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Relationship between power, transparency, trust and culture and individual tax compliance in Malaysia / Mohammed Saleh Ali Al-Maghrebi
No full textFrom ancient times to the present, one of the difficulties facing governments has been how to maximize tax revenue collection and reduce the tax gap between expected revenue and actual revenue in order to fund military expenditures and other ever-increasing societal needs. An integrated tax approach has been developed in an attempt to gain greater tax compliance. The two integrated fundamental approaches are the economic and non-economic (behavioral approach) approaches in examining the factors that affect tax compliance behavior. As a result, in a tax system that relies heavily on compliance behavior, knowing the factors that influence individual taxpayer compliance is critical. Hence, this study seeks to examine the impact of power, trust, transparency, cultural openness, and patriotism accompanied by proposed mediators, on Malaysian individual tax compliance. There is a scarcity of empirical research on tax compliance in Malaysia in relation to the adoption of the integrated tax approach on individual taxpayers, mostly they focus on the behavioral approach. Whereas the main objective of adopting the integrated tax approach is to increase tax compliance. Therefore, in order to improve tax compliance, more studies and empirical evidence that concentrate on the behavior of the taxpayers are required. This study adopts a self-administered technique, data was collected using a drop-off survey questionnaire method among Malaysian individual taxpayers. Findings from this study reveal that Malaysian taxpayers’ compliance behavior is significantly affected by coercive power, trust, transparency, and cultural openness. However, taxpayers’ compliance behavior is affected insignificantly by legitimate power and patriotism. The outcomes of this study would assist Malaysian tax administration and those in other developing countries to enhance tax compliance and create more effective tax policies
Influencing factors for strategic management development and its countermeasures in small and medium-sized enterprises in Guangdong Province of China / Li Ming
No full textSmall and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), known as "the most dynamic economic cells", are widespread and numerous throughout the world, and are small in scale but flexible in mechanism. After China's reform and opening up, SMEs have been growing rapidly, making them a key priority in the country's national economy and social development, and playing an important role in resource allocation, technology absorption and investment, opening up to the outside world, expanding foreign exchange earnings, activating markets, increasing employment and maintaining social stability. It is an essential and important part of China's economic development process and has an irreplaceable and special status for the development of China's economy. Therefore, in this era of challenges and opportunities, the study of the development of SMEs is an important element that deserves attention. This thesis firstly reviews and organizes the strategic management theory, the concepts related to SME development and the factors influencing SME development. A brief analysis of the current situation of SMEs in the Shenzhen region and the current strategic management situation is presented. Then, taking SMEs as the research object, a conceptual framework of the influencing factors on the development of SMEs is constructed on the basis of previous relevant studies, and a preliminary analysis of the influencing factors affecting the development strategies of SMEs is conducted from three aspects: internal SMEs, social relations and external environment respectively; then factor analysis is applied to extract the five public influencing factors affecting the development strategies of SMEs. The five public influencing factors affecting the development strategies of SMEs were extracted using factor analysis, namely, enterprise structure and strategic status, talent system, supply and marketing relationship, policy and legal environment, and financing environment, and using regression analysis, the business growth rate of the main business of SMEs was taken as the dependent variable, and regression analysis was conducted on the influencing factors of SMEs at various levels, to derive the influence of each public factor on the development strategies of SMEs. The thesis aims to use modern management tools and concepts to provide a better understanding of the development strategies of SMEs. The aim of this thesis is to make recommendations for the strategic development of SMEs using modern management tools and concepts. Therefore, after understanding what factors affect the development of SMEs, this thesis then further case studies the Balanced Scorecard, a strategic management tool that is highly utilized in the market. The thesis begins with a theoretical analysis, proposing general ideas and specific approaches to strategic management using the balanced scorecard, followed by a case study. The thesis proposes that the general idea of balanced scorecard strategy management is to