Finger Vein Recognition Algorithm Using Phase Only Correlation.

In this paper, we propose an algorithm for finger vein recognition with less complexity in the image preprocessing phase, where finger vein pattern extraction is not included at all

Business model shifts: masjid kitchens as soup kitchens, jobs employment and empowering asnaf entrepreneurs, and income generation for the masjid

The UNICEF report titled “Families on The Edge” dated October 2020, stated that COVID-19 crisis has pushed more low-income or poor B40 urban Malaysian families into poverty. The poverty rate of these B40 urban families in 2020 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. 37% reporting that they struggle to purchase enough food for their families, while 35% are unable to pay their bills on time. This paper adapted the Design Thinking (DT) methodology. This is to understand and define the key B40 urban families problems; ideation of possible solution options, validation of solution options by various customer segments; and to suggest a conceptual business model as possible solution. This includes conducting literature review and benchmarking, and conducting interviews. An initial business model using Business Model Canvas (BMC) framework was formulated; tested and validated by various customer segments. Hence, the main contribution of this paper is to offer a validated conceptual business model in transforming current masjid kitchen (or mKitchen) as a potential in (a) providing soup kitchen for the poor B40 and Asnaf community, (b) providing job employment while reskilling, empowering, and nurturing the Asnaf as food entrepreneurs, and (c) generating income for the masjid via rental of existing kitchen facilities. This is to turn the Asnaf community ‘Dari Penerima Zakat ke Pembayar Zakat’ or from Zakat receivers to Zakat contributors. The conceptual mKitchen business model can be adopted or adapted for possible implementation, in general, by masjid or mosques

A Journey of Ta’awun (Cooperative Behaviour) in Edu-Action at IIUM Mkitchen® and Masjid al-Syakirin Gombak (MASG)

This book narrates the journey of ta’awun (cooperative behaviour) at IIUM Mkitchen® project with Masjid Al-Syakirin Gombak (MASG). The main objective of the project is transform the mosque as a platform to provide free food, to up skill in foodpreneurship, to create new employment opportunities, to give empowerment and to nurture entrepreneurship (3Es) for poor and needy people in the surrounding area of it. Ta’awun refers to cooperative behaviour among the participants, the sponsors, and the beneficiaries in initiating, planning, sponsoring, executing and evaluating the Mkitchen® project at Masjid Al-Syakirin Gombak (MASG). The journey officially started on 24th January 2021 through its first meeting among the interested as well as committed members. After executing two events, the project was continued with a full scale project for a month. The project has secured its proof of concept (POC). Nevertheless, the project has been continued with a small scale due to the movement restriction by the authority to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

Inaugural edu-action journey with cooperative behavior (Ta’awun) of mKitchen® students in free food for the needy

This book narrates the inaugural edu-action journey with cooperative behaviour (ta’awun) in free food for the needy people at IIUM mKitchen® with Sri Mutiara Teguh Enterprise (cafeteria vendor at Mahallah Aminah IIUM Gombak). The main objective of the project is to transform Mahallah kitchen as a platform to provide free food, to up skill in food-preneurship, to create new employment opportunities, to give empowerment and to nurture entrepreneurship (3Es) among students. Ta’awun refers to cooperative behaviour among the participants, the sponsors, and the beneficiaries in initiating, planning, sponsoring, executing and evaluating the mKitchen® project at Sri Mutiara Teguh Enterprise, Mahallah Aminah. The journey officially started on 1 July 2021 with various student development entities at IIUM. After providing a 4-day online training on business model and plan, financial modelling, and digital marketing, the steering committee has decided to provide the real experience to the students. In conjunction with Malaysia Day on 16 September 2021, the students proposed for cooking and distributing free food to the needy as part of the first proof-of-concept for mKitchen students with the “Keluarga Malaysia” spirit. Nevertheless, the project has to adhere to movement restriction by the authority to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The second proof-of-concept is cooking food based on mKitchen students’ business plan

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

Budiman Mahallah kitchen

This book narrates budiman journey in Mahallah Kitchen. Budiman Mahallah Kitchen who are searching for adab (virtue), budi (kindness) and sejahtera (peace). By doing so, budiman and budiwati will have the capacity of bijak berbudi (wisdom in kindness), berani (brave) and bijaksana (full with wisdom). Budiman and budiwati with these attributes will manifest budi bahasa (rasa), budi pekerti (rupa), and budi bicara (roh). Thus, budiman and budiwati will have sejahtera niat (peaceful intentions), sejahtera keputusan (peaceful decisions), and sejahtera tindakan (peaceful actions). Budiman and budiwati will be continuously making contribution of sejahtera to self and others. The foundation of adab (virtue) is based on formula A-D-A-B. A is amanah (trustworthy), dakar (staunch), akhlak (ethics), and bestari (intelligent)

Brain behavior analysis of mental stress before and after listening to Quranic recitation based on EEG signals

