Effects of Ag NPs: Enhancement of mechanical properties of Er3+/Nd3+ codoped lithium niobate tellurite glass via ultrasonic measurement

Ag NPs embedded in Er3+/Nd3+ codoped lithium niobate tellurite glasses of the form (68-x)TeO2-15Li2CO3-15Nb2O5-1Er2O3-1Nd2O3-(x)AgCl with x = 1, 2 and 3 mol% via conventional melt-quenching technique. Surface roughness and mechanical properties of the glass sample are characterized and discussed. The ultrasonic attenuation shows the rate of sound energy reduction when an ultrasonic wave is propagating in a medium which is the lithium niobate tellurite glasses. The glass attenuation depends on the grain size, viscous friction, crystal structure, porosity, and hardness. The ultrasonic acoustic impedance and attenuation coefficient of particles are estimated from an analysis of the pulse-echo technique. Simple correlation functions and the accurate scattering theory include the effects of acoustic waves, were used separately to focus on the absorption and scattering effects from spherical particles (Ag NPs) and thereby describe the structures of the medium

Dielectric material preparation from pineapple leaf fiber based on two-level factorial analysis and its morphological structure

Natural fiber has earned great attention for its discovery as a green material in dielectric composites. Their excellent dielectric properties have granted them the great capability to be used in high dielectric composites. Hence, this study attempts to determine the most influential factor contributing to the permittivity of pineapple leaf fibers and to examine the morphological structure of the developed fibers. The two-level factorial analysis was applied to determine the significant, influential factors and the best conditions contributing to the permittivity value of fiber. The factors include the pineapple leaf-to-soda ratio (1:5 and 1:10), soda concentration (5–10 wt%), temperature (60–100 ℃), and pulping time (45–75 min). The fiber was extracted from the pineapple leaf through the soda pulping method, and the content was analyzed by the Kurschner-Hanack method. Based on the analysis, the pineapple leaf-to-soda ratio was observed as the most significant factor contributing to the permittivity value of fiber, with an 8.86% contribution. The best conditions were suggested at a 1:10 pineapple leaf-to-soda ratio, 5 wt% soda concentration, 100 ℃ temperature, and 45 min of pulping time, contributing to the 1.85 permittivity value of pineapple leaf fiber. The scanning electron microscope images of the material under test indicate that the morphological structures play a crucial part in determining the permittivity value of fiber. Therefore, with suitable processing factors, pineapple leaf fiber can be a great dielectric material used in many engineering applications

Utilization of Pineapple Leaf in Fiber-Based Dielectric Composite Material and Its Elemental Composition Analyses

The growing demand for natural fibers in dielectric composite production has accelerated research into plant-based materials, particularly those derived from agricultural waste. Hence, this study attempts to evaluate the effect of processing factors and their elemental composition on the permittivity value of pineapple fiber-based dielectric composites. The dielectric composite was prepared following the randomized experimental conditions of two-level factorial analysis, and the permittivity value was measured using a G-band rectangular waveguide. The most significant factors affecting the permittivity value of the dielectric composites and the best condition were determined. The elemental composition of the dielectric composite was analyzed through an energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. The best conditions were obtained at a 1:10 ratio of pineapple leaves to distilled water, 50 minutes pulping times with a heating effect, and 5 g of pineapple leaf powder. The highest permittivity value of the composite was recorded at 3.31, with the heating effect as the most significant factor. The elemental analysis of the composite with the highest permittivity value presents that carbon was the dominant element in the composite at 78.05%. The obtained permittivity value exhibited by the composites shows that the pineapple leaf fiber-based dielectric composite could be a potential alternative as an antenna substrate

Islamic leadership and maqasid al-shari'ah: Reinvestigating the dimensions of Islamic leadership inventroy (ILI) via content analysis procedures

