Promoting multiculturalism through a decolonising process

The term multiculturalism is defined, and the emergence of policies of multiculturalism in countries of immigrants and Native communities, such as the U.S., Australia and Canada is discussed. This paper discusses the historical obstacles in terms of colonialism and neoliberalism that challenge the fostering of multicultural education in contemporary societies. To empower the Aboriginal people and to achieve real multicultural education, there is a need for carrying out a decolonising process, adopting critical pedagogy and developing global education.peer-reviewe

IoT E-Waste Monitoring System to Support Smart City Initiatives

This project introduces the design and development of IoT E-waste monitoring system to support Green City initiatives in real-time. The main objective of this system is to design an IoT-based recycle e-waste monitoring system that will provide an efficient solution to electronics waste collection and generation data. The hazardous chemical components of e-waste have potentially adverse impacts on ecosystems and human health if not managed and monitored properly. Hence, the importance to constantly monitor the condition of the e-waste bin. The system measures and delivers up-to-date information to the system’s administrator on the waste level and bin’s current temperature in real-time. In case of fire, the system will give notification via its flame indicator. Agile Model is used as the research methodology as it offers an adaptive approach in respect to what features need to be developed. The proposed system consists of HC - SR04 Ultrasonic sensor which measures the waste level, a DS18B20 temperature sensor that detects the temperature in the bin, KY- 026 flame sensor, a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ as a microcontroller and ThingSpeak as an IoT web platform. ThingSpeak concurrently stores data for future use and analysis, such as prediction of the peak level of waste bin. This system is expected to increase the usage of e-waste recycle bin, hence supporting the Green City initiatives and creating a greener environment by monitoring and controlling the collection of e-waste smartly through the concept of Internet-of-Things (IoT)

Synthesis, characterization and antibacterial activities of hydrazone schiff base compounds and its derivatives [Sintesis, pencirian dan aktiviti antibakteria sebatian bes schiff hidrazon dan terbitannya

Biological activities (e.g. antibacterial) of hydrazone compound have received much attention from the synthetic chemists since last two decades. Herein, we would like to report the synthesis pathways as well as the spectroscopic characterization of three etherified hydrazone Schiff base compound, which were initiated from 2-hydroxyacetophenone. Hydrazone Schiff base compound was obtained through condensation reaction between 2-hydroxyacetophenone with benzhydrazide. Meanwhile the etherified derivatives of hydrazone Schiff base were prepared via Williamson ether synthesis under reflux condition. All the synthesized compounds were characterized using Fourier transformation infrared, UV-Vis and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. In addition, the antibacterial activities of these compounds were also conducted using disc diffusion method against Bacillus cereus and Escherichia coli

Cost effective technologies and renewable substrates for biosurfactants’ production

Diverse types of microbial surface-active amphiphilic molecules are produced by a range of microbial communities. The extraordinary properties of biosurfactant / bioemulsifier (BS/BE) as surface active products allows them to have key roles in various field of applications such as bioremediation, biodegradation, enhanced oil recovery, pharmaceutics, food processing among many others. This leads to a vast number of potential applications of these BS/BE in different industrial sectors. Despite the huge number of reports and patents describing BS and BE applications and advantages, commercialization of these compounds remain difficult, costly and to a large extent irregular. This is mainly due to the usage of chemically synthesized media for growing producing microorganism and in turn the production of preferred quality products. It is important to note that although a number of developments have taken place in the field of biosurfactant industries, large scale production remains economically challenging for many types of these products. This is mainly due to the huge monetary difference between the investment and achievable productivity from the commercial point of view. This review discusses low cost, renewable raw substrates and fermentation technology in BS/BE production processes and their role in reducing the production cost

Evaluation of hard capsule application from seaweed: Gum Arabic-Kappa carrageenan biocomposite films

At present, plant-based hard capsule such as hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) has a high demand in drug delivery application but the production process is expensive with limited reactant supply. κ-carrageenan has been used as a gelling agent in HPMC hard capsule production. This study aims to develop gum Arabic (GA)-κ- carrageenan biocomposite, a potential material to produce hard capsule. The GA-κ-carrageenan biocomposite films were prepared at different κ-carrageenan weight ratios of 33% (GC33), 50% (GC50) and 67% (GC67) at constant concentration of polyethylene glycol and alginate. The control films of GA film and κ-carrageenan film were compared. The film and hard capsule formed from GC67 shows the highest tensile strength and capsule loop of 36.21 MPa and 34.11 N, respectively at 1058 mPa.s solution viscosity at 300 rpm shear rate. The hard capsule disintegrated at 7.30 min. The addition of GA is compatible to make the hard capsule surface smoother. Thus, this biocomposite has the potential to be developed for future hard capsule

Viscosity and Ionic Conductivity of Imidazolium based Ionic Liquids bearing Triiodide Anion

In the electrolyte application for dye sensitized solar cells, utilization of ionic liquids is getting the highlights to replace volatile organic solvent thanks to their low volatility, thermal and electrochemical stability. The iodide/triiodide redox electrolyte is the preferred choice for this application, hence numerous iodide-based ionic liquids have been explored and reported. On the contrary, the transport properties of triiodide based ionic liquid is often lack of reporting despite of having an equal influence on the overall viscosity and ionic conductivity of the electrolyte. In this study, three alkylimidazolium triiodide ionic liquids were synthesized from the respective alkylimidazolium iodide ionic liquids precursors and their physicochemical and conductivity properties are reported. 1H NMR analysis showed a slight shifting of position of the resonances of triiodide based alkylimidazolium ionic liquids as compared to their precursors due to less electronegativity nature of triiodide anion. The formation of triiodide-based imidazolium ILs have dramatically altered the transport properties in which the ionic liquids obtained are of low viscosity and high ionic conductivity