Search results for: Malaysia sand

Authors: Krishna Kumar Singh, Praveen Jain

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Collection of storm water runoff and forcing it into the groundwater is the need of the hour to sustain the ground water table. However, the runoff entraps various types of sediments and other floating objects whose removal are essential to avoid pollution of ground water and blocking of pores of aquifer. However, it requires regular cleaning and maintenance due to problem of clogging. To evaluate the performance of filter system consisting of coarse sand (CS), gravel (G) and pebble (P) layers, a laboratory experiment was conducted in a rectangular column. The effect of variable thickness of CS, G and P layers of the filtration unit of the recharge shaft on the recharge rate and the sediment concentration of effluent water were evaluated. Medium sand (MS) of three particle sizes, viz. 0.150–0.300 mm (T1), 0.300–0.425 mm (T2) and 0.425–0.600 mm of thickness 25 cm, 30 cm and 35 cm respectively in the top layer of the filter system and having seven influent sediment concentrations of 250–3,000 mg/l were used for experimental study. The performance was evaluated in terms of recharge rates and clogging time. The results indicated that 100 % suspended solids were entrapped in the upper 10 cm layer of MS, the recharge rates declined sharply for influent concentrations of more than 1,000 mg/l. All treatments with higher thickness of MS media indicated recharge rate slightly more than that of all treatment with lower thickness of MS media respectively. The performance of storm water infiltration systems was highly dependent on the formation of a clogging layer at the filter. An empirical relationship has been derived between recharge rates, inflow sediment load, size of MS and thickness of MS with using MLR.

Keywords: Groundwater, medium sand-mixed storm water filter, inflow sediment load.

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Authors: Rosita Suhaimi, Firdaus Abdullah, Chong Fen Nee, Nurhani Aba Ibrahim

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This paper attempts to identify the significance of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and competitiveness to the profit efficiency of commercial banks in Malaysia. The profit efficiency of commercial banks in Malaysia, the dependent variable, was estimated using the Stochastic Frontier Approach (SFA) on a sample of unbalanced panel data, covering 23 commercial banks, between 1995 to 2007. Based on the empirical results, ICT was not found to exert a significant impact on profit efficiency, whereas competitiveness, non ICT stock expenditure and ownership were significant contributors. On the other hand, the size of banks was found to have significantly reduced profit efficiency, opening up for various interpretations of the interrelated role of ICT and competition.

Keywords: Competitiveness, Profit Efficiency, Stochastic Frontier Analysis

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Authors: Ramayah Thurasamy, Osman Mohamad, Azizah Omar, Malliga Marimuthu

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This paper presents the research agenda that has been proposed to develop an integrated model to explain technology adoption of SMEs in Malaysia. SMEs form over 90% of all business entities in Malaysia and they have been contributing to the development of the nation. Technology adoption has been a thorn issue among SMEs as they require big outlay which might not be available to the SMEs. Although resource has been an issue among SMEs they cannot lie low and ignore the technological advancements that are taking place at a rapid pace. With that in mind this paper proposes a model to explain the technology adoption issue among SMEs.

Keywords: Technology adoption, integrated model, Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), Malaysia

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Authors: Ahmed M. Al-Mahbashi, Mosleh A. Al-Shamrani, Muawia Dafalla

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Mixtures of sand and clay are frequently used to serve for specific purposes in several engineering practices. In environmental engineering, liner layers and cover layers are common for controlling waste disposal facilities. These layers are exposed to moisture and temperature fluctuation specially when existing in unsaturated condition. The relationship between soil suction and water content for these materials is essential for understanding their unsaturated behavior and properties such as retention capacity and unsaturated follow (hydraulic conductivity). This study is aimed at investigating retention capacity for two sand-natural expansive clay mixtures (15% (C15) and 30% (C30) expansive clay) at two ambient temperatures within the range of 5 -50 °C. Soil water retention curves (SWRC) for these materials were determined at these two ambient temperatures using different salt solutions for a wide range of suction (up to 200MPa). The results indicate that retention capacity of C15 mixture underwent significant changes due to temperature variations. This effect tends to be less visible when the clay fraction is doubled (C30). In addition, the overall volume change is marginally affected by high temperature within the range considered in this study.

Keywords: Soil water retention curve, sand-expansive clay mixture, suction, temperature.

