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Islamic finance and Halal product sectors are thriving successfully. This chapter is a general review of the perception of Asian consumers on Islamic finance and Halal sectors in the global Halal economy.

The first section will briefly describe the Halal concept in both Islamic finance and Halal industries, and the growth of both sectors in Asian countries. The second part highlights the review of Asian consumers’ perception towards Islamic finance products and Halal products.

The review found that the consumers’ perception towards the Islamic finance products and Halal products is distinctive. This is due to the diversity of Asian countries in terms of geography, religion, culture, ethnic, school of thoughts (madzahib), income per capita and government’s involvement.

The third part of the chapter concentrates on planning towards Halal marketing, which involves the move and future challenges in different layers of industries to gear up and strengthen the Halal economy.

The purpose of this work is to investigate the influence of curcumin dye natural colorant on adhesion, mechanical, thermal and electrochemical properties of blend poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) – acrylic polyol.

Extracted curcumin yellow dye colorant from Curcuma Demostica was mixed with PMMA‐acrylic polyol blended polymer in the volume ratios of 9:1, 8:2 and 7:3. The mixtures were applied on pre‐treated cold‐roll mild steel panels. All of the paint coating samples were subjected to potential time measurement (PTM), rapid impact deformation, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), cross hatch and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) tests.

The addition of curcumin dye colorant was able to improve the adhesion, flexibilities and resistance against electrolytes penetration of the blended poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) – acrylic polyol polymer paint system. Cross hatch test studies showed that high amount of curcumin dye colorant (AP30 paint system) had the lowest peel‐off coating area from the substrate. The FTIR test had confirmed the high concentration of hydroxyl group in the AP30 sample. The hydroxyl group was able to promote hydrogen bonding between coating substrate interface. The AP30 sample had the highest coating flexibilities when tested with rapid impact test. This was due to the lowest glass transition value T_g which indicated lowest cross linking density in the coating molecules structure. In the PTM test, AP30 paint system had shown the highest rate electrolytes penetration within the AP sample.

The composition of curcumin dye colorant in the polymer blend is limited from 10 percent to 30 percent pigment volume concentration. Increasing the amount of lawsone pigment will result inhomogeneous mixtures.

The AP paint system is suitable for interior applications. This paint system has to be mixed with suitable additive materials to improve its performance for exterior purpose.

The purpose of this work is to investigate the correlation characteristics in mechanical, thermal and optical properties of PMMA‐acrylic polyol polymer blends mixed with lawsone natural dye for coating paint application.

Natural brownish dye colorant was extracted from Lawsonia Inermis leaves used as a dye colorant in this paint coating system by using ethanol as the solvent. Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), blended with acrylic polyol was used as the binder system. The ratio of PMMA to acrylic polyol was varied with PMMA dominance. The dye colorant was fixed at 10 wt percent.

The potential time measurement tests showed that the dye colorant paint system with 10 wt percent of acrylic polyol has the highest coating resistance against electrolyte penetration. The dye colorant paint system with 30 wt percent acrylic polyol performed better in mechanical tests such as cross‐hatch and impact resistance. The dye colorant paint system molecular crosslinks were analysed by using the fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X‐ray diffraction spectroscopy.

The ratio of lawsone dye colorant in the polymer blends is found limited to 10 percent. Increasing in the percentage of lawsone dye colorant will cause inhomogeneity in coating paint sample.

A new formulation of natural dye colorant paint system with 10 percent wt dye volume concentration of lawsone as pigment was obtained.

The aim of this paper is to describe the preparation and characterisation of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) (Mw: 996,000) and dammar mixtures to obtain a new series of natural coating materials for application on mild steel substrates. Dammar is a natural resin extracted from Dipterocarpus Grandiflorus sp., or kruing trees, which grow mainly in the tropical Asia Pacific forest.

