Housing is ranked second as a basic human need after food. Generally, there is
inadequate housing both in the rural and urban centres in most of the developing
countries. The issue of housing quality seems to be common in the rural areas
whereas the major housing problem in urban areas is more of insufficient supply
from which the people can make choices. In any preference and choice situation,
certain underlying motivational factors make it possible for an individual to evaluate
available alternatives. Preferences and choices are dynamic operational activities
individuals make based on changing circumstances and situations. The study
examines housing choices and preferences within the Nigerian housing delivery
systems. The study employed quantitative method of data collection. A total of 434
questionnaires were distributed to selected households in the South West,
geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The analysis was based on 359 retrieved questionnaires
that represented 82.7 percent response rate. Descriptive statistics, relative
importance index and regression analysis was used for the analysis. Using relative
importance index, the study found out that 41 percent of the respondents preferred
3 bedroom flat with a relative importance index of 0.74, followed by 2 bedrooms flat
with RII of 0.64, self-contain with RII of 0.61. The study also revealed that the state of
the national economy plays a prominent role in individual’s housing preferences and
choices and increasingly a large number of Nigerians find housing to be beyond the
family budget. The authors are also of the opinion that policy measures that
incorporate the design of low-cost social housing and the creation of conducive
environment for developers such as the granting of tax break and provision of
subsidy may promote a better housing delivery system. Consideration of user
preferences for housing is a requirement to meeting and satisfying housing needs.
Yeast growth and biomass production are greatly influenced by the length of the
incubation period during cultivation. Therefore, this study was conducted to
investigate the growth kinetics of five Lipomyces starkeyi strains as determined by
biomass production. The five L. starkeyi strains, namely L. starkeyi ATCC 12659, L.
starkeyi MV-1, L. starkeyi MV-4, L. starkeyi MV-5 and L. starkeyi MV-8, were inoculated
in sterilized Yeast Malt broth, and, incubated for 192 hr at ambient temperature.
Biomass yields were assessed and calculated gravimetrically every 24 hr. Results
indicated that the optimal biomass production of L. starkeyi ATCC 12659, L. starkeyi
MV-1, L. starkeyi MV-4, L. starkeyi MV-5 and L. starkeyi MV-8 were at 120, 168, 144,
168 and 120 hr, with the concentrations of 6.64, 6.43, 9.78, 11.23 and 8.56 g/L,
respectively. These results indicate that each L. starkeyi strain requires specific
incubation period for the optimum production of fungal biomass. Therefore, by
cultivating each L. starkeyi strain at the predetermined incubation period, biomass
yields could significantly be improved for further downstream applications such as
single cell protein and lipid production.
Due to high energy demand worldwide, finding an alternative renewable and
sustainable energy source is of great interest. Plant microbial fuel cell (P-MFC) is one
of the most promising methods to generate green energy. In P-MFC, a plant is placed
into the anode compartment. Mutual interaction between plant root rhizodeposits
and bacterial community results in the biofilm formation at the vicinity of the
rhizosphere area in plant root could be utilized to generate electricity. Indeed, in PMFC,
bacteria metabolize rhizodeposits into electrons and protons. These electrons
could be then converted into green electricity. The objectives of this research are to
utilize Epipremnum aureum plant collected from Kota Tinggi’s lake to generate
electricity and observe current generation by different resistors, to characterize
immobilized bacteria attached on the anode surface then identify the optimum growth
temperature for isolated bacteria. Five plant microbial fuel cells were constructed in a
H-shape (dual- chambers) configuration in the plastic container. Maximum current
density for 20 days for P-MFC by external resistance of 100k Ω was 0.1 µA/cm2
with
maximum power density of 0.85 µW/cm2 and the open circuit voltage (OCV) was
measured at 195 mV. Besides, fresh biomass averages increased 5g after 20 days of
experiments below and above ground as compared to the initial fresh biomass. Five
isolated bacterial strains from the graphite felt surface found on the anode were
screened by nine biochemical tests such as catalase, TSI (triple sugar iron agar), gelatin
and etc. The immobilized bacteria attached to anode electrode in P-MFC were further
examined with Fast Electron Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM). The isolated
bacterial growth curves were determined at two different temperatures of 25 °C and
37 °C. The optimum growth temperature predominantly for them was 37 °C.
Muhammad Adil Khattak, Mohammad Azfar Haziq Ayoub, Muhammad Ariff Fadhlillah Abdul Manaf, Mohd Faidhi Mahrul, Mohd Ridwan Mohd Juhari, Mira Idora Mustaffa, et al.
