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Response to exposure draft on bearer plant: An insight from capture theory / Yew Kuok Weng
Get PDFDespite of steady progress in global convergence of accounting standards, certain International Accounting Standards (IAS) or International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) remain controversial and in need of major overhaul. IAS 41, Agriculture is one of the accounting standards for specialised industry where universal acceptance has not been gained among the stakeholders across the world. Particularly, the stakeholders connected to agricultural sector often express strong criticism towards the IAS 41, but little attention has been given to them by the international accounting standard setter. The long-waited revision of IAS 41 only took place after 14 years since the issuance of IAS 41 in 2000. However, the revision only covered a very limited scope of IAS 41 whereby many of the issues as perceived by the stakeholders remained unanswered. Thus, a fuller understanding of the stakeholders’ perception on IAS 41 is considered as particularly urgent, as these insights or input eventually leads to a more robust and comprehensive accounting standard for agricultural sector. The perceived issues regarding IAS 41 is examined through analysing the comment letters in response to the exposure draft on bearer plant. By examining these comment letters thoroughly, stakeholders’ perception on the existing and proposed IAS 41 is to be documented and studied in a way to identify as to why many of the stakeholders rejected the IAS 41. Next, during the revision of IAS 41, numerous national accounting-standard regulators have been observed to promote the interest of the local agricultural firms through the IASB’s due process whereby these regulators openly support the lobbying position of their regulatees. This phenomenon is considered as unusual from the lens of normative theories of regulation, which generally assumes that regulators tend to advocate the interest of the consumers at large rather than working closely with the corporates. So far, there is insufficient empirical evidence justifying the collusion in response between the national regulators and corporates in the setting of IASB’s due process. Thus, the second objective of this study examines the interplay between them in influencing the revision of IAS 41 through the lens of regulatory capture. A direct approach of content analysis has been used to answer these research questions whereby the analysis starts with regulatory capture theory and relevant research findings as guidance for initial codes. All comment letters are coded with the respective lobbying behaviour of the stakeholders, statistically compared, and discussed in detailed. Overall, most of the respondent is favourable with the ED on bearer plant with minor interest groups opposing strongly to the proposed IAS 41 due to the limited amendments which specifically addressed the needs of certain interest groups. Further, collusion in response between the regulatees and national regulators has been revealed whereby these constituents demonstrated similar lobbying behaviour in many aspects consistently, which is an indication of regulatory capture. Content analysis further reveals that the motivation of some national regulators to take part in the IASB’s due process is to support their regulatees due to the overlapping interests among them. These findings are expected to provide valuable insights to the IASB’s annual improvement project in terms of the comprehensiveness of the IAS 41 while also contributes to the literature which relates to fair value debate and effective strategy for lobbying
An evaluation of the effectiveness of counter-violent extremism measures in the Malaysian Armed Forces / Nizlan Mohamed
Get PDFThis research was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of counter-violent extremism (CVE) measures in the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF). The issue of violent extremism and terrorism has implications on the MAF in terms of the involvement of some of its personnel in such activities. The MAF has introduced CVE measures to curb this phenomenon from escalating. This research was carried out to examine measures undertaken involving two groups of participants from the MAF. The first group comprised military personnel who had undergone PERISAI SATRIA, a de-radicalization program while the second group was military personnel exposed to Task Force PERISAI WIRA, a roadshow program. Both are CVE measures under the supervision of the Defence Intelligence Staff Division (DISD) of the MAF. This study uses the qualitative method. Case study research is adopted whereby data are collected from individual interviews comprising military personnel from the Malaysian