Using Soleh English (SE) Teaching Materials with The Integration of Cultural and Islamic Values: Islamic Preschool Teachers’ Voices

English Language Teaching (ELT) materials are significant as tools in facilitating a second language teaching and learning including for preschool level. Also, it is necessary for teachers to opt for appropriate ELT materials which encompass cultural and local identity to generate a meaningful and relatable context of teaching and learning. Nonetheless, most of the materials currently available for preschool education in the publishing market are foreign and therefore little focus on local context. It is more evident in Islamic preschools, as the ELT materials need to be infused with Islamic values to align with the philosophy of Islamic preschools. Hence, this paper presents and discusses a part of a study on Islamic preschool teachers’ perception of the Soleh English (SE) teaching materials developed in the attempt to integrate Malay culture and Islamic values with ELT. The study employed a Case Study design involving five female Islamic preschool teachers in the Klang Valley Region. They were purposely chosen based on their experiences using the SE teaching materials. The data was obtained through semi-structured interviews and triangulated with a questionnaire and document analysis. The interview data reported in this article were thematically analysed. Findings illuminated four key themes for each research question which indicated that there is an integration of cultural and Islamic values in the SE teaching materials as well as in ESL teaching. This enabled the teachers to instil Islamic and cultural values in their English language teaching in contribution to generate noble citizens.  Keywords: materials, ESL teaching, integrated values, islamic preschool, cultural

A review and survey of Problem-Based Learning application in Engineering Education

This paper gives a review of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) applied in engineering courses worldwide, and a survey of academic staff who have implemented PBL in engineering classes in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The review of PBL application illustrates the extent of acceptance and success of PBL in schools of engineering in the international arena. The survey, on the other hand, illustrates the acceptance of PBL among engineering lecturers and the possibility of applying PBL in Malaysia. The main purpose of the survey is to obtain feedback on PBL regarding the impressions, set-backs and constraints faced, as well as innovations and tips for successful implementation from the faculty members involved

Role of silica nanoparticles in enhancing drought tolerance of cereal crops

Cereal crops are essential for providing essential nutrients and energy in the daily human diet. Additionally, they have a crucial role as a significant constituent of cattle feed, hence enhancing meat production. Drought, being an abiotic stressor, adversely affects the growth and yield of numerous crops on a global scale. This issue poses a significant and pressing obstacle to maintaining global cereal crop production and ensuring food security. Nanoparticles have become a valuable resource for improving cereal crop yield and productivity under ongoing rapid climate change and escalating drought conditions. Among these, silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) have demonstrated their potential for agricultural applications in regions with limited water availability. Drought stress has detrimental effects on cereal crops, impacting their growth, metabolic, and physiological processes, hampering water and nutrient absorption, disrupting cellular membranes, damaging the photosynthetic apparatus, and reducing antioxidant activities by altering gene expression. SiNPs help preserve cellular membranes, regulate water balance, and improve water and nutrient absorption, resulting in a substantial enhancement in plant growth under water-deficit conditions. SiNPs also protect the photosynthetic system and enhance its efficiency, facilitate the accumulation of phenolics, hormones, osmolytes, antioxidant activities, and gene expression, thus empowering plants with increased resistance to drought stress. Moreover, SiNPs decrease leaf water loss by promoting stomatal closure, primarily by fostering the accumulation of abscisic acid (ABA) and mitigating oxidative stress damage by activating the antioxidant defence system and reducing reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, a limited number of studies examine the role of SiNPs in cereal crops under drought stress conditions. In this review, we highlighted the promising potential of SiNPs to improve cereal crop resilience by changing morpho-histological traits, antioxidant properties, and gene expression to maintain food security in drought-prone areas. This study will aid researchers in using SiNPs as an environmentally benign way to improving drought resistance in cereal crops in order to fulfill global food supply needs

An overview of moisture damage performance tests on asphalt mixtures

This paper presents a review of moisture damage performance tests on asphalt mixtures. The moisture damage remains to be a detriment to the durability of the Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) pavement. Moisture damage can be defined in forms of adhesive failure between bitumen and aggregates and cohesive failure within bitumen. Aggregate mineralogy, bitumen characteristics and anti-stripping additive dominantly influence the performance of asphalt mixtures towards moisture damage alongside construction methods, climate and traffic loading. Various laboratory test methods have been developed to quantify the moisture damage performance of asphalt mixtures by resembles the action in the field, including qualitative test such as Boiling Water Test (ASTM D3625) and quantitative tests such as Modified Lottman Test (AASHTO T283). Both of these tests consist of two phases, which are conditioning and evaluation phase. This paper will review the effectiveness of the selected available tests based on various asphalt mixtures materials. Generally, this study indicates that asphalt mixtures consisted of limestone aggregates, modified bitumen and addition of anti-stripping additives will provide more resistant towards moisture damage

The Study On The Effect Of Frequency Selective Surface To The Return Loss Of Microstrip Array Antenna At 28 GHz Frequency

