Perception of young adults on the use of mobile learning for pre-marital course in Malaysia: A preliminary study

Mobile learning is a learning method delivered by using mobile devices and technologies. Previous studies indicate that mobile learning has potential to enhance formal as well as informal learning in Islamic marital practices. This study focuses on how young adults perceive the use of mobile devices for pre-marital course. Eighty participants in the pre-marital course held in Malaysia were gathered for the study. A structured questionnaire was distributed to the gathered participants and final results were based on their valid responses. The results indicate that participants' expectations on mobile learning expectations of mobile learning were very high and two-thirds of them were interested to learn more about Islamic marital practices through mobile learning. Based on the results, a few pedagogical recommendations have been made for the relevant authorities

The Structural and Electrical Properties of Nanostructures ZnO Thin Films on Flexible Substrate

Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were deposited on Teflon substrates by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering method at different substrate temperature. The dependence of residual stress on the substrate temperature was investigated in this work due to the growth process, the bombardment of energetic particles and process heating to the deposited thin films. From field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) images, samples that deposited at various substrate temperatures consists nano-sized particles. The obtained X-ray diffraction (XRD) results, it suggested that ZnO thin film deposited at 40oC with highly c-axis oriented shows unstressed film compared to other thin films. Besides that, the ZnO thin films deposited at 40oC shows improved electrical properties

Job stress and its determinants among academic staff in a university in Klang Valley, Malaysia

Background: Job stress is the most common condition experienced by workers which occurs when there is a conflict between the workplace, workload and individual’s ability to cope with the situation (Ongori & Agolla, 2008). Stress is an event that occurs when the body is upset and unbalanced. It is caused by stressors in term of environmental condition and on how is the person react and response towards the challenging events. Job stress is the most common condition experienced by workers which occurs due to various socio demographic and work factors. This study aimed to determine job stress and its determinants among academic staff at Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was done on academic staff in Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang. Workplace Stress Questionnaire was used to assess the stress level while NIOSH Generic Job Stress Questionnaire was used to assess factors affecting job stress among the academic staff at Universiti Putra Malaysia. Binary logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify the determinants of job stress among the respondents. Result: Of 421 respondents, 60.8% of respondents were experienced job stress. Most (54.6%) of the academic staffs experienced moderate stress and 2.6% of them were experienced severe stress due to their job. This study has found that hours of work, (45 to 60 hours per week, AOR = 2.339, 95% CI = 1.287 - 4.253; >60 hours per week, AOR = 1.174, 95% CI = 0.680 - 2.029) and workload and responsibility at workplace (AOR = 1.190; 95% CI = 1.098 - 1.291) are the determinants of job stress among the academic staff at Universiti Putra Malaysia. Conclusion: Prolonged hours of working and high workload and responsibility determine job stress status among academic staff. It is recommended that the management of the university plan and implement job stress prevention and management programs emphasizing on time management and working strategies to improve the situation. Cohort studies that include other variables not covered in this research are recommended for more conclusive findings and to establish the causes of job stress among academics

A Fuzzy Logic Approach to Measure Underweight Among Kindergarten’s Kids

Nowadays, being underweight during childhood is equally risky as being overweight. Underweight children lead to decrement in their academic performance, a social problem as well as challenging attitudes. Underweight people are likely to be less fit and active, which would also increase their cardiovascular risk and health problem. Their mind also becomes inflexible while their concentration and ability to decide are markedly weak. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the chances of having underweight among the children by using Fuzzy Logic Approach. Besides that, the comparison of effectiveness result of underweight between Body Mass Index (BMI) method and Fuzzy Logic Approach using the Mamdani method will be made. The data on weight and height of the children were collected from 3 kindergartens in Perlis. The result shows that 60 to 70 percent of children having an underweight in the range between 79.1% to 91.2% compare to the BMI method that is only 10 percent of children have underweight. It shows that Mamdani method was very effective compared to BMI Method because of the flexibility from the output control that is a smooth control function despite a wide range of input

Knowledge, Acceptance and Application of Islamic Financial Management among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Halal Entrepreneurs in Peninsular of Malaysia