establish a balanced scorecard strategy management system through strategy analysis and determination, strategy description, strategy shaping and resource allocation, strategy implementation and strategy feedback. The specific practices of Balanced Scorecard strategic management include: clarifying the strategic objectives, vision and mission of the company; launching publicity, education and communication; establishing a specific indicator system and criteria for the four dimensions; establishing a clear strategy map; data processing; indicator decomposition; formulating performance evaluation indicators and feedback and improvement, etc. Finally, based on the findings of the case study and empirical research, the advantages and disadvantages in the application of strategic management tools are pointed out, and corresponding countermeasures are suggested for the development strategies of SMEs from three aspects: internal, external and social relations, in the hope of providing a useful reference for enterprises in the process of implementing strategic management from strategy formulation to strategy implementation
Teleconnection between Antarctic sea ice variability and Indian summer monsoon / Siti Syairah Atiqah Azhar
No full textTeleconnection between the Antarctic sea ice and the tropical climate has become
an important issue in recent years, particularly among scientists and researchers. Further
investigating the subject, this study examines the teleconnection between the Antarctic
sea ice extent in the Indian Ocean sector and the Indian summer monsoon rainfall. It
utilises reanalysis, satellite and in-situ observation data, and model output from the
coupled model Intercomparison project phase 5 (CMIP5) from 1979 to 2013. The study
is divided into three main parts. Firstly, examining the climatology of the sea ice extent
in the Indian Ocean sector and Indian summer monsoon rainfall, both seasonal and
monthly. Secondly, examines the relationship between the sea ice extent in the Indian
Ocean sector and Indian summer monsoon rainfall variability under the influence of the
Mascarene High. Thirdly, offers the mechanism connecting the sea ice extent in the
Indian Ocean sector and Indian summer monsoon rainfall regarding atmospheric
circulation features and compares it with several CMIP5 models. The long term monthly
average of the sea ice extent in the Indian Ocean sector for 35 years shows that the
maximum amount of sea ice extent produced is in October while the minimum amount is
in February. The highest seasonal month of the sea ice extent during September-October-
November (SON), and the lowest was in December-January-February (DJF).
Furthermore, the northeastern region of India receives the highest mean annual rainfall
during the summer monsoon season, whereas the northwestern region of India receives
the lowest mean annual rainfall. The correlation analysis revealed that the April-May-
June (AMJ) sea ice extent in the Indian Ocean sector significantly positively correlated
with the Indian summer monsoon rainfall, particularly over the Peninsular India region from 1979 to 2013 (r = 0.44, p < 0.05). This connection is indicated by the correspondence
of the high ice phase (HIP) and low ice phase (LIP) years to the strengthening and
weakening of the Mascarene High, resulting in the increase and decrease of Indian
summer monsoon rainfall. The empirical orthogonal function (EOF) and correlation
analysis show that the first and third modes of principal component (PC1 and PC3) of
AMJ sea ice extent in the Indian Ocean sector during are significantly correlated with the
second mode of principal component (PC2) of Indian summer monsoon rainfall. The
reanalysis data revealed that the changes in the sea ice extent excite meridional wave train
responses along the Indian Ocean for both principal component modes. Positive
(negative) sea ice extent anomalies based on first and third EOFs (EOF1 and EOF3),
contribute to the strengthening (weakening) of the Polar, Ferrel, and Hadley cells,
inducing stronger (weaker) convective activity over the Indian latitudes. The stronger
(weaker) convective activity over the Indian region leads to more (less) rainfall over the
region during high (low) ice phase years. Furthermore, a stronger (weaker) polar jet
during the high (low) ice phase is also noted. The AMJ sea ice extent simulated by the
NorESM1-M model was significantly positively correlated with Indian summer monsoon
rainfall, whereas the IPSL-CM54-LR model showed a negative correlation. Both models
were able to captured certain atmospheric teleconnection features found in the reanalysis
Molecular detection of Borrelia, Bartonella and Orientia in small mammals from oil palm plantations in Malaysia / Siti Nurul Izzah Mohd Azami
