Identification of a possible source of engineering geological hazard in the limestone area such as cavities, sinkholes and an underground cavern have become necessity for site investigation before any construction of roads, bridges and buildings are carried out. The study is also necessary for tunneling and underground mining works where knowledge of the engineering properties of the rock mass is very important in order to assess the suitability and safety of a proposed building. Geophysical techniques have been widely used in engineering geological study to deal with such problems that normally arise at construction sites with limestone bedrock. In this study, shallow seismic reflection technique and dipole-dipole geoelectrical methods were used to detect the presence of cavity in lime stone area of Batu Cave, Kuala Lumpur. The exact location and depth of cavities in the area were determined from the existing borehole data and report provided by the Geological Survey Department of Malaysia. Based on the borehole data, several cavities that were filled-up with water and fine silt are encountered at depths of 15.7m to 17.8m, 20.2m to 21.1m and 21.4m to 25.7m. Three shallow seismic reflection profiles were established on the cavity area and the results show that the cavities in the limestone occur in the form of 20 to 30m long subterranean channel of 15 to 30 m depth. Dipole-dipole resistivity survey conducted on seismic lines one and three also indicates the presence of the channel and cavities in the limestone.
Pengecaman punca bencana geologi kejuruteraan di kawasan batu kapur seperti lohong batu kapur, kewujudan lubang benam dan gua-gua batu kapur telah menjadi amat penting dalam penyiasatan tapak sebelum sesuatu pembinaan seperti jalan raya, jambatan dan bangunan dilakukan. Begitu juga dalam kerja-kerja penerowongan dan perlombongan, pengetahuan asas sifat kejuruteraan jasad batuan amat perlu diketahui untuk menitai kesesuaian dan keselamatan bangunan yang bakal dibina. Teknik geofizik telah digunakan secara meluas dalam kajian geologi kejuruteraan untuk menangani masalah yang terdapat di tapak-tapak binaan yang mempunyai batu kapur sebagai batuan dasar. Dalam kajian ini teknik seismos pantulan cetek dan kaedah geoelektrik dwikutub-dwikutub telah digunakan untuk mengesan rongga batu kapur yang terdapat di kawasan Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur. Kedudukan dan kedalaman rongga batu kapur di kawasan kajian telah ditentukan melalui data lubang gerudi dan laporan yang diperoleh daripada Jabatan Kajibumi Malaysia. Berdasarkan data lubang gerudi tersebut terdapat beberapa rongga yang terisi air dan pasir halus berlodak di kedalaman 15.7 m hingga 17.8 m, 20.2 m hingga 21.1 m dan 21.4 m hingga 25.7 m. Tiga profil seismos pantulan cetek telah dibuat di kawasan berongga tersebut dan hasil survei menunjukkan rongga dalam batu kapur tersebut membentuk palung sepanjang hampir 20 - 30 m pada kedalaman antara 15 m hingga 30 m. Rentisan survei geoelektrik dwikutub yang dilakukan pada profil seismos satu dan tiga juga memperlihatkan kehadiran lohong dan palung dalam batu kapur tersebut.
The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence and antibiotic resistance of Salmonella sp. isolated from
African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). A total of 30 catfish were harvested from four different farms and four different
wet markets. A total of 60 samples (30 catfish skins and 30 catfish intestines) were used for Salmonella sp. isolation
(pellet-method), its biochemical and serological test. Confirmation of Salmonella sp. were determined by polyvalent
O antisera and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using genus specific primers for invA genes (DNA amplification
showed one distinct band with molecular weight of 389 bp) and the species of isolated Salmonella sp. were identified
by serotyping. The result showed 6/30 (20%) of fish or 6/60 (10%) of organ samples were positive for Salmonella sp.
Among those positive for Salmonella sp., 4/6 were from intestine samples and 2/6 were from skin samples. No significant
difference was found in the prevalence of Salmonella sp. isolates between fish harvested from farms and wet markets
(p-value= 0.406). The Salmonella serovars identified were Salmonella corvallis (n=3), Salmonella mbandaka (n=2)
and Salmonella typhmurium (n=1). Salmonella sp. isolates were resistance to Penicillin (P 10, 100%), Clindamycin
(DA 2, 100%), Tetracycline (TE 30, 100%) and Rifampicin (RD 5, 100%) and all of the isolates were susceptible or
intermediate resistance to Ceftazidime (CAZ 30) and Trimethopin (W 5). Multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index of
all Salmonella sp. isolates in current study was 0.67 indicating that fish sampled in the present study was under high
risk of been exposed to the tested antibiotics.
