Effect of Chloride on Offshore Structure Welding Procedure

The objective of this research was to determine the effect of chloride to the welded ASTM A516 Grade 70 materials. The used of proper welding procedure may eliminate the probability of crack occurrences, but there were still cracking happen in some offshore welding. That was because the failures may occur hours or days after the welding work completed. The scope of the study was on ASTM A516 Grade 70 steels welded using WPS FSP-HLE-17-49 procedure and exposed under salt environment according to ASTM G41-90 at 35°C for period of 1 to 5 days. Non Destructive Examination such dye penetrant and magnetic particle testing were used to investigate the initial conditions of specimen and the conditions after exposing the materials under the simulated offshore environment. Metallographic examinations of the specimen were crucial in this study. The study had shown that the welded structure using the WPS produced complete welds with no visible surface crack. The hardness of the weld and the HAZ was 213(HV10) and 224 (HV10) respectively. There were found to be well below critical hardness value i.e. 300 (HV10) for weld metal and 248 (HV10) for HAZ, as according to PTS 20.112. There were no surface cracks found throughout the duration of the study. The study concludes that if the welding was done in strict compliance with the code and standard, high weld integrity would be produced

Effect of Chloride on Offshore Structure Welding Procedure

The objective of this research was to determine the effect of chloride to the welded ASTM A516 Grade 70 materials. The used of proper welding procedure may eliminate the probability of crack occurrences, but there were still cracking happen in some offshore welding. That was because the failures may occur hours or days after the welding work completed. The scope of the study was on ASTM A516 Grade 70 steels welded using WPS FSP-HLE-17-49 procedure and exposed under salt environment according to ASTM G41-90 at 35°C for period of 1 to 5 days. Non Destructive Examination such dye penetrant and magnetic particle testing were used to investigate the initial conditions of specimen and the conditions after exposing the materials under the simulated offshore environment. Metallographic examinations of the specimen were crucial in this study. The study had shown that the welded structure using the WPS produced complete welds with no visible surface crack. The hardness of the weld and the HAZ was 213(HV10) and 224 (HV10) respectively. There were found to be well below critical hardness value i.e. 300 (HV10) for weld metal and 248 (HV10) for HAZ, as according to PTS 20.112. There were no surface cracks found throughout the duration of the study. The study concludes that if the welding was done in strict compliance with the code and standard, high weld integrity would be produced

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THE IMPACT OF UNANTICIPATED POLITICAL EVENTS ON STOCKS MARKET RETURNS: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM SAUDI ARABIA

Abstract:This study aims to identify the effect of unexpected political-events on Saudi stock market returns based on the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) assumptions.  The disappearance of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey is the political event has been determined in this study.  The data collected from ten companies traded in the Saudi stock market which accounted for more than 62 percent of the total market capitalization. However, this paper applied the Event Study Methodology. The results showed that the Saudi stock market initially reacted to the event and tried to absorb the information received but could not correct itself in most of the window event period. It seems that the market did not get the relevant news quickly or clearly. So, the information that flow among traders was not readily available for the investors at the same level and time. Ultimately, the Saudi stock market is described as a weak-form market (inefficient).Keywords: Unanticipated political events, the stock market, expected returns, abnormal returns, cumulative returns, event study methodologyAbstract: This study aims to identify the effect of unexpected political-events on Saudi stock market returns based on the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) assumptions.  The disappearance of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey is the political event has been determined in this study.  The data collected from ten companies traded in the Saudi stock market which accounted for more than 62 percent of the total market capitalization. However, this paper applied the Event Study Methodology. The results showed that the Saudi stock market initially reacted to the event and tried to absorb the information received but could not correct itself in most of the window event period. It seems that the market did not get the relevant news quickly or clearly. So, the information that flow among traders was not readily available for the investors at the same level and time. Ultimately, the Saudi stock market is described as a weak-form market (inefficient).Keywords: Unanticipated political events, the stock market, expected returns, abnormal returns, cumulative returns, event study methodology

