Assessment of traffic noise pollution at residential and school areas in Jeli, Kelantan

The development of roads interconnects communities and has become important for economic and social development. Higher traffic noise level is often reflected by the increase in the number of vehicles. This paper discussed the relationship between noise level and vehicle density in the study area. The aim of this study was to assess the traffic noise pollution occurring in the residential and school areas in Jeli, Kelantan. The traffic noise measurement was collected using a sound level meter for three consecutive months (July, August and September 2023). The traffic volume was recorded by traffic surveying. The assessments were carried out from 8.00 a.m – 8.00 p.m. The recorded noise levels were compared with the permissible limit (Malaysian noise limit). The highest noise level recorded was 85.9 dBA, well over the permissible limit of 60 dBA by DOE. This was due to the high number of vehicles passing by the road in the study area and the highest number of vehicles recorded was 4976 during sampling time in July at Kg Gemang. Overall, the traffic noise assessments for this study were beyond the standard limit set by DOE during daytime. This considerably high noise could lead to other health effects for the residents

Perception of safety intervention practices in the laboratory among students in higher education sector

Safety is one of the crucial elements in the educational sector. Safety intervention is one of the elements that must be highlighted to increase workplace safety. In general, safety intervention is the alteration of internal or external aspects that may minimize workplace accidents such as safety procedures, safety committees, safety expertise and others. Hence, this study aims to analyze the safety intervention in the laboratory among higher education students. A questionnaire survey was distributed to 338 students from three Universiti Malaysia Kelantan Jeli Campus faculties including the Science Foundation Program. Most of the respondents are Year 1 students with 31.7%. Most (45.9%) of students spend between four to six hours daily in the laboratory. Furthermore, 49.1% of students, participated in the laboratory three to four times per week. This study divided safety intervention practices into three components: management, technical and human. The results from the descriptive analysis show that management component practices are the highest intervention safety practices adopted by the students when working in the laboratory with an overall mean score of 4.64. Compared with the technical component (overall mean score of 4.61) and human component (overall mean score of 4.53). To prevent laboratory accidents in higher education, the human element in safety intervention practices should also be emphasized. The information obtained from this study could be used by the authorities in charge of occupational health and safety as well as by the stakeholders in higher education to reduce the accident rate in higher education institutions

Distribution and ecology of Rafflesia in Royal Belum State Park, Perak, Malaysia

Rafflesia, the biggest flowers in the world are considered as majestic and are made as ecotourism icons for several places in the South East Asia. Currently, a total of 34 species of Rafflesia were recorded in this region. 7 species of Rafflesia are found in Peninsular Malay-sia alone. This study was executed in Royal Belum State Park in the state of Perak. An updated on distribution of Rafflesia and its ecolo-gy are provided. The Rafflesia population was mapped using Global Positioning System [GPS]. While the size of Rafflesia host-plant was measured with the measuring tape and the amount of rainfall was obtained from the Meteorological Department of Malaysia. During this study, there were 2 species of Rafflesia encountered in Royal Belum State Park, namely Rafflesia cantleyi Solms-Laubach and Raf-flesia kerri Meijer. The species were recorded at X-Ray trail, Sg. Gadong, and Sg. Kooi. A total of 8 populations were set up from these locations. It was found that the population and the distribution decreased in accordance with the habitat interruption by human interven-tion and natural factors such as wildlife trampling on the immature buds. Besides, it was found that the number of Rafflesia buds increas-es with the class size for host-plant of Rafflesia with coefficients of determination of R2=0.9866. However, various physiological and environmental factors were taken into consideration in efforts of conserving this unique flower. This study is important in order to pre-serve the population of Rafflesia at Royal Belum State Park

Assessment of traffic noise pollution at residential and school areas in Jeli, Kelantan

The development of roads interconnects communities and has become important for economic and social development. Higher traffic noise level is often reflected by the increase in the number of vehicles. This paper discussed the relationship between noise level and vehicle density in the study area. The aim of this study was to assess the traffic noise pollution occurring in the residential and school areas in Jeli, Kelantan. The traffic noise measurement was collected using a sound level meter for three consecutive months (July, August and September 2023). The traffic volume was recorded by traffic surveying. The assessments were carried out from 8.00 a.m – 8.00 p.m. The recorded noise levels were compared with the permissible limit (Malaysian noise limit). The highest noise level recorded was 85.9 dBA, well over the permissible limit of 60 dBA by DOE. This was due to the high number of vehicles passing by the road in the study area and the highest number of vehicles recorded was 4976 during sampling time in July at Kg Gemang. Overall, the traffic noise assessments for this study were beyond the standard limit set by DOE during daytime. This considerably high noise could lead to other health effects for the residents

Perception of safety intervention practices in the laboratory among students in higher education sector

Safety is one of the crucial elements in the educational sector. Safety intervention is one of the elements that must be highlighted to increase workplace safety. In general, safety intervention is the alteration of internal or external aspects that may minimize workplace accidents such as safety procedures, safety committees, safety expertise and others. Hence, this study aims to analyze the safety intervention in the laboratory among higher education students. A questionnaire survey was distributed to 338 students from three Universiti Malaysia Kelantan Jeli Campus faculties including the Science Foundation Program. Most of the respondents are Year 1 students with 31.7%. Most (45.9%) of students spend between four to six hours daily in the laboratory. Furthermore, 49.1% of students, participated in the laboratory three to four times per week. This study divided safety intervention practices into three components: management, technical and human. The results from the descriptive analysis show that management component practices are the highest intervention safety practices adopted by the students when working in the laboratory with an overall mean score of 4.64. Compared with the technical component (overall mean score of 4.61) and human component (overall mean score of 4.53). To prevent laboratory accidents in higher education, the human element in safety intervention practices should also be emphasized. The information obtained from this study could be used by the authorities in charge of occupational health and safety as well as by the stakeholders in higher education to reduce the accident rate in higher education institutions

Assessment of metal pollution using enrichment factor (EF) and pollution load index (PLI) in sediments of selected Terengganu rivers, Malaysia

Anthropogenic activities that happen in Terengganu River were contributed to sediment pollution at that area. The sediment pollution occurred when sediment are additional influenced with chemical adsorption between the metals, grain size, and organic matter. Thus, this study was conducted to assess the metal pollution using Enrichment Factor (EF) and Pollution Load Index (PLI) and compared with the previous study. A total of 15 sediment samples were collected from 5 different rives and metal concentration were analyzed using flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (ASS). The metal concentration ranged as followed: Cr (0.48-12.80 mg/kg), Cu (0.38-15.20 mg/kg), Mg (202.00-2769.00mg/kg), K (63.36-1730.00 mg/kg), Mn (4.27-33.70 mg/kg), Zn (2.05-31.30 mg/kg) and Cl (141.00-584.00 mg/kg) respectively. Enrichment Factor (EF) and Pollution Load Index (PLI) were used as a pollution indicator to access the sediment pollution in selected Terengganu Rivers. The mean Enrichment Factor (EF) value indicated in decrease order Cl (34.70) > Zn (23.44) > Cu (10.37) > Cr (1.95) > K (1.58) > Mg (1.16)> Mn (0.87). Meanwhile, Pollution Load Index (PLI) value showed below than 1 in all sampling stations. When compared with previous study, Mg and Cl metals need to take further action due to dramatically increased within seven years. The output from this study will be useful for environmental management at Terengganu Rivers