Electrochemical strategy for grown ZnO nanoparticles deposited onto HY zeolite with enhanced photodecolorization of methylene blue: Effect of the formation of Si O Zn bonds

Nanoparticles of electrogenerated zinc-supported HY zeolite (EGZnO/HY) catalyst were prepared by a simple electrochemical method. The interaction between zinc species and HY support during the electrolysis was found to affect the EGZnO/HY structure. In addition to the formation of EGZnO nanoparticles (<30 nm in size) that distributed on the surface of HY support, an isomorphous substitution of Al with Zn also occurred in the aluminosilicate framework to result in a Si O Zn bonds. The photoactivity of EGZnO/HY was tested on the decolorization of methylene blue (MB). An amount of 0.375 g L−1 of 1 wt% EGZnO/HY was found to be the optimum dosage for 10 mg L−1 MB, which resulted in 80% of maximum decolorization after 6 h of contact time at pH 3 under fluorescent light (420 nm). Increasing the EGZnO loading led to additional formation of Si O Zn bonds and lessened the number of EGZnO nanoparticles, which then reduced the photodecolorization percentage of MB.The photocatalytic reaction was follows the first-order Langmuir–Hinshelwood model, and gives partially mineralization. The photocatalyst was still stable after five cycling runs with no Zn leaching

Moderating effect of asean free trade agreement between total quality management and business performance

The unprecedented pace of globalisation, trade liberalisation, and capital movement in the later years profoundly changed to pose serious challenges for Malaysian companies to compete in an open market. In today's highly competitive market, the demand for quality is important factor for companies to survive in the ever-expanding global marketplace. The concept of Total Quality Management (TQM) has been developed as a result of intense global competition. ASEAN trade liberalisation through the elimination of intraregional tariffs contributed to improving manufacturing in ASEAN countries to be more efficient and competitive in world markets. However, Asean Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) is a good news for foreign companies as they have competitive advantages, but not for local companies. The examining of AFTA as a moderator is less done in previous work. The purpose of this paper is to propose relationship between TQM practices and business performance with moderator effects of AFTA. The main contribution of this paper is to examine whether AFTA has the effect as a moderator. This proposed conceptual model will help the academicians and industry players to have better understanding on the effect of AFTA in TQM implementation in improving their business performance. The structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques are used to examine the relationships of the practices.©2014 the Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open Access under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY–NC–ND 4.0) license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Does environmental knowledge moderate the relationship between household determinants' intention to practice solid waste segregation-at-source? a conceptual paper

Previous research has reported that environmental knowledge plays an important role in enhancing general pro-environmental behaviour, as environmental knowledge appears to be the key indicator for increasing awareness of several pollution promulgations and other natural environmental issues. However, the significant role of environmental knowledge in the intention of households to practise solid waste segregation-at-source is not well understood. This research will, therefore, investigate the influence of environmental knowledge on the intention of households to engage in solid waste segregation-at-source. Further analysis will also be carried out explore the moderating effect of environmental knowledge in the relationship between the households’ attitude and subjective norm (i.e. descriptive norm and injunctive norm) with the intention to practise solid waste segregation-at-source. The findings of this current research are expected to provide an essential opportunity to investigate knowledge gaps, to contribute to the enrichment of existing literature, as well as to provide important insights for local households and Malaysian government agencies to strengthen the sense of responsibility for environmental cleanliness

Proposing a model on risk mitigation in IT governance

Risk mitigation is the core process in IT Governance. Due to the fact that application of IT Governance systems may sustain risks, organizations use risk mitigation to solve risks within IT systems and provide sufficient means to treat these risks.Risk mitigation is necessary to ensure a successful IT Governance implementation.The risk mitigation process comprises of risk identification, risk decision, risk treatment and risk monitoring.The aim of this paper is to present the new risk mitigation models’ components and metrics for measuring the risk in IT Governance

Perkembangan dan cabaran sektor perniagaan sebagai pemangkin pembangunan bandar kecil: kajian empirikal di Daerah Besut, Terengganu

