Antimicrobial activities of marine fungi from Malaysia

Copyright 2011 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Effects of tides on the hydrology and geometry of a freshwater channel

The situation of Sungai Sengkuang becomes worse because it is under tidal influence. Flood was reduced after removing the temporary culvert. Analysis is carried out for the existing system to investigate whether it is still able to accommodate the volume of water comprises the discharge from upstream and high tide from downstream. The computer program such as HEC-HMS 2.2.2 will be used to carry out the Hydrologic Model Calibration. By using HEC-RAS, Hydraulic Model Calibration will be carried out for the channel. The discharge with different ARI will be used as the upstream boundary condition during the flow analysis. Frequency analysis for the tide level which is collected from JUPEM. The tide level with different ARI is used as the downstream boundary condition. From the Energy Grade Line of the channel, which energy is dominant, the energy from downstream or the energy from upstream.Keywords: tidal influence; dominant energy; flow analysis; hydraulic and hydrology model analysi

An analysis on compensation of claims regarding to personal Injury and loss of earning on several court cases

Road accident is a major contributor in personal injury cases. The plaintiff or accident victims are entitled to compensation from injuries. This study aims to analyse the amount of damages received compared to the amount of damages in personal injury guideline from Completion of the Review of the Compendium of Personal Injury Award. A comparison between the system multiplier set forth in Section 28A of the Civil Law Act (Amendment) Act 1984 will be carried out with Odgen Table from United Kingdom customised with the Expected Life Tables of Malaysians. A total of 30 court cases from 1989 to 2013 are analysed in this study which includes all accidents on the road. The results showed that there were two cases of injury beyond the maximum range of the guidelines which are scars and eye injuries. Therefore, it is suggested that we should look at multiplier which is fairer in dealing with loss of earnings.Keywords: quantum; loss of earnings; multiplier

Komparasi Pemodelan dan Identifikasi Sistem pada Dinamika Temperatur Gas Buang Ruang Bakar pada Circulated Fluidized Bed Boiler

Seringkali fokus pembangkitan listrik di PLTU adalah pada kondisi uap (T & P), jumlah produksi uap (ton/h) dan beban daya (100%) namun efisiensi pembakaran jarang diperhatikan sehingga menyebabkan kerusakan mesin. Indikator efisiensi pembakaran batu bara adalah dinamika temperatur gas buang ruang bakar. Untuk mendapatkan sistem instrumentasi-kendali yang handal dan efisien dibutuhkan pemahaman mendalam terhadap sistem. Langkah untuk meningkatkan pemahaman dapat dengan cara membentuk dan memahami model matematis sistem.Penelitian ini bertujuan mendapatkan model matematis dari fenomena dinamika temperatur gas buang ruang bakar. Pemodelan dilakukan dengan membandingkan metode matematis dan identifikasi sistem. Pemodelan matematis dilakukan dengan menggunakan neraca massa dan neraca energi, sedangkan identifikasi sistem dilakukan dengan menggunakan struktur model multiple-input-single-output ARMAX sebagai pendekatan sistem linier. Setelah model didapatkan, model divalidasi dengan data lapangan pada kondisi operasi. Hasil validasi model berupa prediksi dinamika temperatur gas buang ruang bakar dari masing-masing metode dibandingkan kualitasnya (fit & MSE). Dengan menganalisis hasil didapatkan bahwa model hasil pemodelan matematis menghasilkan nilai kesesuaian kurva sebesar 86,4218% dan nilai galat kuadrat rerata sebesar 0,1632 oC dan model hasil identifikasi sistem menghasilkan nilai kesesuaian kurva sebesar 86,8596% dan nilai galat kuadrat rerata sebesar 0,1529 oC

Passively mode-locked laser using an entirely centred erbium-doped fiber

This paper describes the setup and experimental results for an entirely centred erbium-doped fiber laser with passively mode-locked output. The gain medium of the ring laser cavity configuration comprises a 3 m length of two-core optical fiber, wherein an undoped outer core region of 9.38 μm diameter surrounds a 4.00 μm diameter central core region doped with erbium ions at 400 ppm concentration. The generated stable soliton mode-locking output has a central wavelength of 1533 nm and pulses that yield an average output power of 0.33 mW with a pulse energy of 31.8 pJ. The pulse duration is 0.7 ps and the measured output repetition rate of 10.37 MHz corresponds to a 96.4 ns pulse spacing in the pulse train

Characterization of a-CNx Thin Films prepared by RF-PECVD Technique for humidity sensor

