Bond yield spreads and short-term interest rate movements

The information content of the short end of the term structure depends on the stance of monetary policy. Based on the findings of several authors such as Simon (1990) and Hardouvelis (1988) the bond spreads can predict future short-term rate movements. Hence, we use monthly observations from 1997 to 2000 on inter-bank rate, treasury bill rates, government bond rates and corporate blond rates to better understand the relationship between the predictive power of the term structure and the stance of monetary policy

Cadangan menaik taraf dan merekabentuk dalaman pawagam Coliseum / Farawahida Abd Ghafar

Untuk projek akhir IND 381 (Kursus Rekabentuk Dalaman), saya telah memilih cadangan projek Menaik taraf dan Merekabentuk Pawagam Coliseum. Projek ini dipilih berdasarkan kajian yang telah dibuat samada dalam pencarian masalah yang sediada, pengumpulan data, pemerhatian dan lain-lain. Setiap projek mempunyai matlamat yang perlu dicapai. Selain itu, perkara lain yang perlu dititikberatkan dalam sesuatu projek ialah mengetahui objektif, skop, halangan dan kepentingan projek khususnya. Hal ini merupakan perkara yang terpenting perlu di ketahui sebelum memulakan dan merancang sesuatu projek. Pemilihan cadangan menaik taraf dan Merekabentuk Pawagam Coliseum ini berdasarkan kajian yang telah dibuat menunjukkan wujudnya masalah-masalah tertentu dan ianya masih tidak aktif berikutan wujudnya ’cineplex’ bagai cendawan tumbuh. Namun kewujudan pawagam lama ini semakin lama semakin dilupakan walhal ianya bertapak pada bangunan lama yang pada dahukala lebih gemilang. Daripada cadangan dan penggiatan pihak tertentu untuk menaiktarafkannya ia adalah jalan yang terbaik untuk mengembalikan detik dan peristiwa sejarah dahulu. Ia juga dapat memberi peluang pekerjaan kepada mereka yang memerlukan dan memberi kemudahan kepada sesiapa sahaja untuk menikmati filem-filem kegemaran dalam suasana yang lebih selesa dengan kelengkapan yang bakal disediakan. Ahli-ahli atau pekerja di sini dapat bekerja di bawah satu bumbung menjalankan aktiviti pemiagaan mereka dengan lebih mudah. Kajian yang dijalankan adalah untuk memperolehi maklumat terperinci mengenai projek yang akan dijalankan, maklumat ini adalah bertujuan untuk membantu dalam proses menaik taraf dan merekabentuk ruang dalaman serta dapat mengikuti dan menepati ciri-ciri yang diperlukan oleh pihak klien. Melalui kajian yang dijalankan didapati bahawa masalah-masalah yang timbul pada pawagam adalah kurangnya sambutan daripada orang ramai disebabkan masalah kewangan dan tayangan hanya berbentuk ’old school’ dan ’box office’ sahaja. Di samping itu, lebih kepada ruang kosong yang hanya dipenuhi oleh golongan muda untuk melepak sehinggakan keunikannya tidak terserlah. Daripada situasi ini cadangan menaik taraf dan merekabentuk semula pawagam Coliseum ini dibuat untuk keselesaan pengunjung dan menjaga kualiti bangunan unik ini untuk kepentingan organisasi tertentu

The influence of work rewards towards job satisfaction among MATRADE employees

This study examines the influence the work rewards toward Job Satisfaction among MATRADE employees. It will help to identify the most significant work rewards that influenced the MATRADE employee’s job satisfaction. Meanwhile, this study also examines whether gender moderates the relationship of job satisfaction or not. In this study there are two dimension measured for work rewards; intrinsic rewards and extrinsic rewards. For intrinsic rewards, it involves task autonomy, task significance and task involvement while for extrinsic rewards it involves social rewards and also organizational rewards. Data for this study was gathered through questionnaires that were distributed at MATRADE. Descriptive analysis performed to determine level of employees’ job satisfaction. In addition, independent-sample t-test was utilized to empirically test relationship between employees’ job satisfaction and their gender. The results of this study reveal that work rewards are moderate determinant of job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is more related to extrinsic rewards for employees than intrinsic rewards. Findings also found that there is no significant level difference between male and female employees’ job satisfactio

Removal of Congo Red and reactive black 5 dyes from aqueous solution using polyethylenimine-modified coffee waste adsorbent

