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Factors contributing to the implementation of data analytics in external auditing / Yeamin Jacky
Get PDFThe objective of the study is to explore the factors effecting the implementation of Data Analytics in Audit process and the impact of those factors on Audit Quality. Two stages of study were performed to achieve the objective of the study, First, this study analysed response letters on the use of Data Analytics (DA) in external auditing submitted by stakeholders of audit services to the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB)’s Data Analytics Working Group (DAWG). Using the Modified IT Audit Model as a framework, this study performs a directed content analysis on all 50 response letters sent to the DAWG. The analysis uncovered some contributing factors which were repeatedly discussed and commented by majority of the stakeholders. Some of the significant factors are namely, challenges in revising or developing new standards, whether DA will be used for substantive testing, test of controls or test of details. Moreover, the effect of DA on Audit quality and audit judgement, and Data reliability, Data security concerns while using DA. The second part of research conducted a survey among auditors based on Malaysia. The study performed an Exploratory Factor Analysis to confirm the validity of the measurements used for factors relating to Audit Profession, Standards (ISAs), Technology, Organizational, Client Factors, Limitation and Challenges and Other Relevant Factors in concern. Based on the initial results of Cronbach alpha, Bartlett test of sphericity (BTOS) and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy (KMOS) and the factor test, we retained all the attributes with appropriate factor loading. Further descriptive analysis of the findings revealed the current state of using and implementing DA by Malaysian Auditors and audit firms. The analysis suggests a high percentage of auditors and audit firms uses some sort of data analytics but is significantly limited to advance excel and in some areas of audit. The overall findings suggest that although Malaysian practitioners has started developing the use of DA in audit procedures but there are significant limitations and constraint. The findings of this study would be a very critical contributor for standard setters and regulators and as each and every factor has been discussed in different angles, making sure the adopters of DA are well aware of the concerning issues and the benefits in implementing DA in Audit
Public perception towards conservation of heritage buildings in Berlin and Kuala Lumpur / Shahariah Norain Shaharuddin
Get PDFThis study examines the local public perception towards the intention to conserve the heritage buildings and sites in the city area. The need for an effective public interest and integrated heritage conservation in the city is vital which resolve the issues on the demolition of historic buildings. The objective of this study is to investigate the perception of attitudes, subject norms and perceived behavior control of the local public that influence the behavior towards the intention to conserve the heritage building in the city area. This study also investigates the behavior of local public from the opinion of stakeholders towards conserving the heritage building sites in the city area in Berlin and Kuala Lumpur. The study has adopted the Theory of Reasoned Action and Theory Perceived Behavior Control to identify the interest of individuals to perform a specific behavior intention. The research design is an explanatory sequential mixed method which involves the quantitative and qualitative method by using questionnaire survey and interview. The findings from the quantitative method using PLS-SEM Path Model analysis revealed that the relationship on attitude of local public in Kuala Lumpur was supported the intention, however, in Berlin, the relationship was not supported the intention to conserve the heritage buildings in the city area. Perhaps, every area or whether in Asia and Europe has a distinctive cultural style for each urban and city area. Also, the elimination of data during validity and reliability cause the means of the results were imbalance for data in Kuala Lumpur. Meanwhile, the findings for subjective norms and perceived behavior control have supported the intention to conserve the heritage buildings for both countries in KL and Berlin. The qualitative results indicated that public perception of behavior from stakeholders’ opinion that the local public aware the importance to conserve the heritage building because it represents brand and product as city identity, the sense of place to individual, community and society, the education and knowledge is important to increase awareness and due to lack of motivation and support has made the public involvement less interest. The heritage buildings and sites are essential to city development because heritage is the reflection of community and society history; it will able to understand and respect people who lived before for the benefits to generation