Natural dammar resin was mixed with PMMA at different weight percentages in xylene as a solvent and dammar as dominant component. The mixtures were applied on mild steel Q‐panels to form dry coating films. The coating films were investigated under Attenuated Total Reflection‐Fourier Transforms Infrared (ATR‐FTIR) technique to observe the presence of functional groups from PMMA and dammar. Resistivity of coating films against corrosive agents from electrolytes was measured by using potential time measurement (PTM) technique. ASTM D3359 (cross‐hatch) technique was used to measure the coating film adhesion strength on the substrate. The entire tests were conducted at 28°C.

Natural dammar resins is potentially applicable for coating on cold rolled mild steel Q‐panel when mixed with PMMA. Blended dammar resin with PMMA in 5:5 ratio (coded as DP50) was found to give the highest energy of rapid impact indenter. Cross‐hatch test under ASTM D3359 revealed that 50 percent w/w of dammar in PMMA had increased the adhesion strength of the coating film where there was no coating area peeling off from the substrate after the test. DP50 also had the longest time to resist penetration of electrolytes through the coating film when immersed in salt water.

Decreasing the amount of dammar lower than 50 percent weight ratio with PMMA will cause high viscosity and inhomogeneous mixtures.

Natural dammar resin mixed with PMMA (behaviour naturally in free standing film) for coating paint application was formulated.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of learner–learner and learner–facilitator interactions on learner satisfaction and their substitutability.

A quantitative survey research focusing on 130 students was used to collect data. Stratified sampling was preferred for the study, with a Likert type research instrument being administered online.

Learner–learner and learner–facilitator interactions mediate the effect of e-learning on learner satisfaction. These sets of interactions act as independent mediators, each playing a pivotal role in enhancing learner satisfaction. The interactions are however not substitutable.

The findings of the study will provide insights to academic administrators, to ensure that the two sets of interactions contribute to an effective and conducive e-learning environment and ultimately learner satisfaction. Deliberate efforts should be made to design increased e-learning interactivity into the cyber learning environment for effective learning.

The findings result in a ranking of learner–learner and learner–facilitator interactions for increased learner satisfaction. The interactions cannot be substituted without affecting the level of learner satisfaction. The interactions play a complementarity role, and collectively, enrich the quality of e-learning. A collective deployment is recommended.

Road passenger transportation faces a global challenge of reducing environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions because of the vehicle weight increases needed to enhance passenger safety and comfort. This paper aims to present a preliminary mechanical design evaluation of the Wikispeed Car (with a focus on body bending, body torsion and body crash) to assess light-weighting implications and improve the vehicle’s environmental performance without compromising safety.

For this research, finite element analysis (FEA) was performed to examine the Wikispeed chassis for light-weighting opportunities in three key aspects of the vehicle’s design, namely, for body bending the rockers (or longitudinal tubes), for body torsion (again on the rockers but also the chassis as a whole) and for crash safety – on the frontal crash structure. A two-phase approach was adopted, namely, in phase one, a 3D CAD geometry was generated and in phase, two FEA was generated. The combination of analysis results was used to develop the virtual model using FEA tools, and the model was updated based on the correlation process.

The research revealed that changing the specified material Aluminium Alloy 6061-T651 to Magnesium EN-MB10020 allows vehicle mass to be reduced by an estimated 110 kg, thus producing a concomitant 10 per cent improvement in fuel economy. The initial results imply that the current beam design made from magnesium would perform worst during a crash as the force required to buckle the beam is the lowest (between 95.2 kN and 134 kN). Steel has the largest bandwidth of force required for buckling and also requires the largest force for buckling (between 317 kN and 540 kN).

This is the first study of its kind to compare and contrast between material substitution and its impact upon Wikispeed car safety and performance.