The industrial wastewater especially from textiles industry contain high concentration of dyes that could bring adverse health effect to the human and aquatic life. In past researches, it has been shown that coffee waste is a potential adsorbent for cationic dye in comparison to anionic dye. Thus, in this study, polyethyleniminemodified coffee waste (PEI-CW) was synthesized through crosslinking reaction to evaluate its use as a potential adsorbent in removal o f hazardous anionic Congo Red (CR) and Reactive Black 5 (RB5) dyes from aqueous solution. The type of characterizations that were conducted on the adsorbent are FTIR, BET, BJH and XRD analysis. The presence of substantial amine group on PEI-CW was confirmed through FTIR analysis. The BET and BJH analysis showed a decrement in surface area and total pore volume of CW along with an increase in pore diameter after modification with PEI. The XRD analysis showed there is no obvious difference in crystalline structure of CW after being modified with PEI. Through batch adsorption experiment, PEI-CW has been proven to be a potential adsorbent due to 99% removal of 50 mg/L CR and RB5 dye from aqueous solution. The optimum parameter for CR dye aqueous solution is 60°C, pH 3, 0.1 g PEI-CW and 120 minutes. Whereas, for RB5 dye adsorption, the optimum parameter is 25 °C, pH 7, 0.1 g PEI-CW and 60 minutes. Model-fitting study showed Langmuir adsorption isotherm and pseudo-second order kinetic model as a better fit for both CR and RB5 dyes adsorption process. From Langmuir model, the maximum adsorption capacity was found to be higher for RB5 dye adsorption, which is at 77.5194 mg/g compared to 34.3543 mg/g for CR dye. The thermodynamic analysis suggested that both CR and RB5 dyes adsorption process is physisorption, spontaneous and endothermic in nature. From this study, it is inferred that PEI-CW could be potential low-cost adsorbent in removal of anionic CR and RB5 dyes from the aqueous solution, although higher adsorption is observed towards RB5 than CR dyes

ELECTROCHEMICAL GENERATION OF CHLORINE FOR DISINFECTION IN CONTINUOUS FLOW PROCESS

In-situ generation of chlorine was obtained by electrochemical process using Metal Oxides - coated titanium as anode and Titanium as cathode. In this process, its effect will be mainly based on the electrochemical production of hypochlorite and/or hypochlorous acid from the chloride content of the water. Brine solutions which consist of different concentration of sodium hydroxide (NaCI) were being prepared for electrolysis at different conditions such as flow rate of brine solution entering reactor (4 mL/min - 12 mL/min), electrodes configurations, brine solution pH (2 - 7), chloride concentrations (3.6 mg/L - 100 mg/L) and current densities (1.33 mA/cm2- 4 mA/cm2) in a continuous flow process. The system was running for 5 minutes before the 1 litre of sample taken so that the system was stabilized. Two conditions that have been identified to produced optimum value of free available chlorine (FAC) was at pH 5 which yield as high as 800 mg/L and electrodes configuration that produce optimum FAC was arrangement B, which produced 640 mg/L of FAC. From the 3D surface plot, it was found that FAC production increases with increase in chloride concentration and current density but reduces with increase in flow rate. Furthermore at 3.6 mg/L chloride concentration, sufficient amount of FAC was produced for disinfection where 0.23 mg/L, 1.98 mg/L and 2.38 mg/L of FAC was produced at current densities of 4 mA/cm2 and flow rate of 4 mL/min, 8 mL/min and 12 mL/min respectively

Implementation of half-bridge active power filter using fuzzy logic control / Ahmad Faridz Abd Ghafar

