Malaysian's Young Consumer Preferences of Hijab

Researchers have long been interested in understanding young consumers' purchasing behaviour, especially in terms of their purchasing preferences and decision-making styles. Zooming to hijab preferences, different angles of hijab have been studied. Out of 32.4 million of total population, Islam is the most widely professed religion in Malaysia. Thus, this research aims to obtain young consumer preferences of hijab. It was conducted through focus group interviews in one of the public university located in Selangor, Malaysia. The focus group interviews were audio taped and transcribed. There were 13 Malaysian female respondents; students of aged 20 to 25 years old. The findings thus far revealed that young consumer's selection of hijab to wear and attend lectures is highly influenced by easiness to wear hijab, boost confidence as well as their moods and face shape. These factors make them feel more comfortable to move around with their active lifestyle as university students. Limitations and recommendations for future studies are discussed

Development and evaluation of an automotive air-conditioning test rig

To evaluate an air-conditioning system performance on board of a car is quite cumbersome and tedious process due to the limitation of space in the engine compartment. This paper presents the process of designing and the result from the automotive refrigeration system simulation that have been integrated into the test rig. To perform the test on automotive refrigeration simulator the location for the temperature measurement selected and thermocouples were installed. The locations of the temperature probes are at the inlet and outlet of compressor, condenser outlet and the inlet of the evaporator. The gas pressure was measured at low and high pressure sides located at evaporator outlet and receiver-drier respectively. The test results were analyzed using the properties table of the refrigerant used. The coefficient of performance (COP), cooling load of the system and compressor power consumption were determined. The variable parameters used are the evaporator blower speed and the air velocity passes through the condenser. The experimental results obtained show that increasing the blower speed will reduce the COP of the refrigeration system. The maximum COP of the system is 4.3 at the lowest evaporator blower speed. The power consumption will be reduced when the air flow velocity through the condenser is varied from 0 to 70 km/hr respectively

The effect of bio-based additives on engine performance and emissions of petrol and diesel engine

Fuel additives are additives that are added to fuel in small quantities to give improvement in terms of engine performance and emissions. Aftermarket fuel additives can be divided into two, chemical-based and bio-based. In this project, the effect of bio-based fuel additives on engine performance and exhaust emissions of a petrol and diesel engine is studied. The blending ratio is developed based on the instruction given on the bottle of the additives. The ratio of the fuel additives used for Vivo Racing (VR) is between 0.21% and 0.25%, Vivo Flawless (VF) is between 0.10% and 0.14% and Diesel Energy is between 0.14% and 0.18%. Constant throttle test had been done on both petrol and diesel engine. The results show that the fuel additives reduce brake power and brake specific fuel consumption while increasing brake thermal efficiency and reducing exhaust emissions. For brake power, VR0.24 is the best. For brake specific fuel consumption, the best are VR0.23 and VF0.11 for petrol and diesel engine respectively. For brake thermal efficiency, the best are VR0.24 and DE0.17. For HC composition, the lowest are VR0.25 and DE0.17. For CO composition, VR0.22 and DE0.14 are the lowest. As for NOx, the lowest are VR0.25 and DE0.17

Effect of fibre extraction and enzymatic treatments on the properties of pineapple leaf fibres (PALF) / Khadijah Omar … [et al.]