No full textMany human clinical cases due to vector-borne infections are underreported in Malaysia, especially in rural localities where healthcare infrastructures are lacking. Land clearing activities and encroachment into the forest, bring the human-animal interface closer to each other. Rodents and other small mammals in the wild also carry diseases, which are relatively different from those carried by urban rodents, increasing the risk of transmission to humans when forests are cleared. In this study, the aim was to detect the presence of vector-borne pathogens such as Orientia spp., Borrelia spp., Bartonella spp. and Rickettsia spp. in the spleen of small mammals trapped on site. 217 small mammals were selected for this study, of which 100 samples were from UM Plantation Sdn. Bhd., Johor (oil palm plantation) and 117 samples from Kampung Tumbuh Hangat, Perak (oil palm plantation in the vicinity of an Orang Asli village). From the morphological identification and DNA barcoding assay performed using the mitochondrial gene, cytochrome c oxidase (COI), the individuals were identified as Rattus rattus diardii, Rattus tiomanicus, Rattus argentiventer, Rattus exulans, Rattus tanezumi and Tupaia glis. 203 spleens were collected and screened via conventional Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assay. The molecular examination was performed for the detection of Orientia spp., Borrelia spp., Bartonella spp. and Rickettsia spp. from the harvested spleens. From the PCR assays, there was a prevalence of each pathogen such as 12.3% (25/203) for Orientia sp., 5.9% (12/203) for Borrelia spp., 4.9% (10/203) for Bartonella sp. and none for Rickettsia spp. Almost all of the animals were found to be infested with chiggers and several were infested with ticks. Fleas were not found on the individuals. There were also lice and mites infesting the rodents. The infestation of a substantial number of chiggers could explain the exposure of Orientia tsutsugamushi in the rodents and tree shrews. This speculation must be investigated further in order to confirm the vector for this pathogen. As for the Borrelia sp., all the infected individuals were not infested by any tick which is known to be the vector for Lyme disease. Similarly, Bartonella phoceensis was detected in individuals with no infestation of the tick vector. No flea was found on the trapped animals which explained the negative detection for Rickettsia spp. Based on the phylogenetic analysis, some of the detected Borrelia sp. were clustered together with the Lyme disease group and some were grouped together with the relapsing fever group. Interestingly, one positive Borrelia sp. sample was neither close nor similar to any of the Lyme disease and relapsing fever groups Borreliae in GenBank. From the result, there was a sign of current infection of Borrelia spp., O. tsutsugamushi and B. phoceensis in Rattus r. diardii, R. exulans, R. argentiventer, R. tiomanicus and T. glis. To the best of the current literature, this is the first report of the infection of Borrelia sp. and O. tsutsugamushi in T. glis in Malaysia. Further investigations are warranted to elucidate the relationships between the ectoparasites, the host and the respective pathogens
The search for potential antivirals of SARS-COV-2 spike protein: A virtual screening study / Basma Mohamed Rehan
No full textThe COVID-19 outbreak caused by a new coronavirus emerged in December 2019 and has since spread across the globe. The spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 is the main target in research therapeutic to control viral infection and pathogenesis. Inhibition of spike protein can cause structural and functional changes, subsequently blocking the entry of the coronavirus into host cells. The in-silico virtual screening is an alternative to traditional screening in drug discoveries with a significant reduction to cost and time. This study aimed to screen NuBBE database to identify a potential inhibitor against spike protein. A library of natural-based compounds was docked on spike protein obtained from the protein data bank. Ten compounds were selected based on their binding affinity for further analysis. The ligand bound in close proximity to the positive control binding site was chosen as a promising compound and subjected for molecular dynamics simulation and ADMET scoring. the result indicated that (spike-Lig126) has a stable conformation with hydrogen bonds formation and ADMET properties. The inhibitory properties of Lig126 require further investigation in the laboratory to prove it and it could finally be upgraded to an anti-SARS drug
Solution-processed two-dimensional material for generation of pulse fiber laser near 2 Μm spectral region / Nur Atikah Azali
No full textThe passively mode-locking is more desirable than passively Q-switching due to the ultrafast pulse that can reach until picoseconds or femtoseconds. The ultrafast fiber laser received high interest in wide applications such as welding, communication system, material processing, photonics and medical. The increasing in demands has caused huge development of saturable absorber (SA) using various type of materials. However, each of the SA has some limitation in terms of fabrication and operation that caused barrier to produce better mode-locked pulse. This thesis proposed an alternative SA from mono-elemental group for generation of the mode-locked pulsed by using thulium-doped fiber (TDF) and thulium/holmium-doped fiber (THDF) as gain medium. The main objective of the proposed method is to introduce new SA that has simpler fabrication method, low cost, and can produce better laser performance in terms of high output power and narrow pulse width. There are two materials from mono-elemental group named as