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China’s outward foreign direct investment in countries of the belt and road initiative / Chang Le
No full textForeign direct investment (FDI) from China has attracted the attention of scholars, especially after Chinese president Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013. Investment from China flowing to the BRI countries has been motivated by economic factors amd non-economic factors. This research examined China’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in the BRI countries from the perspectives of; characteristics, performance, and motivations using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Case studies have been used to deepen the role of government policy for China’s OFDI in the BRI countries.
The main questions of this study concern the characteristics that empower Chinese enterprises to make investment decisions in BRI countries? What are the determinants of China’s overseas investments in the BRI countries? Is there any potential for Chinese enterprises to advance overseas investment in those countries? How does the Chinese government affect the direction and decision making of Chinese enterprises in the BRI countries?
This study used micro and macro level data to examine the determinants and motivations of China’s OFDI in the BRI countries based on the characteristics of China’s overseas investment by using; descriptive analysis, stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), and case studies. The analysis was conducted using primary data collected from; companies' annual reports and released documents, government official documents, and secondary data published by the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (MOFCOM) and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).
In terms of research findings, this research has suggested that the existing mainstream FDI theory can partly explain OFDI from China to BRI countries. Firstly, the descriptive analysis of China’s overseas investment in the BRI countries showed that Chinese investment was likely to choose a host country with; abundant natural resources, a high GDP, and located geographically close to China. Meanwhile, the Chinese government has issued many policies to promote overseas investment to ensure; the security of natural resources, access to advanced technology, and upgrades to industries. Secondly, the empirical analysis suggested that Chinese investment in BRI countries was motivated by; natural resources, markets, and low labour costs. Also, the result implied that China’s investment in those countries had the potential to advance by improving the infrastructure of the host country. Thirdly, the case studies of Tsingshan and Huawei showed that government policy affected their investment decisions in the context of the Chinese government proposing the BRI. That China’s investment tends to flow to the BRI countries can be explained by government policy intervention
CFD studies on stratum ventilation installed with a VRF/VRV system for tropic buildings / Umair Ahmed
No full textIn buildings, air conditioning and mechanical ventilation (ACMV) systems are the major shareholders of overall energy consumption. Energy-efficient designs of the ACMV systems for building applications are therefore needed. While designing an efficient ACMV system, consideration must be given to the growing concerns of enhanced thermal comfort and improved indoor air quality (IAQ). The variable refrigerant flow (VRF) system is a widely adopted alternative to the existing building cooling systems due to the higher energy efficiency and individualized temperature control feature. However, it suffers from shortcomings such as no outdoor air induction for ventilation and higher initial cost. Therefore, this work was intended to design the variable refrigerant flow (VRF) integrated stratum ventilation/air distribution systems for tropical buildings. Performance evaluation of different configurations of the integrated design is carried out in this study. To obtain an efficient air distribution terminal device for large tropical applications, different devices were experimentally and numerically investigated and compared. This study also presents the development and validation of a simplified nodal model that predicts the vertical temperature profile of the integrated design for large domain. The energy simulation models of the VRF-SV hybrid system using TRNSYS software were also developed in this study to compare the annual energy consumption of the fully integrated and decoupled designs of the VRF-SV system with multi-split AC systems and standalone VRF system. Lastly, the air distribution performance of the architecturally designed high-capacity linear diffuser in a large tropical atrium building is also evaluated in this work as a case study. Following a suitable design approach, the combined system provides better thermal comfort with enhanced indoor air quality and improved energy savings to relatively large space building. This system has also shown an excellent potential to be installed in any building regardless of the size and heat load. With a fully integrated design approach, a horizontal air jet at head level, a slight and reverse thermal gradient between the head and foot levels (ΔT1.5-0.1 = -2.85oC), and a low percentage of thermally dissatisfied people (<25%) are noticed under this investigation. The configuration 5 (wall exhaust configuration) showed overall good results in terms of thermal comfort indices. The doubled deflection grille was found most efficient air terminal type for providing throw to a larger distance. A good match is also observed in the simulated and modified nodal model’s calculations. Therefore, this model can be used for energy calculation and in practical engineering design. The TRNSYS simulation results of the energy use analyses of the ACMV system in the tropical building revealed that the decoupled design of the VRF-SV hybrid system could save a significant amount of energy compared to the other investigated systems. Results obtained from the case study revealed a relatively longer airflow jet at 0o blade angle through the high-capacity diffuser. Based on the above outcomes, the VRF-SV hybrid system was found as an energy efficient substitute of the conventional ACMV systems for tropical buildings
Analisis landskap linguistik bahasa kiasan di kuil-kuil Hindu di Malaysia / Sharmeeny Nair Govindasamy
No full textBahasa kiasan digunakan untuk menyampaikan sesuatu perkara secara ringkas, membawa makna yang mendalam dan berkesan (Hashimah, 2014). Kini penggunaan bahasa kiasan dalam kehidupan seharian masyarakat didapati semakin berkurangan (Arunasalam, 2017). Sehubungan dengan itu, pelbagai langkah boleh diambil untuk memulihkan keadaan ini. Salah satunya ialah penggunaan bahasa kiasan di tempat-tempat awam bagi ramai orang dapat membaca dan membelajari bahasa kiasan. Menurut Ranee (2017) penggunaan bahasa kiasan dapat dilihat pada papan tanda dan dinding di kuil-kuil Hindu. Kajian ini telah dijalankan di tempat ibadat Hindu di mana sambutan perayaan Thaipusam diraikan secara meriah. Thaipusam merupakan salah satu perayaan yang terkenal dan disambut secara besar-besaran di kuil-kuil Hindu. Penyelidikan ini menekankan tiga objektif utama iaitu mengenal pasti jenis bahasa kiasan yang terpapar pada papan tanda dan dinding di kuil-kuil Hindu di Malaysia. Objektif yang kedua adalah untuk membincangkan ciri bahasa kiasan yang terpapar pada papan tanda dan dinding di kuil-kuil Hindu di Malaysia berdasarkan Prinsip Penstrukturan Landskap Linguistik dan objektif yang terakhir pula meninjau perspektif pengunjung terhadap bahasa kiasan yang terpapar pada papan tanda dan dinding di kuil-kuil Hindu di Malaysia. Penyelidikan ini menggunakan kaedah kajian kualitatif. Kaedah penyelidikan kualitatif dirancang membantu mengungkapkan tingkah laku dan persepsi responden kajian dengan merujuk kepada topik tertentu. Kaedah analisis kandungan telah digunakan untuk menganalisis bahasa kiasan di kuil-kuil Hindu. Kajian ini juga merupakan satu kajian lanpangan iaitu menjalankan kajian terhadap suatu fenomena atau situasi. Pengkelasan bahasa kiasan yang dicadangkan oleh Kumarasamypillai (1926) dan Prinsip Penstrukturan LL (Principles Of Structuration) yang direkakan oleh Ben-Rafael (2009) telah dipilih untuk menganalisis data. Persambelan bertujuan dipilih sebagai sampel kajian yang terdiri daripada 44 bahasa kiasan yang dikumpulkan dari empat buah kuil. Instrumen kajian yang telah dipilih adalah papan tanda dan temubual. Hasil kajian menunjukan bahawa jenis bahasa kiasan yang kerap digunakan di kuil-kuil Hindu adalah lagu pujaan dewa-dewi, Thirukkural dan kata-kata Hikmat. Teks bahasa kiasan pada papan tanda dan dinding kuil mengandungi aspek warna, bahasa, imej dan informasi yang berdasarkan Prinsip Penstrukturan LL. Perkara ini membantu untuk memahami kandungan papan tanda dan menarik perhatian pengunjung ke kuil-kuil Hindu tersebut. Pengunjung berpendapat bahawa bahasa kiasan yang terpapar pada papan tanda dan dinding di kuil menekankan ciri budaya masyarakat India dan memberikan informasi mengenai etika, nilai-nilai moral dan prinsip kehidupan manusia. Kajian ini juga dijalankan untuk menyedarkan masyarakat tentang bahasa kiasan Tamil yang terdapat di kuil sebagai medium untuk mendidik masyarakat masa kini dan pada masa akan datang
Development of a corpus and a parser for written Malaysian Tamil / Elanttamil Maruthai
No full textTamil is a classical language with ancient heritage, existing without any break or interruption in its long history. Over the years, the grammar and lexicon of Tamil have undergone changes. Some old linguistic features have disappeared while some new features have emerged. All these require serious investigation, especially given the current developments in corpus and computational linguistic research. It is therefore surprising that limited research has taken advantage of these technological advancements in studying Tamil in general and Malaysian Tamil in particular.
The present thesis aims to address this concern by developing the first corpus of Written Malaysian Tamil (WMTC). Based on this WMTC, the Tamil language in Malaysia can be analysed authentically. The thesis describes the creation and development of this WMTC, which consists of one million words, spanning eight different genres, with a total of 500 samples of text, each containing about 2000 words, comprising texts from periodicals, popular magazine, Internet, school textbooks, fiction, academy journal, to be spoken and unclassified category.
