To develop a new mineral carbonation process that have a high efficiency in CO2 absorption into industry slag using low energy mechanical milling

Increase in the CO2 emission in atmosphere due to the combustion of fossil fuels has caused serious global warming. Electricity generation, tranportation, and industrial waste are the main sectors indentified to contribute to the emission of CO2 in Malaysia. In dealing with this issue, the absorption of CO2 into industrial waste was experimentally studied by the utilization of mechanical grinding method. This research is to aim a development of new mineral carbonation process that has a high efficiency in the capture and storage of CO2 with low energy consumption. In the first stage of this study, the behavior of CO2 absorption on electric arc furnace and ladle furnace slag was studied by low energy mechanical milling It was found that the absorption is occured during milling. CO2 was stored into the slag mainly as CaCO3. Thus this indicates that the CO2 can be stored permanently inside the slag with this method. In the next stage, the effect of dissolution of metal element into water on the behavior of CO2 absorption was investigated by leaching test experiment. It was found that , concentration value of Fe in pure water is higher but in river water the concentration is lower, the dissolve concentration decreased with the increased in the number of the leaching time. Concentration will be increased at the earlier stage before it decreased at final of concentration. This case because the liquid became saturated and cannot be to dissolved. After the pH steeply increased gradually at an early stage of the elution of slag, it slightly decreased. The pH decreased with the increased in the number of elution. The changes of pH in leaching test it seemed to depend on the content of CaO in the slag. For mechanism of CO2 absorption, morphological change of slag were study and the slag were characteried by using XRD, FE-SEM, and EDS

Implementasi Kebijakan Retribusi Pelayanan Persampahan/kebersihan Di Kota Pasangkayu Kabupatenmamuju Utara

This study aims to identify and describe the policy implementation levy Pasangkayu waste services in the city of North Mamuju regency. This type of research is qualitative. The informants are officers of Housing and Spatial Planning and the community in the City Pasangkayu. Collecting data using observations, interviews, and documentation, while data analysis using data reduction, data presentation, drawing conclusions/verifikasi.Hasil research shows the retribution policy implementation Pasangkayu waste services in the city has not shown that the maximum performance, because the aspects studied such as the size and purpose , resources, and the economic environment, social, political and not running optimally. The size and purpose of the policy is not maximized due to budget constraints resulted in a lot of programs that have not been accommodated in the work plan the budget so that policy implementation is not maximized as the size and purpose. Resources are limited, be it human resources, facilities and infrastructure and the budget provided, sertalingkungan economic, social and politikbelum fully support, because of the attitude of the public is less aware of the implementation of the policy, even related parties such as the government is still less strict in following up civil disobedience the implementation of policies

Modelling capital adequacy of life insurers / Norhana Abd. Rahim

Insurance industry is a regulated industry. Capital adequacy requirement is the most important area in insurance regulation and supervision of an insurer’s insolvency. It is meant to absorb the unexpected losses of an insurance company in order to remain solvent and competitive in the insurance market. In the last two decades, the capital adequacy determination approaches have changed from the traditional “one-sizefits all” approach to risk-based capital (RBC), which reflects insurer’s risk profile. The risk-based capital model generally applies a fixed predetermined percentage to the annual statement amount of an insurance company. The insurance regulator of each country fixes the pre-determined percentage. However, each risk-based capital model has different risks types and risk charges for determining the capital adequacy. Even though many risk-based capital models have been developed, these models fail to take into account the changing and volatile economic conditions. Therefore, the capital cannot be determined adequately and hence cannot provide safety for the insurers. Additionally, the insolvencies problems due to inadequate capital would also not be resolved. Thus, the question of how much capital is enough is still in doubt. In response to that, this study developed a simulation model for determining dynamic risk charges. This study also aimed to model capital adequacy for determining capital adequacy and capital adequacy ratio. Following that, this study investigated the effects of current economic condition towards dynamic risk charges, capital adequacy and capital adequacy ratio. Finally, this study aimed to identify which dynamic risk charge variables affects the capital adequacy and capital adequacy ratio. The data employed for this study were Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI), Malaysian Bond Index (MBI), Housing Price Index (HPI), currency rates, bond’s yield, duration and mortality rate for the Malaysian population. Several risk measures were selected to determine the risk charges. Then, a simulation procedure was done to transform the risk charges into the dynamic risk charges. The results show that the dynamic risk charges changed over time and a higher risk charges were recorded during the crisis period. This higher dynamic risk charges led to a higher capital adequacy amount during the crisis period. This study also found that the capital adequacy ratio was lower during the crisis period and a higher ratio during the normal period. This study also found the most significant variables that affected capital adequacy and capital adequacy ratio are corporate conventional bond, MGS bond and stocks. Thus, it can be concluded that the new capital adequacy model is a better approach in determining the adequacy of capital as it reflects the ups and downs of the market conditions and helps in better risk management

