Issue frequency and convertible bonds in Malaysia

This study aims to investigate the impact of convertible bonds offerings announcements on the firms‟ stock returns in Malaysia. The study examines a total of 90 issuances of convertible bonds from year 2000 until 2015. Event study is performed to measure the impact of announcements on the firms‟ returns. Generally, the findings report that there is a significant impact when firms announce the issuance of convertible bonds. In addition, it is found that multiple issuers face more significant negative abnormal stock returns compared to single issuers. It is possibly due to the types of convertibles issued by multiple issuers such as Irredeemable Convertible Unsecured Loan Stocks (ICULS) and Redeemable Convertible Loan Stocks (RCLS). The issuance of ICULS and RCLS are found to lead to negative abnormal returns while the issuance of Convertible Unsecured Loan Stocks (CULS) leads to positive abnormal returns. When the subsample of multiple issuers is further categorized and analysed according to each sequence of issuance, the result is found to be driven by first issuance while insignificant on the subsequent issuance. The pattern is attributable to the decrease of information asymmetry between each issuance. Additionally, this study examines the impact of other factors that may contribute to the firms‟ abnormal stock returns. There are two variables found to be significantly related to the abnormal return at these event window; (-1, 0) and (-10, 60). In the event window for a shorter period, the variables are issuance size and the firms‟ size. In the longer period, the significant variables are frequency and purpose of issuance. The findings from this study contributes to the literature as the evidence on the impact of the convertible bonds issuance frequency on firms‟ stock returns in a developing market is relatively less explored. The study also offers some recommendations for future researches

The growth of phytoplankton populations in nature and in culture

An investigation over a period of more than two years of phytoplankton,and physical and chemical conditions of the River Thames and the Wraysbury Reservoir in Southern England has indicated seasonal occurrence of phytoplankton populations with diatoms (chiefly Stephanodiscus ref. hantzschii Grun.) forming a large percentage of the populations. During 1984,1985 and 1986, phytoplankton populations occurred most abundantly during the spring (mainly diatom populations) and during the summer (diatoms and green algae in the River Thames,and blue-green algae in the Wraysbury Reservoir). Selected algal taxa were isolated and grown in culture in the laboratory and experiments carried out in which culture conditions have been manipulated in various ways.Such experiments included those involving suspected nutrient limiting factors (e.g.phosphate) as well as physical factors especially those of temperature and light.Ecological records and experimental cultures indicate that the occurrence and growth of diatoms is encouraged by the increasing water temperatures and light intensity during the spring,and by higher levels of nutrient concentrations (i.e.nitrate-nitrogen,phosphate-phosphorus and silica) at all times.On the other hand, the growth of green algae (Chlorophyceae) and blue-green algae (Cyanophyceae) wasinfluenced by the maximum water temperatures and light intensity of the summer period and despite lower nutrient concentrations.Thus,differences in physical and nutrient requirements by phytoplankton populations help to explain the presence of diatoms during the spring and green algae (in the River Thames) and blue-green algae (in the Wraysbury Reservoir) during the summer. Simple investigation of the growth responses of the River Thames and Wraysbury Reservoir phytoplankton populations to River Thames and Wraysbury Reservoir water as natural culture media were performed.The results indicated that the River Thames and Wraysbury Reservoir are potentially able to support considerable crops of phytoplankton populations,and that the potential is present throughout the year.<p

Leachate treatment by conventional coagulation, electrocoagulation and two-stage coagulation (conventional coagulation and electrocoagulation)