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Authors: Zainudin Arsad, Norul Baine Mat Johor

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Tourism industry is an important sector in Malaysia economy and this motivates the examination of long-run relationships between tourist arrivals from three selected European countries in Malaysia and four possible determinants; relative prices, exchange rates, transportation cost and relative prices of substitute destination. The study utilizes data from January 1999 to September 2008 and employs standard econometric techniques that include unit root test and cointegration test. The estimated demand model indicates that depreciation of local currency and increases in prices at substitute destination have positive impact on tourist arrivals while increase in transportation cost has negative impact on tourist arrivals. In addition, the model suggests that higher rate of increase in local prices relative to prices at tourist country of origin may not deter tourists from coming to Malaysia

Keywords: origin country, unit root test, cointegration test

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Authors: Abdullah Al Faruque, Ram Balachandar

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Series of laboratory tests were carried out to study the extent of scour caused by a three-dimensional wall jets exiting from a square cross-section nozzle and into a non-cohesive sand beds. Previous observations have indicated that the effect of the tail water depth was significant for densimetric Froude number greater than ten. However, the present results indicate that the cut off value could be lower depending on the value of grain size-to-nozzle width ratio. Numbers of equations are drawn out for a better scaling of numerous scour parameters. Also suggested the empirical prediction of scour to predict the scour centre line profile and plan view of scour profile at any particular time.

Keywords: Densimetric Froude Number, Jets, Nozzle, Sand, Scour, Tailwater, Time.

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Authors: S. A. Che Osmi, W. M. F. Wan Ishak, H. Kim, M. A. Azman, M. A. Ramli

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River is one of important water sources for many activities including industrial and domestic usage such as daily usage, transportation, power supply and recreational activities. However, increasing activities in a river has grown the sources of pollutant enters the water bodies, and degraded the water quality of the river. It becomes a challenge to develop an effective river management to ensure the water sources of the river are well managed and regulated. In Malaysia, several approaches for river management have been implemented such as Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) program for coordinating the management of resources in a natural environment based on river basin to ensure their sustainability lead by Department of Drainage and Irrigation (DID), Malaysia. Nowadays, Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) is one of the best approaches for river management in Malaysia. TMDL implementation is regulated and implemented in the United States. A study on the development of TMDL in Malacca River has been carried out by doing water quality monitoring, the development of water quality model by using Environmental Fluid Dynamic Codes (EFDC), and TMDL implementation plan. The implementation of TMDL will help the stakeholders and regulators to control and improve the water quality of the river. It is one of the good approaches for river management in Malaysia.

Keywords: EFDC, river management, TMDL, water quality modelling.

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Authors: Raja Suzana Raja Kasim

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This paper attempts to highlight the significant role of knowledge management practices (KMP) and competencies in improving the performance and efficiency of public sector organizations. It appears that public sector organizations in developing countries have not received much attention in the research literature of knowledge management and competencies. Therefore, this paper seeks to explore the role of KMP and competencies in achieving superior performance among public sector organizations in Malaysia in the broader perspective. Survey questionnaires were distributed to all Administrative and Diplomatic Officers (ADS) from 28 ministries located in Putrajaya, Malaysia. This paper also examines preliminary empirical results on the relationship between support for knowledge management practices, competencies, and orientation in Malaysia-s public organizations. This paper supports the notion that the practices of knowledge management at the organizational level are a prerequisite for successful organizational performance. In conclusion, the results not only have the potential to contribute theoretically to both management strategy and knowledge management field literature but also to the area of organizational performance.

Keywords: knowledge, knowledge management practices, competencies, organizational performance

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Authors: Moatlhodi Wise Letshwenyo, Lesedi Lebogang

