Microcredit has been recognized as one of the most efficient tools for alleviating poverty by the United Nations considering its significant contribution in terms of job creation and revenue generation for governments. Microcredit programs can change the lives of people and revitalize communities in the world’s poorest as well as the richest countries. This study looks at 350 entrepreneurs who joined the scheme of various microcredit programs in Penang, Malaysia. In this study, findings have been obtained that show that microcredit loans have successfully increased entrepreneur income, have positive impacts on business, and fulfill basic needs of entrepreneurs.

Blockchain, discreetly introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008, has become one of the top emerging technologies in 2016 and was first used in financial sector as the basis for Bitcoin, a crypto-currency which allows peer to peer money transaction with smart contracts without any third party in between which is different from other payment method such as Paypal or other methods to send money. Many bank institutions have adopted blockchain technology to mainstream day to day operation. Based on the review of related articles, there are three major concerns behind blockchain technology; security, sustainability, and legal. These issues have become a step-back for some companies and banks to adopt blockchain into their daily operations. Hence, this paper posits that more research is required in this area.

The continuous increase in population, higher living standards and economic development resulted in the inevitable increase of waste generation, energy consumption, carbon emissions and environmental degradation. The current average operating expenditure (OPEX) of a landfill is RM148/tonne/day for disposing municipal solid waste (MSW) which is an economic burden to the government. Thus, this study investigates the feasibility of biogas production from organic MSW as a renewable source of energy via anaerobic digestion. The economic and environmental benefits including the sales of electricity and fertilizer were investigated. Organic fraction municipal solid waste (OFMSW) was collected at Sahom landfill, Kampar. Waste composition was analyzed to determine the percentage of organic waste. Approximate and ultimate analysis were conducted to characterize the organic samples and to measure the calorific value. The biogas and bio-fertilizer yield were estimated. It was found that OFMSW consists 45% of the total MSW. Conversion of OFMSW to electricity and fertilizer via anaerobic digestion (AD) resulted in 3,274,812.51 m³/day of biogas which consists of 56.62% CH₄ and 43.38% carbon dioxide. This can be resulted in 7,494.08 MWh/day of electrical energy and a daily yield of 13,013.73 tonnes of bio-fertilizer. This transforms the economic burden of solid waste management expenditures into an income generating movement.

The water crisis is identified as the most serious global risk for the coming decade. Distilled water is one of the on-demand elements in academic laboratories; however, water scarcity may eventually affect the education sector, necessitating the implementation of new policies. Human behavior, awareness, knowledge, and opinion is having an impact on water management; accordingly, a questionnaire was purposely designed and validated to assess these variables in a Malaysian public university regarding the use of non-distilled water produced by the distillation process. An exploratory factor analysis yielded four factors: “concept of green laboratory and water”, “usage of non-distilled water”, “knowledge about water distillation”, and “behavior related to water conservation”. Using the Mann–Whitney U test to compare laboratory and non-laboratory users’ responses, the variables “Knowledge”, “Behavior”, and “Opinion” revealed statistically significant differences, with laboratory users scoring higher in all four variables. Employing the Kruskal–Wallis H test in an occupation-based comparison among laboratory users, and with an additional variable “Practice”, showed that “Lecturer” has the highest mean rank for “Awareness”, “Behavior”, and “Opinion”, while “Laboratory Assistant” has the highest mean rank for “Knowledge”. This study provides a rationale analysis for future insights to educate faculty members about the reuse of non-distilled water sustainably.