Analysis of Road Traffic Crashes Data of Perak State in Malaysia

Road traffic accidents are one of Malaysia's top five major causes of death and is one of the most critical public health concerns in 2023. As a result, this article offers research based on data from different Malaysian government organisations and analysing the changes in the pattern of Road Traffic Crashes (RTC) in Perak, Malaysia. From 2011 to 2018, data was analysed based on road traffic collisions and categories of casualties concerning gender, age, types of roads and vehicles, and road users. The mortality and injury rates per 100,000 people were used to calculate performance for road safety. It was found that with a 0.59% increase in Perak's population and an increase in the number of cars, there are 30,669 total crashes and 491 road deaths in 2020. Furthermore, this study discovered that motorcycles were the most common vehicle involved in road traffic deaths from 2011 to 2018, which should raise concerns since motorbikes have become an essential mode of transportation. In Perak, most road deaths were males between the ages of 16 and 20. Finally, this study discovered that the death and injury rates per 100,000 people in Perak are 19.56 and 75.82, respectively, indicating that the fatality rate is dropping, but the injury rate increased dramatically in 2020 compared to 2019. The Perak state administration must investigate why the situation has worsen after a decade. Somehow or rather, the state must address this issue, and it is advised that further research be conducted to identify mechanisms to enhance the current scenario to lower the number of RTCs, notably deaths, in the state

Flexural Strength Behavior of Composite UHPFC-Existing Concrete

Article Preview Article Preview Ultra high performance fiber concrete (UHPFC) is an advanced formula concrete that is proven to be more superior than conventional concrete because it embrace the qualities of steel and concrete. Therefore UHPFC properties which include high durability and strength are fully exploited in the research of rehabilitation and strengthening in concrete and even non-concrete structures. This article presents the findings of an experimental study carried out to examine the bonding strength behaviour between normal concrete (NC) substrate and UHPFC as a repair material, under flexural strength test by using third-point loading beam test method. Three types of NC substrate surface preparation were used: as-cast (without surface preparation) as a reference, wire-brushed, and sand-blasted. The flexural test results clearly indicated that all failures occurred through the NC substrate and no

Assessing Road Accident Black Spots and Countermeasures in the State of Perak, Malaysia

To develop a successful strategy for improving road safety, the initial step involves is to identify the black spots that are more susceptible to high-risk traffic accidents. However, due to the high cost of implementing safety measures in these locations, only a limited number of spots/sites can be thoroughly examined with the available funding. Therefore, it is crucial to prioritize the high-risk sites and their corresponding safety measures in order to make the most efficient use of the available finances. Hence, this paper presents black spots ranking and low-cost countermeasures based on the Perak Federal trunk road traffic crash (RTC) data for three years from 2018 to 2020 recorded by the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP). The weightage point method was used for each black spot  ranking exercise where as, the selection for countermeasures were based on RTC situations which are norms practiced by the Public Works Department (PWD). In total 22 black spots were ranked and it was found that the highest rank of the 2020 black spots in Perak was along route FT005 in Kinta district which had 18 RTCs and with a total weightage points (TWP) of 118.2. In balancing between limited financial allocation and improving road safety, the countermeasures were priorotized for implementation in 2021 based on the black spots ranking results. However, only six black spots were treated in 2021 with the entire cost was RM 1,834,027.19.  Where for route FT005 in Kinta district, the countermeasure was done at Section 684 with a total cost of RM350,000 under the 2022 black spots countermeasure program which is an annual program funded by the Ministry of Works Malaysia. It is recommended that Perak State PWD form a Road Safety Unit to reduce the black spots along the state roads which is the second highest road fatalities recorded in Perak

A model for ink impression into a porous substrate

This paper applies the physics of a squeezed film between porous surfaces to the impression of an ink dot into paper. The models developed are implemented numerically via the finite-element method. When compared with observations reported in the literature, the models are shown to be capable of representing the effects of process parameters such as the pressure, viscosity, permeability and film thickness on the dot gain which is used frequently as a characteristic to measure printing quality

Effect of Lithium Chloride (Licl) Dopant on The Performance of Catalysts for the Oxidative Coupling of Methane

The present study reports effects of lithium chloride (LiCl) doping on MgO, La2O3, SnO2, CaO and ZnO catalysts. All the catalysts were prepared by the impregnation method. The catalysts were tested at reaction temperature of 775oC. The feed flow rate of methane, oxygen and nitrogen was carried out in the ratio of 3:1:2 giving a weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) of 0.375 g.s/cm3. La2O3 showed the highest C2+ selectivity among the undoped catalysts. All the catalysts were doped with LiCl to compare their methane conversion, selectivity and product yield. The 2.0 mol% LiCl doped into La2O3 was the best catalyst formulation having achieved 46.7% of C2+ selectivity with CH4 conversion of 29.0% and the increase in selectivity was attributed to the presence of chlorine. Hydrogen production was more pronounced for MgO based catalysts and believed to be generated by surfacecatalyzed reactions

Mechanical properties of layered laminated woven bamboo gigantochloa scortechinii/epoxy composites

This study investigated the application of bamboo as a natural composite, in which its potential as a composite material had been examined for 2–6 layers. In precise, the woven bamboo (BW) formed the culm fiber composite with an average of 0.5 mm thickness and 5.0 mm width strip. In addition, this study looked into a specific type of bamboo species known as Gigantochloa Scortechinii (Buluh Semantan), which can be found in Malaysia. This laminated plain BW, which had been reinforced with epoxy (EP), was developed by applying the hand lay-up technique. After that, the specimens were characterized via mechanical analyses, for instance, tensile, flexural, hardness, and impact tests. As a result, the 2-layer BW had displayed rather excellent results chiefly due to the incorporation of epoxy composite, although this is exceptional hardness value