This study attempts to trace changes in the wet spells over Peninsular Malaysia based on the daily rainfall data from 32 selected rainfall stations which include four sub-regions; northwest, west, south and east, for the period of 1975 to 2004. Six wet spells indices comprising of the main characteristics (maximum, mean, standard deviation), the persistency of two consecutive wet days and the frequency of the short and long duration of wet spells will be used to identify whether or not these indices increase or decrease over Peninsular Malaysia during the monsoon seasons. The study indicates that the eastern areas of the peninsula could be considered as the wettest areas since almost all the indices of wet spells over these areas are higher than over the other regions during the northeast monsoon (NE). The Mann-Kendall (MK) trend test revealed that almost all of the stations located in the eastern areas of the peninsula exhibited a positive trend in the mean, variability and persistency of wet spells indices during the NE monsoon, while a negative trend was observed during the southwest monsoon (SW) in these areas. Moreover, these indices showed a positive trend, and at the same time a decreasing trend was observed in the frequency of the long wet spells in most stations located over the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia during the SW monsoon for the period of 1975 to 2004.
Rainfalls data have been broadly used in researches including in hydrological and meteorological areas. Two common ways in extracting observations from hourly rainfalls data are the window-based analysis (WBA) and storm-event analysis (SEA) approach. However, the differences in the qualitative and quantitative properties of both methods are still vaguely discussed. The aim of studying these dissimilarities is to understand the effects of each approach in modelling and analysis. The qualitative difference is due to the way the two analyses define the accumulated rainfalls for observations which are referred to as rainfall and storm depths, respectively. The repetitiveness of rainfall depths provide nested structure while the storm depths are considered independent. The quantitative comparisons include their statistical and scaling properties that are linked by the self-similarity concept from simple scaling characteristics. If self-similarity concept
holds, then the rainfall or storm depths follow simple scaling and the analysis would be simplified. The rainfall depths showed clearer simple scaling characteristics compared to the storm depths. Though the storm depths do not yield self-similarity for a large range of storm duration but the characteristics of simple scaling can be observed for a reduced range of the considered duration. In general, the context of the research and the region of the time interval and duration will be an important aspects to consider in choosing which method is best to use for analyzing the data.
This study suggests the regression models of Lognormal, Normal and Gamma for the construction of an insurance scoring system. Comparison between Lognormal, Normal and Gamma regression models were also carried out, and the comparison were centered upon three main elements; fitting procedures, parameter estimates and structure of scores. The main advantage of utilizing a scoring system is that the system may be used by insurers to differentiate between good and bad insureds and thus allowing the profitability of insureds to be predicted.
Keputusan terakhir yang dicari dalam menyelesaikan masalah berbilang kriteria ialah satu pangkat kedudukan unit yang dianalisis berdasarkan prestasi keseluruhan unit-unit tersebut. Satu cara untuk mendapatkan prestasi keseluruhan setiap unit adalah dengan menggabungkan prestasi dan wajaran kriteria masing-masing melalui pelbagai kaedah pengagregatan. Kajian tertumpu kepada penerapan tiga kaedah asas pangkat dalam menilai kepentingan kriteria yang melibatkan satu panel penilai dengan kewibawaan berbeza. Hanya dua pendekatan pengagregatan berasaskan kaedah pemurataan tertib berpemberat sesuai diutarakan agar hasil akhir boleh dicapai. Setiap pendekatan pengagregatan yang dicadangkan diringi dengan contoh pengiraan.
