State Income Disparity In Relation To National Development Plans In Malaysia

Malaysia envisaged of bringing the low-income states to the general income level by 1985 (First Malaysia Plan, 1965). However, after 49 years of independence and equivalent years of economic planning, the national agenda of bridging the income divide across states in Malaysia remains an unresolved issue. This study is designed to address the question why for the last four decades and with nine National Development Planning programmes should substantial state income disparities be of great concern to the public, politicians and the academic circle. In tandem with the general objective, we examined whether poor states in Malaysia are growing faster than rich states (-convergence). In consonance with our comparative and non-parametric results, we find no econometric evidence to support -convergence in Malaysia. In addition, an examination on sigma convergence, namely the tendency for cross-sectional dispersion of real per capita income to decline over time suggests that the dispersion in income across states in Malaysia has in fact widened. Our results also indicate that the strategies in the Third Malaysia Plan were the most effective while the rest did not meet their intended target of reducing the income divide across states in Malaysia. We also find evidence to suggest that the rising income inequality is not a common phenomenon but mainly due to greater variation in real per capita income between Kelantan, Kedah, Perlis, Pahang and Sabah and the rest of the states in the country. A growth model based on the System Generalized Method of Moments technique suggest that investment has a positive impact, while agriculture sector and population growth rate has a negative impact on income growth. Given these findings, we conclude that despite 49 years of independence and equivalent years of economic planning, the national agenda of bridging the income divide between the low and high-income states, in particular between Kelantan, Kedah, Perlis, Pahang and Sabah and the more developed states in the country did not materialise. This failure is largely associated to the ineffectiveness of the national regional policy. To mitigate the income divide across states in the country, greater industrial and investment activities are humbly recommended

Business entity financial valuation for Malaysia oil & gas industry: A qualitative case study approach

The Oil & Gas sector has played a crucial role in Malaysia’s economy in which 20% is contributed to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). Hence, when the global oil price crisis begun in mid 2014, Malaysia’s economy suffered a setback in terms of lower revenue being generated for the country and loss of investor confidence causing the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI to fall as well. Therefore, with this in mind this paper examined a number of financial instruments with the aim of identifying the suitability of these instruments in evaluating business entity financial valuation of Oil & Gas companies before and after the oil price crisis. The literature review of this research presented five (5) financial instruments which are price to earnings (PE), enterprise multiplier (EM), discounted cash flow (DCF), net assets value (NAV) and net tangible assets (NTA) that can be used for business entity financial valuation of Malaysia Oil & Gas companies. Therefore, in order to confirm the literature findings, this study was conducted using a case study approach with the objective of contributing to the body of knowledge of the Oil & Gas industry both globally and locally. As a result of the findings, the study finds that the all five (5) financial instruments as mentioned above can be used before crisis periods but only four (4) financial instruments with the exclusion of the discounted cash flow (DCF) approach can be used after or during crisis periods. The exclusion of the discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation methodology is due to its inability to accurately produce consistent business entity financial valuations during times of crisis. In conclusion this research provides a conceptual framework which can be used as a guideline for business entity financial valuation of Malaysia Oil & Gas companies

Effect of sol vent volume on size of silica nanoparticle which is synthesized using modified sol-gel process

Nanotechnologies are now poised to revolutionize the electronic, chemical and biotechnology industries and biomedical fields. Silica nanoparticles have been prepared in this work using modified Sol- gel method at room temperature that employs a water-soluble amine as catalyst, Tween 80 water as a micelle producer and tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as the silica source. The pH value of the aqueous phase was controlled between 10.3 and 10.5. Silica nanoparticle that has been synthesized using modified Sol- gel process is water soluble in nature. The size of nanosilica particle changed when we change the volume of the solvent, which 1-butanol in this research. The changes of the nanoparticle were gradual according to the solvent volume. But after certain amount of solvent volume, the increment is stopped and the size decreased gradually. This obviously showed that the influence of solvent in formation of Nanoparticle is limited to certain level only. This creates a new way which the manipulation of the size can be done with the help of solvent too. The influence is not as strong as water/ alkoxide ratio and pH of the solution. Further research need to be conducted to study precise\ud influence of the solvent to the size of silica nanoparticle by modified sol-gel process

Sources, spatial distribution and characteristics of marine litter along the west coast of Qatar

