Palm empty fruit bunch ash (EFB-ash) was used as a natural catalyst, rich in potassium to enhance the CO2 gasification reactivity of palm shell char (PS-char). Various EFB-ash loadings (ranging from 0 to 12.5wt.%) were implemented to improve the reactivity of PS-char during CO2 gasification studies using thermogravimetric analysis. The achieved results explored that the highest gasification reactivity was devoted to 10% EFB-ash loaded char. The SEM-EDS and XRD analyses further confirmed the successful loading of EFB-ash on PS-char which contributed to promoting the gasification reactivity of char. Random pore model was applied to determine the kinetic parameters in catalytic gasification of char at various temperatures of 800-900°C. The dependence of char reaction rate on gasification temperature resulted in a straight line in Arrhenius-type plot, from which the activation energy of 158.75kJ/mol was obtained for the catalytic char gasification.
Many cities across the world are facing many problems climate change poses to their populations, communities and infrastructure. These vary from increased exposures to floods, to discomfort due to urban heat, depending on their geographical locations and settings. However, even though some cities have a greater ability to cope with climate change challenges, many struggle to do so, particularly in cities in developing countries. In addition, there is a shortage of international studies which examine the links between climate change adaptation and cities, and which at the same time draw some successful examples of good practice, which may assist future efforts. This paper is an attempt to address this information need. The aim of this paper is to analyse the extent to which cities in a sample of developing countries are attempting to pursue climate change adaptation and the problems which hinder this process. Its goal is to showcase examples of initiatives and good practice in transformative adaptation, which may be replicable elsewhere. To this purpose, the paper describes some trends related to climate change in a set of cities in developing countries across different continents, including one of the smallest capital cities (Georgetown, Guyana) and Shanghai, one the world's most populous cities. In particular, it analyses their degree of vulnerability, how they manage to cope with climate change impacts, and the policies being implemented to aid adaptation. It also suggests the use of transformative approaches which may be adopted, in order to assist them in their efforts towards investments in low-carbon and climate-resilient infrastructure, thereby maximizing investments in urban areas and trying to address their related poverty issues. This paper addresses a gap in the international literature on the problems many cities in developing countries face, in trying to adapt to a changing climate.
Presence of Norovirus in food can cause viral gasteroenteritis. Recently, lots of reports relating to Norovirus in food have been published. Special attention must be paid to the raw foods as they are not subjected to further heat treatment. In this study, pegaga, kesum, tauge and ulam raja (popular salad vegetables in Malaysia) were investigated for Norovirus. A total of 32 samples from each type of salad vegetables were purchased from local market and analyzed using One-step RT-PCR (Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction) for both genogroups namely Norovirus Genogroup I and Genogroup II. Results showed that tauge had the highest contamination with Norovirus Genogroup I (15.6%) comparing to pegaga (9.4%), kesum (12.5%)
and ulam raja (0%). Samples were free from Norovirus Genogroup II. The study showed that raw vegetables are high-risk foods and can be contaminated with Norovirus.
The influence of the cool and warm temperatures on early life development and
survival of tropical oyster, Crassostrea iredalei was studied. D-hinged larvae (day 1 larvae)
were reared to three different temperatures (20°C, 27°C, and 34°C) for nine days. Oyster
larvae reared in temperature 27°C, acted as control (ambient temperature). The highest
survival rate occurred when the larvae were reared in 20°C and 27°C. Larvae reared at
34°C exhibited reduced survival but increase in the growth rate. The growth rate in larvae
reared in high temperature (34°C) was significantly higher compared to larvae reared in
20°C and 27°C (p
Poor control of blood pressure leads to hypertension which is a major risk factor for development of cardiovascular disease. The present study aimed to explore possible mechanisms of elevation in blood pressure following consumption of heated vegetable oil.
Matched MeSH terms: Hot Temperature/adverse effects*
The paper is aimed at studying fluid flow heat transfer in the axisymmetric boundary layer flow of a viscous incompressible fluid, along the axial direction of a vertical stationary isothermal cylinder in presence of uniform free stream with momentum slip. The equations governing the flow i.e. continuity, momentum and energy equation are transformed into non-similar boundary layer equations and are solved numerically employing asymptotic series method with Shanks transformation. The numerical scheme involves the Runge-Kutta fourth order scheme along with the shooting technique. The flow is analyzed for both assisting and opposing buoyancy and the effect of different parameters on fluid velocity, temperature distribution, heat transfer and shear stress parameters is presented graphically.