Oleh sebab kejadian jenayah bersenjata api semakin berleluasa, pengecaman senjata api yang digunakan oleh penjenayah amat diperlukan sebagai bahan bukti dalam mahkamah. Beberapa sistem pengecaman senjata api telah diutarakan sebagai pengganti kepada cara penyiasatan tradisional yang amat bergantung kepada kepakaran ahli balistik. Pemetakan rantau tumpuan (ROI) berdasarkan kedudukan titik sauh (PAP) sempadan bulatan kesan pin peletup pada tapak kelongsong peluru merupakan langkah yang amat penting dalam sistem pengecaman senjata api automatik. Walau bagaimanapun, kaedah yang digunakan dalam kajian lepas bagi mengesan PAP sempadan bulatan tersebut adalah sangat kompleks dan memerlukan masa pemprosesan yang panjang. Kajian ini menerokai algoritma yang efisien dan berkemampuan untuk mengesan PAP sempadan bulatan secara automatik. Algoritma yang diutarakan merupakan gabungan daripada penapis penajaman reruang, penormalan histogram, pengambangan dan penganggar kuasa dua terkecil tak berpemberat. Dua kaedah pengambangan yang terkenal telah diuji dan dibandingkan, iaitu kaedah pengambangan berasaskan pengelompokan dan kaedah berasaskan entropi. Di samping itu, penerokaan kesan saiz dan bentuk ROI terhadap kadar pengelasan senjata api turut dipersembahkan. Sebanyak 747 imej kesan pin peletup jenis sempadan bulatan peletup yang dihasilkan oleh lima pucuk pistol yang berlainan daripada jenis yang sama digunakan untuk menguji algoritma yang diutarakan. Kadar pengelasan imej kesan pin peletup yang memberangsangkan (> 95%) telah dicapai dengan algoritma yang dicadangkan. Kajian juga mendapati bahawa saiz dan bentuk pemetakan ROI mempunyai kesan langsung terhadap kadar pengelasan senjata api.
This study investigated the spatial pattern and trends of the daily rainfall data in Peninsular Malaysia based on seasonal rainfall indices. Five rainfall indices which describe the main characteristics of rainfall, the total amount of rainfall, frequency of wet days, rainfall intensity, extreme frequency, and extreme intensity, were employed in this study. The statistics of rainfall indices were calculated in terms of their means for four regions in Peninsular Malaysia for the period 1975 to 2004. The findings indicate that the southwest monsoon had the greatest impact on the western part of the Peninsula, particularly in characterizing the rainfall pattern of the northwest region. During this season, the northwest region could be considered as the wettest region since all rainfall indices tested are higher than in other regions of the Peninsula. Otherwise, the northwest region is denoted as the driest part of the Peninsula during the northeast monsoon period. The northwest region is less influenced by the northeast monsoon because of the existence of the Titiwangsa Range, which blocks the region from receiving heavy rainfall. On the other hand, it is found that the lowlands areas such as the eastern part of the Peninsula are strongly characterized by the northeast monsoonal flow. Based on the results of the Mann-Kendall test, as the trend of the total amount of rainfall and the frequency of wet days during the southwest monsoon decrease at most of the stations, the rainfall intensity increases. In contrast, increasing trends in both the total amount of rainfall and the frequency of wet days were observed at several stations during the northeast monsoon, which give rise to the increasing trend of rainfall intensity. The results for both seasons indicate that there are significantly decreasing trends in the frequency of wet days during the extreme events for most of the stations on the peninsula. However, a smaller number of significant trends was found for extreme intensity.
Identification of the true statistical distributions for various hydrologic data sets is a major problem facing engineers. The four-parameter kappa distribution is a combination of the established distribution including the Generalised Extreme Value (GEV), Generalised Logistic (GL), Generalised Pareto (GP) and the Gumbel distribution were considered in this study. The main objective of this study was to develop the method of LQ-moments for the kappa distribution. The performance of the LQ-moments was compared with L-moments through eight problems using published data sets. The results showed that the performance of both methods, the LQ-moments and L-moments worked equally well.
In most research including environmental research, missing recorded data often exists and has become a common problem for data quality. In this study, several imputation methods that have been designed based on the techniques for functional data analysis are introduced and the capability of the methods for estimating missing values is investigated. Single imputation methods and iterative imputation methods are conducted by means of curve estimation using regression and roughness penalty smoothing approaches. The performance of the methods is compared using a reference data set, the real PM10 data from an air quality monitoring station namely the Petaling Jaya station located at the western part of Peninsular Malaysia. A hundred of the missing data sets that have been generated from a reference data set with six different patterns of missing values are used to investigate the performance of the considered methods. The patterns are simulated according to three percentages (5, 10 and 15) of missing values with respect to two different sizes (3 and 7) of maximum gap lengths (consecutive missing points). By means of the mean absolute error, the index of agreement and the coefficient of determination as the performance indicators, the results have showed that the iterative imputation method using the roughness penalty approach is more flexible and superior to other methods.