Since Tamil is a morphologically rich language, the present thesis further develops an automatic Tamil unified parser and POS tagger software. This thesis discusses the development of this software, which consists of a morphological parser, a tagger, an N-gram tool and a concordancer for the linguistic analysis of Tamil. Given the scope of research, this thesis focuses only on the morphological analysis of written Tamil as an illustration of how the software can be used to analyse the morphological aspects of written Malaysian Tamil and possibly other varieties of Tamil. One innovation of this parser is the introduction of Tamil computational algorithm into the parser, which makes the analysis and processing of morphological features possible. 51 POS tags were developed for this research project. In addition, the noun and verb inflection charts explaining the computational morphotactics of Tamil words were developed along with lists of tokens, types and lemmas.
This thesis makes two major contributions to corpus and computational linguistic research: the creation and development of a corpus and a parser. All this is paving the way for future research in language technology, natural language processing, corpus development and computational linguistic research. This current research also has important implications for Tamil language pedagogy and language planning
Variation in volatile organic compounds emitted by Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter spp. under different growth conditions / Filipe Magnum Silva Dos Santos
No full textCampylobacter jejuni subsp. jejuni is acknowledged worldwide as the leading cause of gastroenteritis in humans. A low dose of bacterial cells is able to develop the illness known as campylobacteriosis. The symptoms are usually mild and self-limiting, however, the sequalae may be severe, due to neurological disorders such as Guillain–Barré Syndrome, that is an autoimmune disease characterised by weakness of limbs and paralysis. Consumption of poultry products, mainly chicken, have been known as the main route of transmission. Moreover, the challenges for laboratorial isolation and identification of Campylobacter spp. represent an unavoidable risk factor that has urged for the development of new methods and technology for Campylobacter infection that is easy to operate, highly specific, and rapid if not real-time output at a low operational cost. Some studies have proposed volatile organic compounds (VOCs) fingerprinting as a potential alternative to screen for the presence of VOCs emitted by bacteria. However, subjected to the type of media, the growth phase and the presence of other competitive pathogens, the VOCs produced by a particular bacterial species could vary considerably. In this study, the emission of volatiles of C. jejuni and other Campylobacter spp., considering all the beforementioned variables, was investigated. Active sampling using an activated coconut charcoal sorbent tube was used for adsorbing the VOCs of C. jejuni using different culture media, different incubation periods, and in the presence of other bacterial species. Samples with the volatiles desorbed in carbon disulphide were analysed through gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and the dataset was subjected to multivariate evaluation via principal component analysis (PCA). Several volatiles were identified in this study, including alcohols, ketones, and phenols, that were produced during the growth of the bacteria. The study showed that C. jejuni produced the putative VOCs: 1,8-nonadien-3-ol, 3,7,11-trimethyl-3-dodecanol, 1-heptadecanol, isophorone, and 1s,4R,7R,11R-1,3,4,7-tetramethyltricyclo [5.3.1.0(4,11)] undec-2-en-8-one. The score plot of PCA demonstrated that the profile of VOC-markers emitted by different strains of C. jejuni, as well as other major Campylobacter spp. varied according to the growth phase. Also, the VOC variation of C. jejuni strains cultivated in different culture media was evidenced by the multivariate analysis tool. The volatilome profile uncovered in this study by means of solvent desorption technique laid an essential data for the advances of screening the pathogen in food matrices with high specificity, sensitivity and in a real-time way
Development of online scheduled waste collection system from households / Azree Azhar Awi
No full textIn 2020, more than 70,000 tonnes of scheduled waste were generated from
Malaysian households. From this, used cooking oil make up almost 85%, while more
than 10% are electronic wastes and the rest are used paint, pesticides, solvents,
used lubricants and others. Nowadays, most household cooking oil are stored in
plastic bottles or containers, although it was found that used cooking oil was also
disposed into kitchen sinks as traces of the oil have been found in municipal
drainage systems. Used cooking oil that flow into the kitchen sink and enter
plumbing systems would eventually clog the wastewater outflow due to prolonged
sedimentation. After which, plumbing systems become dirty and smelly inside. As for
other scheduled household waste, it is common that they are stored in garbage bags
mixed with other solid waste such as food waste and plastic film, before being
disposed. The mixed solid waste is then collected by municipal dump-trucks to be
transported to municipal landfills. Later, it becomes a problem for landfill operators to
segregate the scheduled waste from the solid wastes. Currently, only industrial and
companies’ scheduled waste are compulsory to be reported and collected through a
web system called the ESWIS while no systems are available for households to
report and collect their scheduled waste. To meet the paper objectives, a series of
hypothesis validation method has been done with selected households within the
target area. Issues and major problems have been identified while conducting the
validation study. Based on the analysis, 93% of households validate the use of the
online scheduled waste collection system because it is more user-friendly and easier
to use than existing methods. At least 80% of homes have sent their scheduled
waste to recycling centres, indicating that the majority of families are aware of the
importance of waste recycling. However, the majority of households were unaware of
the scheduled waste collection service, and at least 73% of them believe that
engaging the current booking service is difficult owing to unclear procedures and
insufficient communication. The implementation of the online system will save 3500
tonnes of scheduled waste from households every year from being dump to the
environment.