Bandar kecil berfungsi sebagai pusat perkhidmatan kepada masyarakat luar bandar yang memainkan peranan yang penting dalam pembangunan. Pertumbuhan sektor perniagaan yang semakin berkembang menyebabkan terjadinya perubahan pada rupa fizikal‚ struktur bandar dan cabaran kepada peniaga kecil. Kajian ini menganalisis trend perkembangan sektor perniagaan di tiga bandar kecil daerah Besut, iaitu Jerteh, Kampung Raja dan Kuala Besut. Sumber data primer adalah hasil soalselidik 200 orang peniaga berlesen. Hasil kajian mendapati ketiga-tiga bandar kecil ini berupaya mengagihkan barangan dan kemudahan perkhidmatan sosial asas kepada penduduk. Namun demikian, didapati pusat perniagaan utama kurang seimbang dari segi pembangunannya. Bagaimanapun, keadaan ini hanya berlaku di Kampung Raja dan beberapa kawasan lain yang terpencil. Oleh yang demikian, penstrukturan dan perancangan semula bandar kecil perlu dilakukan untuk membentuk sebuah bandar kecil yang aktif berfungsi dan mampu memberi perkhidmatan yang baik kepada kawasan tadahan di sekitarnya dengan memperkasakan lagi perancangan perniagaan

Three-phase series resonant DC-DC boost converter with double LLC resonant tanks and variable frequency control

This paper proposes a three-phase inverter combined with two LLC resonant tanks series resonant DC-DC boost converter with variable frequency control. The three-phase inverter side of the proposed circuit is connected to identical two-level LLC tanks to ensure balanced resonant currents. The proposed converter requires less switching devices and transformers as compared to the conventional interleaved LLC resonant converter, which competitively offers higher efficiency and reduced size and cost. Furthermore, the proposed converter works above the resonant frequency to achieve zero voltage switching (ZVS) for the entire operating frequency range {(42.5kHz < }{f}{s}{ < 50kHz)} for all switches. Variable frequency controller is considered in order to obtain better stability for diverse loads. Therefore, the proposed converter will have the ability to respond to the load changes by varying the switching frequency to the value that fulfils the requirement. In order to verify the improvement of the proposed converter, the converter performance is compared to conventional interleaved LLC resonant converter. The theoretical outcomes are confirmed through simulation studies using MATLAB/SIMULINK and validated experimentally using a laboratory prototype. Selected results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed converter

A classification framework for drug relapse prediction

This paper proposes a framework for relapse prediction using Artificial Neural Networkalgorithms among drug addicts at Pusat Rawatan Inabah. The data collected will be miningthrough Artificial Neural Network algorithms to generate patterns and useful knowledge andthen automatically classifying the relapse possibility. This research collaborates with PusatRawatan Inabah, which is one of the rehabilitation centers that provide a specific treatment torehabilitate the drug addicts from addiction. We expect that among the classification datamining algorithms, Artificial Intelligence Neural Network (ANN) is one of the bestalgorithms to predict relapse among drug addicts. This may help the rehabilitation center topredict relapse individually and the prediction result is hoped to prevent drug addicts fromrelapse.Keywords: classification; artificial neural network; drug addiction; Inabah rehabilitation

Implementing Aproiri Algorithm for Predicting Result Analysis

University or Higher Learning Institution is a platform to train students in specific domain area that will become an asset for a country. One of the critical issues in University is to avoid dropout students. Educational Data Mining (EDM) is an emergent discipline in developing methods to explore the unique types of data from the educational context. One of the techniques applied in EDM is an Association Rules (AR) which is to find a pattern of one element influencing other element. In this paper, AR technique has been utilized to predict students’ results based on a group of the previous students results. Clustering method has been used to classify the specific subject category. Finally, a system known as Result Prediction System (REPS) has been developed to perform automatically the AR analysis on the academic data using PHP and MYSQL databases