The anti-phospholipid antibody (aPL) in 26 heat-inactivated normal human sera (NHS) was tested for IgG subclass in ELISA. The specific antibody in NHS included all four IgG antibody subclasses, as well as IgA. The incidence of IgG subclasses ranged from 50% (13/26) for IgG1 to 92% (24/26) for IgG2. Specific IgA anti-phospholipid antibody (aPL) was detected by ELISA in 38% (28/73) of normal human saliva. The salivary IgA aPL bound preferentially to anionic phospholipids including cardiolipin, phosphatidylserine and phosphatidic acid but not to phosphatidylcholine or sphingomyelin. Unlike aPL in normal human sera, aPL in saliva was predominantly not associated with the previously described heat-labile inhibitor of aPL. This may indicate a role of salivary IgA aPL in local immunity by binding to cross-reactive bacterial cell surface components including phospholipids.
The search for a high temperature lead-free solder replacement for high temperature leaded solder eutectic alloy has been an evolving process as the threat of a regional lead ban became a reality in July 2006. The advantages and disadvantages of lead-free solder in terms of manufacturing, performance and reliability have been increasingly revealed through companies’ Research and Development (R&D), industrial consortia and university researchers. Materials and component design are the primary criteria to focus on the development for the current generation of high temperature lead-free solder alloys. According to the current status of high temperature lead free soldering, there are many unsolved technical problems such as explanation on the lift-off phenomenon, establishment of high temperature lead-free plating technology, construction of a database of physical properties (solder, parts, PCBs), standardization of high temperature solder materials evaluation technology, and most importantly, the best candidate material for high temperature solder. Clearly, high temperature soldering is one of the unsolved problems of the century in lead-free soldering. Moreover, most of the questions still remain unanswered by researchers. This paper reviews research conducted on the Bi-Ag solder alloy, which is one of the candidate alloys that has been proposed as an alternative for high temperature lead-free solder.
Smart Grid Industry 4.0 (SGI4.0) defines a new paradigm to provide high-quality electricity at a low cost by reacting quickly and effectively to changing energy demands in the highly volatile global markets. However, in SGI4.0, the reliable and efficient gathering and transmission of the observed information from the Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled Cyber-physical systems, such as sensors located in remote places to the control center is the biggest challenge for the Industrial Multichannel Wireless Sensors Networks (IMWSNs). This is due to the harsh nature of the smart grid environment that causes high noise, signal fading, multipath effects, heat, and electromagnetic interference, which reduces the transmission quality and trigger errors in the IMWSNs. Thus, an efficient monitoring and real-time control of unexpected changes in the power generation and distribution processes is essential to guarantee the quality of service (QoS) requirements in the smart grid. In this context, this paper describes the dataset contains measurements acquired by the IMWSNs during events monitoring and control in the smart grid. This work provides an updated detail comparison of our proposed work, including channel detection, channel assignment, and packets forwarding algorithms, collectively called CARP [1] with existing G-RPL [2] and EQSHC [3] schemes in the smart grid. The experimental outcomes show that the dataset and is useful for the design, development, testing, and validation of algorithms for real-time events monitoring and control applications in the smart grid.
The binary effect of pulverized fuel ash (PFA) and palm oil fuel ash (POFA) on heat of hydration of aerated concrete was studied. Three aerated concrete mixes were prepared, namely, concrete containing 100% ordinary Portland cement (control sample or Type I), binary concrete made from 50% POFA (Type II), and ternary concrete containing 30% POFA and 20% PFA (Type III). It is found that the temperature increases due to heat of hydration through all the concrete specimens especially in the control sample. However, the total temperature rises caused by the heat of hydration through both of the new binary and ternary concrete were significantly lower than the control sample. The obtained results reveal that the replacement of Portland cement with binary and ternary materials is beneficial, particularly for mass concrete where thermal cracking due to extreme heat rise is of great concern.
Plastic waste constitutes the third largest waste volume in Malaysian municipal solid waste (MSW), next to putrescible waste and paper. The plastic component in MSW from Kuala Lumpur averages 24% (by weight), whereas the national mean is about 15%. The 144 waste dumps in the country receive about 95% of the MSW, including plastic waste. The useful life of the landfills is fast diminishing as the plastic waste stays un-degraded for more than 50 years. In this study the compostability of polyethylene and pro-oxidant additive-based environmentally degradable plastics (EDP) was investigated. Linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) samples exposed hydrolytically or oxidatively at 60 degrees C showed that the abiotic degradation path was oxidative rather than hydrolytic. There was a weight loss of 8% and the plastic has been oxidized as shown by the additional carbonyl group exhibited in the Fourier transform infra red (FTIR) Spectrum. Oxidation rate seemed to be influenced by the amount of pro-oxidant additive, the chemical structure and morphology of the plastic samples, and the surface area. Composting studies during a 45-day experiment showed that the percentage elongation (reduction) was 20% for McD samples [high-density polyethylene, (HDPE) with 3% additive] and LL samples (LLDPE with 7% additive) and 18% reduction for totally degradable plastic (TDP) samples (HDPE with 3% additive). Lastly, microbial experiments using Pseudomonas aeroginosa on carbon-free media with degradable plastic samples as the sole carbon source, showed confirmatory results. A positive bacterial growth and a weight loss of 2.2% for degraded polyethylene samples were evident to show that the degradable plastic is biodegradable.
