Treatment of palm oil mill secondary effluent (POMSE) using ultrafiltration and nanofiltration membranes

Malaysian palm oil industry has grown rapidly over the last few decades, to becoming the world’s largest producer and exporter of palm oil. This success story however, comes with a greater challenge and equally required more sacrifices in order to maintain the tempo. In the year of 2004, it has been recorded that 26.7 million tons of solid biomass and approximately a 30 million tons of palm oil mill effluent (POME) were generated from 381 palm oil mills in Malaysia [1]. Although different kind of wastes are generated in the palm oil mills, the perceived harmful waste among all the waste generated is the palm oil mill effluent (POME) due to its associated harm if discharged into the environment untreated [2]. POME is a colloidal suspension originating from mixture of sterilizer condensate, separator sludge and hydro cyclone wastewater in a ratio of 9:15:1 respectively [3]. It is a brownish colored, thick liquid that is containing high amount of oil, solids, and grease with high Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) values. Table 15.1 describes the characteristic of POME obtained from Malaysian Palm Oil Board

Analysing B2B electronic procurement benefits – Information systems perspective

This paper presents electronic procurement benefits identified in four case companies. The benefits achieved in the case companies were classified according to taxonomies from the Information Systems discipline. Existing taxonomies were combined into a new taxonomy which allows evaluation of the complex e-procurement impact. Traditional financial-based methods failed to capture the nature of e-procurement benefits. In the new taxonomy, eprocurement benefits are classified using scorecard dimensions (strategic, tactical and operational), which allows the identification of areas of e-procurement impact, in addition the benefits characteristic is captured (tangible, intangible, financial and non-financial)

An in-depth analysis of e-procurement use in UK construction organisations

Eadie et al (2007) show that there are many advantages in the adoption of e-procurement within a construction organisation. However, its uptake within the construction industry has been inadequately researched. Martin (2003, 2008) investigated e-procurement use across quantity surveying organisations in United Kingdom. However, the picture is not complete as other disciplines within construction are not considered. This paper seeks to address this issue. Martin (2003, 2008) does not seek to identify the sizes or spend on procurement activities by those quantity surveying organisations who have adopted the use of e-procurement. This paper investigates the correlations between size, procurement spend and adoption of e-procurement. A survey was conducted in two parts: the initial survey looked at 70 contractors in Northern Ireland which had carried out e-procurement. This was followed by the main survey, which contained a telephone survey followed by a web-based survey. The telephone survey of 775 organisations identified the amount of e-procurement in construction within the United Kingdom. This was followed by a web-based questionnaire survey of the identified organisations on e-procurement for construction based activities. These produced a breakdown of e-procurement use and spend on completion of pricing documentation across the construction industry

An assistive robotics control system based on speech semantic recognition

Since 90’s era, many researchers and organizations are working on assistive technologies to ease the disabilities people to move around freely, independence, comfort and have the capabilities to enjoy life to the fullest. Nowadays, most of assistive technologies such as manual wheelchairs are propelled by patients sitting on the chair and physically turning the large rear wheels with hand or need helpers to push the chair by handles from behind of the wheelchair. Meanwhile, most of voice command wheelchair unable to deal with an unknown word and cannot take spontaneous speech data from the native speakers. Thus, this project proposes a method of control system for an assistive robotic based on speech semantic recognition through hardware implementation. Consequently, the purpose of this project is to develop a system based on speech semantic or meaning or the interpretation of a word, sentence, or others language form that can be used for an assistive robot. The mobile robot is represented as a wheelchair and a home prototype floor plan is represented as a house with four rooms (living room, toilet, kitchen and bedroom). The mobile robot moves according to the semantic of user commands and the commands are given on Android application Arduino Bluetooth Controller. This Android application is used to catch the command using Google Voice and send the command through Bluetooth HC-05 that connected to the Arduino. Moreover, the obstacle avoidance sensor used for this project is SHARP IR Distance Measurement sensor that standby when their obstacles in front of this mobile robot and the navigation system of this mobile robot are using Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). The effectiveness of this mobile robot has been tested using qualitative method by gathered 12 respondents to test this mobile robot on the floor plan. The total effectiveness of this mobile robot is 83%. This mobile robot is still effective but there are some parts that are still missing and need to be improved. Finally, the main contribution of this project is to help physically handicapped people such as patients who cannot move their feet by controlling using speech meanings through helpful robotics applications

Analysis of the use of e-procurement in the public and private sectors of the UK construction industry