bismuthene and antimonene were proposed as new SA, which were synthesized using liquid phase exfoliation (LPE) process. The mode-locked pulse was generated by depositing the SA on top of the arc-shaped fiber and incorporated it in the laser cavity. The pulses were generated by means of the strong nonlinear interaction between the material and the evanescent field of the wave propagating in the arc-shaped fiber. To test the effectiveness of the proposed method, bismuthene and antimonene/arc-shaped fiber as SA were utilized in the THDF and TDF laser cavity. The generation of mode-locking in THDF was conducted using bismuthene, which was prepared with four different concentrations, such as 3 mg/ml, 7 mg/ml, 10 mg/ml, and 20 mg/ml. The aim is to study the effect of concentrations on the generation of mode-locking. Next, the best laser performance of bismuthene was further used to compare with the laser performance induced by other materials such as gallium telluride (GaTe), antimonene, and bulk bismuth. Besides that, the mode-locking generation in TDF using antimonene has also been studied. The output pulse induced by antimonene was compared with hafnium diselenide (HfSe2). The comparison of new SA with other material was conducted to observe the laser performances when utilized in the ring cavity configuration. Mode-locked pulse in THDF and TDF laser were successfully achieved in this work. The bismuthene with different concentrations has produced central wavelength ranging from 1908 nm to 1932 nm. The 10 mg/ml bismuthene/arc-shaped fiber shows the best laser performance compared to the other concentrations. It also has better output power, pulse energy and peak power as compared to other group of materials. Antimonene/arc-shaped fiber also gives good laser performance in the TDF laser. Overall, the bismuthene, antimonene, HfSe2 and GaTe had shown good mode-locking results, thus suggesting new alternative for SA, which is useful for development of technology
Effect of neutron irradiation on poly (vinylidene difluoride) - Lithium BIS (Oxalato) borate solid polymer film / Nurul ‘Adillah Heffny
No full textPoly (vinylidene difluoride)-lithium bis (oxalato) borate (PVDF-LiBOB) solid polymer films were prepared with different LiBOB salt compositions of 9, 20, 30, 40 wt % by solution casting method. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies reveals that the sample with 40 wt% LiBOB is the most amorphous. By deconvoluting the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra in the wavenumber region from 1830 to 1760 cm-1, it is also observed that the 60 wt% PVDF-40 wt% LiBOB sample contains the highest area percentage of free ions. Based on Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) study, the 60 wt% PVDF-40 wt% LiBOB sample exhibits the highest conductivity of 1.27 × 10-5 Scm-1 with the activation energy of 0.34 eV. Therefore, PVDF-LiBOB with 40 wt% salt content was selected as the optimized composition for neutron exposure and associated phenomena studies. The sample was exposed to 15, 23, 31, 39 and 47 kGy of neutron doses from Reaktor TRIGA PUSPATI at Malaysian Nuclear Agency. With the increase of neutron doses, the sample shows a decreasing trend in amorphousness, reduction of free ions and decrease in ionic conductivity. Thus, a high neutron dose upon PVDF-LiBOB results in the improvement of its mechanical strength, non-conducting behavior suggesting it to be a potential candidate for neutron radiation shielding as well as dosimetry in nuclear installation
Text-image relations and sentence functions in Monday Blues Memes / Siti Farhanah Jake Mohamed
No full textMemes are described as cognitive as well as digital artifacts (Wiggins & Bowers, 2014). Memes are a mixture of graphic, textual resources, and references to imitate existing humorous issues (Szablewicz, 2014). In contrast, recombination in language can take place structurally without regard to functional units which can demolish the result semantically including the “sense” of an element and the whole “meaning” of an object (Marion, 2007). This article analyzed the relations between text and image and the type of sentence functions used in memes by applying the framework of Cognitive Semantics (Langacker, 2010) and the framework of Text-Image relation (Bateman, 2014). Data were collected from the Google search engine by employing the purposive sampling method. The collected data were used to identify the sentence functions and relations of image and text in memes. There are massive types of memes on the internet, thus, this article focused on a specific theme: Monday Blues. 50 memes were taken as samples to carry out the qualitative method of content analysis
Distribution, habitat association, and movement patterns of Sea Urchins (Diadematidae) in coral reefs, Peninsular Malaysia / Mok Man Ying