Capability of AgSiN/SU-8 Layer on Silver-Based SPR for Adulterated Honey Detection

This study introduces the capability of the AgSiN/SU-8 layer on the silver-based SPR structure for water content detection in stingless bee honey. The 30% water content in pure honey was adulterated by water bath procedure until they reached 18% adulterated honey. The experiment was carried out for two different SPR structures, with and without AgSiN/SU-8 layer to examine its potential in protecting the silver metal from eroding and minimize the formation of the silver oxide. The resonance angles of adulterated honey solutions for these two SPR structures denote a similar behavior by shifting to a higher angle from the pure honey solution. It indicates that the AgSiN/SU-8 layer can select and detect the variation percentage of honey water content. After 24 hours, the Cr/Ag/AgSiN/SU-8 structure produces the equivalent resonance angle value with only 5.26% changes in minimum reflectivity. It shows that the AgSiN/SU-8 layer can protect the silver surface from erosion and preserve the SPR characteristic. Besides, the presence of the AgSiN/SU-8 layer on the silver surface is capable of decreasing the oxygen atomic percentage by 21.48%, hence minimizing the growth of silver oxide. This work is a preliminary study of the AgSiN/SU-8 layer to detect water content in stingless bee honey, at the same time can protect the silver surface from erosion and minimize the formation of the silver oxide

Kesan latihan strategi kaunseling adaptasi motivational interviewing (AMI) terhadap kaunselor pelatih.

Abstrak Kajian Motivational Interviewing secara berterusan telah menunjukkan hasil yang positif dalam pelbagai seting dan populasi tetapi tidak banyak kajian yang memfokuskan kepada latihan kaunselor dalam konteks budaya berbeza. Kajian eksperimen-kuasi ini bertujuan untuk melihat kesan latihan strategi kaunseling Adaptasi Motivational Interviewing dibina ke atas kaunselor pelatih. Instrumen kajian yang digunakan adalah Counseling Response Questionnaires, Confidence and Knowledge Scale dan Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity. Seramai 112 kaunselor pelatih terlibat dibahagikan kepada kumpulan rawatan dan kumpulan kawalan. Dapatan kajian secara keseluruhan menunjukkan wujudnya perbezaan yang signifikan kesan latihan (respon empati, keyakinan melaksanakan kaunseling dan Kemahiran (Motivational Interviewing) antara kumpulan rawatan dan kumpulan kawalan. Bagaimanapun, strategi latihan ini gagal meningkatkan penguasaan kemahiran subjek kepada tahap kecekapan kecuali bagi kemahiran respon refleksi-kompleks. Kajian ini menyumbang kepada perkembangan AMI dalam konteks pelbagai budaya serta mengutarakan model latihan strategi AMI di Malaysia. Kata Kunci Adaptasi • Motivational Interviewing • Latihan • Kesan • Latihan • Kemahiran • Kaunselor Pelatih Abstract Studies on Motivational Interviewing have continously yielded positive results in various settings and populations, but not many studies have focused on counselor's training in different cultural contexts. The aim of this quasi-experimental study is to identify the effects of counseling strategy training Adaptation Motivational Interviewing on counselor trainees. Instruments used were Counseling Response Questionnaire, Confidence and Knowledge Scale and Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity. Around 112 counselor trainees were involved in this study and they were divided into treatment and control groups. Overall results showed that there were significantdifferences in effects of training (empathy response, confidence and Motivational Interviewing skills) between the treatment group and the control group

Teacher beliefs and practices in communicative language competence towards the development of an autonomous learning model

There is great impetus for English courses in institutions of higher learning (II-IL) at present due to its functional importance as a tool for individual and national development, graduate employability and life-long learning. However, it remains a common complaint among employers that Malaysian fresh graduates lack English proficiency and critical thinking skills. Thus, this qualitative study sets out to examine the focus and emphasis on English language proficiency, critical thinking skills and study skills of five (5) English courses offered by Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysta (UTHM) through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and document analysis. The interviews conducted with five teachers and ten students were transcribed using Transana software before being coded for analysis. A grounded theory approach which emphasises on several stages of data collection and constant comparison of data was employed to interpret the data. The main findings revealed that teachers in general \· think that language proficiency, critical thinking and study skills are important for tertiary level English classrooms. However, actual teaching practices were found to differ from the teachers' beliefs towards critical thinking and study skills due to challenges which can be categorised as teacher factors, student factors and institutional factors. Finally, several important criteria were identified from the findings to form an autonomous learning model for English language communicative competence called the SITE Model. The findings of this study especially the current beliefs and teaching practices of teachers as well as the proposed SITE Model may serve as a reference point for researchers, educators and policy makers to develop effective English language curriculums for enhancing communicative competence among learners

Bearing performance and damage characteristics of rein-infused thermoplastic 3D woven composites bolted joints

This paper presents a comprehensive study on the single-bolt single-shear (SBSS) and double-bolt single shear (DBSS) lap joint performance of resin-infused thermoplastic 3D fibre-reinforced composite (FRC) in on-axis (0°and 90°) and off-axis (45°) configurations. The bearing performance and failure mechanisms are compared with thermoset 3D-FRC. The resin-infused thermoplastic 3D-FRC bolted joint shows improved bearing performance in terms of higher ultimate bearing strength, stiffness loss strength, and reduced damage severity than its thermoset counterpart. Additionally, this paper presents a detailed study on the intermediate and final failure mechanisms, obtained from scanning electron microscopy of the interrupted and ultimate bearing tests, to understand damage progression in SBSS and BDSS lap joints at the submicron level. The major damage characteristics of a thermoplastic 3D-FRC bolted joint include plastic deformation and plastic kinking at the hole front tip, which improve the bearing capacity and reduce stress concentration, damage severity, and its deleterious effects