Synthesis and characterization of palladium(ii) and nickel(ii) schiff base complexes for homogenous catalytic and anticancer studies / Shahrul Nizam Ahmad

This thesis reports the synthesis, characterization, catalytic investigation as well as anticancer screening of palladium(II) and nickel(II) Schiff base complexes in homogenous copper-free Sonogashira reaction. Two groups of symmetrical tetradentate ONNO Schiff bases namely LI and L2 series were successfully prepared from condensation reaction between salicylaldehyde and its derivatives with two different primary amines namely orf/w-phenylenediamine and 2,2-dimethy 1-1,3-propanediamine, in 2:1 ratio. The synthesized ligands were reacted with palladium(II) acetate and nickel(II) acetate tetrahydrate in 1:1 ratio, yielding palladium(II) and nickel(II) Schiff base complexes. A total of 12 ligands and 17 complexes were successfully isolated and characterized through elemental analysis, melting point, ¹H and ¹³C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), UV-Visible spectroscopy and molar conductivity and magnetic susceptibility studies. All spectral and physicochemical data supported the proposed chemical structures. Low molar conductivity values suggested non-electrolytic nature of all complexes. The diamagnetism of all complexes suggested their square planar geometry. This was corroborated by single crystal X-ray crystallography which revealed the square planar geometry of PdL2F and PdL20Me with crystal structures showing the tetradentate dinitrogen dioxygen [ONNO] nature of L1H, L1C and L2F. Coordination to metal centres occur through two phenolic oxygen and two imine nitrogen donor atoms, assenting to the indication through FTIR, NMR and UV-Visible spectroscopy. Palladium(II) complexes of the L2 series were employed to find the optimum reaction conditions for copper-free Sonogashira reaction by varying type of bases, amount of catalysts, and temperature. Copper salt was not used as co-catalyst to avoid the possible homocoupling of diphenylacetylene. All palladium(II) and nickel(II) complexes were employed as catalysts in the reaction after optimization. All palladium(II) complexes were found to be effective as catalysts with 100% conversion of iodobenzene after 3 hours of reaction. Nickel(II) complexes revealed lower catalytic activities than palladium(II) complexes, with fairly moderate efficiency of 91% conversion after 12 hours of reaction. From GC-FID, a single peak of the product, diphenylacetylene, was detected at 11.69 min with no extra peaks, suggesting the absence of homocoupling products. The product of the catalysed reaction was isolated with a yield of 38% and successfully characterized via ¹H and ¹³C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. All compounds were also tested against human colon cancer cell lines (HCT116) where PdL2H showed the highest potency with IC₅₀ of 0.60 μg/ml, lower than that of the standard drug used in this study, 5-FU with IC₅₀ of 1.70 μg/ml. A moderate binding affinity was observed between PdL2H with DNA with a binding constant of 5.715 x 10⁵ M־¹. Hypochromism value of 24-33% indicated intercalation mode of interaction with π-π end stacking of the complex with DNA

The Role of Safety Culture in Empowering Safety Behavior at Rail Transport Industry in Malaysia: A Review of Literature

The awareness on safety culture and behavioral safety is in higher demand to reduce occupational incidents. For instance, safety culture is an essential element that could influence employees’ occupational behavior. The increasing number of passengers over the past few decades is evidence of the rapid regional development facilitated by the expansion of the railway industry. It has been implemented to alleviate congestion on highways and airways, as well as to promote global efforts to cut the emissions and employ sustainable energy.  However, the inadequacies in the railway industry's safety culture implementation led to a number of events, including train derailments and collisions, which has contributed to an increase in the rate of occupational accidents. Therefore, the objective of this study is to review the literature on the safety culture as a role in empowering the behavior of railway employees towards safety performance. Thus, the quantitative research design will be conducted through close-ended questionnaire. The sample of this study consist on employees that working in Malaysian rail transport industry. Therefore, SmartPLS will be used to test the model. Moreover, the findings expected to acknowledge an extensive literature review to propose a conceptual framework. It will be accomplished through integrating safety culture into the perceptions of workers, which is expected to influence their safety behavior at workplace. Thus, the Malaysia rail transport industry and related party can use this study as recommendations to improve their safety culture practices. &nbsp

Key factors influencing credit risk of Islamic bank: A Malaysian case

The rapid and dynamic chaqges in the global financial landscape pose various risks to banking institutions. Operating side by side with conventional banks, lslamic banks are equally vulnerable to risks. The future of lslamic financial institutions will depend to a large extent on how well they manage risks. This ability could be enhanced if the factors affecting these risks are systematically identified. This paper examines the factors affecting credit risk, being the main risk faced by banking institutions and systematically identifies the key factors influencing credit risk formation in lslamic banking operations in Malaysia. A comparison of these factors between lslamic and conventional banking operations is highlighted. Several policy implications are addressed to promote risk management culture in lslamic banking industry

Insurance as a risk transfer mechanism in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

This paper aims to provide an insight into the application of insurance as a risk transfer mechanism surrounding the small and medium enterprises (SMEs).SMEs owners must develop a sound risk management program and utilize appropriate risk transfer mechanism in order to protect their business and enhance their opportunity for business sustainability.Insurance is a useful tool for managing risks.Even though it is not the ultimate solution in a risk management strategy, it is indeed an important aspect in any business operations in order to protect assets and to reduce losses.However, the practice is slightly distorted.SMEs businesses in various countries are facing issues such as lack of good risk management strategy, inadequate insurance protection, non-insurance, non-compliance and lack of awareness on this matter.This paper could be beneficial to the SMEs by increasing their awareness about the significance of insurance as a risk transfer mechanism, types of insurance schemes available in the market and the impact of good risk management practice

