Nanostructured titanium dioxide thin film for dye-sensitized Solar cell applications

Nanostructured Titanium Dioxide (TiC^) thin film for Dye-Sensitized Solid State Solar Cell (DSSSC) application has been synthesized using sol-gel method and deposited onto silicon and glass substrates using spin coating technique. The optimized annealing temperature and sol-gel concentration were obtained a| 500°C and 0.2M, respectively. Basically, there were four properties studied; surface morphology, structural, electrical and optical properties. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) / Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM) were carried out to observe the changes in surface morphology whenever there are changes on the parameters. X-Ray Diffractions (XRD) characterization of the samples was taken to examine the TiC>2 crystalline phases and the intensity of nanocrystalline particles in the thin film. I-V measurement using two-point probe equipment was used to observe the electrical properties which include the measuring of the sheet resistance, the resistivity and the conductivity of the TiC>2 thin film. The optical properties were observed using UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer. The thin film transmittance and the band gap energy were also observed using this spectrophotometer. At the end of this research, uniform and homogeneous TiC>2 thin film has successfully prepared. By controlling the sol-gel concentration, a transparent TiC>2 thin film has been developed which has high transmittance property of above 80%. The TiC>2 thin films which were annealed at a temperature of 500°C and prepared at 0.2M of sol-gel precursor concentration gave the optimum results. By adding TiC>2 nanopowder, the surface area and porosity of TiC>2 thin film is improved, thus good candidate to use in DSSSC application

Konsep keislaman dalam rekabentuk kurikulum pelancongan di sebuah Politeknik Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia

Perkembangan yang pesat industri peiancongan di negara ini teiah dibuktikan melalui sumbangannya yang besar terhadap pendapatan negara. Industri ini turut menyediakan peluang pekerjaan dalam kuantiti yang cukup besar kepada rakyat. Menyedari bahawa tenaga kerja yang terlatih diperlukan untuk memngkatkan tahap kualiti perkhidmatan dalam bidang pelancongan negara, banyak institusi pengajian termasuk Politeknik Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia telah menawarkan kursus khusus datam bidang pelancongan. Bidang pelancongan ini seringkali dikaitkan dengan unsur-unsur negatif yang bertentangan dengan budaya dan agama Islam. Tujuan kajian ini dijalankan ialah untuk melihat konsep keislaman dalam rekabentuk kurikulum pelancongan di Politeknik Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia. Poputasi kajian ini terdiri daripada pelajar-pelajar semester enam kursus pengurusan pelancongan Politeknik Johor Bharu, Pasir Gudang, Johor. Data dikumpul menggunakan soalsetidik dan dianatisis menggunakan taburan frekuensi, peratus dan min. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa kemahiran yang diberikan tidak mempunyai penerapan konsep keislaman. Dapatan kajian juga menunjukkan bahawa perubahan sosial yang dialami oleh peiajar mendedahkan mereka kepada perkara yang negatif dan akhir sekali, perubahan diperlukan untuk mengukuhkan kurikulum disamping perlunya menerapkan konsep keislaman dalam kurikulum berkenaan. Oleh itu, dicadangkan agar pelaksanaan kurikulum pelancongan dapat diperhalusi untuk membina graduan yang berwibawa dan mempunyai sahsiah yang tinggi

Control strategy for vehicle convoy system

The vehicle convoy operation is becoming necessary nowadays to move a large group of people or things. The relative movements of a vehicle convoy will have to consider the string stability of its operation, while maintaining safe spacing between vehicles. Normally, movement of the vehicles is controlled by a human. Now with the new invention and study, the vehicle motion can be controlled manually and also automatically. In recent years, researchers have carried out investigations on developing the vehicles that can move in automated mode in many kinds of operations. One of the operations is moving vehicles in a convoy mode. To achieve the operations, a control strategy is required to produce an algorithm or modeling that can represent the nature of the operations. The simulation is carried out to investigate the control strategy on the controller built using Matlab/Simulink software to analyze its performances under various conditions

Whistleblowing protection and freedom of speech: Finding respect at the workplace

