is based on all the qualities it possesses. In relation to Louis Vuitton women’s Trench Coats, they are preferred due to: Their ability to repel rain; high quality of fabrics used to make the coats; their different sizes, thus able to fit people of different body sizes; and the high quality of buttons fitted. In this level, clients tend to have various aspects of expectation regarding a product. Specifically, many clients purchasing Louis Vuitton Trench Coats are majorly attracted by the high quality of design of the coats, which enables the coats to provide warmth in a comfortable manner even when undertaking some physical activities such as riding bicycles. In this level, clients tend to focus on the additional qualities of a targeted product. In the case of Louis Vuitton Women’s Trench Coats, it has been preferred by a large number of clients from various parts of the world owing to the fact that it is a fashionable design and trendy. Louis Vuitton also offers clients a variety of trendy colors and designs that making it one of the most famous clothing lines in the global fashion arena. In this level of product definition, clients tend to focus on the future changes and additional features that may be made on their targeted products. In the case of Louis Vuitton women’s trench coat, there have been new designs, with additional

The Effects of War and Peace on Foreign Aid Essay Example for Free

The Effects of War and Peace on Foreign Aid Essay

Who im i? :: essays research papers

Who are you? Who I am well†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.I’m a heterosexual female. I’m 19 years old and I was born in the 20th century. For a girl like me to have a boyfriend in this days is like- ok I have a boyfriend and? But in the 20th century, 50 years ago for my grandmother was really different. She is always telling me story about her life and in one of those story she told me she got married at the age of 13. (I didn’t find that a big deal) because now a days the girls get married in my country at the age of 11 o even 10. She told me – be quiet and listen to me. – When I got married I didn’t know my husband to be. I met him the same day I was going to marry him. I said –why? My parents choose him for me and in those days in town got married in the same way. - I was still playing with my dolls! – she told me, when she was telling me that, I felt bad because I understood what she was tying to tell me, she was force to married to somebody she d idn’t know. In those days that happened very often and there is nothing you could do about it.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   But I wanted to know what was all that about. My great-grand father was a very rich a powerful men and he had a lot of business everywhere and about his personality you can imaging how he was in those days. He never liked to loose but in some cases he did loose a lot of money. He got business with a man called Julian. Julian used to live very far away from my grand- father house actually in other town. I don’t know what happened between then but I know that my great-grandfather gave is own daughter in marriage to Julian. (Don’t ask me what the reason is) my great- grandfather is still mad at me because I tried to manipulate him. – I just wanted to know the whole story about his business and my grandmother. But he didn’t say a word after the manipulation thi ng. But it looks like he married his daughter with other powerful men like him and they both could handle good business together. That marriage didn’t last long because he was a cheater and even though my grand mother was young she knew somehow learn what was good and what was bad.

Dai Sijie’s book ‘Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress’ Essay

In Dai Sijie’s book, ‘Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress’, the two main characters are brought together to experience the hardships of re-education but even then they manage to stay ‘hopeful’. Dai Sijie focuses on the survival and the power of human spirit and imagination to endure of Luo and the narrator, Ma. The boys stay ‘hopeful’ by finding solutions to their problems during the re-education. Luo feels physically tired and so turns back the hands of the clock to get some extra sleep so he can get through the day. The Little Chinese Seamstress tries and cures Luo of his disease even though she doesn’t have the proper medical equipment. Four-Eyes on the other hand continues to try and impress the peasants by risking the chance of getting caught with all the banned books by leaving his door open just to display his trust in the peasants and by hiding away meat and pretending that he doesn’t eat meat to please them. The boys can be viewed as ‘hopeful’ in the ways in which they adapt to and find solutions to the hardships of re-education such as manipulating the start of the working day with the alarm clock. The boys confess a few days after getting to the mountain and carrying the buckets of shit up and down the mountain, ‘in the end we had changed the position of the hands so many times we had no idea what the time really was.’ The boys take advantage of the peasants’ ignorance of technology to cheat the village of their labor. But they are only doing this because of the harshness of re-education that led them to be this physically drained out. They were being forced to turn into cheaters but for them this wasn’t deceiving, it was merely how they believed they could bring their bodies back to normal and start adapting to the change. By saying losing track of ‘what the time really was’, Dai Sijie also symbolizes their fear of never returning to their families and leading their old lives. Besides Luo finding a solution to the hard working conditions during the re-education, the Little Chinese Seamstress found a solution to curing Luo’s malaria and stayed ‘hopeful’. Although during the time of the re-education, there were no proper medical care and due to that Luo may have suffered from malaria for a long time. On the way to the Little Chinese Seamstress’s house for the oral cinema in her town, another attack struck Luo and when they arrived at, Luo looked really sick so the Little Chinese Seamstress used a natural medicine on him and hoped that it worked. She didn’t panic and act irrationally. The remedy that used was a natural paste made of the leaves of a plant called ‘Broken-bowl-shards.’ This shows that the Seamstress believes in nature and tries her luck wherever she can. She says ‘In my opinion you can’t believe in them totally, but you can’t deny them either.’ This just proves that whethe r or not the results are going to be as desired, it is definitely worth a shot. Four-Eyes is a representation of a character who would do anything to escape re-education and his continuous tries are what make him seem ‘hopeful’ that one day he will succeed. Ever since he has been living on the mountain, he doesn’t lock the doors of his house. When the readers first hear from him about this he claims that he is ‘so anxious to demonstrate his trust in the revolutionary peasants that he never used to lock his doors.’ This just proves how desperate he is for their trust. He leaves his door unlocked even though he has a hidden suitcase of books that if found, can get him into serious troubles but he is willing to take that risk. He is also abstaining from meat. ‘He would spring to his feet, quickly hide the pan in a corner as if it were contraband, and put out a dish of marinated vegetables.’ This not only portrays his fear, but the use of the word ‘contraband’ by Dai Sijie is interesting as it brings up other suggestions. Contrabands are illegally smuggled goods and the comparison between the meat and the contraband shows how scared Four-Eyes is. To Four-Eyes, ‘eating meat struck him a crime typical of the bourgeois class to which his family belonged’ so he decided to sacrifice eating meat. Four-Eyes stops at nothing to gain his pleasures. This single-mindedness in the face of adversity (when he breaks his glasses and the boys find him trying to carry the rice sacks alone) could be viewed as a form of hopefulness. To conclude, I have to say that the boys need to be credited for having dealt with their situations so optimistically. They only had a ‘three in a thousand chance’ of returning home but even then they have stayed ‘hopeful’ through the novel and took things as they came their way. I believe that the characters’ main way of staying ‘hopeful’ is by finding solutions to the problems and hardships of their life currently during the re-education at the Phoenix Mountain. What the two boys have taken from this experience definitely has been the ability to be independent and solve situations they are faced with and most importantly learnt that success can be achieved by staying ‘hopeful’. Also the books and their passion for literature has indeed played a part in this as the books is what has kept them going for this long and they work so hard all day only knowing that later at night they have the book to go back to and relax. Their hope to keep them going through the day is the thought of knowing that this means they can go home to reading. Four-Eyes on the other hand has this obsessive pursuit of freedom and his hope is what is keeping that driving force in him going but in this battle, he has lost his temper and feels agitated as his results are not coming out positive.

An Introduction to Malaysian Courts - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2370 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Law Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? 1.0 Introduction to Malaysia Courts There is a hierarchy of courts in Malaysia which starts with the Magistrates Court as the first level, followed by the Sessions Court, High Court, Court of Appeal and the highest level of the courts is the Federal Court. A court is defined as the institution that the government sets up to settle disputes through a legal process (Reuters, 2014). The subordinate courts are Magistrates Court and Session Court whereas High Court, Court of Appeal and Federal Court are classified as the superior courts. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "An Introduction to Malaysian Courts" essay for you Create order The higher the courts in the hierarchy of courts will hear and decide on more serious case. There are two types of jurisdiction which are criminal and civil jurisdiction that hear and decide by the court. 