Energy supply security is a vital aim of energy policy in countries across the globe.
Global energy security is one of the main concerns as it depends on the concentrations
of the energy supplies political pressure from energy exporters. In Europe’s case,
energy security has been of large concern by the gas crisis which resulted from gas
prices and debts that caused the halt in Russian gas flowing through Ukraine’s
pipelines. The crisis coincidentally happened during the increasing concerns in the
nationalism resource of energy exporters as well as the circumstance involving high oil
prices. Europe’s economies were a huge concern as it was susceptible of energy
exporters’ political pressure and the rivalry with the resource demanding China. Energy
security, however, is still confused as it is shown in political actions. The focus of energy
security in the U.S. has originally been to reduce the susceptibility of it towards political
manipulation and that has tipped the politicians to voice out for the independence of
energy increasing shares of renewable energy. The plan of energy independence in
Brazil, however, had come to a reality as there were timeframes of politician
represented a rising share in fossil fuel supply imports and lowered shares of
renewable energy as to encourage energy security. For other countries, the energy
security they went for was the protection of the poor in countering the products price
instability while others highlight the prominence of defending the economy in contrast
of the disturbance in energy service supplies which is done by letting the prices of
products to increase in times of shortage. The paper will define the energy security
better in terms of the European Union as to shed some light on the issue. It will review
the European Union and the global energy security whilst including the implication of
oil market which will be concentrated in terms of EU, elaboration of the energy security
of EU in context of foreign relation, the physical security issues and challenges faced
by EU, and the elaboration of energy policy of EU.
Muhammad Adil Khattak, Nurul Syahrizzat Mohd Yasin, Hannah Natasha Andjani, Puteri Nurailah Husna Mohd Tajuddin, Sakeshraj Narajah, See, Zhi Fei, et al.
Geopolitical risks will less affect the oil supply in the United States due to its stability
and widespread oil sectors since 1970s. Nevertheless, energy prosperity in the United
States appears differently in relation to a fuller period for conventional energy export
states where geopolitical challenges have been intensified by monetary pressure and
escalating energy demand in residential areas. The relationship between the United
States and other energy export states will continue to change as the United States
becomes more independent and non-OPEC resources become worthwhile especially
in Western Hemisphere. With expansion of global economic growth, maintained
multilateral relationship among countries and technological development are two
prominent concerns to secure long-term energy supplies and to enable further
exploration of new energy sources.
Bioethanol is one of the leading alternative biofuel to fossil fuels and can be use in
existing gasoline engines without any major modification. Bioethanol can be
produced from sugar containing biomass fermentation using different potential
strains. In this study, the gram negative, facultative anaerobic, rod shaped strain
‘Zymomonas mobilis’ was used as microorganism to produce bioethanol from sugar
cane molasses using anaerobic fermentation. The study was conducted to investigate
the optimized conditions for production of bioethanol through batch fermentation
process. The fermentation unit was designed to determine the effect of process
parameters such as fermentation temperature, pH, sugar concentration and supply of
nutrients. The Zymomonas mobilis produced 9.3% (v/v) bioethanol by utilizing 16
g/100mL sugar with the fermentation efficiency 92.5%. The fertilized based nutrients
were supplied to enhance the production of bioethanol yield. The bioethanol yield
produced by using this strain in optimized conditions is in good compromise with
previous study and also compared with commercially available yeast strain.
An investigation of bending loss characteristics of a Polymer Optical Fiber is presented experimentally. Loss of optical power in an optical fiber due to bending has been investigated for a wavelength of 650 nm. Variations of bending loss with different lengths have been measured, with a number of radii of curvature. Bending Loss equations for short length POF is proposed, which shows the dependence of bending loss on the curvature radii. The equations can be an initial reference or aid in predicting the loss contributes by the polymer optical fiber.
This paper has evaluated the spatial growth of Bauchi Metropolis from 1976 to 2015
through the application of Remote Sensing and GIS techniques. Various satellite
imageries of the metropolis (Landsat MSS of 1976, TM of 1986, 1996 and ETM+ of 2006
and 2015) were integrated; processed and classified using ERDAS imagine 9.1. The
results showed an increase in area from 11.68km2
in 1976 to 12.51km2
in 1986 to
32.44km2 in 1996, to 49.66km2
in 2006 and finally to 89.23km2 in 2015. It is
recommended that government should provide the required capacities for the use of
Remote Sensing and GIS in planning for the growth of the town.
