Life cycle assessment of marine power systems onboard roll-on/roll-off cargo ships : framework and case studies

PhD ThesisA study into the environmental impact of marine power systems was performed in proximity with the defined research objectives: (i) present an overview on Annex VI The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, cargo ships, marine power systems and technologies; (ii) review life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology development; (iii) develop an LCA framework for marine power systems; (iv) carry out case studies to determine environmental impact, significant components and critical processes; (v) apply scenario analysis to investigate the sensitivity of the results to selected parameters; and (vi) compare power systems under study to verify their environmental benefits. Built upon literature and the proposed LCA framework, LCA case studies on conventional, retrofit and new-build power systems were performed using a bottom-up integrated system approach, where data were gathered and LCA models were created for individual technologies using GaBi software. Life cycle impact assessment was performed using CML2001, International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) and Eco-Indicator99 to estimate the environmental impact of the systems. It was found that disposing metal scrap of significant components was the principal cause of ecotoxicity potential, which was the impact category that showed the top two highest indicator results; and operating diesel engines and auxiliary generators or diesel gensets was mainly accounted for other impact categories. When compared with the conventional system, both retrofit and new-build systems consumed less fuels and released less emissions during operation but involved more materials and energy during other life cycle phases, leading to a decline in most impact categories to the detriment of a few burdens. The life cycle of marine power systems must be planned, managed and monitored appropriately for reduced environmental implications. Further research should address limitations presented in this study and explore other factors that might affect the environmental burdens of marine power systems.Research presented in this thesis was delivered for a European Commission funded FP7 project ‘INOvative Energy MANagement System for Cargo SHIP’ (INOMANS²HIP, grant agreement no: 266082)

Waiver of employer’s termination right by doctrine of election

A contract creates a legal obligation upon the contracting parties. Generally, a contract may be terminated before completion at common law or by the exercise of express rights set out in the contract itself. Contracts can be brought to an end in a variety of ways, either by performance, agreement, frustration or by breach. Under common law, the innocent party can terminate the contract by the operation of law when a party intimates by words or conducts that he does not intend to honour his obligations or when the guilty party commits breach so serious that evinces its intention not to perform. However, a repudiation of contract does not automatically terminate the innocent party’s obligations under the contract. The innocent party has choices between the right to continue the contract or to accept the repudiation of the guilty party as terminating the contract. In legal terminology the choice is known as “election”. In order for the doctrine of election to operate effectively, there are certain essential elements and conditions to be fulfilled. If an election is not done correctly due to certain circumstances, it can be considered as an ineffective election. The employer’s decision to affirm the contract or treat the contract as an end would be challenged. In situation where the employer elects to terminate the contract, it would become a waiver to the employer’s termination right. Therefore, this study focused on the circumstances that are considered as waiver of the employer’s termination right by election. From the result of this research, it can be concluded that the circumstances that may lead the employer to have waive their termination right by election are delay in termination, unequivocal conduct to affirm and affirmation of contract

Waiver of employer’s termination right by doctrine of election

A contract creates a legal obligation upon the contracting parties. Generally, a contract may be terminated before completion at common law or by the exercise of express rights set out in the contract itself. Contracts can be brought to an end in a variety of ways, either by performance, agreement, frustration or by breach. Under common law, the innocent party can terminate the contract by the operation of law when a party intimates by words or conducts that he does not intend to honour his obligations or when the guilty party commits breach so serious that evinces its intention not to perform. However, a repudiation of contract does not automatically terminate the innocent party’s obligations under the contract. The innocent party has choices between the right to continue the contract or to accept the repudiation of the guilty party as terminating the contract. In legal terminology the choice is known as “election”. In order for the doctrine of election to operate effectively, there are certain essential elements and conditions to be fulfilled. If an election is not done correctly due to certain circumstances, it can be considered as an ineffective election. The employer’s decision to affirm the contract or treat the contract as an end would be challenged. In situation where the employer elects to terminate the contract, it would become a waiver to the employer’s termination right. Therefore, this study focused on the circumstances that are considered as waiver of the employer’s termination right by election. From the result of this research, it can be concluded that the circumstances that may lead the employer to have waive their termination right by election are delay in termination, unequivocal conduct to affirm and affirmation of contract

A Foreword from the Editor-in-Chief

Due to the advancement of information technology, Journal of Electronic & Information Systems aims to discover innovative methods, theories and studies in its field by publishing original articles, case studies and comprehensive reviews. Journal of Electronic & Information Systems provides a wide range of readers and authors. A good communication platform, in the expectation, the first issue of the first volume was first published.Journal of Electronic & Information Systems publishes original research papers that it has officially applied for the electronic ISSN (Online) to be 2661-3204. The current Vol. 1 No. 1 will be issued with electronic publications

Factors stimulating corporate crime in Malaysia

Building on the perception of both existing and potential investors in Kuching, Sarawak, this study aims to identify the factors that appear to stimulate corporate crime activity in organizations. A survey was carried out by distributing questionnaires to both types of investors selected on randomly basis. The findings reveal that corporate crime activities are mostly due to inadequate cash security practices, inadequate supervision as well as a lack of internal auditing. To minimize the effects of corporate crime on investors and organizations, managers should pay extra attention to these factors. On the other hand, future research within the context of corporate crime may consider the extent to which organizational crime can affect the shareholder value creation of organizations.Corporate Crime; Internal Control

Simplex-centroid mixture formulation for optimised composting of kitchen waste.

Composting is a good recycling method to fully utilise all the organic wastes present in kitchen waste due to its high nutritious matter within the waste. In this present study, the optimised mixture proportions of kitchen waste containing vegetable scraps (V), fish processing waste (F) and newspaper (N) or onion peels (O) were determined by applying the simplex-centroid mixture design method to achieve the desired initial moisture content and carbon-to-nitrogen (CN) ratio for effective composting process. The best mixture was at 48.5% V, 17.7% F and 33.7% N for blends with newspaper while for blends with onion peels, the mixture proportion was 44.0% V, 19.7% F and 36.2% O. The predicted responses from these mixture proportions fall in the acceptable limits of moisture content of 50% to 65% and CN ratio of 20-40 and were also validated experimentally

Survey Evidence on the Rationality of Business Expectations: Implications from the Malaysian Agricultural Sector

The rational expectations hypothesis (REH) serves as an appealing mechanism in forming expectations compared to that of extrapolative or adaptive frameworks because of its consistency with the basic principles of maximizing behavior. This argument is particularly true as the basic idea of REH maintains that expectations in an uncertain world are formed under assumptions where no systematic errors and information are fully utilized. However, empirical findings from the present study showed diverse evidence of rationality in business operational forecasts formed by Malaysian agriculture firms, as capital expenditure expectations were found to be irrational but gross revenue expectations were supportive of the REH proposition. This implies that the survey of business forecasts may not work well in reflecting the true business outlook, specifically in value-related operational forecasts, which in turn would directly influence investment decisions as well as the capital budgeting process.Rational Expectations Hypothesis; Unbiasedness Test; Non-serial Correlation Test; Weak-form Efficiency Test