No full textSea urchins are keystone herbivores in coral reefs as they prevent coral-algae phase shift and promote coral resilience in the Caribbean. However, the knowledge of sea urchins in the Indo-Pacific region is not extensive and their role in marine ecosystems remains unidentified. To fill this knowledge gap, this study aimed to examine the population ecology of sea urchins in Peninsular Malaysia, and their relationship with the tropical coral reefs habitat, as the first step to explore their potential in promoting reef resilience. Firstly, geographical information on the density, diversity, and distribution of sea urchins in Peninsular Malaysia (The Sunda Shelf and Malacca Strait Marine Ecoregion) were collated using three approaches – literature, questionnaire and field surveys. From the field surveys, a total of seven species from five families with a mean density of 41.6 ± 52.98 individuals/100 m² were documented. When combined with the literature and questionnaire surveys, 10 species of sea urchins from six families can be found within Peninsular Malaysia. The first record of Prionocidaris bispinosa for Malaysia was documented at the intertidal seagrass meadow in Tanjung Kupang, Johor. The species composition of sea urchins between the ecoregions was similar but differed significantly between coral reefs and seagrass meadows. With the data gathered, species lists and maps illustrating the density, species richness and diversity hotspots of sea urchins were produced. Secondly, coral reef habitat association patterns for Diadema setosum and Echinothrix calamaris were determined in belt-transect surveys (n = 57), with transects laid parallel to shore at different depths at Pulau Rawa, Johor. Multivariate regression analysis identified D. setosum to be more associated with live coral cover and coral growth form; in contrast, the distribution of E. calamaris that was driven by habitat rugosity, water depth and live coral cover. These findings suggest contrasting species-habitat associations for the two co-existing species. Finally, the movement patterns of D. setosum— a key species on tropical coral reefs that is endemic in the Indo-Pacific region was documented. By tracking 25 tagged sea urchins over twenty-four hours in Pulau Rawa, the total travel distance (18.91 ± 11.56 m), movement speed (0.79 ± 0.5 m/hour), 24-h displacement (5.87 ± 6.32 m) and home range (8.24 ± 6.52 m) of D. setosum were documented, and to date are novel findings especially for nocturnal sea urchin movements. The absence of homing and aggregation behaviour that are commonly displayed by other sea urchin species as predator avoidance strategies, suggests that predation pressure on the studied reef is low. Given the limited information about sea urchins in Malaysia, this study appears to be the first in-depth study of its kind in the country, investigating their distribution and the importance of habitat in shaping their density distributions and movement patterns. The baseline data serve as valuable information in the planning and management of natural habitats for biodiversity and conservation in Malaysia’s marine ecosystem. Explicitly, this knowledge provides important insight for incorporating sea urchins in coral rehabilitation interventions to enhance the resilience of coral reefs on the brink of degradation
Al-Tauriyah and its issues in juz 30 of the holy Quran / Syazwan Naim Ibrahim
No full textal-Tauriyah is a single word uttered by a speaker that has two meanings; closer meaning
that is not intended and distant meaning that is intended. However, there is a difficulty in
understanding the concept of al-Tauriyah as some Arabic rhetoricians have treated the
concept of al-Musytarak al-Lafẓī and al-Majāz as part of al-Tauriyah, leading to a
difficulty in discerning between those concepts. The second issue relates to the use of al-
Tauriyah in Quranic verses is there is a scholarly opinion which claimed that al-Tauriyah
has been effectively used even in juz 30 which revolves around the main principles of
Islamic creed. This is contrary to the opinion asserting that the Quranic verses revolve
around the Islamic creed should be clear, unambiguous, and no use of al-Tauriyah is
expected. Thus, the purpose of this study is to distinguish al-Tauriyah from al-Musytarak
al-Lafẓī and al-Majāz, to identify creedal verses in juz 30 where al-Tauriyah is hidden
and its closer and distant meaning, and to analyze al-Tauriyah’s rhetorical mysteries and
effects on the understanding of the verses in juz 30. The researcher utilized al-Ḥamawī’s
(1894) and ‘Abbās’s (2007) theory of al-Tauriyah as a guidance to achieve the first and
second objective while Yaḥyā’s (2018) hypothesis on rhetorical mysteries and effects of
al-Tauriyah on the understanding of Quranic verses to achieve the third objective. The
researcher employed a descriptive analytical method generally by referring to three
category of sources which are classical and modern Arabic dictionaries, linguistic
exegeses of the Quran as well as classical and modern scholarly opinions of Arabic
rhetoricians which further support the theories to achieve the objectives. The researcher
concluded that al-Tauriyah deals with two real meanings; closer and distant meaning
while al-Majāz deals with two meanings; real and metaphoric meaning, al-Tauriyah hides
the relationship between its two meanings while al-Majāz does not, frequency of word
use plays a role in al-Tauriyah and not in al-Majāz, al-Musytarak al-Lafẓī is al Tauriyah’s primary basis, and al-Tauriyah occurs in 12 places in juz 30 which are all
revolve around the Islamic creed. The researcher hopes that more research on al-Tauriyah
and its beauty will be carried out