13474 research outputs found
Sort by
Factors with retirement behaviour among retirees and pre-retirees identified with a machine learning method / Muhammad Aizat Zainal Alam
No full textThe Malaysian population is greying, and most individuals were found not prepared for it. Many are implied to have low retirement savings as retirement was found considered not a top priority by Malaysians. With studies on the psychology of retirement driven by the rise of behavioural economics, the mental accounting effect where the prospect of gains and losses are weighted differently, and violation of fungibility between different categories of wealth and expenditure as per classical economic theory which impacts retirement behaviour can be anchored upon to explore further ways towards retirement preparedness among Malaysians given limited yet growing number of studies conducted to understand retirement among Malaysians. The Malaysian Ageing and Retirement Survey (MARS) Data Wave 1 is used for this study where the data was sampled via multiple-stage sampling framework where each region is stratified by urban and rural areas called enumeration blocks (EBs) which are proportionate to the population size of each region across 3,384 households. This study uses 3,067 responses which are then be coupled with a machine learning methodology (ranging from Naïve Bayesian, Generalised Linear Model, Logistic Regression, Artificial Neural Network, Decision Tree, Random Forest, and Gradient Boosted Trees) via RapidMiner Studio to expand the understanding of how categories of wealth and expenditures can affect retirement behaviour, given the increasingly important role of machine learning algorithms within the context of behavioural economics where it has been demonstrated to describe patterns and relationships in behavioural data better than standard statistical analysis. In this regard, it was found that a vast majority of individuals exhibit mental accounting behaviour (66% of total respondents weight the prospect of gains and losses differently), where it was also found that future income wealth category, such as retirement savings, have most predictive weightage on retirement satisfaction based on an artificial neural network model (ANN) with an accuracy rate of 80.33%. Moreover, a re-ranking of wealth priorities for pre-retirees who often think about retirement is called for to ensure that they achieve satisfaction later in retirement. Towards being more prepared for retirement, pre-retirees are encouraged to move from heavily saving in current assets wealth category such as in fixed deposits (which has the highest predictive weightage on the tendency of thinking about retirement based on an ANN model with an accuracy rate of 65.80%) towards more savings in future income wealth category such as in Private Retirement Schemes (PRS). It is demonstrated that not only mental accounting behaviour, but also the allocation according to mental accounting categories on top of demographic variables may have impact on retirement behaviour. Importantly, the evaluation of retirement wellbeing should equally focus on financial and psychological perspectives to ensure both are optimised accordingly, where organisations should focus on avenues to enhance an individual’s future income wealth category to enhance savings adequacy and retirement preparedness while the government can consider ways to improve income to encourage higher savings rate in tandem with the increasing provision of financial and psychological education on managing personal finances to the Malaysian population
A novel secure mud-based real time intrusion detection and prevention mechanism for IoT network / Noman Mazhar
No full textThe Internet of things increases the world's automation pace but simultaneously multiplies the number of security challenges for the IoT industry. Conventional secure frameworks depend on Intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDPS) as a defensive mechanism against attacks. These conventional networks based IDPS are not suitable for low-power and lossy networks like IoT. Therefore, the current secure frameworks use intrusion detection and prevention systems based on state of art techniques such as software-defined network (SDN) and manufacturer usage description (MUD). By design, SDN decouples the network devices' data and control plane, thus giving centralized control and complete network transparency, boosting the efficiency of network functions like IDPS. However, there is still no standardized mechanism to profile the IoT devices, as IoT device profiling is crucial for IoT security. As a result, the new standard MUD has been introduced. MUD defines the IoT profiles so that the devices can be limited to their intended operations. Most frameworks use SDN to implement and enforce MUD policies on IoT devices. However, these frameworks cannot prevent IoT devices from DDoS attacks and the attack detection is limited. Further, the MUD registration process requires an IoT device to be online all the time, but the network connectivity can be limited in some remote installations, causing registration failure. Thus, we have proposed H-MUD registration scheme based on hash-based MUD file authentication and localized storage to minimize the need for online connectivity to the server. In addition, we also propose, a framework known as MUDLite, by combining the proposed R-IDPS (SDN-based Realtime IDPS) and H-MUD (modified hash-based MUD). The framework has been designed in a distributed architecture. The decentralized design's impact is balancing network traffic load, especially in a flood attack. Also, the framework applies to heterogeneous IoT devices. For detection, the framework uses a support vector machine to detect ICMP flood and TCP SYN flood attacks. The machine learning model is capable of real-time training. The accuracy of the proposed R-IDPS against the intrusion detection system, especially under the stress conditions of DDoS attacks, is 97% to 99% with no false positives. Also, we use SHA-256 for H-MUD authentication and localized storage of MUD files improving the overall MUD registration process by up to 80% compared to the normal process, as shown by simulation. From our results, we can conclude that using SDN technology, the proposed MUD extension called MUDLite, can comprehensively mitigate DDoS attacks. Also, expedite the MUD registration using H-MUD-based on a secure hashing technique, resulting in a better secure IoT framework as compared to the
MUD alone.
