A study on the rights of the illegitimate muslim children in Selangor / Farhana Yusof … [et al.]

This research is conducted to determine the rights of the illegitimate children from Islamic Law perspectives and the law of other countries. This topic is chosen for the reason there will be more discussions and explanations for the future benefit. This research comprises of five chapters whereby each chapters are explaining different issues. The major discussions can be found in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 of our research study. Chapter 3 is explaining on the issue of the illegitimate children in Islamic perspective and the status of the illegitimate children in Non- Muslim Countries. Meanwhile, in Chapter 4, this research is comparing the status and the rights of the illegitimate children in Islamic and Non- Islamic Countries. The sub-topics under this chapter consist of comparisons between the four states which are Indonesia and Egypt for the Islamic Countries and Singapore and the United States of America for the Non- Islamic Countries whereby the Islamic and the Non-Islamic Countries have different approaches in treating the illegitimate children due to different provisions as being provided in their countries. There are some findings and recommendations have been concluded in Chapter 5 based on the defect and lacuna in the law that had been found in the provision, Acts and administration regarding the rights of illegitimate children. From the legal perspectives, there is a lacuna in the law as regards to the rights of the illegitimate Muslim children because the law is currently inadequate to protect the rights of the illegitimate Muslim children

Soil carbon storage in dominant species of mangrove forest of Sarawak, Malaysia

Carbon storage in forest ecosystems involves in ordinate components including plant biomass carbon and soil carbon. Sequestration of carbon along with other aggressive conservation efforts helps to reduce the increasing negative impact of global warming on the environment and mangroves as the coastal forest. The objective of this study was to assess the soil carbon storage of dominant plant species of Awat-Awat Mangrove Forest, Sarawak, Malaysia. A total of 32 soil samples of mangrove forest were collected in nine different plots with different species using a peat auger at a soil depth of 0 to 50 cm. The total C in the soil samples was analyzed using CHNS analyzer (TruSpec Micro Elemental Analyzer (NCHS), LECO, USA). Soil carbon content of mangrove forest was found varies in each plot. The highest soil carbon content in Awat-Awat Mangrove Forest was found for soil under dominance of Rhizophora mucronata (6.24%) whereas the lowest (1.73%) was found for soil under dominated by Sonneratia alba. The soil carbon content of Awat-Awat Mangrove Forest was found to be influenced by the difference in species dominance

Shariah disclosure practices in Malaysian Islamic banks using the shariah disclosure index

Islamic banks are required to ensure their operations and activities comply with the Shariah principles. According to Islamic Financial Services Act (2013) in Malaysia, all operations and activities of Islamic financial institutions including Islamic banks have to comply with decisions made by the Shariah Advisory Council (SAC) of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Shariah Committee (SC) of the Islamic financial institution to ensure Shariah compliance. In practice, Shariah compliance is considered a crucial factor by bank stakeholders, especially Muslim customers in their decision to use Islamic financial products. Thus, one of the ways for Islamic banks to convey their Shariah-compliance to their stakeholders is through annual reports. This study examines the level of compliance on Shariah disclosure in the annual reports of Malaysian Islamic banks. A Shariah disclosure index, comprising mandatory and voluntary items, was developed from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) guidelines and Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) standards. Shariah disclosure data were collected from the annual reports for the year 2016 of the 16 Islamic banks in Malaysia. Based on Institutional Theory, this study hypothesised high compliance, however the results revealed that none of the banks had full compliance to the mandatory items. Nevertheless, some of these banks disclosed voluntary items. The findings provide useful insights to the regulators and stakeholders on Islamic banks’ compliance on Shariah disclosure. The study also reveals the importance of disclosing additional items in the annual reports of Islamic banks

Shariah disclosure expectation gap between shariah practitioners and Islamic banks’ customers in Malaysia