Historical and future antarctic precipitation based on cmip5 models, reanalysis data and in situ measurements / Malcolm Tang Siong Yii
Get PDFThe study of precipitation in Antarctica is one of the most studied research topics today. The reliability and accuracy of climate models in simulating Antarctic precipitation, however, are still debatable. Measuring precipitation in Antarctica poses many distinctive challenges. This work attempts to establish a comprehensive study of precipitation in Antarctica. The first part of the study assesses a year-long measurements from five precipitation instruments with reanalysis datatsets and satellite data. The tipping bucket gauges (TBGs) were observed to be less sensitive compared to laser-based sensors (LBSs). Case studies of the daily precipitation and seasonal precipitation measurements showed VPF-730 to be the most reliable precipitation sensor among the instruments. The reanalyses had a positive correlation with wind speed, in particular the precipitation measurement from the Japanese 55-year Reanalysis (JRA-55). During strong wind events, the GPCP 1-Degree-Daily (1DD) was unable to fully capture the effect of wind, and hence the relatively low precipitation amount. The Laser Precipitation Monitor (LPM) and Campbell Scientific-700 (CS700H) had instrumental errors during the study. Installing multiple LBSs at different locations (in close proximity) can help identify inconsistency in the readings. For the second part of the study, we assess the precipitation and surface air temperature (SAT) of Antarctica (90 oS to 60 oS) using CMIP5 models and the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts “Interim” reanalysis (ERA-Interim); the National Centers for Environmental Prediction Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR); JRA-55; and the Modern Era Retrospective-analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) datasets for 1979–2005. For precipitation, the time series show that the MERRA and JRA-55 have increased significantly from 1979 to 2005, while the ERA-Interim and CFSR have insignificant changes. The reanalyses also have low correlation with one another (generally less than +0.69). 37 CMIP5 models show increasing trend, 18 of which are significant. The resulting CMIP5 multimodel mean (MMM) also has a significant increasing trend of 0.29 ± 0.06 mm year−1. For SAT, the reanalyses show insignificant changes and have high correlation with one another, while the CMIP5 MMM shows a significant increasing trend. The variability of precipitation and SAT of MMM could affect the significance of its trend. One of the many reasons for the large differences in precipitation is the resolution of the CMIP5 models. The final part of the study involves using CMIP5 models to predict precipitation and SAT trends in Antarctica under four different representative concentration pathways (RCP): RCP 2.6, RCP 4.5, RCP 6.0 and RCP 8.5 for the year 2006-2100. The study shows that for precipitation, the Peninsula has the highest trend regardless of scenarios. For SAT, the interior region has the highest trend, followed by the Weddell Sea off the coast of Halley. For the projection of SAT, the consistency of the CMIP5 models in simulating accurate historical SAT climatology no longer appear in the RCP experiments. However, the consistency of the projection from different models increases as the Greenhouse gases (GHG) concentration increases. The correlation between SAT and precipitation increases as the GHG concentration increases
Influence of characteristics of marine macroalgae on feeding preferences of the milkfish (Chanos chanos) in Peninsular Malaysia / Lim Wai Yin
Get PDFHerbivores can alter several ecological mechanisms including interactions between native and non-native autotrophs that may determine invasion success of the non-native autotrophs. This study looked into the autotroph-herbivore interactions in coastal marine ecosystems of Peninsular Malaysia, mainly to determine if autotroph nutritional components and geographical differences significantly influence herbivore feeding behaviours. The relative consumption rate (RCR) of milkfish (Chanos chanos Forsskål), a generalist herbivore obtained from the Straits of Malacca was documented through feeding trials using 12 macroalgal species collected from different coastal areas of the Straits of Malacca, the Straits of Johor, and the South China Sea. The herbivore was observed to feed selectively (P<0.05) on the tested macroalgal species, with Valoniopsis pachynema (G.Martens) Børgesen and Cladophora prolifera (Roth) Kützing from the coastal areas of the South China Sea has the highest RCR (94.04 mg g-1 day-1 and 78.20 mg g-1 