Keywords
Design of plasmonic nanohole arrays on planar substrate and phtotnic crystal fibre tip for sensing application / Md Junayed
No full textPlasmonic sensing technology has attracted a lot of attention in ultrasensitive label-free bio and chemical sensing in recent years. A unique plasmonic nanohole structure with excellent transmission efficiency and nanometer-level linewidth is required to enable sensitive and specific biosensing. The research on sharp peaks mechanism in the transmission spectra for sensitivity detection as well as portability has been barely touched. Additionally, integrating plasmonic nanohole arrays on optical fiber tips is preferred over planar substrate due to its lightweight feature, immunity to electromagnetic interference, robustness, and miniaturization. Due to computational limitations, previous studies examined only a single unit cell of the plasmonic structure in periodic settings prior to fabrication. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time where the complete plasmonic nanohole arrays on optical fiber tip has been numerically computed for investigating the optical properties. In this thesis, plasmonic nanohole arrays on both planar substrate and photonic crystal fiber tip were studied which is enriched with multiple asymmetric spectral resonances. Numerous excitations, such as localized and propagating surface plasmon resonances are enriched in proposed plasmonic nanohole arrays. The proposed nanohole array structure, electromagnetic field distribution, and sensitivity were quantitatively analyzed using the fully vectorial finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Commercially available FDTD and MODE solver Lumerical Software has been utilized to implement this numerical study. The confinement of electric near-field distribution revealed the nature of propagating and localized surface plasmon resonances whereas the magnetic field distribution also revealed the different plasmonic modes within the nanohole. The proposed unit cell of octamer nanohole arrays on planar substrate has a figure of merit of 148.29, and an extremely high bulk sensitivity of 436.8 nm/RIU for the analyte layer refractive index of 1.33 to 1.38. The proposed octamer nanohole array sensor also showed a surface sensitivity of 9.876 nm/nm for the detection of an immobilized DNA monolayer. The proposed octamer nanohole array has a nanometer-level spectral linewidth of 1.81 nm and more than 70% transmission at wavelengths between 600 and 1150 nm. The proposed complete octamer nanohole arrays on optical fiber tip has a bulk sensitivity of 351.08 nm/RIU for the analyte layer refractive index of 1.33 to 1.38. Thus, proposed nanohole arrays can be used in both biosensing and chemical detection
Language maintenance and shift amongst Syrian Arab Muslim immigrants in Kuala Lumpur during the COVID-19 pandemic / Hanan Aldoukhi
No full textThis research falls within the scope of language maintenance and shift during COVID-19 among the Syrian Arab Muslim community in Malaysia which is a multilingual and multicultural country. This community migrated to Malaysia circa 2011, for many different reasons among those is after the war started in their home country which is Syria. This study focuses on four domains which are employment, education, friends, and home as proposed by Fishman (1972). The main objectives of this study are to explore Language Choice amongst Syrian Muslim families in Malaysia; the reasons for maintaining and/or shifting their Arabic languages; and the strategies followed by parents to maintain the participants’ language/s. There are close to no studies conducted during the COVID-19 and the effect hereof on language maintenance and shift among the Syrian immigrants in Malaysia. Qualitative study and semi structured interviews were employed. Online interviews were conducted with 10 families via Zoom application due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings show parents’ educational background have not affected children’s language acquiring. However, the type of school they go to has affected their language development. This study validates the findings of previous scholars’ study on language maintenance and shift where the more the number of domains a minority language is widely used the more likely the language can be maintained. The dissolution of Malaysia being a multiracial country can be a sign of social change in which maintaining the Syrian heritage language has become a challenge, whereas speaking English or Malay is a necessity of life in Malaysia
Controllable growth of tellurium-based films by electrochemical deposition technique / Yang Fan
