Fungal bioconversion of old oil-palm trunks by enzymatic hydrolysis on development of alternate energy source

The progressive depletion of fossil fuels has been causing increasing concern on rising energy consumption and environmental issues, such as greenhouse gas emission (GHG) and global warming. Due to low productivity of oil-palm tree after 20 - 25 years, the trees passed their economic age followed by the cutting-activity for replanting. Consequently, the old oil-palm trunks are one of the most abundantly available renewable resources produced, especially by Indonesia and Malaysia. We found that the felled oil palm trunk contains large quantity of sap with high concentration of free sugar contents. The oil-palm trunk residues which are the residual substances after squeezing sap will be discharged in large quantity. Composition analysis revealed that oil-palm residues mainly consisted of 73.12% holocellulose (cellulose and hemicellulose) and 24.6% of lignin. We tried the screening of filamentous fungus which can produce high-activity enzyme against oil-palm trunk residues as feedstock of bioethanol production.  A filamentous fungus, which is Penicillium rolfsii with strong activity against oil-palm trunk residues was selected for saccharification experimental study. The result showed that higher amount of sugar production was achieved comparing to the commercial enzymes (Celluclast 1.5L and Accellerase®1500) on hydrolysis of oil palm residues, which is 1 to 2-fold of higher activity. Hence, Penicillium rolfsii have attracted a great deal of interest as oil-palm residues degrader due to their superiority activity against commercial enzymes

Comparing the influence of non-persuasive and persuasive visual on a website and their impact on users behavioural intention

Research related to first impression formation has highlighted the importance of visual appeal in influencing favourable attitude towards a website. It is proposed that users are actually drawn to specific characteristics or aspects of visual design of a website, and tend to disregard other features. Therefore, this study aims to investigate which visual design strongly appeals to the users by comparing the impact of common visuals with persuasive visuals.The principles of social influence are proposed as added value to the persuasiveness of the web visuals.An experimental study is conducted and the PLS-SEM method is employed to analyse the obtained data. The result of the exploratory and confirmatory analyses demonstrated that the structural model displays better quality when tested with persuasive data sample compared to non-persuasive data sample. Thus, it is concluded that persuasive visual helps to better explain the relationship between users' attitude and intention. This means that exposure to persuasive visuals brings about consistent favourable perception to the web design

Instruments for measuring the influence of visual persuasion: validity and reliability tests

In User Experience (UX) research, the instruments are often measured by means of rating scales such as Likert scale and semantic differential scale. The validity of the findings and conclusions rely heavily on the instruments used in the questionnaires.This paper provides the assessment of the validity and reliability of a new set of measures to evaluate the influence of visual persuasion on web users.The instruments will be used to assess web users' perceptions of credibility, engagement, informativeness, satisfaction, social influences, usability, and visual aesthetic.Firstly, 85 items are pilot tested by expert and novice users in an offline and online settings. Secondly, the exploratory factor analysis is carried out in which 44 items representing 12 latent variables are reduced to 39 items with some of the latent variables are combined into one.The results show: Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) of 0.901, significant Bartlett’s test, communalities range between 0.470 - 0.829, nine factors (also known as the latent variables) emerged with eigenvalues greater than 1, explaining more than 60% of the total variance, factor loadings of 0.466 and above, factors correlations of less than 0.7, and Cronbach’s alphas are well above the limit of 0.70. Finally, a confirmatory factor analysis is carried out on the first-order and second-order latent variables using the PLS-SEM. The instruments exceed the minimum requirement of the assessments for the convergent validity, discriminant validity, reliability and collinearity. The findings suggest that the proposed 39 items are valid and reliable for measuring the persuasiveness of visual persuasion

Modelling the persuasive visual design model for web design: a confirmatory factor analysis with PLS-SEM

Visual design plays an important role in grabbing web users’ attention in an online environment. Previous research has demonstrated that different types of visual design causes different impact towards the end-users. This paper observes the impact of persuasive visual towards users’ first impression, attitudes, and behaviours. It extends existing web visual design by empirically examining the critical roles of the principles of social influence in the form of visual persuasion in motivating users to have a favourable impression of a particular website. Survey data was collected in an experimental study that was conducted online. Structural model assessment is carried out using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in conjunction with PLS-SEM analyses. The general analysis of model fit indicates that the two models proposed in this paper surpassed the cut off values for model acceptance with most of the model fit criteria reflects outstanding explanatory power. The result of the analysis indicates that visual persuasion has a big impact in influencing users’ attitudes on the web; strong enough to affect their behavioural intention

Integration of 3D printing in computer-aided design and engineering course

Engineering students at an undergraduate level typically learn the design aspect and concept through lectures and practical sessions using computeraided software. However, the current computer-aided design and engineering (CAD/CAE) course did not expose the students to apply and relate the latest advanced technologies to solve global issues, for instance as listed in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG). Therefore, an improved CAD/CAE course taken by the students of the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Programme in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia integrates 3D printing and conduct their project based on UN SDG themes. A total of 22 projects was produced, which involves both mechanical and electrical design with some of the physical models were 3D printed. Thus, students able to strengthen their understanding of the design concept through the integration of 3D printing and simultaneously aware of the current global issues

Thinking Styles among Technical Students in TVET: Differences in Thinking Styles by Students' Demographic

A thinking style is the way an individual acquires, processes and organises information, as well as forming ideas and views, solving problems, making decisions and articulating self-expression. Each individual has his or her own style of thinking in learning, solving problems, or even in designing products. The purpose of this study is to analyse the pattern of Chua thinking styles among technical students. A total of 351 technical students comprising of Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering students at Sultan Abdul Halim Muad'zam Shah Polytechnic were randomly selected as the study sample. The design of this study was a form of survey study using a quantitative approach. The Yan Piaw Creative-Critical Styles Test, developed by Chua (2004), was used as the research instrument. Data were analysed using SPSS software and presented in the form of mean, frequency, and percentage. The findings show that the dominant thinking style is the balanced thinking style, with 166 respondents (47.3%). It is followed by the critical thinking style in 153 respondents (43.6%) and the creative thinking style in 32 respondents (9.1%). However, none of the students has a high creative thinking style and a high critical thinking style. The findings also show that there is no statistically significant difference in Chua thinking styles by gender, age, years of study and field of study. In general, it can be concluded that technical students are most inclined to a balanced thinking style, which is to have a balanced thinking in terms of creative and critical thinking styles. As such, an individual's thinking style will have an impact on learning to solve problems in product design

Production of acylglycerol catalysed by rice bran lipase in a packed bed reactor

A 20 litre packed bed reactor (PBR) with heating and water removal system was designed and fabricated for the esterification of palm oil fatty acid distillate (PFAD) catalyzed by immobilized rice bran lipase (RBL). The PBR was designed based on the characteristics of immobilised RBL and the optimized esterification conditions obtained from method scouting performed in shaked flask. The optimal ratios of immobilised RBL and water removal agent (silica gel) to PFAD for the shaked flask esterification process were 5:1 and 1:2, respectively. The intensified esterification reaction of PBR was operated by circulating the reaction mixture (PFAD and glycerol) in hexane through a packed bed column filled with immobilised RBL. The water generated from esterification reaction was absorbed by silica gel filled in the water removal vessel. The maximum degree of esterification achieved in this developed PBR was 61%. The reaction time required to achieve the maximum degree of esterification was 25% faster than that in the shaked flask