A study on energy (thermal) efficient aquaculture buildings for recirculating tank system / Sabarinah Sh Ahmad, Mohd Salleh Kamaruddin and Elias Salleh

Malaysia plans to increase in its annual aquaculture production to 662,000 tons by year 2015 from the current 200,000 tons. Almost all of these culture systems release untreated effluents and wastes directly into the natural bodies especially coastal waters. This practice has resulted in many environmental problems. It has also affected the quality of culture water especially among the shrimp and marine fish (cage) farmers as the aquaculture effluents accumulated over the years deteriorate the quality of the surrounding waters which is the source of water input. An FAO study shows that upto 79% dietary N and 85% dietary P inputs in a fish cage culture system are lost into the surrounding waters. To sustain a healthy and environmental friendly aquaculture development in Malaysia, intensive recirculating tank systems have to be used. These systems are expected to become increasingly important especially in freshwater aquaculture where the industry has to compete for limited water resource with other agricultural activities, industrial and domestic users. The Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industries (MoA) have started pilot projects in Kedah, Sarawak and Selangor. At present, all recirculating tank systems have to be housed in enclosed buildings. These buildings are designed for temperate and cold climates with its main concern to ward off cold temperature from entering the building while maintaining the inside warm temperature. Buildings designed for temperate and cold climates are not suitable for tropical environments and are thermally uncomfortable (and may become too hot if kept enclosed) for Malaysians. The proposed study is undertaken: a. to measure the environmental conditions of selected buildings that house recirculating tank Systems b. to develop suitable designs for aquaculture buildings for tropical environments. No such study has been done for the hot humid tropical climate and very few studies have been conducted on the designs of the aquaculture buildings for the temperate and cold condition

Radiation-induced formation of acrylated palm oil nanoparticle using pluronic F-127 microemulsion system

This study demonstrated the utilization of radiation-induced initiator methods for the formation of nanoparticles of Acrylated Palm Oil (APO) using aqueous Pluronic F-127 (PF-127) microemulsion system. This microemulsion system was subjected to gamma irradiation to form the crosslinked APO nanoparticles. Dynamic light scattering (DLS), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) were used to characterize the size and the chemical structure of the nanoparticles. As a result, the size of the APO nanoparticle was decreased when the irradiation dose increased. The decrease in size might be due to the effects of intermolecular crosslinking and intramolecular crosslinking reactions of the APO nanoparticles during irradiation process. The size of the nanoparticle is in the range of 98 to 200 nanometer (nm) after irradiation using gamma irradiator. This radiation-induced method provides a free initiator induced and easy to control process as compared to the classical or chemical initiator process. The study has shown that radiation-induced initiator methods, namely, polymerization and crosslinking in the microemulsion, were promising for the synthesis of nanoparticles

Road Marker Classification Mechanism Using Slope Contour Analysis in Foggy

Obtaining the dark channel prior in foggy images will produce significant difference in pixels values of the foggy-free areas and atmospheric lights. Since the foggy images is the linear combination of the atmospheric light and the original non-foggy image, the fraction of atmospheric image from the foggy image will retrieve the original image without the impact of foggy. Once the foggy is reduced, the road marker visibility will be improved indiscriminately which can be further processed for feature extraction using Convolutional Neural Network

Internal control, risk and Sharīʿah non-compliant income in Islamic financial institutions

