GST Fraud: Unveiling the Truth

Goods and services tax (GST) fraud is increasing in Malaysia, resulting in the loss of income for the government. Although there are mechanisms in place to prevent GST fraud, fraudsters are smart and will usually find ways of outwitting such measures. To combat such fraud, it is essential to understand the types of GST fraud perpetrated. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was to identify types of GST fraud in Malaysia. Using a case study approach, the study found six major forms of GST fraud: falsifying claims, sales manipulation, non-submission of GST forms, failure to register, GST avoidance and carousel fraud. Notably, there are commonalities between GST fraud in Malaysia and in other developed and developing countries. This study suggests that authorities should be alert and aggressive in preventing GST fraud. The research contributes to tax administration and the development of literature by demonstrating the impact of a new tax policy with respect to indirect taxation such as GST to facilitate fraud prevention measures

Binary Evolutionary Models

In this talk, we present the general principles of binary evolution and give two examples. The first example is the formation of subdwarf B stars (sdBs) and their application to the long-standing problem of ultraviolet excess (also known as UV-upturn) in elliptical galaxies. The second is for the progenitors of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). We discuss the main binary interactions, i.e., stable Roche lobe overflow (RLOF) and common envelope (CE) evolution, and show evolutionary channels leading to the formation of various binary-related objects. In the first example, we show that the binary model of sdB stars of Han et al. (2002, 2003) can reproduce field sdB stars and their counterparts, extreme horizontal branch (EHB) stars, in globular clusters. By applying the binary model to the study of evolutionary population synthesis, we have obtained an ``a priori'' model for the UV-upturn of elliptical galaxies and showed that the UV-upturn is most likely resulted from binary interactions. This has major implications for understanding the evolution of the UV excess and elliptical galaxies in general. In the second example, we introduce the single degenerate channel and the double degenerate channel for the progenitors of SNe Ia. We give the birth rates and delay time distributions for each channel and the distributions of companion stars at the moment of SN explosion for the single degenerate channel, which would help to search for the remnant companion stars observationally.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, invited talk, to appear in the Proceedings of IAU Symp. 252 "The Art of Modelling Stars in the 21st Century", Sanya, China, 6th-11th April 2008, (L. Deng, K.L. Chan & C. Chiosi, eds.

The nature of medium-period variables on the extreme horizontal branch I. X-shooter study of variable stars in the globular cluster ω\omega Cen

A fraction of the extreme horizontal branch stars of globular clusters exhibit a periodic light variability that has been attributed to rotational modulation caused by surface spots. These spots are believed to be connected to inhomogeneous surface distribution of elements. However, the presence of such spots has not been tested against spectroscopic data. We analyzed the phase-resolved ESO X-shooter spectroscopy of three extreme horizontal branch stars that are members of the globular cluster $\omega$ Cen and also display periodic light variations. The aim of our study is to understand the nature of the light variability of these stars and to test whether the spots can reproduce the observed variability. Our spectroscopic analysis of these stars did not detect any phase-locked abundance variations that are able to reproduce the light variability. Instead, we revealed the phase variability of effective temperature and surface gravity. In particular, the stars show the highest temperature around the light maximum. This points to pulsations as a possible cause of the observed spectroscopic and photometric variations. However, such an interpretation is in a strong conflict with Ritter's law, which relates the pulsational period to the mean stellar density. The location of the $\omega$ Cen variable extreme horizontal branch stars in HR diagram corresponds to an extension of PG 1716 stars toward lower temperatures or blue, low-gravity, large-amplitude pulsators toward lower luminosities, albeit with much longer periods. Other models of light variability, namely, related to temperature spots, should also be tested further. The estimated masses of these stars in the range of $0.2-0.3\,M_\odot$ are too low for helium-burning objects.Comment: 12 pages, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Interacting dark matter contribution to the Galactic 511 keV gamma ray emission: constraining the morphology with INTEGRAL/SPI observations

