The proposed development of Sibu Central hinges on the fact that it attracts high number of visitors from all over Sarawak. The development of Sibu Central would definitely improve the surrounding areas in future as Sibu Central will be one of the landmarks for Sibu. This development therefore will automatically generate more road traffic which will affect the performance of the existing road. The performance of the existing road was evaluated by two signalized intersections surrounding the proposed development of Sibu Central. It was carried out in order to determine the current traffic volume data, upon the completion of Sibu Central and 5 years after the development was completed. The road performance of Intersection 1 and Intersection 2 was analysed by using Sidra software. It was found that the existing road was still within the satisfactory performance, as the Level of Service (LOS) was in the range of LOS A until LOS D. This was due to the current traffic volume that was still under the capacity of the existing road which also influenced the satisfactory result for Volume by Capacity (V/C) ratio, average delay and queue length of all directions in Intersection 1 and Intersection 2. This result will not be adequate as the capacity of the road still remains unchanged due to the fact that the traffic volume keeps on increasing every year. The deterioration of the existing road in Intersection 1 and Intersection 2 was established in this study based on the performance of LOS, V/C ratio, average delay and queue length.
A temperature-stable, low-power ring oscillator design for implementation in an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) is presented. In this work, the design uses a new arrangement of chain delay elements consisting of a current-starved inverter and a CMOS capacitor. This power consumption improvement ring oscillator design was built in the environment of 130nm CMOS process technology using Mentor Graphics environment with voltage supply 1V. The simulation results show a maximum power consumption of 1.036 nW and it shows that the presented design is applicable in low power advanced sensing systems application including biomedical, chemical, and other sensors.
A new innovation has been created which is called AUTOMATIC MEAT SLICING (AMS) MACHINE. The main purpose of the machine creation is to replace the old-style method in slicing the chicken meat to modern method. BABARITTOS DELIGHT supplies Tortillas Wrap to the latest trend of Food & Beverage (F&B) business called Food Truck. The main ingredient of Burritos is slices of boneless chicken meat, where each slice is approximately has to be 5 mm thick. Formerly, the slicing procedure used a normal cutting knife and its production rate was truncated as the demands of the Burritos are going higher by days. This method requires 3 to 4 workers to team up to complete the 30 kg boneless chicken meat to be cut into roughly 5 mm per slice within one and half hour. The AMS machine is predominant to help the company to grow the output of sliced meat and at the same time can reduce the number of workers. The usage of AMS machine is only required one worker for the operation and the output can be up to 30kg per 30mins, which is actually can end up almost 3 times quantity of output and 3 times labor cost-saving. Meanwhile the quality of the sliced meat is much enhanced as most of the slice meat is precisely 5mm thick. The AMS concept design is cutting the meat using several circular cutting blades, where the chicken will be put on the moving conveyor and finally will fall onto the hygienic tray.
Protease is an enzyme that catalyses the hydrolysis of peptide bond in polypeptide chain and hold a wide range of applications in industry. The aim of this study is to clone and to express several genes encoding proteases from alkalitolerant bacteria Bacillus lehensis strain G1. A total of 13 genes encoding proteases have been selected using bioinformatics approach. These genes were then amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. Subsequently, the PCR product was cloned into cloning vector pGEM®T easy and transformed into competent cell E. coli DH5α. The transformants were further verified by sequencing. The positive cloned were subcloned into the expression vector and were then expressed in Luria Bertani medium in the present of IPTG using E. coli BL21. The expressions of recombinant proteases were optimized for several hours at different temperatures, 16-37°C. Furthermore, structural prediction was performed using Modeller v9.18 for BleG1_1940. Each generated model was verified for overall completeness and bias, using PROCHECK, ERRAT, and Verify 3D. The overall quality of the model was relatively good with percentage of Ramachandran plot is 96.3%, PROCHECK is 86.2% and ERRAT score is 95%,.
