457 research outputs found
Assessment on state’s duty to protect human rights violations by business enterprises within oil & gas industry (O&G)
To date, transnational corporations (TNCs), including oil and gas (O&G) companies, have had no direct human rights
obligations under international law. International law and human rights law have principally focused on protecting individuals from violations by the government. In view of the recent development, it is timely to have a look into O&G laws in Malaysia. This article presents a brief summary of basic picture of O&G industry in Malaysia. In the first part, it gives a brief introduction of historical development of O&G industry and introduction of United Nations Guiding
Principle (UNGP). It also discusses on the role of PETRONAS as the appointed main regulators of O&G industry in Malaysia. It then attempts to lay down the relationship between existing legal frameworks governing the activities in the value chain of the O&G industry in Malaysia and State responsibility to protect under UNGP principle
Effect of Photometric Redshift Uncertainties on Weak Lensing Tomography
We perform a systematic analysis of the effects of photometric redshift
uncertainties on weak lensing tomography. We describe the photo-z distribution
with a bias and Gaussian scatter that are allowed to vary arbitrarily between
intervals of dz = 0.1 in redshift.While the mere presence of bias and scatter
does not substantially degrade dark energy information, uncertainties in both
parameters do. For a fiducial next-generation survey each would need to be
known to better than about 0.003-0.01 in redshift for each interval in order to
lead to less than a factor of 1.5 increase in the dark energy parameter errors.
The more stringent requirement corresponds to a larger dark energy parameter
space, when redshift variation in the equation of state of dark energy is
allowed.Of order 10^4-10^5 galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts fairly sampled
from the source galaxy distribution will be needed to achieve this level of
calibration. If the sample is composed of multiple galaxy types, a fair sample
would be required for each. These requirements increase in stringency for more
ambitious surveys; we quantify such scalings with a convenient fitting formula.
No single aspect of a photometrically binned selection of galaxies such as
their mean or median suffices, indicating that dark energy parameter
determinations are sensitive to the shape and nature of outliers in the photo-z
redshift distribution.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures, accepted by Ap
THE PLIGHT OF REFUGEES IN MALAYSIA: MALAYSIA AS A TRANSIT COUNTRY IN PROTECTING REFUGEES’ RIGHTS
The role of UNHCR and respective transit countries is to help refugees find lasting solutions that will allow them to rebuild their lives in dignity and peace, via local integration, voluntary repatriation or resettlement in a third country. Awaiting resettlement, the refugees are always mistakenly believed to be economic migrants or illegal immigrants. Due to the absence of legal or administrative regulations governing refugees, they are exposed to detention with the possibility of refoulement. These refugees are not legally permitted to work, which leads them to work discreetly and are willing to perform low-paying jobs in order to earn a living. Children are denied proper education and healthcare, which are considered as luxuries they could not afford. All these are common and enduring plights that still haunt refugees in Malaysia. This article reviews the plight of refugees in Malaysia during the transitional period before resettlement, discusses the roles of Malaysia as a transit country, and proposes lasting solutions for refugees in Malaysia. It is hoped that this article will provide a better understanding of the roles of transit countries particularly Malaysia for protection of refugees’ rights especially on their resettlement. In addition, assistance from UNHCR and other NGOs are also important to solve this problem.
Keywords: Malaysia, refugee, resettlement, transit country, UNHCR.