Chitin is a biopolymer that forms the exoskeleton of arthropods, and found in the shells of crustacea and in the cell walls of certain fungi and algae. Commercially, chitin is obtained from processing the outer skeleton of crustacea such as shrimp, crab, prawn, and crayfish. Extraction of chitin was carried out using various chemical procedures. The study aim is to examine characteristic of chitin for different aging of Leucaena leucephala pods using hydrochloric acid (HCl). Different aging of the raw materials was used to study their effect of nitrogen content in the pods. In this study, chitin in Leucaena leucephala was extracted using chemical methods by using hydrochloric acid (HCl). The extracted chitin was then characterized by using elemental analyzer. The results obtained revealed that the percentage of nitrogen and carbon content in the samples was significantly reduced after extraction. Elemental analysis, the N% value in younger pods is closer to the theoretical value than adult pods. The purity of chitin in younger pods is higher than chitin in the adult pods.
Pork and bovine collagen incorporated into meat products showed promising
functional properties as food ingredients but has the halal issue. This study
investigated the effect of incorporating fish collagen hydrolysate (FCH) as a fat replacer
in buffalo patties in terms of proximate values, texture and colour properties. There
were five different formulations including a control (10% fat, 0% FCH), A (7.5% fat, 2.5%
FCH), B (5% fat, 5% FCH), C (2.5% fat, 7.5% FCH), and D (0% fat, 10% FCH). There were
no significant differences (p>0.05) between all formulations in terms of cooking yield,
shrinkage, water-holding capacity, and pH value. The sensory test showed no
significant difference (p>0.05) between all formulations in terms of colour,
appearance, juiciness, aroma, and overall acceptability, while sample D with 10% FCH
had significantly lower (p
This paper assessed the effect of time overruns on apartment building among
Kuantan Malaysian construction industries. A survey was conducted among 10
construction industries in Kuantan Pahang. Using proportionate stratified random
sampling, out of which 10 questionnaires were distributed for data analysis. Using
five point Likert scale categories from previous studies, statistical analysis affirmed a
significant positive relationship between time overruns and apartment building
among Kuantan Malaysian construction industries.
Most of the previous researchers used conventional extraction technique such as steam distillation and solvent extraction method in Chromolaena Odorata extraction. Therefore, in this study a clean extraction method that is Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE) technology using supercritical carbon dioxide as a solvent (SC-CO2) was introduced for Chromolaena Odorata leaves extraction to produce oil of bioactive components. The objective of this research was to find the optimum pressure for the highest oil yield extracted. The extraction was conducted within a range of temperature (40, 45 and 50°C) and pressure (3000, 3500, 4000, 4500 and 5000psi), at a constant flowrate (24 ml/min) for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 minutes of extraction time. From the studies, it was found that extraction pressure is an important factor that can affect the extraction yield where the oil yield increased as the pressure increased due to the increasing amount of CO2 consumed where it boost the density of the solvent to interact with the solute. The highest oil yield is 51.20% at pressure of 4000psi and temperature 50°C. Whereas at the highest pressure of 5000psi, the oil yield is the lowest. This shows that the extraction is not suitable at pressure 5000psi.
Recently RESS method has been used by researchers to produce fine particles for pharmaceutical drug substances. Since RESS technology acknowledges a lot of benefits compare to conventional method of ginger extraction. Therefore, the objective of this research is to produce direct solid oil particles formation from ginger rhizome which contains valuable compounds by using RESS-CO2 process and to study the effect of pressure and temperature on extraction yield. RESS experiments were carried out at various extraction pressure of 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000 and 7000psi and at different extraction temperature of 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65 and 70°C, respectively for 40 minutes extraction time and constant flowrate (24ml/min).From the studies conducted, it was found that extraction pressure is an important factor that can affect particle size and extraction yield. By increasing the extraction pressure, the extraction yield was found to increase with increasing of pressure at constant temperature, but extraction yield was found to decrease with increasing temperature. The highest extraction yield is 2.41% obtained at extraction pressure of 6000psi and constant extraction temperature of 65°C.
In this paper, an extensive work on the natural frequency of perforated plate has
been made by introducing micro-holes on the plate. The micro-holes, which is known
to have a remarkable performance in several applications, were arranged diagonally
among the perforated holes in order to make a new combination of micro-macro
perforated plate. A 3D geometrical model of the plate was made in the Autodesk
Inventor and the Finite Element (FE) simulation was employed to calculate the
natural frequency and visualize the mode shape. Four models were made with
various micro-holes diameter starting from 0,25, 0,5, 0,75 and 0,9 mm, respectively.