Leachate is widely explored and investigated due to highly polluted and difficult to treat. Leachate treatment commonly involves advanced, complicated and high cost activities. Conventional coagulation is widely used in the treatment of wastewater but the sludge production becomes the biggest constraint in this treatment. Electrocoagulation is an alternative to conventional method because it has the same application but produce less sludge and requires simple equipment. Thus, combination of conventional coagulation and electrocoagulation can improve the efficiency of coagulation process in leachate treatment. This article is focusing on the efficiency of single and combined treatment as well as the improvement made by combined treatment. Based on review, the percentage reduction of current density and dose of coagulant was perceptible. As much 50% reduction of current density, duration of treatment, and dose of coagulant able to be obtained by using combined treatment. This combined treatment is able to reduce the cost and at the same time reduce the duration of treatment. Hence, the combined treatment offers an alternative technique for landfill leachate treatment on the removal of pollutants

Pharmaceuticals active compounds in the aquatic environment: a review

Pharmaceutical active substances utilised to treat human and animal diseases can launch into the environment through effluents from wastewater treatment plants and direct disposal of pharmaceutical compounds. Some of these compounds arrive in the environment as a parent compound or as active/inactive metabolites. Owing to their pharmacological action, their conceptions in the environment are significant, and thus this chapter reviews the understanding of the presence of pharmaceutical compounds in the environment

New composite coagulant from agro-waste (tapioca peel) and polyaluminium chloride for primary landfill leachate treatment

Coagulation-flocculation is one of the applications that work efficiently for stabilised leachate treatment, alongside the utilisation of chemical coagulants. On the contrary, the use of chemical coagulants has certain drawbacks towards the health of the ecosystem and living organisms. Hence, this leads to the application of natural material (tapioca peel powder (TPP)) originated and recycled from agro-waste in this study. The limited ability of TPP as a single coagulant could be overcome by substituting the material into polyaluminium chloride (PAC) as a composite coagulant (PACTPP) with different weight ratios. PACTPP was tested on stabilised leachate taken from Simpang Renggam's landfill site (SRLS) by investigating the removal percentage of respective parameters. Based on the weight ratio optimisation, TPP/Al = 3.71 or PACTPPg was determined as the optimum composite coagulant. It was characterised that PACTPPg had combined the best benefits from PAC and TPP, with an acidic property of pH 3.45, a low charge density of 3.45 mV, a higher molecular weight of 1.59 × 107 g/mol, and a bigger particle size of 4.528 × 104 d.mn. By using scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX), a longer connected and compact structure was observed with a diameter of 142.3 μm, i.e., 70.1% increment from PAC. Through Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses, PACTPPg was identified to comprise new chemical compounds: the functional groups of ketones, aldehydes, and alkanes in a semi-formed crystalline phase. The newly formed compounds could be associated with the bridging function that becomes the predominant mechanism for PACTPPg’s coagulation behaviour in removing pollutants. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied after using the conventional method of one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) optimisation to find the optimum pH for the leachate sample and dosage of PACTPPg. At the optimum conditions of pH 7.13 and 2,446.18 mg/L (479.49 mg/L of Al content), the responses were 59.4% for chemical oxygen demand (COD), 23.7% for ammonia nitrogen, 91.8% for turbidity, 88.5% for colour, and 96.0% for suspended solids of removal percentages. The optimisation also revealed that the performance of PACTPPg was at par with that of PAC+TPP, PAC, and TPP coagulants, especially on the removal of physical parameters. The dosages of PACTPPg were reduced by 33.0% and 26.8% compared to the application of PAC and PAC+TPP, respectively. Meanwhile, from the flocs and sludge formation analyses, PACTPPg worked well for the treatment of landfill leachate by inducing adsorption and bridging between particles > charge neutralisation > sweep flocculation mechanisms with denser generated sludge. PAC+TPP, PAC, and TPP also underwent these kinds of mechanisms but with different superiority, which was portrayed by its percentages of parameter removal. Based on the study, it can be concluded that PACTPPg has the potential to be a sustainable coagulant for the primary treatment of stabilised raw leachate in Malaysia