This paper presents the accuracy of age statistics in the 1991 census. The quality of age statistics were evaluated using Myers index and United Nations index. The indices obtained were compared to the indices of 1970 and 1980. This study found that age statistics for 1991 census are better than the previous censuses and in general the statistics are having high quality.
Dalam kertas ini dibentangkan ketepatan statistik umur pada banci 1991. Kualiti statistik umur dinilai dengan menggunakan indeks Myers dan United Nations. Indeks yang diperoleh dibandingkan dengan indeks pada banci 1970 dan 1980. Kajian ini mendapati statistik umur banci 1991 lebih baik daripada hasil banci sebelumnya dan pada keseluruhannya ia mempunyai kualiti yang baik.
Sejak taburan normal ditemui dan ianya merupakan salah satu taburan yang penting dalam statistik, terdapat banyak pengujian statistik yang dibangunkan untuk menguji kenormalan data. Namun begitu masih tidak banyak kajian yang dilakukan untuk melihat kembali keupayaan pengujian statistik yang sedia ada. Sebahagian daripada pengujian statistik didapati mudah tetapi hanya sesuai untuk sesuatu keadaan. Dalam kajian ini, pengujian statistik berdasarkan statistik Cramer-von Mises cuba diperbaiki berdasarkan rumus Weibull. Kekuatan statistik yang baru ini dibandingkan kekuatan dengan statistik traditional Anderson-Darling (AD), Cramer von-Mises (CR), Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) dan Shapiro-Wilk (SW). Kajian simulasi berdasarkan beberapa taburan yang berbeza menunjukkan pengujian statistik yang dicadangkan paling sesuai untuk menguji kenormalan.
This paper offers a technique to create a development index among districts. To determine the weight for each criterion in the index entropy theory was used. Two approaches for criteria normalization were also suggested. The data obtained from 1991 census conducted in Peninsular Malaysia were utilized as illustration.
Kertas ini mencadangkan teknik pembinaan indeks kemajuan daerah. Teori entropy digunakan untuk menentukan pemberat bagi kriteria yang digunakan dalam pembinaan indeks. Dua pendekatan menormalkan data turut dicadangkan. Contoh pembinaan indeks dikemukakan berdasarkan kemudahan asas yang terdapat di daerah-daerah di Semenanjung Malaysia seperti yang diperoleh berdasarkan banci tahun 1991.
Pengecaman senjata api semakin serius dan amat penting di dalam bidang penyiasatan jenayah khususnya untuk tempoh dua dekad ini. Dalam makalah ini, suatu sistem untuk pengecaman senjata api berasaskan tapak kelongsong peluru telah diperkenalkan. Tapak kelongsong peluru adalah satu daripada penunjuk yang amat penting dalam membantu menyelesaikan masalah pengecaman pistol. Peluru yang telah digunakan akan meninggalkan lebih daripada 30 ciri yang amat berharga pada tapak kelongsong bagi membantu pihak tertentu mengecam pistol yang telah diguna. Ciri-ciri tersebut sebagai suatu gabungan membentuk apa yang dikenali sebagai kesan cap jari bagi pistol. Lantaran itu, kajian ini adalah untuk mendapatkan fitur yang sesuai bagi pengecaman senjata api. Terlebih dahulu imej tapak kelongsong peluru ini telah ditemberengkan kepada tiga bahagian, membentuk tiga set imej yang berlainan. Imej-imej ini juga dilakukan prapemprosesan untuk membentuk tiga set imej lagi. Fitur-fitur seterusnya disaring daripada imej asal tapak kelongsong peluru dan imej yang telah melalui prapemprosesan. Dua puluh fitur yang berbeza secara signifikan telah diperoleh dan dikirakan untuk imej-imej asal dan yang telah dilakukan prapemprosesan. Kesemua pemprosesan telah dilakukan menggunakan pengaturcaraan MATLAB. Suatu skim berdasarkan analisis korelasi seterusnya telah diperkenalkan untuk pencarian fitur berdasarkan konsep meminimumkan lewahan data tetapi memastikan ciri-ciri unik tersimpan. Fitur-fitur yang berkorelasi tinggi akan digugurkan pasangannya dan hasilnya tinggal cuma tujuh fitur sahaja. Ketujuh-tujuh fitur ini telah diuji sebagai suatu vektor fitur untuk mengelaskan lima pistol daripada model yang sama menggunakan analisis diskriminan. Hasil pengelasan menunjukkan lebih 80% daripada imej-imej tapak kelongsong peluru itu telah dikelaskan dengan jayanya.