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Botswana is an arid country that needs to start reusing wastewater as part of its water security plan. Pilot scale slow sand filtration in combination with roughing filter was investigated for the treatment of effluent from Botswana International University of Science and Technology to meet Botswana irrigation standards. The system was operated at hydraulic loading rates of 0.04 m/hr and 0.12 m/hr. The results show that the system was able to reduce turbidity from 262 Nephelometric Turbidity Units to a range between 18 and 0 Nephelometric Turbidity Units which was below 30 Nephelometric Turbidity Units threshold limit. The overall efficacy ranged between 61% and 100%. Suspended solids, Biochemical Oxygen Demand, and Chemical Oxygen Demand removal efficiency averaged 42.6%, 45.5%, and 77% respectively and all within irrigation standards. Other physio-chemical parameters were within irrigation standards except for bicarbonate ion which averaged 297.7±44 mg L^-1 in the influent and 196.22±50 mg L^-1 in the effluent which was above the limit of 92 mg L^-1, therefore averaging a reduction of 34.1% by the system. Total coliforms, fecal coliforms, and Escherichia coli in the effluent were initially averaging 1.1 log counts, 0.5 log counts, and 1.3 log counts respectively compared to corresponding influent log counts of 3.4, 2.7 and 4.1, respectively. As time passed, it was observed that only roughing filter was able to reach reductions of 97.5%, 86% and 100% respectively for faecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, and total coliforms. These organism numbers were observed to have increased in slow sand filter effluent suggesting multiplication in the tank. Water quality index value of 22.79 for the physio-chemical parameters suggests that the effluent is of excellent quality and can be used for irrigation purposes. However, the water quality index value for the microbial parameters (1820) renders the quality unsuitable for irrigation. It is concluded that slow sand filtration in combination with roughing filter is a viable option for the treatment of secondary effluent for reuse purposes. However, further studies should be conducted especially for the removal of microbial parameters using the system.

Keywords: Irrigation, roughing filter, slow sand filter, turbidity, water quality index.

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Authors: Hussain Ali Bekhet, Nor Salwati Othman

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Malaysia has achieved remarkable economic growth since 1957, moving toward modernization from a predominantly agriculture base to manufacturing and—now—modern services. The development policies (i.e., New Economic Policy [1970–1990], the National Development Policy [1990–2000], and Vision 2020) have been recognized as the most important drivers of this transformation. The transformation of the economic structure has moved along with rapid gross domestic product (GDP) growth, urbanization growth, and greater demand for energy from mainly fossil fuel resources, which in turn, increase CO2 emissions. Malaysia faced a great challenge to bring down the CO2 emissions without compromising economic development. Solid policies and a strategy to reduce dependencies on fossil fuel resources and reduce CO2 emissions are needed in order to achieve sustainable development. This study provides an overview of the Malaysian economic, energy, and environmental situation, and explores the existing policies and strategies related to energy and the environment. The significance is to grasp a clear picture on what types of policies and strategies Malaysia has in hand. In the future, this examination should be extended by drawing a comparison with other developed countries and highlighting several options for sustainable development.

Keywords: Energy policies, energy efficiency, renewable energy, green building, Malaysia, sustainable development.

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Authors: M.Lanez, M.N.Oudjit, A.Bali

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Reactive powder concretes (RPC) are characterized by particle diameter not exceeding 600 μm and having very high compressive and tensile strengths. This paper describes a new generation of micro concrete, which has an initial, as well as a final, high physicomechanical performance. To achieve this, we replaced the Portland cement (15% by weight) by materials rich in Silica (Slag and Dune Sand). The results obtained from tests carried out on RPC show that compressive and tensile strengths increase when adding the additions, thus improving the compactness of mixtures via filler and pozzolanic effect. With a reduction of the aggregate phase in the RPC and the abundance of dune sand (south Algeria) and slag (industrial byproduct of blast furnace), the use of the RPC will allow Algeria to fulfil economical as well as ecological requirements.

Keywords: High mechanical strength, Reactive Powder Concrete, rheology, superplasticizer, workability

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Authors: Nor'Aini Yusof, Ismael Younis Abu-Jarad

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This paper investigated the organizational innovativeness of public listed housing developers in Malaysia. We conceptualized organizational innovativeness as a multi-dimensional construct consisting of 5 dimensions: market innovativeness, product innovativeness, process innovativeness, behavior innovativeness and strategic innovativeness. We carried out questionnaire survey with all accessible public listed developers in Malaysia and received a 56 percent response. We found that the innovativeness of public listed housing developers is low. The study extends the knowledge on innovativeness theory by using a multi-dimensional contructs to conceptualize the innovativeness of public listed housing developers in Malaysia where all this while most studies focused on single dimensional construct of innovativeness. The paper ends by providing some explanations for the results.

Keywords: innovativeness, housing industry, measurement ofinnovativeness, public listed housing developers.

