Assessment of Specific Methanogenic Activity from Cow Dung

The specific methanogenic activity (SMA) is a test to measure the producing potential of an anaerobic bacteria until it’s allowing a relevant organic loading rates to be applied for a selected substrate. Commonly, acetate is used as substrate for the SMA test. Anaerobic bacteria were mostly taken from an anaerobic digester and cow dung was also implemented as a source of an anaerobic bacteria. However, the results of SMA of cow dung was less reported. Therefore, this study is initiated to determine the potential of methane production from the cow dung by using the SMA test. Prior the SMA test, the cow dung was characterized for solids where the results showed that the cow dung is having 12.00 g L-1 for total solid and 10.50 g L-1 for volatile solid. The SMA test was conducted at mesophilic condition by using an automatic methane potential system test (AMPTS II) and the SMA of the cow dung was found as 0.04 in unit g COD-CH4 g-1VS-1d-1. The significance of this research is to determine the anaerobic bacteria potential of cow dung for use in the anaerobic digestion process, which offers numerous advantages for manufacturing, particularly in industrial applications such as methane production (fuel)

Assessment of Specific Methanogenic Activity from Cow Dung

The specific methanogenic activity (SMA) is a test to measure the producing potential of an anaerobic bacteria until it’s allowing a relevant organic loading rates to be applied for a selected substrate. Commonly, acetate is used as substrate for the SMA test. Anaerobic bacteria were mostly taken from an anaerobic digester and cow dung was also implemented as a source of an anaerobic bacteria. However, the results of SMA of cow dung was less reported. Therefore, this study is initiated to determine the potential of methane production from the cow dung by using the SMA test. Prior the SMA test, the cow dung was characterized for solids where the results showed that the cow dung is having 12.00 g L-1 for total solid and 10.50 g L-1 for volatile solid. The SMA test was conducted at mesophilic condition by using an automatic methane potential system test (AMPTS II) and the SMA of the cow dung was found as 0.04 in unit g COD-CH4 g-1VS-1d-1. The significance of this research is to determine the anaerobic bacteria potential of cow dung for use in the anaerobic digestion process, which offers numerous advantages for manufacturing, particularly in industrial applications such as methane production (fuel)

The effect of job demands, job resources, and job satisfaction towards work engagement

Work engagement among the employees is very essential to ensure the maximum organization performance and employees providing an excellent service to their customers.Due to that, several factors that influences work engagement are given priority in this research. This study investigated the direct relationship between job demands (work pressure, workload, and workfamily conflict), job resources (social support, performance feedback and career opportunity), job satisfaction and work engagement.A total of 327 questionnaires were personally distributed to the respondents in Police Headquarters Contingent within Northern areas which are Penang, Kedah and Perlis. From the 327 questionnaires distributed, 167 questionnaires were returned, representing a response rate of 51%. The results for direct relationship showed that work-family conflict and career opportunity is negatively related to work engagement, while work pressure, workload, social support and performance feedback were positively related to work engagement. The results also showed that job satisfaction was positively related to work engagement. In conclusion, based on this research that job demands, job resources and job satisfaction give direct effect towards work engagement among police officers’ based on the nature of their jobs

Methane Production from the Digestion of Thermally Treated Food Waste at 80°C

Food waste is the most suitable feedstock for anaerobic digestion. However, methane yield from the digestion of food waste is low. Therefore thermal pretreatment serves as the best solution. Also, the effect of thermal pretreatment on food waste (Malaysian dietary) before anaerobic digestion has low documentation. Hence this research aims to analyze the methane production and its kinetics from the digestion of thermally treated food waste. The result showed that thermal treatment improves the bioavailability of food waste, subsequently improve the methane production of food waste. The ultimate methane yield for thermally treated food waste at 80°C was 883.08 CH4/gVS higher than untreated food waste. The kinetic parameters observed from Modified Gompertz modeling were slightly lower from the laboratory data for both substrates. Thus, thermal pretreatment undoubtedly improved the anaerobic digestion of food waste

