The need for nutritional and functional foods has increased. Consumers, these days, do not eat snacks only to provide satisfaction for their hunger, but also to supply essential nutrients to body. The objective of this study was to develop six formulations of granolas/cereal bars using different combination of Sunnah fruits such as dates (Phoenix dactylifera), raisins (Vitis vinifera L.) and figs (Ficus carica). The cereal bars were formulated using dry raw materials (glutinous rice, black Cummins, etc.) and binding agents (honey and glucose syrup). The cereal bars were assessed for water activity and proximate composition. It was observed that the sample B, made with 70 g of glucose syrup, 100 g honey and 450 g of total fruits had the highest value of moisture (18.73%) as compared to other formulations (P<0.05). There were no differences in protein contents of the cereal bars formulated. Ash contents of the formulations were significantly different (P<0.05) in samples B and F; the values ranged between 0.97% and 1.88%. The fat contents were significantly different with formulation B having the highest fat content (10.72%) and carbohydrate contents were affected by fibre contents; samples with lower crude fibres had higher carbohydrate contents which also reflect in the energy contents of the granola/cereal bar samples. Lowest a(w) (water activity) was observed in the samples with lower fruit contents which could be as a result of their lower moisture contents. According to the results, incorporation of glutinous rice flakes with different composition Sunnah foods and binding agents; honey and glucose syrup can be used to formulate cereal bars with appreciable proximate and energy contents. (c) All Rights Reserved

The aim of this paper is to evaluate how effective is the Strategic planning of the human resources management in the Ministry of Education in the sultanate of Oman.

The highly prescriptive and technical provisions of MFRS 136 - Impairment of Assets represent a very considerable variation from past practices. This in turn raises questions about the span to which Malaysian businesses and their auditors have fared during the method of transition to a convoluted new reporting regime. Malaysia through Malaysian Accounting Standards Board (MASB) made the requirements of the MFRS 136 - Impairment of Assets mandatory progressively since 1 January 2006 for some or all listed firms in Malaysia. Since then, Malaysian companies are required to comply with the standard. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the compliance level of approved companies on the Bursa Malaysia main market towards the disclosure requirement of MFRS 136 - Impairment of Assets. This study also aims to identifying some factors associated with the level of compliance. The unweighted index was established by constructing the index checklist. The checklist was based on the requirement of disclosure of MFRS 136 (amended in 2009) and the annual reports of 50 sampled firms from 2010 to 2012 were examined. Then, we establish dependent variables and construct econometrical model to test the hypothesis in the research using Estimated Generalized Least Squares (EGLS) weights regression using cross-section weights. The result shows that 28 firms (56%), 27 firms (54%) and 24 firms (48%) out of 50 firms in 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively failed to comply with requirement of FRS 136 pertaining to goodwill impairment. This study suggests that the performance of the top 50 listed companies should improve before Malaysian practice can attain a truly international standard. This study also found that firm size, profitability and auditor type are associated with the extent of compliance with MFRS 136. However, only firm size and profitability were positively associated with the level of compliance while auditor type were negatively associated with the level of compliance. This indicates that bigger and more profitable firms were more motivated to exhibit greater transparency of MFRS 136.

The management of agricultural zakat in Malaysia is under the jurisdiction of States Religious Council. The objective of this paper is to analyze the nisab, rate and to assess the deduction of cost before zakat is imposed. A qualitative methodology was used to analyze the data through descriptive and comparative methods. The researchers used five states as samples, namely Selangor, Penang, Perlis, Terengganu, and Sarawak. The findings showed the inconsistency in deciding the nisab for the bushel (sa') metric weight. In addition, the variability of rates was applied in all states and the deduction of cost is allowed only in the state of Perlis. It can be summarized that the occurrence of the diversity is due to inconsistency of bushel (sa') weight in every state and there are various rates of agriculturazakat, specifically 5%, 7.5% and 10% which is set by State Islamic Religious Authority. It can be implied that fatwa issued by the State Mufti Department and Baitulmal are required to be reassessed from time to time. It is recommended that digital modern metric measurement is to be used and all costs should be deducted before they imposed agricultural zakat.