The perception of self-directed learning abilities among the pre-clinical undergraduate medical students of Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA /Nurul Alimah Abdul Nasir.
No full textSelf-directed learning (SDL), a key component of life-long learning, is crucial
among healthcare professionals. The ever-evolving knowledge on medicine will require
healthcare professionals to always update themselves on the latest information in ensuring
the betterment of patients. Therefore, SDL skills needs to be developed in medical
students since their undergraduate years. The aim of this study was to assess the SDL
perceived abilities and determine factors that promote or deter the SDL among pre�clinical medical students in Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). A mixed model design
was used in this study. A validated 20-item SDL Instrument (SDLI) questionnaire was
used to determine the level of students’ SDL abilities quantitatively. Then, students were
asked to answer open-ended questions on what they perceived as the promoting or
deterring factors on implementing SDL. From this study, high SDLI scores were observed
among these students which suggested them to have good SDL abilities. Guide and
support from the lecturers and faculty are important influencing factors among these
students, both in promoting and deterring the implementation of SDL. These factors also
influence the level of motivation for the students to learn. Distractions from current
technology and social media play a big role as a deterring factor of SDL. Teaching
innovations that incorporate social media and technology may promote SDL. Overall
findings from this study should influence lecturers and faculty to design appropriate
teaching-learning activities that will guide and support SDL among the students
Exploration of polymer-based nanocomposites as dopamine electrochemical sensors / Chang Yeet Hoong
No full textThe present thesis aims to explore novel polymer-based nanocomposites for electrochemical sensing of dopamine (DA), where the right balance of this neurotransmitter is vital for both physical and mental wellbeing. In the first part of the work, poly-beta-cyclodextrin (poly-β-CD) integrated with oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (poly-β-CD(f-MWCNT)) was synthesized via one-pot electropolymerization method. The anion-doped polyaniline (PANI) was as the substrate due to its high surface area characteristic has successfully overcome the issue of ineffective loading of poly-β- CD(f-MWCNT). The result demonstrated that poly-β-CD(f-MWCNT)/PANI nanocomposites had accomplished the separation of DA signal from the disturbance of interferences’ signals e.g. ascorbic acid (AA) and uric acid (UA); besides manifested a good sensing behavior with high sensitivity of 26.79 μA μM−1 cm−2. The second part of this work aim to replace the conventional ungreen acidic electrolyte in synthesizing polymelamine (PME) with Type III deep eutectic solvents (DES). Three different Type III DES scilicet ethaline, glyceline, and reline were studies as the polymerization solvent. A contrastive research was conducted on the synthesis of novel PME in DES with conventional acidic electrolyte and neutral electrolyte. The DES functionalized polymers were compared in the respect of morphology, electrocatalytic behavior, electrochemical sensitivity, and polymer film stability. The principal factors affecting the polymerization of melamine includes the potential range, loading amount of melamine, pH, and temperature of the electrolyte have been further investigated to identify the best PME(DES). The selected PME(ethaline) was then incorporated with f-MWCNT, forming PME(ethaline)/f-MWCNT nanocomposite. The results indicated this nanocomposite offer excellent electrocatalytic activity in DA oxidation with a low detection limit recorded at 0.288 μM (S/N = 3). In addition, both the novel nanocomposites were applied for DA detection in human urine from health volunteers which concluded that the poly-β-CD(f-MWCNT)/PANI and PME(ethaline)/f-MWCNT nanocomposites as the potential materials for DA electrochemical sensing
Prevalence, diversity and risk assessment of antibiotic resistant e. coli from anthropogenic impacted Larut River and Sangga Besar River / Low Kyle Young
No full textThe rising emergence of rapidly evolving, multi-antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli (E. coli) remained a global public health concern. Aquatic ecosystems under frequent anthropogenic influence could serve as reservoirs that provide an ideal condition for the acquisition and dissemination of antibiotic resistant genetic determinants. To better understand the impact of anthropogenic wastewater towards the occurrence, genetic diversity and virulence of antimicrobial resistant E. coli as well as their resistance genes, surface waters from riverine estuarine waters of Larut River and Sangga Besar River were studied. Six sampling sites situated upstream and downstream of the Larut River including wastewater from zoo, hospital, and slaughterhouse, along with three sites from neighbouring Sangga Besar River were studied. Concentrations and ecological risk of 22 antibiotics from surface water samples were quantified by solid phase extraction and high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass chromatography. Total coliform and E. coli were isolated and enumerated by membrane filtration technique. Antibiogram was profiled using antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST), whereas phylogeneticity, virulence gene, and antibiotic resistance gene were determined by multiplex PCR assays. Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) was then performed to analyse the E. coli phylogenetic groups against resistance genes sul and tet, physicochemical parameters, and antibiotic residue concentrations. Sixteen antibiotic residues were detected, with concentrations ranging from limit of detection (LOD) to 1,262.3 ng l-1 with residues of erythromycin, clarithromycin, and ofloxacin in hospital and zoo effluents posing a high risk to algae while tetracycline had low to medium ecological risks toward all the relevant organisms from aquatic environments (algae, invertebrate Daphnia magna, and fish). E. coli abundance at Larut River ranged from EST 1 to 4.1 × 105 CFU 100 ml-1, whereas Sangga Besar River ranged from EST 1 to 2.5 × 103 CFU 100 ml-1. All phylogenetic groups except B1 had non homogenous distribution, with phylogenetic group A, found significantly higher in effluents of hospital (58.57 %) and slaughterhouse (49.18 %) followed by S1b (51.67 %). Also, more than half of the E. coli isolates from Larut and Sangga Besar River have multiple antibiotic resistances. The prevalence of multiple antibiotic resistance phenotypes of E. coli with the presence of tet and sul resistance genes was higher in wastewater effluents compared to river waters. The phylogenetic composition of E. coli and resistance genes were associated with physicochemical properties and antibiotic residues. Findings conclude that sites impacted by wastewater effluents along with antibiotic residues had
affected E. coli phylogenetic composition, antibiotic resistance phenotype diversifications, and resistance genes distribution in Larut River
Bio-efficacy of mosquito mat vaporizers and associated detoxification mechanisms in Aedes mosquitoes; and community perception on the use of household insecticide products / Azratul Hizayu Taib
No full textSince the early 1980s, electric vaporizing mats, which combine a mat heater and a vaporizing mat, have grown in popularity. This notable method has the advantage over coils in producing no visible smoke. Burning mosquito coils, heated mats or vaporizers are slow-release household insecticides that are most likely to cause long-term low-level exposure. A statewide investigation was carried out to (1) evaluate the bio-efficacy status of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus populations against mat vaporizers in Selangor, (2) characterize detoxification mechanisms of pyrethroid resistance in Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus in Selangor, (3) access the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding household insecticides use in residential areas in Selangor. Mosquito mat bioassays indicated that Ae. albopictus was more susceptible than Ae. aegypti in the studied populations. Aedes aegypti was resistant to prallethrin > prallethrin with piperonyl butoxide (PBO) > dimefluthrin > d-allethrin. Meanwhile Ae. albopictus was resistant to dimefluthrin > prallethrin > prallethrin with PBO > d-allethrin. In enzyme microassays, elevated levels of α-esterases, β-esterases, mixed function oxidases and glutathione-S-transferase activities were demonstrated in majority of the populations of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus. Besides, correlations between prallethrin with PBO with glutathione-S-transferase activity, and prallethrin with glutathione-S-transferase activity were also demonstrated in Ae. aegypti. An association between activity of α-esterases and β-esterases was also demonstrated in Ae. aegypti. For Ae. albopictus, associations between activity of α-esterase with β-esterases, α-esterases with mixed function oxidases and β- esterases with mixed function oxidases were demonstrated. Knowledge on mosquito in Selangor community was associated with age, gender, ethnicity and household income. However, no factors were associated with attitudes on household insecticide use. Factors associated with practices on household insecticide use were age and attitudes. The findings of this study demonstrated that Ae. albopictus was more susceptible than Ae. aegypti with d-allethrin as the most the effective active ingredient for both species. This data may also assist local authorities in providing susceptibility baseline and appropriate dosage of active ingredient to be used in household insecticide products. Further, application of biochemical tool could also provide significant insights into the evolution and adaptation of Malaysian Aedes mosquitoes as a consequence of frequent insecticide exposure. The present study also offers an opportunity to understand the users’ behaviour on the use of household insecticide products, and consequently allows the implementation of strategic measures for Aedes control programs in Malaysia