Purpose: The existence of internal control for Sharīʿah-compliance promotes reasonable assurance that the Islamic financial institution's (IFI's) objectives are achieved in the following categories, namely, the effectiveness and efficiency of operations, the reliability of financial reporting and the level of compliance with applicable laws and regulations, as well as accounting and auditing standards. Sharīʿah non-compliant income (SNCI) is an important issue in IFIs' operations. Thus, The purpose of this paper is to identify issues related to governance and internal control of SNCI in selected IFIs in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach This research uses a case study approach to gather data on the measures of governance and risk management in relation to the internal control for SNCI in IFIs. Interviews were conducted with officers of the Sharīʿah and internal audit departments on internal control practices regarding SNCI. Findings Regulator's guidelines on SNCI are simple and brief, lacking rigour in terms of governance, risk management and audit procedures. The section on SNCI is only a brief statement within the Bank Negara Malaysia's Guidelines on Financial Reporting for Islamic Banking Institutions and also in the Operational Risk Integrated Online Network system operated by IFIs. Most of the respondents in the interviews suggested that there should be a proper guideline in determining the classification of SNCI. Second, although IFIs have established the purification account to manage SNCI, the real practice varies from one IFI to another. Third, although there are supposedly documented procedures established in relation to management and administration of SNCI, the following events still occur in practice, namely, no authorisation from the Sharīʿah Committee (SC) on various types of income channelled to the SNCI account; unauthorised use of SNCI for other Purpose:s; SNCI not being reported in the annual financial reports; and distribution of SNCI prior to obtaining the SC's consent. Fourth, there is an absence of Sharīʿah risk assessment conducted on operational risk by IFIs to identify any potential Sharīʿah non-compliant event. Research limitations/implications This research contributes to the importance of Islamic corporate governance theory and Sharīʿah risk management, as well as strengthening the case for reporting SNCI to shareholders. It also contributes to the body of knowledge on the capability of the management in managing the internal control system of IFIs' SNCI. Originality/value A new internal control assessment matrix is proposed for Sharīʿah-compliance in IFIs

Tropical environmentalism of the ‘Malayu’ public realm-A reconstruction of traditional urban climatic ‘sanctuaries’

The ‘Malay kedatuan’ refers to the traditional administrative centres of the Malay world which represent the public realm of a socio-cultural urbanized realm of the past. 16th century Melaka, 18th century Kedah, Terengganu and Riau-Lingga centres had at one time, constituted Sultanate-centered urban configurations, which now exist only in partial reconstructions, documents, lithographs and models. Surviving forms include Alor Setar, parts of Kota Bahru and Kuala Kangsar (Malaysia) and Pontianak, Kalimantan. ‘Archetypical’ refer to recurring generic configurations in which palaces, key buildings, were sited close to each other concerning river and sea. These sanctuaries embody key bioclimatic principles characterising the age-old ‘climatic fit’ of the Malay house, which were also reflected in such archetypes, which remain less discussed in the field of urban design. The traditional Malay public realm had mainly centred around palaces, and represent the axis of life during traditional times. These have now undergone extensive postcolonial layering. The paper reports on a reconstruction process which attempts to reconstruct the ‘vernacular’ including building and urban spaces, to learn from past traditional archetypes that have approximated the ideal tropical city, which utilised ecological resources to characterise urban spaces and had achieved comfort conditions through key passive means and key environmental features, such orientation, urban configurations, pathways, public space, shaded spaces and bioclimatic architecture. The paper highlights these features as lessons towards low carbon strategies

Influence of processing parameters on physical properties of fish feed pellet prepared using steaming method

Uncertainty in the origin of raw materials used in the fish pellet prompts homemade preparation by certain farmers. We hypothesized that a combination of optimum processing conditions will produce pellets with desirable physical properties. In this study, a cost-saving protocol for manual preparation of Clarias gariepinus feed pellet was developed. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of different processing conditions on the physical properties of the fish pellets produced by steaming method. Proximate analysis of each ingredient was measured, and feed formulation was calculated using WinFeed 2.0 software. Twenty-seven processing conditions with different processing temperatures (50°C, 70°C and 100°C), mixing speeds (75 rpm, 150 rpm, and 225 rpm), and mixing times (5 min, 10 min, and 15 min) were tested. Floatability, bulk density, water solubility index (WSI), and water absorption index (WAI) were then determined. There were also significant interactions between physical properties and all processing conditions, except time/speed. Processing conditions at 70°C, mixing speed at 75 rpm and 5 min-of mixing time showed the highest pellet floatability (15 min) followed by 50°C and 100°C. Bulk density, WAI, and WSI were also improved, suggesting that at 70°C, proper gelatinization may have occurred. This study presented the optimum parameters for manual fish pellet preparation using the steaming method and is expected to economically benefit small-scale farmers to produce fish pellets in situ

Islamiyyat

172 hlm.; 14 c