Islam and the Cyber World

The mixed reactions on the use of the internet technology which have resulted in different debates and crimes in the cyber world calls for assessment of the Islamic point of view of the issue. Cyber world created avenue for the Muslim Ummah in a form of virtual global community and it encouraged dialogue as well as access to information on a real time basis; and above all facilitated easy access to the Qur’an. Nonetheless, th same tool has opened doors for crimes such as pornography, victimization, bullying, stalking etc. Hence this study reviews the benefits of the internet technology and consequences of its misuse. The frame of reference in measuring both the negative and positive aspects of this technology will be the Islamic standpoint. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2014.v4n6p51

Comparative Study of the Political View of Abdur-Rahman Al-Kawakibi and Shakib Arsalan

Both al-Kawakibi and Arsalan lived in late nineteenth century characterised with decline of the Muslim nations and the British, French and Italian imperialism. Muslims became promoters of the imperialist cause and Muslim elites were separating religion from politics an idea en route to secularism. The state of Muslims during this period was same everywhere, though varies in degree. Muslims lag far behind in almost everything. Al-Kawakibi and Arsalan rose to identify the causes of the decline of the Muslim ummah as majorly an internal factor than external. Similarly they promoted the return to Al-Qur’an and fundamental principles of Islam, and further advocated Knowledge for all, without dichotomy between religion and science. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2014.v4n6p53

Development of a New Concept for Fire Fighting Robot Propulsion System

An additional cost to human loss and property destruction during fire disaster is fire fighters injuries and death. The recent statistics of 63,350 fire fighters injuries that occurred during the year 2014 confirms that firefighting still presents great risks of personal injury to the fire fighters [1]. The lack of details on information about the victims trapped in fire and situation in the fire zone increase the risk to fire fighters [2, 3]. To reduce these fatalities fire fighting robots (FFRs) emerged as possible solutions therefore they are developed and researched on. The FFRs are designed for either prevention or emergency (same as intervention) tasks of fire and are applied indoor or outdoor. However, the prime movers of the majority of the FFRs are electrically powered [4] which made them to be suitable for preventive task alone and inappropriate for the emergency task. Their inappropriateness is due to the vulnerability in high temperature environment that characterised fire emergency. Thus, alternative propulsion systems for the mobility of fire fighting robots in emergency setting are evolving. Furthermore, literature survey reveals that water powered hydraulic propulsion system has been the only alternative to the drawbacks of dc motors in the hot environment. The mechanism was implemented on snake fire fighting robot for tunnel fire application [5]. In the mechanism, hydraulic motor was used to actuate the snake joints for mobility while water provides power for the hydraulic motors. However, the snake robot was designed for outdoor application. Consequently, the need for an autonomous fire fighting robot with a novel propulsion system becomes imminent

Prediction of dry ice mass for firefighting robot actuation

The limitation in the performance of electric actuated firefighting robots in high- temperature fire environment has led to research on the alternative propulsion system for the mobility of firefighting robots in such environment. Capitalizing on the limitations of these electric actuators we suggested a gas-actua ted propulsion system in our earlier study. The propulsion system is made up of a pneumatic motor as the actuator (for the robot) and carbon dioxide gas (self-generated from dry ice) as the power source. To satisfy the consumption requirement (9cfm) of the motor for efficient actuation of the robot in the fire environment, the volume of carbon dioxide gas, as well as the corresponding mass of the dry ice that will produce the required volume for powering and actuation of the robot, must be determined . This article, therefore, presents the computation al analysis to predict the volumetric requirement and the dry ice mass sufficient to power a carbon dioxide gas propelled autonomous firefighting robot in a high-temperature environment. The governing equation of the sublimation of dry ice to carbon dioxide is established. An operating time of 2105.53 s and operating pressure rang es from 137.9kPa to 482.65kPa were achieved following the consumption rate of the motor. Thus, 8.85m 3 is computed as the volume requirement of the CAFFR while the corresponding dry ice mass for the CAFFR actuation ranges from 21.67kg to 75.83 kg depending on the operating pressure

Comparative study of the political view of Abdur-Rahman Al-Kawakibi and Shakib Arsalan

Both al-Kawakibi and Arsalan lived in late nineteenth century characterised with decline of the Muslim nations and the British, French and Italian imperialism. Muslims became promoters of the imperialist cause and Muslim elites were separating religion from politics an idea en route to secularism. The state of Muslims during this period was same everywhere, though varies in degree. Muslims lag far behind in almost everything. Al-Kawakibi and Arsalan rose to identify the causes of the decline of the Muslim ummah as majorly an internal factor than external. Similarly they promoted the return to Al-Qur’an and fundamental principles of Islam, and further advocated Knowledge for all, without dichotomy between religion and science

The future of statehood in East Africa

With the deterioration of political and security situations in Somalia and Kenya’s involvement in the war against al-shabaab as well as its political miscalculation and the lack of exit plan, add to this, the fading democratic conditions in Eritrea, accompanied by the political uncertainties in Ethiopia, since the demise Meles Zenawi Asres and the extermination of the opponents, as shown in last general election, as well as the one-man-show political scenario in Uganda and the likely disintegration of Tanzania into Zanzibar and Tanganyika, indicated by the ongoing elections; the political future of East African governments is predictably taking erroneous turns. It seems therefore, God forbids, there is a political catastrophe in the making as far as the state as an authoritative institution is concerned in East Africa. One observes that the social fabric of these states, take Kenya, which used to be a solid in its social and political values, as an example, is drastically changing into a pattern-of-Somali-like tribal syndrome. The expiration of the government institutions, civil societies, law and order in Eritrea, the austere political future of Djibouti, the irrepressible and incurable wounds of Burundi and Rwanda are shrilling pointers of such fear. Not to forget, the strained Muslim-Christian relations, which is now deeply rooted in these communities and states, the thick-headedness of most East Africa’s political leaders and the rapid increase of the youth population as well as the proxy war in business between China and the West on the region. These factors are the core indicators of the future of state and strong government in East Africa. The study covers several nations in East Africa including Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda

Optimization of CO2 production rate for fire-fighting robot applications using response surface methodology

A carbon dioxide gas-powered pneumatic actuation has been proposed as a suitable power source for an autonomous firefighting robot (CAFFR), which is designed to operate in an indoor fire environment in our earlier study. Considering the consumption rate of the pneumatic motor, the gas-powered actuation that is based on the theory of phase change material requires optimal determination of not only the sublimation rate of carbon dioxide but also the sizing of dry ice granules. Previous studies that have used the same theory are limited to generating a high volume of carbon dioxide without reference to neither the production rate of the gas nor the size of the granules of the dry ice. However, such consideration remains a design requirement for efficient driving of a carbon dioxide-powered firefighting robot. This paper investigates the effects of influencing design parameters on the sublimation rate of dry ice for powering a pneumatic motor. The optimal settings of these parameters that maximize the sublimation rate at the minimal time and dry ice mass are presented. In the experimental design and analysis, we employed full-factorial design and response surface methodology to fit an acceptable model for the relationship between the design factors and the response variables. Predictive models of the sublimation rate were examined via ANOVA, and the suitability of the linear model is confirmed. Further, an optimal sublimation rate value of 0.1025 g/s is obtained at a temperature of 80°C, the mass of 16.1683 g, and sublimation time of 159.375 s