Kaedah momen merupakan salah satu teknik termudah dan sering digunakan dalam statistik hidrologi. Bagaimanapun, penganggar momen selalunya memberikan kualiti yang rendah dan tidak sebaik penganggar L-momen terutamanya untuk taburan dengan tiga parameter atau lebih. Pada masa kini, banyak kajian analisis frekuensi serantau dalam hidrologi menggunakan gambar rajah nisbah L-momen untuk memilih taburan yang sesuai bagi data hidrologi dan meteorologi. Kelebihan utama gambar rajah nisbah L-momen adalah pemilihan beberapa taburan yang sesuai boleh dilakukan menggunakan satu graf sahaja. Tujuan utama kertas ini untuk melihat kembali LQ-momen dan untuk membangunkan gambar rajah LQ-momen berdasarkan penganggar median. Menggunakan data aliran banjir dari 73 buah stesen dalam Semenanjung Malaysia, kami meninjau kesesuaian pelbagai model kebarangkalian menggunakan gambar rajah nisbah LQ-momen dan dibandingkan dengan gambar rajah nisbah L-momen. Hasil kajian menunjukkan gambar rajah nisbah LQ-momen secara umumnya memberikan keupayaan yang baik sebagaimana gambar rajah nisbah L-momen dalam memilih taburan frekuensi dan ini membuatkan ianya sesuai untuk dijadikan sebagai pilihan yang menarik untuk digunakan dalam analisis frekuensi banjir.
Masalah berbilang kriteria merupakan satu masalah yang terdiri daripada satu kumpulan unit yang dinilai berasaskan beberapa kriteria tertentu. Keputusan terakhir yang dihajati ialah satu pangkat kedudukan unit yang dianalisis berasaskan prestasi keseluruhan masing-masing. Satu cara untuk mendapatkan prestasi keseluruhan setiap unit ialah dengan menggabungkan prestasi dan wajaran kriteria masing-masing melalui pelbagai kaedah pengagregatan. Kajian tertumpu kepada penerapan tiga kaedah asas pangkat dalam menilai kepentingan kriteria yang melibatkan satu panel penilai. Empat pendekatan pengagregatan berasaskan kaedah pemurataan tertib berpemberat dicadangkan untuk dimanfaatkan agar hasil akhir boleh dicapai. Setiap pendekatan pengagregatan yang dicadangkan diringi dengan contoh pengiraan.
Kajian ini bertujuan untuk memilih kaedah terbaik daripada sebelas kaedah pengiraan Escherichia coli dalam masakan ayam. Kaedah-kaedah tersebut adalah piring curahan, piring sebaran, piring titisan, PetrifilmTM, tiga jenis pemiringan terus dan empat jenis kaedah bilangan paling mungkin (MPN). Perbandingan kaedah dijalankan mengikut prosedur ISO 16140. Setiap strain E. coli (ATCC 25922, IMR 1/3 107B dan IMR E243) telah diinokulasikan ke dalam lima jenis masakan ayam bagi mendapatkan kepekatan bakteria sehingga 105 cfu/g. Perlakuan haba dibuat pada 55oC selama
4-6 min bagi mewujudkan persekitaran yang seakan-akan sama seperti makanan tersebut dihidangkan sebaik sahaja selepas dimasak. Analisis statistik Regressi Kaedah Kuasa Dua Terkecil (KKDT) dijalankan bagi membandingkan sebelas kaedah pengiraan E. coli. Nilai kecerunan (m) yang signifikan (p < 0.05) pada kesemua Graf KKDT membawa maksud kesemua kaedah adalah serupa daripada segi kejituan, korelasi, dan ketepatan relatif. Oleh itu, penilaian praktikal turut dipertimbangkan bagi menentukan tiga kaedah terbaik bagi pengiraan E. coli dalam masakan ayam. Piring curahan, PetrifilmTM dan piring titisan adalah lebih praktikal berbanding lapan kaedah yang lain.
