Treatment Disposal of Urban Runoff Pollution from Road and Highways

Previous management efforts have primarily concentrated on reducing the risk of downstream flooding to protect lives and properties. This is referred to as quality control. Although this approach has proven to be reasonably effective in curtailing flooding problems, it cannot mitigate the adverse impacts urbanization has on stream habitat or increased pollutants export. In order to solve the current problem, a new approach of managing urban runoff called 'control at source' (integrated approach) is being experimented and its implementation in Malaysia is still in early stages. The runoff treatments such as grassed swales, infiltration trenches and wet ponds are looked into as possible treatment to the highway runoff of this project. The methodology of this project will focus on the quality controls of urban runoff. From the preliminary findings, grassed swale is proposed as the treatment for the highway runoff and its efficiency is expected to meet with the standards set up by authorities

Women leadership and community development

Traditionally, community affairs and administration has been the domain of men. This is evident from the gender imbalance of leaders and office bearers across community, local council and associations. Women have not been active in local politics and are relatively inactive in public processes due to institutional, socio-economic and cultural constraints. However, times are changing. There is now an acceptance that women can and do play a vital role in community affairs, particularly in contributing to the achievement of community security, development and progress. This article documents the experiences of three female leaders in their quest to unite and lead their peers in the betterment of their communities. This qualitative research employed various methodologies such as in-depth interviews, observations and document analysis. Specifically, the research findings described and analyzed the leadership understanding and styles, reasons for becoming leaders, barriers of women leadership and strategies employed by these women leaders in developing the community

Treatment Disposal of Urban Runoff Pollution from Road and Highways

Previous management efforts have primarily concentrated on reducing the risk of downstream flooding to protect lives and properties. This is referred to as quality control. Although this approach has proven to be reasonably effective in curtailing flooding problems, it cannot mitigate the adverse impacts urbanization has on stream habitat or increased pollutants export. In order to solve the current problem, a new approach of managing urban runoff called 'control at source' (integrated approach) is being experimented and its implementation in Malaysia is still in early stages. The runoff treatments such as grassed swales, infiltration trenches and wet ponds are looked into as possible treatment to the highway runoff of this project. The methodology of this project will focus on the quality controls of urban runoff. From the preliminary findings, grassed swale is proposed as the treatment for the highway runoff and its efficiency is expected to meet with the standards set up by authorities

A comparative study on press freedom between Malaysia and Australia / Afiqah Mohammad…[et al.]

The press plays vital roles to a well informed society in a democratic country. In Malaysia, the press is restricted from freely carrying out its functions to inform the citizen by a number of laws enacted by Parliament. A number of press laws are said to have restrictive effects on the media. There are a lot of bodies and individuals that have put forward their ideas to have greater freedom of press. These include seeking for a revision on our press laws but such actions are yet to be considered by the authority. This raises a question on to whether the Malaysian press has been given sufficient freedom of press. In carrying out this research, a comparison has been made between the press in Malaysia and Australia. This research is actually an attempt to analyse the constitutional safeguard protecting freedom of press in Malaysia and Australia. Besides, this research will examine the extent of press freedom in Malaysia and Australia. This is a library-based research. Data and information were gathered from the library and internet databases. Findings show that both Malaysia and Australia have certain restrictions on press but to different extent. As compared to Malaysia, in Australia, the press has a self regulatory body which governs matters relating to press. It is hoped that this research can be useful to provide better understanding of knowledge and to provide access for the citizen in area of press freedom due to fact that there are differences of approach between Malaysia and Australia on who draws the balancing rights and restraints

Participative and effective community leadership practice in Malaysia.

This article discussed effective leadership from various theories. The dominant ideas on leadership initially begin with the traits theory, followed by behavior theory, situational theory and integrative theory. In analyzing these theories, one key theme emerged that contribute to effective leadership. It is the participative leadership style that was used in various forms such as the democratic, people-oriented and team leadership. Studies in Malaysia indicated that participative leadership is the key to a success of future public leadership in Malaysia. Ming-Yi Wu conducted comparative studies of participative leadership and concluded that it is culturally bound. There are differences between particpative leadership practiced in Taiwan, Japan and the United States. Furthermore, the researcher noted that most leadership studies are western biased, and thus there is a need to conduct studies in other cultures. This study focused on participative leadership among community leaders in Malaysia. It is based on a qualitative study, involving the in-depth interviews of eight Chairmen of Neighborhood Associations in Malaysia. The interview was recorded, transcribed verbatim, coded and analyzed into themes. One of the emerging themes from the findings relate to participative leadership. In conducting various leadership roles in the community, the leaders have to use the participative leadership approach in order to be more effective. However, the participation levels that the leaders can involve others in community efforts vary with situations

Comparison of phytochemicals, antioxidant and anti-cholinesterase activity of unripe and ripe fruit of sonneratia caseolaris

