Management challenges within multiple project environments: lessons for developing countries

In the construction industry, multiple project environments (MPE) exist where more than one project is managed simultaneously. The driving force behind MPEs is the pragmatic allocation of resources encumbered by uncertain economic times. However, MPEs create management challenges that need to be addressed. For that reason, this paper aims to investigate the challenges in respect to managing MPEs within the construction industry. It essentially reviews state-of-art knowledge in respect to MPEs identifying the rationale behind their development. At this stage it would appear that the interdependency and uncertainty within inputs, processes and outputs are major contributing factors to the MPE problem. It is of note that the majority of these findings were based within the context of developed countries. Hence, this review sets out to inform practitioners from developing countries in respect to lessons learned within more developed countries. This review is expected to lead to further investigations on MPEs and their inherent challenges.Noor Ismah Hashim, Nicholas Chileshe, Bassam Baroud

Preparation of activated carbon from tamarind seeds and Methylene blue (MB) removal

In this study, thedye treatment which is methylene blue (MB)  as water pollutants was ascertained with the activated carbon that prepared from the tamarind seed(Tamarindusindica). The conditions used to prepare activated carbon, (TSC) were activated using phosphoric acid as an activating agent at temperature 500 oC for four hours. These conditions may be attributed to enhance the surface area and pores development of TSC. Single point BET surface area (SBET) analysis gave the surface area of TSC was and FESEM analysis showed that the pores development and formation were mostly in circle and oval pattern. The best conditions for TSC sample to adsorb MB effectively were at 50 mL of MB with concentration 120 ppm at temperature, 323 K by using 0.04 g of TSC. The maximum adsorption capacity for MB dye solution was 102.77 mg g-1Keywords: Tamarind seed; dyes; methylene blue; adsorption; phosphoric acid

Efficacy of entomopathogenic fungi, paecilomyces fumosoroseus, beauvena bassiana and metarhizium anisopliae var. majus against crocidolomia binotalis (Lepidoptera; Pyralidae)

Laboratory bioassays of three local isolates of entomopathogenic hypomycetes against the cabbage-heart caterpillar, Crocidolomia binotalis Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) and[reid efficacy ofseveralformulations ofPaecilomyces fumosoroseus (Wise) Brown and Smith were evaluated. Dosage-mortality bioassays revealed that all the isolates were able to cause mortality to second instar larvae. Majority of the larvae became moribund within two days after treatment. Exposures to doses varying from 2 x 1(jl conidia mLl to 2 x 107 conidia mLl resulted in mean larval mortalities from 10.3 to 100%. At concentrations exceeding 2 x lOS conidia mLl larval mortality was in excess of 80% and 100% mortality was observed at 2 x 107 conidia mLl for all three fungal species. Significant relationships (P<0.05) were obtained between log dosage and probit mortality for all the isolates. The EC5o for P. fumosoroseus was estimated at 1.926 x 1rY conidia mL1 , and was significantly lower than that ofBeauveria bassiana (Bals) Yuill at 5.038 x 103 conidia mL-l. The EC5o for Metarhizium anisopliae var majus (Metsch) Sorokin was significantly the highest, at 2.0 x 104 conidia mL-l. The best isolate was P.fumosoroseus which had LT50 almost half a day lower at a comparable dosage of 2 x107 conidia mLl, with a gradient of 4.656 as compared to 4.356 for B. bassiana and 4.193 for M. anisopliae var majus. In [reid treatments, plants were sprayed with suspensions containing 107 conidia mLl. Mean percent mortality for all the treatments were in excess of 70% and significantly higher (P<O. 05) than the control. Conidia in palm oil Vesawit® gave the most promising result against the cabbage-heart caterpillar

Design and development of micro direct methanol fuel cell (μDMFC) for portable application

A passive, air-breathing single cell and a multi-cell stack micro direct methanol fuel cell with 1.0 cm2 active area were designed, fabricated and tested. The fuel cell was completely passive without any ancillary device such as pump. Oxygen was taken from the surrounding air, and the methanol solution was stored in a built-in reservoir. The performance of the single cell was tested with different methanol concentrations ranging from 1.0 M to 5.0 M, and the optimum performance was achieved by using methanol at a concentration of 4.0 M. A stack with 6 cells was fabricated and tested with the optimum methanol concentration of 4.0 M, and power levels produced by different catalyst loadings on the anode were compared. The combination of a catalyst loading of 3.0 mg cm-2 Pt/Ru on the anode and 2.0 mg cm-2 Pt on the cathode yielded the highest power of 12.05 mW at 1.08 V and 11.2 mA

The evaluations of facebook as an educational technology tools in polytechnic’s entrepreneurship courses

Entrepreneurship is integrated into the curriculum structure designed for students studying subjects other than Business. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usage of Facebook as an educational technology tool in entrepreneurship course in TVET institution particularly in Polytechnic Malaysia. The 400 sample was selected randomly among the students from theMalaysian Polytechnic Institutions. Tool analysis using IBM-SPSS version 21.The constructs of Cronbach’s alpha is 0.932. The results supported. It shows the averages mean value scores for educational technology tools is on the approximate scale of 4.0 (3.93). Usages of Facebook as an educational technology tools onto entrepreneurship course was well received by Polytechnics’ studentsKeywords: Facebook usage; educational technology tools; entrepreneurship course;polytechnics; DoI theories