Application of membrane separation in biotechnology

Membrane technology emerges as one of the most important separation methods, which have captured the attention of industries, related to biochemical, pharmaceutical, biomedical, and food industries. Due to the current intensive development and expansion, membrane technology is also rapidly gaining market recognition and application in Malaysia. Factors accelerating the positive growth of membrane market in Malaysia include economic factors, technology, support industries and awareness in environmental safety and health. Therefore, this paper seeks to review the separation mechanism, advantages and applications of synthetic polymeric membranes in biotechnology

Ranking of employees' reward and recognition approaces: A Malaysian Perspective

Recognition of employees’ achievements is one of the most important factors to motivate employees. Employees who perform exceptionally well, expect that their contributions will be recognized or they will be appreciated by the top management. Over the decades (or perhaps centuries) the reward and recognition system has been adopted by numerous organizations – private or public. There are myriad ways by which employees can be appreciated. Further, one special type of reward may not motivate equally everyone. One person’s reward may be perceived by another person as punishment. The present research intends to find out the specific reward and recognition ways preferred by the employees working in various Malaysian organizations. A list comprising seventeen major ways of reward and recognition has been prepared and the items in the list are prioritized by taking inputs from 505 employees working in more than 96 various public and private organizations in Malaysia. The findings of the research are expected to provide guidelines in developing an appropriate reward and recognition system for any organization, in general and Malaysian organizations, in particular.Reward and recognition, Motivation, Employee involvement, Employee satisfaction

Effect of non-solvent additives on the structure and performance of PVDF hollow fiber membrane contactor for CO2 stripping

Microporous polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) hollow fiber membranes with various non-solvent additives, i.e. lithium chloride, glycerol, polyethylene glycol (PEG-400), methanol and phosphoric acid, were fabricated for CO2 stripping via membrane contactors. The membranes were characterized in terms of liquid entry pressure, contact angle, gas permeation and morphology analysis. CO2 stripping performance was investigated by using an in-house made stainless steel module with CO2-preloaded aqueous diethanolamine as the liquid absorbent. Hydrophobicity and gas permeability of the membranes reduced with the addition of a non-solvent additive in the polymer dope but increase in liquid entry pressure was observed as more sponge-like structures developed in the inner layer of the fibers. It was found that PVDF/PEG-400 membrane produced the highest stripping flux of 4.03×10-2 mol m-2 s-1 which can be correlated to its high gas permeation and high effective surface porosity. The result of long-term stripping operation indicated an approximatly 80% stripping flux reduction which can be related to the interaction of polymer membrane and amine solution at high temperature

The effect of phase inversion promoters on the structure and performance of polyetherimide hollow fiber membrane using in gas-liquid contacting process

Low molecular weight organic compounds were added to the spinning dope as phase inversion promoters and their effects on the structure of polyetherimide (PEI) hollow fibers as well as their performance as membrane contactor were investigated. Water, methanol, ethanol, glycerol and acetic acid were added individually to the solvent NMP to prepare a dope containing 15 wt% PEI, 4 wt% additive, 81 wt% NMP and hollow fiber membranes were fabricated via wet spinning method.The solution containing water as the additive had the lowest thermodynamic stability and highest viscosity, which yielded hollow fiber with a thin skin layer of high porosity and a sublayer with sponge-like structure. The four other polymer solutions were more stable thermodynamically and less viscous. Fast solvent/coagulant exchange yielded thick skin layers of lower porosity and sublayers of finger-like macrovoids.Among all fabricated follow fibers, adding methanol resulted in the highest absorption flux, which was ascribed to its high porosity and low tortuosity

ISLAMIC EDUCATION AND DECENTRALIZATION OF GOVERNMENT : Study of Local Government Policy in the Implementation of Islamic Religious Education in Indonesia

Changes in the government management system in Indonesia from centralized to decentralized have changed the way people perceive local government authority in the management of Islamic education. Although Islamic education in general, and madrasas in particular have not become the object of regional autonomy, at least the community hopes that local governments will use this decentralized moment as an entry point to participate in the implementation of Islamic religious education. This research is a library research, in which documents as a source of data can be obtained either directly or through internet browsing. The results of this study include: (1) the regional government issued a policy to take part in the implementation of Islamic religious education; (2) the form of regional government policies in the implementation of Islamic religious education consists of: regional regulations (provincial/regency/city perda), regional head regulations (Pergub/Perbup/Perwali), and development activity programs; (3) the substance of regional government policies in the delivery of Islamic religious education targets the education curriculum/material, teacher competence, educator welfare, and educational infrastructure.Perubahan sistem pengelolaan pemerintahan di Indonesia dari sentralistik ke desentralistik telah mengubah cara pandang masyarakat akan kewenangan pemerintah daerah dalam pengelolaan pendidikan Islam. Meskipun pendidikan Islam pada umumnya, dan madrasah pada khususnya belum menjadi objek otonomi daerah, tapi sedikitnya masyarakat berharap pemerintah daerah menggunakan moment desentralistik ini sebagai pintu masuk untuk ikut serta dalam penyelenggaraan pendidikan keagamaan Islam. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian kepustakaan, di mana dokumen sebagai salah satu sumber data dapat diperoleh secara langsung maupun melalui browsing internet. Hasil dari penelitian ini antara lain: (1) pemerintah daerah mengeluarkan kebijakannya untuk ikut andil dalam penyelenggaraan pendidikan keagamaan Islam; (2) bentuk kebijakan pemerintah daerah dalam penyelenggaraan pendidikan keagamaan Islam teridir dari: peraturan daerah (perda provinsi/kabupaten/kota), peraturan kepala daerah (pergub/perbup/perwali), dan program kegiatan pembangunan; (3) substansi kebijakan pemerintah daerah dalam penyelenggaran pendidikan keagamaan Islam menyasar pada kurikulum/materi pendidikan, komptenesi pendidik, kesejahteraan pendidik, dan sarana prasarana pendidikan