Army, Royal Malaysian Navy and Royal Malaysian Air Force services. An interview protocol is designed as a guideline for the researcher to conduct this study and semi-structured questions were posed to all participants. All data are analysed using the Nvivo 12 tools method, a Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) program and manual interpretation to have a systematic and comprehensive data output. The findings of this dissertation indicate that suspected military personnel are inclined to be involved in violent extremism domains based on psychological manifestation, religiosity fundamentals and other management issues. Other issues that influence military personnel involved in violent extremism were also identified. This research proposessuggestions and recommendations to improve the current counterviolent extremism efforts in the MAF. The study hopes to make a significant contribution to the organization in terms of improving the counter-violent extremism mechanism for preventing or mitigating the terrorism phenomenon. It is also hoped that this study will provide valuable insights for current and future global efforts against violent extremism
Optimization of bioethanol production, engine performance and exhaust emissions from Manihot glaziovii and sweet sorghum in a spark ignition engine / Abdi Hanra Sebayang
Get PDFThe ever-increasing fossil fuel consumption over the years is attributable to economic and population growth, which in turn, increases greenhouse gas emissions. Bioethanol is one of the promising solutions to address the depletion of fossil fuels as well as environmental problems. Manihot glaziovii tubers and sweet sorghum grains are inedible feedstocks that can be used for bioethanol production. The carbohydrate content (70%) of these biomasses makes them suitable as feedstocks for bioethanol production. In this study, enzymatic hydrolysis (liquefaction and saccharification) was used to obtain the reduction of sugars. The enzymes α-amylase from Bacillus licheniformis Type XII-A and amyloglucosidase from Aspergillus niger were used as the catalysts for liquefaction and saccharification. The reduced sugars were converted into ethanol during the fermentation process by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Distillation was carried out to remove water from the bioethanols. Box-Behnken design was used to optimize the enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation process parameters. The hydrolysis process parameters (substrate loading, α-amylase concentration, amyloglucosidase concentration, and stroke speed) were optimized to maximize the reduction sugar yield. The fermentation process parameters (yeast concentration, reaction temperature, and agitation speed) were optimized to maximize the bioethanol yield. The optimum reduced sugar yields were 196.15 and 170.26 g/L for Manihot glaziovii and sweet sorghum, respectively. The optimum yeast concentration, reaction temperature, and agitation speed were 1.18 g/L, 36.48°C and 217 rpm, respectively, for Manihot glaziovii, and the values were 1.29 g/L, 35.36°C and 188.97 rpm, respectively, for sweet sorghum. The corresponding bioethanol yields were 94.45 and 82.13 g/L for Manihot glaziovii and sweet sorghum, respectively. The physicochemical properties of both the bioethanols fulfilled the specifications of the ASTM D4806 standard. Engine tests were carried out using a single-cylinder four-stroke spark ignition engine to determine the engine performance (engine torque, brake power, brake specific fuel consumption, brake thermal efficiency) and exhaust emissions (carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides) of the Manihot glaziovii bioethanol-gasoline blends (ME5, ME10, ME15, and ME20) and sweet sorghum bioethanol-gasoline blends (SE5, SE10, SE15, and SE20). In general, the engine performance parameters were better and the exhaust emissions were lower for the bioethanol-gasoline blends compared with those for gasoline. For the ME20 and SE20 blends, the brake specific fuel consumption decreased while the brake thermal efficiency increased at an engine speed of 3200 rpm. The corrosive behavior of copper coupons immersed in the bioethanol-gasoline blends was also investigated in this study. The surface morphological changes of the copper coupons were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy. The rate of copper corrosion was faster for the ME20 and SE20 blends compared with that for gasoline. These blends also had the fastest rate of copper corrosion compared with the all blends tested in this study. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the Manihot glaziovii tubers and sweet sorghum grains have great potential as bioethanol feedstocks and the bioethanol-gasoline blends produced from these biomasses can be used in the spark ignition engine without modifications
