Thermal performance of residential house using interlocking compressed earth brick (ICEB) as an alternative wall material

Buildings are usually designed and constructed without the concern of its impact to the environment and human comfort. Most contributes to poor thermal performance and high energy consumption. Over the years, in Malaysia, there has been an increasing interest in the use of interlocking compressed earth bricks (ICEB) - formed from stabilized earth - for masonry buildings. Due to its green characters and economical benefits, ICEB has gained wide recognition for use in the construction of building envelope systems. Since little information is available on the thermal performance characteristics of ICEB, a laboratory testing and simulation analysis was done to investigate its thermal insulation characteristics and to look at its thermal performance when applied as wall material for a residential building. Thermal properties of ICEB (k-value, R-value and U-value) were obtained by using Guarded Hot Plate Laboratory Testing. Field measurement of a sample house with fired clay brick as the wall material was undertaken over three consecutive days to confirm the existence of thermal comfort problems. Indoor environmental parameters measured include air temperature, mean radiant temperature and relative humidity; while the measured outdoor environmental parameters were air temperature and relative humidity. Thermal simulation of a sample house was done by using ECOTECT Software and results attained were compared with field measurements data for verification. For purpose of parametric study, the wall of the model was replaced with ICEB brick. This is to determine the effect of using the brick as compared to the common brick used in the real house. It has been found from the simulation that ICEB performed better thermally as compared to fired clay brick particularly during the daytime; however, due to the high thermal mass of ICEB, more heat will be released into the indoor spaces at night time. Nevertheless, the night time indoor temperature due to ICEB is still within the comfort range. It also showed that spaces with larger areas of enclosures made of materials with high k-value such as glass window and sliding door will have slightly higher indoor air temperature

Behaviours of natural organic matter in membrane filtration for surface water treatment : a review

Membrane application in surface water treatment provides many advantages over conventional treatment. However, this effort is hampered by the fouling issue, which restricts its widespread application due to increases in hydraulic resistances, operational and maintenance costs, deterioration of productivity and frequency of membrane regeneration problems. This paper discusses natural organic matter (NOM) and its components as the major membrane foulants that occur during the water filtration process, possible fouling mechanisms relating to reversible and irreversible of NOM fouling, current techniques used to characterize fouling mechanisms and methods to control fouling. Feed properties, membrane characteristics, operational conditions and solution chemistry were also found to strongly influence the nature and extent of NOM fouling. Findings of such studies are highlighted. The understanding of the combined roles of controlling factors and the methods used is very important in order to choose and optimize the best technique and conditions during surface water treatment. The future potential of membrane application for NOM removal is also discussed

Simulating Primary Manufacturing Area (PMA) activities of fixed trailing edge panels production

Simulation clearly has the potential to play an important role in manufacturing decision-making at many levels. This simulation study is conducted at the local manufacturing plant that manufactures fixed trailing edge panels for the aerospace industry. The model focused on operational activities at the primary manufacturing area of cutting and laminating of aircraft’s composite parts. The model built was used to investigate a variety of issues, for example to determine the impact of a proposed change, without affecting production.The result shows that when production rate was increased by 20% to investigate the current plant capacity, the current resources capacity was unable to tolerate this increment. From the model experimentation, an increase of 60 minutes working time for ply cutter machines and 75 minutes of lay up operators found to be the best design to meet the expected production throughput and increase resources utilisation

Finding of coefficients and oxidizable nitrogen from palm oil mill effluent (POME) for activated sludge models(ASMs)

Activated Sludge Models (ASMs) have been widely used as a basis for further model development in wastewater treatment processes. Values for parameters to be used are vital for the accuracy of the modeling approach. The objective of this study is to determine coefficients of the system, and oxidizable nitrogen of palm oil mill effluent (POME). A continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR), with continuous flow for 20 hours, was used in this study. The DO profile for 11 days was monitored. The total, soluble, insoluble COD and soluble ammonia nitrogen were measured at the beginning and end of the experiment. Also, the coefficients and oxidizable nitrogen fractions are determined

Extra-gonadal germ cell tumour – what about the testis!