Does the whistleblower have a place in business and organizations? Being a controversial figure the whistleblower’s journey is full of obstacles. The term is taken from the actions of the English police officers or “bobbies” out on their police beats reacting to the discovery of a commission of a crime where they would blow their whistle. This immediate reaction is to alert the public and other police officers of danger within their midst. Another analogy that could also be the origins of the term is the act of the referee or umpire of a football game who would blow the whistle upon discovery or seeing a foul committed by players in the game. Simply put whistle blowing is an act of correcting once a discovery of wrongdoing has been exercised. The act of a whistleblower is an expression of an important right that is the right to free speech. When an employee voices his concerns over certain issues internal to the organization he/she is exercising a right to freely voice matters that is important for the organization to look into. Even though organizations have the privilege to ignore but choosing such a cause may not be a wise move

2-D strength prediction of single-row multi-bolted joints woven fabric kenaf composites

Implementation of multi-bolts arrangements in structures connections are commonplace in steel design to allow for joint efficiency and stronger connections. Woven fabric kenaf fibers are potentially used as reinforcement in composite materials due to excellent specific strength, renewability and less hazardous during handling as compared to commercial fibers. A two-dimensional Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) framework of single-row multi-bolted joints has been developed to study the stress distribution and predict the joint bearing stress at failure. Stress distribution among adjacent bolts were compared along the hole boundary and net-tension plane, suggesting net-tension failure occurred at end-bolt. The predicted bearing strength from finite element modelling are validated against experimental framework. The testing series under investigated consists of four datasets from single-row 2 bolts and 3 bolts single-lap joints. Current study showed that the XFEM models demonstrated good agreements with the experimental results

Problems and Prospects of Islamic Banking: a case Study of Takaful

The paper is an attempt to analyse the working of Takaul in the world and its popularity in the insurance sector in the world. Keeping in view of Sharia we have also tried all possible aspects of insurance system popular in the world and tried to look at its possibility to familiarize more amongst Muslims of the world. It is observed that customer awareness remain low, however this is often attributed to a limited understanding of Islamic finance in the banking and insurance world. We wish to have a proper salesmanship and advertisement of Islamic banking system in India and all around the world.Islamic Banking, Takaful

Evaluation of Malaysian asphaltic concrete mixture using superpave and marshall mix design method

Rapid development of road infrastructure in Malaysia has led to better researched of asphaltic concrete mixtures. Currently, the conventional Marshall method is widely used to design flexible pavement with bituminous surfacing as wearing course in Malaysia. In 1987 to 1993, strategic highway research program (SHRP) developed a new concept for the design of asphaltic mixtures referred to as Superior Performing Asphalt Pavement (Superpave). This evolvement has certainly improved the asphaltic concrete mixtures especially in terms of the compaction mode. In this study, four different types of mix that meet both Superpave and Malaysian gradation limits were developed and designed using both Superpave and Marshall method. Specimens from both types of mix were also prepared at the optimum asphalt contents. The specimens were also subjected to moisture induced damage test and Indirect Tensile Strength test. Volumetric analyses of the mixes showed that the optimum asphalt content and voids in mineral aggregate (VMA) of the Superpave mixtures is lower than Marshall mixtures. An average of 30 and 20 percent increment in tensile strength is evident for Superpave mixtures conducted for 12.5mm and 9.5mm mixtures compared to Marshall designed mix. However, all mixtures are able to resist deterioration due to moistur

Kajian motivasi ekstrinsik di antara Pelajar Lepasan Sijil dan Diploma Politeknik Jabatan Kejuruteraan Awam KUiTTHO

Kajian ini dijalankan untuk menyelidiki pengaruh dorongan keluarga, cara pengajaran pensyarah, pengaruh rakan sebaya dan kemudahan infrastruktur terhadap motivasi ekstrinsik bagi pelajar tahun tiga dan tahun empat lepasan sijil dan diploma politeknik Jabatan Kejuruteraan Awain Kolej Universiti Teknologi Tun Hussein Onn. Sampel kajian ini beijumlah 87 orang bagi pelajar lepasan sijil politeknik dan 38 orang bagi lepasan diploma politeknik. Data kajian telah diperolehi melalui borang soal selidik dan telah dianalisis menggunakan perisian SPSS (Statical Package For Sciences). Hasil kajian telah dipersembahkan dalam bentuk jadual dan histohgrapi. Analisis kajian mendapati bahawa kedua-dua kumpulan setuju bahawa faktor-faktor di atas memberi kesan kepada motivasi ekstrinsik mereka. Dengan kata lain faktpr-faktor tersebut penting dalam membentuk pelajar mencapai kecemerlangan akademik