A needs analysis of oral communicative skills in Mandarin by Malaysian hotel attendants / Wong Chih Khuan
Get PDFTourism is an important industry in Malaysia, contributing to one-sixth of the national gross domestic product for the past 10 years. Tourists from China made up the third largest group among the foreign visitors in Malaysia. Almost 25% of their expenditure is spent on accommodation, thus the management of many Malaysian hotels are promoting training on communicative Mandarin that focuses on hospitality language to their frontliners, i.e. the service attendants. Therefore, there is a need to identify the challenges faced by hotel service attendants when serving Chinese-speaking guests. The objectives of this research is (1) to identify the Mandarin communication skills needed by Malaysian hotel service attendants when interacting with Chinese-speaking tourists from China, (2) the Mandarin communication challenges in listening and speaking encountered by Malaysian hotel service attendants when interacting with Chinese-speaking tourists from China, and (3) Pinyin phoneme that they faced problem to differentiate or pronounce with. This study utilised the concurrent triangulation methodology to integrate both quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (interview) strategies to address the research questions. A total of 54 hotel service attendants from six hotels located in Klang Valley, Malaysia, were enrolled in the questionnaire survey, while 10 service attendants, training and human resource managers were engaged in the semi-structured interview. The results showed that there was a need for the hotel service attendants to learn communicative Mandarin that is specifically designed to serve the Chinese-speaking hotel guests. The service attendants had problems in listening to and speaking Mandarin when communicating with these guests, especially in differentiating and pronouncing difficult sounds like “Zi and Zhi”, “Ci and Chi”, “Si and Shi”. This research filled in a knowledge gap in Business Mandarin for the hospitality industry and served as a pioneering research for the field of Mandarin for Specific Purposes in Malaysia
Optimisation of biomass and lipid production of a tropical thraustochytrid Aurantiochytrium sp. UMACC-T023 in submerged-liquid fermentation for large-scale biodiesel production / Mohamad Nor Azzimi Sohedein
Get PDFA tropical thraustochytrid, Aurantiochytrium sp. UMACC-T023, was optimised for high biomass and lipid production in submerged-liquid fermentation (SLF). Biomass and lipid production were optimised based on glucose, polypeptone, and yeast extract concentration using response surface methodology (RSM). In RSM, the applied central composite design (CCD) showed that the optimisation model was significant for all variables studied. Yeast extract and polypeptone were associated with significant effects in UMACC-T023 biomass production with p < 0.05. The model was validated by employing the optimised media composition in shake flasks and in 1.4-L stirred-tank bioreactors. The optimised media composition for both biomass and lipid production was 10 g L-1 glucose, 15.08 g L-1 polypeptone, and 13.56 g L-1 yeast extract. Biomass production in the bioreactor increased 2.12-fold compared with the shake flask culture utilising the same optimised media composition. This result demonstrated that the optimized media composition can be utilised for large-scale lipid production of UMACC-T023 for potential biodiesel feedstock as it also fulfilled the international standards for biodiesel
CFD modelling of multiphase flow in static mixer / Viknesvaran Silverrajan
Get PDFModelling of Multiphase flow through a Kenics static mixer were presented in this paper. Multiphase mixing is a challenging process in industries such as pharmaceutical, food and petroleum since two-different phases can be immiscible towards each other. Stirred tank mixing is the most common method used in industries. However, this type of method costs a lot in terms of energy and manpower specially when mixing immiscible liquids. Hence, The Kenics Static Mixer could be a good solution for multiphase mixing when its correctly configured and studied. Two phases used in this paper were aqueous solution: refined CMC as continuous phase and oil: silicon oil 50 as dispersed phase. The first part of this paper is validation of the simulation. For this purpose, a CFD modelling journal selected and compared. After the validation, the same model was used to study the effect of static mixer blade twist angle and length on the pressure drop and mixing efficiency. The modelling involved a static mixer with 10 blades inserted in clockwise and anti-clockwise manner. For the validation purpose, the pressure drop across a blade is compared with the journal and the mixing