Service Quality in Sungai Petani Public Library: Malaysian Evidence

Service quality has emerged as a key strategic issue in management. The service quality assessment tool SERVQUAL was introduced by Parasuraman (1988) that cover tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, and assurance and empathy dimensions of service quality. The objective of this study is to identify the relationship between dimension (tangibles, reliability responsiveness) and service quality in Sungai Petani Public library in Kedah State Government and to investigate which service quality dimensions that mostly influenced the service quality in public library in Sungai Petani. The issues regarding public library are the physical aspect of the public library make people lack of interest to go, the public library facing problem in term of qualified staff to deliver quality of service and also comments by people regarding on the problem of the contents in public libraries in the poor condition. The study was conducted among library users and the information was gathered via questionnaires which consisted of structured questions. In this study, simple random sampling was used where only 132 respondents were selected. The discussion methods are using the Descriptive Statistic, Pearson Correlations, Cronbach’s Alpha and Multiple Regressions used to analyze the result of this study. The findings indicated that all three hypotheses which are tangible dimension, reliability dimension and responsiveness dimension was accepted by the researchers. Based on the finding, the reliability dimension is a significant relationship with service quality in public library Sungai Petani which is strong positive relationship. However the researchers recommend that the management of public library Sungai Petani needs to focus on several services that needs further improvement such as the online public access catalogue (OPAC) and welcoming atmosphere is important part of providing excellent services towards modern library service. In future research, the library’s management should take an effort to create the pleasant surroundings to encourage the widest possible segment of the population to use the library and to regard it as an essential part of community life and more ‘user freindly’ with the customers. Keywords: Service, Quality; Service Quality; SERVQUAL; Library; Public Library; User

By Election in Malaysia: A Study of Voting Trends in Kedah

Abstract: The Bukit Selambau by-election was due to the previous ADUN’s of Bukit Selambau, YB.V Arumugam’s resignation and this had caused SPR to supervise another by-election on the 7th of April 2009. Even during the naming of the candidates, the local population had shown the tendency to support the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) rather than side with the Barisan Nasional (BN). Along the campaigning period that started on the 29th of March until the 6th of April 2009, numerous strategies and issues (national and local) were played by all of the contesting candidates; however the general population was more interested in the series of speeches held by the PR openly. The findings on the observations and interviews that were done concluded that the candidates’ ethnicity, religion, and age played an important role in the Bukit Selambau by-election. As a result, the PR had won even though its candidate S. Manikumar was not well known and BN’s candidate BN Datuk S. Ganesan who was very popular, lost the by-election. BN needs to remember that after the political tsunami that hit a year ago, popular candidates do no guarantee victory to the contesting parties even though there were 50.2 % Malay voters in Bukit Selambau. BN’s failure to take back Bukit Selambau should be taken as an lesson to be learned, in which a more ’people friendly’ campaign should be done later on. In future, the Malays should stay together so that the political tsunami of PRU 12 will not take place in the upcoming PRU 13. BN should down to earth in having back the public trust. Key words: Election; By-Election; Bukit Selambau, Voter’s; Trend, Survey

E-Filing System Practiced by Inland Revenue Board (IRB): Perception towards Malaysian Taxpayers

