Identification of weed population and determination of plant performance in aerobic rice under different rates of NPK application / Wan Nur Aifa Wan Din

Rice is as a staple food that consumed daily by the people. Aerobic rice was produced through crossing technique in between the traditional upland, which is drought tolerance and improved lowland, which is high yield. Application of fertilizer in aerobic rice has been proved as one of the factors affected plant growth and development, hence, lead to produce optimum yield. However, attainment of effectiveness of nutrient supply is rely on the different rates of fertilizer application. Glasshouse study in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) was conducted at Greenhouse University Technology MARA (UiTM) Jasin. This experiment was carried out to determine the influence of various NPK levels, which are 3gram, 6gram and 9gram towards weed population infestation and to evaluate the growth performance of aerobic rice (AERON 1) such as plant height, number of tiller and chlorophyll content upon different sampling dates. Leptochloa chinensis was found as predominant weed species in all treatments followed by Fimbristylis miliacea, Cleome rutidosperma, Cassia occidentallis and Ludwigia hyssopifolia. Besides that, plant heights, number of tillers and chlorophyll contents for AERON 1 were recorded highest in the treatment of 9gram NPK fertilizer

Binder characterization and performance of asphaltic concrete modified with waste cooking oil

The use of waste cooking oil (WCO) in binder modification is widely explored in response to waste management issue. However, the decreasing rheological performance pattern trend at high temperature by using WCO is globally recorded and yet still unresolved. This poor performance is due to the high acidity of the WCO. To resolve this issue, a chemical treatment was proposed to reduce the acidity of the WCO. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of binders modified with untreated and treated WCO. It was carried out in three phases. In Phase 1, the physical and rheological tests of binder (penetration, softening point, viscosity and DSR) were conducted to determine the optimum percentages of untreated and treated WCO (between 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20%) in modifying the binder. In Phase 2, the optimums WCOs were utilised for further mechanical performance evaluation of Asphaltic Concrete 14 (AC14) mixture through Marshall stability, resilient modulus, dynamic creep and indirect tensile strength (ITS). The morphology and microstructure observations were performed in Phase 3 to investigate the adhesion bonding between modified binder and aggregates. The test results showed that the acidity of the WCO decreased after chemical treatment. The rheological test showed that the failure temperature of binder modified using the treated WCO has increased to 70 oC. In addition, treated WCO mixture recorded superior performance by being less susceptible to permanent deformation as compared to the control mix. Besides, the microstructure analysis revealed that low surface roughness of binder modified with treated WCO has strengthened the adhesion bonding with aggregates. In conclusion, the chemical treatment had improved the treated WCO performance in the modified binder as asphalt paving materials

The potential of waste cooking oil as bio-asphalt for alternative binder – an overview

Enormous quantity of waste products from by-products of frying activity could cause negative impact if not properly managed and disposed. Therefore, recyclability of Waste Cooking Oil (WCO) in binder modification to produce bio-asphalt can be a sustainable ways to minimize waste dumping while at the same time to reduce the usage of natural resources. Bio-asphalt can be described as alternative asphalt binder which differs from conventional asphalt in terms of strength and durability. This review has highlighted the potential of bio-binder to replace with conventional binder by the addition of waste cooking oil in the mixture

A review on application of waste cooking oil as rejuvenator in porous asphalt mixture

Aging process of bitumen is one of the main obstacles, which limit the implementation of porous pavement. An aging process would cause a shorter service life of porous asphalt compared to the conventional hot mix asphalt mixture. The tendency rate of aging processes in porous asphalt is high due to the exposure of bitumen and aggregates binding in an open-graded structure that maximizes oxidation process to occur thus producing aged binder. In this respect to restore the original characteristics of pavement from aged bitumen, rejuvenation of bitumen binder offers an effective option. From the previous research, the performance of waste cooking oil (WCO) is investigated and indicated as one of rejuvenator agents for bitumen regeneration. Thus, this paper reviewed the novelty of the WCO, as an alternative natural rejuvenating agent for aged bitumen to a condition that resembles the original bitumen in the asphalt mixture

Affirmation of elastic modulus derived from spectral analysis of surface waves method using artificial neural network

Pavement modulus is believed as one of the important features to characterize the pavement condition, specifically the pavement stiffness. The value of pavement modulus may be calculated using the existing Witczak mathematical dynamic pavement modulus prediction formulae. However, the equation developed by Witczak is heavily impacted by temperature while underestimating the impact of other mixing factors thus, only offering an adequate approximation for the circumstances for which they were designed. In this study, the Spectral Analysis of Surface Wave (SASW) test data was used to develop an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) that accurately backcalculates pavement profiles in real-time. The pavement modulus calculated from the equation was validated by using ANN developed in Matlab software to avoid any mistakes during calculation based on the equation. Three parameters, shear wave velocity, depth and thickness from SASW test data were used as inputs and elastic modulus calculated using Witczak pavement modulus equation was used as an output to train the models developed in ANN. Five segments of pavement are presented in this paper where almost compromise that the greater the depth, the lesser the shear wave velocity as well as pavement modulus. Nine neural network models were developed in this study. The network architecture of 4-80-4 is the most optimized network with the highest correlation coefficient of 0.9992, 0.9994, 1.0, 0.9996 for validation, testing, training and all respectively. The created ANN models’ final outputs were reasonable and relatively similar to the real output