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Authors: W. Permchart, S. Tanatvanit

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The experimental results on combustion of rice husk in a conical fluidized bed combustor (referred to as the conical FBC) using silica sand as the bed material are presented in this paper. The effects of excess combustion air and combustor loading as well as the sand bed height on the combustion pattern in FBC were investigated. Temperatures and gas concentrations (CO and NO) along over the combustor height as well as in the flue gas downstream from the ash collecting cyclone were measured. The results showed that the axial temperature profiles in FBC were explicitly affected by the combustor loading whereas the excess air and bed height were found to have minor influences on the temperature pattern. Meanwhile, the combustor loading and the excess air significantly affected the axial CO and NO concentration profiles; however, these profiles were almost independent of the bed height. The combustion and thermal efficiencies for this FBC were quantified for different operating conditions.

Keywords: Temperature, Combustor loading, Excess air, Bed height.

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Authors: Noor Asilah Nordin, Normala Daud, Wan Ummi Kalsom Meor Osman

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This study applied Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to explain the knowledge sharing behaviour among academic staff at a Public Higher Education Institution (HEI) in Malaysia. The main objectives of this study are; to identify the components that influence knowledge sharing behaviour and to determine the levels of knowledge sharing behaviour among academic staff. A total of 200 respondents were participated in answering questionnaires. The findings of this study revealed that level of perceiving and implementing knowledge sharing behaviour among academic staff at a Public HEI in Malaysia exist but not openly or strongly practiced. The findings were discussed and recommendations for the future research were also addressed.

Keywords: Attitude, Knowledge Sharing Behaviour, Perceived Behavioural Control, Subjective Norm.

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Authors: M. Chomczyńska

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The studies concerned an effect of six variants of ion exchange substrate (nutrient carriers with a different potential impact on pH of soil solution) on vegetation of orchard grass during two different periods (42 and 84 days). In the pot experiment plants were grown on sand (model of degraded soil) and six mixtures of sand and 2% (v/v) additions of particular variants of ion exchange substrate (with pH ranged from 5.5 to 8.0). The study results showed that the addition of the substrate at pH=6.5 caused the highest increase in plant yield after shorter vegetation period whereas the addition of the substrate at pH=5.5 increased dry stem and root biomass of orchard grass after longer vegetation period. Thus, the ion exchange substrate at pH=6.5 can be recommended for restoration of exhausted soils when shorter vegetation period is planned; the ion exchange substrate at pH=5.5 can be used for the same purpose when longer periods of vegetative growth are considered.

Keywords: ion exchanger, ion exchange substrate, soilrestoration

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Authors: Mohd Aftar Abu Bakar, Noratiqah Mohd Ariff, Abdul Aziz Jemain

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Storm Event Analysis (SEA) provides a method to define rainfalls events as storms where each storm has its own amount and duration. By modelling daily probability of different types of storms, the onset, offset and cycle of rainfall seasons can be determined and investigated. Furthermore, researchers from the field of meteorology will be able to study the dynamical characteristics of rainfalls and make predictions for future reference. In this study, four categories of storms; short, intermediate, long and very long storms; are introduced based on the length of storm duration. Daily probability models of storms are built for these four categories of storms in Peninsular Malaysia. The models are constructed by using Bernoulli distribution and by applying linear regression on the first Fourier harmonic equation. From the models obtained, it is found that daily probability of storms at the Eastern part of Peninsular Malaysia shows a unimodal pattern with high probability of rain beginning at the end of the year and lasting until early the next year. This is very likely due to the Northeast monsoon season which occurs from November to March every year. Meanwhile, short and intermediate storms at other regions of Peninsular Malaysia experience a bimodal cycle due to the two inter-monsoon seasons. Overall, these models indicate that Peninsular Malaysia can be divided into four distinct regions based on the daily pattern for the probability of various storm events.

Keywords: Daily probability model, monsoon seasons, regions, storm events.

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Authors: Adnan F. Sheikh, Fayaz A. Mir

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After the recent devastating flood in Kashmir in 2014, dredging of the local water bodies, especially Jhelum River has become a priority for the government. Local government under the project name of 'Comprehensive Flood Management Programme' plans to undertake an increase in discharge of existing flood channels by removal of encroachments and acquisition of additional land, dredging and other works of the water bodies. The total quantity of soil to be dredged will be 16.15 lac cumecs. Dredged soil is a major component that would result from the project which requires disposal/utilization. This study analyses the effect of cement and sand on the engineering properties of soil. The tests were conducted with variable additions of sand (10%, 20% and 30%), whereas cement was added at 12%. Samples with following compositions: soil-cement (12%) and soil-sand (30%) were tested as well. Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the engineering characteristics of soil, i.e., compaction, strength, and CBR characteristics. The strength characteristics of the soil were determined by unconfined compressive strength test and direct shear test. Unconfined compressive strength of the soil was tested immediately and for a curing period of seven days. CBR test was performed for unsoaked, soaked (worst condition- 4 days) and cured (4 days) samples.

