Ambients Air Quality Monitoring In The state of Penang (2004)

Program pemonitoran kualiti udara yang dijalankan di Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang bertujuan untuk menilai paras kepekatan PMlO serta unsur logam-Iogam berat dalam kualiti-udanrpersekitarannya. The purpose of air quality monitoring programme that was held at Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang is to evaluate the level of PMIO and heavy metals concentrations -----in-its--ambient-air

Phytoremediation Potential of Azolla Pinnata on Water Quality and Nutrients from Agricultural Water

The area of polluted water expands day by day due to the rapid increase in agricultural activities. Application and the excessive amount of fertilizer in the agricultural activity can reduce the water quality. One of the alternative way to remove pollutants from polluted water is phytoremediation technique. This paper attempt to evaluate the potential of Azolla pinnata act as a phytoremediation to treat the agricultural water. Three types of media with different dos- age which are tap water, water added with organic fertilizer (chicken manure: dosage range of 10–30 g), and water added with inorganic fertilizer (growing fertilizer: dosage range of 10–30 g) were employed. Media B10 (water added with 10 g organic fertilizer) had the highest removal efficiencies for NH 3 –N, PO 4 3– , and NO 3 – with 25%, 38.5% and 30%. In addition, turbidity and pH value diminished to 15.65% and 18.6%, respectively. However, it indicated that Azolla pinnata has the potential as an agent of phytoremediation especially for water polluted with organic fertilizers

Synthesis and characterization of polymeric materials and their applications in removal and recovery of heavy metals from industrial wastewater.

The transformation of fish bones and pomelo peels into adsorbents in order to remove and recover heavy metals from aqueous solution has been successfully undertaken. The physical and chemical characteristics of the powdered fish bones and pomelo peels were studied. The effect of pH, adsorbent dose, adsorbate concentration as well as adsorption mechanism were identified in this work. Transfonnasi tulang ikan dan kulit limau bali kepada penjerap untuk mengikis serta pengambilan semula logam berat daripada cecair akueus telah berjaya dijalankan. Ciri-ciri fizikal dan kimia tulang ikan serta kulit lim au bali telah dikaji

Nutritive value of cattle manure vermicast and its effect on in vitro ruminal gas production

Introduction The use of non-conventional feedstuffs is gaining recognition especially in developing countries. Ensiled cattle manure with other feedstuffs has been used in ruminant feeding. Vermicomposting, a tool for manure management can be employed as a means for manure treatment with the aim of enhancing nutritive value of forage. The objectives of the study were to determine the nutritive value of cattle manure vermicast (CMV) and to observe gas production in vitro due to CMV inclusion on rice straw at different proportions. Results Vermicomposting of cattle manure at 2, 4 and 6 weeks linearly increased (P 0.05) effect on rumen pH and microbial crude protein production in vitro. CMV inclusion reduced dry matter degradability and increased partitioning factor at 48 h. 5 % inclusion level of CMV gave the highest results while 30 % CMV had the least results. Conclusion Vermicomposting of cattle manure increased its nutritive value, with increase in crude protein content and decrease in NDF and ADF. Results of in vitro gas production and rumen fermentation profiles from this study indicated that inclusion of CMV reduced gas production and DMD; however, it increased PF48, with no significant changes in MCP. Vermicomposting has the potential of being used as another tool for forage treatment and addition of CMV could be expected to reduce ruminant gas production, increase ME and microbial protein synthesis

Permaculture Design: Linking Local Knowledge in Land Use Planning for House Compound

Permaculture accounts as among the sustainable practices that incorporates diverse aspects of ecology, landscape, organic farming, forestry, agriculture, architecture, and city planning. However, the increasing loss of local values may indirectly influence the sustainability of the system, since local knowledge is an important source of information that influences permaculture design. This study attempts to understand the knowledge of local people in planning and designing a permaculture system subjected to their livelihood, culture and ecological aspects. In particular, this study identifies land use planning for permaculture zones, and design elements in permaculture zones. The study reviews the planning and design element of permaculture that is significant to understand the ecosystem based design with sustainable practices. The results discussed that local people, regardless of their locations either urban or rural, tend to take into account the natural layout, interior architecture and internal activities in planning and designing the zones for their house compound. The zoning is not only beneficial for efficient energy use, but also sustainable both in environmental, social and economic aspects appropriate to the livelihood and culture of local people. Therefore, local knowledge should be considered when designing a permaculture system, as it is likely to design with nature rather than design against nature

Permaculture Design: Linking Local Knowledge in Land Use Planning for House Compound

Permaculture accounts as among the sustainable practices that incorporates diverse aspects of ecology, landscape, organic farming, forestry, agriculture, architecture, and city planning. However, the increasing loss of local values may indirectly influence the sustainability of the system, since local knowledge is an important source of information that influences permaculture design. This study attempts to understand the knowledge of local people in planning and designing a permaculture system subjected to their livelihood, culture and ecological aspects. In particular, this study identifies land use planning for permaculture zones, and design elements in permaculture zones. The study reviews the planning and design element of permaculture that is significant to understand the ecosystem based design with sustainable practices. The results discussed that local people, regardless of their locations either urban or rural, tend to take into account the natural layout, interior architecture and internal activities in planning and designing the zones for their house compound. The zoning is not only beneficial for efficient energy use, but also sustainable both in environmental, social and economic aspects appropriate to the livelihood and culture of local people. Therefore, local knowledge should be considered when designing a permaculture system, as it is likely to design with nature rather than design against nature

Tropical Wetland Valuation: An influence of local knowledge in Malay traditional ecosystem for human well-being

Tropical wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems on earth which provide vital services and consist of various types of plant and animal communities that live in the water and on land. However, this golden area is one of the most undervalued ecosystems and the awareness on protecting the areas is still lacking among communities. The aim of this study was to review the wetland services in a tropical climate which functions to complete the ecosystem. In particular, this study will i) explore the values of wetland ecosystem towards human well-being in tropical culture and ii) to design a complete wetland ecosystem with respect to the local knowledge in a tropical climate. This study indicates that the new millennium of ecosystem services provided by tropical wetland has been disaggregated into provisioning of goods; regulating services, cultural development and supporting the process by considering the influence of Malay traditional wetland. Therefore, a complete tropical ecosystem is designed by imitating the natural wetland for societal well-being