The Rational Behavior Concept in Islam and Policy Framework Perspectives

The primary notion of preference and utility under Islamic perspective is to restore the consumer behavior in accordance with the concept of maslahah. The paper basically tries to apply the concept of maslahah by specifically defining it into Good Deeds (G) and Bad Deeds (B) concepts subject to a certain limit of Ability (A). Hicksian and Marshallian demand functions are used to model maslahah under Islamic banking practices in Indonesia and Malaysia. The paper employs several variables to gauge the Maslahah (M) as well as Ability (A) function. Empirically, the variables used to measure Maslahah function are deposit, financing, and rate of return variables. In addition, Cobb-Douglas (CD) utility function is utilized to model the maslahah. Indonesia seems to have bigger maslahah compared with Malaysia according to Islamic Banking practices, but more effort should be persistently undertaken by Indonesian Islamic Banks to retain a certain level of maslahah instead of Malaysia. Since maslahah is seen as the manifestation of Good Effort (Eg), some policies frameworks could be suggested, namely regarding shariah framework, tax regime, and someoutstanding issues and challenges for Islamic banking development

Socializing One Health: an innovative strategy to investigate social and behavioral risks of emerging viral threats

In an effort to strengthen global capacity to prevent, detect, and control infectious diseases in animals and people, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) PREDICT project funded development of regional, national, and local One Health capacities for early disease detection, rapid response, disease control, and risk reduction. From the outset, the EPT approach was inclusive of social science research methods designed to understand the contexts and behaviors of communities living and working at human-animal-environment interfaces considered high-risk for virus emergence. Using qualitative and quantitative approaches, PREDICT behavioral research aimed to identify and assess a range of socio-cultural behaviors that could be influential in zoonotic disease emergence, amplification, and transmission. This broad approach to behavioral risk characterization enabled us to identify and characterize human activities that could be linked to the transmission dynamics of new and emerging viruses. This paper provides a discussion of implementation of a social science approach within a zoonotic surveillance framework. We conducted in-depth ethnographic interviews and focus groups to better understand the individual- and community-level knowledge, attitudes, and practices that potentially put participants at risk for zoonotic disease transmission from the animals they live and work with, across 6 interface domains. When we asked highly-exposed individuals (ie. bushmeat hunters, wildlife or guano farmers) about the risk they perceived in their occupational activities, most did not perceive it to be risky, whether because it was normalized by years (or generations) of doing such an activity, or due to lack of information about potential risks. Integrating the social sciences allows investigations of the specific human activities that are hypothesized to drive disease emergence, amplification, and transmission, in order to better substantiate behavioral disease drivers, along with the social dimensions of infection and transmission dynamics. Understanding these dynamics is critical to achieving health security--the protection from threats to health-- which requires investments in both collective and individual health security. Involving behavioral sciences into zoonotic disease surveillance allowed us to push toward fuller community integration and engagement and toward dialogue and implementation of recommendations for disease prevention and improved health security

Quantifying and Predicting the Tensile Properties of Silicone Reinforced with Moringa oleifera Bark Fibers

To obtain a better understanding of using Moringa oleifera bark (MOB) as a reinforcement in a silicone matrix, this study aimed to define the mechanical properties of this new material under uniaxial tension. Composite samples of 0 wt%, 4 wt%, 8 wt%, 12 wt%, and 16 wt% MOB powder were produced. The tensile properties were quantified mathematically using the neo-Hookean hyperelastic model. The collected data were employed to establish multiple inputs of an artificial neural network (ANN) to predict its material constant via MATLAB. The result showed that the material constant for the 16 wt% fiber content sample was 63.9% higher than pure silicone. This was supported by the tensile modulus testing, which indicated that the modulus increased as the fiber content increased. However, the elongation ratio (λ) of the MOB-silicone biocomposite decreased slightly compared to the pure silicone. Lastly, the prediction of the material constant using an ANN recorded a 2.03% percentage error, which showed that it was comparable to the mathematical modelling. Therefore, the inclusion of MOB fibers into silicone produced a stiffer material and gradually improved the composite. Furthermore, the network that had multiple inputs (weighting, load, and elongation) was more reliable to produce precise predictions

Quantifying and Predicting the Tensile Properties of Silicone Reinforced with Moringa oleifera Bark Fibers

To obtain a better understanding of using Moringa oleifera bark (MOB) as a reinforcement in a silicone matrix, this study aimed to define the mechanical properties of this new material under uniaxial tension. Composite samples of 0 wt%, 4 wt%, 8 wt%, 12 wt%, and 16 wt% MOB powder were produced. The tensile properties were quantified mathematically using the neo-Hookean hyperelastic model. The collected data were employed to establish multiple inputs of an artificial neural network (ANN) to predict its material constant via MATLAB. The result showed that the material constant for the 16 wt% fiber content sample was 63.9% higher than pure silicone. This was supported by the tensile modulus testing, which indicated that the modulus increased as the fiber content increased. However, the elongation ratio (λ) of the MOB-silicone biocomposite decreased slightly compared to the pure silicone. Lastly, the prediction of the material constant using an ANN recorded a 2.03% percentage error, which showed that it was comparable to the mathematical modelling. Therefore, the inclusion of MOB fibers into silicone produced a stiffer material and gradually improved the composite. Furthermore, the network that had multiple inputs (weighting, load, and elongation) was more reliable to produce precise predictions