In this work, amorphous carbon nitride (a-CNx) thin films were deposited by radio frequency (RF) plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RF-PECVD) technique. The RF power and gas mixture of methane (CH4) and nitrogen (N2) flow was kept constant, while the electrode distance was varied from 1 to 6 cm. The effect of electrode distance on the chemical bonding, morphology and humidity sensing responses of the films were investigated. Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) studies showed a systematic change in the spectra and showed three main peaks namely the G and D-peak, C≡N triple bonds and C-H/O-H groups. Uniform and porous morphology was observed for films deposited at smallest distance followed by non-porous cubicle-like grain as electrode distance increased. Subsequently formation of vertically aligned nanostructures apparent both from its surface and cross section images by increasing of electrode distance to the fullest. The humidity sensing property has been studied by recording their resistance response to relative humidity (RH) at room temperature. It was found that the resistance value decreases from 15.4 to 3.6 kΩ with the increase in RH from 9 to 85%, with the highest sensitivity of 77% for film deposited at smallest distance of 1 cm

Numerical Modelling of Slope Stability and Transient Seepage Analysis: Jalan Puncak Borneo Road Case Study

A slope failure event in 2015 at KM 6+500 of Jalan Puncak Borneo in Padawan, Kuching was modelled using Seep/w and Slope/w software of commercial geotechnical programme GEOSTUDIO. The failure was occurred after a prolonged three days of heavy rain. The state road which connected the villagers from Puncak Borneo was cut off and caused traffic congestion.  In this study, the slope stability was evaluated based on finite element and limit equilibrium method by considering the transient seepage analysis due to rainfall infiltration.  The slope failure was modelled based on ground investigation report and published data to replicate the field condition.  A hyetograph was plotted using daily rainfall data and cumulative rainfall depth was determined to obtain the total rainfall during the wet monsoon. As a result of numerical analyses, the factor of safety was observed to fluctuate with time of infiltration. Based on this case study, the factor of safety or FOS reduced with time and a perched water table also has been observed developed just below the pavement.  However, the factor of safety calculated from Slope/w could not replicate the actual failure.  Nevertheless, it can be observed that factor of safety had decreased with respect to infiltration in the analyses.  The steady state condition provided FOS 1.33 and had reduced to 1.27 after 110 days of rainfall event.  Thus, the analyses of this current study have illustrated that the transient analysis is essential to model the seepage behaviour and infiltration event that caused slope failure along Sarawak’s roads

Numerical Modelling of Slope Stability and Transient Seepage Analysis: Jalan Puncak Borneo Road Case Study

A slope failure event in 2015 at KM 6+500 of Jalan Puncak Borneo in Padawan, Kuching was modelled using Seep/w and Slope/w software of commercial geotechnical programme GEOSTUDIO. The failure was occurred after a prolonged three days of heavy rain. The state road which connected the villagers from Puncak Borneo was cut off and caused traffic congestion.  In this study, the slope stability was evaluated based on finite element and limit equilibrium method by considering the transient seepage analysis due to rainfall infiltration.  The slope failure was modelled based on ground investigation report and published data to replicate the field condition.  A hyetograph was plotted using daily rainfall data and cumulative rainfall depth was determined to obtain the total rainfall during the wet monsoon. As a result of numerical analyses, the factor of safety was observed to fluctuate with time of infiltration. Based on this case study, the factor of safety or FOS reduced with time and a perched water table also has been observed developed just below the pavement.  However, the factor of safety calculated from Slope/w could not replicate the actual failure.  Nevertheless, it can be observed that factor of safety had decreased with respect to infiltration in the analyses.  The steady state condition provided FOS 1.33 and had reduced to 1.27 after 110 days of rainfall event.  Thus, the analyses of this current study have illustrated that the transient analysis is essential to model the seepage behaviour and infiltration event that caused slope failure along Sarawak’s roads

Nutritional supplement intake knowledge among university active graduates

The purpose of this study is to examine the nutritional supplement intake knowledge among university athletes. Fifty-one university athletes volunteered to participate in this survey study. Results showed the nutritional supplement intake was significantly higher compared to the knowledge that they have about the supplements. Besides that, the performance was significantly greater compared to the supplement intake. To conclude, it is important for the coaches to educate their athletes on the importance and risks of nutritional supplements in order to ensure great performance achieved besides reducing the risks of getting the negative effects of supplements.Keywords: supplement, health, sports, training, knowledg

The comparison of dual wavelength fiber laser spectrum in SMF and HNLF by utilizing laser diode

A dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber (EDF) fiber ring laser in single mode fiber and highly nonlinear fiber is demonstrated and both optical spectrums are compared at 400 mA of Laser Diode (LD) output. The fiber ring laser cavity incorporated sagnac loop had been applied for the laser to lase two wavelengths simultaneously due to high birefringent in polarizaton-maintaining fiber (PMF). Experimental results show that, owing to the contributions of two degenerate fourwave mixings (FWM) in the HNLF and the dual-wavelength proposed fiber laser is quite stable with small fluctuation power in 1.93 dB within 24 minutes in HNLF