Properties of concrete containing ground palm oil fuel ash as fine aggregate replacement

Environmental degradation resulting from increasing sand mining activities and disposal of palm oil fuel ash (POFA), a solid waste generated from palm oil mill needs to be resolved. Thus, the present research investigates the effect of ground palm oil fuel ash as partial fine aggregate replacement on workability, compressive and flexural strength of concrete. Five mixtures of concrete containing POFA as partial sand replacement designed with 0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% of POFA by the weight of sand were used in this experimental work. The cube and beam specimens were casted and water cured up to 28 days before subjected to compressive strength and flexural strength testing respectively. Finding shows that concrete workability reduces as the amount of POFA added become larger. It is worth to note that 10% of POFA is the best amount to be used as partial fine aggregate replacement to produce concrete with enhanced strength

Identification of rainfall patterns on hydrological simulation using robust principal component analysis

A robust dimension reduction method in Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to rectify the issue of unbalanced clusters in rainfall patterns due to the skewed nature of rainfall data. A robust measure in PCA using Tukey’s biweight correlation to downweigh observations was introduced and the optimum breakdown point to extract the number of components in PCA using this approach is proposed. A set of simulated data matrix that mimicked the real data set was used to determine an appropriate breakdown point for robust PCA and compare the performance of the both approaches. The simulated data indicated a breakdown point of 70% cumulative percentage of variance gave a good balance in extracting the number of components. The results showed a more significant and substantial improvement with the robust PCA than the PCA based Pearson correlation in terms of the average number of clusters obtained and its cluster quality

Challenge in applying quantitative analysis on bull semen quality in Malaysia

There is a huge challenge in managing quality control (QC) for Malaysian semen production centres (MSPCs) supplying bull semen to breeders and State Department of Veterinary (SDV). MSPCs are moving away from subjective semen assessment that is largely uncorrelated to field fertility, to objective semen analyses that incorporate computer assisted sperm analysis (CASA) and flow cytometry. A quantitative analysis (QA) approach to semen analysis using a combination of CASA and flow cytometry can provide MSPCs with the highest QC for bull semen production. This paper will describe how this QA approach could be applied in MSPCs to establish QC procedures of bull semen production before the release of the product in the field

The importance of human capital perspective in the Learning Management System (LMS) decision making process at universities

This research examined how managers in universities incorporate non-financial measures in their Learning Management Systems decision-making processes and particularly focused on the importance of the Human Capital perspective in LMS decision making processes. A mixed-methods approach to data collection was used involving both interviews and questionnaires. The qualitative data from the interviews were coded and analysed. A descriptive coding method using thematic analysis was used for the data coding. The qualitative data were analysed using an inductive approach where the categories of criteria and indicators were not determined before the interview. The participants in this research were five members of LMS decision-making teams at two different universities in Australia and 24 participants from different universities in Malaysia who were involved in LMS decision- making pro-cesses at their universities. The results of this research indicated that there was substantial support for using a multi-dimensional decision making model among IT decision makers at universities, particu-larly the Human Capital perspective and they believed that Human Capital measures are important and should be considered in a LMS decision making process.The research has both implications for theory and for practitioners where it contributes to the knowledge on LMS decision making in univer-sities and IT decision making in general, and also in improving actual decision making practices

The importance of human capital perspective in the learning management system (LMS) decision making process at universities

This research examined how managers in universities incorporate non-financial measures in their Learning Management Systems decision-making processes and particularly focused on the importance of the Human Capital perspective in LMS decision making processes. A mixed-methods approach to data collection was used involving both interviews and questionnaires. The qualitative data from the interviews were coded and analysed. A descriptive coding method using thematic analysis was used for the data coding. The qualitative data were analysed using an inductive approach where the categories of criteria and indicators were not determined before the interview. The participants in this research were five members of LMS decision-making teams at two different universities in Australia and 24 participants from different universities in Malaysia who were involved in LMS decision- making processes at their universities. The results of this research indicated that there was substantial support for using a multi-dimensional decision making model among IT decision makers at universities, particularly the Human Capital perspective and they believed that Human Capital measures are important and should be considered in a LMS decision making process.The research has both implications for theory and for practitioners where it contributes to the knowledge on LMS decision making in universities and IT decision making in general, and also in improving actual decision making practices

Effect of fly ash as partial cement replacement on workability and compressive strength of palm oil clinker lightweight concrete

Environmental pollution caused by waste disposal namely palm oil clinker and fly ash from palm oil industry and coal power plant respectively needs to be resolved. The present investigation explores the influence of fly ash (FA) as partial cement replacement on workability, compressive strength and flexural strength of palm oil clinker lightweight aggregate concrete. A total of five types of mixes consisting 0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% FA as cement replacement were used. All specimens were subjected to curing process by immersing it in water until the testing date. Concrete specimens were subjected to compressive strength and flexural strength test at 7 and 28 days. Incorporation of fly ash as partial cement replacement influences the fresh and hardened properties of this lightweight aggregate concrete. This novel finding shows that integration of up to 20% FA increases workability and contribute to strength enhancement of palm oil clinker lightweight aggregate concrete

Estimating proportional hazards model using frequentist and bayesian approaches

In statistics, the proportional hazards model (PHM) is one of a class of survival models. This model estimates the effects of different covariates influencing the time-to-event data in which the hazard function has been assumed to be the product of the baseline hazard function and a non-negative function of covariates. In this study, we investigate the hazard function, also known as the risk function or intensity function, which is employed in modelling the survival data and waiting times. The model parameters can be estimated via frequentist or Bayesian approach. However, the Bayesian approach is well known to have the advantages over frequentist methods when the data are small in size and involve censored individuals. In this paper, the PHM for right-censored data from Bayesian perspective will be discussed and th

2DE protein expression data for quantitative profiling

Proteins are chains of amino acids that carry out biological expression in the cells. The role of proteins on the activities in the human body is very significant. In fact, they are the working molecules that mobilize the simple task of forming the hair to the more complex task of producing antibodies used by the immune system to neutralize foreign elements like viruses and bacteria. A complete set of proteins expressed by a cell are called proteome and the study of the structure, function and interactions of these proteomes is known as proteomics

Utilization of fly ash in construction

In year 2016, Malaysia produce about 6.8 million tonnes of fly ash from six coal fired electric power station and this figure will increase due high demand of electric production. Fly ash is a waste product from the combustion of pulverized coal in electricity power plants and considered as a contributing factor for air, water and soil pollution that lead to human health problems and various geo-environmental issue. However, fly ash can be converted into valuable and useful product if properly utilized and many researches has been carried out in aim to increase the utilization of fly ash in various sectors especially in construction sector. In line with current economic conditions, all construction works required cost efficient with good quality of work. Therefore, fly ash is suitable to be used as an alternative raw material to enhance or replacing the existing construction material. In produce construction material many different industries and construction because it is oxide-rich material. The paper will be discussing the potential of managing waste of fly ash by utilizing it as construction materials