Islamic Law and Sustainable Development Goals

This study aims to analyze Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) prescribed by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) under Islamic Law. This paper is qualitative method of research analyzing SDGs under verses of Holy Qur'an and traditions of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. This study found that what SDGs ask member states to do has been prescribed in Holy Qur'an and Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ way back 1400 years ago and demanded by Almighty Allah and the last Prophet Muhammad ﷺ for eradication of poverty, hunger, malnutrition etc. Islamic law prohibits usury, gambling, uncertainty and other illegal activities to protect poor people of the society against rich landlords. Therefore, member states are required to follow SDGs to achieve peace, harmony and economic growth for betterment of humanity which is also a duty under verses of Holy Qur'an and traditions of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to achieve success in this world and in the hereafter

Investigation of graphene channel interaction with yeast cell for cell counting application

Graphene superior and unique properties make it a suitable material for biosensor. In this work, graphene interaction with yeast cell is investigated for development of graphenebased cell counter. The fabricated graphene channel was characterized by means of two-terminal and solution-gated three-terminal measurement setup. The correlation between graphene channel resistance and cell concentration was confirmed. The yeast cell was found to give n-type doping which modulate the conductivity of graphene channel

Production of high strength bioliquid from municipal solid waste (MSW) using mixed culture

Landfilling is one of the most commonly used methods of municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal. It is necessary because there are residues in all waste management processes that cannot be reused or recovered further and are essentially landfilled. For the degradation of MSW, thermal, mechanical and biological pretreatment techniques are used. MSW could be treated and converted into liquid biomass (bioliquid) by using enzymes. This research focused on the production of high strength bioliquid in MSW. The experiments were conducted in three stages namely: acclimatization process, preliminary study and factorial analysis to determine the production of high strength bioliquid in MSW. The selected factors were ratio of AMC and substrates (1:2 and 1:5), temperature (room temperature and 37 °C), pH (adjusted pH and no pH adjustment), PET plastics size (1cm2 and 4cm2) and Hydraulic Retention Time (3 hours and 9 hours). Design Expert software (Version 7) was used to construct an experimental table where all the factors were randomized. Two-level factorial analysis (TLFA) was used to analyze the most contributing factor and interaction between the factors. The results showed that the most significant factor was temperature, while the interaction factors were between temperature and HRT. The best conditions of COD increment were determined at AMC/S ratio 1:5, adjusted pH, PET plastics size of 1cm x 1cm, at room temperature and HRT of 3 hours. The experimental and targeted final increments of COD were 2.19 and 1.99 respectively. Since the error was less than 10%, it is acceptable, and the objectives of this research were successfully achieved

Fuel saving analysis and stability assessments of malaysian offshore fishing vessels fitted with dual fuel diesel and compressed natural gas

Malaysia fishing industries are heavily dependent on the fossil fuels to satisfy its energy demand. Fuel cost of fishing vessels normally accounts for more than 50% of the annual operating expenses. With the increasing of global fuel prices, the future of this industry has exposed fishermen to uncertain future. Nowadays, clean burning alternative fuel such natural gas has become a great interest for fuel saving. A duel fuel diesel engine is a diesel engine that has been fitted to use compressed natural gas (CNG). Dual fuel engines provide numerous potential advantages such as cost saving, fuel flexibility, lower emissions, better efficiency and easy conversion of existing diesel engines without major modifications. This paper describes a study to reduce fuel consumption by introducing a dual fuel diesel and CNG for Malaysian offshore fishing vessel. An analysis of fuel consumption reduction is presented, together with stability assessments. The results reveals that dual fuel diesel can provide noticeable lower fuel consumption compared to existing diesel engines and stability assessment signify that the conversion to dual fuel engine has no adverse effects to vessel stability

Proton Conductivity and FTIR Studies of Methanesulfonic Acid (MSA) Incorporated Polyacrylamide based Composite Solid Polymer Electrolyte.

A new class of Composite Solid Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (CSPE) of Polyacrylamide (PAAm) with Methanesulfonic acid (MSA) was synthesized. The composite membranes were thoroughly characterized by FTIR and proton conducting performance. The highest proton conductivity of 1.17 x 10-6Scm-1 was observed at room temperature with the loading of 5M of MSA into the polymer matrix. FTIR spectroscopy was used to study the mechanism involved in the protons transfer in the membranes by referring the characteristic shifts of the absorbance bands of C=O and N-H2. Thermal parameters such as the glass transition temperature (Tg) and the melting point (Tm) of the polymer membrane with the highest proton conductivity were measured by TGA and DSC. The morphology of the PAAm-5M MSA was observed by FESEM. The valued merits on the proton conductivity, thermal stability and easy synthesis promise the new membranes to be good alternative as CSPE for electrochemical devices