Nowadays Silicone Rubber (SiR) is recommended in high voltage cable accessories fabrication as it offers excellent electrical and mechanical properties. Electrical tree is one of the phenomenon which contributes to the main factor of SiR insulation breakdown. Recently, a new approach has been applied in order to enhance the insulation strength properties by introducing nano filler in undoped material. Thus, this paper presents the influence of nano-alumina and halloysite nanoclay on electrical tree growth in SiR at 0, 1 vol%, 2 vol% and 3 vol% concentration. The electrical tree growth was investigated at 8kVrms after tree inception voltage (TIV) within 30 minutes under room temperature. The results show reductions of electrical tree growth speed and accumulate damage (%) up to 2 vol% nano-alumina and up to 3 vol% halloysite nanoclay. Nevertheless the presence of 3 vol% nano-alumina in SiR leads to the faster electrical tree growth rate and the worst accumulate damage within 1 minute of electrical tree growth process.
Amino acids are known as anabolic factors that are essential for formation of muscle by stimulating protein synthesis while inhibiting proteolysis, and they are significant component for the synthesis of various nitrogenous compounds. There are 20 amino acids are essential to require in cell for formation of body protein of which about 10 amino acids, which cannot be synthesized by the birds are termed essential. Among the essential amino acid arginine one of the essential amino acids for chickens because, like other birds, they are unable to obtain Arginine from endogenous sources due to the absence of most of the enzymes involved in the urea cycle. This amino acid involved in synthesis of proline, hydroxyl proline and polyamines which are essential for connective tissue synthesis as well as increased growth of chicken. Moreover, L-arginine (L-Arg) is effective for reducing fat deposition in broiler. Moreover, it decrease heat stress increase meat quality and increase immune response of broiler. This re-view presents the recent advances in the relevance of the inclusion of excess L-Arginine in broiler ration to growth, fat deposition and immune response in broiler.
Mesona palustris, colloquially known as ‘Black Cincau’, can commonly be found in East and South East Asian regions. Traditionally, M. palustris extracts have been used as herbal drinks to promote vitality and health. With advancements in technology, M. palustris may now be processed into more nutraceutical options, including edible jellies. Studies have also come up with efficient extraction processes to better characterize its chemical constituents. Containing phenolic compounds like flavonoid and tannins, M. palustris has recently been reported to yield many exciting pre-clinical observations that are comparable to bioactive metabolites found in plants from the same genus, including Mesona procumbens and Mesona chinensis, alongside unrelated herbaceous plant species which have been utilized as natural remedy options. Thus, this review discusses the recently observed pre-clinical applications of M. palustris by highlighting its ability in promoting antidiabetic, anticancer, and antihypertensive properties, which are closely tied to its antioxidative nature. Given the developing nature of M. palustris utilization in pre-clinical and possibly clinical research, more thorough characterization, pharmacological, and molecular studies should be conducted not only to avoid adverse risks or derogatory interactions with existing drugs, but also to properly direct its use as a nutraceutical agent for specific indications.
The study was carried out to determine the physical and mechanical properties of composite lumber made from cassava (Mahinot esculenta Crantz) and bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris) in different ratios which is 100% cassava with 0% bamboo, 75% cassava with 25% bamboo, 50% cassava with 50% bamboo, 25% cassava with 75% bamboo and 0% cassava with 100% bamboo. The tests samples for determining the strength properties were divided into two categories namely mechanical testing and physical testing. Basic density of the samples was carried out for physical testing. The lowest basic density was in samples with 100% cassava which is 0.49 g/cm3 and highest in samples with 100% bamboo which is 0.68 g/cm3. Two tests for the mechanical testing are bending test and compression test. In bending test, modulus of elasticity (MOE) and modulus of rupture (MOR) were both highest for samples with 100% bamboo which the reading of MOE was 16794.03 N/mm2 and 122.52 N/mm2 for MOR. Similar to the bending test, compression test is the highest for the samples with 100% bamboo which are 65.58 N/mm2. From statistical analysis, the basic density, static bending can compression strength give significant value at 95% confidence interval.