The aim of this study was to observe the pattern of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity in GCF and the rate of tooth movement at two different orthodontic forces (1.0 N and 1.5 N). Twelve subjects participated in this study and was chosen based on the inclusion criteria. Each subject received forces of 1.0 N and 1.5 N for tooth movement either on the left or right side of the maxillary canine. GCF sample was collected at mesial and distal sites of the canines before applying the appliance (week 0) and every week for 5 weeks after tooth movement (week 1 to week 5) where baseline activity served as control. LDH activity was assayed spectrophotometically at 340 nm. The tooth movements were measured from casted study models. LDH specific activity at mesial sites in 1.0 N and 1.5 N force groups, respectively increased significantly (p<0.05) only on week four and throughout the treatment when compared with baseline. At distal sites, LDH specific activity with 1.5 N was higher than 1.0 N throughout the five weeks of tooth movement. LDH specific activity with 1.5 N force increased at both mesial (week 2) and distal sites (week 3) with significant different (p<0.05) when compared with 1.0 N force. Tooth movement with 1.5 N showed significantly faster (p<0.05) at the end of week 5 when compared with 1.0 N. LDH has the potential as a biological marker of inflammation during tooth movement.A force of 1 N was more suitable to be used although less tooth movement was produced because less inflammation caused by the force can be useful in orthodontic treatment for patients with stabilised periodontal diseases compared with 1.5 N force.
Infant mortality is one of the central public issues in most of the developing countries. In Malaysia, the infant mortality rates have improved at the national level over the last few decades. However, the issue concerned is whether the improvement is uniformly distributed throughout the country. The aim of this study was to investigate the geographical distribution of infant mortality in Peninsular Malaysia from the year 1970 to 2000 using a technique known as disease mapping. It is assumed that the random variable of infant mortality cases comes from Poisson distribution. Mixture models were used to find the number of optimum components/groups for infant mortality data for every district in Peninsular Malaysia. Every component is assumed to have the same distribution, but different parameters. The number of optimum components were obtained by maximum likelihood approach via the EM algorithm. Bayes theorem was used to determine the probability of belonging to each district in every components of the mixture distribution. Each district was assigned to the component that had the highest posterior probability of belonging. The results obtained were visually presented in maps. The analysis showed that in the early year of 1970, the spatial heterogeneity effect was more prominent; however, towards the end of 1990, this pattern tended to disappear. The reduction in the spatial heterogeneity effect in infant mortality data indicated that the provisions of health services throughout the Peninsular Malaysia have improved over the period of the study, particularly towards the year 2000.
Kajian ini bertujuan mendapatkan gabungan statistik untuk pemodelan hujan kelompok berstokastik Denyut Segi Empat Neyman-Scott (NSRP) yang mampu memberikan pemadanan terbaik bagi hujan di stesen hujan Semenanjung Malaysia. Enam set gabungan statistik, yang setiap setnya mengandungi gabungan statistik momen (1, 2 dan 3) dan kebarangkalian hujan dalam selang masa yang singkat (jam) dan panjang (harian), serta empat taburan yang berbeza bagi kelebatan sel hujan (Eksponen, Campuran Eksponen, Gamma dan Weibull) telah dikaji. Penyelidikan telah dilakukan ke atas sembilan stesen hujan yang mewakili rantau yang berbeza di Semenanjung Malaysia. Hasil mendapati bahawa statistik momen ke-3 (kepencongan) tidak memberikan sumbangan yang baik dalam menjayakan model. Selang masa 1, 6 dan 24 jam didapati yang terbaik bagi statistik momen kedua (variasi) bagi menjayakan model. Kajian ini juga mendapati bahawa taburan eksponen adalah yang terbaik bagi pemodelan hujan NSRP di Semenanjung Malaysia.