The purpose of this research is to investigate separate themes of Islamic Leadership based on analyses conducted on selected literature of conventional and Islamic Leadership.The themes of Islamic Leadership were identified for the purpose of developing a specific inventory to measure Islamic Leadership or the Islamic Leadership Inventory (ILI).In identifying the themes of Islamic Leadership, this research applied qualitative content analysis procedures on four categories of literature.The literature are (1) The Qur’an and Hadiths (2) Managerial Leadership and Servant Leadership literature (3) Contemporary Islamic Leadership literature (4) Classical texts of Islamic Leadership.This research used NVIVO to facilitate information processing.With respect to the underlying theory of research, this research is based on the principles of higher objectives of Shari’ah or the Maqasid al-Shari’ah to justify the importance of the identified Islamic Leadership behaviors from the lenses of Islam. Based on the content analysis, this research found 25 separate themes representing Islamic Leadership Behaviours.The 25 themes are (1) Trustworthiness and Integrity, (2) Employees Orientation, (3) Self-evaluation, (4) Patience, (5) Outcome Orientation, (6) Empowerment, (7) Social Responsibility (8) Flexibility (9) Non Calculative, (10) Spirituality, Religiousness and Piety, (11) Esprit De Corps, (12) Bravery, (13) Justice and Equity, (14) High Self-Reliance and High SelfEsteem, (15) Modesty and Shyness, (16) Impartially, (17) Moderation and Balance, (18) Good in Communication, (19) Free from environmental-constrains, (20) Earnest, (21) Cheerful, (22) Feared when angry, (23) Empowering Intelligent, Wisdom and Encourage Synergy, (24) Role Model, and (25) Avoid Conflict.The themes suggested could be used to measure Islamic Leadership in various perspectives.In general, this paper offers policymakers, organisations, and researchers in various avenues the important dimensions of Islamic Leadership.Specifically, the Islamic Leadership Inventory (ILI) could be utilised to measure the effectiveness of Muslims’ professionals based on the perspectives of Islam and the higher objectives of Shari’ah.In sum, this paper found that Islamic Leadership could be represented in several dimensions and could be adapted in the conventional measures of managerial leadership

Redesign business model of masjid kitchens as soup kitchens, providing jobs employment and nurturing of asnaf as entrepreneurs, and income generation for the masjid

A survey conducted by the Department of Statistics Malaysia in May 2020 has found that: (a) 46.6% of self-employed respondents had reported losing their jobs; (b) an estimated 90% respondents were still working with lower than usual salaries; (c) more than two-thirds (71.4%) of self-employed respondents have sufficient financial savings for less than one month; and (d) the majority of respondents said they are unprepared if the duration of the MCO was extended except for employees under Government Linked Companies and multinational companies. In the “Families on The Edge” UNICEF report dated October 2020, COVID-19 crisis has pushed more low-income (or B40) urban Malaysian families into poverty. The poverty rate in the B40 community is higher than last year, with 50% of the families now living in absolute poverty. 70% of these households reported that COVID-19 had affected their ability to meet their basic living expenses, with 37% reporting that they struggle to purchase enough food for their families while 35% are unable to pay their bills on time. Hence, the main objectives of this paper is to offer a conceptual business model in turning masjid kitchens (or mKitchen) as a potential (a) soup kitchen for the B40 and Asnaf community, (b) job employment and nurturing of the Asnaf as entrepreneurs, and (c) income generation for the masjid via rental of kitchens. This is to turn the Asnaf community ‘Dari Penerima Zakat ke Pembayar Zakat’. The conceptual mKitchen business model can be adapted for possible implementation by masjid or mosques

Effect of AgCl NPs: physical, thermal, absorption and luminescence properties

Silver nanoparticles (AgCl NPs) are embedded in Er3+/Nd3+ co-doped lithium niobate tellurite glasses of the form (68-x)TeO2-15Li2CO3-15Nb2O5-1Er2O3-1Nd2O3-(x)AgCl with x = 1,2 and 3 mol% via conventional melt-quenching technique. The physical properties such as density, ionic packing density, refractive index and electronic polarizability are computed utilizing the usual method. The existence of AgCl NPs with an average size of 3.7 nm is confirmed using TEM analysis. Moreover, the thermal stability and Hruby criterion of the glass decreases as the AgCl NPs content increases. The direct optical band gap are found decrease as the AgCl NPs content increase, but both indirect optical band gap and Urbach energy are found increases as AgCl NPs content increases. The luminescence spectra shows two strong emission which is the purple emission at 436 nm and red emission at 724 nm which also been observed has strong quenching due to the AgCl NPs, Er3+/Nd3+ dopant and modifier, lithium niobate which possessed magnetic penetration. These glass compositions may be potential for various applications such as solid state devices including laser

