Peat swamp forest conservation withstands pervasive land conversion to oil palm plantation in North Selangor, Malaysia

Tropical deforestation remains one of the major global challenges of the twenty-first century driven to a large extent by the conversion of land for agricultural purposes, such as palm oil production. Malaysia is one of the world’s largest palm oil producers and has seen widespread conversion to oil palm from primary forest, including peat swamp forest (PSF). This study investigates the rate and extent of pervasive oil palm expansion in and around North Selangor Peat Swamp Forest (NSPSF) over the last three decades, exploring how land conversion has affected the region’s tropical forests, and assessing the relative success of PSF conservation measures. Time-series Landsat imagery was used to assess thematic land cover change and improvement in vegetation condition since NSPSF was given protected status in 1990. The results show a near tripling in oil palm cover throughout North Selangor, from 24,930 ha in 1989 to 70,070 ha in 2016; while at the same time tropical forest cover shrank from 145,570 ha to 88,400 ha. Despite concerns over the sustainability and environmental impact of such rapid oil palm conversion at a regional level, at the local scale, NSPSF represents a relative conservation success story. Effective land stewardship by government and non-governmental organization (NGO) management actors has limited illegal encroachment of oil palm around the reserve boundary. PSF rehabilitation measures have also markedly improved vegetation condition in NSPFS’s interior. These findings have broad significance for how oil palm agriculture is managed and especially for PSF stewardship and conservation, and the approaches described here may be usefully adopted elsewhere in Southeast Asia and around the world

Samarium-153 labelled microparticles for liver tumour targeted therapy with imaging functionality

Samarium-153 (153Sm) are widely used in radia-tion synovectomy and pain management for patients with bone metastases. However, its therapeutic application has not been fully explored. 153Sm has been proven to be useful for imaging purposes. This provides a beneficial alternative for therapy with pure beta emitter especially for liver radioembolization with Yttrium-90 (90Y). This study aimed to develop an alterna-tive radioembolic agent using 153Sm and biocompatible resin microparticles for liver cancer therapy. The ion-exchange resin; Amberlite IR-120 H+ commercially available in large beads were crushed and sieved to 20 – 40 μm and labelled with 152SmCl3 salt prior to neutron activation. Administered activity of 3 GBq 153Sm was aimed based on the standard activity used by the 90Y SIR-Spheres. 6 hours irradiation in 1.494 x 1012 n.cm-2.s-1 flux produced 3.1 GBq.g-1 immediately after activa-tion. Characterization of the microparticles, gamma spectros-copy, and in-vitro radiolabelling studies were carried out and compared to a commercially available resin readily made in 20 – 40 μm, Fractogel EMD SO3- (S). 153Sm-Amberlite micropar-ticles possess a superior and suitable characteristics for liver radioembolization with added imaging capabilities

The evaluation of k-ε and k-ω turbulence models in modelling flows and performance of S-shaped diffuser

Diffusing S-shaped ducts are critical components in modern vehicle, primarily employed in directing the airflow to the engine. It links the air box and the engine in a very restricted place. The air flow through an S-duct is complex in nature, which perhaps includes boundary layer separation, secondary flow, and total pressure loss effects that influences the engine performance. In this work, the flow and performance of S-shaped duct was predicted and analysed using computational fluid dynamics. The main objective is to evaluate the performance of the realizable k-ε and k-ω SST models qualitatively and quantitatively in modelling flow of a highly bend duct where a high stress distorted flow may have developed in proximity the duct wall leading to stall. CFD computations were performed for the flow entering the diffuser at Reynolds number of 80,000 cases. The results obtained suggested that the k-ω SST model reasonably predicts the flow characteristics qualitatively and quantitatively. The realizable k-ε turbulence model however poorly captures the actual magnitudes of the calculated flow features. The growth of the stream-wise velocity profile was calculated at three stream-wise stations and point out a smooth down the interior profile of the divergent section. An extreme flow distortion and a shift of the region of flow with the highest velocity were developed toward the outer wall of the first bend of the diffuser. A significant pressure recovery potential with no flow separation arise over the diffuser tube range was predicted well by the simulations

Experimental Study on the Effects of Methanol and Ethanol on Gasoline Engine Performance and Exhaust Emissions / M. S. M. Zaharin...[et al.]

Increasing demands of energy sources in automotive sector have led to depletion of fossil fuels. In solving the problem of fuel supply, researchers have rapidly raised intentions on alternative fuels since the late 20th century, in which it is highly favourable over gasoline fuel due to its cost-efficiency and environmental friendly. This paper presented the effects of various alcohol-gasoline blends on engine performance and exhaust emissions. Four fuel blends; M5 (methanol 5% + pure gasoline 95%), M15 (methanol 15% + pure gasoline 85%), E5 (ethanol 5% + pure gasoline 95%) and E15 (ethanol 15% + pure gasoline 85%) were tested on a 4-cylinder, 4-strokes, 1.6L natural aspirated spark ignition (SI) engine under condition of wide open throttles and engine speed varied from 1000-4000 rpm. The results showed that methanol and ethanol fuels provide air-fuel charge cooling to increase the density of the charge. Thus, the fuel blends produced higher engine brake power than that of pure gasoline. In relation to brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), E15 presented the highest result due to the lower energy content compared to that of other blends. Brake thermal efficiency (BTE) produced by M15 was the highest, obtaining 5.17% increment from pure gasoline compared to other fuel blends which were 1.6%, 1.16% and 2.47% for M5, E5 and E15, respectively. The fuel blends emitted lower exhaust emissions of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon (HC) gases due to the addition of oxygenated fuel that promoted better combustion process and reduced exhaust emissions of CO and HC. However, the blends have resulted in increase of NOx emissions in comparison to that of pure gasoline which can be attributed to the higher flame temperature of alcohol. Optimized blend ratios for methanol and ethanol with gasoline were found to be better than pure gasoline fuel in terms of fuel properties, combustion behaviour, engine performance and exhaust emissions with E15 producing the highest engine brake power of 60.3 kW and emitting the lowest CO and HC emissions at high engine speed with 0.566% and 114.2 ppm, respectively. Meanwhile, M15 provided the most thermal efficient fuel blend at all operating conditions