No full textThermoelectric devices are composed of n-type and p-type materials. The purpose of this research was to study the controllability of tellurium (p-type) thin films. As for thin films, although the films are fabricated via many techniques, electrochemical deposition as one of many methods has some advantages, which can accurately control deposition parameters to obtain the corresponding film morphology and grain size. On the premise of being a material for thermoelectric microdevices, this work is aimedat growing a dense and homogeneous tellurium film in an atmospheric environment by electrodeposition at 300K. This study found that the CVcurve shifts in the positive direction with increasing deposition time. Based on the findings, we set up the initial potential and the stabilized potential to study the tellurium film. In addition, three different additives (tartaric acid, polyvinyl alcohol, and sodium lignosulfonate) have been used and the pH was adjusted to optimize the morphology of tellurium films
Exploring the impact of CEO power on firm performance in an emerging economy: The role of firm risk and board power / Kashif
No full textIn recent decades, the importance of corporate governance (CG) has surged, emphasizing the role of CEOs in firm decision-making, particularly in financial matters. Grounded in the approach/inhibition theory of power from social psychology, this research investigates how CEO power dimensions influence firm outcomes. The approach/inhibition theory of power posits that individuals in positions of power, such as CEOs, are more likely to exhibit approach behaviours, characterized by assertiveness, optimism, and goal-driven actions. In contrast, those with diminished power tend to display inhibition behaviours, marked by caution and risk aversion.
This study specifically examines the influence of CEO power, encompassing (structural, ownership, prestige, expertise, and family) powers, on firm risk and performance. It hypothesizes that CEOs with pronounced power dimensions, driven by the approach tendencies inherent with power, might be more inclined to take risks. Additionally, the research explores the moderating role of board power in the relationship between CEO power and firm risk and the mediating role of firm risk between CEO power and firm performance.
Data was sourced from 110 public limited companies listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) from 2008 to 2019. Using the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation in Eviews version 9, the findings indicate positive correlations between CEO structural, ownership, expertise, and prestige power with both firm risk and performance. Family power, however, showed no significant impact. The mediating effect of firm risk was also significant. Board power was observed to moderate the relationship between CEO power dimensions and firm risk.
These results suggest that in firms with pronounced board power, CEOs with structural or ownership power, despite their inherent approach tendencies, lean towards risk aversion, increasing agency costs. Conversely, CEOs with prestige or expertise power exhibit risk-seeking behaviours, even amidst a powerful board, reducing agency costs. The findings emphasize the need to consider the diverse dimensions of CEO power when assessing firm risk and performance. The dynamics between CEO power and firm risk should also account for board power's presence. Interestingly, board power does not always positively influence firm risk. Thus, corporate boards should be tailored considering the CEO's power dynamics, assisting investors in making informed decisions about CEO-board compositions
Impact of powerful CEOs on earnings quality in Bangladesh: The role of IFRS adoption and audit committee oversight / H M Arif
No full textInflated corporate earnings have become an issue of extreme concern for investors, creditors, and regulators in Bangladesh. This study argues that variations in earnings quality in Bangladesh are primarily driven by chief executive officers (CEOs). In Bangladesh, CEOs are considered powerful because many of them are (i) closely related to the board chair; (ii) own a substantial portion of the firm's stock; (iii) secure multiple directorships of other firms; (iv) hold the CEO's position for a long time; and (v) have a link with the political party in power. Thus, CEOs with excessive power could act more opportunistically to boost their wealth at the expense of minority shareholders. Accordingly, relying on agency theory, a negative association between a powerful CEO and earnings quality has been anticipated. In addition, the moderating impact of effective audit committee oversight and the mandated implementation of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) on the link between CEO power and earnings quality has been investigated. The results demonstrate a significant negative association between CEO power and earnings quality using ten years of longitudinal data from the non-financial undertakings listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2019. Although mandatory IFRS adoption shows an insignificant moderating effect, effective audit committee oversight significantly reduces the adverse effect of a powerful CEO on earnings quality. Further investigation reveals that CEOs with high structural, expert, and political power have a significant negative impact on earnings quality and that effective audit committee oversight improves earnings quality in the presence of CEOs with high structural, ownership, expert, and political power. These results remain robust after using alternative earnings quality proxies, an alternative measure of CEO power, and different estimation methods. This research adds to the existing body of knowledge by providing empirical evidence about the effect of CEOs’ power dynamics on earnings quality, including political and prestige-based power. In addition, it provides empirical evidence regarding the moderating effect of IFRS adoption and audit committee oversight on earnings quality. The findings of this study will help policymakers refine the existing corporate governance code to strike a balance of power between the CEO and other top executives, and regulatory bodies will be motivated to take the initiatives to implement the adopted IFRS effectively
Development of iohexol functionalized nanoparticles as contrast agents for medical computed tomography / Ammar Mohammed Alhasan
No full textComputed tomography (CT) is one of the most widely used methods for diagnosing diseases in human tissue, requiring contrast media to enhance images of different tissues and organs. However, the commercialized contrast media have several limitations, including short blood duration, requirement of high-concentration injection, and limited enhancement of specific tissues, nonspecific detection, and localization of the substance. Present studies have been carried out seeking to improve upon the contrast enhancement yield of commercially produced iodine (i.e. Iohexol). Building upon this motivation, present work has also emphasised the development of bi-modal (CT/fluorescence) contrast media for imaging diagnosis which offer complimentary and additional information beyond single mode imaging, having added benefits of high sensitivity, multicolour emissions, and low cost. Using the co-precipitation with drying preparation and nucleation doping techniques, the commercial Iohexol have been conjugated with hybrid silica-silver doped manganese oxide (Si-Ag:Mn3O4) and manganese doped zinc selenide (Mn:ZnSe), respectively. It is important to note that the process of synthesizing nanoparticles has been observed to generate different core sizes, influencing the characteristics of functionalised-nanoparticles and contrast yield enhancement. To seek support of this, the morphology, elemental composition, absorption and emission characteristics, as well as optical properties were analysed and evaluated, use being made of FESEM/EDX, HRTEM, TGA-DTG, FTIR, XRD, UV-visible and fluorescence spectroscopies. This was also followed by a preliminary study of the contrast enhancement in CT imaging. The crystallite size have been calculated using the Debye Scherer equation through benchmarking the main intensity of the diffraction peak at (121) iv
and (101) with an average size of 53 and 17 nm for I@Si-Ag:Mn3O4 and I@MPA-Mn:ZnSe, respectively. It has also been obtained that the stability of fluorescence of I@Si-Ag:Mn3O4 is non-observable, while the I@MPA-Mn:ZnSe is appeared at 245 nm excitations with emission band centred at 585 nm. The contrast yield obtained from the CT Hounsfield Unit (HU) of I@Si-Ag:Mn3O4 and I@MPA-Mn:ZnSe nanoparticles increased linearly with increasing mass concentration, producing greater than 465 and 328 ΔHU over that of Iohexol, with a four-fold increment in HU at similar concentrations, respectively. In an extension to this, cytotoxicity studies have been conducted on the I@Si-Ag:Mn3O4 and I@MPA-Mn:ZnSe, confirming that the medium possesses good biocompatibility and low toxicity to cells CCD-18Co (CRL-1459™) and (HepG2 and MDA-MB-321) respectively. The results suggested that the synergy between the synthesized Si-Ag:Mn3O4 and MPA-Mn:ZnSe localized Iohexol on the surface have improved the performance of the contrast media, resulting CT enhancement and brightness of fluorescence, pointing to great potential of I@MPA-Mn:ZnSe in particular as a bi-modal contrast medium for further diagnosis applications
Demographic study and identification of parasite fauna recovered in wild rats in Peninsular Malaysia / Nurhalimah Mohd Saad