This research is about the Perception of Tax Payers toward E-Filing System introduced by Inland Revenue Board in Malaysia. The objective of the study is to determine factors that will lead the taxpayer’s perception toward internet for tax filing system. The factors that lead the tax payers to use internet for tax filing are being identified by four independent variables which are perceive usefulness, perceive risk, perceive ease of use and facilitating conditions. This study was conducted in Sungai Petani, Kedah area. Data were collected from 97 respondents as a sample of this research in Sungai Petani, Kedah. This research used quantitative research method, obtaining data through questionnaires and information from secondary data. The sample was randomly selected from population by using convenience random sampling technique. The data collected were analyzed by using frequency, descriptive statistic, independent sample test and ANOVA. Findings indicated that major factors that lead to the perception of the tax payers toward e-filing system is perceive usefulness of the tax filing system itself. For the future research, this study suggested boosting the positive perception toward e-filing system of the tax payer to give the tax payers more exposure on how to use the e-filing system. Keywords: E-Filing; Inland Revenue Board; Perception; Tax and TaxpayersRésumé: Cette recherche est sur la perception des contribuables à l’égard du système de dépôt électronique mis en place par Inland Revenue Board en Malaisie. L'objectif de cette étude est de déterminer les facteurs qui mèneront la les contribuables à utiliser le système de déclaration de revenus sur Internet. Les facteurs qui mènent les contribuables à utiliser Internet pour les déclarations fiscales sont en cours d'identification par quatre indépendantes variables qui sont la perception de l'utilité, la perception des risques, la simplicité de l’utilisation et la facilitation des conditions. Cette étude a été menée à Sungai Petani, de la région de Kedah. On a utilisé des données recueillies auprès de 97 sondés à Sungai Petani, dans la région de Kedah comme un échantillon de cette recherche, qui a utilisé la méthode de recherche quantitative, en obtenant des données par des questionnaires et des informations provenant des données secondaires. L'échantillon a été tiré au sort de la population en utilisant la technique pratique d'échantillonnage aléatoire. Les données recueillies ont été analysées en utilisant la fréquence, les statistiques descriptives, le teste d'échantillon indépendant et ANOVA. Les conclusions montrent que les facteurs principaux qui conduisent à la perception des contribuables envers le système de dépôt électronique est la perception de l'utilité du système fiscal de dépôt lui-même. Pour les recherches à venir, cette étude suggère de renforcer la perception positive des contribuables à l'égard du système de dépôt électronique et leur donner plus d’explication sur la façon d'utiliser le système de dépôt électronique.Mots-clés: dépôt électronique; Inland Revenue Board; perception; taxes et contribuable

Experimental Investigation of Al2O3 - Water Ethylene Glycol Mixture Nanofluid Thermal Behaviour in a Single Cooling Plate for PEM Fuel Cell Application

AbstractThermal enhancement through application of nanofluid coolant in a single cooling plate of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell was experimentally investigated in this paper. The study focuses on low concentration of Al2O3 dispersed in Water - Ethylene Glycol mixtures as coolant in a carbon graphite PEM fuel cell cooling plate. The study was conducted in a cooling plate size of 220mm x 300mm with 22 parallel mini channels and large fluid distributors. The mini channel dimensions are 100mm x 1mm x 5mm. A constant heat load of 100W was applied by a heater pad that represents the artificial heat load of a single cell. Al2O3 nanoparticle used was 0.1 and 0.5 vol % concentration which was then dispersed in 50:50 (water: Ethylene Glycol) mixture. The effect of different flow rates to heat transfer enhancement and fluid flow represented in Re number range of 20 to 120 was observed. Heat transfer was improved up to 13.87% for 0.5 vol % Al2O3 as compared to the base fluid. However the pressure drop also increase which result in pumping power increment up to 0.02W. The positive thermal results implied that Al2O3 nanofluid is a potential candidate for future applications in PEM fuel cell thermal management

Development of Odonata as A Nature Tourism Product for Peat Swamp Ecosystem in North Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve, Johor

Odonates are water quality indicator for the health of freshwater ecosystem, had been used in pharmacology, as dietary items, predators and controlling human diseases. Odonata have a strong tradition of being involved in relaxation and recreation activities in various Asian nations, such as China and Japan. A study on odonate as tourism product was carried out at North Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve, Johor for eight days. The study firstly aimed to determine the diversity of odonate on site. Ten flagships species was then selected based on criteria of a good nature tourism product. The research continued to develop odonatourism as a new product in North Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve, Johor. The method used for species inventory were sticky trapping, sweep netting, and point-counting survey. A total number of 35 species with 465 individuals - had been collected during the research. Data collected revealed that the diversity of odonate in the sampling region is medium as evidenced by the Shannon Weiner Species Diversity Index (2.6126). Analyzing the 35 species of odonates, gauging against the eight Criteria of a Good Nature Tourism Product, 10 species indicated having potentials to be developed into nature tourism products.  Based on the selected 10 flagship species, a promotional brochure and a prototype of souvenir were created. Although this research mainly dealt with promoting odonate as potential nature tourism products the necessity to maintain North Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve in Johor is also highlighted