2.45 GHz patch antenna based on thermoplastic polymer substrates

In this paper, the development of patch antenna based on recycle and natural material as substrate is presented. The patch antenna has been designed, simulated, fabricated and tested successfully. Two types of antenna material were chosen as the antenna substrates. They were Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), a compounded synthetic resin produced from the polymerization of methyl methacrylate and Polylactic acid (PLA) which is extracted from fully renewable resources such as corn, sugar beet or rice. The PMMA and PLA both have dielectric constant of 2.546 and 2.6 respectively. The PMMA and PLA substrates were prepared using hot press machine at the same thickness of 1.6 mm. The patch antenna based on PMMA and PLA substrate were designed at operating frequency of 2.45GHz. It was observed that, both substrates PMMA and PLA have simulated return loss of 16.36 dB and 19.65 dB respectively. Then, the measured return loss were observed at 18.98 dB and 16.15 dB for PMMA and PLA respectively. The radiation pattern was observed to have similar trend for both substrates. In order to verify the performance of the newly develop substrate as patch antenna, FR4 was selected, designed and tested as patch antenna at the same operating frequency. In comparison to FR4, both materials PMMA and PLA, can be an option substrate material for RF and microwave application

A comparative study on law regulating cybersquatting in the United States of America and Malaysia / Muhammad Farid Omar … [et al.]

Cybersquatting was already an alarming issue throughout the whole world in these millennia. However through our observations in general, we see and discover that some regional minds especially for our scope, which is the proud and loving country of Malaysia have no significance stress on this issue as the heat of this offence either in the eye of the public as well as the Malaysian law itself, shows no inducement of seriousness in the aftermath of such offence. It may be fair to say that maybe the urge for development in this issue had not reach its peak in climax for an evolution and imposition for a much more perfected operation of law instead of only a functional one, but do we really need to actually wait for this issue to reach an alarming height where only then that we should take this offence seriously?. Due to this, we had decided to compare the United States of America's development of law against cybersquatting and make it our guideline of prevention in contrast with our country. Thus in this research, we had humbly highlighted the history of development of both the offence of cybersquatting as well as the stages in development of the Act that had emerged in governing them in both USA and Malaysia. With the degree of comparison with Malaysia, we had thus concluded that the same implementation that the USA had done in their cybersquatting Act should be done to Malaysian Act to improve its certain shortcomings

Hydroxyproline determination for initial detection of halal-critical food ingredients (gelatin and collagen)

Gelatin and collagen are considered halal-critical ingredients as they are typically derived from either bovine or porcine animals. Current analytical methods for determining the sources of gelatin and collagen suffer from limitations in terms of robustness and false positives in peptide matching. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the utility of monitoring hydroxyproline, a signature amino acid for gelatin and collagen, for identifying potentially haram foodstuffs. To determine the hydroxyproline profiles among animal- and plant-based samples, one-way univariate analysis of variance followed by pair-wise comparison was used to establish statistical significance. Multivariate chemometric analysis through principal component analysis revealed a discrete distribution pattern among 59 samples due to hydroxyproline variability. Finally, inter- and intra-laboratory comparisons demonstrated the validity and robustness of hydroxyproline determination according to ISO 17025. Thus, this preliminary identification technique will aid the identification of potentially haram foodstuffs

Scienceploration 2023

The Scienceploration Camp is an initiative of the Centre for Pre-University Studies, UNIMAS (PPPU), which aims to increase the interest in science among secondary school students. It is also an effort taken by PPPU towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 4 in providing equal quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. On top of that, this camp supports Sarawak’s Digital Economy Strategy in nurturing an integrated ecosystem to foster inclusive digital society, by building the right foundations to grow our local digital economy

Effects of palm wax on the physical, mechanical and water barrier properties of fish gelatin films for food packaging application

Fish gelatin films added with different palm wax (PW) concentrations (0–60%) were analysed for the physical, mechanical, microstructural and water resistance properties. The results showed that the gelatin/palm wax (GP) films with higher PW concentration were thicker, opaquer, less stiff and more flexible than the control films. The tensile strength of the GP film significantly (p < 0.05) increased with the incorporation of 15 % PW but decreased when higher concentration of PW was added. The incorporation of PW with increasing concentrations significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the films’ solubility and swelling. Similarly, the 15 % GP films also had a significantly (p < 0.05) lower water vapour permeability and higher contact angle than control film. The GP films added with 15 % PW showed the best improvement on its UV barrier, mechanical and water resistance properties if compared to control. In conclusion, the incorporation of PW resulted to enhance physical and water barrier properties of fish gelatin films

Glucose Tolerance of Clostridium acetobutylicum Fermentation in the Anaerobic System

Solvent-producing Clostridium acetobutylicum was purified and used in an acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation process. The objective of this study is to design a fermentation medium for the synthesis of butanol and determine the ideal glucose concentration for appropriate microbe ingestion. The fermentation medium was incubated at 37 °C for up to 90 h before inoculation while being sparged with nitrogen gas under anaerobic conditions. Based on the optical density of fermentation media, the growth rate was also monitored. At 60 g/L of glucose, which was the optimum condition for fermentation, the process followed a log phase pattern until the death phase, with the largest growth taking place between 10 h and 50 h after incubation. The C. acetobutylicum steadily consumed the glucose content, reaching its maximal consumption with only around 12 g/L remaining. In contrast to acetone and ethanol, which produced the highest concentrations at 6.4 g/L and 5.2 g/L, respectively, butanol productions were seen appropriately, with the greatest concentration yielding 11.2 g/L of butanol. This shows that C. acetobutylicum expressed its active metabolism for up to 60 g/L and further increase of glucose content will deteriorate the performance of butanol production

Abstracts of the International Halal Science Conference 2023

This book presents the extended abstracts of the selected contributions to the International Halal Science Conference, held on 22-23 August 2023 by the International Institute for Halal Research and Training (INHART), IIUM, Malaysia in collaboration with Halalan Thayyiban Research Centre, University Islam Sultan Sharif (UNISSA), Brunei Darussalam. With the increasing global interest in halal products and services, this conference is timely. Conference Title:  International Halal Science ConferenceConference Acronym: IHASC23Conference Theme: Halal Industry Sustainability Through ScienceConference Date: 22-23 August 2023Conference Venue: International Islamic University (IIUM), MalaysiaConference Organizer: International Institute for Halal Research and Training (INHART), International Islamic University (IIUM), Malaysi