Malaysia will be an ageing population by 2030 as the number of those aged 60 years and above has increased drastically from 6.2 percent in 2000 and is expected to reach 13.6 percent by 2030. There are many challenges that will be faced due to the ageing population, one of which is the increasing cost of pensions in the future. In view of that, it is necessary to investigate the effect of actuarial assumptions on pension liabilities under the perspective of ageing. To estimate the pension liabilities, the Projected Unit Credit method is used in the study and commutation functions are employed in the process. Demographic risk and salary risk have been identified as major risks in analyzing pension liabilities in this study. The sensitivity analyses will be conducted in the study to investigate how the pension liabilities will be affected when these major risks changes. This study analyzes nine scenarios under assumptions in the actuarial model, namely age of retirement, rate of mortality and rate of salary growth. The result of this study indicates that the implied mortality experience and salary growth rate assumptions have a significant impact on pension liabilities.
The demand for single photon sources in quantum key distribution (QKD) systems has necessitated the use of weak coherent pulses (WCPs) characterized by a Poissonian distribution. Ensuring security against eavesdropping attacks requires keeping the mean photon number (µ) small and known to legitimate partners. However, accurately determining µ poses challenges due to discrepancies between theoretical calculations and practical implementation. This paper introduces two experiments. The first experiment involves theoretical calculations of µ using several filters to generate the WCPs. The second experiment utilizes a variable attenuator to generate the WCPs, and the value of µ was estimated from the photons detected by the BB
... Show MoreAdsorption of Acetone and 2-Butanone on Iraqi siliceouns rocks powder have been investigated. UV technique has been used to determine the adsorption isotherms. The results showed that the adsorption isotherms obeyed Freundlich adsorption equation. The results showed that the adsorption increases with increasing acidity of solutions. The adsorption was exothermic process, increasing temperature leads to decreasing adsorption. H, S, G were calculated
Compaction of triticale grain with three moisture contents (8%, 12%, and 16% wet basis) was measured at five applied pressures (0, 7, 14, 34, and 55 kPa). Bulk density increased with increasing pressure for all moisture contents and was significantly (p < 0.0001) dependent on both moisture content and applied pressure. A Verhulst logistic equation was found to model the changes in bulk density of triticale grain with R2 of 0.986. The model showed similar beha
This study investigates the characterization and growth dynamics of a Magnetically Stabilized Gliding Arc Discharge (MSGAD) system, generating non-thermal plasma with argon gas under atmospheric pressure and flow rates of 1-5 L/min. The electrical properties and growth patterns concerning gas flow rates and applied voltages were examined utilizing a magnetic field for stability. Using a digital oscilloscope, a correlation between voltage reduction and increased current was uncovered. An algorithm analyzes digital images to compute arc length, area, and volume. Results reveal how gas flow rate and applied voltage directly impact arc growth. Furthermore, the magnetic field's role in guiding and stabilizing the plasma discharge was explored. T
... Show Morehis study aimed to investigate the usability of Recycled Concrete Aggregate (RCA) in warm mix asphalt (WMA) as the implementation of sustainable construction technology. Five replacement rates (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%) were tested for the coarse fraction of virgin aggregate (VA) with 3 types of RCA: untreated RCA, HL-treated RCA, and HCL-treated RCA. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were performed to investigate the surface morphology for both treated and untreated RCA. The optimum asphalt cement content for every substitution rate was determined using Marshall mix design method. Thereafter, asphalt concrete specimens were prepared using the optimum asphalt cement content, followed by the evaluation of their performance prope
... Show MoreInferential methods of statistical distributions have reached a high level of interest in recent years. However, in real life, data can follow more than one distribution, and then mixture models must be fitted to such data. One of which is a finite mixture of Rayleigh distribution that is widely used in modelling lifetime data in many fields, such as medicine, agriculture and engineering. In this paper, we proposed a new Bayesian frameworks by assuming conjugate priors for the square of the component parameters. We used this prior distribution in the classical Bayesian, Metropolis-hasting (MH) and Gibbs sampler methods. The performance of these techniques were assessed by conducting data which was generated from two and three-component mixt
... Show MoreBackground: Mental health is integrated into PHC as a strategy of WHO to fill the gap in mental health treatment. Part of this strategy needs a level of task shifting so that mental health care is provided by different level of PHC workers and not only specialists such as psychiatrists and psychologists.
Objectives: To assess the knowledge and attitudes of family doctors regarding the provision of psychological health in PHCC and if there is an association between the certificates of these family doctors and their Knowledge and attitudes to psychological health.
Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study with analytic elements was conducted in 8 famil
... Show MoreA 3D geological model is an essential step to reveal reservoir heterogeneity and reservoir properties distribution. In the present study, a three-dimensional geological model for the Mishrif reservoir was built based on data obtained from seven wells and core data. The methodology includes building a 3D grid and populating it with petrophysical properties such as (facies, porosity, water saturation, and net to gross ratio). The structural model was built based on a base contour map obtained from 2D seismic interpretation along with well tops from seven wells. A simple grid method was used to build the structural framework with 234x278x91 grid cells in the X, Y, and Z directions, respectively, with lengths equal to 150 meters. The to
... Show MoreThe hydrodynamics of a co-current down flow bubble column has been investigated with air – water system. A Perspex bubble column of 5cm in diameter and 1.5m height is used as a test contactor using nozzles of 7, 8 and 9 mm diameter for air-water distributing. The column is provided with three electro-resistivity needle probes for bubble detection.
Experimental work is carried out with air flow rates from 0.09 to 0.45 m3/hr and liquid flow rates from 0.65 to 1.1m3/hr in order to study the effects of superficial gas velocity, nozzle diameter and liquid flow rate on the characteristics of hydrodynamic interactions viz. gas hold up, bubble diameter and bubble velocity by using two technical methods, direct height measurements for air-wa