The pineapple leaves are the waste products of food industries commonly thrown away as solid waste. Potential usage of pineapple leaves as raw materials for textile has not been widely studied in Malaysia although the fibres have been used in cottage industry in the Philippines, India and Japan. One of the drawbacks is the difficulty in obtaining good quality of fibres and yarns due to the inefficient fibre extraction and retting processes.This study focused on the development of enzymatic retting for the pineapple leaf fibre using combination of enzymes and chemicals. Formulations used in this project were cellulase and EDTA, pectinase and EDTA, xylanase and EDTA, and combination of the cellulase, pectinase, xylanase and EDTA. Untreated sample was used for comparison purposes. The morphological and physical properties of the fibre were tested for fibre fineness, moisture content and moisture region, fibre strength, and yarn strength. For the morphological properties combination of xylanase and EDTA was effective because the fibres seemed to be closely associated in bundles and more compact and the fibre surfaces were relatively cleaner and smoother. The finest fibres obtained were those treated with combination of cellulase and EDTA (7.17 micronaire) while the strongest of fibres obtained were from those treated with pectinase and EDTA (0.57 N of force was needed to break the fibre at 2.64% elongation). For the yarn strength, obtained were from those treated with xylanase and EDTA (0.93 N of force was needed to break the yarn at 1.83% elongation). For the lowest moisture content and moisture regain obtained were from those treated with xylanase and EDTA which 12.00% and 13.64 %. Overall compared to conventional treatment, enzymatic treatment using cellulase and EDTA produced the finest fibres, xylanase and EDTA produced the strongest yarn and lowest percentage of the moisture content and moisture region while combination of pectinase and EDTA produced the strongest fibres. This new retting formulation perhaps can be applied in textile industries especially in textile composite in order to produce high quality of pineapple leaf fibres

Effect of fibre extraction and enzymatic treatments on the properties of pineapple leaf fibres (PALF) / Khadijah Omar ... [et al.]

The pineapple leaves are the waste products of food industries commonly thrown away as solid waste. Potential usage of pineapple leaves as raw materials for textile has not been widely studied in Malaysia although the fibres have been used in cottage industry in the Philippines, India and Japan. One of the drawbacks is the difficulty in obtaining good quality of fibres and yarns due to the inefficient fibre extraction and retting processes.This study focused on the development of enzymatic retting for the pineapple leaf fibre using combination of enzymes and chemicals. Formulations used in this project were cellulase and EDTA, pectinase and EDTA, xylanase and EDTA, and combination of the cellulase, pectinase, xylanase and EDTA. Untreated sample was used for comparison purposes. The morphological and physical properties of the fibre were tested for fibre fineness, moisture content and moisture region, fibre strength, and yarn strength. For the morphological properties combination of xylanase and EDTA was effective because the fibres seemed to be closely associated in bundles and more compact and the fibre surfaces were relatively cleaner and smoother. The finest fibres obtained were those treated with combination of cellulase and EDTA (7.17 micronaire) while the strongest of fibres obtained were from those treated with pectinase and EDTA (0.57 N of force was needed to break the fibre at 2.64% elongation). For the yarn strength, obtained were from those treated with xylanase and EDTA (0.93 N of force was needed to break the yarn at 1.83% elongation). For the lowest moisture content and moisture regain obtained were from those treated with xylanase and EDTA which 12.00% and 13.64 %. Overall compared to conventional treatment, enzymatic treatment using cellulase and EDTA produced the finest fibres, xylanase and EDTA produced the strongest yarn and lowest percentage of the moisture content and moisture region while combination of pectinase and EDTA produced the strongest fibres. This new retting formulation perhaps can be applied in textile industries especially in textile composite in order to produce high quality of pineapple leaf fibres

Efficient and ‘Green’ Vehicle Air Conditioning System Using Electric Compressor

AbstractReducing energy consumption and ensuring thermal comfort are two important considerations in designing vehicle air conditioning system. Alternative approach to reduce energy consumption proposed in this study is to use an electrically-driven compressor (EDC) powered by a 12-volt lead-acid vehicle battery which is charged by the alternator. This system makes the speed of compressor to be independent of the engine crankshaft speed. Typical belt-driven compressor of automotive air conditioning system (AAC) caused cooling capacity to vary with engine speed. The current research activity focuses on the experimental investigation on cabin temperature and fuel consumption of a 1.3 liter 5 seater hatchback vehicle on roller dynamometer at variable speed of 1800, 2000, 2200, 2400 and 2500rpm with internal heat load of 1000W at temperature set-point of 21°C. The overall experimental results show that the performance of EDC is better than the conventional belt-driven system with the opportunity for a better energy control