Stress is a chronic problem of the modern world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), stress is one of the most serious health problem of recent decades and is considered the main threat to individuals, occurring when they lose the balance between the difficulties of daily life and their ability to manage them. It has been shown by numerous studies that Quranic recitation is effective in calming the mind by generating Alpha activities on the human brain that indicate a state of relaxation and calmness. However, Quranic recitation and its effect on mental stress itself is still not fully investigated and understood. This research is therefore being conducted to explore the brain behavior of stressed individuals after listening to Quranic recitation. As a preliminary study, the biosignal of three participants(subjects) was collected using electroencephalogram (EEG), and following by our experimental procedures which involved:1) filling out the DASS- 21(depression anxiety and stress scales),and 2) based on the DASS- 21 scores, EEG data is collected from the subjects before and after listening to the Quranic recitation, and if the subject is stressed, or if the subject is not stressed, only EEG data in the normal state was collected. Topographical maps of the five power bands of EEG for each subject were then created and visualized using Python, and a comparison of these maps was drawn to derive the research results. The result showed that after listening to Quranic recitations, the high Beta power than Alpha that was induced by stress was reduced to be high Alpha power than Beta power, and this indicates the normal state of the subject's brain activities without stress

EEG features for driver’s mental fatigue detection: a preliminary work

Mental fatigue is one of the most typical human infirmities, resulting from an overload of work and lack of sleep which can reduce one’s intellectual resources. Different EEG features have been studied for detecting mental fatigue. This paper characterizes mental fatigue through the understanding of human EEG features for safe driving behaviour and to create an overview of the potential EEG features which are related to mental fatigue. A narrative review approach is employed for describing the neural activity of the human brain in mental fatigue. Specific EEG features in relation to driving tasks, relation to different EEG band waves, pre-processing and feature extraction methods are discussed. From this preliminary work, the increase of parietal alpha power seems to characterize the driver’s mental fatigue in most of the studies. We searched public EEG repositories for identifying potential data sources for our initial study. Finally, we propose a conceptual model that has potentials for identifying mental weariness. In conclusion, future works may involve the identification of other EEG features of higher importance for generalization across study conditions

Automated QT interval measurement using modified Pan-Tompkins algorithm with independent isoelectric line approach

The QT interval on the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal is known to have an important role in monitoring heart’s electrical activity because the presence of QT interval prolongation can be associated with life-threatening cardiac events. This interval can be identified and measured using either manual or automated techniques. Currently, studies on automated QT interval measurement algorithms are becoming a growing field, as they can provide the best solution to overcome misdiagnosis and timely issues resulting from manual identification. However, the physiological variability of the QRS complex and the fluctuation of the isoelectric line are prevalent issues that need to be considered in the automatic method. In this report, an algorithm to identify the QRS onset and T-wave offset for measuring the corrected QT interval (QTc) is proposed. This method uses an improved Pan-Tompkins algorithm from the previous work with independent of the isoelectric line approach for detecting the QRS onset and the T offset. The algorithm was implemented in Matlab and applied to the 60 seconds duration of 27 records in the PPUKM database with a sampling frequency of 500 Hz. The performance of the algorithm achieved a sensitivity of 100% for QRS onset detection and 100% for T offset detection. As for the accuracy, the algorithm’s performance obtained 100% for QRS onset detection and 99.56% for T offset detection. The mean error results with respect to manual annotation were 37±18.5 ms for QRS onset detection and 32±22.3 ms for T offset detection which was within ANSI/AAMI-EC57:1998 standard tolerance. The proposed algorithm exhibits reliable automated QTc measurement. Besides insensitive to morphological variations of ECG waves, the computational method is simple and possibly implemented as the basis for future software development for portable device applications

Best4u.com: a creative platform for secondhand items transaction

This paper introduces a conceptual business model for a web and mobile application-based online platform called “Best4u.com”. This platform enables people to buy and sell second-hand products. “Best4u.com” aims to accomplish one of the Sustainable Development Goal 12, to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. The business model for this app is developed by the design thinking method, which helps to understand the crucial problems, possible solutions, validation of customers' segments, and suggestions for conceptual solutions. The other tools used are Business Model Canvas (BMC), Value Proposition Canvas (VPC), Environment Map (EM). A survey with the initial potential customers has been conducted to validate the initial Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Canvas. The majority of our respondents are comfortable with internet shopping, and they use it to buy books, gadgets, and other items. The finding of the survey revealed that most individuals aren't interested in doing online secondhand buying because there aren't many effective business platforms available. They are, nevertheless, willing to buy their essential used things online if several important issues, such as delayed delivery, fraudulent products, and transportation costs, are addressed. Finally, this paper provides a validated conceptual business model of an online second-hand shopping platform/apps, which is called “Best4u.com”, with the goal of making online second-hand shopping easier