2.0 Federal Court The Federal Court is the highest court and final appellate court in Malaysia. It was established in 1957 under the Article 121(2) of the Federal Constitution. The Federal Court has the three main power of the jurisdiction due to the Article 121(2) (Supardi, 2013). First, the Federal Court can hear and determine the appeals from the Court of Appeal, of the High Court, or a judge thereof. Second, the Federal Court is conferred such original or consultative jurisdiction as is specified in Article 128 and 130. Third, the Federal Court has authority such other jurisdiction as may be conferred by or under federal law. The courts which are lower than the Federal Court must follow the decision made by the Federal Court. It is located in the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya. The Federal Court is comprises of the Chief Justice, President of the Court of Appeal, Chief Judge of the High Court in Malaya, Chief Judge of the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak and other Federal Court judges (Malaysi a Factbook, 2014). The Chief Justice is the head of the judiciary who leads the Federal Court. The judges in the Federal Court were selected by the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong under the advice of the Prime Minister of Malaysia (Malaysia Factbook, 2014). Every proceeding in the Federal Court shall be heard and disposed by three judges or such greater uneven number of judges as the Chief Justice may in any particular case determine. (Mei Pheng Detta, 2009) 2.1 Criminal Jurisdiction 2.2 Civil Jurisdiction (Lawyerment, 2014) In the Section 96 of the Court of Judicature Act 1964 [Act91] stated that an appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal may be made to Federal Court with the leave of the Federal Court. After the decision appealed against was given, the application for leave to appeal must be made to Federal Court within in a month. Such party will needs to pay the costs incurred in the prosecution of any appeal or application for leave to appeal which also included the taxes in accordance with the rules of country. The Federal Court has the authority to order a new trial of any cause tried by the High Court but the new trial will not be granted when there are two situations happened. First, the evidence was improperly rejected or admitted unless in the opinion of the Federal Court there is some substantial failure of justice has occurred. Second, if it appears to the Federal Court that the failure affects a part only of the matters or parties in controversy. A new trial ordered without interfering the findings and decisions by the lower courts. The Federal Court shall not reversed or changed the judgement of High Court or any judge on appeal or a new trial ordered by the Federal Court. An appeal does not operate without the orders from the courts below or the Federal Court and the decision appealed shall be invalidated if there is any intermediate act or proceeding. 3.0 Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal is the second highest court within the hierarchy of courts and it is also the appellant court in Malaysia (Malaysia Factbook, 2014). The Court of Appeal was established in 1994 according to the Article 121(1B) of Federal Constitution (Lawyerment, 2014). The Court of Appeal was headed by President on which the position is located after the Chief Justice of Malaysia in judicial hierarchy. The Court of Appeal is not only comprises the President of the Court of Appeal but it is also consists ten other judges. The judges are assigned by the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong on the advice of the Prime Minister. Normally, the proceedings of the court are held at the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya. However, President can also hold the proceedings at any place in Malaysia if deemed expedient (Malaysia Factbook, 2014). The judge of the Court of Appeal may also include a High Court judge if there is requirement of the President after consult with the Chief Judge of the High Court. All appeals from the High Court are registered in the Court of Appeal Registry and filled in the respective High Court (Malaysia Factbook, 2014). Criminal Panel, Commercial Panel, Civil Panel, Interlocutory Panel, Leave to Appeal Panel and Prerogative Panel are the special panels that formed to expedite the disposal of appeals (Lawyerment, 2014). 3.1 Criminal Jurisdiction 3.2 Civil Jurisdiction (Supardi, 2013) In the Section 67 of the Courts of the Judicature Act 1964 stated that the Court of Appeal will hears the appeals from the High Court relating any civil cause or matter, whether made in the exercise of its original or of its appellate jurisdiction, subject to any written law regulating the terms and conditions upon which such appeals are brought. It is the highest Court of Appeal on matters decided by the High Court in its appellate or revisionary jurisdiction. The appeal cannot be made to the Court of Appeal if the cases consist of the following condition. The conditions are the amount of claim of the cases is less than RM250,000 unless it is with the leave of the Court, the judgement made by consent of parties, the judgement relates to costs only and the judgement of the High Court is final, by virtue of any written law. 4.0 High Court High Court is located in the third level within the judicial hierarchy. High Court in Malaya and High Court in Sabah and Sarawak are the two High Courts in Malaysia which have the coordinate jurisdiction. The High Court in Malaya comprises of a Chief Judge and forty-seven judges. On the other hand, the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak consists of a Chief Judge and ten judges. High Court in Malaysia is act as the court of the jurisdiction and appellate court (Miss P.). The proceedings in High Court will be heard and disposed of before a single Judge (Lawyerment, 2014). 