A framework of indirect taxation system in public finance from Syariah perspectives

The subject matter of public finance follows the development in state activities and corresponding economic philosophy. With the passage of time and policies of state, the scope of public finance expanded to cover more areas. The development of new political, economic, social, formulation of fiscal and monetary policies made profound differences in the present as compared to the past public finance problems. The fiscal system practiced by Muslim state in the past was consistent, operational, efficient and worked within the value of an Islamic society perspectives. The scholars of the period expressed practical wisdom and economic insight to bear on fiscal issues as evidenced by contribution of among others by Abu Yusuf Yaqub bin Ibrahim (d. 798 A.D.) which showed enormous economic insights in solving these problems and highlighted the distinctive value-based orientation of the mobilization of the resources of revenue and its disbursement in accordance with the objectives of Islamic Syariah. This article explores the model and wisdom of indirect tax practices as being implemented by past Islamic leaders in fulfilling their obligations towards managing the nation while protecting the people’s wellbeing

Chemical constituents from stem barks and roots of murraya koenigii (Rutaceae)

Four carbazole alkaloids, identified as mahanimbine (1), girinimbine (2), murrayanine (3) murrayafoline-A (4) and one triterpene were isolated from stem bark and roots of Murraya koenigii. The structures of these compounds were established by infra-red (IR), mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR, 13C NMR, HMQC and HMBC) spectroscopy

OBE course analysis and learning reflections / Arnida Jahya...[et al.]

This paper aims to share the findings of outcome-based education (OBE) analysis done on Human Resource Development (HRM549) course from the Faculty of Business Management that was conducted in one of the public universities. Generally, the curriculum documentation of an academic program includes written program educational objectives (PEOs) at the program level together with the course information for all courses in the program. Course information is a document that provides the details of the course outcomes, teaching methodology, assessment, details of students learning time (SLT), program outcomes-course outcomes (POs-COs) matrix, taxonomy and soft skills matrix that serve as an official guideline to a lecturer to conduct the course, deliver the learning activities and assessment of the students. This OBE course analysis was done as a part of an assignment for the Certificate of Education program conducted by Institute of Leadership and Quality Management (ILQAM) in 2014. Findings of the analysis on this HRM549 course showed that there were several items were not mapped to the course learning outcomes. Henceforth, it was recommended that the lecturer should identify the key important elements in the course analysis that will guide them to map the course learning outcomes with program educational objectives. In conclusion, doing OBE course analysis provides an insight of how the curriculum of a course is being designed (or formulated) using OBE approach

Electrophoretic deposition of adsorbed arsenic on fine iron oxide particles in tap water

Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) technique has been demonstrated to remove arsenic with natural adsorbent (fine iron oxide particles) in tap water samples. Characterizations of metal element particularly arsenic and fine iron oxide particles in tap water from two different locations, i.e. commercial and residential areas, were conducted. Results showed that the concentration of arsenic in tap water from residential area was higher than commercial area samples i.e. 0.022 ± 0.004 and 0.016 ± 0.008 ppm, respectively. The same finding was observed in zeta potential value where it was higher in the residential area than commercial area, i.e. −42.27 ± 0.12 and −34.83 ± 0.23 mV, respectively. During the removal of arsenic using the EPD technique, direct current (DC) voltage was varied from 5 to 25V at a constant electrode distance of 30 mm. Effect of zeta potential, voltage and electrode type were intensively investigated. High percentage removal of arsenic was obtained from carbon plate than carbon fibre electrode. The percentage removal of arsenic from all samples slightly decreased with increasing of the applied voltage. EDX analysis confirmed that arsenic has adsorbed onto deposited iron oxide particles on the anode electrode. Overall, EPD technique was found to be successful in removing arsenic onto fine iron oxide particles in tap water with 26% ± 1.05 of removal

How grounded can facilitate research studies in context of agile software development.

Agile methods are increasingly used in software development. These methods are people oriented and almost all issues and challenges in using them are associated to people and their behaviours. While many challenges should be studied in Agile environments, using appropriate research methodology is so critical and affects such studies strongly. This article shows that Grounded Theory as a qualitative research methodology can be used in conducting studies in Agile context. This article presents applicability of Grounded Theory for developing inductive substantive theories in Agile environments based on the real data. There are several reasons for using Grounded Theory in Agile context which all of them go back to the nature of Agile approach and Grounded Theory characteristics

How human aspects impress Agile software development transition and adoption

Many software companies are interested in using Agile methods in their software projects. Contrary to traditional software development methods, Agile methods are people oriented. This fact shows the significant role of individuals in these methods. Increasing prevalence of Agile methods forces software companies to consider people related factors as critical issues in adoption and transition to Agile methods and practices. This article focused on human aspects of Agile transformation process by conducting a Grounded Theory study involving 32 Agile experts. The main contribution of this article is identification and classification of diverse human aspects of Agile transformation process. Analyzing collected data showed that human aspects of Agile transformation process can be classified in several categories. While some of them are impediments to change, some others act as change accelerators. At the same time people’s perceptions about change process and incentive factors can shape and form human aspects during the Agile transformation process. Each of these categories encompasses its own factors which have negative or positive effect on change process