The spatial distribution, sources and characteristics of marine litter (ML) from 36 locations spread over 12 beaches along the west coast of Qatar have been assessed. A total of 2376 ML items with varying sizes were found with an average abundance of 1.98 items/m2. The order of abundance of ML along the coast was as follows: plastics (71.4%) > metal (9.3%) > glass (5.1%) > paper (4.4%) > fabric (4.0%) > rubber (3.9%) > processed wood (2.0%). Locations in the south and northwest coasts of Qatar had significantly higher concentrations of ML. Surprisingly, nearly 47% of the beached polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles were derived from the countries bordering the Arabian/Persian Gulf (Gulf), and most of them were produced in the last 2 years. The plastic materials were drifted by winds and currents to the Qatar coast. Gulf circulation provides evidence to the pathways of ML beached on the Qatar coast.We acknowledge ORS, QU for awarding the Project (QUEX-ESC-QP-TM-18/19), funded by the Qatar Petroleum

Assemblage of encrusting organisms on floating marine debris along the west coast of Qatar

The floating marine debris (FMD) and the associated rafting communities are one of the major stressors to ecosystem services, global biodiversity, economy, and human health. In this study, assemblages of encrusting organisms on different types of stranded FMD along the west coast of Qatar, Arabian Gulf (hereafter referred to as 'Gulf') were examined. The analysis showed 18 fouling species belonging to 5 phyla (Annelida, Anthropoda, Bryozoa, Mollusca and Porifera) on the FMD. The most abundant fouling species were the encrusting Amphibalanus amphitrite, polychaete Spirobranchus kraussii, Bryozoan species and Megabalanus coccopoma. More number of taxa were found on larger size FMD than on smaller FMD. Some of the barnacle rafting types were found to be non-indigenous species. The central and northwestern parts of Qatar had more FMD and fouled species than in other locations. The present study confirmed that huge amount of bio-fouled FMD items, causing great damage to biodiversity, drift in the surface layer of ocean under the influence of coastal dynamics, and eventually strand onto the beaches. We propose a simple, but an effective management plan for FMD and associated organisms at regional scale to restore the biodiversity, sustainability and health of the marine ecosystem in the Gulf

Microplastics in the beach sediments around the Ras Rakan Island, Qatar

The ubiquitous microplastic (MP) pollution is an emerging environmental issue in the marine environment. In this study, historical accumulation trends of MPs in the beach sediments around the Ras Rakan Island of Qatar have been established. The vertical distribution of MPs ranged from 0 to 665 particles/kg with maximum abundance at the surface layer (0-5 cm). Pellets were the dominant type of MPs in the surface sediments, whereas fibers were dominant in the bottom sediments. The polymer composition of MPs was identified using Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. Polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyamide (PA), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and Polystyrene (EPS) were the abundant polymers present in the sediments. High MP concentrations were found in the western and northern parts of the island. The prevailing winds, waves, tides and currents are the forces responsible for the distribution and transport of MPs from the offshore to the island and further to vertical re-distribution as time progresses. The level of MP pollution along the Coast of Ras Rakan Island was higher than that found on the coast of mainland Qatar. This informs that remote islands should also be considered for MP pollution monitoring to assess the risk associated with MP on the biota

Spatial distribution, structural characterization and weathering of tarmats along the west coast of Qatar

Oil pollution resulting from natural and anthropogenic activities in the Arabian Gulf as well as oil residue in the form of tarmat (TM) deposited on the coast is a major environmental concern. The spatial distribution, chemical composition and weathering pattern of tarmat along the west coast of Qatar has been assessed based on the TM samples collected from 12 coastal regions. The range of TM distribution is 0–104 g m−1 with an average value of 9.25 g m−1. Though the current TM level is thirty-fold lesser than that was found during 1993–1997 (average 290 g m−1), the distribution pattern is similar. The results of ATR-FTIR spectroscopy indicate that aromatic compounds are higher in the north (N) coast TMs than those found in the northwest (NW) and southwest (SW) coasts, and Carbonyl Index values indicate that TM of NW coast is highly weathered compared to those found in the N and SW coasts.ORS, QU Project (QUEX-ESC-QP-TM-18/19), funded by the Qatar Petroleum

Three-dimensional fluid simulation of a plasma display panel cell

In order to understand the discharge characteristics in an alternating current plasma display panel (ac PDP) and optimize it further, a three-dimensional fluid code (FL3P) has been developed. Using this simulator, various three-dimensional features of discharges are investigated in the sustain mode of PDP. First, the striations of wall charge are observed at both the anode and cathode side. Second, the local efficiency is obtained as a function of position. It is mainly divided into the anode region and the cathode region and highest near the anode center. Finally, the effects of various three-dimensional parameters are studied. As one of the examples showing the effect of electrode shaping, the discharge characteristics of a T-shaped electrode cell are compared with those of a conventional cell. The phosphor on barrier ribs contributes to over 44% of the total luminance, but barrier ribs themselves do not play an important role in the overall discharge efficiency. Address electrode width is not always proportional to the size of the discharge because of the wall loss of the particles to barrier ribs.open435