Establishing a valid instrument to measure entrepreneurial knowledge and skill

The purpose of this study is to establish a valid measure for entrepreneurial knowledge and skill from the perspectives of low-income households in Malaysia by means of reviewing the depths and progress of relevant entrepreneurial literature. In such effort, the subsequent research examines entrepreneurial skills, market orientation, sales orientation, and networking as components that will act as a set of instruments to measure “entrepreneurial knowledge and skill.” Quantitative dates were collected from a total of 800 randomly selected household heads across four districts in Kelantan, Malaysia through structured interviews. On the basis of the reliability and validity testing, this study finalized the instruments to 26 items yielding four factors, namely, entrepreneurial skills (six items), market orientation (eight items), sales orientation (nine items), and networking (three items). Findings of the reflective hierarchical model revealed that networking is the highest contributor toward entrepreneurial knowledge and skill among the low-income households in Kelantan, followed by market orientation, entrepreneurial skills, and sales orientation. It is recommended that future researchers apply and thereby extend the developed measure by cross-examining the instruments presented in this study across different income-level groups underdeveloped and developed nations

Entrepreneurial leadership, performance, and sustainability of micro-enterprises in Malaysia

This study probed into the impact of entrepreneurial leadership dimensions (i.e., responsibility, accountability, analytical thinking, and emotional intelligence) on the performance and sustainability of micro-enterprises in Kelantan, Malaysia, through the lens of resource-based view (RBV) theory. Through the implementation of a cross-sectional design, data were randomly gathered from 403 micro-entrepreneurs whose names appeared in the list of low-income households registered under “Majlis Amanah Rakyat” Kelantan and “Majlis Agama Islam Dan Adat Istiadat” Kelantan. The quantitative data were collected during structured interview sessions held between September and December 2017. The findings of the study revealed that the aspects of responsibility, accountability, and emotional intelligence exhibited significantly positive effects on micro-enterprise performance; while accountability, analytical thinking, and micro-enterprise performance displayed a significantly positive influence on sustainability among micro-enterprises owned by low-income households in Kelantan, Malaysia. The outcomes further portrayed a significant mediating effect of micro-enterprise performance on the correlations of responsibility, analytical thinking, and emotional intelligence with micro-enterprise sustainability. The outcomes of this study extend the scope of RBV theory and simultaneously enhance our understanding pertaining to leadership, performance, and sustainability interplay, particularly within the context of micro-enterprises in emerging economies. As such, it is recommended that the government of Malaysia formulate and to adopt policies that promote varied entrepreneurial-leadership-related traits among budding micro-entrepreneurs, which may not only boost sustainability performance among firms, but also encourage low-income household heads to actively engage in more entrepreneurial activities

Validating the instrument to measure entrepreneurial traits

The objective of this study is to develop a distilled measure for entrepreneurial traits particularly in the context of low-income households in Malaysia. In this attempt, the following study examined the need for achievement, locus of control, tolerance of ambiguity, visionary, persistence, and resilience as components to develop an instrument to measure entrepreneurial traits among low-income households in Kelantan, Malaysia. The study adopted a cross-sectional design and collected quantitative data through structured interviews from 800 low-income households across four districts in Kelantan, Malaysia. Based on the reliability and validity tests, this study finalized the instrument reducing a 58 items scale to 20 items yielding four factors, i.e., need for achievement (five items), tolerance of ambiguity (five items), visionary (four items), and persistence (six items). Findings of the reflective hierarchical model revealed that persistence is the highest contributor towards entrepreneurial traits among the low income households in Kelantan, followed by tolerance of ambiguity, need for achievement, and visionary. It is recommended that future researchers further extend the developed measure by cross-examining the instrument forwarded by this study across different income-level groups living throughout diverse economies

Catalytic Neutralization of Naphthenic Acid from Petroleum Crude Oil by Using Cerium Oxide Catalyst and 2- Methylimidazole in Polyethylene Glycol

The presence of relatively high naphthenic acid in crude oil may contribute to the major corrosion in oil pipelines and distillation units in crude oil refineries. Thus, high concentration naphthenic acid crude oil is considered to be of low quality and is marketed at lower prices. In order to overcome this problem, the neutralization method had been developed to reduce the TAN value in crude oil. In this study, crude oil from Petronas Penapisan Melaka was investigated. Methods: The parameters studied were reagent concentration, catalyst loading, calcination temperature, and reusability of the potential catalyst. The basic chemical used was 2- methylimidazole in polyethylene glycol (PEG 600) with concentration 100, 500 and 1000 ppm. Cerium oxide-based catalysts were supported onto alumina prepared with different calcination temperatures. Results: The catalyst was characterized by using Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Thermogravimetry Analysis-Differential Thermal Gravity (TGA-DTG) to study the physical properties of the catalyst. The Ce/Al2O3 catalyst calcined at 1000°C was the best catalyst due to larger surface area formation which lead to an increment of active sites thus will boost catalytic activity. The result showed that the Ce/Al2O3 catalyst meets the Petronas requirement as the TAN value reduced to 0.6 mgKOH/g from the original TAN value of 4.22 mgKOH/g. Conclusion: The best reduction of TAN was achieved by using catalyst loading of 0.39% and reagent of 1000 ppm