4.1 Criminal Jurisdiction 4.2 Civil Jurisdiction High Courts has the jurisdiction in the proceedings where the cause of action happened, the defendant or one of several defendants resides or has his place of business, the facts on which the proceedings are based exist or are alleged to have occurred and any ownership of land which is disputed is situated (Miss P.). Not only that, High Courts had specific jurisdiction in any written law which includes divorce or matrimonial cause, bankruptcy or companies, matters of admiralty, guardians of infants and keepers of the property of infants, guardians and keepers of the person and estates of idiots, mentally disordered persons and persons of unsound mind and also the grants and revocation of probates of will and testaments and letters of administration of estates of decreased persons (Miss P.). According to the Section 31 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964, High Courts owned the revisionary jurisdiction to handle civil matters over all subordinate courts (Supardi, 2013). The funct ion of the High Court as the appellant jurisdiction is to hear appeals from the subordinate courts which include Sessions Court and Magistrates Court based on the Sections 26 and 28 of Courts of Judicature Act 1964. However, there are not all cases that can made appeal to the High Court. In the Sections 26 to 29 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 stated when the amount in dispute is Rm10,000 or less, High Court cannot hears appeals from the subordinate courts in any civil cases unless it involves a question of law (Supardi, 2013). 5.0 Sessions Court Sessions Court is the second level within the hierarchy of courts and it is the highest of the subordinate courts. Sessions Court is headed by the Sessions Court Judge which appointed by the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong on the recommendation of the Chief Judges respectively (Lawyerment, 2014). Sessions Court is formed to hear both civil and criminal cases. The court of the Sessions Court sits everyday except on public holidays (Malaysia Factbook, 2014). 5.1 Criminal Jurisdiction 5.2 Civil Jurisdiction (Lawyerment, 2014) According to the Section 65 of the Subordinate Courts Act 1948 [Act 92] enables Sessions Court has different aspects of jurisdiction such as unlimited jurisdiction to try all the actions of the civil matters which relating to the motor vehicle accidents, landlords and tenants and distress, jurisdiction to try all the actions of the civil matters where the amount in dispute does not exceed RM1,000,000 and also the jurisdiction to try all actions of the civil matters for the specific performance of contracts or for cancellation or rectification of instruments. However, Sessions Court does not has power in certain proceedings which involves to immovable property, accounts, declaration of decrees, issue and revocation of grants of representation of the estates of decreased persons or the administration or distribution thereof, cases where the legitimacy of any person in question, the guardianship or custody of infants is in question and also the validity or dissolution of any marria ge is in question. 6.0 Magistrates Court Magistrates Court is the first level within the hierarchy of the courts. Magistrates Court is divided into First Class Magistrates Court and Second Class Magistrates Court. The court deals with the minor civil and criminal cases and it sits everyday except on the public holidays (Lawyerment, 2014). The court is presided over by a magistrate. Magistrate for Federal Territory is assigned by the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong on the recommendation of the Chief Judge. On the other hand, magistrate for the respective states is assigned by the State Authority on the recommendation of the respective Chief Judges which are the Chief Judge of the High Court in Malaya, in the case of the Peninsular Malaysia and the Chief Judge of the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak, in the case of the East Malaysia (Malaysia Factbook, 2014). According to the Section 85 of the Subordinate Courts Act 1948 (Revised 1972) amended by the Subordinate Courts (Amendment) Act 1948, a first class magistrate has jurisdict ion to try all the crimes for which the maximum term of punishment provided by the law does not exceed ten yearsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ imprisonment, or all offences punishable with fine only. A second class magistrate owned jurisdiction to try all the offences for which the maximum term of imprisonment provided by law does not exceed twelve monthsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ imprisonment or offences punishable with a fine only. BOOK!!! (criminal) 6.1 Criminal Jurisdiction 6.2 Civil Jurisdiction First Class Magistrate The first class magistrate is legally qualified and has greater power. According to the Section 90 of the Subordinate Courts Act 1948 [Act 92], it has jurisdiction to hear all civil actions where the amount in dispute or the value of the subject-matter does not exceed RM100,000 (Lawyerment, 2014). It may also exercise jurisdiction in actions for the recovery of immovable property and for recovery of rent, mesne profits and damages when the money claimed does not exceed RM25,000 or where the rent payable in respect of premises does not exceed RM24,000 per year or RM2,000 per month (Mei Pheng Detta, 2009). Second Class Magistrate The presiding officer in the second class Magistrates Court is a Justice of Peace who is not legally qualified and normally appointed. The second class magistrate have the power to hear the civil cases where the plaintiff seeks to recover a debt or the liquidated demand in money payable by the defendant, with or without inter est, which does not exceed RM10,000 (Lawyerment, 2014). When the claims for the recovery of debts or liquidated demands in money, with or without interest, and not exceeding RM3,000 at the date of filing, it is decided on the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Small-Claimsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Courts according to the Subordinate Courts (Amendment) Rules 1987 came into force on 1 August 1987 in Peninsular Malaysia and on 1 September 1987 in Sabah and Sarawak. The court that set up was cheap and it is not allow the legal representation (Mei Pheng Detta, 2009). List of Referencing Supardi, A. (2013) Malaysia Courts. [online slides] 29th August 2013 Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/zzan659/module-2-the-court-system [Accessed 1st October 2014] Lawyerment. (2014) What are the civil jurisdictions of the High Court? What power does the High Court have? [online] 27th February 2014 Available at: https://www.lawyerment.com/library/kb/Legal_Institutions/Judiciary/1005-2.htm [Accessed 8th October 2014] Lawyerment. (2014) What are the civil jurisdictions of the Sessions Court? What power does the Sessions Court have? [online] 3rd March 2014 Available at: https://www.lawyerment.com/library/kb/Legal_Institutions/Judiciary/1004.htm [Accessed 11th October 2014] Lawyerment. (2014) What are the civil jurisdictions of the Magistrates Court? What power does the Magistrates Court have? [online] 1st March 2014 Available at: https://www.lawyerment.com/library/kb/Legal_Institutions/Judiciary/1003.htm [Accessed 18th October 2014] Lawyerme nt. (2014) What is a Court of Appeal? What are the jurisdictions of the Court of Appeal? [online] 4th March 2014 Available at: https://www.lawyerment.com/library/kb/Legal_Institutions/Judiciary/1006.htm [Accessed 7th October 2014] Lawyerment. (2014) What is Federal Court? What are the functions of the Federal Court? [online] 7th March 2014 Available at: https://www.lawyerment.com/library/kb/Legal_Institutions/Judiciary/1512.htm [Accessed 3rd October 2014] Mei Pheng, L. and Detta, I. J. (2009) Business Law. 1st ed. Shah Alam: Oxford University Press Malaysia Factbook. (2014) Court of Appeal of Malaysia. [online] 17th March 2014 Available at: https://malaysiafactbook.com/Court_of_Appeal_of_Malaysia [Accessed 7th October 2014] Malaysia Factbook. (2014) Federal Court of Malaysia. [online] 19th March 2014 Available at: https://malaysiafactbook.com/Federal_Court_of_Malaysia [Accessed 3rd October 2014] Malaysia Factbook. (2014) Magistratesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã ¢â€ž ¢ Court of Malaysia. [online] 23rd March 2014 Available at: https://malaysiafactbook.com/Magistrates_Courts_of_Malaysia [Accessed 18th October 2014] Malaysia Factbook. (2014) Sessions Court of Malaysia. [online] 27th March 2014 Available at: https://malaysiafactbook.com/Sessions_Courts_of_Malaysia [Accessed 11th October 2014] Miss P. The High Courts of Malaysia. [blogspot] Available at: https://itslaw.blogspot.com/2010/09/high-courts-of-malaysia.html [Accesses 9th October 2014] Reuters, T. (2014) What is a Court? [blog] Available at: https://litigation.findlaw.com/legal-system/what-is-a-court.html [Accessed 29th September 2014]

The Impact Of Entrepreneurial Characteristics In Pakistan Business Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2530 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? The Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) plays a very important role in the success development of any economy. According to the SME policy 2007, SME sector is the backbone of Pakistans Economy. Globally, this sector is the major growing force behind the fastest growing economy of China, in term of contribution to the national GDP, scale of assets, diversification of products and the creation of employment. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Impact Of Entrepreneurial Characteristics In Pakistan Business Essay" essay for you Create order Similarly, the role of SME is well acknowledged in the other countries such as Japan Korea, and all other industrialized economies in terms of economic development (Hand Book on Islamic SME Financing Islamic Banking Department, State Bank of Pakistan, 2009). There are some hidden and apparent obstacles in the path of growth of small and medium enterprises in Pakistan as pointed out in the SME Policy development-2007; the poor national performance on the Human Development Index of the UN has its consequences for SMEs in Pakistan. These include inadequate and generic education and insufficient, poorly focused and under-serving training infrastructure. SMEs mostly draw their human resource (including the