The Halal industry in Malaysia has created employment opportunities especially among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). High demand for Halal products especially from Islamic countries has transformed the development of this sector into a national priority. In the Eleventh Malaysia Plan (11MP), the competitiveness of the Halal industry was given special emphasis by the Prime Minister. In Asia, Malaysia has long been considered as a leader in the development of the Halal sector.  However, the Halal industry is not only about Halal food production, but also covers Islamic finance services which prohibit interest (riba), uncertainties (gharar) and gambling (maysir). Islamic financial management is one of the important parts of Islamic finance because it plays a big role in providing Shariah-compliant funds and investment opportunities especially for the SME Halal entrepreneur. The holistic approach to the Halal industry should also cover not only food production but also Islamic financial management which includes activities such as how to create, increase, purify and to protect wealth from an Islamic perspective. Therefore, this study examines the relationship between the knowledge and acceptance of Islamic finance, and the application of Islamic financial management among halal entrepreneurs in Peninsular Malaysia. The findings of this study reveal that the knowledge and acceptance of Islamic finance is significantly correlated with the application of Islamic financial management among halal operators of SMEs. This indicates that to integrate the Halal industry with Islamic financial management activities, Halal entrepreneurs should be able to know and accept the Islamic finance principles. This will, in turn, facilitate the promotion of Malaysia’s Halal industries on the global stage. Keywords: Halal Industry, SMEs Halal entrepreneur, Islamic Financial Managemen

A Study into the Development of a Light Weight Smart Life Buoy Prototype (LWSLB)

Life Buoy, also known as a life preserver, is a crucial safety tool on board any marine ships. The most common and conventional lifesaver is operated manually to save people from drowning, yet this method poses a risk for both the victim and rescuer. Hence, with the help of current technology, a smart lifebuoy has been developed, whereby the rescuer just operates the lifebuoy using remote control. Yet, the existing smart life buoy system has been found heavy and hard to be operated, especially for women, children, and other people with disabilities.This paper focuses on the development of a lightweight smart life buoy system and its characteristics. Arduino Uno R3, Arduino Nano, DC motor 775, Transmitter and Receiver kit were the main components used in the development of the lightweight smart life buoy system (LWSLB). The developed LWSLB system was tested at the National Defence University of Malaysia’ swimming pool due to Covid-19 lockdown, and data such as speed, range of remote connection and battery endurance were obtained. It has been found out that the developed LWSLB weighs just 3.5kg overall compared to Brand S which weighs 13.75kg. However, in terms of speed, Brand S proves to be faster at 4.17m/s compared to LWSLB which exhibits a speed of 1.25m/s

Evaluation of sorbitan monolaurate concentration on carrageenan gel properties

Air fresheners are chemical products that have been used in the field of environmental sanitation for decades. The brands, materials and types of fragrance air fresheners have been developed to reduce the depression level amongst people. This study used seaweed from carrageenan to explore renewable resources from Malaysia as biopolymer. It is proven that the mild depression or stress can be released with help of aromatherapy substances, and one is aromatherapy scented gel. The objectives of this study were to formulate and characterize the scented gel from carrageenan and the stability of the scented gel. The gel was produced by mixing sorbitan monolaurate (surfactant) and carrageenan in water. Then, polyethylene glycol (PEG), alginic acid and essential oil were added into the mixture. The solution viscosity and shear stress for rheology properties were measured. The highest viscosity was the sample without sorbitan monolaurate which is 979.37 mPa·s while the highest shear stress was 0.50% (v/v) sorbitan monolaurate with 296.42 Pa. Moreover, for weight variation analysis, sample with 0.5% (v/v) sorbitan monolaurate showed the lowest residual loss which is 11.8% compared samples with higher concentration of sorbitan monolaurate. Bloom test demonstrated samples with 1.50, 2.00, and 2.50% (v/v) have high bloom when the gel strength increased at higher concentration of sorbitan monolaurate. Sorbitan monolaurate of 0.5% (v/v) of is a stable gel with high mass of residue. In conclusion, gel air freshener could be produced from carrageenan to replace other gelling material such as gelatin, xanthan gum and guar gum

Acceptance and application of Islamic financial planning among small and medium enterprises Halal operator in Peninsular of Malaysia

