ADSORPTION OF DYES ON ACTIVATED CARBON FROM AGRICULTURAL WASTES

Adsorption of dyes as a remediation technique for dye-loaded wastewater remains an area of interest. On the one hand, adsorption using bio-derived, renewable sorbent materials can be seen as environmentally friendly, on the other hand adsorption can provide us with a trouble-free, commercially cheap operation. The main objective of this thesis is adsorption of the dyes Crystal Violet (CV) and Nile Blue (NB) on activated carbon derived from date palm leaf wastes. For this purpose, activated carbon was prepared via chemical treatment of palm leaf wastes with sulfuric acid (H2SO4), phosphoric acid (H3PO4), and nitric acid (HNO3), respectively, with subsequent carbonization through thermal treatment. Dye adsorption studies with this activated carbon were carried out under different conditions, and the influence of different parameters such as temperature, time, pH, dye concentration, dose and particle size of activated carbon (AC) was investigated in batch experiments. Furthermore, dynamic sorption experiments were performed successively. The present study found AC from date palm leaves to be a promising low cost adsorbent to remove CV and NB fro

Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practices towards Gender Equality in Achieving SDG5

This research was conducted to determine the awareness level of the students’ at the Universityof Malaya (UM) towards gender equality in achieving SDG5. A set of survey questionnaire established onKnowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) was distributed through an online Google survey form to allUM students’, and 123 responses were collected to evaluate the awareness level (95% confidenceinterval with ± 5% margin of error). Data analysis was conducted through SPSS software. The resultsrevealed that the respondents have a higher knowledge level with lower attitude and practices levels.Spearman’s Rho coefficient correlation was used to evaluate the relationship level within variables(between knowledge and practices and attitude and practices). The results reported a weak positivecorrelation within knowledge and practice levels (r= .275, N= 123, p

Towards Reliable Online Feedback : The Impact of User Preference and Visual Cues in Rating Scales and User Ratings

With the rise of dependency on online shopping and service providers, consumer ratings and reviews help users decide between good and bad options. Reliable and useful ratings can ensure better consumer service, product sales, brand management. Any underlying bias or external factors affecting users emotional stability can corrupt the credibility of user feedback. Prior studies suggest that the visual representation and design elements provided with a rating scale can affect the user's responses, specially if the rating scales have visual labels that generate an emotional response in users. Since there are a number of rating scale designs used in online e-commerce sites and recommender systems, it is also important that users get a say in which rating scale they are comfortable in using. Online marketplace still does not provide a platform to consider user's own choice in this matter. This preferential choice of scales can make users more involved in the rating process and help get the best response from them. Earlier research have already proved that users have specific personalized preferences when it comes to using rating scales to give feedback online. Further emphasis on how this preference and visual cues together can elicit more reliable online feedback mechanism is required in this area. This thesis aims to investigate whether the preference of users in rating scales influences the reliability and authenticity of user's ratings. It also explores the user's reaction to certain visual cues in rating scales, and how user's preferences of rating scale are influenced by such visual elements. A within-subject study ($n$ = 187) was conducted to collect user ratings of popular products with six different rating scale designs, using two types of visual icons (stars and emojis) and colour-metaphors (using a warm-cool and a traffic-light metaphors). Statistical analysis from the survey shows that users prefer the scale with most visually informative design (traffic-light metaphor colours with emoji icons). It also shows that users tend to give their true ratings on scales they prefer most, rather than the scale design they are most familiar with. The rating score analysis also demonstrates a positive shift and better consistency in the ratings given on more visually rich scales. Based on these results, it can be concluded that user involvement is desirable in selecting the rating scale designs, and meaningful visual cues can contribute in getting more accurate (truthful) rating scores from users. The proposed approach of user preference based rating system has novelty because I elicited the user's own opinion on what their accurate or ``true" rating is; rather than only relying on analysing the data received from the rating scores. This work can offer insights for online rating scale designs to improve the rating decision quality of users and help online business platforms obtain more credible feedback from customers which can significantly improve their services and user satisfaction

Long-run Effects of Monetary Policy Shocks: An Empirical Investigation for the US

openThe main purpose of the thesis is to investigate if the monetary policy shocks and information shocks may generate long term effects via a significant response of noncyclical unemployment rate (nrou) in the United States referred to as "hysteresis”. Cholesky (recursive) VAR model is employed in a study, using quarterly data from the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) spanning from 1991Q1 to 2015Q4. The analysis focuses on examining the dynamic effects of policy shocks through the application of impulse response functions (IRFs). Overall, the response of unemployment to monetary policy shocks tends to have a positive effect, while the response to information shocks exhibits a negative effect in the long run. Additionally, the study investigates the impact of these two shocks on other variables including output (Gross Domestic Product), inflation (Implicit Price Deflator), short-term treasury bills, and long-term government bonds using forecast error variance decomposition (FEVD) at two horizons, namely 12 and 24. The substantial interaction among the variables can be seen by the FEVD analysis.The main purpose of the thesis is to investigate if the monetary policy shocks and information shocks may generate long term effects via a significant response of noncyclical unemployment rate (nrou) in the United States referred to as "hysteresis”. Cholesky (recursive) VAR model is employed in a study, using quarterly data from the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) spanning from 1991Q1 to 2015Q4. The analysis focuses on examining the dynamic effects of policy shocks through the application of impulse response functions (IRFs). Overall, the response of unemployment to monetary policy shocks tends to have a positive effect, while the response to information shocks exhibits a negative effect in the long run. Additionally, the study investigates the impact of these two shocks on other variables including output (Gross Domestic Product), inflation (Implicit Price Deflator), short-term treasury bills, and long-term government bonds using forecast error variance decomposition (FEVD) at two horizons, namely 12 and 24. The substantial interaction among the variables can be seen by the FEVD analysis

