Nuclear technology has found a great need for use in medicine, industry, and research. Smoke
detectors in our homes, medical treatments and new varieties of plants by irradiating its seeds are just a few examples of the benefits of nuclear technology. Portable neutron source such as Californium-252, available at Industrial Technology Division (BTI/PAT), Malaysian Nuclear Agency, has a 2.645 year half-life. However, 252 Cf is known to emit gamma radiation from the source. Thus, this chamber aims to provide a proper gamma shielding for samples to distinguish the use of mixed neutron with gamma-rays or pure neutron radiation. The chamber is compatible to be used with other portable neutron sources such as 241 Am-Be as well as the reactor TRIGA PUSPATI for higher neutron dose. This chamber was designed through a collaborative effort of Kulliyyah Engineering, IIUM with the Bahagian Teknologi Industri (BTI) team, Agency Nuklear Malaysia.
The low resolution Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) polar-orbiting satellites Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) is being received and recorded in real-time mode at ground receiving station in School of Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sabah. The system is suitable for the developing and undeveloped countries in south and Southeast Asia and is said to be acceptable for engineering, agricultural, climatological and environmental applications. The system comprises a personal computer attached with a small APT receiver. The data transmission between the ground receiving station and NOAA satellites is using the electromagnetic wave. The relation for receiving and processing the electromagnetic wave in the transmission will be discussed.
Effects of cultural practice under different habitats, of well-managed monoculture plantation and growing wild under rubber trees, were studied in Aquilaria malaccensis (Karas) leaves. This study was carried out on Karas growing in these two habitats each from Lipis, Pahang and Sepang, Selangor areas in Malaysia; under the control and induced treatments. The parameters studied include wet and dry weight of 50 matured leaves, iron and zinc elemental contents in leaf, iron and zinc uptakes from soil, and leaf and soil moisture contents. Iron and zinc were analysed in Karas leaves and soil by using Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) technique.
CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) has attracted a great attention for electronic devices miniaturization due to its
very high dielectric constant properties at a wide range of frequency and nearly constant over broad temperature range. The origins of the giant dielectric constant have been speculated from electrical heterogeneous of interior elements of the CCTO ceramics. Four origins were suggested contributed to the electrical heterogeneous. In this study heat treatment were done with the electrode contact in Argon gas environment and the electrical properties over very wide frequency of CCTO ceramics were investigated. Cylindrical CCTO pellets samples were prepared by solid state reaction method and single phase of XRD pattern was obtained after sintering processes. Electrical impedance responds were measured at frequency from 100 Hz to 1 GHz for the samples for untreated and heat treated at 200ºC, 250ºC, 300ºC, 350ºC and 400ºC of CCTO. Improvement to the dielectric constant can be seen for 350ºC and 400ºC samples and dielectric loss were improved for 200ºC and 300ºC samples for overall frequency. The variations were discussed based on oxygen deficiency content and resistivity of the elements inside of CCTO structure.
Fly ash (PFA) is a complex material produced after combustion in coal-fired power plants. About half of this fly ash is disposed as solid wastes. A possible alternative to disposal of the fly ash is the synthesis of zeolite. Zeolite Boggsite (Na37Ca74Al185Si775O192 7H2O) was synthesized from fly ash by hydrothermal treatment with NaOH solutions as identified by x-ray diffraction. The zeolite type and degree of crystallization were found to be dependent on the reaction conditions and mineralogy of the raw material, particularly in terms of the relative concentrations of SiO2 and Al2O3.
The paper describes the uses of microfocus XRF to identify infected Basal Stem Rot (BSR) disease in Malaysian palm oil plants. Among symptoms of BSR are wilting of the leaves and plant malnutrition. The study involves determining the inorganic element content of normal and infected leaves. Si, Mo, Cl, K, Ca and Mn had been identified as the major elements. Their distribution was determined by constructing an elemental map of each of this element on the leaves. Line scan was also performed to look into changes on the element composition on a defined region. Quantitative analysis of Cl, Ca and K on the normal and infected leaves show that the infected leaves have lower Cl content and a higher Ca/K ratio than the normal leaves.
A process to produce calcium phosphate biomaterial was done using an organic based diethylhexyl phosphoric acid (DEHPA) as its starting material. The gel obtained from this reaction was used to study calcium phosphate transformation using in-situ XRD with temperature ranges from room temperature to 1300 o C. The results obtained from this analysis show the following phase transformation sequence gel > β-Ca2P2O7 > β-TCP + HA > α-TCP + HA. β-Ca2P2O7 was formed at 400 o C and the sample when heated up to 1000 o C, peaks of β- TCP and HA appeared showing the transformation of the β-Ca2P2O7 phase. When the sample was heated up further to 1200 o C, β-TCP transformed into α-TCP.
