Investing in toll highway: private or public financing with scenario-based solution

Whilst governments worldwide juggle competing priorities within the context of limited budgets, Malaysia has acted to seek more effective ways of building highways. In Malaysia, private involvement is allowed for the construction of highways in order to stimulate economic activity that is rarely matched elsewhere. This private finance involvement is able to reduce the public sector workforce and increase employment opportunities. However, most of the private or public/private toll highway project partnerships in the 80s and 90s have yet to yield any hard evidence of being successfully profitable, since few of the typically 30- to 50-year concession agreements have yet to mature. This paper provides a financing appraisal and scenario-based solution to aid private or public decision-making to finance highway projects

Assessment of Impact on Landscape Development to Ecological Service Values and Goods Using Integrated Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques

Amongst the impacts of converting forest to agricultural activities is the degradation of ecology service values and goods (ESVG). Impacts on ESVG can be devastating in environmental, biological, and socio-economics manners. This paper highlights the study undertaken on the impacts of agricultural development in 0.8x106 ha of forest dominated landscape in Pasoh Forest Region (PFR), Malaysia, within period of 8 years from 1995 to 2003. Three folds of impacts on agricultural development examined and analysed are: (i) relationship of total soil loss and changes in land use pattern, (ii) mapping trends of ESVG for PFR in 1995 and 2003, and (iii) risk assessment of ESVG based on simulation of converting 339x103ha of primary forest into mass-scale oil palm plantation. Results of this study indicated that although only minor changes of about 1464ha (~0.2% of PFR) of primary forest was converted to agricultural activities, it have significantly increased the total soil loss from 59x106 to 69x106 t/ha/yr. The mean rate of soil loss within PFR is 0.8x106 t/yr, and if translated into ESVG term, costing US$4.8x106/yr. However, majority of the soil loss within all land use classes are within range of very low - low risk categories (<10 t/ha/yr). Estimated cost of ESVG for PFR was US$179x106 in 1995, declined to US$114x106 in 2003 due to 0.2$963x106 and US$575x106, respectively. This difference, however, is only marginal when full 17 attributes of ESVG were considered

Book review: jilbab pakaian wanita muslimah: pandangan ulama masa lalu & cendikiawan kontemporer

This is the review of the book Jilbab Pakaian Wanita Muslimah: Pandangan Ulama Masa Lalu & Cendikiawan Kontempore

Israiliyyat dalam kitab tafsir Melayu "Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan": satu analisis

Islam merupakan agama yang syumul merangkumi seluruh aspek kehidupan manusia. Sejajar dengan itu, al-Quran diturunkan sebagai kitabullah yang mempunyai panduan dan hidayah kepada seluruh umat manusia lengkap dengan segala isi kandungannya sama ada dari segi akidah, ibadah, perundangan, akhlak, sejarah dan sebagainya. Al-Quran dinukilkan secara mutawatir dan merupakan kitab yang sentiasa dipelihara isi kandungannya oleh Allah s.w.t daripada diseleweng oleb musuh Allah s. w.t. Namun begitu tidak dinafikan bahawa terdapat sesetengah para pentafsir dahulu atau masa kini memasukkan beberapa unsur-unsur Israiliyyat dalam pentafsiran mereka. Unsur-unsur ini banyak dikesan terutamanya dalam menggambarkan perihal cerita-cerita para nabi dan rasul. Faktor ini adalah antara penyebab berlakunya kelemahan dalam tafsir mathur. Justeru, penulisan ini akan cuba menganalisis kitab tafsir Melayu tafsir Nur al-Ihsan yang merupakan kitab tafsir Melayu pertama ditafsirkan secara lengkap tiga puluh juzuk. Di samping itu kitab tersebut juga merupakan antara kitab-kitab tafsir berbahasa Melayu yang dipelajari di surau-surau serta masjid-masjid di Malaysia, dan selayaknya kitab ini diberi perhatian dan penumpuan bagi menilai sama ada ianya juga dipengaruhi oleh kisah-kisah Israiliyyat ataupun tidak. Semoga mayarakat yang cintakan al-Quran mampu mendalami tafsiran-tafsirannya tanpa terpengaruh dengan kisah-kisah Israiliyyat yang batil yang tidak berdasarkan kepada sanad yang sahih

Modeling of acetosolv pulping of oil palm fronds using response surface methodology and wavelet neural networks

Mathematical models based on response surface methodology (RSM) and wavelet neural networks (WNNs) in conjunction with a central composite design were developed in order to study the influence of pulping variables viz. acetic acid, temperature, time, and hydrochloric acid (catalyst) on the resulting pulp and paper properties (screened yield, kappa number, tensile and tear indices) during the acetosolv pulping of oil palm fronds. The performance analysis demonstrated the superiority of WNNs over RSM, in that the former reproduced the experimental results with percentage errors and mean squared errors between 3 and 8% and 0.0054–0.4514 respectively, which were much lower than those obtained by the RSM models with corresponding values of 12–40% and 0.0809–9.3044, further corroborating the goodness of fit of the WNNs models for simulating the acetosolv pulping of oil palm fronds. Based on this assessment, it validates the exceptional predictive ability of the WNNs in comparison to the RSM polynomial model

Kesan Faktor-Faktor Pemulpaan Kraft Ke Atas Sifat-Sifat Pulpa Dan Kertas Acacia Mangium Berp Andukan Kaedah Respon Permukaan