Extra-gonadal germ cell tumours (EGGCT) are rare. Therefore further investigations of the testis is aimed at sourcing a possible primary origin of gonadal tumour. Over the years, various case series on EGGCT have been reported questioning its true nature as in a majority of them, a primary source is found in the testis, thus representing a metastatic gonadal tumour. The testis pathology could be either a true germ cell foci, an intra-tubular epithelial neoplasia or an area of fibrosis, indicating a „burnt out tumour‟. We report a 39-year-old male who underwent laparotomy and excision of a retroperitoneal tumour. Histopathological examination revealed retroperitoneal lymph node of mixed germ cell tumour origin. Clinical and ultrasound examination of bilateral testis was normal. The patient refused orchidectomy or a testicular biopsy. He underwent four cycles of bleomycin, cisplatin, and etoposide with no evidence of tumour recurrence on follow up and remains disease free after 12 months of diagnosis. A literature review of EGGCT, its relation and factors relating with future testicular tumour is presented

Safety issues related to polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) in fish and shellfish in relation with current Malaysian laws.

Dioxins (PCDDs) and furans (PCDFs) exposure has been linked to birth detects, child growth retardation, reduced levels of male reproductive hormones, altered ratios of male to female births, diabetes and cancer. These show that PCDDs and PCDFs give awful impact to man-kind. This paper will highlight on the concentration of the contaminants in fish and shellfish as well as the estimate intake of the contaminants based on data from other countries. This paper also will identify the relevant regulatory framework presently available in Malaysia that governs the environmental management of PCDDs and PCDFs. In response to aggressive attempts globally to control PCDD/Fs emissions over the last 35 years, human exposures to PCDD/Fs from the environment have declined significantly. The primary source of human exposure to PCDDs and PCDFs is animal foods including fish and shellfish. The sources of these contaminants in the foods are not well understood and are probably varied. Data on the levels of PCDD/Fs measured in various fish samples collected from one country to another varies which correlate with the varied species of fish and shellfish available besides the human industrial activities nearby. As for Malaysia, the information on the level and type of PCDD/Fs present in food especially fish and shellfish is still lacking and need to be made available in order for specific recommendations (kind of species, frequency and size of meals) regarding human consumption to be made. This paper also has noticed that there is no specific legislation in Malaysia that governs the safety and environmental management on PCDDs and PCDFs. However, there are several legislations that regulate the safety and environmental management of PCDDs and PCDFs which include Environmental Quality Act (1974); the Occupational Safety and Health Act (1994); the Customs Act (1967) and the Food Act (1983). The enforcement of these legislations is not the responsibility of a single government agency. Different government departments may enforce the legislation relevant to the operation of that department. Hence, the Environmental Quality Act (1974) is the responsible of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Occupational Safety and Health Act (1994) is by the Ministry of Human Resources whilst the Food Act (1983) is by the Ministry of Health and as for the Customs Act (1967) under the supervision and administration of the Ministry of Finance. Finally, this paper concluded that Malaysia has a sufficient regulatory framework in which may adequately control on PCDDs and PCDFs emission in various life cycles. However, there is no legal provision on the control of exposure toward PCDDs and PCDFs especially for human consumption by setting specific maximum residue level for various groups of food

The safety of drinking bottled water based on law of negligence : Malaysian perspectives.