Haze Alarm Visual Map (HazeViz): An Intelligent Haze Forecaster

The haze problem has intensified in recent years. The particulate matter of less than 10 microns in size, PM10 is the dominant air pollutant during haze. In this paper, we present the development of HazeViz, a Haze Alarm Visual Map forecaster, which is based on PM10. The intelligent web application allows users to visualize the pattern of PM10 in a region, forecasts PM10 value and alarms bad haze condition. HazeViz was developed using HTML, Java Script, PHP, MySQL, R Programming and Fusionex Giant. The SARIMA statistical forecasting models that underlie the application were developed using R. The PM10 trend analysis, and the consequential map and chart visualizations were implemented on the Fusionex GIANT Big Data Analytics platform. HazeViz was developed in the context of the Klang Valley, our case study. The dataset was obtained from Department of Environment Malaysia, which contains a total of 157,680 hourly PM10 data for six stations in Klang Valley, for the years 2013 to 2015. The SARIMA models were developed using maximum daily PM10 data for 2013 and 2014, and the 2015 data was used to validate the model. The fitting models were determined based on the Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE). While the selected models were implemented in HazeViz and successfully deployed on the web, the results show that the selected models have MAPE ranging between 35 percent and 45 percent, which implies that the models are still far from robust. Future work can consider augmented SARIMA models that can yield improved results

Flexible Co-Planar Waveguide (CPW)-fed y-shaped patch UWB antenna for off-body communication

This paper intends to design an Ultra-Wideband (UWB) antenna for future Internet of Things (IoT) applications for off-body Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN) communication. An antenna based on the Y-shaped patch fed using co-planar waveguide (CPW) line, with a full ground plane is designed. It is implemented on two different substrates, namely a 5mm thick Rogers RO4350B and a 5-mm-thick felt textile. Parametric analysis of antenna is performed by changing its critical dimensions and monitoring parameters such as gain, bandwidth, efficiency, radiation pattern when using both substrates. Besides that, the bending effects towards reflection coefficient and radiation patterns are also studied. The final patch size with the Y-shaped slot is 36 × 40 mm2 for both substrates. The antenna is capable of providing coverage for the bands from 8 to 10 GHz. Finally, the antenna designed on RO4350B substrate outperforms the antenna designed on felt by about four times in terms of bandwidth, with 3.3 GHz (7.7–11 GHz)

Flight Crew Fatigue and the Effect on Airline Business

The paper discusses previous studies on the effect of fatigue among flight crews and their effect on airline businesses. Fatigue is a major concern in flight operations as many reports were issued on this problem among flight crew. The long flight duration requires them to travel several time zones, which leads to fatigue. Furthermore, the change of time zones could also lead to the occurrence of jet lag and subsequently causes fatigue too. Fatigue can occur during and after the travelling period, and it takes a while to recover from it. This study aims to observe the effects of fatigue experienced by flight crew. The results show that fatigue causes many health problems such as an increase in cancer risk, depression, mental illness and miscarriage. Additionally, fatigue reduces one's work productivity as working in a tired state reduces work performance. Furthermore, fatigue also leads to other problems such as anger, anxiety, stress and job dissatisfaction. With the studies conducted on the issue of fatigue, airlines should take appropriate actions to minimise or solve the problem to ensure that fatigue problem will not affect flight crew performance and the airline business

Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude and Preventive Practice of Leptospirosis Among Healthy Malaysian and Non-Malaysian Wet Market Workers in Selected Urban Areas in Selangor, Malaysia

Leptospirosis has been reported as an endemic in most tropical countries. Among high risk occupations, leptospirosis includes workers in agriculture and domestic animal industries. Environmental hygiene in the wet market has established a link between the presence of rodents with probability of leptospirosis infection. This study was aimed to compare the level of knowledge, attitude and preventive practice against leptospirosis between healthy Malaysian and non-Malaysian wet market workers in selected wet markets in urban areas of Selangor. A cross-sectional study in the determined area was conducted with the participation of 147 respondents. The respondents were randomly chosen from the list provided by the state agency that regulates these markets. A self-administered bilingual validated questionnaire (English and Bahasa Melayu) was distributed to the selected respondents. There were 68 (48.3%) Malaysian respondents and 79 (53.7%) non-Malaysian respondents. The majority of them were males, who attained formal education and were less than 40 years old. Meanwhile, the respondents earned less than RM3000. Among the Malaysian respondents, 80.9% were aware of leptospirosis as compared to 17.7% of the non-Malaysian colleagues (p < 0.05). All items of knowledge showed that the Malaysian respondents scored higher as compared to non-Malaysian respondents. On attitude towards infection prevention, most Malaysian respondents had a positive attitude, while most non-Malaysian respondents had undecided perception on the majority of crucial attitude items. In practicing preventive measures, there was a marked significant difference in proportion between Malaysian and non-Malaysian respondents for items on “Specific Protection and Isolation at Source.” There was a significant gap on knowledge, attitude and preventive practice among Malaysian workers as compared to non-Malaysian workers. Therefore, it was highly recommended the health promotion implementation should also provide specific focus on non-Malaysian workers

Public Awareness and Practices Towards Self-Medication with Antibiotics Among Malaysian Population: Questionnaire Development and Pilot Testing

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