• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.25-36
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• 2017

Subsidies are an instrumental policy making tool for many governments, but their importance depends on the market situation of the national economy. Efficient subsidy implementation would allow the government to correct market failure thereby aligning social and private costs and benefit. The general objective of this study is to justify the need to rationalise subsidies for food items such as flour. This study assessed the structure and conducts of the general purpose flour market in Malaysia; and analysed the impact of subsidies on market performance to recommend policies to increase market efficiency under the subsidy rationalisation program. To accomplish these objectives, the study adopted a microeconomics market analysis as well as the standard structure and performance analysis method. These two approaches showed the characteristics of an industry's consumer behaviour, competition, as well as the efficiency associated with government regulatory policies on the flour industry. One of the biggest influences on the domestic market is related to the food consumption behaviour of the general population. Food consumption behaviour reflects global trends. As income rises, food trends tend to be consumed in processed form or in such a way that adds value in another manner such as the preparation of food products.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.253-260
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• 2015

The pitting behaviours of 304L and 316L stainless steels were investigated at $3^{\circ}C$ to $90^{\circ}C$ in 1 M solutions of NaCl, NaBr and NaI by potentiodynamic polarization. The temperature dependences of the pitting potential varied according to the anion, being near linear in bromide but exponential in chloride. As a result, at low temperatures grades 304L and 316L steel are most susceptible to pitting by bromide ions, while at high temperatures both stainless steels were more susceptible to pitting by small chloride anions than the larger bromide and iodide. Thus, increasing temperature appears to favour attack by smaller anions. This paper will attempt to rationalise both of the above findings in terms of the point defect model. Initial findings are that qualitatively this approach can be reasonably successful, but not at the quantitative level, possibly due to insufficient data on the mechanical properties of thin passive films.

• Broadcasting and Media Magazine
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.46-51
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• 1999

The introduction of broadcast digital television (DTV) was, at one time, seen as an opportunity to rationalise video formats. The reality is quite different with a rapid divergence as the united States' ATSC offers 18 formats to cover both standard definition (SD) and high definition (HD), and yet more are supported by Europe's DVB. At the same time multi-media is expanding both as an area for source material and for finished work. Post production needs to move away from single-format facilities as requirements for multi-format operation is already increasing. A 'format-independent' solution is described which allows efficient operation with any mix of input formats and able to output any format with high quality. Attention is given to retaining the speed, accuracy and immediacy which is a feature of today's professional facilities -even while handling the greater demands of HD. Another route, using 24 frames-per-second is also examined.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.2247-2254
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• 2010

The surface structures of copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) thin films deposited on sulphur-passivated and plane perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA)-covered InAs(100) surfaces have been studied by low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and van der Waals (vdW) intermolecular interaction energy calculations. The annealing to $300^{\circ}C$ and $450^{\circ}C$ of $(NH_4)_2S_x$-treated InAs(100) substrates produces a ($1{\times}1$) and ($2{\times}1$) S-passivated surface respectively. The CuPc deposition onto the PTCDA-covered InAs(100) surface leads to a ring-like diffraction pattern, indicating that the 2D ordered overlayer exists and the structure is dominantly determined by the intermolecular interactions rather than substrate-molecule interactions. However, no ordered LEED patterns were observed for the CuPc on S-passivated InAs(100) surface. The intermolecular interaction energy calculations have been carried out to rationalise this structural difference. In the case of CuPc unit cells on PTCDA layer, the planar layered CuPc structure is more stable than the $\alpha$-herringbone structure, consistent with the experimental LEED results. For CuPc unit cells on a S-($1{\times}1$) layer, however, the $\alpha$-herringbone structure is more stable than the planar layered structure, consistent with the absence of diffraction pattern. The results show that the lattice structure during the initial stages of thin film growth is influenced strongly by the intermolecular interactions at the interface.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.1013-1016
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• 2005

Accounts of the development of a successful construction project often stress the importance of team relationship, project environment and senior management commitment. Numbers of studies carried out in the past decades indicate there needs to be a change of culture and attitude in the construction industry. In order for a turn around in the industry, relational contracting approaches have become more popular in recent years. However, not all relational contracting projects were successful. This paper details the fundamental principles of relational contracting. It further reports findings of a research currently taking place in Australia, how effective is relational contracting in practice. The problem addressed in this research is the implementation of relational contracting: • Throughout a range of projects • With a focus on client body staff The context within which the research was undertaken is: • Empowerment, regional development and promotion of a sustainable industry • The participating organisations have experience of partnering and alliancing • Success has been proven on large projects but performance is variable • Need has been identified to examine skill sets needed for successful partnering/alliancing The practical rationale behind this research is that: • Partnering and alliancing require a change of mind set - a culture change • The Client side must change along with contracting side • A fit is required between organisation structure and organisation culture Research Rationale: The rationale behind this project has been to conduct research within participating organisations, analyse, rationalise and generalise results and then move on to produce generic deliverables and "participating organisation specific" deliverables. This paper sets out the work so far, the links between the various elements and a plan for turning the research output into industry deliverables.