The aim of this study is to examine the bank selection criteria being employed by the students in Malaysia. A total of300 undergraduate students of the International Islamic University Malaysia, main campus were selected as a sample for the study. The choice of students of undergraduate level reflects the average age of young customers between 19 to 25 years. My examination relied on 5 selection factors extracted from relevant literature, personal experience and interviews with some bank officials and students. This study is also designed to examine the CLlStomer'!; knowledge in Islamic banking and the factors considered in the selection process of Islamic banks by demographic group and socio-economic characteristics. The data collected from the study is analysed by SPSS Program (version 13), mean factor analysis and then factor analysis to enhance the quality of result by the empirical survey. Previous literature suggests that factors such as banks' strong Islamic reputation as well as better financial return and banking services are to be among the leading factors in the selection criteria of the respective Islamic bank. The main implication of this study is to help marketing executives in the Islamic banks to plan better marketing strategies that would attract new customers as well as retain the existing ones in today's highly competitive environment dominating the financial industry.

This research focuses on the strategic planning process and its best practices that are applied by companies in general and by two prominent, non-competing companies operating in Malaysia: UMW Toyota Sdn. Bhd. and the Chemical Company of Malaysia- Fertilizers Division, in specific. Applying a comparative qualitative case study research methodology, the major objectives of the study are to investigate indepth the different aspects, processes, personnel, and practices employed by these top, well-known companies for their strategic planning. Using the grounding theory as a framework of analysis, the research findings revealed common as well as distinctive strategic planning practices between the companies under the study. The output of this project is a set of best practices to strategic planning that are followed by UMW Toyota as well as CCM-Fertilizers Division. Some of these best practices are found to be related to the flexibility of the strategic plan, formulation via consensus, and continuous follow up through a centralized strategic planning unit. Eventually, studying such topic can help researchers, strategic management students and junior managers link theory to practice and understand the process as it is adopted by the strategic planners of these prominent companies within their real-business context.

This paper provides comparative analysis of Global Maritime Ventures Berhad and selected companies in the main board of Bursa Malaysia over a period of five years -2005 to 2009. Global Maritime Ventures Berhad is an investment holding company created by the Malaysian government to give boost to the Malaysian maritime industry with a sum of RMSOO million funds. Few major profit performance ratios - Return on Investment, Return on Equity, Dividend per Share and Earnings per Share are used as indicators to evaluate the performance of maritime industry under study. The study finds that the GMV performances are better than the listed companies.

There is a growing concern regarding the quality in higher education within the context of global economy and the challenges to remain competitive in a global front. Education is an important element for national economic growth, particularly for a developing nation like Somalia. Thus, it is important that quality is assured in the education system. The aim of this dissertation is to study the attributes of quality in Somali higher education institutions from the students' perspective as consumers of higher education; as well as explore potential factors that may contribute further towards improvements of quality in Somali higher education. For the purpose of this study, three factors that are deemed relevant in providing quality in Somali higher education have been identified. They are known as Academic Curriculum, Academic Staff and Facilities. A total of 200 students from selected higher education institutions in the Mogadishu area, the capital city of Somalia serve as the present sample of the study. The data is collected through a selfadministered questionnaire and the analysis of the data has been done using SPSS software program (Version 16). According to the findings, the quality of Somali higher education institutions is moderately good even though this issue received increased inquiry and public dispute. The perceptions of the students differ significantly across demographic variables particularly according to University/Institute and Faculty/Specialisation. Moreover, the correlation analysis proves a strong positive association between academic curriculum, academic staff, facilities and overall quality in higher education. On the other hand, the regression analysis shows further that academic curriculum, academic staff and facilities are strong predictors of quality in Somali rugher education.

The cost of jet fuel is the second largest operating expenditure in the airlines sector. Even a small increase in the fuel price often leads to a significant increase of expenditure on the operating cost of the airlines. Airlines use derivatives as hedging instruments for hedging their fuel requirements. However, derivative contracts on jet fuel, is not often traded in exchanges and the airlines engages themselves in cross hedging. This practice exposes them to another risk known as basis risk, while protecting them from the price risk. The primary objective of this paper is to look into the effectiveness of cross-hedging practiced by the airline industry. It looks into the problem of basis risk attempting to identify its' significance in terms of un hedged exposure it creates which could possibly lead to very significant financial losses. The effectiveness of hedging strategy of Malaysia Airlines was analyzed using secondary data obtained on the proxy commodity used by the airline. The data was analyzed using standard practices of airline industry in designing an optimal hedge. The calculations made attempts to identify the proportion of the price risk volatility that can be hedged and the proportion of the exposure that remains un hedged, when the said proxy is used to hedge jet fuel. The result showed that a significant portion of the price risk volatility remained un-hedged. This finding was in agreement with the established theory that high correlation between commodities does not remove the basis risk. It concludes that along with many other factors, the un-hedged exposure due to basis risk would have contributed to the losses suffered by the airline in their fuel hedge for the year 2011, unless precise measures are taken to hedge the basis risk.