Heavy metals concentration in “etak” tissue at different processing stages

Corbicula fluminea, known as “etak” in Kelantan, Malaysia is a freshwater bivalve. This clam is widely consumed as traditional snack by the locals. However, lately there are numerous reports in local newspapers that claim “etak” to cause health effects due to eating contaminated “etak”. Hence, this study aims to determine the heavy metals concentration in fresh, smoked and exposed “etak” sold at the stall as a baseline study in order to develop a method for removing the heavy metals content in its tissues. This study involves sample collection in the stalls around Kelantan, sample preparations via acid digestion and heavy metal determination using Perkin Elmer PinAAcle 900F Atomic Absorption Spectrometer. The results showed the heavy metals (Cr, Zn, Mn and Cu) concentrations (μg/g) in all “etak” tissue were at different level for fresh (Cr: 1.02±0.35ppm, Zn: 74.57±2.76ppm, Mn: 40.22±9.96ppm and Cu: 15.27±1.41ppm), smoked (Cr: 0.42±0.02ppm, Zn: 54.62±17.83ppm, Mn: 50.13±2.31ppm and Cu: 20.94±8.81ppm) and exposed (Cr: 0.53±0.08ppm, Zn: 63.07±8.44ppm, Mn: 50.41±6.92ppm and Cu: 12.80±0.40ppm) samples. The results obtained were compared with the permissible limits set by Malaysian Food Regulations 1985 (Cu: 30.0ppm and Zn: 100.0ppm), FAO/WHO 1984 (Mn: 5.4ppm) and IAEA – 407 (Cr: 0.75ppm). For fresh “etak”, Zn and Cu concentration were below the standards, while Mn and Cr were exceeded the permissible limits. For smoked “etak” and exposed “etak” at stall, all heavy metals concentration were within the permissible limits, except Mn contents. This study successfully determine the baseline concentration of the heavy metals in “etak”

Heavy metals concentration in “etak” tissue at different processing stages

Corbicula fluminea, known as “etak” in Kelantan, Malaysia is a freshwater bivalve. This clam is widely consumed as traditional snack by the locals. However, lately there are numerous reports in local newspapers that claim “etak” to cause health effects due to eating contaminated “etak”. Hence, this study aims to determine the heavy metals concentration in fresh, smoked and exposed “etak” sold at the stall as a baseline study in order to develop a method for removing the heavy metals content in its tissues. This study involves sample collection in the stalls around Kelantan, sample preparations via acid digestion and heavy metal determination using Perkin Elmer PinAAcle 900F Atomic Absorption Spectrometer. The results showed the heavy metals (Cr, Zn, Mn and Cu) concentrations (μg/g) in all “etak” tissue were at different level for fresh (Cr: 1.02±0.35ppm, Zn: 74.57±2.76ppm, Mn: 40.22±9.96ppm and Cu: 15.27±1.41ppm), smoked (Cr: 0.42±0.02ppm, Zn: 54.62±17.83ppm, Mn: 50.13±2.31ppm and Cu: 20.94±8.81ppm) and exposed (Cr: 0.53±0.08ppm, Zn: 63.07±8.44ppm, Mn: 50.41±6.92ppm and Cu: 12.80±0.40ppm) samples. The results obtained were compared with the permissible limits set by Malaysian Food Regulations 1985 (Cu: 30.0ppm and Zn: 100.0ppm), FAO/WHO 1984 (Mn: 5.4ppm) and IAEA – 407 (Cr: 0.75ppm). For fresh “etak”, Zn and Cu concentration were below the standards, while Mn and Cr were exceeded the permissible limits. For smoked “etak” and exposed “etak” at stall, all heavy metals concentration were within the permissible limits, except Mn contents. This study successfully determine the baseline concentration of the heavy metals in “etak”

Simultaneous removal of lead, cadmium, and arsenic Ions from bivalve species using adsorption method

Bivalve such as blood cockle (Tegillarca granosa) feeds by filtering the suspended particle in water including heavy metals and eventually accumulate in the fleshes. Bivalve contaminated with heavy metals might be consumed by human which later could have been exposed to heavy metals toxicity. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of adsorption process towards the removal of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and arsenic (As) ions from T. granosa. The findings found that the initial concentration of Pb and As in T. granosa exceeded the permissible limits set by WHO. To remove heavy metals from T. granosa, an adsorption procedure was carried out using lemon and mango peels as natural waste adsorbents. The presence of hydroxyl and carboxylic functional groups in mango and lemon peels was shown in FTIR spectra, which aided in the enhancement of the adsorption process. A series of tests were performed using various parameters such as dosage adsorbents, contact of time, and temperature of reaction. The highest removal percentages of Pb, Cd, and As in T. granosa using lemon peels were 59.65%, 88.89%, and 67.54% respectively. Meanwhile, the maximum removal from T. granosa using mango peels were 70.18% for Pb, 100% for Cd, and 84.71% for As. In conclusion, the adsorption process was effective in removing Pb, Cd, and As in T. granosa. Whereas both lemon peels and mango peels have ability to become effective naturals waste adsorbent in the adsorption process