No full textThe discovery of parasitic fauna in wild rats in Peninsular Malaysia is very important for scientific research as it involves animal and human health. It also affects humans negatively, including agricultural pests, food spoilage and contamination, and disease transmission to humans, livestock, and domestic animals. Murids or known as rat and mice are widespread in all environments and have a high potential to be in areas where people live. Rat act as reservoir hosts for zoonotic helminths and some ectoparasites. Thus, the purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of ectoparasites and helminths endoparasite infections found in wild rats by examining the demographic distribution of wild rats from various types of forests and their faunal parasites with a focus to identify zoonotic parasite fauna infections in rats as hosts and to use molecular techniques to confirm the species of cyclophyllidean cestodes. This study covers forest reserves, ecotourism forests/recreational parks, and modified or agricultural forests involving oil palm plantations located in Peninsular Malaysia. Wild rats were captured and parasites were extracted. The infestation and infection rates were calculated while cestode molecular identification was inferred from two markers (18SrDNA and COX1). Collectively, ten species of wild rats were captured with twenty-two fauna parasites species recovered where some of the listed fauna parasites were known as zoonotic species namely, three species of ectoparasites (Laelaps spp., Leptotrombidium sp., and Ixodes granulatus) and five endoparasites species (Capillaria sp., Angiostongylus malaysensis, Raillietina spp., Hymenolepis diminuta and Hydatigera taeniaeformis). Following this, the phylogeny of tapeworms was investigated as vast of information remain unknown particularly with molecular identification of cestodes. All the sequences were successfully amplified with product with total length of 205 and 1202 base pairs (bp), respectively. Four cestode species from the Family Hymenolepididae (Hymenolepis diminuta), Family Taeniidae (Hydatigera parva; Hydatigera taeniaeformis) and Family Davaineidae (Raillietina spp.) were successfully characterized using phylogenetic analyses and haplotype networking. The molecular approaches have made significant progress in detecting complex species and very useful for studying intra-specific variation in helminths, especially the cestode group. In summary, this research will increase public knowledge and awareness of fauna parasite infestation and infections, which are important to human health
Place-based sustainability communication for watershed conservation in a university campus / Siti Norasiah Abd. Kadir
No full textAnthropogenic activities in combination with urbanization, increased population and people’s disconnection with their environment are triggering unprecedented sustainability issues in urban watersheds, especially in a developing country like Malaysia. As this involves a complex social-ecological system, solutions for conservation must include social consideration such as the meanings, feeling, emotions and values that people have developed with place. Building from Masterson et al.’s (2017) framework, key to this is the study of people’s sense of place as one of the useful strategies that has been recognized to enable stewardship and pro-environmental behavior. Solving conservation issues should also be part of social and political discourse. Thus, this research aims to investigate in what way place-based thinking can enhance sustainability communication to promote public participation in watershed conservation by answering two research questions: 1) What are the evoked ‘sense of place’ related to watershed conservation and 2) In what way can the sense of place identified earlier be translated into sustainability communication. This research also demonstrates how the application of community-based participatory research approach i.e., co-production can be used for meaning-forming on the sense of place and co-designing place-based sustainability communication (PBSC) strategies – using multiple qualitative data collection methods including document analysis, semi-structured interviews, vox-pop interviews and co-production workshops, and the data were further analyzed using thematic analysis and triangulation method. Tasik Varsiti, Universiti Malaya in Kuala Lumpur as part of an urban Sungai Klang watershed and an example of socio-ecological system has been chosen as the case study in this research. Results suggested that the sense of place responses emphasized people’s connection to historical values, place and identity, lived experience, wellness, as well as collective responsibility. The interpretation and translation of these responses based on selected concepts, message contents, and modes may work as a compelling intervention in PBSC that can potentially promote public participation in urban watershed conservation. As a way forward, the actual design, implementation and evaluation on the effectiveness of PBSC could be explored