Design And Development Of Semiconductor Based And Fiber Laser Based Optical Transmitter

This thesis presents the research works on development, characterization, application and analysis of semiconductor based and fiber laser based optical transmitter. Semiconductor laser is the most widely used in the optical communication system. This is mainly because of the compact size, weight and simplicity of modulation scheme. Laser diode is used in developing the optical transmitter and the application in the optical communication. The function of the optical transmitter is to convert the electric signal into optical signal and thus the optical transmitter is also called Electric to optical (E/O) converter. There are two approaches used in this thesis : simulation and experiment. Simulation is designed to check and determine the functionality of the designed circuit

Equity Capital Raising and Determinants of its Price Behaviour in Malaysia

Capital investment is an important economic activity that contributes to economic growth. Aggressive capital formation leading to high economic growth can be the result of either public expenditure policies for welfare betterment or private initiatives, which enable the market mechanism to operate effectively and efficiently. In Malaysia, the private sector plays an active role in economic development, so its ability to raise external funding must not be en cumbered by restrictive policies that increases costs of financing. Thus, the first objective of this study is to search for a link between the amount of capital rises by the private sector and changes in macroeconomic factors. Time constraints limit the study to external capital funding in the form of equity only, both seasoned and unseasoned ones. Apart from relating the volume of equity raised to a certain macro economic variable,the research is extended to identifying factors in explaining the price behaviour of rights is sue announcements and listing of IPOs. This study is based on findings in the U.S. that volume and price behaviour of equity issues (particularly seasoned equity) are influenced by movement of the business cycle as measured by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Since similar index is not available in Malaysia, a proxy closely related to variations in the business cycle was used. This proxy is the term premium, which is the excess of the average 20-year Malaysian Government Securities (MGS) yield over the3-month Treasury bill (TB) yield. Evidence of a significant association between term premiums and movements of the business cycle in the U.S. is the basis, which led to the adoption of this variable in the study. The research design used in this study is the event study methodology to measure price behaviour of rights issues and IPOs, and the ordinary least square regression method to determine the variables explaining the price behaviour. The market-adjusted return was used to derive abnormal returns of rights issues

Intra-cavity spectroscopy using amplified spontaneous emission in fiber lasers

Fiber laser sources offer interesting possibilities for gas sensors since they can operate over an extended wavelength range, encompassing the near-IR absorption lines of a number of important gases but a major problem is that overtone absorption lines of gases in the near-IR are relatively weak. In order to enhance sensitivity, we present here a simple method of intra-cavity absorption spectroscopy (ICAS) which makes use of the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) already present within a fiber laser cavity. The ASE also provides a convenient broadband source for the simultaneous interrogation of several gases within the gain-bandwidth of the fiber laser. The key principle is based on adjusting the cavity attenuation to select an appropriate inversion level where the fiber gain curve is flat. Under this condition, the ASE undergoes multiple circulations within the fiber laser cavity, enhancing the effective path-length of a gas cell placed within the laser cavity. A theoretical model of system operation is given and we have experimentally demonstrated the principle of operation with acetylene and carbon dioxide using a simple erbium fiber laser system containing a 6 cm path-length, fiber coupled, intra-cavity, micro-optic gas cell. We have experimentally simultaneously observed 16 absorption lines for 1% acetylene gas in the 1530 nm region and detected the very weak carbon dioxide lines in this same wavelength region. A path length enhancement of in the linear regime has been demonstrated transforming the 6 cm micro-optic cell into an effective path length of m. We also demonstrate how the enhancement factor may be calibrated by use of a simple fiber-optic interferometer. Apart from the OSA, all components are inexpensive and the system is very simple to construct and operate