day-1, respectively). Contrarily, Padina gymnosphora (Kützing) Sonder collected from the Straits of Johor was the least preferred species with the lowest RCR (1.74 mg g-1 day-1). Based on the nutritional analysis, the most consumed species V. pachynema and the least consumed species P. gymnosphora had the lowest and highest total nitrogen content, respectively. A significant inverse correlation was found between the RCR and total nitrogen content of macroalgae, implying the possibility of nutrient-specific compensatory feeding by the herbivore. Besides total nitrogen content, the RCR was also negatively correlated with total phenolic content, where the least consumed species P. gymnosphora recorded the highest total phenolic content. This study also found that the morpho-functional groups of macroalgae may exert influence over herbivore feeding preferences, whereby two tested filamentous macroalgae were consumed in greater amounts than species from other functional groups such as corticated foliose macroalgae. The overall findings demonstrate that the feeding behaviours of a generalist herbivore may depend directly or indirectly on multifaceted factors, including the nutritional quality, novelty, and morphology of the autotrophs
Analysis of body and tail of a flapping drone / Chai Yuan
Get PDFThe Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV) is a kind of unmanned aerial vehicle with a small size, which has a unique performance that larger aircrafts do not have. MAV can fly in confined spaces and perform hover, forward flight, etc. The flapping wing micro aerial vehicle is one type of flight imitates the insects (birds), which can fly based on the flapping wing. Compared with fixed-wing aircraft, the flapping wing micro aerial vehicle (FWMAV) has a smaller volume, lighter weight, and higher flight efficiency. FWMAV can be largely used in military and civil applications. In this project, the flapping drone is a type of flapping wing micro aerial vehicle. The aerodynamic focus of the fuselage will move behind the center of gravity due to the effect of the tail. At the same time, the different angles of the tail surface will produce different moments to change the flight attitude of flapping drone and maintain a corresponding balance. Based on the research about the flying mechanism of birds and insects, this research project presented some aspects: the control of flying attitude, the angle between tail and body, the model of body and tail. An improved flapping drone model was designed according to the prototype, which includes some main components: wing, tail, fuselage, control system, mechanical structure. The effects of the different angle of the tail were tested under different inlet velocity. Moreover, we considered different pitch angles (from -45°to +45°) of the fuselage to simulate the real flying attitude based on the ANSYS method and actual experiment. After compared different conditions, the reasonable 20° tail angle was chosen in this project
Fluid flow analysis of low-altitute agricultural UAV pesticide spraying device / Han Dan
Get PDFThe nozzle is an important part of the drone pesticide spraying device. The quality of the nozzle directly affects the atomization performance. Fan nozzles are widely used in the field of plant protection in agriculture, forestry, pest control, and weed removal. When using drones to spray pesticides, the spraying velocity, the spraying range of the pesticides, and the atomized particle size are all key factors that directly affect the efficiency of pesticide use. This paper uses SOLIDWORKS and ANSYS software to design and simulate. The boundary conditions are kept the same, and the influence of the nozzle's grooving angle (α), nozzle cavity diameter (D), and nozzle throat length (L) on fluid velocity, pressure, and mass flow is measured. Then, this project report compares and studies the influence of the changes of different structural parameters on the internal flow field of the combined flat fan nozzle, and find the influence relationship between different structural parameters and nozzle atomization performance; and the best structure corresponding to the nozzle with the optimal atomization performance parameter combination. Pesticide residues and droplet drift are minimized to reduce pesticide waste and environmental pollution.
The research observes the pressure and velocity distribution of the fluid flow inside the nozzle. By comparing the results concluded that the fluid flows from the nozzle inlet to the nozzle outlet, the pressure of the flow field inside the nozzle gradually decreases, and the velocity gradually increases. The pressure and velocity at the nozzle groove vary the most. The grooving angle of the nozzle has the greatest influence on the fluid velocity and spraying range. The cavity diameter and grooving angle of the fan nozzle have the greatest influence on the mass flow. The nozzle cavity diameter and throat length have a small effect on fluid velocity. The shape and droplet quality of the spray of the combined iv flat fan nozzle is better than the flat fan nozzle. The simulation results of 13 combined flat fan nozzles are compared and analyzed comprehensively, and the nozzle structure parameters are combined as follows: the nozzle with the parameters of α=35°, d=3mm, l=2mm has the best atomization performance out of the 13 nozzles