The macro holes diameter, however, was kept constant to be 1,5 mm purposely to
know the effect of micro holes in particular. The results from the models were then
compared to a single perforated plate (PP) for clarification. It is found that the micro
holes gives considerable effect to the perforated plate natural frequency. Similar to
the author previous findings, the diameter of the micro holes is proportional to the
natural frequency reduction.
Mechanical responses and failure of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite
laminates could be predicted using the validated finite element (FE) simulation. The
material constitutive and damage models employed in the simulation are developed
based on the properties of the unidirectional lamina, including those obtained
through tension tests. Such computational model assumes perfectly aligned fibers in
the lamina. In this respect, this paper examined the effect of fabrication-inherited
fiber misalignment on the tensile response of the unidirectional lamina. For this
purpose, a series of tension tests are performed on unidirectional carbon fiberreinforced
polymer (CFRP) composite lamina specimens with different gage lengths
ranging from 50 to 150 mm. Fiber misalignment is quantified to be 7o and represents
the nominal deviation of the fibers from the reference longitudinal axis direction.
Load-displacement responses of the specimens are compared. Results show that the
nominal tensile strength of the lamina is 1089±33 MPa. The elastic modulus,
however, increases from 36.96 to 55.93 GPa as the gage lengths vary from 50 to 150
mm, respectively. This is due to the induced bending effects on the reinforcing fibers
that is greater for longer gage lengths. Multiple fiber fracture events, each is depicted
in a noticeable load drop, are recorded throughout the tensile loading of long lamina
specimens. Although the load at fracture is accurately reproduced by the FE
simulation using the damage-based mesoscale model, the effect of fiber
misalignment could not be captured.
Membrane technologies have received high interest in the separation gas mixture. The
ceramic inorganic membranes have possessed high permeability, excellent thermal,
chemical and mechanical stabilities compared to conventional polymer membranes.
This work presents the fabrication of silica ceramic membrane by sol dip-coating
method. The tubular support was dipped into the solution of tetrethylorthosilicate
(TEOS), distilled water and ethanol with the addition of nitric acid as a catalyst. The
fabricated silica membrane was then characterized by (Field Emission Scanning
Electron Microscope) FESEM and (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) FTIR to
determine structural and chemical properties at different dipping number. FESEM
images indicate that the silica has been deposited on the surface fabricated ceramic
membrane and penetrate into the pore walls. However, number of dipping did not
affect the intensity peak of FTIR analysis.
Anaerobic wastewater treatment technology has become one of the most popular technologies due to its economic and environmental benefits. Therefore, a reliable method to study the specific methanogenic activity (SMA) of anaerobic sludge is presented using SMA test. This test helps to determine suitable organic loading rate (OLR) to the anaerobic process. Meanwhile, SMA act as a benchmark to the anaerobic system performance where a slight change in SMA stipulate the accumulation of inhibitory substances from influent wastewater. One of the possible substances that inhibit the anaerobic digestion process is the presence of excessive light metal ions such as sodium (Na+) from the wastewater. The objective of this research was to investigate the specific methanogenic activity of anaerobic sludge in anaerobic filter and anaerobic digester as well as to compare and analyze anaerobic methanogenic bacteria under the effect of potentially inhibitory compound in both anaerobic digester and anaerobic filter. Two sources of inoculums (one from the anaerobic digester and one from the anaerobic filter) were adapted with sodium with varied range of concentrations which was 0 to 5 g Na + /l, before conducting SMA test by means of pressure differences. For the anaerobic digester, the SMA varied from 0.25 to 0.31 g COD/g VS.day meanwhile for the anaerobic filter, the SMA varied from 0.40 to 0.51 g COD/g VS.day. The result obtained confirmed that sludge from POME have better tolerance towards sodium than influents from petrochemical wastewater.
The water shortage in Selangor Northwest Project rice granary areas has been growing
concern. The increase in plant capacity and the El Nino phenomenon that hit Malaysia
(1998 & 2016) has cause the main source of irrigation; surface water and rainfall, could
no longer meet the needs of paddy. As a consequence, paddy productivity has
becoming serious concern and urge for alternative irrigation water supply. At the same
time, the use of groundwater as a source of alternative supply of irrigation water has
started to get attentions. However, to determine the potential groundwater aquifer,
preliminary study should be made in advance. Thus, the focus of this paper is to
investigate the geological structure of the Selangor Basin by means analysis of
borehole information. A total of 56 tube wells data were used to obtain layers of
subsurface in the study area. By using groundwater modelling software (Visual
MODFLOW), a model that represents an actual geological conditions has been made.
A total of 6 subsurface layers have been identified. The result of study showed that,
the geological formations of the study area mainly consist of three types; alluvium,
sedimentary and metamorphic rock.