A high gain embedded helix and dielectric rod antenna with low side lobe levels for iot applications

In this paper, a novel embedded helix dielectric rod antenna is presented for high gain radiation with circular polarization (CP) and low side lobe levels for IoT Applications. Different from the conventional dielectric rod antennas, this proposed antenna is an integrated structure that combines the advantages of the helix and dielectric rod antennas. The presented antenna mainly consists of three parts: a tapered helix as primary feeding for CP, a dielectric rod with printed loops embedded for higher directivity, and a dielectric rod end for improving the gain further. After studying and analyzing the working principles of each part, an optimum design operating at 8–9.7 GHz is carried out as an example. A prototype is also fabricated and tested. The measured results show that the prototype can provide 18.41 dB maximum gain within the length of 7.7 λ. The side lobe level is below −20 dB, and the axial ratio is better than 1.14 dB in the whole frequency band. Compared with the traditional helix antenna and dielectric rod antenna with the same electric length, the presented antenna has a higher gain with a lower side lobe level and with good polarization purity

Controlled release formulation of an anti-depression drug based on a L-phenylalanate-zinc layered hydroxide intercalation compound

The intercalation of L-phenylalanate (LP) into the interlayer gallery of zinc layered hydroxide (ZLH) has been successfully executed using a simple direct reaction method. The synthesised intercalation compound, zinc layered hydroxide-L-phenylalanate (ZLH-LP), was characterised using PXRD, FTIR, CHNS, ICP-OES, TGA/DTG, FESEM and TEM. The PXRD patterns of the intercalation compound demonstrate an intense and symmetrical peak, indicating a well-ordered crystalline layered structure. The appearance of an intercalation peak at a low angle of 2θ with a basal spacing of 16.3 Å, signifies the successful intercalation of the L-phenylalanate anion into the interlayer gallery of the host. The intercalation is also validated by FTIR spectroscopy and CHNS elemental analysis. Thermogravimetric analysis confirms that the ZLH-LP intercalation compound has higher thermal stability than the pristine L-phenylalanine. The observed percentage of L-phenylalanate accumulated release varies in each release media, with 84.5%, 79.8%, 63.8% and 61.8% release in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) solution at pH 4.8, deionised water, PBS solution at pH 7.4 and NaCl solution, respectively. The release behaviour of LP from its intercalation compounds in deionised water and PBS solution at pH 4.8 follows pseudo second order, whereas in NaCl solution and PBS solution at pH 7.4, it follows the parabolic diffusion model. This study shows that the synthesised ZLH-LP intercalation compound can be used for the formation of a new generation of materials for targeted drug release with controlled release properties

Performance of image enhancement methods for diabetic retinopathy based on retinal fundus image

In Malaysia, Non-mydriatic fundus camera become a primary tool for Diabetic Retinopathy screening protocols due to user friendly and cost effective procedure. However, the quality of fundus image produces often suffer from uneven illumination, color distortion, blur, and low contrast. Therefore, the need for image enhancement become crucial to be implemented as a pre-processing technique in image processing funnel. This paper presents six general basic methods that commonly applied for image enhancement which includes histogram equalization, contrast stretching, image negative, brightness enhances, low light image and gray level slicing. The performance evaluation of each method compared based on human interpretations and quantitative measurement using MSE, PSNR and entropy. Retinal fundus images collected from Ophthalmology Clinic, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia were used as the input images. Quantitative and qualitative result shows that CS method become the preferred method to be used for image enhancement of retinal fundus image in Diabetic Retinopathy

Particle formation and micronization using non-conventional techniques- review

Due to growing concerns regarding health, safety and the environment, non-conventional methods for particle formation and micronization that are either solvent-less or use environmentally acceptable solvents such as carbon dioxide have come into favor. Supercritical CO2 (sc CO2) (T > 31.1 'C, P > 7.3 MPa) has been used in food and pharmaceutical industries to minimize the use of organic solvents, produce new food products, produce environmentally superior food products and to process and micronize (0.1–5mm) pharmaceuticals. Control of particle size increases the dissolution rate of drugs into the body. Techniques that use sc CO2 eliminate inherent drawbacks of conventional methods such as thermal or mechanical degradation of the product, poor control of the particle size and morphology, lack of brittleness of some polymers and low encapsulation efficiency. Severaltechniques have been reported for the particle formation and micronization using supercritical fluids that have been successfully scaled up for commercial use. Supercritical CO2 has also been used to develop applications for medicines, essential oils, vitamins, food grade polymers, catalysts and pigments. This review highlights the process mechanism of supercritical fluid based techniques as well as some applications on particle formation and micronization