Keywords: Comprehensive flood management programme, dredge soil, strength characteristics, flood.

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Authors: Dasimah Bt Omar, Faizul Abdullah, Fatimah Yusof, Hazlina Hamdan, Naasah Nasrudin, Ishak Che Abullah

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The impacts of near-campus student housing, or offcampus students accommodation cannot be ignored by the universities and as well as the community officials. Numerous scholarly studies, have highlighted the substantial economic impacts either; direct, indirect or induced, and cumulatively the roles of the universities have significantly contributed to the local economies. The issue of the impacts of off-campus student rental housing on neighbourhoods is one that has been of long-standing but increasing concern in Malaysia. Statistically, in Malaysia, there was approximately a total of 1.2 - 1.5 million students in 2009. By the year 2015, it is expected that 50 per cent of 18 to 30 year olds active population should gain access to university education, amounting to 120,000 yearly. The objectives of the research are to assess the impacts off-campus students on the local neighbourhood and specifically to obtain information on the living and learning conditions of off-campus students of Universiti Teknologi MARA Shah Alam, Malaysia. It is also to isolate those factors that may impede the successful learning so that priority can be given to them in subsequent policy implementations and actions by government and the higher education institutions.

Keywords: off-campus students, neighbourhood, impacts, living and learning conditions

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Authors: Norhazwani M. Y., Khoo, C. F., Hasrul Nisham R.

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Tourism industries are rapidly increased for the last few years especially in Malaysia. In order to attract more tourists, Malaysian Governance encourages any effort to increase Malaysian tourism industry. One of the efforts in attracting more tourists in Malacca, Malaysia is a duck tour. Duck tour is an amphibious sightseeing tour that works in two types of engines, hence, it required a huge cost to operate and maintain the vehicle. To other country, it is not so new but in Malaysia, it is just introduced, thus it does not have any systematic routing yet. Therefore, this paper proposed an optimization technique to formulate and schedule this tour to minimize the operating costs by considering it into Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP). The problem is then can be solved by one of the optimization technique especially meta-heuristics approach such as Tabu Search (TS) and Reactive Tabu Search (RTS).

Keywords: Optimization, Reactive Tabu Search, Tabu Search, Travelling Salesman Problem

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Authors: Zulkefli bin Ibrahim, Ainin Sulaiman, Tengku M. Faziharudean

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Malaysia is aggressive in promoting the usage of ICT to its mass population through the support by the government policies and programs targeting the general population. However, with the uneven distribution of the basic telecommunication infrastructure between the urban and rural area, cost for being “interconnected" that is considered high among the poorer rural population and the lack of local contents that suit the rural population needs or lifestyles, it is still a challenge for Malaysia to achieve its Vision 2020 Agenda moving the nation towards an information society by the year 2020. Among the existing programs that have been carried out by the government to encourage the usage of ICT by the rural population is “Kedaikom", a community telecenter with the general aim is to engage the community to get exposed and to use the ICT, encouraging the diffusion of the ICT technology to the rural population. The research investigated by using a questionnaire survey of how Kedaikom, as a community telecenter could play a role in encouraging the rural or underserved community to use the ICT. The result from the survey has proven that the community telecenter could bridge the digital divide between the underserved rural population and the well-accessed urban population in Malaysia. More of the rural population, especially from the younger generation and those with higher educational background are using the community telecenter to be connected to the ICT.

Keywords: Digital divide, ICT, telecenters.

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Authors: Lai Hoe Ang, Lai Kuen Tang, Wai Mun Ho, Ting Fui Hui, Gary W. Theseira

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Contamination of heavy metals in tin tailings has caused an interest in the scientific approach of their remediation. One of the approaches is through phytoremediation, which is using tree species to extract the heavy metals from the contaminated soils. Tin tailings comprise of slime and sand tailings. This paper reports only on the finding of the four timber species namely Acacia mangium, Hopea odorata, Intsia palembanica and Swietenia macrophylla on the removal of cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) from the slime tailings. The methods employed for sampling and soil analysis are established methods. Six trees of each species were randomly selected from a 0.25 ha plot for extraction and determination of their heavy metals. The soil samples were systematically collected according to 5 x 5 m grid from each plot. Results showed that the concentration of heavy metals in soils and trees varied according to species. Higher concentration of heavy metals was found in the stem than the primary roots of all the species. A. Mangium accumulated the highest total amount of Pb per hectare basis.