Empirical evidence suggests that many triggers influence poor cost performance in highway projects, whereas previous studies about the cost overrun triggers stem from a positivist standpoint supported by conventional statistical techniques, thus disregarding the sophisticated interactions and overall dynamics of the triggers. This study contends for a paradigm shift in investigating and understanding cost overrun triggers by adopting a holistic perspective through the lens of system thinking. This study aims to contend for a paradigm shift in investigating and understanding cost overrun triggers by adopting a holistic perspective through the lens of system thinking.

Semi-structured interviews with industry stakeholders in Nigeria were conducted buttressed by textual data from literature sources and project documents. Data analysis based on a developed data compatible coding framework and causal relations from textual data sources was used to develop a causal loop diagram depicting the interactions of the triggers which were validated by experts.

The analysis of the causal loop diagrams (CLDs) allowed identification of action points used to suggest changes for improved cost-effective highway project delivery. Among the suggested interventions are ensuring the provision of adequate funding prior to contract award will result in timely delivery of projects and indeed delivering key projects at the contractual agreed budget. This can be achieved through ensuring strict adherence to the provisions of Section 4 (2) (b) of the Nigerian Public Procurement Act, 2007 which stipulates that no contract should be awarded if funds are not available from the onset.

The study was limited to only highway infrastructure projects in Nigeria and as such caution must be taken before using the outcome of the study to other context within Nigeria and beyond.

From a practical point of view, the causal model demonstrates that this study is capable of being used to make pragmatic decisions regarding policy leverages about improving cost performance in highway projects provision in the Nigerian highway infrastructure sector of the construction industry. Moreover, it will aid a clear understanding of the key influencing triggers of cost overrun by the relevant stakeholders within the highway sector of the industry.

The hybrid-based approach applied in the development of CLDs in this study is expected to provide new insight into understanding the linkages, interactions, feedbacks and processes among the key cost overrun triggers and suggesting leverages for cost performance improvement within the philosophy of system thinking.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a survey of the empirical literature on environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) estimation of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions over the period of 1991–2017.

This survey categorizes the studies on the basis of power of income in empirical models of EKC. It has been hypothesized that the EKC shows an inverted U-shaped association between economic growth and CO₂ emissions.

For all the contexts, the results of EKC estimation for CO₂ emissions are inconclusive in nature. The reasons behind this discrepancy can be attributed to the choice of contexts, time period, explanatory variables, and methodological adaptation.

The future studies in this context should not only consider new set of variables (e.g. corruption index, social indicators, political scenario, energy research and development expenditures, foreign capital inflows, happiness, population education structure, public investment toward alternate energy exploration, etc.), but also the data set should be refined, so that the EKC estimation issues raised by Stern (2004) can be addressed.

By far, no study in the literature of ecological economics has focused on the empirical estimation of EKC for CO₂ emissions. This particular context has been used for this study, as CO₂ is one of the highest studied pollutants in the ecological economics, and especially within the EKC hypothesis framework.

This paper aimed to determine the self- and co-regulation influences on the community of inquiry (CoI) for collaborative online learning.

A quantitative survey was used on a sample of (N = 626) enrolled postgraduate students in a South African Open Distance and e-Learning (ODeL) university. The measuring instruments were the CoI and the shared metacognitive surveys. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to determine the association and influence of self- and co-regulation on the CoI.

The results indicated that self- and co-regulation related to the CoI (teaching, cognitive and social) presences. In addition, the results revealed that self- and co-regulation influence the CoI presences. Self-regulation had the highest influence on teaching and cognitive presence, while co-regulation influenced social presence.

The study’s convenience sampling method from a single university limited the applicability of the findings to other online learning environments.

Higher educational teachers who encourage student self- and co-regulation may enhance their online teaching, cognitive and social presence when studying online. The research’s findings may be valuable to teachers to enable them to provide a more collaborative and interactive online learning environment and promote productive online communities.

This study contributes to the body of knowledge about the relationship between teaching, social and cognitive presence and self- and co-regulation within the CoI framework. Furthermore, there has also been limited research focussing on the dynamics of shared metacognition within the CoI framework in an ODeL context.