Diverting waste material from landfill sites has a big implication for the creation of new markets and has environmental benefits through offsetting the need for the extraction of raw materials. Besides, the major attention especially in construction industry is the problem to make natural resources sustainable for three to four decades in future. However, in this study finely glass powder with pozzolanic properties is found to be a partial replacement for cement and can acts as filler in the microstructure of a mortar block. Thus, a study was conducted to see the effects of various proportions of windscreen glass waste powder (WGWP) in determining the degree of water absorption on mortar incorporated with WGWP and to determine the optimum replacement to the ordinary Portland cement (OPC) with WGWP. Several compositions of WGWP (0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% by cement weight) of mortar cube sample were prepared and cured at 7, 28 and 60 days to undergo a water absorption test. From this research, it shows that the use of WGWP was found to be the best features pozzolanic enough to use as a partial replacement for cement and it can reduced the pores of mortar by blocking the large voids in the hydrated cement paste through pozzolanic reaction. In the term of water absorption, the lowest reading was achieved in 15% and it can be said that 15% replacement is the optimum replacement of OPC.
This paper is a review of the chemical and physical properties of coconut fiber in asphalt mixtures. Coconut fibers (CF) are natural fibers and also an agricultural waste, which is abundant after the extraction of juice and coconut fruit. Nowadays, CF has been studied for its potential use in the construction field to increase the strength of materials with its high tensile strength. Additionally, CF can also be one the materials in highway construction as it can improve the skid resistance of asphalt pavements. It was shown that CF treated with NaOH lowered the penetration value and increased the softening point of modified bitumen. Flow of bitumen also can be avoided at high mixing and compaction temperatures by adding 0.7% of CF.
Rice husk gasification developed as process that converts organic rice husk into a producer gas. The achievement is to reduce dependency on fossil fuel, reduce pollution and move into green technology. Downdraft gasifier is a reactor that can produce lower tar concentration in the producer gas. There are important objectives had been investigated which are to modify on laboratory scaled downdraft gasifier from the previous project, where suitable with the rice husk gasification system, to measure the exit temperatures in gasifier which it determine tar quantity at the output, to measure the amount of moisture removed from the rice husk where it determine the quantity of moisture in rice husk and, to measure the complete burning of rice husk in a gasifier by taking the time performing the experiments. All the objectives are to be obtaining the output which can be used as a biofuel sources. The method to achieve the objectives, firstly redesign performed using SolidWork software. Next, the temperature determined using thermocouple. Then, next objective which the rice husk drying analysis determined by drying rice husk and scale it with weighing scale. And lastly, burning was determined by using stopwatch and weighing scale with complete fabricated gasifier. The results shows the fabrication of the modification, average exits temperature of producer gas which around 203.93°C, different moisture weight of rice husk which around 10grams and, average time of completes burning of gasifier is 61 minutes and ability to capture producer gas’s flammability. This work concluded by achieves the objectives based on the results and may increase in understanding of the works related.
The aluminium-silicon (Al-Si) based on Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) is widely used in lightweight
constructions and transport applications requiring a combination of high strength and ductility. A grain
refinement plays a crucial role in improving characteristics and properties of Al alloys. In this investigation,
titanium diboride (TiB2) and scandium (Sc) inoculants were added to the Al-Si alloys for grain refinement of
an alloy. In this investigation, the corrosion resistance rate of Al-Si cast alloy reinforced by TiB2 and Sc were
measured by potentiostat (AUTOLAB) instrument. The aim of this research is to investigate the corrosion
rate for Al-Si-TiB2-Sc composites that immersed in different concentration of acidic solutions. Besides, the
immersion time of acidic solutions also was investigated. All the samples were prepared accordingly for
ASTM standard by the composition of 6.0 wt% TiB2 and 0.6wt% Sc. All the samples undergo cold mounting
technique for easy handling on corrosion tests. Then the samples were immersed in two different
concentrations acidic medium solutions, which were 0.1.and 1.0 M hydrochloric acids (HCl). The corrosion
rate also was investigated for immersion samples of 1.0 M HCl for 21 days. From the results obtained, added
TiB2 and Sc onto Al-Si alloy gave the better properties in corrosion resistance. Corrosion rates to reduce when
the samples were immersed in a lower concentration of acidic medium, 0.1 HCl. However, there are some
significant on the result but it still following the corrosion rates trend. Thus, improvements to reinforcement
content need to be done in further research to cover the lack of this corrosion rates trend.