Summary: Eadie et.al (2010a, 2010b) identified 20 advantages in the adoption of e-procurement within a construction organisation. The Glover report (2008) indicated that by the end of 2010 all public sector procurement should be electronic. The use of e-procurement within the construction industry has been inadequately researched. Martin (2009) examined quantity surveying organisations perspectives on the use of e procurement across the United Kingdom. This paper seeks to address the knowledge gap that exists in the analysis of the level of usage of e-procurement within the construction industry. It compares the findings for the construction industry with other industries on company size and spend. Martin (2009) does not seek to investigate the size or spend on procurement activities of those quantity surveying organisations who have adopted e-procurement. This paper investigates the correlations between size, procurement spend and adoption of e-procurement in construction organisations comparing it with other industries. It concludes that the findings of Griloa and Jardim-Goncalves (2010) and European Commission (2007) were correct in suggesting that the AEC sector has been lagging behind other sectors in the adoption of e-procurement and provides a breakdown of the different types of organisations who currently use e-procurement. It further identifies the size of organisations which have implemented e-procurement within construction. On the client and consultant side in traditional contracts, company sizes of 21-50 employees make the highest use of eprocurement. This confirms that when analysing according to the size of organisation, construction organisations perform in a similar way to other industries as reported in Batenburg (2007) and Gunasekarana and Ngai (2008). However, this study indicates that very small companies may still be put off by the costs of software (corroborates De Boer et al, 2002; Kauffman and Mohtadi, 2004). The study proposes the types of construction organisation most likely to be utilising the benefits of eprocurement in construction by procurement spend and size. It also indicates that the deadlines in the Glover report (2008) relating to e-procurement in construction are unlikely to be met

Evaluating and identifying optimal BIM communication patterns within design and construction projects

The shift from paper based communication to exchange of electronic copies of documents and drawings has made project participants overloaded with information. Electronically exchanged information could be better supported through BIM and automation of routing information using workflow management technologies to improve information availability for decision making. However, it has been observed that BIM is currently being utilized as a number of disconnected models. The built-in intelligence in BIM allows automated updating and extraction of 2D drawings, documentation and other building information. Extracted documents create extra work to be communicated to project teams. Therefore more tasks and communications are created. Accordingly, this study identifies the impacts of BIM in project team communication. It also critically evaluates electronic communication patterns and people’s activities by data profiling to identify variables and project characteristics that have an impact on electronic communication level

Suitability of BIM for enhancing value on PPP projects for the benefit of the public sector

Collaborative integrated working and stakeholder’s interest have been among key drivers that underpin and encourage the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) within the AEC industry. BIM is becoming a major means to deliver projects with better improved product, and reduced risk within the construction industry. Furthermore, using BIM in areas like buildability, quality assurance, cost and scheduling can be justified through BIM-nD modelling application. What is not so obvious is how the utilisation of BIM visualisation and knowledge embedment will enhance these areas to refine and achieve better value for PPP procurement projects for the long term benefit especially during post-construction phase for the public sector. As of now there is no well-defined guidance with respect to BIM usage incorporating all of the above. Do we really need to revisit the way we specify projects within the contractual framework under PPP? This paper examines the possibility of how BIM can be utilised in the realisation of augmented formal database information management system under the PPP procurement routes with respect to operation and maintenance support. The paper concludes with additional measures that BIM can offer at the post-construction phase for the public sector at learning organisations

Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Large Hadron Collider to 2025 and beyond

Social cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of projects has been successfully applied in different fields such as transport, energy, health, education, and environment, including climate change. It is often argued that it is impossible to extend the CBA approach to the evaluation of the social impact of research infrastructures, because the final benefit to society of scientific discovery is generally unpredictable. Here, we propose a quantitative approach to this problem, we use it to design an empirically testable CBA model, and we apply it to the the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the highest-energy accelerator in the world, currently operating at CERN. We show that the evaluation of benefits can be made quantitative by determining their value to users (scientists, early-stage researchers, firms, visitors) and non-users (the general public). Four classes of contributions to users are identified: knowledge output, human capital development, technological spillovers, and cultural effects. Benefits for non-users can be estimated, in analogy to public goods with no practical use (such as environment preservation), using willingness to pay. We determine the probability distribution of cost and benefits for the LHC since 1993 until planned decommissioning in 2025, and we find there is a 92% probability that benefits exceed its costs, with an expected net present value of about 3 billion euro, not including the unpredictable economic value of discovery of any new physics. We argue that the evaluation approach proposed here can be replicated for any large-scale research infrastructure, thus helping the decision-making on competing projects, with a socio-economic appraisal complementary to other evaluation criteria.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure