Throughfall at an abandoned skid trail in a tropical rain forest in Peninsular Malaysia

Knowledge of throughfall at abandoned skid trails in tropical forests is extremely scarce. Thus, throughfall was measured using 120 storage rain gauges set on a skid trail left abandoned 41 years after forest harvesting in the Bukit Tarek Experimental Watershed (BTEW) in Peninsular Malaysia. All trees of ≥ 1 m height in the plot were identified to the species level, and their diameter at breast height (DBH) and height were measured. Vegetation along the skid trail comprises trees with smaller DBH (0.2-31.0 cm, with a mean of 2.0 cm) and shorter height (1.0-20.0 m, with a mean of 2.8 m) than those in the regenerated secondary forests of BTEW. The diversity (i.e. 43 families, 131 species) at the skid trail was similar to that in an old tropical forest at BTEW. The ratio of throughfall to gross rainfall (Th/Rg) for 84 rain events ranged from 27.4% to 204.7% with a mean and standard deviation of 98.1% and 33.2%, respectively. We found that a considerable amount of rainwater dropped under bertam (i.e. Eugeissona tristis) and rattan (i.e. Daemonorops callicarpa, Calamus insignis) vegetation. The Th/Rg ratio weakly correlated with canopy openness. The mean Th/Rg ratio is the largest mean ratio ever reported for forests in Malaysia

Flood risk assessment: a review of flood damage estimation model for Malaysia

Flood damage assessment is important in flood risk management for the assessment of flood vulnerability, development of flood risk map and flood management financial appraisal. In Malaysia, there is a lack of studies on flood damages estimation. In addition, the needed data for the assessment of flood damages is scarce. This review identified the approaches and problems in flood damage assessment. For Malaysia, the combination of four elements namely; flood characteristics (flood depth and flood duration), characteristic of exposed elements, value of exposed element and flood damage function curve are recommended. The scarcity of data for developing flood damage curve could partly be overcome by applying synthetic method to generate additional data from the existing flood damage data

Grain quality performance and heritability estimation in selected F1 rice genotypes

A total of 17 rice genotypes consisted of 12 F1 progenies and five parental lines were evaluated for performance of grain qualities, yield and yield components and vegetative traits at the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) Research Station in Seberang Perai, Penang. Except grain length, all other grain quality characters, yield components and vegetative traits varied significantly among the genotypes. Among the studied characters, the highest heritability value was observed in plant height with 99.75% followed by panicle length having 96.90% and grain shape with 56.70% which could be successfully inherited to the next generations. The rest of the traits had low heritability values and ranged from 20.24 to 35.88%. This indicates that the characters are mainly influenced by environmental factors such as geographical effects and climate. However, in the quantitative traits such as grain qualities and yield components, they are usually difficult to inherit to the next generation due to low heritability values. The combinations of Q76 and MR84 had the highest in amylose content while Q76 and MRQ74 had the lowest. Several selected F1 indica rice genotypes from this evaluation are useful for future breeding programme and biotechnological research for the improvement of valuable grain quality traits

Dynamic mechanical properties and morphology characteristics of rubber-toughened poly(lactic acid)

This study investigates the effect of natural rubber (NR), epoxidised natural rubber (ENR), and core-shell rubber (CSR) as toughening agents for poly(lactic acid) (PLA). PLA/rubber blends were prepared by using melt blending method in a twin-screw extruder, with the content of rubbers was fixed at 5 wt. %. All PLA/rubber blends exhibited lower storage modulus compared to neat PLA. Two-stage storage modulus (E’) was also observed, where the first stage occurred at lower temperature corresponded to the glass transition temperature (Tg) of rubber components, whereas the second E’ corresponded to the Tg of PLA. The impact fracture surface of PLA/rubber blends also exhibited phase- separated morphology where the spherical-shaped rubber particles were clearly present in the PLA matrix

Nexus Between Equity Pricing Models and Equity Price Fragility: Empirical Insights From Pakistan

Purpose: The study tests conventional and behavioral pricing multifactor impact on price fragility from the equity market of Pakistan. Methodology: The positivist approach is used to deduct study rationale via probability sampling. At the same time, systematic sampling for data collection of PSX is tested in parallel to mean-variance random walk theory. Findings: The impact of conventional factors is significant on price fragility in the short run and vice versa in the long run. Specifically, herd behavior and disposition effects are found to be insignificant. But size, value, illiquidity, and price earning had a significant impact on price fragility in the short run. Limitations: The current research has not covered the desired scope of the topic due to time limitations, lack of harmony in corporate data on databases, and literature on price fragility being very scarce. Implication: In PSX, there is a need to develop a corporate culture to promote the standard modern financial practice to enhance financial productivity and sustainability. For corporate culture to be established, corporate governance boards should be established, and family governance systems should be replaced by an independent democratic board. Mispricing and arbitragers need serious control. Originality: The value of the research is that little research currently exists on about pricing multifactor impact on price fragility. Copyright © 2022 Anser, Yusop, Abbas, Ali and Ahmad.APC will be provided by the corresponding author

Monitoring of barnacle growth on the underwater hull of an FRP boat using image processing

In this research, photos of barnacles were analysed using image processing. The images of barnacles were taken from the CITRA MOSTI boat made from fibre-glass reinforced plastic (FRP) for monitoring purpose. The photos were taken within a period of three (3) months. Results showed that the barnacles' growth in terms of their size and quantity might be due to the effect of saltwater. Results obtained through SCILAB programming were analysed and comprehensive data were tabulated. From images recorded on February 2013, it was observed that the barnacles had been growing aggressively achieving the highest pixel count of 3000 as compared to images captured in December that only amounted to 2600 pixels. The barnacles were growing at a rate of approximately 10% from the first image analysis. The highest recorded pixels were in the month of the March 2013, attaining about 3500 pixel counts. These changes in growth rate throughout the stipulated period may be due to numerous factors such as the fluctuating of seawater temperature and weather. © 2013 The Authors