The purpose of this paper is to prepare a conceptual framework of hybrid lean and ergonomics for assembly manufacturing process based. The research used PDCA approach as a basis in linking the relationship between lean manufacturing and ergonomics. Comprehensive literature review identify the lean ergonomics issues, best practices, and also the way to improve the ergonomic conditions in the workplace, especially those impacting employees on the assembly process. The findings show that the job design strategies for reducing extreme injuries influence by repetitive tasks. Selections of lean tools and technique, human factors analysis and lean performance measure are the key point on the stages of the PDCA conceptual framework for lean ergonomics in working assembly process. This paper also demonstrates by continuous improvement applied between the elimination of waste and increased productivity and the impacts on the ergonomic conditions to carry out operations and consequently by improving the productivity and well-being of its employees based on implementation of PDCA conceptual frameworks.
Surface water is a quick impact of pollution because of their easy accessibility for disposal of wastewater. Natural processes and industrial activities determine the quality of surface water in a region. The study was done to evaluate the surface water quality of Gebeng industrial estate, Pahang, Malaysia. Ten stations were established along the Tunggak and Balok River to collect water samples. The data were calculated according to Water Quality Index which obtained by Department of Environment (WQI-DOE) and categorized to compare with National Water Quality Standard Malaysia (NWQS). Water quality of Gebeng was classified based on WQI Malaysia as class III (51.9 – 76.5), and IV (< 51.9) which are slightly polluted and polluted due to low levels of DO and pH, and high levels of AN, BOD, COD, and TSS. It is clear that stations IZ2, IZ3, HA1, HA2, DS are received the largest pollutants discharged from the industrial sector. Generally, the results of this study will be very useful for policy maker and future studies to control and management of pollution in the study area.
A biological method was employed to synthesize silver nanoparticles through marine diatom Amphora sp. Antimicrobial efficacy test against different pathogenic bacteria were performed through synthesized silver nanoparticles. The physio-chemical properties of synthesized silver nanoparticles were studied using analytical techniques such as UV-Vis spectrophotometer, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), EnergyDispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRD). UV-Vis color intensity study and higher magnification of the Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy image showed the synthesized silver nanoparticles were rod shaped with a size range from 42 nm to 46 nm. The synthesized nanoparticles exhibited antibacterial activities in varying magnitudes. About 10 mg/ml of silver nanoparticles were able to inhibit the growth of gram-negative bacteria while gram-positive bacteria were resistant towards similar concentrations of silver nanoparticles.
Annual air temperature data obtained from twenty-two meteorological stations across Malaysia are modeled using multiple regression. A correlation test was conducted to find statistical relationship between each of the dependent variables: annual maximum and annual average air temperature and predictor variables: longitude, latitude, elevation and wind speed. Regression models using least square estimation method were developed relating the dependent variables to independent variables and the adequacy of the models is determined by the coefficient of determination. The result shows that the longitude and wind speed factors have a significant influence on the annual air temperature in Malaysia.
The aim of this study is to predict the next day PM10 concentration using Bayesian Regression with noninformative
prior and conjugate prior models. The descriptive analysis of PM10, temperature, relative humidity,
nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and ozone (O3) are also included. A case
study used two-years of air quality monitoring data at three (3) monitoring stations to predict the future PM10
concentration with seven parameters (PM10, temperature, relative humidity, NO2, SO2, CO, and O3). The descriptive
analysis showed that the highest mean PM10 concentration occurred at Klang station in 2011 (71.30 µg/m3
) followed
by 2012 (68.82 µg/m3
). The highest mean PM10 concentration was at Nilai in 2012 (68.86 µg/m3
) followed by 2011
(66.29µg/m3
) respectively. The results showed that the Bayesian regression model used a conjugate prior with a
normal-gamma prior which was a good model to predict the PM10 concentration for most study stations with (R2 =
0.67 at Jerantut station), (R2 = 0.61 at Nilai station) and (R2 = 0.66 at Klang station) respectively compared to a
non-informative prior.
