Sequestering atmospheric CO₂ inorganically:a solution for Malaysia's CO₂ emission

Malaysia is anticipating an increase of 68.86% in CO2 emission in 2020, compared with the 2000 baseline, reaching 285.73 million tonnes. A major contributor to Malaysia's CO2 emissions is coal-fired electricity power plants, responsible for 43.4% of the overall emissions. Malaysia's forest soil offers organic sequestration of 15 tonnes of CO2 ha(-1) year(-1). Unlike organic CO2 sequestration in soil, inorganic sequestration of CO2 through mineral carbonation, once formed, is considered as a permanent sink. Inorganic CO2 sequestration in Malaysia has not been extensively studied, and the country's potential for using the technique for atmospheric CO2 removal is undefined. In addition, Malaysia produces a significant amount of solid waste annually and, of that, demolition concrete waste, basalt quarry fine, and fly and bottom ashes are calcium-rich materials suitable for inorganic CO2 sequestration. This project introduces a potential solution for sequestering atmospheric CO2 inorganically for Malaysia. If lands associated to future developments in Malaysia are designed for inorganic CO2 sequestration using demolition concrete waste, basalt quarry fine, and fly and bottom ashes, 597,465 tonnes of CO2 can be captured annually adding a potential annual economic benefit of (sic)4,700,000.</p

A simple checking algorithm with perturb and observe maximum power point tracking for partially shaded photovoltaic system

This paper presents a simple checking algorithm for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technique for Photovoltaic (PV) system using Perturb and Observe (P&O) algorithm. The main benefit of this checking algorithm is the simplicity and efficiency of the system whose duty cycle produced by the MPPT is smoother and changes faster according to maximum power point (MPP). This checking algorithm can determine the maximum power first before the P & O algorithm takes place to identify the voltage at MPP (VMPP), which is needed to calculate the duty cycle for the boost converter. To test the effectiveness of the algorithm, a simulation model of PV system has been carried out using MATLAB/Simulink under different level of irradiation; or in other words partially shaded condition of PV array. The results from the system using the proposed approach prove to have faster response and low ripple. Besides, the results are close to the desired outputs and exhibit an approximately 98.25% of the system efficiency. On the other hand, the system with conventional P&O MPPT seems to be unstable and has higher percentage of error. In summary, the proposed method is useful under varying level of irradiation with higher efficiency of the system

Organizational Capabilities, Strategic Management Accounting and Firm Performance

From a resource-based view perspective, the paper provides empirical evidence on new emerging strategic management accounting (SMA), its association with organizational capabilities (market orientation, entrepreneurship, innovativeness and organizational learning) and the interlinkages among these four elements of organizational capabilities. Partial least squares (PLS) technique was used to test the contingency model. Using the mail survey data of 103 manufacturing strategic business units (SBUs) of public listed companies in Malaysia, the results found that the four organizational capabilities - market orientation, entrepreneurship, innovativeness and organizational learning - collectively give rise to positional advantage leading to enhanced firm performance. SMA techniques are found to support the internal organizational capabilities. However, SMA USAge is not associated with firm performance, indicating that the mediation role of SMA USAge on the relationship between organizational capabilities and firm performance is not supported. The results confirm that a firm can attain above average performance if it possesses and emphasizes the four organizational capabilities collectively and these four organizational capabilities collectively are also important to support the USAge of SMA techniques which can provide useful information for improvement of internal capabilities as well as resource allocation and utilization

Nurture Students Soft Skills Through Project-oriented Problem-based Learning Approach in Siswa@Fesyen

The quality of graduates should be strengthened to enhance their marketability after graduation. Unemployment issues among graduates in Malaysia are still reported to be high. Several factors have contributed to the occurrence of this situation including the lack of soft skills in graduates. This article discusses the role, implementation, and outcomes of Siswa@Fesyen programs that have been implemented to nurture student’s soft skills through Project-oriented Problem-based Learning (PoPBL). The Siswa@Fesyen program involves 40 final-year students from the Bachelor of Home Economics Education at Universiti Putra Malaysia. Qualitative studies involving observation and interviews were conducted to review the program’s outcomes in nurturing student’s soft skills and character development. Students’ feedback shows that this program has successfully achieved the main objective which is to nurture student’s soft skills as well as strengthening student’s sewing skills in producing fashion designs. Finally, the findings show that the Siswa@Fesyen program can be a significant platform to nurture soft skills and thus provide students with the opportunity to face the working environment and life after graduation. &nbsp; &nbsp; Keywords: soft skills, PoPBL, fashion entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship outcome

Factors Influencing Green Product Purchase Behavior among University Putra Malaysia Students

The issue of the environment such as increasing sea levels, air pollution, water pollution, and climate change, are affecting people all over. Since early times, human beings have been experiencing environmental degradation due to the development activities due to the rise of civilizations. A green product is designed to have as little environmental impact as possible over its entire life cycle, including after it is no longer being used. This study examines the factors influencing green product purchase behaviour among University Putra Malaysia (UPM) students. A total of 260 respondents were selected from the University of Putra Malaysia by using simple random sampling. The data was collected by using the administered questionnaire. The results of multiple linear regressions showed that the adjusted R2 is 0.438, indicating that the variance of the dependent variable was explained by the knowledge, attitude, social appeal and emotional value. The result also showed only three variables were influencing; emotional value (ß =.333, p ? 0.01) was the most influential factor, followed by knowledge (ß =.303, p ? 0.01) and attitude (ß =.160, p ? 0.01) among UPM students towards the green product purchase behaviour. This study concluded that emotional value, knowledge, and attitude were among the factors influencing green product purchase behaviour. Future research is recommended to conduct this study on other University students in Malaysia with larger samples and also can focus on the other factors which influence the students on green product purchase behaviou