Dielectric material CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) prepared by solid state technique, was calcined at different temperatures (700 - 1000 o C) for 6 and 12 hours. The calcined powder were analysed by XRD to identify the CCTO formation. Then the microstructure was observed by SEM. The CCTO single phase formation was firstly detected on sample calcined at 700 o C for 12 hours. The microstructure obtained shows the particles were spherical in shape. The grain getting larger as calcination temperature was increased.
The term microfibril angle, MFA in wood science refers to the angle between the direction of the helical windings of cellulose microfibrils in the secondary cell wall, S2 layer of fibres and tracheids and the long axis of the cell. In this study, the mean MFA of the cell walls were determined for thin samples of thickness 200.0 µm from pith and outwards, for eight ages of Acacia mangium wood. The determination of MFA was based on a diffraction pattern arising from cellulose crystal planes of the type 002 generated by x-ray diffraction and recorded using an electronic detector. The results show an inversely relationship between MFA and age of tree in Acacia mangium wood. MFA decreased from 26.13° at age 3 year-old to 0.20° at tree of age 15 year-old for the pith region. The most significant drop occurred from 16.14° at age 7 yearold to 11.30° at age 9 year-old. An inversely relationship between MFA and storage modulus E’ was evidence in Acacia mangium at age 10-year-old. The results showed that about 76.22% variation of loss modulus E” was attributed to the MFA, while about 66.4% of the variation of glass transition Tg was explained by MFA under the same experimental conditions.
Hydroxyapatite (HA) powder was synthesized via wet method using calcium nitrate hydrate (Ca(NO3)2.H2O) and diammonium hydrogen phosphate ((NH4)2HPO4) as raw materials. Powder obtained was milled using various milling speed ranging from 250 to 400 r.p.m. and sintered at 1300°C for 2hrs. Due to the nature of HA powder that decomposed at high temperature, XRD technique have been used in this work to determine the phase composition of the HA powder and also the crystallite size. The unmilled sample was used as the control group. Results show that sufficient heat supply generated from the milling process, initiates the decomposition of HA phase into ȕ-tricalcium phosphate (ȕ-TCP). Decomposition of HA starts to occur at the milling speed of 300 rpm, i.e the formation of ȕ-TCP was occurred at lower sintering temperature. It was believed that the decomposition of HA was associated with the formation of an intermediate phase, oxyapatite. Moreover, the crystallinity and particle size of the produced powder is very much affected by the milling speed and the stability of the HA. All milled powders possess spherical shape particle.
The purpose of this study is to determine the technetium-99m pertechnetate (99mTcO4) intercellular uptake by different types of cell lines. HeLa, human fetal
osteoblast (hFOB), glial and glioma cell lines grown in 6-wells culture plates were incubated with 99mTcO4 of activity of 200, 400, 600. 800 and 1000
pCi for 30 minutes at 3T°C and 5% ( '< - humidified atmosphere. After incubation, the cells were washed 3 times with phosphate buffer saline to remove the
extracellular traces of 99mTcO4. Measurements of the intercellular Q9mTcOjt radioactivity were performed using single head gamma
camera and the percentage uptake of the yUwTcGpinto the cells was calculated. The intercellular uptake
0fyUmTcO_( was found to be inversely correlate to the radioactivity HeLa cell shows the highest uptake
followed by hFOB, glial and glioma cell lines. Comparison of uptake between normal and cancer cells
present indistinguishable results. The findings of this study suggest that the intercellular uptake of
yymTcOjt is highly dependent on the type of cells despite no significant different of uptake was found
between normal and cancer cell lines. The level of radioactivity is also an important determinant
factor that influence the uptake ofyUmTcG) into the cells. This study will be the first precedent toward
understanding the cellular characteristic and pharmacokinetic of non-invasive imaging tracer for
future molecular imaging and therapy.
Surface free energies have been evaluated from Young’s moduli and lattice parameter data of five aluminium alloys with varying amounts of stanum to determine the inter-correlation with anode capacity of the alloys. The composition containing ~1.47%Sn exhibits a minimum in the surface free energy which accounts for the decrease in the tendency of the alloy to undergo passivation thus resulting in a higher anode capacity of 2478Ah/kg at ≈ 0.08mA/cm 2 , current density. The results showed that aluminium alloy containing certain amount of stanum has lowered surface free energy, leading to reduction in passive film thickness and reduces metal/oxide bond strength. These factors in turn result in a better cathodic protection property of aluminium alloy containing stanum.
In this study the intermetallic (IMC) thickness of Sn-Pb, Sn-Zn and Sn-Zn-Bi solders on copper (Cu) substrate were measured at different temperatures using reflow methods. Cu6Sn5 intermetallic phase was detected between Sn-Pb solder and Cu substrate. The J-Cu5Zn8 phase was detected between Sn-Zn and Sn-Zn-Bi lead-free solders with Cu substrate. The thickness of the intermetallics increases with temperature. The IMC thickness for Sn-8Zn-3Bi solder is lower than Sn-9Zn solder for all the soldering temperatures, indicating that Bi has suppressed the initial IMC formation.