Mercury(II) and arsenic(V) biosorption onto low cost biosorbent

Mercury and arsenic are the two most toxic pollutants which pose a great threat to both human health and organism security. A great deal of research over recent decades has been motivated by the requirement to lower the concentration of these heavy metals in water and the need to develop low cost techniques which can be widely applied for heavy metals remediation. In recent years, biosorption appears to be the most promising method because of its cost effective, easy regeneration of biosorbents, and possibility of metal recovery1. Inexpensive naturally occurring lignocellulosic materials such as coconut coir pith, rice straw, rice husk ash and sugarcane bagasse have been studied for heavy metal removal by several researchers2-4. These lignocellulosic biomass waste materials mainly composed of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Various chemical groups exist including hydroxyl group play a critical role in the biosorption processes by cation exchange phenomena. In this work, stem fibers extracted from Musaceae family (Figure 1) as a low cost biosorbent for Hg(II) and As(V) removal was evaluated. A simple pretreatment by HCl and NaOH on the biosorbent show a great potential for sequestering both cationic and anionic heavy metal ions from aqueous solution. The performance of the biosorbent was tested by the biosorption of Hg(II) and As(V) in a batch system under varying pH, biosorbent dosage, and initial metal concentration. Biosorption of Hg(II) and As(V) ions reached equilibrium in 90 min. It was observed that the adsorption yield for both metal ions was found to be pH dependent. The maximum adsorption capacity of Hg(II) takes place at pH 7 while As(V) at pH 5. Their adsorption behaviour can be described as Langmuir isotherm with maximum adsorption capacities of 15.7 and 2.2 mg/g for Hg(II) and As(V) ions, respectively. The adsorption kinetics was best described by the pseudo-second order model. The results show that this biosorbent which belongs to the Musaceae family could be used as a low-cost material for the biosorption of Hg(II) and As(V) in water treatment

Ethical Practice Disclosure of Malaysian Public Listed Companies

The Malaysian business world has seen a series of scandals amongst government-related companies in recent years, including 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH), Felda Global Ventures (FGV) and Khazanah Nasional Berhad (KHAZANAH). Despite having strong corporate governance policies, in addition to the Malaysia Code of Corporate Governance (MCCG), unethical practices and a lack of transparency remain a problem. This paper examines the level of disclosure of ethical practices by Malaysian public listed companies. Ethical practice disclosure is measured using the modified Ethical Commitment Index (ECI) with six themes derived from the literature: corporate ethical values; action to promote ethics; whistle-blowing policy; code of ethics; sustainability practices; and ethics committee. Conducting analysis of the annual reports of 1,115 companies across five years (2012-2016), this study found there is a need to improve several aspects of ethical practice disclosure. Although the findings suggest that companies supported the MCCG, with most of the companies complying with the recommendations of MCCG 2012 to uphold a high standard of ethical practice, supplementary practices (such as disciplinary action, programmes to support a code of ethics, whistle-blowers’ protection, and establishing an ethics committee) are still weak. This study suggests that regulator action is required to improve the level of ethical practice disclosure by Malaysian public listed companies

Settlement reduction of dredged marine soils (DMS) admixed with cement & waste granular materials (WGM): 1-D compressibility study

Dredged marine soils (DMS) are considered as geo-waste and commonly disposed far into the sea. Environmental impacts raised from dredging such as turbidity and disturbance of marine ecosystem had increased the social demand to reuse DMS in engineering application. Typically, DMS have low shear strength and low bearing capacity. Hence, the DMS could be strengthened up by soil solidification. In present study, waste granular materials (WGM) such as coal bottom ash (BA) and palm oil clinker (POC) were utilized as additional binder to cement. The DMS were solidified with 3 series of admixtures; namely cement and/or WGM. The factor that influenced the compressibility of the soil sample such as percentages of admixtures were considered. Proportioned samples of 10, 15 and 20 % of cement, and/or 50 and 150 % of WGM of dry weight of DMS were subjected to one-dimensional oedometer test. The test samples were cured for 7 days in room temperature. Results show that cement- and WGM-admixed DMS have reduced the soil’s compressibility considerably than the untreated sample. As expected, the cemented soil had significantly reduced the settlement better than WGM-admixed soil. Hence, homogeneous samples of 15C50BA and 10C100POC produced almost similar reduction of compressibility as sample 20C. Therefore, reusing WGM as partial replacement of cement in DMS could provide beneficial reuse of these materials

