A critical look at an Islamic Gold investment account

This article assesses an Islamic gold investment account offered by an Islamic bank in Malaysia and analyses its pros and cons. We look into the product’s relative advantages and disadvantages compare to some other Islamic deposit products and conventional gold accounts. In process of the assessment we also come across some Shari’ah compliance related issues and some practices which needs to be scrutinized from Shari’ah, economic and social perspectives. Overall, our findings suggest the account to be worthwhile investment instrument for long-term saving instrument and promising venture at times of boom in gold prices. However, the account is considered as a risky and unfavorable investment when gold price is on fall or if the customer intends to keep his deposits for a brief period. Finally, we pose some questions to the reader to ponder upon about some possible implication of the product for the Islamic bank, its customer or the society at large

Persepsi masyarakat terhadap kualiti perkhidmatan klinik-klinik kerajaan dan swasta di Lembah Kelang

A community survey involving 4,035 respondents was conducted in the Klang Valley in 1997. Result shows that the respondents were satisfied with all aspects of service at both government and private clinics, except for ‘waiting time’ at government clinics. Overall, only 14.5% of respondents were not satisfied with services at government clinics and 2.0% were not satisfied with services at private clinics.However, respondents were more satisfied with all aspects of care at private clinics compared with government clinics (p<0.01). Respondents were willing to pay a median of RM5.00 for services at government clinics compared to RM15.00 for services at private clinics

Theoretical modelling of sound radiation from plate

Recently the development of aerospace, automotive and building industries demands the use of lightweight materials such as thin plates. However, the plates can possibly add to significant vibration and sound radiation, which eventually lead to increased noise in the community. So, in this study, the fundamental concept of sound pressure radiated from a simply-supported thin plate (SSP) was analyzed using the derivation of mathematical equations and numerical simulation of ANSYS®. The solution to mathematical equations of sound radiated from a SSP was visualized using MATLAB®. The responses of sound pressure level were measured at far field as well as near field in the frequency range of 0–200 Hz. Result shows that there are four resonance frequencies; 12 Hz, 60 Hz, 106 Hz and 158 Hz were identified which represented by the total number of the peaks in the frequency response function graph. The outcome also indicates that the mathematical derivation correlated well with the simulation model of ANSYS® in which the error found is less than 10%. It can be concluded that the obtained model is reliable and can be applied for further analysis such as to reduce noise emitted from a vibrating thin plate