Optimization studies of oil palm empty fruit bunch liquefaction for carbon cryogel production as catalyst in levulinic acid esterification

Liquefaction of oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) using 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride was investigated in this study. The experiments were designed based on central composite by response surface methodology (RSM). The optimum conditions for the predicted liquefied EFB yield of 80.97 wt% was obtained at the temperature of 151.9 °C, a reaction time of 112.78 min and a ratio (Ionic liquid to EFB) of 4.27. The Regression coefficient (R2) for the model was 0.90 indicating a high correlation between observed and predicted values. The liquefied EFB mixture was used in the preparation of carbon cryogel via a sol-gel poly-condensation reaction and calcination process. The presence of sulfuric acid during the gel synthesis promoted an active site on the gel linkage and surface. The carbon cryogel prepared was tested as catalyst in an esterification reaction. The conversion of levulinic acid and yield of ethyl levulinate were reported as 58.7% ansd 57.2 mol%, respectively

Empirical Investigation on Agile Methods Usage: Issues Identified from Early Adopters in Malaysia

Agile Methods are a set of software practices that can help to produce products faster and at the same time deliver what customers want. Despite the benefits that Agile methods can deliver, however, we found few studies from the Southeast Asia region, particularly Malaysia. As a result, less empirical evidence can be obtained in the country making its implementation harder. To use a new method, experience from other practitioners is critical, which describes what is important, what is possible and what is not possible concerning Agile. We conducted a qualitative study to understand the issues faced by early adopters in Malaysia where Agile methods are still relatively new. The initial study involves 13 participants including project managers, CEOs, founders and software developers from seven organisations. Our study has shown that social and human aspects are important when using Agile methods. While technical aspects have always been considered to exist in software development, we found these factors to be less important when using Agile methods. The results obtained can serve as guidelines to practitioners in the country and the neighbouring regions

Prediction of hexaconazole concentration in top most layer of oil palm plantation soil using Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)

Ganoderma boninense is a fungus that can affect oil palm trees and cause a serious disease called the basal stem root (BSR). This disease causes the death of more than 80% of oil palm trees midway through their economic life and hexaconazole is one of the particular fungicides that can control this fungus. Hexaconazole can be applied by the soil drenching method and it will be of interest to know the concentration of the residue in the soil after treatment with respect to time. Hence, a field study was conducted in order to determine the actual concentration of hexaconazole in soil. In the present paper, a new approach that can be used to predict the concentration of pesticides in the soil is proposed. The statistical analysis revealed that the Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) techniques would be appropriate in this study. The EDA techniques were used to fit a robust resistant model and predict the concentration of the residue in the topmost layer of the soil

Emotional intelligence and British expatriates’ cross-cultural adjustment in international construction projects

© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Today’s internationalized business demands global mindset, intercultural sensitivity and the ability to skilfully negotiate through cross-cultural interactions. Therefore, the overall aim was to investigate the influence of emotional intelligence (EI) on cross-cultural adjustment (CCA) of British expatriates working on International Architectural, Engineering and Construction assignments in Sub-Saharan Africa, China, Middle East and Indian Sub-Continent. Specifically, the causal relationship between EI and three facets of CCA i.e. work, general and interaction adjustment was explored. A sequential exploratory mixed methods design was adopted. These include extensive review of existing literature, eighteen unstructured interviews, and questionnaire survey of 191 British expatriates operating in 29 different countries from the four regions under investigation. Structural equation modelling was used to assess the causal relationship between EI and CCA. Results show that EI accounted for 91, 64 and 24% of the variance in work, interaction and general adjustment respectively. Overall, the model was able to explain 60% variance in CCA, suggesting that EI competencies play a huge role in facilitating an expatriate understand and adapt to host country culture. The findings would help decision-makers (HR managers) during expatriate selection process, in understanding that along with technical skills, it is the emotional competencies that are crucial in assisting expatriates adjust to foreign way of life

Effects of High and Low Temperature on the Tensile Strength of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites

In this paper, the tensile performance of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites at high and low temperature was experimentally evaluated. GFRP laminates were manufactured using the wet hand lay-up assisted by vacuum bag, which has resulted in average fibre volume fraction of 0.45. Using simultaneous heating/cooling and loading, glass fiber epoxy and polyester laminates were evaluated for their mechanical performance in static tensile loading. In the elevated temperature environment test, the tension mechanical properties; stress and modulus were reduced with increasing temperature from 25oC to 80oC. Results of low temperature environment from room temperature to a minimum temperature of -20oC, indicated that there is no considerable effect on the tensile strength, however a slight decrease of tensile modulus were observed on the GFRP laminates. The results obtained from the research highlight the structural survivability on tensile properties at low and high temperature of the GFRP laminates