owners) from either the higher education institutions or the technical training infrastructure, both of which are not attuned to the SME needs nor are they equipped to address them. This situation limits the capacity and capability of SMEs to innovate, The SME sector neither possess es the financial strength nor the collective wisdom to climb its way out of this low equilibrium enterprise activity. In addition to these factors, according to the Hand Book on Islamic SME Financing (2007), political instability, law and order situation, financial constraints, energy crisis, taxation problems, labor issues, lack of coordination and regular information exchange mechanism among institutions are contributing adversely to all the efforts done for the SMEs development. Shabbir Kashif president of the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commers Industry, (2009, Nov) pointed out the approach of the new entrants in the business and as a big cause of their failure, People come to us say we have such amount of money and we are going to invest in that business. But the point is that prior to Investment they dont think about the future of that Business in next few years, what would be the market demand in future? Instead, they imitate the current trends and current demands of the market, which lead them to the failure. In these types of problems and uncertain situations, the entrepreneurs can do allot for the development and success of the SMEs. According to Thompson, L (2004) In todays world of change and uncertainty we need the talent of entrepreneurs more than ever, we need them to start new businesses, we need them to champion the change agenda in establish corporation and the public sector. Simpsin , M., Tuck, N. Bellany, S (2004), Entrepreneurs or owners-managers are individuals and have their own unique characteristics. The previous studies conducted on the Owner characteristics support that Owner characteristics are the important ingredient for the success of a firm like Lumpkin Dess (1996), Ferreira Azevedo. (2007), Smith J.R, Okhomina Mosley (2006). Research Aims Objectives The aim of the research is to investigate empirically the influence of owner characteristics on the SME performance in Pakistan. Owner Characteristics that will be stud ied are related with personal pursuits that are considered the most important characteristics Naldi, Lucia. Nordqvist, Mattias., Sjoberg ,Karin., Wiklund, Johan, (2007), like Innovativeness, Risk Taking, Proactive ness. Significance of the study This study will contribute to the Knowledge base regarding the Owner Characteristics that contribute in the firms performance, According to Bhutta, M., Rana, A. Asad ,U (2008) A major frustration for most policy researchers in the SME area is the virtual non-existence of scientific data on this sector in the country (i.e. Pakistan). Secondly, it will help entrepreneurs to understand their own strengths and potentials, and identify those characteristics that contribute more in the success of a firm. Thirdly, to the policy makers in this sector to identify and polish the existing entrepreneurs and the people who intend to establish new businesses. Problem Statement The impact of entrepreneurs characteristics on firms perform ance: An empirical study conducted on the surgical equipment manufacturing units in vicinity of Sialkot, Pakistan. Research Question What is the impact of entrepreneurial characteristics like innovativeness, proactive-ness, risk taking, on the firms performance? Literature review As cited by the Bhutta et al (2008), Entrepreneurship is the act of being an entrepreneur which is a French word meaning one who undertakes an endeavor. Entrepreneurs assemble resources including innovations, finance and business acumen in an effort to transform innovations into economic goods. This may result in new organizations or may be part of revitalizing mature organizations in response to a perceived opportunity. The most obvious form of entrepreneurship is that of starting new businesses; however, in recent years, the term has been extended to include social and political forms of entrepreneurial activity. When entrepreneurship is describing activities within a firm or large organizatio n it is referred to as intra-preneurship and may include corporate venturing, when large entities start spin-off organizations. Whereas according to Lumpkin, G. T. Dess, G. G. (1996) the term Entrepreneurial orientation means the organizational process, methods and styles that firms use to act entrepreneurially. Entrepreneurs Characteristics and Firms Performance Entrepreneurial characteristic is an independent variable in our study. Pointing out the importance of the owner characteristics regarding the firms success and good performance. Ferreira Azevedo (2007, p. 15) commented that the firms which grow more, are those which are entrepreneurially oriented that detect opportunities and obtain an advantage when searching for those opportunities. However, not all firms search for opportunities, a possible explanation could the entrepreneurs attitude, this is, the desire to grow or not. In the previous literature the ownership characteristics has been defined differently by the researchers. According to Lumpkin Dess (1996) Efforts have served to point out the various dimensions of the entrepreneurial process; they have not led to any