Self cleanliness of Er3 +/Nd3 + co-do ped lithium niobate tellurite glass containing silver nanoparticles

TEM image revealed the nucleation of Ag NPs with average particle size ≈ 3.5 ± 0.01 nm. The FTIR spectra displayed seven absorption bands which are assigned to different bonding vibrations of the glass network structures. Raman spectra are comprised of five peaks centered around 205.3 cm− 1–213.3 cm− 1, 354.6–356.9 cm− 1, 375.3–380.9 cm− 1, 622.8 cm− 1 and 845.4–849.6 cm− 1. Water contact angle is found to increase with increasing of Ag NPs contents. Our systematic methods of glass preparation, characterization and functionalization with optimum NPs inclusion may be useful for preventing the transparency loss of the proposed glass system (modification of the self-cleaning behaviors)

Er3 +:Nd3 + concentration dependent spectral features of lithium-niobate-tellurite amorphous media

We report the Er3 +/Nd3 + co-dopants concentration dependent on thermal, structural, absorption and emission properties of tellurite glasses of composition (70-x-y)TeO2-15Li2CO3-15Nb2O5-(x)Er2O3-(y)Nd2O3 with x = 0 and 1.0 mol%, and 0 ≤ y ≤ 1.0 mol%. Glasses are synthesized via melt-quenching method and characterized. The XRD pattern confirmed the amorphous nature of thermally stable and transparent glasses. Physical properties such as refractive index, molar volume, density, polarizability and molar refractions are determined. The thermal parameters particularly the thermal stability is from 281 °C to 302 °C and Hruby criterion of around 0.82 to 0.93 revealed a wide glass formation range. The structural properties of the glass represented by the FTIR spectrum indicate that as Nd2O3 content increases, the sharp infrared absorption peaks shifted from 474.7 cm- 1 to 499.4 cm- 1. These peaks are due to Nb-O, Te-O-Te and O-Te-O bond linkage bending vibration. For TeO4 trigonal bipyramid, the peak occurred at 672.5 cm- 1 to 680.4 cm- 1 whereas for TeO3 trigonal pyramid, two infrared band peaks were observed at 784.7-790.2 cm- 1 and 883.5-891.7 cm- 1. The absorption peaks around 1382.7 cm- 1 is due to the Te-O-Nb stretching vibration while peaks at 1633.7-1637.2 cm- 1 and 3390.1-3433.2 cm- 1 are due to the stretching vibrations of the hydroxyl group participating in the strong metal bonding as well as in the hydrogen bonding, respectively. Raman spectra displayed a peak shift of Nb-O bending vibration at 205.3 to 213.3 cm- 1, symmetric stretching and bending vibrations of Te-eq-O-ax-Te at 354.6 to 356.9 cm- 1 and 375.3 to 380.9 cm- 1. For TeO4 trigonal bipyramid, the peak occurred at 622.8 cm- 1 and the TeO3 trigonal pyramid occurred at 845.4 to 849.6 cm- 1. Both direct and indirect optical band gap energies are increased with 2.84 to 3.12 eV and 2.53 to 2.67 eV, respectively. Urbach energy is decreased with the increase of Nd2O3 contents from 0.31 to 0.23 eV. The room temperature up-conversion photoluminescence under 725 nm excitations displayed two prominent bands centred at 616 nm (orange) and 633 nm (red). The manifested strong green band (497 nm) in the down-converted luminescence spectra is attributed to the energy transfer from erbium to neodymium ion. The highest luminescence intensity is achieved for x = y = 1.0 mol%. The influence of co-dopants on the emission properties is analysed using rare earth ions' partial energy level diagram. The excellent luminescence properties of these glasses suggest their suitability for solid state lasers and other photonic applications