Microstrip Array Antenna has been operated at 28- GHz because of the basic features of the famous microstrip patch. The purpose of this research is to study the effects of Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) on the return loss of microstrip array antenna. In this research, Rogers Duroid RT5880 with a dielectric constant r is 2.2 and the thickness is 0.254 mm is chosen to be the based substrate. Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) is used with air gap separation, which is 1-wavelength is 10.7143 mm. This research proposed a triangle shape rather than a circle, which is a conventional shape that significantly enlarges the fringe capacitance to compress the overall size of unit cell. The CST Microwave Studio 2016 software has been used. By selecting optimum parameters, the simulated return loss of the proposed antenna with and without FSS is -64.677 dB and -37.621 dB respectively. The results for both simulations fall at 28 GHz. After the fabrication and measurement, the result shifted forward by 1 GHz. At 29 GHz, the result with FSS and without FSS is -43.55 dB and -36.71 dB respectively. Both of result simulation and measurement can be used since the results of both are more than 1 GH

A Planar 2×2 MIMO Antenna Array For 5G Smartphones

Here, a planar 2×2 MIMO configuration for the 5G smartphone has been presented. A single element modified planar tree profile shape (MPTPS) antenna is implemented to investigate the suitability in future 5G communication for different sub-6 GHz spectrum band. The size of the single MPTPS antenna is 40 × 25 mm2. The electronic band gap (EBG) and partial ground plane (PGP) techniques have been utilized to tune this antenna. The antenna works from 2.81 – 7.23 GHz, with a (VSWR < 2) bandwidth of 4.42 GHz that covers all the midrange sub-6 GHz 5G frequencies. It also has a comparatively good gain of 3.14 dBi, high efficiency of 96% and a bi-directional radiation pattern. The antenna has been implemented in a 145 × 75 mm2 smartphone mainboard with MIMO configuration using polarization diversity. More than -21.1 dB isolation has been found between different ports. A good gain of as high as 6.59 dBi is observed for the MIMO in the band. Also, as MIMO performance, excellent envelope correlation coefficient of less than 0.0029 and minimum diversity gain of 9.9853 has been observed. The investigation has been further stretched by adding a liquid crystal display (LCD) for radiation performance and a hand phantom to assess the performance in terms of specific absorption rate (SAR). It is observed that the SAR value is as low as 0.887641 at 3.5 GHz. This design will motivate the researcher to develop high performance MIMO arrays for 5G smartphones

Computer aided estimation of fugitive emission rates and occupational air concentration in process design

Computer aided methods for comparing alternative process concepts based on fugitive emission and occupational air concentration were developed. Three computerized methods are proposed for early design stages based on data available from simple piping flow diagrams (PFDs), detailed PFDs or piping and instrumentation diagrams (PIDs). The method becomes more comprehensive as it progresses from simple PFDs to PIDs since more process data is available latter including plot plan, coordinates of the emission sources and local wind speed data. The user can select the method to be used depending on the extent of process information available

Simple graphical method for inherent occupational health assessment

The concept of inherently safer design was introduced to design a fundamentally safer process so that hazards can be avoided or minimized rather than controlled or managed. The ideology has later been extended to the environmental, but not health criteria due to its complicated underlying principles. Even though health risk methods are already established, majority are for existing plants assessment. Early consideration of health aspect starting from process design stage however, has received much less attention. This paper introduces a simple graphical method to evaluate the inherent occupational health hazards of chemical processes during the R&D stage. A survey was conducted to identify the important health parameters for the graphical method development, involving nine world inherent safety and health experts. Based on their input, process mode, material volatility, operating pressure and chemical health hazard (toxicity and adverse effect) are the significant factors affecting inherent health hazards of chemical processes. The choice of parameters was bounded by the information availability at this stage. The method was applied on six routes to methyl methacrylate and ten routes to acetic acid. The parameters were plotted for each subprocess of the alternative routes. The ‘healthiest’ route was selected based on thorough hazards assessment across all the subprocesses. The first case study reveals the tertiary butyl alcohol as the ‘healthiest’ one as it poses relatively lower, or at least comparable hazards to the other routes due to exposure and health impacts. Meanwhile the acetic acid case study indicates ethanol oxide and ethyl oxide based routes as the inherently healthier as they operate at lower operating pressure besides posing comparable hazards level for the other three parameters, compared to the other routes. The case studies show that the inherent occupational health of a chemical process can already be evaluated easily in the R&D stage with the simple graphical method proposed

Problem based learning in engineering education: a viable alternative for shaping graduates for the 21st century?

Engineering educators are faced with demands from various sectors to produce graduates who can be effective in today’s borderless k-economy. To accommodate these demands and adapt to changes in the 21st century, Problem Based Learning (PBL) is proposed as an alternative to traditional lectures in moulding engineering graduates to acquire the desired attributes. Although PBL has received a lot of attention, particularly in medicine, its implementation in engineering is not as encouraging. Engineering educators are sceptical that PBL is practical and applicable for engineering classrooms, given the high student to lecturer ratio, and the large body of knowledge that must be covered. Most importantly, can PBL really enhance learning and help students acquire the necessary generic skills? To investigate if PBL is a viable option for engineering education, a qualitative evaluation of outcomes in several undergraduate engineering classes, conducted using the PBL concept, was performed. The result of the study indicated that PBL can be adapted for engineering classrooms and induced the desired outcomes on the students. This paper discusses PBL, its benefits and potential in engineering education. However there are challenges faced by engineering educators in making the quantum leap from lecture-based classes to PBL