In recent years, Islamic Banking and Finance has become the fastest growing sector in the global finance and banking industry. This industry in Malaysia has witnessed a tremendous growth in terms of demand, acceptance and development since it was first introduced in 1963. At present, Malaysian government has plans to make Malaysia as an International Islamic banking hub in the region by further liberalizing the industry by offering licenses to qualified foreign Islamic banks to operate in Malaysia. This research is principally a study of the survival of the foreign Islamic banks in Malaysia. Although, Islamic banking industry in Malaysia has survived well despite the obstacles and constraints of dual system, they continue to face challenges and foresee better prospects as well. Accordingly the study has focused on the establishment and performance of Saudi-based Al Rajhi Bank in Malaysia. A thorough study is undertaken of the bank and first hand interviews were conducted with all those concerned personnel of Al Rajhi Bank Investment Corporation Berhad and selected individual regulators. The researcher identifies the challenges and the strategies which have been adopted by the bank to further expand its horizon in Malaysia. The challenges that were pertinent to the foreign Islamic banks include the issue of being a strict Sharf'ah player, regulatory concerns, tax issues and the shortage of talented experts in the country. Meanwhile the growth prospects for Islamic banking industry in Malaysia look promising, particularly given the fact that the region is expected to be a major driver of economic growth. This study is concluded with several recommendations to address these challenges for better economic integration and partnership so as to attain the status of a comprehensive bank that integrates and mergers with other Islamic banks in the country.

The institution of waqfhas historically played a very crucial role in the socio-religious and economic developments of the Muslims, the world over. Unfortunately, the effect of colonization has diminished its paramount role as a tool for development. Many scholars and Nation States are reviving this institution to bring back its prominence so that the Muslim ummah can once again enjoy its full benefits and successes. This research. therefore, aims to examine the current status ofwaqfin Sri Lanka, a Muslim minority country with only 7.5 % Muslims. A thorough study is undertaken of the waqfLaws as well as the administration of waqf properties. Personal interviews were conducted with relevant officers and trustees of waqf properties. Survey questionnaires were distributed to mosque trustees, as well as making an overall observation on the effectiveness of the Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs. This study proposes a review of the methods of documentation and a revision in the legal framework to increase the accountability and transparency of waqf properties and their managements, with the objective to give waqf management in Sri Lanka its true status to enhance the traditional role played by this institution for the socio-religious and economic developments of Sri Lankan Muslims.

There are many factors (such as working conditions, remuneration system, etc) that can influence employees' job satisfaction. However, major organisational behaviour literature had identified employees' emotional intelligence as a contributing factor for employees' job satisfaction. This study aims to examine the impact of employees' emotional intelligence on their job satisfaction. The research model is constructed based on the findings of previous studies. The study conducted self-administered survey to all employees at Vista Point Sdn Bhd. The results of the survey confirmed that there are positive correlations between employees' emotional intelligence and employees' job satisfaction. However, the results have to be read with a few limitations. The future research suggests bigger sample size from different companies to improve the results.

The banking system plays an important role in economic growth and development through the process of financial intermediation. A well-established banking system is the backbone of an effective economic system. However, the lack of confidence in the banking system, uncertainties and obstacles faced by people in Afghanistan let them to rely mostly on informal banking system such as Hawalah, which is based on trust and reputation. As reported only 3-10 percent of the Afghanistan population have accounts with banks and the rest relying on Hawalah system. Afghanistan with its more than 99 percent of Muslim population is a potential country for Islamic banking. As for now, only 7 private banks are offering selected Islamic products via window. The purpose of this study is to propose a suitable model of Islamic banking institutions for Afghanistan. A combination of qualitative and quantitative research approach was used to get a better understanding of the issues. The qualitative data were collected via interviews while quantitative data through questionnaires. The SPSS software was applied and the data were analyzed in accordance with the research questions. The findings revealed high demand for Islamic banking in Afghanistan and with regards to the hypothesis of this research, the dual banking model of Malaysia was proposed as suitable model for Afghanistan.

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Every year, about 1.3 million people died on road traffic worldwide. Road traffic death number continues to increase steadily over years and reached 1.35 million in 2016. Road traffic injuries have become the leading killer or cause of death for children and young adults with range of age between 5-29 years old (WHO, 2018). Thus, traffic accident problem is crucial and need to be improved. Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) help reducing traffic accidents caused by distracted driving. One of the features of ADAS is Forward Collision Warning System (FCWS). In FCWS, car detection is a crucial step. This project explains about car detection system using cascade classifier running on embedded platform with single camera as the only sensor. Developing a system that use single camera to detect a car and predict its distance is quite a challenging task. Thus, a good image processing algorithm is needed to perform such task. The embedded platform used is NXP SBC-S32V234 evaluation board with 64-bit Quad ARM Cortex-A53. The system algorithm is developed in C++ programming language and used open source computer vision library, OpenCV. For car detection process, object detection by cascade classifier method is used. The cascade detector is trained using positive and negative instances mostly from our self-collected Malaysian road dataset. 4564 positive images have been used to train a car detector which turns out to be enough to produce acceptable results. A distance estimation method is used, and the developed system can give warning based on distance and Time to Crash (TTC). The distance estimation algorithm can produce acceptable results with maximum deviation percentage of 3.88875 %. In term of performance, when running on embedded platform, the FCWS runs at average of 9.52 FPS when scanning default ROI and at average of 16.86 FPS when tracking a car.