Synthesis of mesoporous silica nanoparticles by variation of microwave power for the ibuprofen drug delivery

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN), which combine both unique properties of nanomaterials and mesostructured substances, have arouse special attention in biomedical research field due to its great advantages in many aspects such as well biocompatible, unique properties of tunable pore size and structure, large surface areas and pore volumes, controllable morphology and modifiable surfaces1-2. The traditional synthesis method of mesoporous materials is the hydrothermal route, which uses a certain amount of surfactants, as well as acid or alkali to compose a mixed aqueous preparation. Although finely ordered mesoporous materials are obtained, the process is time and energy consuming3. It is known that microwave (MW) heating promotes nucleation and can reduce the synthesis time and particle size significantly in comparison with the conventional convection heating method3. For the synthesis of periodic mesoporous organosilica, it was reported that the synthesis time was reduced from 72 h to 36 h when the self-assembly process was performed under MW irradiation. The resulting materials also exhibited a high surface area, large pore volume and large pore diameters4. Within this context, the microwave was utilized to synthesize the MSN under 100 W, 300 W and 450 W heating powers. Ammonia was chosen as the catalyst and ethylene glycol as the co-solvent because of their polarity, which is higher than that of NaOH and methanol or ethanol which are commonly used to synthesize mesoporous silica. All MSNs was tested for adsorption and release of an anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer drug, ibuprofen. The characterization revealed that the MSN prepared under 450 W (MSN450) produced the most crystallized and prominent mesoporous structure compared to lower power applied (Figure 1). MSN450 exhibited the highest ibuprofen adsorption, followed by MSN300 and MSN100, confirming that more crystallized MSN demonstrated higher adsorptivity toward ibuprofen. For the release study, MSN450 showed the slowest release rate of ibuprofen, followed by MSN300 and MSN100. All MSNs was found to exhibit good activity for the ibuprofen adsorption and release

Impak media baharu terhadap patriotisme belia di Malaysia

Patriotisme sering dikaitkan dengan konsep yang berkaitan dengan kenegaraan. Sentimen patriotisme berkembang luas dan meliputi pelbagai negara di peringkat global. Tahap patriotisme belia di negara ini perlu dipertingkatkan dengan penggunaan media baharu. Medium media baharu yang berasaskan Internet amat membantu dalam menyebarluaskan pelbagai jenis maklumat yang ingin disalurkan khususnya informasi kenegaraan. Aspek patriotisme seharusnya diberi penekanan secara terperinci dan haruslah dipupuk dalam kalangan rakyat Malaysia. Paparan maklumat menerusi medium komunikasi ini mempengaruhi pengguna dan sekaligus memberi kesan kepada golongan belia. Sememangnya tahap kesedaran kumpulan masyarakat khususnya golongan belia terhadap aspek patriotisme adalah kurang memberangsangkan dan perlu dipertingkatkan secara menyeluruh. Kekurangan semangat patriotisme cenderung kepada pelbagai faktor semasa seperti sikap seseorang individu. Hal ini seharusnya diberi penekanan yang sewajarnya kerana berupaya menjadi sebahagian daripada entiti negara. Kajian yang dilakukan dengan menggunakan kaedah survei adalah untuk melihat sejauh mana peranan media baharu memberikan impak terhadap patriotisme belia di Malaysia. Oleh yang demikian, berpaksikan kepada Teori Penyuburan yang dipelopori oleh George Gerbner dan Larry Gross (1976), kertas konseptual ini membincangkan secara spesifik berkaitan impak yang wujud menerusi teknologi media baharu terhadap penyuburan patriotisme belia di Malaysia