The solid acid Ferric-manganese doped tungstated/molybdena nananoparticle catalyst was prepared via impregnation reaction followed by calcination at 600°C for 3 h. The characterization was done using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), temperature programmed desorption of NH3 (TPD-NH3), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and Brunner-Emmett-Teller surface area measurement (BET). Moreover, dependence of biodiesel yield on the reaction variables such as the reaction temperature, catalyst loading, as well as molar ratio of methanol/oil and reusability were also appraised. The catalyst was reused six times without any loss in activity with maximum yield of 92.3% ±1.12 achieved in the optimized conditions of reaction temperature of 200°C; stirring speed of 600 rpm, 1:25 molar ratio of oil to alcohol, 6 % w/w catalyst loading as well as 8 h as time of the reaction. The fuel properties of WCOME's were evaluated, including the density, kinematic viscosity, pour point, cloud point and flash point whereas all properties were compared with the limits in the ASTM D6751 standard.
Response surface methodology (RSM) with central composite design (CCD) was applied to optimize key factors affecting
hydrogen production (HP) from diluted acid hydrolysate of water-hyacinth stem (WHS) by heat-treated anaerobic sludge
in a batch fermentation process. Key factors affecting namely substrate concentration and initial pH was investigated.
The results indicated that substrate concentration and initial pH had significantly effects on HP (p<0.05). A maximum HP
hydrogen production rate and hydrogen yield of 182.7 mmol H2
/L, 2.81 mmol H2
/L h and 0.84 mol H2
/mol hexose were
obtained under the optimum conditions i.e. substrate concentration of 4.06 g/L and initial pH of 5.81. The total energy
production from the fermentative of WHS hydrolysate was 1.97 kJ.
The large surface area of highly porous titanium structures produced by additive manufacturing can be modified using biofunctionalizing surface treatments to improve the bone regeneration performance of these otherwise bioinert biomaterials. In this longitudinal study, we applied and compared three types of biofunctionalizing surface treatments, namely acid-alkali (AcAl), alkali-acid-heat treatment (AlAcH), and anodizing-heat treatment (AnH). The effects of treatments on apatite forming ability, cell attachment, cell proliferation, osteogenic gene expression, bone regeneration, biomechanical stability, and bone-biomaterial contact were evaluated using apatite forming ability test, cell culture assays, and animal experiments. It was found that AcAl and AnH work through completely different routes. While AcAl improved the apatite forming ability of as-manufactured (AsM) specimens, it did not have any positive effect on cell attachment, cell proliferation, and osteogenic gene expression. In contrast, AnH did not improve the apatite forming ability of AsM specimens but showed significantly better cell attachment, cell proliferation, and expression of osteogenic markers. The performance of AlAcH in terms of apatite forming ability and cell response was in between both extremes of AnH and AsM. AcAl resulted in significantly larger volumes of newly formed bone within the pores of the scaffold as compared to AnH. Interestingly, larger volumes of regenerated bone did not translate into improved biomechanical stability as AnH exhibited significantly better biomechanical stability as compared to AcAl suggesting that the beneficial effects of cell-nanotopography modulations somehow surpassed the benefits of improved apatite forming ability. In conclusion, the applied surface treatments have considerable effects on apatite forming ability, cell attachment, cell proliferation, and bone ingrowth of the studied biomaterials. The relationship between these properties and the bone-implant biomechanics is, however, not trivial.
Lanthanide element in the methanation reaction gives an excellent catalytic performance at low reaction temperature. Praseodymium is one of lanthanide element and was chosen due to its properties which are thermally stable and provide excess of oxygen in the oxide lattice. Therefore, a catalyst of Ru/Mn/Pr (5:30:65)/Al2O3 (RMP, 5:30:65/Al2O3) was prepared via wetness impregnation method and the effect of calcination temperature on the catalyst performance was investigated using FTIR analysis. The RMP/Al2O3 catalyst calcined at 800 o C was chosen as an excel catalyst with CO2 conversion of 96.9% and CH4 formation of 45.1% at 350 o C reaction temperature. From the EDX mapping, it can be observed that the distribution of all element is homogeneous at 800 o C and 900 o C except Ru, O and Al at 1000 o C calcination temperature. The image from FESEM also shows the presence of some crystal shape on the catalyst surface. From the FTIR analysis, the peak stretching and bending mode of O-H bond decreased when the calcination temperature increased.