efficiency is validated by observing the local volume fraction distribution for the dispersed phase. Then, the effect of twisting angle on static mixer performance studied by twisting the blade with angle of 1800, 1500, 1200 and 900. And then, the 1800 blade is used to study the effect of blade length with the variation of 30mm, 33.75mm, 37.5mm, 41.25mm and 45mm. The ansys R3 student version were used to simulate. The validation of pressure drops showed good agreement with the literature for Reynolds number of 100 and 200. The study on mixing performance showed good agreement with the literature eventhough the pattern were not exactly same. This could be due to the limitation of 512K mesh cells in ansys student version and the different meshing technique were applied. The 900 degree blade outperform the standard 1800 degree blade in terms of pressure drop and mixing performance. The pressure drop could be reduced from 15kPa to 9.8kPa. The quantitative analysis of mixing performance showed that 900 degree blade had better uniformity index compared to 1800 degree blade. The length of the blade does not show a significant effect on the pressure drop nor mixing efficiency
Exopolysaccharide from the liquid culture of Ganoderma lucidum as feed additive for red hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis sp.) / Jaganath Puvanen Thiran
Get PDFFeed additive plays a significant role in sustaining fish production. Exopolysaccharide (EPS) obtained from the fermented mycelium of Ganoderma lucidum produced by using submerged-liquid fermentation (SLF) was proposed as a feed additive in this study for red hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis sp.). Body composition, organosomatic indices, and haematological parameters were observed in fish fed with three different diets supplemented with EPS (1 g/kg, 2 g/kg, and 3 g/kg). Although higher concentration EPS feed was observed to produce minor effect on body composition and organosomatic indices, significant effect on both parameters was observed in fish fed with 1 g/kg diet. All diets showed condition factor (CF) values of above 1.4, indicating good fish health and isometric growth. Furthermore, the blood analysis of EPS-treated red hybrid tilapia showed that haemoglobin (HGB: 7.43 g/dl), haematocrit (HCT: 37.50 %), and red blood cell (RBC: 2.69 106/mm3) were significantly increased (P<0.05) at 3 g/kg while the white blood cell (WBC: 176.65 103/mm3) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC: 198.50 g/L) were numerically high at 3 g/kg. These findings showed that high EPS supplemented diet could enhance the health status of fish by boosting its immunity. However, the diet supplemented with 1 g/kg is sufficient in contributing to the nutritional value of fillet and improving the health status of red hybrid tilapia, which is suitable for fish farming
The semantics of makan ‘to eat’ in Malay / Mufidah Mohamed
No full textThis study will explore and explain the cognitive semantics of makan ‘to eat’ in Malay, as there are various usages of makan ‘to eat’ that do not only denote their literal senses, but also metaphorical meanings such as makan hati (lit: to eat one’s heart) ‘to get offended’ and makan tuan (lit: to eat an owner) ‘to be betrayed’. The data will be collected from authentic texts which are online news articles, published novels, books and magazines. The data will be explained using Conceptual Blending Theory (Fauconnier & Turner, 1998, 2002) to demonstrate the mechanism of meaning constructions between two input spaces. Moreover, by employing CBT, the study will justify reasons for all the expressions containing the word makan ‘to eat’. Also, when necessary, sociocultural aspects will be explored. However, the results cannot be generalised as the data collected are from selected and limited sources only. The findings show that the usages of the word makan ‘to eat’ can be grouped into literal, semi-literal and extensions that consist of endocentric, partial-endocentric and exocentric (for compounds). Some metaphorical usages of makan ‘to eat’ were used in form of phrase
Hexacyanoferrate-based nanocomposites for the electrochemical sensing of hydrogen peroxide and nicotine / Lee Pui Kee
