How elevated levels of Cd, Cu and Pb in the surface sediments collected from the drainage receiving metal industrial effluents? Comparison with metal industrial drainage and intertidal sediments in Selangor, Malaysia

Surface sediments were collected in April 2005 from a drainage receiving metal industrial effluents from Serdang in addition to 6 sampling sites from intertidal area and 4 urban drainage sites. The sediment samples were analysed for Cd, Cu and Pb. The metal concentrations at the Serdang industrial drainage sediments were 15.9 μg/g dw for Cd, 1003.5 μg/ g dw for Cu and 1267 μg/g dw for Pb. These metal levels were significantly higher than those in the sediments collected from intertidal area (6 sites) and other urban drainages (4 sites) [Cd: 1.39-3.41 μg/g dw; Cu: 6.64-122.7 μg/g dw; Pb: 26.0-227.7 μg/g dw]. The total concentrations of Cu, Pb and Cd found at Serdang industrial drainage sediments were 48.76, 23.52 and 8.36 times higher than those in the other sites. Based on the metal concentrations in the four geochemical fractions, for Cu, the EFLE, acid-reducible and oxidisable-organic fractions in the sediment at the Serdang industrial drainage was 59.97, 35.26 and 103.74 times, respectively, higher than those in the other sites. For Pb, the EFLE, acid-reducible and oxidisable-organic fractions in the sediment at the Serdang industrial drainage was 3.60, 2.10 and 25.42 times, respectively, higher than those in the other sites. For Cd, the EFLE, acid-reducible and oxidisable-organic fractions in the sediment at the Serdang industrial drainage was 6.17, 11.8 and 12.39 times, respectively, higher than those in the other sites. Thus, the elevated concentrations of Cu, Cd and Pb in the sediments collected from Serdang industrial drainage sediments were evidently receiving point source industrial effluent from the nearby metal factory. Therefore treatment on the factory effluent based on the present findings is necessary

Penerapan Citra Visual Batik Pada Elemen Perancangan Bentuk Dan Massa Bangunan Kampung Batik Jetis Sidoarjo

Kampung Batik Jetis adalah salah satu kampung yang memiliki warisan budaya membatik. Namun pada kondisinya saat ini, citra kampung ini sebagai kampung wisata batik belum dapat terlihat jelas. Untuk meningkatkan citra kawasan sebagai kampung batik, dapat diwujudkan konsep citra - visual. Hal tesebut sangat berpengaruh dalam pembentukan citra kawasan, khususnya pada elemen perancangan kawasan keseluruhan, namun pada artikel ini hanya dibahas satu elemen perancangan saja, yaitu bentuk dan massa bangunan. Oleh karena itu metode yang digunakan dalam kajian ini awalnya dengan menganalisa variabel kajian yang sesuai dengan indikator citra visualnya, yaitu legitibility, imageability dan identity. Kemudian menggunakan metode pragmatik, yaitu melalui metode transformasi dan analogi menghasilkan bentuk dan tampilan yang baru serta melakukan trasformasi ragam hias Batik Jetis itu sendiri. Penciptaan citra tersebut dapat diperkuat melalui tampilan ragam hias batik yang diaplikasikan melalui fasade bangunan publik baru serta tampilan lingkungannya, yaitu pada detail elemen perancangannya. Sehingga dari tampilan bangunan dapat meningkatkan kualitas visual dan memperkuat karakter kampung batik itu sendiri. Dengan adanya kajian-rancang ini diharapkan adalah kampung batik Jetis benar – benar hidup kembali, nyaman bagi masyarakatnya dan juga wisatawan sehingga budaya batik Jetis dapat terlestarikan dan mampu menjadi salah satu objek wisata di Sidoarjo dan juga menggiatkan kembali nama Sidoarjo di mata nasional dan Internasional

Behavioral Analysis on IPv4 Malware in both IPv4 and IPv6 Network Environment

Malware is become an epidemic in computer net-work nowadays. Malware attacks are a significant threat to networks. A conducted survey shows malware attacks may result a huge financial impact. This scenario has become worse when users are migrating to a new environment which is Internet Protocol Version 6. In this paper, a real Nimda worm was released on to further understand the worm beha-vior in real network traffic. A controlled environment of both IPv4 and IPv6 network were deployed as a testbed for this study. The result between these two scenarios will be analyzed and discussed further in term of the worm behavior. The ex-periment result shows that even IPv4 malware still can infect the IPv6 network environment without any modification. New detection techniques need to be proposed to remedy this prob-lem swiftly

Dissolved heavy metals and water quality in the surface waters of rivers and drainages of the West Peninsular Malaysia

The dissolved concentrations of metals (Cd, Cu, Pb, Ni, Fe and Zn), temperature, total dissolved solids, pH, dissolved oxygen, salinity and conductivity were determined in the surface waters of 24 geographical sampling sites including city and urban drainages and rivers, from the west Peninsular Malaysia, collected in January to April 2005. From these sampling sites, the ranges (min-max) of dissolved metal concentrations (mg/L) were Cd: 0.001-0.055, Cu: 0.001-0.1773, Pb: 0.001-1.523, Ni: 0.001-0.246, Fe: 0.001-35.67 and Zn: 0.0001-0.609 while for the water quality are pH: 4.96-9.81, dissolved oxygen (0.39-7.26 mg/L), total dissolved solids (0.002-10.02 mg/L), salinity (0.00-8.93 ppt), conductivity (3.33-17423 μS/cm) and temperature (27.8-35.3�). Some sites with elevated dissolved concentrations of heavy metals and poor water quality indicated the anthropogenic inputs of industrial and urban wastes. Regular monitoring of water quality in all drainage waters is recommended

Influence of sintering temperature on density, hardness, shrinkage and microstructure of alumina-zirconia cutting tool

The confederation of Alumina (Al2O3) and Zirconia (ZrO2) has emerged as a promising ceramic framework for advanced machine tool applications. The mechanical properties of the Al2O3-ZrO2 cutting tool are critically dependent on its density, hardness, and shrinkage, which are influenced by the powder preparation and sintering processes. The ef ect of sintering temperature on density, hardness, shrinkage, and microstructure of Al2O3-ZrO2 is investigated in this study. Al2O3 powders (80% wt) and ZrO2 powders (20% wt) were combined in a ball mill machine with polyethylene glycol (PEG) added as a binder agent. The samples were compacted using the cold isostatic pressing method at 300 MPa pressure after being pressed using a hydraulic hand press machine at 10 tons pressure. The green compacts were sintered at temperatures ranging from 1500°C to 1700°C, with soaking times ranging from 4 to 6 hours. The results show that as the sintering temperature increased, the density and hardness decreased. When the sintering temperature was set to 1500°C and the soaking time was 6 hours, the maximum hardness and density were recorded at 1321.23HV. Whereas, lowest hardness was recorded at 688.4HV when the sintering temperature was set to 1700°C and the soaking time was 6 hours. The shrinkage increased significantly as the sintering temperature increased, reaching a maximum of 9.95 percent at 1700°C after 4 hours of soaking. Microstructure analysis reveals that grain size increased as sintering temperature increased, with the smallest grain size presented 2 µm at 1500°C and 6 hour

Effect of piezoelectric fan mode shape on the heat transfer characteristics

Piezoelectric fans with their low noise and power consumption, are an effective means of enhancing heat transfer and is a viable alternative to the natural convection process. Several studies have been extensively carried out at the fundamental resonance mode. In this work, three-dimensional numerical studies on the effect of first, second and third mode shapes driven at frequency and the tip amplitude of the first mode are accomplished to investigate their effects on the heat transfer characteristics. The experimental and numerical model of the first mode shows a reasonably good agreement between them. The results showed that the increase in the mode number decreased the induced air flow velocity on the top of the heated surface, thus impeding the cooling capabilities at higher mode number. The vibrating blade of the first mode produced a pair of asymmetric vortex of opposite circulation around front and the back the piezofan tip, which disappear with the increase of mode number. It is thus established from this work that higher mode of vibrations is ineffective and therefore the fundamental resonance mode is suggested for all practical piezofan applications

