An integrative review of secondary school quantum physics curricula in Malaysia

As a relatively new subject in the physics curriculum of Malaysian secondary schools, quantum physics (QP) raises questions about its relevance to students and the best approach for teaching it. This paper aims to analyze the content of the QP curriculum to provide students with a meaningful learning experience and expose them to the nature of science (NOS). To accomplish this, the Malaysian standard curriculum document known as Dokumen Standard Kurikulum dan Pentaksiran (DSKP) and the textbook were analyzed through integrative review. Frameworks and perspectives identified by Stadermann and co-workers on the common trust of the QP curriculum in 15 different countries were used as a benchmark for this analysis. It is found that the QP curriculum in Malaysia focuses on the fundamental principle of understanding the quantum energy of light and its interaction with matter. However, it is also found that there are specific NOS aspects that can be highlighted to help students develop their scientific literacy. These might include emphasizing the philosophy of complementarity in explaining the wave-particle duality principle, the ultraviolet catastrophe, and the contradiction of classical physics interpretation with QP. It is suggested that the QP curriculum be improved by including these and other relevant examples to be on par with other countries. Overall, this analysis provides insight into the relevance and content of QP in Malaysian secondary schools. The proposed changes may help improve students’ learning experience and provide a more comprehensive understanding of the NOS

Basic relationship formulation of the sundatang physical characteristics

Sundatang is one of the traditional musical instruments which were made based from natural resources in the land of Sabah. The instrument which belongs to the Kadazan, Dusun and Rungus communities ought to be conserved and upgraded to make it popular and well-accepted among the new generation in this state and generally throughout the world. The purpose of this study was to formulate the basic relationship of the physical characteristics of sundatang. To achieve this, several important dimensions were measured from four units of sundatangs. The measured physical characteristics were scrutinized, analyzed and compared to obtain general physical characteristics of sundatang. Four basic relationship equations of the physical characteristics were formulated which are related to the length of sundatang, distance of frets, height of frets and width of sundatang. The formulated equations can be used to calculate the intended physical dimensions in the making process of sundatang. It is also very important to the advancement of construction technique study of sundatang in future

A Method to Harvest Electrical Energy from Living Plants.

In this paper, some fundamental investigations are established to demonstrate the potential of harvesting electrical energy from living plants. The energy is harvested by embedding electrodes into the plant to allow flow of ions and hence generate electricity. Multiple random tests have been conducted using different type of electrodes and plants as an attempt to determine the characteristics of the harvesting system. It is found that voltages are produced to greater or lesser extents by all tests where combination of copper-zinc and aloe vera produces the highest voltage. In addition, it is shown in this paper its ability to light up Light Emitting Diode (LED), digital clock and calculator which grants it a potential to be used for low power electrical consumption appliances in the future

Fixed-points theory for global vibration control using vibration neutralizer

The vibration neutralizer has been used in many applications since invented. In many cases, an ingenious design law called fixed-points theory was utilized in determining the optimum tuning and damping ratios of the device. However, those applications are limited to point response control of a relatively simple structure. There are some applications related to. continuous structures but the purpose is for point response control, collocated or non-collocated. In this paper, the fixed-points theory is examined for global vibration control namely the control of the kinetic energy of a continuous structure. It is proven in this paper that the same design law is applicable for a more complicated purpose. The results presented in this paper may offer new ways of using the device. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd

Effect of frets to sound frequency of Sundatang

Sundatang is a traditional musical instrument in Sabah, Malaysia, which is needs to be upgraded. The purpose of this study was to formulate equations that explaining the effect of frets to its sound frequency. Sound of sundatang was recorded using a microphone which was connected to ADC Harmonie system. In this study, it was found that the fundamental frequency of sound of the 1st string shifted to higher frequency when fretted at higher fret number. There are two equations formulated in this study which can be used to calculate the fundamental frequency of sound at each fret of sundatang, named Fundamental Frequency (FF) equation and Gradient Harmonic Frequency (GHF) equation. Where, the maximum average difference obtained between recorded and calculated frequency is 4.53 Hz. In addition, also formulated an equation that can be used to explain the correlation of the fundamental frequency and the length of the fretted of 1st string which is named as Correlation of Fundamental Frequency with Length of Fretted String (CFFLFS) equation. The formulated equations in this study can be used to develop a standard musical notation of sundatang

Effects of plucking force to fundamental frequency of sound and body vibration of sape