Textile waste/scrap rubber composite for technical applications / Che Mohamad Som Said, Mohd Rozi Ahmad and Mona Rita Othman

Natural rubber (NR) was compounded with waste polyester fabrics using internal mixer and two roll mill. The effects of the waste polyester fabric used as filler in natural rubber compound were studied. Physical test were conducted including tensile test, hardness test, resilience test, ageing test, density and Mooney viscosity. Tensile test results show that filled NR compound has lower strength than NR compound without filler. However the hardness, resilience, density and Mooney viscosity value shows the opposite. Morphology studies using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) show that the waste polyester fabrics were well dispersed in the rubber matrix but showing poor bonding between them

A quantitative approach to measure women's sexual function using electromyography: preliminary study on Kegel exercise

Background: Currently, the reference standard used to clinically assess sexual function among women is a qualitative questionnaire. Hence, a generalised and quantitative measurement tool needs to be available as an alternative. This study investigated whether an electromyography (EMG) measurement technique could be used to help quantify women's sexual function. Material/Methods: A preliminary intervention study was conducted on 12 female subjects, who were randomised into a control (n=6) and an intervention (n=6) group. Intervention involved a set regimen of pelvic floor muscle exercises (Kegel) and the control group did not have any treatment. All subjects were asked to answer a validated, self-rated Pelvic Organ Prolapse/Urinary Incontinence Sexual Function Questionnaire (PISQ). EMG measurements of the pelvic floor muscles (PFM) and the abdominal muscles were taken from all women at recruitment and 8 weeks after study commencement. Results: After 8 weeks, most of the subjects in the control group did not display any noted positive difference in either PISQ score (4/6) or in their muscle strength (4/6). However, a noted progressive difference were observed in subjects who were placed in the Kegel group; PISQ score (5/6) and muscles strength (4/6). Conclusions: The noted difference in the Kegel group subjects was that if progress is observed in the sexual function, improvement is also observed in the strength of at least 2 types of muscles (either abdominal or PFM muscles). Thus, EMG measurement is a potential technique to quantify the changes in female sexual function. Further work will be conducted to validate this assumption

Production of shape memory alloy core-sheath friction yarns

This paper describes some studies on the development of shape memory alloy (SMA) core-sheath friction yarns. SMA wires for actuating purposes were utilised as a conductive element in the core-sheath friction yarn. A DREF 3000 friction spinning machine was used to produce the yarns. The conductive yarn was spun with the SMA actuator wire at the core and 100% cotton fibers in the second layer as the sheath producing a yarn called SMA core-sheath friction yarn (SMA CSFY). During spinning, the core-sheath ratio and spinning drum speeds were varied. The main purposes of the study were to evaluate the SMA CSFY single yarn tensile strength and its actuating performance against changes in the spinning process parameters. The results showed that SMA CSFY with the highest spinning drum speed and 60% core gave the highest tensile strength and fastest actuation performance

Some studies on shape memory alloy friction spun yarn

This paper reports on the utilization of Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) wire as a conductive element in core-sheath friction yarn. The yarns were spun using DREF 3000 spinning machine. The yarn consisted of three layers with the SMA wire at the core and 100% cotton fibers at the second layer and as the sheath producing a yarn called SMA Friction Spun Yarn (SMA FSY). Three different core-sheath ratios and spinning drum speeds were used in the spinning process. The objectives were to compare the SMA FSY yarn tensile properties and to understand the influence of the machine process parameters towards the actuating performance under stress-free condition. Results showed that the SMA FSY with 60% core and highest spinning drum speed gave better tensile strength. Additionally, this yarn also gave the fastest initiating deformation below 100 seconds. It can be concluded that the changes in the machine process parameters influenced the tensile and actuating performance of SMA FSY