Keywords: Cd, Pb, Phytoremediation of slimetailings, timber species.

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Authors: M. S. Indati, H. A. Bekhet

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Global CO₂ emission and increasing fuel consumption to meet energy demand has become a threat in recent decades. Effort to reduce the CO₂ emission is now a matter of priority in most countries of the world including Malaysia. Transportation has been identified as the most intensive sector of carbon-based fuels and achievement of the voluntary target to meet 40% carbon intensity reduction set at the 15^th Conference of the Parties (COP15) means that the emission from the transport sector must be reduced accordingly. This posed a great challenge to Malaysia and effort has to be made to embrace suitable and appropriate energy policy for sustainable energy and emission reduction of this sector. The focus of this paper is to analyze the trends of Malaysia’s energy consumption and emission of four different transport sub-sectors (road, rail, aviation and maritime). Underlying factors influencing the growth of energy consumption and emission trends are discussed. Besides, technology status towards energy efficiency in transportation sub-sectors is presented. By reviewing the existing policies and trends of energy used, the paper highlights prospective policy options towards achieving emission reduction in the transportation sector.

Keywords: CO2 Emission, Energy policy, Fuel consumption, Transportation sector, Malaysia.

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Authors: A. Moussouni, L. Mouzai, M. Bouhadef

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Soil erosion is a very complex phenomenon, resulting from detachment and transport of soil particles by erosion agents. The kinetic energy of raindrop is the energy available for detachment and transport by splashing rain. The soil erodibility is defined as the ability of soil to resist to erosion. For this purpose, an experimental study was conducted in the laboratory using rainfall simulator to study the effect of the kinetic energy of rain (Ec) on the soil erodibility (K). The soil used was a sandy agricultural soil of 62.08% coarse sand, 19.14% fine sand, 6.39% fine silt, 5.18% coarse silt and 7.21% clay. The obtained results show that the kinetic energy of raindrops evolves as a power law with soil erodibility.

Keywords: Erosion, runoff, raindrop kinetic energy, soil erodibility, rainfall intensity, raindrop fall velocity.

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Authors: Norhayati Mat Wajid, Abdul Murad Zainal Abidin, Faiz Fadzil, Mohd Yusof Aizad Mukhtar

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One of the areas that present an opportunity to reduce the national carbon emission is the energy management of public buildings. To our present knowledge, there is no easy-to-use and centralized mechanism that enables the government to monitor the overall energy performance, as well as the carbon footprint, of Malaysia’s public buildings. Therefore, the Public Works Department Malaysia, or PWD, has developed a web-based energy performance reporting tool called JENOSYS (JKR Energy Online System), which incorporates a database of utility account numbers acquired from the utility service provider for analysis and reporting. For test case purposes, 23 buildings under PWD were selected and monitored for their monthly energy performance (in kWh), carbon emission reduction (in tCO₂eq) and utility cost (in MYR), against the baseline. This paper demonstrates the simplicity with which buildings without energy metering can be monitored centrally and the benefits that can be accrued by the government in terms of building energy disclosure and concludes with the recommendation of expanding the system to all the public buildings in Malaysia.

Keywords: Energy-efficient buildings. energy management systems, government buildings, JENOSYS.

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Authors: Ahmed M. Eltohamy

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In this paper, an experimental and numerical study was adopted to investigate the effect geogrid soil reinforcement pre-stressing on the pressure settlement relation of sand bed supporting a strip foundation. The studied parameters include foundation depth and pre-stress ratio for the cases of one and two pre-stressed reinforcement layers. The study reflected that pre-stressing of soil reinforcement resulted in a marked enhancement in reinforced bed soil stiffness compared to the reinforced soil without pre-stress. The best benefit of pre-stressing reinforcement was obtained as the overburden pressure and pre-straining ratio increase. Pre-stressing of double reinforcement topmost layers results in further enhancement of stress strain relation of bed soil.

Keywords: Geogrid reinforcement, strip footing, pre-stress, bearing capacity.