Sape is the popular traditional musical instruments in Sarawak, Malaysia. It was normally played to a form of ritualistic music to induce trance by the local indigenous people. The use of the sape has now become a social instrument to accompany dances and for entertainment. This paper investigated the effects of the plucking force on the sape’s string to the frequency of sound and body vibration of the instrument. The experiment is carried out in the anechoic room, the string is plucked to generate the sound and cause body vibration. The sound and vibration were collected using a microphone and accelerometer. The data is then imported to MATLAB for analysis. The fundamental frequency (FF) is then identified after performing a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) on the data to get the frequency spectrum. It is found that the plucking force has no effects on the fundamental frequency produced by the sound and body vibration. However, the fundamental frequency produced by three different sizes of sape in this study gave different values. The findings in this study can be used as the reference for or guideline for the sape maker, player, and future studies

Effects of plucking force to fundamental frequency of sound and body vibration of sape

Sape is the popular traditional musical instruments in Sarawak, Malaysia. It was normally played to a form of ritualistic music to induce trance by the local indigenous people. The use of the sape has now become a social instrument to accompany dances and for entertainment. This paper investigated the effects of the plucking force on the sape’s string to the frequency of sound and body vibration of the instrument. The experiment is carried out in the anechoic room, the string is plucked to generate the sound and cause body vibration. The sound and vibration were collected using a microphone and accelerometer. The data is then imported to MATLAB for analysis. The fundamental frequency (FF) is then identified after performing a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) on the data to get the frequency spectrum. It is found that the plucking force has no effects on the fundamental frequency produced by the sound and body vibration. However, the fundamental frequency produced by three different sizes of sape in this study gave different values. The findings in this study can be used as the reference for or guideline for the sape maker, player, and future studies

Modelling of the electricity generation from living plants

Electricity can be harvested from living plants by generating reaction between the plant and a pair of different metals. It has great potential in sustainable energy production because it offers a green approach to harvest energy from sources that are abundantly available. Previous investigation has shown that electrochemistry process is accountable for its mechanism of energy production. In this paper, the behavior of the ions flow in the electrodes-plant system is modelled and illustrated. For this purpose, energy harvesting system consists of Zn-Cu electrodes and aloe Vera was used where the electrodes were immersed in the aloe Vera leaf. It was hypothesized that during the energy harvesting process, oxidations of zinc atoms occur when an external load is connected between the two electrodes. For 72 hours of harvesting process, the zinc electrode experienced a mass loss of 3.2mg compared to electrochemistry prediction which is 0.0853mg when 1M? load was used. However, using a lower load resistor (1k?), the measured mass loss of the zinc increased to 6.7mg compared to the prediction which is 4.0452mg. This means that there is an increase of efficiency when a lower load resistance is used, which is 60.4% for 1k?, compared to 2.67% when using 1M?. This shows that the electrochemistry process is influenced by the load connected to the system. This finding improvises a better understanding on the energy production mechanism of the system

Comparative studies of cell growth of freshwater microalga Chlorella sp. in photoautotrophic, heterotrophic and mixotrophic cultures

Lately, research on biodiesel production as a renewable and sustainable energy has become increasingly apparent due to the fact that fossil fuel is decreasing and the concern of global warming issues. The third generation of biofuel, which is microalgaebased biodiesel had gained interest over the last decade. The ability of microalgae to grow in various conditions is one of its advantages as the potential and promising feedstock for biodiesel. Microalgae can be cultivated in three modes such as photoautotrophic, heterotrophic and mixotrophic culture mode. Unlike photoautotrophic mode where light is required, the heterotrophic mode mainly utilized carbon compounds to grow. On the other hand, the mixotrophic mode is the condition where light and carbon compounds are supplied for microalgae culturing. This paper investigates the cell growth of Chlorella sp. cultivated in photoautotrophic, heterotrophic and mixotrophic culture mode. It was found that Chlorella sp. was capable of producing the highest cell concentration of 6.67 ± 0.56 x 106 cell mL-1 in the photoautotrophic mode for 23 days of cultivation period. This was 1.3 times and 3.2 times greater than the cell concentration in mixotrophic (5.02 ± 0.49 x 106 cell mL-1) and heterotrophic (2.03 ± 0.29 x 106 cell mL-1) culture, respectively. On the contrary, the highest specific growth rate obtained in the study was from heterotrophic mode (0.32 ± 0.04 day-1) followed by photoautotrophic and mixotrophic mode with 0.26 ± 0.05 day-1 and 0.20 ± 0.04 day-1, respectively. Chlorella sp. cell grew well under the photoautotrophic and mixotrophic mode. However, the insufficient of glucose level had contributed to lower cells productivity in the heterotrophic culture. Therefore, the mixotrophic mode could also be an alternative pathway in microalgae cultivation for biodiesel production if the glucose supplied was adequate and at the suitable level