Removal of as and cd ions from aqueous solution using biosorption technique

Arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd) are listed as heavy metals that have contaminated the environment, especially water supplies. Therefore, the goal of this study was to remove heavy metals, particularly As and Cd metal ions, from aqueous solutions by utilizing natural waste adsorbents and at the same time, help in the reduction of waste products. This study was designed to use low-cost and more widely available adsorbents material such as coconut husk and banana peel to remove As and Cd ions in an aqueous solution. The adsorption method was utilized to reduce and remove the As and Cd ions, and their concentrations in an aqueous solution were then determined by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). Various parameters such as types of adsorbents (banana peel and coconut husk), adsorbent dosages (0.1-0.3g), contact time (30-70 minutes), and temperature (25-45°C) were used to carry out the removal process. The FTIR analysis revealed that certain heavy metals were more likely to bind to these adsorbents due to the presence of important functional groups such as hydroxyl (-OH) and carbonyl (C=O). From this study, the optimum removal conditions were 0.1 g dose of adsorbent along with 70 minutes of contact time at a reaction temperature of 25°C. The results revealed that banana peel removed 0.948 mg/L of Cd ions and 0.148 mg/L of As ions from the aqueous solution, suggesting that it was more efficient at removing heavy metals than coconut husk. Meanwhile, Cd ions have a higher affinity (93.9% to 99.9% removal) than As ions (8.3% to 22.2% removal) to adsorb onto the active sites of banana peel and be removed from an aqueous solution. In conclusion, the adsorption technique using natural waste adsorbents can be applied to remove the As and Cd ions from the aqueous solutions. The reduction of these heavy metals' concentration by adsorbents can also help to preserve the quality of water sources under the permissible limit set by WHO

PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ALKYL-THIOLS MONOLAYER ON GLASS SUBSTRATES BY MICROCONTACT PRINTING

ABSTRACT Surface modification is a fascinating method to tailor the surface of material properties such as hydrophilicity, roughness, surface charge and many more. The modification is not only limited to solid materials, but could be possibly extended to particular liquid surfaces. In this paper, surface modification of glass slides with self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of (3-Mercaptopropyl) trimethoxysilane (MPTMS) was conducted by using a simple method of microcontact printing. Characterizations of the self-assembled monolayer were realized by 3 techniques; (1) Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to determine the height of self-assembled monolayer and obtain the topography image, (2) X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) to further confirm the thiol groups were grafted on the surface and (3) Confocal Fluorescence Microscopy (CFM) to visualize the reaction between thiol terminal groups and fluorescent probe. From the experiment conducted, the result showed that the MPTMS was successfully stamped on glass substrates. AFM scanning images displayed the 0.8±0.2nm height of MPTMS, which matching the size of the MPTS molecules (0.7±0.05nm). XPS spectra indicated the appearance of the doublet structure in the S2p region (S2p3/2 and S2p1/2 levels of the S energy levels) with two peaks in binding energy of 162.8 and 163.8eV respectively. CFM imaging indicated the fluorescent patterns on glass substrates

Preparation and characterization of calcium hydroxyphosphate (hydroxyapatite) from tilapia fish bones and scales via calcination method

Calcium hydroxyphosphate (hydroxyapatite) is a calcium phosphate that is widely used in biomedical application. Hydroxyapatite is an excellent component for bone substitutes for their chemical and structural similarity to natural bone component. In this research, hydroxyapatite was synthesized from tilapia fish bones and scales using calcination method with 3 different temperatures namely 1000 °C, 900 °C and 800 °C. The obtained hydroxyapatite powder was characterized using several techniques such as Fourier-Transform infrared spectroscopy Attenuated total reflection (FTIR-ATR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), proximate analysis and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results indicated that temperature 1000 °C has the highest weight loss with 21.825 g compared to the temperature 800 °C and 900 °C. From FTIR-ATR analysis, the presence of characteristic peaks for hydroxyl group, phosphate groups and water molecule indicated that the powder were hydroxyapatite. SEM results showed that increasing temperature had led to more dense structure. The hydroxyapatite powder were further analysed for their proximate analysis. The results proved that the highest contents of ash, fat, moisture and crude protein were observed at 1000 °C as compared to 900 °C and 800 °C. Based on this study, it revealed that produced pure hydroxyapatite from natural resources could be a potential candidate for food industry as protein enhancer