Tetra-μ-acetato-κ8 O:O′-bis­{[2,2-dimeth­yl-N-(pyridin-2-yl)propanamide-κN 1]copper(II)}(Cu—Cu)

The crystal structure of the title compound, [Cu2(C2H3O2)4(C10H14N2O)2], reveals a dinuclear CuII complex located about a center of inversion. The coordination environment of each CuII cation is distorted octa­hedral, composed of four bridging acetate ligands, an apical pyridine donor and is completed by a Cu—Cu bond. The amide H atom forms intra­molecular hydrogen bonds to two carboxyl O atoms. In the crystal, weak inter­molecular pyridine–amide C—H⋯O inter­actions are also present

Effect of wing deformation on the aerodynamic performance of flapping wings: fluid-structure interaction approach

Wing stiffness is very crucial in augmenting aerodynamic forces in flapping wing flyers. In this work, the effect of wing deformation was studied using three-dimensional numerical analysis (two-way fluid structure interaction), coupling the flow solver (FLUENT) and the structural (ABAQUS) solver via the MpCCI platform. Three different degrees of bending stiffness corresponding to rigid, flexible, and highly flexible case wings were investigated. Moreover, the wings were tested for both low Reynolds number (R=9,000) and high Reynolds number (R=40,000), at a flapping frequency of 9 Hz corresponding to an angle of attack (AoA) ranging from α=0 to 50°. The results of mean aerodynamic lift and drag coefficients showed good agreement between numerical and experimental findings. Also, the time-averaged lift-to-drag ratio reveals that the highly flexible wing exhibited the best overall aerodynamic performance when compared to the rigid and flexible wing

Seroprevalence of leptospiral antibodies among market workers and food handlers in the central state of Malaysia

Objective:The high prevalence of leptospirosis in humans is of great public health concern, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions. This study aimed to determine the seroprevalence of leptospiral antibodies and distribution of serovars, and to assess the usefulness of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) as a screening method for leptospiral antibodies in a high-risk healthy community. Methods: Cross-sectional study of 231 market workers and food handlers in wet markets and food premises from two localities in central Malaysia. Respondents' background information was obtained using a questionnaire. Serum samples were tested for leptospiral antibodies using ELISA and microscopic agglutination test (MAT). Results: Seroprevalence of leptospirosis among healthy workers was 46.3%. Detection of seropositivity was higher by MAT (46%) than ELISA (15%). We observed high seropositivity among local workers (49%), food handlers (49.5%), females (60.8%) and those aged 34 years and older (46.3%). Local strain LEP175 was the predominant serovar, followed by WHO strain Patoc. Conclusion: Overall seroprevalence among healthy food handlers and market workers was high in this study. The workplace places susceptible individuals at risk of leptospirosis

Multi-Criteria Architecture Style Selection for Precision Farming Software Product Lines Using Fuzzy AHP

Precision Farming (PF) system is an alternative and innovative approach to improve the quality and production of crop yields. However, due to heterogeneity and user demands, PF system complexity has become higher. As such, software complexity has always been an issue in software development, especially for larger systems with innovative functionalities. One solution by which to reduce the problem of software complexity is by incorporating software reuse. Software Product Line (SPL) is a strategic reuse approach, which targets common artefacts for its product line while having a variability management mechanism to cater for variability in individual applications. This research proposes an integrated approach of SPL with architecture style selection and componentbased design for the precision farming domain. The focus of this paper is to highlight the process of architecture style selection in the proposed approach, which involves a multi-criteria design decision. The selection process uses a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (fuzzy AHP) in order to select the best architectural style, which can fulfil most of the sought-after criteria for precision farming product line application