We compare the full-sky morphology of the 511 keV gamma ray excess measured by the INTEGRAL/SPI experiment to predictions of models based on dark matter (DM) scatterings that produce low-energy positrons: either MeV-scale DM that annihilates directly into e+e- pairs, or heavy DM that inelastically scatters into an excited state (XDM) followed by decay into e+e- and the ground state.By direct comparison to the data, we find that such explanations are consistent with dark matter halo profiles predicted by numerical many-body simulations for a Milky Way-like galaxy. Our results favor an Einasto profile over the cuspier NFW distribution and exclude decaying dark matter scenarios whose predicted spatial distribution is too broad. We obtain a good fit to the shape of the signal using six fewer degrees of freedom than previous empirical fits to the 511 keV data. We find that the ratio of flux at Earth from the galactic bulge to that of the disk is between 1.9 and 2.4, taking into account that 73% of the disk contribution may be attributed to the beta decay of radioactive 26Al.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. Includes minor corrections, and a discussion of threshold energies in XDM models. Published in JCA

Brane matter, hidden or mirror matter, their various avatars and mixings: many faces of the same physics

Numerous papers deal with the phenomenology related to photon-hidden photon kinetic mixing and with the effects of a mass mixing on particle-hidden particle oscillations. In addition, recent papers underline the existence of a geometrical mixing between branes which would allow a matter swapping between branes. These approaches and their phenomenologies are reminiscent of each other but rely on different physical concepts. In the present paper, we suggest there is no rivalry between these models, which are probably many faces of the same physics. We discuss some phenomenological consequences of a global framework.Comment: 9 pages. Typo corrected. Published in European Physical Journal

Light Curves of the Neutron Star Merger GW170817/SSS17a: Implications for R-Process Nucleosynthesis

On 2017 August 17, gravitational waves were detected from a binary neutron star merger, GW170817, along with a coincident short gamma-ray burst, GRB170817A. An optical transient source, Swope Supernova Survey 17a (SSS17a), was subsequently identified as the counterpart of this event. We present ultraviolet, optical and infrared light curves of SSS17a extending from 10.9 hours to 18 days post-merger. We constrain the radioactively-powered transient resulting from the ejection of neutron-rich material. The fast rise of the light curves, subsequent decay, and rapid color evolution are consistent with multiple ejecta components of differing lanthanide abundance. The late-time light curve indicates that SSS17a produced at least ~0.05 solar masses of heavy elements, demonstrating that neutron star mergers play a role in r-process nucleosynthesis in the Universe.Comment: Accepted to Scienc

Horizontal Branch Stars: The Interplay between Observations and Theory, and Insights into the Formation of the Galaxy

We review HB stars in a broad astrophysical context, including both variable and non-variable stars. A reassessment of the Oosterhoff dichotomy is presented, which provides unprecedented detail regarding its origin and systematics. We show that the Oosterhoff dichotomy and the distribution of globular clusters (GCs) in the HB morphology-metallicity plane both exclude, with high statistical significance, the possibility that the Galactic halo may have formed from the accretion of dwarf galaxies resembling present-day Milky Way satellites such as Fornax, Sagittarius, and the LMC. A rediscussion of the second-parameter problem is presented. A technique is proposed to estimate the HB types of extragalactic GCs on the basis of integrated far-UV photometry. The relationship between the absolute V magnitude of the HB at the RR Lyrae level and metallicity, as obtained on the basis of trigonometric parallax measurements for the star RR Lyrae, is also revisited, giving a distance modulus to the LMC of (m-M)_0 = 18.44+/-0.11. RR Lyrae period change rates are studied. Finally, the conductive opacities used in evolutionary calculations of low-mass stars are investigated. [ABRIDGED]Comment: 56 pages, 22 figures. Invited review, to appear in Astrophysics and Space Scienc

Photophysical performance of radio frequency sputtered Pt/n-PSi/ZnO NCs/Pt photovoltaic photodetectors