The law of negligence plays an inmportant role in protecting individual from polluted and contaminated drinking water. The use of the law of negligence in the area of an individual's protections is largely in reply to the neccesity of each individual tp protect his right and interest in consuming drinking water. Therefore, this wil examine the use of the law of negligence in relation to the individual protection on the drinking water safety from Malaysian legal perspectives, identify cases and actions which deals with the individual protection on polluted and contaminated drinking water from the Malaysian legal perspectives and lastly, discuss the law of negligence as a means to protect individual from the polluted and contaminated drinking water in Malaysia

Automated sport facilities booking for Majlis Perbandaran Kajang Sport Arena / Muhammad Razman Husin

Majlis Perbandaran Kajang Sport Arena is located in Bandar Baru Bangi, which every day the staff will entertain customers either walk in or call to do their sport facilities booking. Common booking issues like redundancy booking, lost of information and even unpaid booking fee leading to unbooked facility has cause major problem for MPKJ Sport Arena. The Sport Arena does not have any computerized system that could facilitate the facilities booking and there are no computerizing systems to keep their customer information. The target of this work is to develop a facilities booking system for MPKJ Sport Arena. Currently, the customer of MPKJ Sport Arena use the manual method either walk in to Sport Arena or call the operator to know the availability of the facilities. This cause the customer time to booked the facilities. The project was document into five phases which is: Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Result and Analysis, and Conclusion and Recommendation. The methodology that has been used in the project is Waterfall Model. The requirements for this project were collected by observation and interview of the stakeholder. It was analyzed using CRUD technique and it was documented in Software Requirement Specification (SRS). The system design and structures were made using eclipse software and it was saved in a Software Development Document (SDD). In the near future, the system should be available and integrated with mobile application system as features of booking facilities can be implemented, since people nowadays tend to use the smartphone more than the web in order handle their matter

Feedback-Rich Model for Assessing Feed-In Tariff Policy

The depletion of fossil fuels, environmental concerns, and security of supply risk has put an emphasis on renewable sources of electricity generation. However, the high cost of technology has compelled countries to develop support policies. Feed-in tariff (FIT), which has been successful in many countries, is one such policy. In this study, a qualitative model is presented. This model takes a holistic perspective in developing renewable power infrastructure. To do this, this model takes into account social, environmental, learning effect, and the FIT policy in scaling up the renewable energy capacity. The shortcomings of the FIT policy are highlighted along with improvements in policy structure. Developed from policy makers’ perspective, this model also incorporates investors’ perception of renewable market, in a Malaysian context. Modified structure suggests making the reduction in the FIT price a variable. An additional source of income—by introducing carbon tax on fossil fuel-based generation—is suggested. Furthermore, the government’s policy target has to be made variable subject to support funds availability. The developed model’s aim is to determine whether or not the goal of transforming electricity supply chain using FIT is achievable. This model also aims to show that the qualitative model would serve as a tool for future dialogue and policy improvements

Nutrient removal in grey water from wet market using sequencing batch reactor

Fresh water scarcity has become an important issue in this world today. Water reuse was known as one of the strategies to overcome this problem. Grey water is one of the sources of reused water. Several researches were carried out on water reuse, but limited attention was focused on reusing grey water from wet market, which contains high nutrient and organic matters. This study was carried out on nutrient removal from grey water using sequencing batch reactor (SBR). The grey water sample was taken from a wet market (Pasar Peladang, Skudai). About 1L of grey water was fed into the reactor with a total volume of 4L. Anoxic-aerobic phase were divided with a ratio of 30%-70% of total time respectively. Mixing was maintained at 30 rpm during the start of each cycle until settling phase to achieve uniform condition. Influent and effluent were set for 30 minutes. The SBR was operated with 3 cycles/day, temperature 30°C, cycle time 8 hours and hydraulic retention time (HRT) 1.2 days. Aeration at 35 L/min was induced for ammonia conversion and nitrification purpose. The results show that the bacteria growing in alternating anoxic/aerobic systems could remove organic substrates and nutrient. The COD, Total Nitrogen and Total Phosphorus removal efficiencies were maximum at the levels of 94%, 88% and 70% respectively. Anaerobic-Aerobic-Anoxic phase was proposed to increase the removal percentage