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Authors: G. Rezai, P.K.Teng, Z. Mohamed, M.N Shamsudin

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Changing in consumers lifestyles and food consumption patterns provide a great opportunity in developing the functional food sector in Malaysia. There is only a little knowledge about whether Malaysian consumers are aware of functional food and if so what image consumers have of this product. The objective of this research is to determine the extent to which selected socioeconomic characteristics and attitudes influence consumers- awareness of functional food. A survey was conducted in the Klang Valley, Malaysia where 439 respondents were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The result shows that most respondents have a positive attitude towards functional food. For the binary logistic estimation, the results indicate that age, income and other factors such as concern about food safety, subscribing to cooking or health magazines, being a vegetarian and consumers who have been involved in a food production company significantly influence Malaysian consumers- awareness towards functional food.

Keywords: Binary logistic model, functional foods, knowledge and awareness, perception

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Authors: B. T. Chew, S. N. Kazi, A. Amiri

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This paper presents an adaptive thermal comfort model study in the tropical country of Malaysia. A number of researchers have been interested in applying the adaptive thermal comfort model to different climates throughout the world, but so far no study has been performed in Malaysia. For the use as a thermal comfort model, which better applies to hot and humid climates, the adaptive thermal comfort model was developed as part of this research by using the collected results from a large field study in six lecture halls with 178 students. The relationship between the operative temperature and behavioral adaptations was determined. In the developed adaptive model, the acceptable indoor neutral temperatures lay within the range of 23.9-26.0C, with outdoor temperatures ranging between 27.0-34.6C. The most comfortable temperature for students in lecture hall was 25.7C.

Keywords: Hot and humid, Lecture halls, Neutral temperature, Adaptive thermal comfort model.

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Authors: N. Utaberta, S. D. M. Sojak, M. Surat, A. I. Che-Ani, M.M. Tahir

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Since the admission of Islam onto the Malay World in 16th century, the Malay culture began to grow in line with the teachings of Islam as a guide of life. Mosque become a symbol of Muslim communities, as well as the cultural values that have been adapted represent the maturity and readiness of Malay Muslim in manifest a lifestyle tradition into the community. Refinement of ornament that used to take from Hindu-Buddhist beliefs before were adopted and refined to the Islamic values based on the teachings of al-Quran and as-Sunnah delivered a certain message to convey a meaning to the observer. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the typology and classification of ornaments in Malaysia-s traditional mosque as a channel to the community towards understanding of the identity and also the framework of design thinking in ornaments particularly to the urban mosques in Malaysia.

Keywords: Aesthetic, Malay Traditional Mosque, Ornamentation, Symbolism

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Authors: Salfarina A.G., Nor Malina M., Azrina H.

Abstract:

The right to housing is a basic need while good quality and affordable housing is a reflection of a high quality of life. However, housing remains a major problem for most, especially for the bottom billions. Satisfaction on housing and neighbourhood conditions are one of the important indicators that reflect quality of life. These indicators are also important in the process of evaluating housing policy with the objective to increase the quality of housing and neighbourhood. The research method is purely based on a quantitative method, using a survey. The findings show that housing purchasing trend in urban Malaysia is determined by demographic profiles, mainly by education level, age, gender and income. The period of housing ownership also influenced the socio-cultural interactions and satisfaction of house owners with their neighbourhoods. The findings also show that the main concerns for house buyers in urban areas are price and location of the house. Respondents feel that houses in urban Malaysia is too expensive and beyond their affordability. Location of houses and distance from work place are also regarded as the main concern. However, respondents are fairly satisfied with religious and socio-cultural facilities in the housing areas and most importantly not many regard ethnicity as an issue in their decision-making, when buying a house.

Keywords: Housing, Urban Housing, Malaysia

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Authors: Farideh Alizadeh

Abstract:

This article is investigating Boria which is a kind of common performance in Malaysia. Boria has been known as Boria and Borea and both are correct, but Boria is more common. Boria is a folk performance unique to Penang. This theatre style reached Penang in the mid-19th century and is believed to be derived from the Shia Islamic Passion play performed during the Muslim month of Muharram to commemorate the martyrs of Kerbela. These days in Malaysia (especially Penang) Boria mentions to a choral street performance performed annually by a number of groups composed mostly of Sunni Malaysian. Boria are performed for entertainment and often include an annual singing competition. The size, membership, themes and movements of each Boria troupe may vary from year to year. Similarly, the themes and contents of the Boria performed by the different troupes also changes each year and can have a comical, political or satirical notion. It is common to most groups during the first ten days of Muharram Boria generally is done.

Keywords: Boria, ritual, Passion play, theatre

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