Cite as: Sahak, S., Nordin, R., & Ishak, M. K. (2020). The plight of refugees in Malaysia: Malaysia as a transit country in protecting refugees’ rights. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 5(1), 378-394. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol5iss1pp378-39
Development of Guidelines for Collecting Transit Ridership Data
Transit ridership is a critical determinant for many transit applications such as operation optimizations and project prioritization under performance-based funding mechanisms. As a result, the quality of ridership data is of utmost importance to both transit administrative agencies and transit operators. Many transit operators in Virginia report their ridership data to the Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) and the National Transit Database (NTD). However, with no specific guidelines available to transit agencies in Virginia for collecting ridership data, the heterogeneous mixture of diverse data collection methods and technologies has often raised concerns about the consistency and quality of the reported data. This study investigated the ridership data collection practices adopted by transit agencies in Virginia and developed high-level guidelines to facilitate data collection with improved quality. Specifically, it examined the data collection practices discussed in the literature and those adopted by local transit agencies in Virginia. The research team surveyed 39 transit agencies to obtain a clear understanding of their current practices in data collection scope, technological solutions, sampling and estimation techniques, and data storage and reporting, among others. To evaluate the potential estimation errors based on sampled data, the researchers requested and obtained actual data from five transit agencies of different sizes in Virginia. Comparisons between selected data collection solutions were conducted, and the estimation errors were tested based on different sample data from these agencies. Based on the findings from literature review, surveys, and analysis of actual data, a set of high-level data collection guidelines was proposed. This study recommends that DRPT distribute the developed guidelines among transit agencies in Virginia to help facilitate improved data collection practices across Virginia. It is also recommended that DRPT require the submission of each agency’s ridership data collection methods and correction (adjustment) procedures, in addition to the agency’s reported ridership data
Optimal Surveys for Weak Lensing Tomography
Weak lensing surveys provide a powerful probe of dark energy through the
measurement of the mass distribution of the local Universe. A number of
ground-based and space-based surveys are being planned for this purpose. Here,
we study the optimal strategy for these future surveys using the joint
constraints on the equation of state parameter wn and its evolution wa as a
figure of merit by considering power spectrum tomography. For this purpose, we
first consider an `ideal' survey which is both wide and deep and exempt from
systematics. We find that such a survey has great potential for dark energy
studies, reaching one sigma precisions of 1% and 10% on the two parameters
respectively. We then study the relative impact of various limitations by
degrading this ideal survey. In particular, we consider the effect of sky
coverage, survey depth, shape measurements systematics, photometric redshifts
systematics and uncertainties in the non-linear power spectrum predictions. We
find that, for a given observing time, it is always advantageous to choose a
wide rather than a deep survey geometry. We also find that the dark energy
constraints from power spectrum tomography are robust to photometric redshift
errors and catastrophic failures, if a spectroscopic calibration sample of
10^4-10^5 galaxies is available. The impact of these systematics is small
compared to the limitations that come from potential uncertainties in the power
spectrum, due to shear measurement and theoretical errors. To help the planning
of future surveys, we summarize our results with comprehensive scaling
relations which avoid the need for full Fisher matrix calculations.Comment: Submitted to MNRAS. 10 pages, including 13 figures and 2 table
Redshift and Shear Calibration: Impact on Cosmic Shear Studies and Survey Design
The cosmological interpretation of weak lensing by large-scale structures
requires knowledge of the redshift distribution of the source galaxies. Current
lensing surveys are often calibrated using external redshift samples which span
a significantly smaller sky area in comparison to the lensing survey, and are
thus subject to sample variance. Some future lensing surveys are expected to be
calibrated in the same way, in particular the fainter galaxy populations where
the entire color coverage, and hence photometric redshift estimate, could be
challenging to obtain. Using N-body simulations, we study the impact of this
sample variance on cosmic shear analysis and show that, to first approximation,
it behaves like a shear calibration error 1+/-epsilon. Using the Hubble Deep
Field as a redshift calibration survey could therefore be a problem for current
lensing surveys. We discuss the impact of the redshift distribution sampling
error and a shear calibration error on the design of future lensing surveys,
and find that a lensing survey of area Theta square degrees and limiting
magnitude m_lim}, has a minimum shear and redshift calibration accuracy
requirements given by epsilon = epsilon_0 10^{beta(m_lim-24.5)} / sqrt(Theta/
200). Above that limit, lensing surveys would not reach their full potential.