Kesan faktor-faktor pemulpaan kraft ke atas sifat-sifat pulpa dan kertas daripada Acacia mangium telah dikaji dengan menggunakan kaedah respon pennukaan berasaskan rekabentuk komposit berpusat. Alkali aktif (AA), sulfiditi (S), suhu pemulpaan (T) dan masa pemulpaan (t) m~rupakan faktor-faktor pemulpaan yang dikaji, dengan julat masing-masing di antara 15.5 - 20.5%, 20.0 - 30.0%, 165 - 175°C dan 105 - 135 minit. Keputusan sifat-sifat pulpa yang terdiri daripada hasil keseluruhan, hasil penskrinan dan nombor Kappa masing-masing didapati berada dalam julat 41.83 - 51.76%, 36.09 - 44.72% dan 11.3 - 47.6. Manakala sifat-sifat kertasnya seperti indeks tensil, indeks pecahan dan indeks koyakan pula, masing-masing berjulat 27.48 - 49.09 N.m/g, 3.50 - 5.10 kPa.m2/g dan 0.92 - 1.92 mN.m2/g. Response surface methodology based on the central composite design was applied to determine the effect of kraft pulping factors on the properties of pulp and paper made from Acacia mangium. The independent variables investigated, with their respective range, were active alkali (AA), 15.5 - 20.5%, sulfidity (S), 20 - 30%, pulping temperature (T), 165 - 175°C and pulping time (t), 105 - 135 minutes. The results obtained for pulp properties as determined by total yield, screened yield and Kappa number were 41.83 - 51.76%, 36.09 - 44.72% and 11.3 - 47.6 respectively, whilst the paper properties as evaluated by tensile, burst and tear indices were 27.48 - 49.09 N.m/g, 3.5 - 5.1 kPa.m2/g and 0.92 - 1.92 mN.m2/g respectively

COSMOGENICAL NOTIONS IN THE QUR’AN: THE METAPHYSICAL ORIGIN OF THE PHYSICAL COSMOS

Upon distinguishing cosmogony – the ultimate origin of the cosmos – from cosmogony – the early state of the cosmos, the paper presents a Qur’anic account of cosmogeny based on three relevant verses. The articulated Qur’anic cosmogeny of the paper affirms the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo and reveals the metaphysical origin of the cosmos. A number of cosmogenical principles are also presented in the article, which further demonstrate and reaffirm the theocentric nature of Qur’anic as well as Islamic cosmologies. The denouncement of absolute nothingness as per the newly-formulated cosmogeny and its principles presented in the paper certainly indicates the fundamental difference between the natures of the reality and the Ultimate Reality in Islam

MORAL IDEAL-BASED QUR`AN INTERPRETATION ACCORDING TO SHĀṬIBĪ’S CONCEPT OF MAQĀṢID AL-SHARĪ’AH

The interpretation of the Qur`an has been frequently subjected to exploring legal aspects of verses, regardless of their underlying ethical bases. The goals of Islamic doctrines called as maqāṣid al-sharī'ah provide ethical judgements that can be functioned for this sake. Unfortunately, they have been applied just for legal formulation. This article employs Fazlur Rahman’s theory of distinction between legal-specific and moral-ideal of Qur`anic doctrines. This perspective will be used to analyze moral dimensions of Shāṭibī’s maqāṣid. In this article, it will be argued that the moral principles extracted from these goals can be functioned as the paradigm for interpreting the Qur`an. There are two models of moral value-based interpretation that can be developed. The first is ethical-historical interpretation. This interpretation aims to understand the verses of the Qur'an in the light of a historical context as the starting point, not only based on background or reason behind the verse that respond the historical situation, but also based on the moral message extracted from these ends. The second is the ethic-contextual interpretation. It is an interpretation that is projected to respond current issues by applying three interacting sides; present situations, the literary context, and the ideal-moral paradigm drawn from these ends

APPLICATION OF THE RULES OF COMMANDMENTS AND PROHIBITIONS IN TAFSIR AL-MISHBAH

Shihab, in full M. Quraish Shihab (b. 1944) is a prominent exegete who became one of the leading intellectual figures of 20th-century Indonesia. As a scholar, Shihab is best remembered for his 30-chapter exegesis entitled Tafsir Al-Mishbah. In the Commentary, Shihab had applied several rules that had driven him towards exegeting the verses. This kind of rule is also adopted by the other exegetes to ensure their exegeses are in line with the Islamic law. Therefore, this paper seeks to analyze the rules of interpretation applied by Shihab which focuses on the discussions of commandments (al-amr) and prohibitions (al-nahy). To get a proper understanding and to ensure the rules that Shihab had employed can be analysed perfectly, We adopted the document analysis method by making language scriptures and venerated exegeses as the main sources of references. The study found that Shihab had applied six rules related to al-amr and al-nahy in his Tafsir Al-Mishbah, and the rules have been affirmed by grand exegetes

iRadio OUM - The Development of Educational Internet Radio to Enhance Open and Distance Learning

iRadio OUM is Open University Malaysia's (OUM) official internet station, with segments based on courses offered by OUM as well as general infotainment segments broadcasted only via the World Wide Web. Established to enhance and add value to the open and distance learning experience of OUM learners, iRadio OUM combines education and entertainment into a balanced and interactive package. The segments aired over iRadio OUM is also made available for downloads in the form of podcasts that learners can listen to at any time, at any place. Bridging the concept of blended learning methods with a practical approach, iRadio OUM is OUM's testimony of our continuous improvement efforts. This paper focuses on iRadio OUM's progress through the years in the world of open and distance learning by making full use of current innovation in educational internet radio to deliver meaningful learning materials and engaging learners in the continuous process of learning. (Authors' abstact