The effect of the annealing temperature on the photoelectrical properties of the nanoporous silicon/zinc oxide nanocrystallites-based (Pt/n-PSi/ZnO NCs/Pt) photodetector was investigated. Different morphologies of 3D ZnO were synthesized onto the n-PSi substrates via radio frequency (RF) sputtering in the absence of a catalyst. The synthesis of ZnO NCs was controlled by varying the growth temperature between 600–700 °C and 800–900 °C. The effect of the synthesis temperature on the structural, morphological, and optical properties of the n-PSi/ZnO NCs was systematically studied using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) techniques. The roughness was found to be dependent on the anodization current density. The optimal n-PSi/ZnO NCs-based metal-semiconductor-metal UV detector (MSM) was fabricated at 700 °C. The fabricated device showed a high sensitivity of 1007.14, an internal photoconductive gain of 11.07, and a responsivity of 5.99 A/W with a low dark current when illuminated with 380 nm light (1.55 mW/cm2) at +5 V bias voltage. In addition, the response and recovery times were determined to be 0.34 and 0.22 s, respectively. This approach offers a cost-effective substrate and simple synthesis method to improve the growth of the n-PSi/ZnO NCs and demonstrates the successful fabrication of nanoscale photodetectors with potential application in nano-optics devices

The 16th Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys: First Release from the APOGEE-2 Southern Survey and Full Release of eBOSS Spectra

This paper documents the 16th data release (DR16) from the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys (SDSS), the fourth and penultimate from the fourth phase (SDSS-IV). This is the first release of data from the Southern Hemisphere survey of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment 2 (APOGEE-2); new data from APOGEE-2 North are also included. DR16 is also notable as the final data release for the main cosmological program of the Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS), and all raw and reduced spectra from that project are released here. DR16 also includes all the data from the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey and new data from the SPectroscopic IDentification of ERosita Survey programs, both of which were co-observed on eBOSS plates. DR16 has no new data from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey (or the MaNGA Stellar Library "MaStar"). We also preview future SDSS-V operations (due to start in 2020), and summarize plans for the final SDSS-IV data release (DR17)

The VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea eXtended (VVVX) ESO public survey: Completion of the observations and legacy

© 2024 ESO. This is the accepted manuscript version of an article which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202450584The ESO public survey VISTA Variables in the V\'ia L\'actea (VVV) surveyed the inner Galactic bulge and the adjacent southern Galactic disk from $2009-2015$. Upon its conclusion, the complementary VVV eXtended (VVVX) survey has expanded both the temporal as well as spatial coverage of the original VVV area, widening it from $562$ to $1700$ sq. deg., as well as providing additional epochs in $JHK_{\rm s}$ filters from $2016-2023$. With the completion of VVVX observations during the first semester of 2023, we present here the observing strategy, a description of data quality and access, and the legacy of VVVX. VVVX took $\sim 2000$ hours, covering about 4% of the sky in the bulge and southern disk. VVVX covered most of the gaps left between the VVV and the VISTA Hemisphere Survey (VHS) areas and extended the VVV time baseline in the obscured regions affected by high extinction and hence hidden from optical observations. VVVX provides a deep $JHK_{\rm s}$ catalogue of $\gtrsim 1.5\times10^9$ point sources, as well as a $K_{\rm s}$ band catalogue of $\sim 10^7$ variable sources. Within the existing VVV area, we produced a $5D$ map of the surveyed region by combining positions, distances, and proper motions of well-understood distance indicators such as red clump stars, RR Lyrae, and Cepheid variables. In March 2023 we successfully finished the VVVX survey observations that started in 2016, an accomplishment for ESO Paranal Observatory upon 4200 hours of observations for VVV+VVVX. The VVV+VVVX catalogues complement those from the Gaia mission at low Galactic latitudes and provide spectroscopic targets for the forthcoming ESO high-multiplex spectrographs MOONS and 4MOST.Peer reviewe