widely held consensus regarding how to characterize entrepreneurship. This lack of consensus has impeded progress for researchers towards building and testing a broader theory of entrepreneurship and has made it especially, difficult for them to investigate the relationship of entrepreneurship to performance. As evidenced by the previous literature, the researchers have identified different ownership characteristics that influence the success and performance of an organization. These characteristics are autonomy, innovativeness, risk taking, proactiveness, (Ferreira Azevedo, 2007 Keh , H.., Nguyen, T. Ng, H 2007), competitiveness, aggressiveness, (Hughes et al. 2007 Lumpkin Dess, 1996). Smith, Okhomina Mosly (2006) took psychological traits e.g. need for achievement, internal locus of control , tolerance for ambiguity and risk taking propensity, and social factors such as education, a supportive environment the researchers i.e. Smith , J. R. Mosley , Alisa L (2006) also argued that personality traits viewed alone are inappropriate to explain the phenomenon of entrepreneurship. According to Bhutta et al (2008) There is dearth of knowledge in Pakistan on this sector ( S.M.E) further more he studied the owner characteristics/ orientation like education , media-related habits , use of information technology , number of investor and generation in the business (and found a positive relation ) with the health of the firm. In study of ORegan, Sims Ghobadian (2005) presented the relationship between ownership, decision making and employee deployment and the performance of the firm. Their findings showed that ownership profile is key factor in the success of any SME. As cited by Ferreira Azevedo (2007) Covin Slevin (1991) supported Miller point of view by referring that organizations a nd not only individuals, can have entrepreneurially. They also use defend, use of risk taking innovativeness and proactiveness, as the relevant dimensions of the entrepreneurship. Nevertheless refer to this as a type of behavior labeled as entrepreneur posture. Also cited, Miller (1983), the concept of Entrepreneur orientation was seen as a combination of three dimensions. Innovativeness: is concerned with supporting and encouraging new ideas experimentation and creativity likely to result in new products, services or processes (Miller and Friesen, 1982 and Yusuf, A. 2002). Risk Taking: Measuring the extent to which individuals differ in their willingness to take risk is contentious (Lumpkin and Dess, 1996). Proactive ness: is concerned with first mover and other actions aimed at seeking to secure and protect market share and with the forward looking perspective reflected in action taken anticipation of future demand (Lumpkin and Dess, 1996, Ferreira et al, 2007). In thi s paper the focus of the study is on the owners characteristics like innovativeness, risk taking behavior and proactiveness (Naldi, et al. , 2007), an important role as firms which grow better , have the tendency to develop an EO supported by proactiveness, innovativeness and risk taking .(Ferreira and Azevedo,2007, p.15) (Yusuf A., 2002). Firms Performance and Performance Measures: It is a Dependent variable in the study by the firms performance it means that the performance and success of the firm. O Regan et al. (2005) argued that obtaining measures of performance for SMEs was notoriously difficult. He cited, Laitinen in 2002 suggested that performance can be defined as the ability of an object to produce results in a dimension determined a priori, in relation to a target. He also suggested that the previous studies proved the use of subjective self reporting measures of performance as most of the entrepreneurs avoid/hesitate providing factual or objective figures of their firms performance can be examined both objectively and subjectively (Lumpkin Dess, 1996). Objective examination usually includes comparing firm performance with hard financial measures, whereas subjective examination can be related to more personal issues. In this study, the term subjective measures refers to self-reported measures (Yusuf , 2002). Furthermore, he utilized six items to measure the performance construct , three of these items were profitability indicators , (return of sales, return on investment, return on assets), the other three items were growth indicators (growth in sales, growth in profit and growth in employment). Respondents were asked to indicate how satisfied they are with the performance of their firm and vice a versa. Competitors along each of the six performance measures at a five point Likert scale from much unsatisfied one to very much satisfy were used for that purpose (Yusuf, 2002). Despite the large area of amount of research in the area of performance, no consensus has emerged on appropriate measure (Yusuf, 2002) he further cited the previous work that Performance is multifaceted in nature. This is thought to be necessary because entrepreneurial activity at times leads to different outcomes on different performance indicators so it is suggested that performance measure should include both growth and performance (Wiklund, 1991) regarding the factuality of the objective measures. Bhutta et al, (2008) Yusuf, (2002) argued that objective measures are accurate but the problem is that the respondents are not willing to provide i.e. they hesitate to provide actual figures. On