Identification and Characterization of Differentially Expressed Genes in Ganoderma Boninense-Infected Oil Palms (Elaeis Guineensis)

Basal stem rot (BSR) caused by Ganoderma boninense is the most serious disease of oil palms in Malaysia. Thus, changes in the gene expression patterns of infected palms have gained interests among researchers as a tool to understand the disease. An indication that there are differences in susceptibility to BSR between germplasm materials from different genetic origins have provided hope in generating oil palm varieties with reduced levels of susceptibility by using existing genetic materials. The study of differentially expressed genes may also pave the way towards developing diagnostic tools for early disease detection in oil palms. A novel method combining elements of suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) permits the efficient and rapid cloning of rarely transcribed differentially expressed genes. The experimental strategy virtually excludes the possibility of isolating false positive clones. This study used SSH and isolated 1,038 differentially expressed cDNAs from the G. boninense-inoculated oil palm seedlings (T1) when subtracted from its uninoculated counterpart (T2), using the basal stem and spear leaf tissues. Sequence data indicated that of the 1,038 clones obtained, 86% showed sequence similarity to proteins already registered in public databases, 10% showed similarity to putative protein sequences and 4% were unknown proteins with no records in public databases. Seven clones harboring genes encoding for defense mechanisms against fungal and insect pathogens in plants were identified. They were pathogenesis-related (PR)-genes and defense-related genes depending on their direct or indirect roles in plant defense against pathogens. Reverse northern analysis of these 7 clones demonstrated that 4 were differentially expressed in T1 but northern analysis showed that only 3 were differentially expressed. Further analysis via reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) confirmed these 3 genes to be differentially expressed in G. boninense infected oil palms. They were MAG 43 that codes for serine palmitoyltransferase, MAG 59 for chitinase and MAG 225 for endochitinase

Hubungan antara tahap kompetensi fungsional guru dengan pencapaian akademik pelajar di sekolah Menengah di Negeri Kelantan

Tujuan kajian ini adalah untuk mengenal pasti hubungan antara tahap kompetensi fungsional guru dengan pencapaian akademik pelajar di sekolah menengah di negeri Kelantan.Sejumlah 375 orang guru sekolah menengah di negeri Kelantan telah mengambil bahagian dalam kajian ini.Instrumen soal selidik tahap kompetensi fungsional diadaptasi daripada Modul Penilaian Bersepadu Pegawai Perkhidmatan Pendidikan (PBPPP) Bahagian Pembangunan Kurikulum, Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia telah digunakan untuk mengumpul data. Dalam kajian ini data dianalisis dengan menggunakan Program Statistical Package of Sosial Science (SPSS) version 21.Data dianalisis menggunakan kaedah deskriptif dan statistik inferensi.Keputusan kajian menunjukkan terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara tahap kompetensi fungsional guru dengan pencapaian akademik pelajar di sekolah menengah di negeri Kelantan. Keputusan kajian juga menunjukkan dimensi kompetensi iaitu pengetahuan dan kemahiran fungsional guru menunjukkan hubungan yang signifikan dengan pencapaian akademik pelajar. Tahap kompetensi fungsional guru di sekolah menengah di negeri Kelantan berada pada tahap tinggi. Tahap pencapaian akademik pelajar pula berada pada tahap sederhana.Beberapa cadangan dikemukakan untuk meningkatkan keberhasilan dan kelestarian kompetensi fungsional guru dan kecemerlangan pencapaian akademik pelajar

Serious games in mental health treatment: Review of literature

Serious games are considered as powerful tools in learning and instructional purposes. Besides, serious games also have gained-their own popularity among children and adolescents. In these recent years, psychotherapists have realized the advantages of using games as the assistive tool in psychotherapy, so called therapeutic games. The use of serious games is already being applied in various types of mental illnesses, such as anxiety, depression, phobia,panic disorder, and eating disorder.This position paper describes the effectiveness of serious games in treating various mental illnesses among young patients.A systematic review points out the development and research in the circle of serious games for mental illnesses focusing on young patients.In this paper, the literature review consists of relevant serious games for therapeutic development since the year 2005