Investigation of manual material handling on musculoskeletal disorder at computer numerical control workstation / Nor Suliani Abdullah
Get PDFManual Material Handling (MMH) tasks have been recognized among the major source of work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WMSD) in automotive industry and they are commonly practiced at Computer Numerical Control (CNC) workstation. At this workstation, workers act as a material transfer device in the process of loading and unloading products from pallets to machines. The physical interaction of workers to machine is not self-chosen and workers are forced to follow the pace of running CNC machine. The worst situation happens when workers are required to operate more than one machine concurrently. The mismatch interaction between workers and machine exposes workers to awkward working posture which leads to high risk of WMSDs. Currently, investigation of MMH tasks at CNC workstation is still scarce. Thus, this study aims to determine the prevalence of WMSDs among MMH workers at CNC workstation and to find the relationship of loads to energy expenditure and back postural angles. The methodology in this study comprises an industrial survey and a series of experimental tasks. A total of 113 workers from automotive industry participated in the industrial survey while 14 workers and 14 novices participated in experimental tasks. The results of industrial survey reveal that 78.8% of the workers experience the symptoms of WMSDs on various regions of their body. The highest prevalence of the WMSDs is at the lower back with 85.8%. The significant factors that are associated with the WMSDs are bending the trunk slightly forward with hands above the knee level, twisting the trunk (over 45°) while bending sideways and lifting object less than 3kg. The experimental results reveal that the maximum energy expenditure is found when novice (bending: 4.32kcal/min; squatting: 4.95kcal/min) and worker (bending: 3.64kcal/min; squatting: 4.39 kcal/min) performed 3 kg load tasks. Novice has 23.73% and 16.53% higher of energy expenditure compared to worker for 1kg load tasks in bending and squatting respectively. Novice also has 15.74% and 11.31% higher energy expenditure for 3kg load
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tasks in bending and squatting respectively. Load is discovered to positively correlates with energy expenditure in both subjects and both postures. Load also have positive correlation with back postural angles in many tasks whereas has negative correlation with back postural twisting angles. The most correlated back postural angles with load occurs at Task 10 which refers to lowering task. The deviation of back postural angle increases as load increases. Novice exhibits higher back postural angles compared to worker. The result reveals that the optimum working posture is at neutral trunk posture with the lowest energy expenditure in which the deviation of trunk flexion angles fall within a range of 0° and 20° from the sagittal plane
Development of plasticized methylcellulosepotato starch blend based polymer electrolytes for protonic cell and supercapacitor applications / Muhamad Hafiz Hamsan
Get PDFIn the current work, the preparation of the polymer electrolyte (PE) systems consists of
methylcellulose-potato starch polymer matrix, ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) as ionic
source and glycerol as plasticizer are done by solution cast technique. X-ray diffraction
(XRD) has shown that blend with 60 wt.% methylcellulose and 40 wt.% potato starch
possesses the lowest degree of crystallinity. The possible interactions within the PE are
verified using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. As the concentration of
NH4NO3 is at 30 wt.%, the conductivity is optimized up to (4.37 ± 0.16) × 10-5 S cm-1
and then maximized to (1.26 ± 0.1) × 10−3 S cm−1 with the assist of 40 wt.% glycerol.
The conductivity is found to be affected by the ionic mobility (), diffusivity (D) and
number density (n). The addition of glycerol has changed the conductivity-temperature
relation from Arrhenius to Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann rule. PE in this work is discovered
to obey the non-Debye behavior via dielectric study. From transference number
measurement (TNM), ions are considered as the dominant charge carrier and the cation
transference number (tc) for the highest conducting electrolyte (C4) is 0.40.
Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) portrays thermal stability up to 150 C for the
plasticized electrolyte. XRD, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and field emission
scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) have strengthened the conductivity patterns. C4
is electrochemically stable up to 1.88 V. Galvanostatic charge-discharge measurement
of the EDLC has been supported with cyclic voltammetry (CV) analysis. The protonic
cells are discharged at various temperatures and constant currents. The rechargeability
has been tested at 1 and 4 mA for 15 cycles
Breeding and conservation ecology of Asian hornbills (AVES: Bucerotidae) in Kinabatangan, Sabah / Ravinder Kaur Kirpal Singh
No full textEight species of Asian hornbills persist in the Kinabatangan, Sabah. These are the critically endangered Helmeted hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil), endangered Wrinkled hornbill (Rhabdotorrhinus corrugatus) and White-crowned hornbill (Berenicornis comatus), three vulnerable species Rhinoceros hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros), Black hornbill (Anthracoceros malayanus) and Wreathed hornbill (Rhyticeros undulatus), the near threatened Bushy-crested hornbill (Anorrhinus galeritus) and the least concern Oriental Pied hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris convexus). Hornbills are mainly frugivorous and they are known as secondary cavity-nesting birds. In Kinabatangan, the hornbill populations have been declining over the past few decades. Past timber extraction has left behind highly degraded forest patches in the Kinabatangan and this may constrain the availability of tree cavities and food plants for hornbills. To investigate the availability of these resources, 30 plots (250m x 250m) in a 10km2 forest were systematically established and surveyed. Imperfect detection along transect due to concealed tree cavities was addressed in the zero-inflated Poisson process occupancy model. Fourteen trees with cavities were detected in 10 out of 30 plots (ψ =0.33). However, the Bayesian prior distribution with the data collected revealed that trees with cavities occupied 25 plots out of 30 plots (ψ =0.82). Nineteen empty tree cavities were detected, formed mainly in genus Madhuca (family Sapotaceae). Thirty-two fig trees, believed to be the main food resource of hornbills, were detected in 20 out of 30 plots (ψ =0.66). Based on the Bayesian prior distribution and the data collected, fig trees occupied 27 plots out of 30 plots (ψ =0.87). For both trees with cavities and fig trees, the model yielded a higher estimate of occupancy as it factors in detectability. Due to financial and manpower constraints, the occurrence of hornbills was investigated in place of abundance estimates. Five species (i.e. Rhinoceros hornbill, Wrinkled hornbill, Black hornbill, Bushy crested hornbill and Oriental Pied hornbill) were common, perhaps due to their affinity towards lowland forests and diet diversity. Opportunistic observations also yielded additional information on hornbill diet and behaviours. The mean internal temperatures and humidity levels of six natural nests were explored and it ranged from 25.8-28.8°C and 88.2-99.8% respectively, suggesting the importance of low temperature and high humidity conditions within the cavity. These parameters may influence the success of incubation and egg hatching. Therefore, achieving these parameters was imperative in the development of artificial nest boxes in this study. Subsequently, these boxes attracted several hornbill species. In addition, six abandoned natural nest cavities of Oriental Pied hornbills were restored, resulting in the fledging of nine chicks. The restored cavities were used swiftly, another indication of the lack of suitable natural cavities. The poorly studied Helmeted hornbill was observed from 2013 to 2018. They nested in the dry months, inside a Shorea pauciflora tree. Their breeding diet consisted of figs and stick insects. Helmeted hornbills invest greatly in parental care, with the female staying inside the cavity for five months with the chick while the male supplied food. In conclusion, this study describes the population state of hornbills in Kinabatangan, provides new information on Helmeted hornbill parental care, diet preferences and breeding duration, general hornbill plant based diet and improvements in artificial nest box designs. Furthermore, wildlife managers are provided with insights into the availability of hornbill key resources for their management plans
An acoustic study of the monophthongs of Ulu Terengganu Malay Dialect / Siti Nadiah Nuwawi
No full textAmongst sub-dialects spoken in the region of Terengganu, the dialect of Ulu Terengganu Malay is the most incomprehensible variety that varies greatly in the aspects of pronunciation and lexical as compared to the standard Terengganu dialect. However, the uniqueness of the language is insufficiently addressed by academic scholars, especially acoustic features of the dialect. Through an acoustic analysis method, this research attempted to investigate the quality of monophthongs produced by the Ulu Terengganu Malay speakers. The data was collected from a group of male and female Ulu Terengganu Malay speakers. A word list and pictures were used as instruments in the data collection procedures. The F1 and F2 values of the monophthongs shown through the waveforms and spectrogram in PRAAT were measured and analysed. The independent sample t-test was used in order to further identify the vowels produced by the male and female speakers. The results showed that the monophthongs; /i/, /a/, /ə/ and /e/ that were produced by the Ulu Terengganu Malay speakers found to be similar with those reported in previous similar studies, whereas five other identified monophthongs; /ɛ/, /æ/, /ɔ/, /ɒ/ and /u/ demonstrated distinctive phonetic traits. The findings have also proven that there are eight vowels present in the Ulu Terengganu Malay dialect which are /i/, /e/, /ɛ/, /a/, /ə/, /ɔ/, /ɒ/ and /u/ and the vowels were significantly different between genders