Web Disclosure of Risk Management Practices in Malaysian Public Universities

Enterprise risk management (ERM) has been the centre of focus for many private organizations especially financial institutions. Like their counterparts, non-profit organizations are not safe from risk exposures and it is more crucial when their funding originated from the public. There is little work done on the risk management implementation in the public organizations and research is needed to find out whether these organizations are serious in managing their risk and do they have a formal structure and framework to handle that.This study examines the existence of a formal risk management structure or framework in the Malaysian public universities. This is a preliminary investigation using websites as indicators, on the state of enterprise risk management implementation in Malaysian public universities.Based on the data gathered from a total of 20 public universities, this study found that most of them do have a formal risk management structure in place and some of them have even appointed a specific person (risk officer) specializing in handling the ERM activities of the universities.This paper would provide the foundation for more advanced research in the ERM implementation in non-profit organizations

Modified Moving-average Crossover Trading Strategy: Evidence in Malaysia Equity Market

This study examined the profitability of technical analysis using moving-average (MA) crossover strategy compared with the conventional simple buy-and-hold strategy, using Malaysian equity market. We investigates the performance of the original moving-average strategy and a modified moving-average crossover strategy with additional trading rules such as entry rule, exit rule, holding rule, and stop-loss rule. The results are consistent to previous studies that strongly support moving-average crossover trading strategies. The result suggests that all combinations of short-MA and long-MA periods of the original MA crossover strategy and majority combinations of short-MA and long-MA of the modified MA crossover strategy outperform market benchmark with higher risk-adjusted return. In addition, the 1-period short-MA demonstrates the best return in both original and modified moving-average crossover strategy; better still the modified strategy outperforms the original strategy with lower frequency of trades which could largely reduce transaction costs and with lower return distribution variability. Keywords: Technical Analysis, Moving-Average Crossover, Trading Strategies JEL Classifications: G1, G1

Determination of Occupational Health and Safety Risks in Solar Energy

Solar energy systems (photovoltaics, solar thermal, solar power) provide significant environmental benefits in comparison to the conventional energy sources, thus contributing to the sustainable development of human activities. However, sometimes, the wide scale deployment faces potential negative health and safety implications. To cope with these problems this paper presents an overview of an occupational health assessment of solar energy. The analysis provides the potential burdens to the workers’ health and safety working in solar energy, which includes hazard identification like toxic materials, general job site safety risks and other less focused risks in solar energy such as psychosocial hazards. Keywords: solar energy, occupational safety, healt

KOMPETENSI KEPIMPINAN STRATEGIK DALAM KALANGAN PENTADBIR PROFESIONAL UNIVERSITI MENGURUSKAN VUCA DI ERA PASCA PANDEMIK: SATU TINJAUAN

(Strategic Leadership Competence among Professional University Administrators in Managing VUCA in the Post-Pandemic Era: A Review)ABSTRAK Pandemik Covid-19 telah mencipta persekitaran yang tidak stabil, tidak pasti, kompleks dan kabur (VUCA) serta memberikan impak yang signifikan kepada perkembangan sektor pendidikan tinggi di Malaysia. Sebagai tindak balas, pentadbir professional universiti perlu memiliki kompetensi dalam kepimpinan strategik untuk mengendalikan dengan jayanya bagi tempoh mencabar. Penulisan ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti kompetensi kepimpinan strategik yang diperlukan oleh pentadbir profesional universiti di Malaysia menguruskan VUCA di era pasca pandemik. Oleh itu, penulisan ini akan menganalisis dapatan kajian lepas yang berkaitan dengan definisi VUCA, cabarannya di universiti dan apakah kompetensi kepimpinan strategik yang diperlukan oleh pentadbir profesional di universiti seperti di UTeM bagi mengurus persekitaran VUCA pasca pandemik. Dapatan penulisan daripada sorotan kajian lepas ini juga akan membantu dalam penyusunan pandangan yang lebih sistematik dan signifikan untuk kajian yang akan datang. Kata Kunci: Kepimpinan strategik, pentadbir profesional, VUCA, pasca pandemik ABSTRACT  The Covid-19 pandemic has created an environment that is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA), and has significantly impacted the development of the higher education sector in Malaysia. In response, professional university administrators need to possess competencies in strategic leadership to effectively navigate through this challenging period. This paper aims to identify the strategic leadership competencies required by professional university administrators in Malaysia to manage VUCA in the post-pandemic era. Therefore, this paper will analyze past research findings related to the definition of VUCA, its challenges in universities, and the strategic leadership competencies needed by professional administrators in universities such as UTeM to manage the post-pandemic VUCA environment. The findings from this review of past research will also contribute to the development of a more systematic and significant framework for future studies. Keywords: Strategic leadership, professional administrators, VUCA, post-                  pandemic

Development of an experimental test bench for an electronically control fuel injection system

Electronic fuel injection (EFI) system is a fuel delivery system that is controlled electronically with an electronic control unit (ECU) used in most modern vehicle’s engine. As the fuel injection runs on a vehicle engine, it is difficult to observe the overall behavior of the fuel injection system. A test bench for a 4-cylinder engine is generally developed to run the ECU without the real engine. The development of the test bench described in this paper includes the fabrication of the mechanical model of the test bench, the use of a signal generator for the input signals representing the various signals of an engine and the development of a computer control algorithm for the four-cylinder engine to provide optimum power and fuel efficiency for the engine. The input signal generation of the crankshaft signal and throttle position signal that are similar to the real signal provided by an engine is also discussed. The development of a cost-effective ECU that calculates the suitable amount of fuel to be delivered at correct timings and sequence is also explained. The important part of this paper is the control of the amount of time needed for the injectors to remain open to give the accurate amount fuel injected as well as to control the injection timing of a 4-cylinder engine sequence. The test bench can also be used for several experiments that require the measurement of fuel injected such as fuel injector performance test