the basis of the above literature review, in this study the performance is operationalised and adopted from Naldis (2007) work, which is based on the approach advocated by (Wiklund, 1991) and also suggested by Yusuf, ( 2002) in above literature review. They operationalized the performance into four dimensions Net profit (i.e. sales operational cost), Growth of the companies value, cash flow, development of sales. They asked the questions to the respondents in self perceived and subjective manner. For instance, the researcher asked, I want to know if you think that your outcome during the past three years has been better, worse or equal to that of other companies in your industry (5 point Likert scale ranging from much worse to m uch better was used). Theoretical Framework Firms Performance Entrepreneur Characteristics Innovativeness Risk taking Pro activeness Adoptability Net profit (i.e. sales operational cost) Growth of the companys value, Cash flow Development of sales Hypothesis Development Owner Characteristics and SME Performance According to Keh, et al. (2007, p.596), the factual evidences prove that there is positive correlation between EO (Entrepreneurial Orientation) and FP (Firm Performance). On the basis of above finding a hypothesis is generated that Owner characteristics have positive impact on the firms performance. H1: Owner characteristics have positive impact on the firms performance. Innovativeness and performance According to Susan, et al, (2005), innovativeness, competitiveness effect economic financial results and statistically significant and moderate in strength, Innovativeness is also an important factor in entrepreneurial orie ntation (Salvou Lioukas, 2003). H2: Innovativeness has a positive impact on the Firms performance. Risk taking and performance Naldi et al (2007), argued that family firms take risks but to lesser extent than do non family firms. Naldi cited, Rauch et al, 2004 found that the risk taking dimension is positively related to performance, even if significantly smaller than other aspects of Entrepreneur Orientation. H3: Risk taking is positively related to the firms performance. Proactiveness and Performance Proactiveness, an emphasis in the persistence and creativity to overcome obstacles (Ferreira, et al, 2007) H4: Proactiveness of the entrepreneur is positively related with Firms Performance. Research Methodology a) Research design Variables: Dependent Variables: In this study Firm Performance was a dependent variable. Independent Variable: Entrepreneurs Characteristics was independent variable. Type of investigation The type of investigation was co relational in nature, with minimal interferenceÂÂ  in the normal course of work or routine tasks. The study was conducted in the natural environment of the organization. Self administered questionnaires were distributed among the owners / partners of the manufacturing units. Unit of Analysis The data was collected from individual Entrepreneur or partner of surgical equipment manufacturing firm. So unit of analysis in this investigation was Entrepreneur or partner (individual). Sample The sample for data collection consisted of 115 entrepreneurs / partners, contacted randomly from the surgical equipment manufacturing units situated in the vicinity of Sialkot. b) Hypothesis development: This research was a hypothetical testing by type. Seven hypothesis were developed through extensive literature review in the literature review section of this report. H1: Owner Characteristics are positively related to firm performance. H2: Innovativeness has a posit ive impact on the Firms performance. H3: Risk taking is positively related to the firms performance. H4: Proactiveness of the entrepreneur is positively related with Firms Performance. Data collection tool Self administered questionnaire was used to collect first hand data from the respondents (owner / partner). Questionnaire was developed after extensive literature review. The different sections of the questionnaire were derived from Keh et al.(2007) , Bhutta et al.(2008) Naldi et al.(2007)(See Appendix I ) Questionnaire consisted of a cover letter, and five sections ranging from A to E. Section A was about Personal Information , Generation in business, education levels Technology adoptability, while the sections B consisted of questions regarding Innovativeness , Proactiveness Risk taking where as Section C consisted of four questions regarding firms performance. Measurement The entrepreneurial characteristics Innovativeness, risk taking, proactiveness fir ms performance were measured on 5 point Likert scale. Where ranking started from 1= strongly disagree to 5= strongly agree , Innovativeness, Proactiveness, Risk Taking, while responses to the Firm Performance questions ranged from 1=Much Worse to 5=Much better. Surgical Instruments manufacturing Industry in the sialkot area is selected in this study. According to Board of Investment Govt. of Pakistan report on Pakistan Light Engineering Sector, among these units about 230 surgical units are located in Sialkot District. In this study 50% of the respondents i.e ownwers or partners were selected randomly of these 230 firms as a sample. Questionnaire was adapted from Yusuf (2002), Naldi, et al. (2007), Bhutta et al. (2008) Ferreira, et al. (2007). Questionnaire was distributed personally to the Owner/ Active Partners.