Corporate social responsibility for climate change using social contracts: a new research agenda

Climate change is one of the long persisting problems in the past few decades. Political leaders, world organizations, corporate sector and the citizens are affected by the climate change. The catastrophic effect of climate change is the increasing frequency and magnitude of disasters across the globe. Hence, this is a global problem which needs a global solution. The main aim of this paper is to propose a model for disaster mitigation which can be sustainable. The study uses a systematic literature review approach which includes the articles published in different databases. The output proposed a new conceptual model using a social contract theory where there is a holistic approach and each one takes up the responsibility to mitigate disaster between all the stakeholders. The study aligns with one of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SGD) set by the United Nations (UN). © 2020 Massachussetts Medical Society. All rights reserved

Microfinance: Viable Approaches for Islamic Banking Implementation

Islamic banks have very much engaged in debt financing businesses the same way and as much as their conventional counterparts do. Debt financing businesses, as widely implemented, were specifically targeted for and tailored to the needs of middle and upper income group of people. The low income people remain left out and forgotten in most banking businesses while microfinance instruments, which are meant to help the poor and needy, remain unpopular among the banking institutions. There is indeed increasing calls for Islamic banks to seriously consider this type of instrument as part of their religious obligation embedded under their Islamic identity. This paper demonstrated that microfinance instruments are viable for Islamic banks to consider despite the claims that the contracts are less secured and hence, too risky to embark in. A number of microfinance instruments based on Islamic concepts namely Musyarakah, Murabahah, Mudharabah, Ijarah and Qard al-Hassan as well as operational frameworks such as SPV and wakalah, were being proposed and discussed to pave ways for its implementation by the Islamic banks

Relationship between body mass index, waist circumference, fat mass and fat percentage as a measurement of obesity among Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris students

The purpose of the study was to determine the prevalence of obesity based on the Body Mass Index (BMI), waist circumference, and fat mass and fat percentage and to examine the relationship between BMI, waist circumference, fat mass and fat percentage as the measurement of obesity among university students. The participants were 305 students from Univesiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) aged between 18-25 years old with males (n =101) and females (n =204). Digital InBody Stadiometer was used to measure height. Body Composition Analyzer was used to determine body mass, fat percentage, fat mass and body mass index. Seca - SC100 tapes was used to measure waist circumference. The data was analysed using descriptive statistic to determine the prevalence of obesity and the Pearson correlation was used to determine the relationship between the variables being studied. Results showed that the prevalence of obesity based on BMI in male was 34.6. % overweight and 12.9 % obese and 31% was overweight and 12% obese among female participants.  The prevalence of obesity according to BMI was higher in men if compare to women. The results of waist circumference showed the greater number of females (71.6%) being overweight compared to males (64.3 %). Overall, there was a strong, positive correlation between body mass index, waist circumference, fat mass and fat percentage in measuring obesity.Keywords: Overweight, Obese, BMI, Waist circumference, and Fat mas

Relationship of TQM and business performance with mediator of SPC, Lean Production and TPM

In today s highly competitive market, the demand for quality is the single most critical factor for companies to survive in the ever-expanding global marketplace. The concept of Total Quality Management (TQM) has been developed as a result of intense global competition. Most of the previous works show that TQM has significant relationship with business performance. However, the examining of moderators is less given in previous work, which mediators are known generally as general tools and techniques without specific focus on types of improvement. The purpose of this paper is to propose relationship between TQM practices and business performance with mediators of Statistical Process Control (SPC), Lean Production (LP) and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) based on extensive review of the literature. Study on TQM, Lean Production, TPM and SPC generally investigate the practices and business performance in isolation. The main contribution of this paper is to identify the relationships among TQM, TPM, SPC and Lean Production practices as a conceptual model. This proposed conceptual model will help the academicians and industry players to have better understanding on the relationship between the practices and step by step implementation to improve business performance. The structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques are used to examine the relationships of the practices.©2012 the Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open Access under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY–NC–ND 4.0) license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Effect of operating temperature on direct recycling aluminium chips (AA6061) in hot press forging process

A method of solid-state recycling aluminum alloy using hot press forging process was studied as well as the possibility of the recycled chip to be used as secondary resources. This paper presents the results of recycled AA6061 aluminium alloy chip using different operating temperature for hot press forging process. Mechanical properties and microstructure of the recycled specimens and as-received (reference) specimen were investigated. The recycled specimens exhibit a good potential in the strength properties. The result for yield strength (YS) and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) at the minimum temperature 430˚C is 25.8 MPa and 27.13 MPa. For the maximum operating temperature 520˚C YS and UTS are 107.0MPa and 117.53 MPa. Analysis for different operating temperatures shows that the higher temperatures giving better result on mechanical properties and finer microstructure. The strength of recycled specimen increases due to the grain refinement strengthening whereas particle dispersion strengthening has minor effects. In this study, the recycled AA6061 chip shows the good potential in strengthening as the comparison of using only 17.5% of suggested pressure (70.0/400.0) MPa, the UTS exhibit 35.8% (117.58/327.69) MPa. This shows a remarkable potential of direct recycling by using hot press forging process