Research aim: The aim of this study is to examine the possibility of a gap in perception between Shariah practitioners and customers of Islamic banks on the importance of Shariah disclosure by Islamic banks. Design/ Methodology: Questionnaires were distributed to Shariah practitioners, consisting of Shariah committee members and Shariah officers, and Islamic banks’ customers who were lecturers and final year accounting students. The concept of expectation gap derived from the auditing literature was extended and applied to this study’s context. A total of 64 and 200 questionnaires were distributed to Shariah practitioners and customers of Islamic banks, respectively. The response rates were 41% for Shariah practitioners and 65% for Islamic banks’ customers. Research findings: The results indicate that Shariah practitioners and customers perceive all Shariah disclosure items as important to be disclosed. However, a few significant differences were noted between both groups, suggesting the existence of an expectation gap, albeit minimal. Only a minimal gap between the selected customers and practitioners may be reasonable, as the group of customers consisted of informed customers. Theoretical contribution/ Originality: This study contributes to knowledge as there is a dearth of literature that determines customers’ perceptions of Shariah disclosure. Practitioner/ Policy Implications: The results provide regulators and Islamic banks with valuable insight into the importance of Shariah disclosure items from the points of view of customers and Shariah practitioners on which items they concur as important and which items they differ in opinion. Limitation/ Implication: This study is an initial effort to examine the expectation gap between knowledgeable customers and Shariah practitioners on the Shariah disclosure made by Islamic banks. The customers are respondents from only one university; hence, there is a limitation concerning the generalisability of the findings. Thus, future research could extend such an investigation to other customers in order to enhance generalisability

Detection of Somaclonal Variation in Micropropagated and Acclimatized Plantlets of Oryza sativa MRQ 74 from Stem Explants

In plant tissue culture system, the excessive supply of plant growth hormones may inhibit further growth and development of the regenerants and sometimes it may induce somaclonal variation. In this study, the optimum concentration of plant growth hormones for in vitro regeneration of Oryza sativa L. cv. MRQ 74 was identified and subsequently the occurrence of somaclonal variation of regenerated plantlets was determined through cytological analysis of in vivo and in vitro grown plantlets. MS media supplemented with 0.1 mg L-1 BAP in combination with 0.1 mg L -1 NAA was found to be the optimum concentration for shoots and roots induction of Oryza sativa L. cv. MRQ 74. Plantlets derived from MS media supplemented with 0.5 mg L -1 2,4-D showed higher survival rate than that of MS media supplemented with 0.1 mg L -1 BAP in combination with 0.1 mg L -1 NAA. The plant height, number of leaf, leaf length and number of seeds per stalk of acclimatized plants were significantly lower (p<0.05) as compared with plants grown in vivo. Cytological analysis of in vivo and in vitro grown Oryza sativa L. cv. MRQ 74 revealed that the presence of 2,4-D in the culture media had significantly decreased the mitotic index (MI) and increased the ploidy level of the cell nuclei. The findings of the present study would be useful for plant breeders and biotechnologist since somaclonal variation provides a useful source of genetic variation for crop productivity and quality improvement. © 2019, Sociedade Brasileira da Ciencia das Plantas Daninha. All rights reserved

A study on the characteristic of an eco-brick as a replacement to the conventional brick

Plastic pollution is a global environmental concern. The increasing urbanization along with population growth rate contributes to an unaccountable amount of plastic waste. Eco-bricks have been identified as one of the measures to reduce the amount of plastic waste disposal at landfills. Eco-brick is a plastic bottle packed with solid non-biodegradable plastic waste. The aim of this study is to investigate the optimum strength of an eco-brick with different density ratios to replace a conventional brick. Five samples of eco-brick with different density ratios were prepared and tested using SolidWorks software version 2014. The tests include compressive test, drop test and failure analysis. From the test results, it can be concluded that density of an eco-brick plays an important role in determining its strength. In addition, the higher the density and the height of the bottle is dropped, the higher is the value of the impact force. The buckling and fracture of eco-bricks with high density ratio are less visible compared to eco-brick with low density ratio