In this work, a single-phase half-bridge topology employing the commonly used hysterisis current control loop complemented with fuzzy logic based voltage control loop is proposed for use in single-phase parallel active power filter (APF). This is connected in parallel with a typical non-linear load performing appropriate compensations to resolve associated problems such as current displacement and harmonics. The unique use of fuzzy logic control (FLC) strategy has been chosen for voltage control; known for providing fast response and simple for microprocessor based implementations in control electronics independent of load changes. In this instance, it is being used to maintain the DC capacitor voltage of the APF for compensation purposes. This voltage is maintained at an appropriate higher value than the supply voltage to ensure that current can be injected into the system when required. To facilitate, a boost inductor is used to increase the charging voltage to the capacitor. The proposed scheme was implemented as a computer model using MATLAB/Simulink to evaluate the behaviour and performance. This is then implemented using an experimental test-rig for investigations on the proposed APF operation; with a single-phase bridge rectifier used to represent a non-linear load. The APF comprising a half-bridge inverter is constructed using 2 units of BUP314D. The proposed control scheme was then implemented using 2 units of PIC 16F877 microcontroller complemented with analogue circuits. Investigations have shown that the proposed APF is capable of achieving nearly sinusoidal input current and in-phase with respect to the supply voltage whilst providing a highly distorted supply current required by the load, even under certain transient condition. The performance when compared to BS-EN61000 and IEEE 519 is satisfactory

Reflection of doing post modern ethnographic research on the dilemmas of working Omani mothers

In response to modern ethnography, post-modern ethnography views that reality is multi-faceted and humans are affected and influenced by the research process. This article is a reflection on conducting post-modern ethnographic research on working mothers in Oman. This study is based on my experience doing ethnographic interviews where two different types of interviews were conducted on two groups of research participants. The different modes of interviews yielded variant of outstanding findings which provide comprehensive data useful in providing comprehensive understanding of work-family interface experiences of working Omani women

NEW RETIREMENT POLICY AND IMPACT TOWARDS PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT PREPARATIONS: MALAYSIAN PERSPECTIVE

When CUEPACS called for Malaysian Government to increase the retirement age from 56 to 60, many believes that the bold moves provides more rooms for the civil servants to have prudent financial security for the retirement preparation. On 1st July 2008, government has approved the raising of retirement age from 56 to 58 years old and it was gazetted in PKPA 6/2008 (Reference No: JPA/PEN/228/25/1/Jld 4). However, many research shows that there are mixture feeling between those who prefer to retire early and those who do not. This paper aims to look at the association between the effects of new retirement age policy with the variables. This study involves 200 public sector employees from Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) Headquarter in Kuala Lumpur as our respondents using questionnaire. Our objectives are (1) we want to determine whether there are relationship between new retirement age with job performance, career advancement, financial security and also job satisfaction, (2) what is the level of perception among the public sector employees on the factors affected by the new retirement age policy. The findings show that there are positive relationship between the new retirement age with job performance, career advancement, financial security and job satisfaction. Job performance and job satisfaction shows a moderate relationship with the value of 0.424 and 0.576 while career advancement and financial security shows a low relationship with the value of 0.256 and 0.388. High total mean score of career advancement (4.0286) and job performance (3.9075) shows that these two factors are highly affected by the new retirement age policy while financial security and also job satisfaction have moderate mean scores. We also found out that the percentage of civil servants that agree to the new retirement age (44%) is not much different from those who disagree (42%)retirement, public sector employees, job performance, financial security, career advancement, job satisfaction

The compensatory effect of glutathione on alleviating salinity–induced modulations in growth and biochemical traits in maize irrigated with diluted seawater

Salinity stress has recently received much attention as an object worthy of research and interest. It is a great challenge for the future global agricultural production that aspires to a large-scale conversion of raw seawater to irrigation use. Our study aims to investigate the antioxidant and free radical scavenging effect of glutathione (GSH) that would enhance maize tolerance to the destructive effect of salinity. A greenhouse trail was conducted in this context during the summer season of 2015 using two salinity (Mediterranean seawater: 3000 and 6000 ppm) and GSH (100 and 200 pm) levels. Tap water was used as a control. Individually, saline water acted in a distinctly different manner than GSH. Irrigation with diluted seawater caused morphological alterations consistent with chemical imbalance. The weight, stem diameter and longitudinal growth of maize were substantially reduced, while enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant components were positively enhanced. Amino acid composition was significantly higher only among plants received low salt concentration (3000 ppm). Glutathione application alone had a strong impact in promoting maize growth. However, lower response was noted at the level of antioxidant-related substances and amino acids content in comparison with salinity treatments. In stressed plants, glutathione mitigated the detrimental effects imposed by salinity, both at the morphological and biochemical levels. Concurrently, the alleviative effect increased as GSH concentration increased. In view of the results obtained irrigation maize with diluted seawater is possible, yet the cumulative adverse effects of salt on land safety should be considered. Our results suggest that using GSH enhances maize tolerance to salinity, and promotes plant recovery from the stress