Sonneratia caseolaris, also known as mangrove apple produces the edible fruit which can be found mainly on tidal mud in mangroves area. Since this fruit is considered as underutilized fruit as it is not fully discovered for its potential health benefits and not fully commercialized, hence this study aimed to determine the phytochemicals contents (i.e. total flavonoid, phenolic, anthocyanins and carotenoids contents), antioxidant and anti-cholinesterase activity of different parts (flesh and stem cap) of the unripe and ripe fruit extracts. Phytochemicals, antioxidant and anti-cholinesterase activities were determined using standard methods of spectrophotometric analysis. The flesh part of unripe S. caseolaris displayed the highest total phenolic, flavonoid and carotenoid contents as compared to the other parts in 80% methanol extract with the values of 67.67±0.10 mg (GAE/g), 37.06±0.30 mg (RE/g) and 5.41±0.10 mg (BC/100 g), respectively. The flesh part of unripe S. caseolaris in 80% methanol extract exhibited the best antioxidant properties in three different assays (i.e. DPPH, FRAP and ABTS) with the values of 98.32±0.28%, 67.72±0.74 mmol/g and 91.24±1.23 mg/g, respectively. The acetylcholinesterase inhibition also was found to be higher in the flesh part of unripe 80% methanol S. caseolaris extract with 47.18±0.68% at the concentration of 250 µg/mL. Therefore, utilization of this fruit as natural antioxidant and acetylcholinesterase inhibition sources may develop new pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products

Ensuring the well-being of the elderly: revisiting the role and adequacy of social protection schemes in Malaysia and the Philippines

Globally, social protection schemes are considered as effective tools in ensuring the well-being of the poor, disempowered and otherwise marginalised people of society. It is applicable in cases of elderly people who are comparatively vulnerable due to their old age, and at times poverty or the lack of financial security.The proportion of elderly people in poverty is higher than that in the working age population, indicating the increasing likelihood of people falling into poverty as they leave or retire from the workforce. Therefore, one way of addressing poverty among the elderly is through social protection mechanisms. Malaysia and the Philippines are two Southeast Asian countries on their way to becoming ageing nations. As such, both these countries have already adopted numerous social protection schemes to ensure the well-being of the marginalised segments of society, including the elderly. Thus, based on existing literature, this paper is an attempt to revisit and re-examine the role and adequacy of existing social protection schemes available in Malaysia and the Philippines

Effects of different type of fertilizers on growth and physiology of MD2 pineapple

Study was conducted to evaluate the effects of two types of fertilizers (SRI and Kamila) on growth and physiological changes of MD2 pineapple. Results showed significant changes to the growth of the MD2 pineapple due to either use of soil with NPK or in combination. Application of NPK and SRI fertilizers showed the best performance on plant height and width from beginning until 10 weeks after treatment (WAT) while for leaf length fertilizer-Kamila combination showed the best performance until 10 WAT. Equally for the chlorophyll content, the treatment Kamila also showed the best performance at 6 MAT. Analysis of leaf of the pineapple plant showed that there was a decrease in nutrient content of most the elements in 3 MAT. But for nutrient analysis of soil, the outcomes showed that at 3 MAT the nutrients content increased especially in treatment of Kamila fertilizer combination. The nutrient contents of most of the elements were also very low from what has been expected, but the result of nutrient content in soil treated with Kamila - a controlled-release fertilizer showed a good result. Addition of controlled release fertilizer (Kamila) with SRI formulation showed positive improvement in the plant growth of pineapple variety MD2 compared to the plants without SRI formulation

Assessment of residual bio-efficacy and persistence of Ipomoea cairica plant extract against Culex quinquefasciatus Say mosquito

Specification on residual action of a possible alternative insecticide derived from plant materials is important to determine minimum interval time between applications and the environmental persistence of the biopesticides. The objective of this study is to evaluate crude acethonilic extract of Ipomoea cairica leaves for its residual and persistence effects against Culex quinquefasciatus larvae. Wild strain of Cx. quinquefasciatus larvae were used for the purpose of the study. Two test designs, replenishment of water and without replenishment of water were carried out. For the first design, a total of 10ml of test solution containing Ip. cairica extracts was replenished daily and replaced with 10ml of distilled water. For the second design, treatment water was maintained at 1500ml and only evaporated water was refilled. Larval mortality was recorded at 24 hours post-treatment after each introduction period and trials were terminated when mortality rate falls below 50%. Adult emergences from survived larvae were observed and number of survivals was recorded. For the non-replenishment design, mortality rate significantly reduced to below 50% after 28 days, meanwhile for replenishment of water declined significantly after 21 days (P < 0.05). There was no adult emergence observed up to seven days for non-replenishment and first two days for replenishment of water design. The short period of residual effectiveness of crude acethonilic extract of Ip. cairica leaves with high percentage of larval mortality on the first few days, endorses fewer concerns of having excess residues in the environment which may carry the risk of insecticide resistance and environmental pollution