Using the galaxy number counts from the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, we find
(epsilon_0,beta)=(0.015,-0.18) and (epsilon_0,beta)=(0.011,-0.23) for ground
and space based surveys respectively. Lensing surveys with no or limited
redshift information and/or poor shear calibration accuracy will loose their
potential to analyse the cosmic shear signal in the sub-degree angular scales,
and therefore complete photometric redshift coverage should be a top priority
for future lensing surveys.Comment: Accepted version to Astroparticle Physic
Analisis Faktor Risiko Ketidaklengkapan Imunisasi Dasar pada Bayi Dl Kecamatan Suka Makmur Kabupaten Aceh Besar
In Indonesia the immunization program is resolved to achieve the universal child immunization (UCI). In 1990 the International agreement was made to give the complete immunization to all children. The children with incomplete immmunization status could increase the KLB PD31 opportunities. The purpose of the research was to achieve the illustration of incomplete baby immunization and to determine factors related to the incomplete child immunization in Sub district Suka Makmur, Aceh Besar District. It was an analytic study using a cross sectional design. The respondents were 96 mothers who had 12-23 month babies. The risk factors were age, education, occupation, income, knowledge on immunization, age at the first time contact. Data were collected by structured interview and analized by Odds Ratio (OR). Results showed the prevalence of incomplete immunization child status was about 38.6%. The age of first time contact, the mother's knowledge about immunization and the distance between the house and the immunization service centre were associated with the child immunization status
Optimising cosmic shear surveys to measure modifications to gravity on cosmic scales
We consider how upcoming photometric large scale structure surveys can be
optimized to measure the properties of dark energy and possible cosmic scale
modifications to General Relativity in light of realistic astrophysical and
instrumental systematic uncertainities. In particular we include flexible
descriptions of intrinsic alignments, galaxy bias and photometric redshift
uncertainties in a Fisher Matrix analysis of shear, position and position-shear
correlations, including complementary cosmological constraints from the CMB. We
study the impact of survey tradeoffs in depth versus breadth, and redshift
quality. We parameterise the results in terms of the Dark Energy Task Force
figure of merit, and deviations from General Relativity through an analagous
Modified Gravity figure of merit. We find that intrinsic alignments weaken the
dependence of figure of merit on area and that, for a fixed observing time, a
fiducial Stage IV survey plateaus above roughly 10,000deg2 for DE and peaks at
about 5,000deg2 as the relative importance of IAs at low redshift penalises
wide, shallow surveys. While reducing photometric redshift scatter improves
constraining power, the dependence is shallow. The variation in constraining
power is stronger once IAs are included and is slightly more pronounced for MG
constraints than for DE. The inclusion of intrinsic alignments and galaxy
position information reduces the required prior on photometric redshift
accuracy by an order of magnitude for both the fiducial Stage III and IV
surveys, equivalent to a factor of 100 reduction in the number of spectroscopic
galaxies required to calibrate the photometric sample.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures. Fixed an error in equation 19 which changes the
right hand panels of figures 1 and 2, and modifies conclusions on the results
for fixed observing tim
Chlamydia trachomatis serotype A infections in the Amazon region of Brazil: prevalence, entry and dissemination
Work from home and SME digitalisation in Malaysia: Legal challenges
Purpose: This paper aims to analyse challenges in implementing work from home for SMEs in Malaysia in the legal viewpoint. Apart from discussing relevant provisions, several court cases are also examined to identify the problems which arise in the implementation of work from home. Design/methodology/approach: This paper mainly relies on primary sources of information in form of statutes and court cases. The analysis conducted in this research is supported by secondary data. Additionally, this paper also uses an analytical descriptive approach to analyse relevant provisions from statutes and to examine current court cases regarding the implementation of work from home in SME. Findings: It is submitted that the current Malaysian legal framework on employment and safety and health at workplace is silent on the status for worker under work from home arrangement. Therefore, similar obligations and rules under the Employment Act 1955 and Occupational Safety and Occupational Safety and Health (Safety and Health Committee) Regulations 1996 is applicable to worker under work from home arrangement. Research limitations: The employer’s view must be taken into consideration into future studies. Future research should examine the employer’s perception in dealing legal issues arises in WFH arrangement. Practical implications: The study suggests that SMEs need to review their working policy with regards to WFH arrangement and ensure it is adhering to the provisions under the EA 1955. Therefore, understanding the legal issues arising in the work from home arrangement will help employer to review their company policy when dealing with workers under work from home. Originality/value: This paper provides an analysis of the legal issues arising in the work from home arrangement in particular for Malaysian SME. It is hoped that the content of this paper can provide some insight into this particular area for digitalisation regulatory framework not only in Malaysia but also elsewhere. Paper type: Conceptual paper
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