No full textMetal hexacyanoferrate (MeHCF) is a unique material that not only acquired immense research interest in electrochemical sensing field but also possesses potential as energy storage material. As such, the present thesis sought to investigate the facile method to synthesis MeHCF-based nanocomposites and explore its possible applications. First, comparative research on the synthesis of Prussian blue-polypyrrole (PB-PPy) nanocomposite by novel self-assembly (SA) method and conventional electrodeposition technique was performed. PB-PPy nanocomposites were prepared by the novel self-assembly method and via the electrodeposition approach. The nanocomposites were compared in term of surface morphology and its electrochemical and electrocatalytic characteristics. The results indicated that the SA PB-PPy with 10 deposition cycles demonstrated good sensing behaviour towards hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) with a sensitivity of 384.7 mA M-1 cm-2 whereas capacitive property was observed when the deposition cycles were increased to 20. The SA approach offers easy preparation of electrodes, which allows control of its electrochemical behaviour and sensitivity towards H2O2. The second part of this work emphasised on the facile synthesis of PB analogue: copper hexacyanoferrate (CuHCF) towards nicotine. Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was used as a substrate to enhance operational stability. The linear range of this fabricated electrochemical sensor was between 0.03 to 5 mM, which is the highest among the reported works, with a compatible sensitivity of 211.5 mA M-1 cm-2. In addition, this sensor was applied for the detection of nicotine in vape (e-cigarette) sample from the market. For the last section of this work, the capacitive behaviour of SA PB-PPy by 20 deposition cycles was investigated as capacitor material. The areal capacitance of PB- PPy was at least ten-fold of pristine PB. This revealed PB-PPy can be a promising candidate for energy storage purpose
Effectiveness of reminders via messaging apps in improving clinic attendance and medication compliance among patients with depression / Low Pei Teeng
No full textBackground: Non-attendance at clinic appointments and medication non-compliance
are both common issues within psychiatric settings, with forgetting being specified as
one the most common reasons. This phenomenon may be worse for patients who are
suffering from depression. Thus, the use of regular reminders in some format for such
patients could be potentially very beneficial. With cognizance of the exponential growth
of smartphone usage and social media awareness during the past decade, a messaging
apps maybe a potentially efficient and cost-effective method of sending such reminders
in a healthcare setting.
Objective: To determine the potential effectiveness of sending reminders via messaging
apps to improve clinic attendance and medication compliance among patients with
depression.
Methodology: This study used an open-label randomized controlled trial design. A total
of 183 patients, all diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) were recruited
from two psychiatric clinics located in tertiary hospitals. All the participants were
randomized into an intervention group and a control group, and followed-up over a
period of two months. Participants in the intervention group received two types of
reminders via their preferred apps: 1) Clinic appointment reminders which were sent a
day before their allocated appointment date, and 2) Medication reminders which were
sent weekly.
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Results: The Intention-to-treat approach was used for the analysis of the 183
participants. At the close of trial period, the results presented a significant improvement
of clinic attendance rates with the intervention group (76.8%) compared to the control
group (56.4%) (P = 0.002). Similarly to medication compliance, the intervention group
also presented a significantly higher BARS percentage (60.2%) in comparison to the
control group (37.1%) (P < 0.001). In this study, the treatment given for the depression
was generally effective in all participants as proven by the significant result of the
MADRS score change in both groups with the P value of <0.001 respectively. Aside
from that, it was found that the intervention group has a significantly higher mean score
change (9.4, 95% CI [7.2, 11.6]) as compared with the control group (6.0, 95% CI [4.1,
7.9]) with a mean difference of 3.4 with 95% CI [0.4, 6.3] (P = 0.025). Hence, it may be
inferred that there is a significant association between receiving reminders and
depressive symptoms. As for reminder preferences, the majority of participants (53%)
stated their concerns relate to forgetting. This response was in accordance with the
result of reasons for defaulting on appointments, which showed 31% was due to
forgetting. Unsurprisingly, WhatsApp was the most preferred messaging service
amongst the participants by virtue of its high market penetration rate globally and in
Malaysia.
Conclusion: Reminders via messaging apps were found to be effective in improving
clinic attendance and medication compliance among patients with depression.
Messaging apps, with high penetration and effectiveness are able to render useful
service for reminder delivery within the healthcare setting.
Keywords: reminders; messaging apps; attendance; compliance; depressio