A combination of waste biomass activated carbon and nylon nanofiber for removal of triclosan from aqueous solutions

Triclosan (TCS) is one of the biocide used as antibacterial and antifungal agent to kill and hinder the growth of bacteria and also it is used in many personal care and health care products. However, TCS can cause health and environmental problems such as environmental pollutions, acute toxicity, etc. The aim of this study is to investigate the removal of TCS from aqueous solution by combining the coconut pulp waste (Cocos nuciefera) activated carbon (AC) with nylon 6,6 membrane. To this end, first, the effects of physico-chemical characteristics of the membrane were studied. The nylon 6,6 membrane (14 wt.%] was prepared using electrospinning machine with injection rate at 0.4 mL/h, tip-to-collector distance at 15 cm, rotation speed at 1000 rpm, and applied voltage at 26 kV. The parameters studied for the membrane during the adsorption test were contact time, adsorbent dosage, agitation speed, initial TCS concentration, pH, and temperature of the TCS solution. The filtration test was done using flat sheet membrane test machine at pressure 1.0 bar. The characteristics of the membrane were analysed using the FESEM and FTIR tests. Based on the obtained results, the nylon 6,6 membrane can remove 90.2% of TCS within 5 minutes; the removal rate increased to 100% in less than 5 minutes after the membrane was combined with AC. This study proved that the combination of AC and nylon 6,6 membrane is able to maximize the TCS removal from water

Application of Ikaz and direct quadrature for solving leakage in pipeline distribution by using transmission line modelling

A new transient-based advance towards single leak detection is proposed which requires a measurement station with an end at the pipe system. The method use the frequency response and gives adequate results using low frequency bandwidth. This research apply Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) as the method denoising the noisy pressure transient signal before the signal further analyze using instantaneous frequency analysis. Therefore EMD is the way to decompose into Intrinsic Mode Function (IMF) from the signal. However it is difficult to select suitable IMF. Thus the paper proposed the implementation of Integrated Kurtosis-based algorithm Z-filter technique for that allows automatic selection of relevant and appropriates IMF. This work demonstrated the synthetic pressure transient signal generates using transmission line modelling (TLM) in order to test the effectiveness of Ikaz as the autonomous selection of IMF. This paper implement the Direct Quadrature as the instantaneous frequency analysis. A straight fluid network was designed using TLM fixing with higher resistance at some point act as a leak and connecting to the pipe feature (junction, pipefitting or blockage). The analysis results using Ikaz revealed that the method can be utilized as an automatic selection of intrinsic mode function (IMF) although the noise level ratio of the signal is lower. Ikaz-kurtosis ratio is recommended and advised to be implemented as automatic selection of intrinsic mode function (IMF) through DQ analysis

Identification of tomato inbred lines for heat tolerance through agronomic and physiological approaches

Eighteen tomato inbred lines were evaluated for tolerance against heat under field condition. Eight inbred lines were found promising in respect to flower and fruit setting. Ten inbred lines did not set fruit due to showing sensitivity to heat. Inbred line C11 produced the maximum number of 20.8 fruits per plant and fruit yield of 581 g per plant. Inbred line C51 produced 553 g fruit per plant. The highest individual fruit weight of 65.7 g was produced by WP10 with only 180 g fruit yield per plant. Three inbred lines, C41, C51 and C71 had more than 5% total soluble solid. Membrane thermostability (MT) test of eighteen inbred lines was accomplished with a view to evaluate heat tolerance under elevated temperature of 55°C. The result of MT test revealed that some of the inbred lines had the longer heat killing time and hence those genotypes were considered as heat tolerant among the collection. Three inbred lines, C51, C71 and HT019 took maximum of 240 minutes to cause 50% injury, which indicated that these inbred lies could be considered as useful breeding materials in developing heat tolerant tomato varieties. Six inbred lines namely C11, C41, HT020, HT021, WP10 and VRT004 also had tolerance against elevated temperature for 210 minutes to cause 50% injury. These nine inbred lines, due to having longer time to cause 50% injury level against elevated temperature, can also be selected for utilization in tomato breeding program to develop heat tolerant varieties

Food waste solution at home: conventional and rapid composting techniques

Food waste is a significant concern in waste management in recent years due to the inevitable outcome of human consumption in modern society. It has happened in almost every home daily. In Malaysia, 44.5% of organic waste (OW) consists of food waste (FW), this figure would increase with population growth. Therefore, without effective FW management, untreated FW dumping will cause environmental pollution, thus affecting human health as well as ecosystems. Conventional methods such as landfill and incineration have long been the most popular practice to address the FW issues, offering simple and cost-effective approach. Most of the time, these methods are not sustainable since they pose other environmental pollution such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and leachate contamination leading to groundwater pollutions. Other issues with landfills are that self-composting at landfill site takes a long time and most landfills in Malaysia are almost at full capacity. The composting technique has recently gained more attraction as a cost-effective and sustainable method for the FW issue. This paper reviews techniques of composting food waste at home by using a conventional natural and rapid process. The performance of each technique in terms of cost, sustainability, user-friendly and time are measured in this review. Finally, the future direction of food waste solution by sustainable composting technique is briefly discussed in this paper