The use of advanced high strength steels as a metal in sheet metal forming in automotive industry currently has been increased where Advanced High Strength Steel (AHSS) especially Dual Phase (DP590) Steels have gained a great attention due to a combination of high strength and good formability. However, one of the major constraints in forming AHSS is the occurrence of high spring back caused by elastic relaxation after loading, which causes illness-fitting in part assembly and geometric deviation of the intended design. Spring back is the main problem of defect that occurs at sheet metal after the bending process which creates problems for the parts during the assembly. This paper presents an investigation the effect of spring back on bending test of Dual Phase Steel (DP590). Punch travel and thickness are among factors affecting the spring back behavior. Various parameter value; punch radius (5mm), die radius (5mm), die gap (70mm), thickness of specimen 1mm and 2mm, punch travel/stroke (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%) from 20 mm depth, punch speed (2mm/min) and Orientation of sheet cutting, which is in rolling (00°),diagonal (45°) and transverse (90°). From the analysis of V-bending test punch travel, thickness and orientation of sheet cutting are significant factor that affecting the spring back phenomena. The result form this experiment could be useful for design engineers and manufacturing engineers to make improvement of predict the spring back behavior and also to understanding the material properties of AHSS in order to eliminate spring back and achieve good final product.
The world is facing a problem regarding the use of petroleum fuels that has led to a search for a suitable alternative fuel source. Researchers have come up with the idea of producing biofuel to overcome this problem. In this study, microalgae were explored as a high potential feedstock to produce biofuel. In order to produce a large quantity of biofuel with low cost at a short time, the manipulation of nutrients is a factor in microalgae cultivation. In this study, Iron (II) Chloride (FeCl2) was added to the nutrients to initiate a stressful condition during growth which contributes to the produce of lipid. Isolated microalgae species were identified as Scenedesmus sp. During mass cultivation, the microalgae cultures were scaled up to 2 L of culture. Three flasks of microalgae culture were labelled with S1, S2, and S3. Flask S1 acts as a control without the addition of FeCl2, while another two flasks acted as experimental flasks. Flask S2 was supplemented with 0.5 mg FeCl2 while Flask S3 was supplemented with 1.0 mg of FeCl2. With the addition of Iron (II) Chloride, microalgae entered a stationary phase at day 9 and day 10 as compared to the control flask which enters the stationary phase at day 7. This also affects the dry weight. Flask 3 produces 0.8658 g of microalgae powder compared to Flask 1 and 2 which produced 0.4649 g and 0.5357 g respectively. Lipid analysis was done by using GCMS and GCFID. Flask 3 produced various types of fatty acids which can be used for biodiesel production compared to other cultivates. In Flask 1, docosanoic acid which is a saturated fatty acid was detected. While in Flask 2 (S2), with the addition of 0.5 mg of FeCl2, docosapentaenoic acid was produced. In the last flask which involved the addition of 1.0 mg of FeCl2, more fatty acid was detected. In GC-FID data, 6 types of fatty acids were detected. Linolein acid, linolenic acid, stearidonic acid, docosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid and docosanoic acid were produced at different retention times. Most of the fatty acids produced are polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA). In transesterification, the fatty acid reacts with methanol and acid catalyst. The reaction produces fatty acid methyl ester. In Flask 1, the control flask, without the addition of FeCl2, no fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) was produced. However, in Flask 2 and 3 which were added 0.5 mg FeCl2 and 1.0 mg FeCl2, n-hexadecanoic acid methyl ester which is also known as palmitic acid was produced. Palmitic fatty acid can be used for biodiesel production.
This paper presents the comparison of extraction methods between maceration extraction (ME) and ultrasonic assisted extarction (UAE) to the bioactive compounds yield (gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, epigallocatechin and rutin) of Labisia pumila. A grinded dried plant material with size ranging 246.58μm to 257.72μm was performed throughout this work. The gallic acid, protoctechuic acid, epigallocatechin and rutin qualification and quantification were performed using an ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled photodiode array (UPLC-PDA). Exact match between the residence time from the plant extract and external standard was found indicating a presence of these four targeted bioactive compounds. It was found that UAE method has the highest extraction yield; gallic acid (0.0293 mg GA/g DW), protocatechuic acid (0.0081 mg PCA/g DW), epigallocatechin (0.0057 mg EGC/g DW) and rutin (0.0038 mg Rutin/g DW) compared to ME. The findings in this work may serve as a useful guide to obtain a highest extraction yield of these four targeted bioactive compounds from L. pumila.