Rainfall-induced landslide thresholds development by considering different rainfall parameters: a review

This paper reviews the development of landslide thresholds from the perspective of rainfall and climate patterns. For certain, geology, morphology, lithology, etc., contribute to the initiation of the mass movement. However, the role of rainfall as the triggering mechanism of the landslide is vital as well. It has been proven by many researchers from various studies worldwide that have proposed the rainfall thresholds by utilising different rainfall parameters. The outcome of their studies is interesting, since different regions have diversified patterns of rainfall that produce a variety of threshold models. Therefore, from various published papers on rainfall thresholds, this paper studied the variety of rainfall parameters that have been utilised in establishing the rainfall threshold for landslide prediction. Instead of providing a better understanding regarding the application, this review aimed to cultivate the folllowing study for deriving rigorous parameters for the purpose of sustainable findings

The effect of carbon-nanofiber and hydrated lime on weak soil stability

The vast amount of waste cooking oil (WCO) has invited odds effects on the environment when disposed of improperly. Incorporating waste materials into asphalt mixture is common practice these days as it minimizes the amount of waste material as well as improves the performance of the mixture. WCO is known for its natural fluidity characteristics, wherein affecting good cracking performance at low temperature, yet indicate poor rutting resistance at high temperature. Plus, less strength in porous asphalt has worsened the rutting condition. Hence, pretreatment of WCO is suggested before the modification was done. In this study, WCO is being treated with chemical treatment of the transesterification process. Then, the modified binder of 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% untreated and treated WCO were tested with physical testing of penetration and softening point temperature. Later, a similar percentage of untreated and treated WCO were incorporated into porous asphalt mixture to analyze the mechanical performance of Marshall Stability, Flow and Stiffness. The result of porous asphalt mixture with 10% treated WCO showed an improvement in Marshall Stability, Flow and Stiffness. It can be concluded, samples with treated WCO indicated remarkable performance in terms of physical and mechanical evaluation, owing to similar polarity which enhances good interaction bonding that strengthens the asphalt mixture

Stability and stiffness of asphaltic concrete incorporating waste cooking oil

The application of waste material is extensively used as a partial replacement to produce a new asphalt binder with the improvement of binder performance. However, limited information is available on the use of waste cooking oil (WCO) in hot mix asphalt. In this regard, the main objective of this research is to study the influences of WCO as a supplementary binder on the Marshall Stability properties of asphaltic concrete. The properties investigated are stability, stiffness and flow. Results show that the treated WCO proved better strength performance as compared to the other asphalt mixture. It also found that the modified mixtures incorporating untreated and treated WCO increased the tendency for deformation exposure as compared to the control mixture. Generally, Marshall Stability result for treated WCO mixture was improved from untreated WCO mixture and exceeded the control mixture performance

Physical and mechanical evaluation of porous asphalt incorporated with untreated and treated waste cooking oil

The vast amount of waste cooking oil (WCO) has invited odds effects on the environment when disposed of improperly. Incorporating waste materials into asphalt mixture is common practice these days as it minimizes the amount of waste material as well as improves the performance of the mixture. WCO is known for its natural fluidity characteristics, wherein affecting good cracking performance at low temperature, yet indicate poor rutting resistance at high temperature. Plus, less strength in porous asphalt has worsened the rutting condition. Hence, pretreatment of WCO is suggested before the modification was done. In this study, WCO is being treated with chemical treatment of the transesterification process. Then, the modified binder of 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% untreated and treated WCO were tested with physical testing of penetration and softening point temperature. Later, a similar percentage of untreated and treated WCO were incorporated into porous asphalt mixture to analyze the mechanical performance of Marshall Stability, Flow and Stiffness. The result of porous asphalt mixture with 10% treated WCO showed an improvement in Marshall Stability, Flow and Stiffness. It can be concluded, samples with treated WCO indicated remarkable performance in terms of physical and mechanical evaluation, owing to similar polarity which enhances good interaction bonding that strengthens the asphalt mixture

Correlation between slump, VeBe and compaction factor of concrete containing shredded PET bottles, manufactured sand (M-sand) and river sand as fine aggregate

This paper investigates the effects of the properties of fresh concrete incorporating shredded Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) bottles and Manufactured Sand (M-sand) together as fine aggregates replacement in concrete mixtures. The investigation to determine the correlation of the fresh properties of concrete were mainly experimental based and the experiments involved were Slump Test, VeBe Test and Compaction Factor Test. There were two different concrete batches were prepared, in which the first batch was partially replaced by Msand and the second batch was partially replaced by M-sand and shredded PET bottles as fine aggregate replacements. The proportion of M-sand content and M-sand with shredded PET bottles were 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% (for M-sand) and 1.5% proportion of shredded PET bottles respectively. The mix design was prepared in accordance to the Department of Environment (DOE) method and utilizes M30 as the Class of Concrete. A novel empirical relationship between slump, VeBe, and compaction factor for the shredded PET bottles and MSand based M30 concrete was proposed. The outcomes of this research has proven beneficial to the construction industries as the utilisation of waste and recycled materials has the potential for sustainable construction