Comprehensive review of radial distribution test systems for power system distribution education and research

A comprehensive review of existing radial distribution test systems available for power system distribution research is presented. The review can be used to establish a record of cases suitable for distribution operation and planning studies. The importance of the distribution system, the structure of the system in the grid, and various configurations of the distribution network are discussed. The primary requirement of a distribution network is highlighted to underline the important system parameters that should be considered in the design and planning stages. Various research related to the distribution network can be conducted, such as load flow algorithms, optimal incorporation of distributed generation, network reconfiguration, and optimal capacitor allocation, such as important details pertaining to each test system are given. Additional information, such as active and reactive loads and losses, minimum voltage values, and bus location with the weakest voltage values, is provided. Application of the reviewed works based on the test system is tabulated and presented. The information presented in this paper will be beneficial for future research in distribution system design and planning

Characterization of a diesel-degrading strain isolated from a hydrocarbon-contaminated site,

Abstract: A diesel-degrading bacterium has been isolated from a diesel-polluted site. The isolate was tentatively identified as Staphylococcus aureus strain DRY11 based on partial 16S rDNA molecular phylogeny and Biolog® GP microplate panels and Microlog® database. Isolate 11 showed an almost linear increase in cellular growth with respect to diesel concentrations with optimum growth occurring at 4% (v/v) diesel concentration. Optimization studies using different nitrogen sources showed that the best nitrogen source was potassium nitrite. Sodium nitrite was optimum at 1.2 g l -1 and higher concentrations were strongly inhibitory to cellular growth. The optimal pH that supported growth of the bacterium was between 7.5 to 8.0 and the isolate exhibited optimal broad temperature supporting growth on diesel from 27 to 37 o C. An almost complete removal of diesel components was seen from the reduction in hydrocarbon peaks observed using Solid Phase Microextraction Gas Chromatography analysis after 5 days of incubation. The characteristics of this bacterium suggest that it is suitable for bioremediation of diesel spills and pollutions in the tropics

Parenting and community engagement factors as predictors of religiosity among muslim adolescents from Malaysia.

Despite the plethora of research on correlates of adolescent religiosity, few studies have examined the contribution of social context to religiosity among non-Western Muslim samples using multidimensional religiosity measures. To address this gap, the current study investigated the influence of community engagement and parenting factors on religiosity among 596 Malaysian Muslim secondary school students (M age = 16.10, SD = .29). After controlling for gender, family structure, family income, and social desirability, the results showed that parental monitoring, mosque involvement, and school engagement significantly predicted religious worldview, whereas parental religious socialization, parental monitoring, mosque involvement, school engagement, and youth organization involvement accounted for a significant amount of the variance in religious personality. Implications for further research on socialization influences on religious development among adolescents are discussed

Analysis of CAN-based 2-DOF SCARA robot performance under work control

Distributed control applications required a reliable network for information exchange. In this paper a networked control system of direct-drive 2-DOF SCARA Robot are developed based on Controller Area Network (CAN) where PD controller is adapted to form the closed loop system. The network system which consists of two sensor nodes, two actuator nodes and two controller nodes performs data exchange in CAN 2.0A data frames under various CAN speeds. The performance of the system under communication delay and data priority is analyzed. The simulation is performed by using Matiab/Simulink with TrueTime Toolbox. The result shows that the optimized system performance can be achieved under proper sampling time and CAN speed associated to the dynamic of the system

Keberkesanan Peta Pemikiran (I-THINK) terhadap Mata Pelajaran Sejarah dalam Kalangan Pelajar Tingkatan 2

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk melihat keberkesanan penggunaan peta pemikiran dalam mata pelajaran Sejarah bagi pelajar tingkatan dua. Selain itu, kajian ini juga melihat sama ada terdapat peningkatan pencapaian pelajar yang diajar dengan menggunakan peta pemikiran (i-THINK) . Seterusnya, kajian ini menentukan tahap pengetahuan sejarah bagi kumpulan kawalan dan rawatan, dan sejauh mana perbezaan pengetahuan sejarah menggunakan peta pemikiran berdasarkan jantina. Kajian ini telah dijalankan di sebuah sekolah di Kuala Nerus, Terengganu. Kajian dijalankan secara kuantitatif dengan sampel kajian terdiri daripada 50 orang pelajar. Teknik peta pemikiran dipilih sebagai pemboleh ubah tidak bersandar manakala pencapaian Sejarah sebagai pemboleh ubah bersandar. Kajian ini menggunakan satu set soalan untuk ujian pra dan pasca. Analisis data dilakukan dengan menggunakan statistik inferensi dan statistik deskriptif. Hasil dapatan kajian menunjukkan tidak terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan terhadap min pencapaian pelajar dalam ujian pra dan pasca antara jantina. Walau bagaimanapun, dapatan kajian menunjukkan wujudnya perbezaan yang signifikan terhadap min pencapaian pelajar dalam ujian pra dan pasca. Manakala tahap penerimaan pelajar terhadap peta konsep adalah pada tahap sederhana positif. Secara keseluruhannya, peta konsep memberi sumbangan dalam meningkatkan pencapaian pelajar dalam mata pelajaran Sejarah