Halal Industry in Malaysia has created employment opportunities especially among Small, medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). High demand for Halal products especially from Islamic countries has put Halal industry as one of the national agenda priorities. In the Eleventh Malaysia Plan (11MP), the halal industry had been given special emphasis by the Prime Minister to ensuring the halal industry is highly and persistently competitive. In Asia, Malaysia has been considered as a leader in the development of the Halal hub center. However, halal industry is not only about halal food production, but also it covers Islamic finance services which prohibit interest (riba), uncertainties (gharar) and gambling (maysir). Islamic financial planning is one of the important parts of Islamic finance because it plays a big role in providing Shariah compliant funds and investment opportunities especially for SMEs halal operators. The holistic approach to halal industry should also cover not only halal food production, but also Islamic financial planning which includes activities such as how to create, increase, purify and to protect wealth from Islamic perspective. Therefore, this study examines the relationship between acceptance of Islamic finance and the application of Islamic financial planning among SMEs halal operators in Peninsular Malaysia. The findings of this study reveal that the acceptance of Islamic finance was significantly correlated with the application of Islamic financial planning among SMEs halal operator. These finding indicated the important of integration between acceptance on the Halal industry with Islamic financial planning activities. SMEs Halal operators should be able to accept the Islamic finance principles. This relationship recognises the importance of acceptance and practice of Islamic financial planning among halal SMEs operators in promoting halal products and services and boost demand for Malaysian halal products at the international level

Experimental Investigation on Palm-Based Oil as Alternative for Biodegradable Power Transformer Oil Application in Malaysia

Most power transformers used petroleum-based oil or so-called mineral oil as insulation. Power transformer oil functions not only as electrical insulation and cooling medium but also to suppress corona and arcing. Over the years, power transformer oil has been widely used because of its high dielectric field strength, low dielectric losses, and long-term performance. However, petroleum-based power transformer oil is non-biodegradable and non-renewable. A serious spill could contaminate soil and water. As a non-renewable source, depletion of the source will further increase the price. These have encouraged researchers to look for alternative power transformer oil for better sustainability. Palm-based oil has been seen as a potential substitute, because, it is environmentally friendly, biodegradable and renewable. However, a lot of studies need to be carried out before it can be used as alternative power transformer oil commercially. Thus, this work has been carried out to investigate several electrical and physical properties of palm-based transformer oil, such as breakdown voltage, partial discharge characteristics, kinetic viscosity, and flash point. The effect of ageing on electrical properties of the palm-based oil has also been investigated. Two types of palm-based oil, namely Palm Fatty Acid Ester (PFAE) and Refined, Bleached, Deodorized Palm Oil (RBDPO) have been selected in this work. As a comparison, the commercially available soy-based biodegradable oil is also investigated for assessment and further analysis purpose. The results revealed that PFAE and RBDPO have great potential as power transformer insulation because of their good insulating characteristics as commercially available biodegradable oil

Structural Characterization And Electrochemical Performance Of Nitrogen Doped Graphene Supercapacitor Electrode Fabricated By Hydrothermal Method

The introduction of nitrogen (N) into graphene is of great focus as it escalates overall device performance as the introduction of N atoms improves the electronics of the graphene. In this work, the N-doped graphene electrode was prepared by using hydrothermal method where graphene nanoplatelet was used as active material and aqueous ammonia as the nitrogen source. The electrode was then used as the supercapacitor electrode. From Raman analysis, the ID/IG ratio of N-doped graphene has a higher value than that of pristine graphene. This indicates the N-doped graphene possessed more defects and has a higher degree of disorder within the graphene sheet. For X-ray diffraction analysis, the result exhibits a broad peak at 2θ = 26.3o, corresponding to the graphitic profile with an interlayer spacing of 3.57 Å. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis proved that there is a presence of nitrogen on the graphene surface, with 2.35 % of the atomic concentration. From the cyclic voltammetry, all curves showed an almost rectangular shape at the scan rates of 10 to 100 mVs-1. The calculated specific gravimetric capacitance is 25.2 F g-1 at 10 mV s-1. In addition, charge-discharge analysis confirmed the typical behavior of electric double layer capacitor from the linear symmetric slope