Mutual impedance with finite feed gap model of dipole antennas using the induced EMF method

Mutual coupling in antenna arrays bring a significant impact especially when antenna elements are placed close with each other. It affects antenna performance, communication capacity and so on. Likewise, an accurate analysis of mutual coupling which can be expressed in terms of mutual impedance is important. A few analytic approaches for mutual impedance between two dipoles are available, one of it is the Induced EMF method. The Induced EMF method is accurate for short and thin, with an infinitesimal feed gap,which is impractical. A finite feed gap which is practical, can be modeled using electromagnetic simulation approaches. However, no analytical techniques are available to compare the results of the design with numerical software. The finite feed gap modelling of the mutual impedance using the Induced EMF method will be highlighted in this paper. The results are compared with other electromagnetic software. Then, the effect of the finite feed gap model has been observed in the far field pattern of dipole antenna arrays and they are in good agreement with other electromagnetic software

Study of microstrip patch array antenna for side lobe suppression in the x-band region using uniform, binomial and tschebyscheff excitation methods

In this paper, a microstrip patch array antenna is designed and simulated to operate in the X-band frequency region at 9.5 GHz. For X-band communication transmission, it is necessary to suppress the side lobe radiation pattern of the antenna as much as possible to avoid the transmission being intercepted and/or received by undesirable neighbouring satellites. The geometrical design of the microstrip patch array antenna is simulated and executed using CST Microwave Studio (CST MWS) in order to study the effects of various antenna parameters such as S11, gain, directivity, side lobe level, and angular width. It is shown that the proposed antenna exhibits a low side lobe level of -14.2 dB with an acceptable high gain and directivity of 16.5 dB and 17.7 dB, respectively. The antenna configuration also has a size of only 285 mm × 59.275 mm which is much more compact and lightweight compared to the standard reflector antennas that are used for most X-band communication transmission. ****************************************************************************************** Kajian ini berkaitan antena cantuman barisan jalurmikro yang direka dan disimulasi beroperasi pada 9.5 GHz frekunsi daerah jalur-X. Pada transmisi komunikasi jalur-X, corak radiasi sisi-lobus antena perlu ditahan sebanyak mungkin bagi mengelak transmisi dipintas dan/atau diterima oleh satelit tetangga yang tidak di ingini. Rekaan geometri antena cantuman barisan jalurmikro disimulasi dan diuji menggunakan perisian CST Studio Gelombang Mikro (CST MWS) bagi mengkaji pelbagai kesan parameter antenna seperti S11, gandaan, keterarahan, tahap sisi-lobus dan lebar sudut. Didapati bahawa antena yang dicadangkan mempunyai tahap sisi-lobus -14.2 dB yang rendah dengan gandaan tinggi yang boleh diterima dan keterarahan sebanyak 16.5 dB dan 17.7 dB, masing-masing. Tatabentuk antena mempunyai saiz 285 mm × 59.275 mm yang kompak dan ringan berbanding antena pemantul piawai, di mana telah digunakan pada kebanyakan jalur-X transmisi komunikasi

New empirical conversion technique for 1-minute integration time of precipitation intensity in Malaysia

The suitability of previously proposed techniques claim to be able toaccurately convert precipitation intensity statistics at longer integration times into 1-minute integration time statistics has been of great interest to many wirelesspropagation researchers. Measured data of precipitation intensity collected in KualaLumpur, Malaysia had enabled the production of statistics at various integration timesof interest. Objective: An investigation has been embarked with the aim to devise anew empirical technique that capable to generate a more precise statistic at 1-minuteintegration time. Results: The study outlines the use of polynomial relationship in theprocess of converting statistics of longer integration time to 1-minute integration time.The generated 1-minute statistics using the new method were then compared with thoseof measured statistics in order to assess the technique‟s effectiveness. Conclusion: Itcan be suggested that the new conversion technique appears to be capable of producingconsistent statistics for 1-minute integration time from various other integration times