To Take Or Not To Take: Bioethical Conflicts with Non-adherence to Medications due to Religious Beliefs

The physician-patient relationship has continued to face problems set by the imbalance in the informed consent. Due to lack of informed dialogue, greater cultural competency and awareness, this issue is evident even today with the vast discrepancy that exists in the prescription process of medications and the non-adherence of patients with different religious backgrounds. Several physicians believe it is essential to have at least a minimal level of knowledge about various religious sensitivities so that negative impact on compliance is prevented. Many religious groups such as the Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Jews and Seventh Day Adventists have dietary restrictions that prevent them from taking some medications due to various ingredients in them. Much customer behavior is influenced by religion. If physicians give their patients the alternative of taking medications other than the ones with such contents, then the patients would be better able to determine their own modes of treatment. However, if physicians take such measures, it is important to note that medications must then clearly state their ingredients. The history of labeling has been one of many lengthy procedures and time span. However, goals were set, achieved, and implemented although it took a long time. Similarly, if measures are taken to set goals to provide better alternatives of medications for patients with special dietary restrictions, the inequity in prescription and compliance would narrow

Predictive Value of Academic Anxiety for Academic Achievement of University Students

AbstractAcademic anxiety is a well-known concept. Usually when students transit from on institution to another, they have both positive and negative feelings. The uncertainty of a new academic environment may provoke anxious feelings. These feelings may affect student’s academic achievement. This research paper intended to investigate whether or not academic anxiety and academic achievement of university students are related. Also, the predictability of academic anxiety for academic achievement was intended to be measured. A survey was conducted on 150 students who were enrolled in the first semester of Pre-service teacher training programs in the Institute of Education, University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Data was collected through Academic Anxiety Questionnaire. It was found that academic anxiety significantly correlates with academic achievement of the students and the correlation is negative. Students having low scores on academic anxiety showed better results than the students with high scores on academic anxiety. It was also found that academic anxiety significantly predicts academic achievement and its behavioural and physiological components accounted for significant variance. Key words: Academic Anxiety, Behavioural Component, Cognitive Component, Physiological Component, Emotional Component, Academic Achievement

Risks and Hidden Costs: A Study of 26 Outsourced Projects

Despite the current unfavorable outlook of the larger economy, there has been a steady increase in information systems outsourcing by organizations which is projected to reach $97.9 billion in 2012. Ordinarily, organizations outsource their software projects to avoid the risks associated with developing the software internally and to control costs. However, a study of twenty six outsourced projects indicates that such organizations face unique risks and hidden costs that are particular to software outsourcing. This paper describes research done to estimate the effort expended by organizations in overseeing and participating in outsourced software projects and the implications for identifying risks and predicting costs of such projects. For many of the organizations that participated in the survey, uncovering the actual costs and risks of an outsourced project was an eye opener: the hidden costs and risks are surprisingly significant and are typically not managed by the organization

Why california’s ‘superstar’ cities may have a quick recovery despite being hard hit by covid-19

California’s ‘superstar’ cities and regions – which together make up nearly 90 percent of the state’s GDP – have experienced the highest number of COVID-19 cases. Maliha Ahmed writes that despite being hard hit, these superstar areas have a combination of industries which have been less affected by the pandemic compared to those in poorer areas. With both superstar and non-superstar areas experiencing nearly equal increases in unemployment since February, she argues that policymakers will need to target assistance to poorer areas to prevent rising inequality

On the Mechanical Response in Boundary Resisted Motion

In engineering and science literature, there seems to be a lack of consensus on a modeling framework clarifying how resistance to boundary motion affects mechanical performance. By mechanical performance, is implied the action of a force moving an object from one point to another that generates changes in position, velocity, acceleration and jerk. Apart from affecting a whole vehicle, critical power transmission components and subcomponents all rely on the mechanical responses that change due to an applied force. For example, the power needed to move an aircraft, an automobile, a ship, a submarine etc. will be reduced if resistance to their motion diminishes. Of the three laws of friction, the first one stating friction as directly proportional to normal load is well known and almost universally proven. The second law asserting friction as independent of the area of contact has been found not to apply when rough surfaces are considered. Finally, the third law of friction proposing friction as independent of sliding velocity remains paradoxical considering that the dependence of friction on sliding velocity emerges demonstrably from the Stribeck effect and Stokes’ law of aerodynamic drag. To understand the dependence of friction on sliding velocity, this thesis establishes a deterministic framework for identifying boundary resistance effects on mechanical responses such as distance, velocity, acceleration, jerk, frequency, interacting forces, and efficiency. For this study, two cases are considered. The first case is considered to understand the effect of boundary friction and aerodynamic drag on mechanical sliding motion. In the second case, the effects of boundary friction on spring-resisted motion are explored. These two cases are further broken down into two sub cases, where the effects of constant and variable applied forces are separately investigated. The theoretical modeling effort shows that in general boundary resistance like solid friction and aerodynamic drag detrimentally impacts mechanical responses including efficiency during sliding. The deterministic framework created will be important for studying, synthesizing and designing future sustainable energy-efficiency technologies while dramatically improving existing technologies