Multiwall carbon nanotube (CNT)-filled high density polyethylene (HDPE) nanocomposites were prepared by extrusion and considered for their suitability in the offshore sheathing applications. Transmission electron microscopy was conducted to analyse dispersion after bulk extrusion. Monolithic and nanocomposite samples were subjected to accelerated weathering and photodegradation (carbonyl and vinyl indices) characterisations, which consisted of heat, moisture (seawater) and UV light, intended to imitate the offshore conditions. The effects of accelerated weathering on mechanical properties (tensile strength and elastic modulus) of the nanocomposites were analysed. CNT addition in HDPE produced environmentally resilient nanocomposites with improved mechanical properties. The energy utilised to extrude nanocomposites was also less than the energy used to extrude monolithic HDPE samples. The results support the mass substitution of CNT-filled HDPE nanocomposites in high-end offshore applications.
Two cases of carbon monoxide poisoning involving 3 victims occurred in Cameron Highlands in the months of August and September 1995. Two of the victims were found dead in the bathrooms where they were taking a bath while the other one survived. Blood toxicology from the post mortems revealed high levels of carbon monoxide. The only significant source of carbon monoxide in both cases were the gas water heaters which were installed in the bathrooms. A multigas detector was used to monitor the level of carbon monoxide in one of the bathrooms and carbon monoxide was found to be produced to 1200 ppm in 16 minutes during operation of the heater. Carbon monoxide poisoning from gas water heaters installed in bathroom is a significant hazard.
This study demonstrated the generation of clean water from seawater collected at the beach coast in Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Malaysia, with carbonized rice husk coated melamine sponge as solar absorber by a solar still. Melamine sponge was utilized as a seawater transportation medium since its porous structure is excellent in channelling the seawater. Whereas carbonized rice husk was used as the photothermal conversion material for its efficient heat absorption due to its black colour and porous structure. Implementing air gap between the seawater body and solar absorber, and restricted water pathway assisted in localizing heat on the top surface of the solar absorber. Clean water was generated under direct solar radiation during the day at an open space with average solar intensity around 1.1∼1.2 kW/m2 (slightly higher than 1 sun) for about 4 h. Efficiency of the solar absorber was calculated, while the quality of the generated clean water was observed in terms of salinity and pH value. Insulated solar still with carbon-coated sponge showed the highest efficiency at about 54.74%. Salinity of the collected clean water significantly reduced to consumable level which was approximately 55 ppm, and the pH value at about 6.73 where it was within the safe limit of the drinkable water pH.
The current study dealt with the synthesis and characterization of carboxymethyl fenugreek galactomannang-g-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-N,N'-methylene-bis-acrylamide)-bentonite [CFG-g-P(NIPA-co-MBA)-BEN] based nanocomposites (NCs) as erlotinib (ERL)-delivery devices for lung cancer cells to suppress excessive cell proliferation. The blank NCs exhibited outstanding biodegradability and pH/temperature-dependent swelling profiles, which were significantly influenced by their BEN contents (0-20%). The molar mass (M¯c) between the crosslinks of these NCs was declined with temperature. The composite architecture of these scaffolds was confirmed by XRD, FTIR, TGA, DSC and SEM analyses. The corresponding ERL-loaded matrices (F-1-F-3) portrayed outstanding drug encapsulation efficiency (DEE, 93-100%) with zeta potential between -8 and -16 mV and diameter between 615 and 1258 nm. These formulations demonstrated sustained ERL elution profiles (Q8h, 62-98%) with an initial burst release of drug. The drug dissolution pattern of the optimized matrices (F-3) obeyed first-order kinetic model and was driven by Fickian diffusion. The mucin adsorption behavior of F-3 was best fitted to Freudlich isotherms. The ERL-loaded formulation suppressed A549 cell proliferation and promoted apoptosis to a greater extent than the pristine drug, as detected by cellular uptake analysis, MTT cytotoxicity test and AO/EB staining assay.
Porous Carbon Nanoparticles (PCNs) with well-developed microporosity were obtained from bio-waste oil palm leaves (OPL) using single step pyrolysis in nitrogen atmosphere at 500-600 °C in tube-furnace without any catalysis support. The key approach was using silica (SiO2) bodies of OPL as a template in the synthesis of microporous carbon nanoparticles with very small particle sizes of 35-85 nm and pore sizes between 1.9-2 nm.