The amount of sugarcane bagasse and rice straw in the state of Perlis (Malaysia) is abundant while its utilization is still limited. One of the alternatives for the bagasse and straw utilization is as pulp raw material. This paper reviews on pulp from sugarcane bagasse and rice straw and its suitability for paper production. In this study, the pulp was extracted by the Soxhlet extraction method. The objective of this study was to investigate the cellulose, lignin and silica content of the pulp from sugarcane bagasse and rice straw. For rice straw, the presence of large amount of pentosanes in the pulp and black liquors, which also contain silica were decreased the using of straw in the paper industry. Therefore, formic acid pulping and NaOH treatment are studied to reduce or prevent silica. The isolated pulp samples were further characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to investigate their fiber dimensions.
In the an electron-proton collider, neutral hadrons were produced in the hadronisation process that
occurred just after the electron-proton collision. The neutral hadrons were produced at interaction
point using reference energy from its centre-of-mass. In this paper, we discuss the kinematics of
particles produced from its centre-of-mass and the hadronisation process follows after such collision.
A laboratory scale test rig to treat simulated flue gas using electron beam technology was installed at the Alurtron EB-Irradiation Center, MINT. The experiment test rig was proposed as a result of feasibility studies conducted jointly by IAEA, MINT and TNB Research in 1997. The test rig system consists of several components, among others, diesel generator sets, pipe ducts, spray cooler, ammonia dosage system, irradiation vessel, bag filter and gas analyzers. The installation was completed and commissioned in October 2001. Results from the commissioning test runs and subsequent experimental work showed that the efficiency of flue gas treatment is high. It was proven that electron beam technology might be applied in the treatment of air pollutants. This paper describes the design and work function of the individual major components as well as the full system function. Results from the initial experimental works are also presented.
Neutrino is one of the nuclear particles that are necessary for the correct description of nuclear beta decay. The standard idea is that it is a massless neutral particle and its existence was postulated in order to save the conservation of ener gy principle. This particle was later detected experimentally and it is now known that neutrino has mass. The problem of astrophysical neutrino detection has produced a new phenomenon of neutrino oscillation where the three neutrino flav ours can oscillate between themselves. This paper studies the two component neutrino oscillation problem. We study the neutrino oscillation by using the Lagrangian formulation. In our study, we assume that the neutrinos are produced as n eutrino mass eigenstate and propagate in the vacuum in the superposition of two neutrino flavour state. The Lagrangian for neutrinos with their mass and the oscillation terms were obtained. By using the mass matrix in the Lagrangian, we formulate the time evolution operator in the interaction picture. The neutrino oscillation probability obtained by using the Lagrangian formulation have the same result with the one obtained by using quantum mechanics formulation. This study hopes to gain some deeper understanding into the behaviour of neutrino beyond the Standard Model.
Ceramic of BaxSr1-xTiO3 (BST) for x =0.3; 0.5 and 0.7 were successfully deposited by solid solution method. The BST ceramic were analyzed by x-ray diffraction (XRD). The XRD spectra was recorded on a Philips type PW 3701 diffractometer using CuKD (Oco = 1.54056 Å) radiation at 30 KV and 30 mA (900 watt). The spectra shows that BST ceramic are polycrystalline with tetragonal structure. The lattice constants analysis of the grown ceramics was analyzed by visual basic program. Using Cohen’s and Cramer’s algorithms in visual basic program, , the lattice constants are a = b = 3.877 Å; c = 3.970 Å for Ba0.3Sr0.7TiO3 ceramic, a = b = 3.979 Å; c = 3.981 Å. for Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 ceramic and a = b = 3.965 Å; c = 4.005 Å for Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3 ceramic, respectively. The reform value of the lattice constant of BST ceramic is possibly associated with the anti site defects of Ba and Sr.
Polymer blends of 60/40 NR/HDPE were prepared using Brabender PL2000 Plasticorder with 60g capacity. The blends were added with radiation-sensitive natural rubber (NR)-based compatibilizer, known as LENRA. They were irradiated with electron-beam radiation at various doses. The efficacy of the compatibilizer was monitored by measuring various properties of the blends such as physical and dynamic mechanical properties including morphological studies by electron microscopic technique. Early results show that the addition of LENRA improves the properties of the TPNR blends.
The existence of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) such as K-40 was studied all over the world for their characteristics and effects on human and environment. K-40 exist in the earth crust with the concentration about 1.8 mg/kg or 481 Bq/g.. In this study, the level of K-40 in soil samples were measured using gamma spectrometer equipped with hyper pure germanium detector. The samples were collected from an oil palm cultivated area of Jengka 15, in Maran District, Pahang. The results show the level of K-40 activities at various locations. The activities of K-40 are in the range 52.9-150.5 Bq/kg and total potassium concentrations are 1.60-4.50%. There are no correlation between activities of K-40 with elevation i.e. R2= 0.0885.