Personal exposure to ultrafine particles at schools microenvironment

This work was motivated by the limited knowledge on personal exposure to ultrafine (UF) particles, especially for children (Mejía et al. 2011). Most research efforts in the past have investigated particle mass concentration and only a limited number of studies have been conducted to quantify other particle metrics, such as particle number, in the classrooms and school microenvironment in general (Diapouli et al. 2008; Guo et al. 2008; Weichenthal et al. 2008; Mullen et al. 2011)

Influence of ureolytic bacteria (UB) on the engineering properties and microstructure behavior of interlocking compressed earth bricks (ICEB)

Interlocking Compressed Earth Brick (ICEB) are cement stabilized soil bricks that allow for dry stacked construction. This characteristic resulted to the quick process of building walls at the same time, it requires less skilled labour as the bricks are laid dry and can easily be locked into its place. However, there are still rooms for improving the interlocking bricks by increasing its durability. Many studies had been conducted in order to improve the durability of bricks using environmental friendly method. One of the methods is by adding a certain amount of bacteria into the bricks during its production. Bacteria in brick induced calcite precipitation (calcite crystals) to cover the voids continuously. Ureolytic Bacteria (UB) is used in this study as a partially replacement of limestone water by varying the percentage at 1% UB, 3% UB and 5% UB. Enrichment process is done at soil condition to ensure the survivability of UB in ICEB environment. This research also evaluates the effect of UB in improving the engineering properties of ICEB and analyze the microstructure and morphology of UB in ICEB. Dimensional, compressive strength, water absorption and carbonation tests are performed for engineering properties, whereas X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) are analyzed for microstructure testing. The production of ICEB is carried out at Iryas Inc. (M) Sdn Bhd Industry at Sedenak, Johor and all test are conducted at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) laboratory. The results for the engineering properties and microstructure analysis are compared with the control sample. It had been shown that the addition of 5% UB in ICEB indicated positive results in improving the ICEB properties by 15.25% increment in strength, 14.72% reduction in initial water absorption, 14.68% reduction in water absorption and 15.89% reduction of carbonation depth as compared with the control sample. Precipitation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in form of calcite can be distinguished clearly in microstructure analysis. As a conclusion, addition of 5% UB in ICEB promoted the highest increment in compressive strength and the lowest reduction in water absorption as compared with the other UB percentages

Development of graphic symbols based on tropical plant images in decorative tiles production

The most important aspect of choosing tile is the pattern design. Therefore the importance of focusing the production process in design has become crucial. The biological, physical and visual aspects of environment influence life philosophy, culture, society, tradition and creativity development. In the production of design symbols, it is evident that there is lack of focus and assessment given to the production process compared to that of the end product. The importance of the transformation process is emphasized by Wallschlaeger and Cynthia Busic-Synder who believe that the problem solving processes are shown to illustrate how the process can be altered for use in solving specific types of problem in design. Therefore, the objectives of this research are to determine the significance of systematic design process and ideas transformation in the development of graphic symbol. This study explores the relationship between tiles production and its pattern within an activity theory framework, focusing on data collected using questionnaires survey from selected universities in Peninsular Malaysia and interviews at Design Department of selected manufacture in Peninsular Malaysia. At the conclusion of this paper, a design criteria and analysis of system will be developed before production process of decorative tiles design from tropical plants image

Predictive maintenance framework for hard disk media production

Manufacturing yield control for hard disk media is getting tougher.This is proportional to the tremendous increases of its bit/inch2 storage capacity.With the significantly difficult lithography process will be involved and drastically increase in number of product total output volume that will be required in near future, conventional maintenance type is no longer feasible. This paper proposes a novel framework for the implementation of predictive maintenance in hard disk media production.A novel technique to visualize the temporal data into pattern that can be trained with machine learning algorithm is introduced. Predictive models were produced after dealing with imbalance datasets issue, ensemble datasets and data cleaning.Experimental results have indicated that the proposed framework is successful

UiTM, USM sekat staf, pelajar ke luar negara

Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) dan Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) melarang semua kakitangan dan pelajarnya ke luar negara bagi mengelak risiko jangkitan influenza A (H1N1)

External networking, leadership style and innovation on organizational performance in Malaysian construction industry / Megat Zuhairy Megat Tajuddin

This study aims to investigate the factors influencing organizational performance through innovation in construction industry in Malaysia. External networking (EN) and leadership style (LS) were identified as the determinants for innovation (IN) and organizational performance (OP) in this study. EN links various parties in project implementation in the form of inter-organizational collaboration and appropriate LS adopted by managers are capable in bringing industry players to work together as a team, reducing the adversarial relationships among them for greater performance. While EN facilitates in establishing the channel for information and resource flows, managers influence their subordinates to pursue ambitious goals through innovative efforts. EN brings together a project team to innovate and leaders who encourage their subordinates to be innovative will effectively lead to greater performance. These indicatively explain the potential role of IN in mediating the relationship between the two determinants and OP. The Diffusion of Innovation Theory by Rogers (2003) is identified as the underpinning theory of this study. The nature of the study is based on hypothesis testing in a cross sectional setting

Persepsi Guru Pelatih Terhadap Proses Penyeliaan Dan Bimbingan Yang Diberikan Oleh Penyelia Pembimbing Bagi Program Latihan Mengajar Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk meninjau persepsi guru pelatih terhadap proses penyeliaan danbimbingan yang diberikan oleh penyelia pembimbing bagi program Latihan Mengajar, UniversitiTeknologi Malaysia. Terdapat empat aspek bimbingan yang di tekankan dalam kajian ini iaitu aspekbimbingan dalam membuat persediaan mengajar, penyampaian isi pelajaran, penilaian pengajaran danbimbingan dalam meningkatkan profesionalisme perguruan. Sampel kajian terdiri daripada 211 pelajartahun tiga yang telah menjalani latihan mengajar pada semester 1 sesi 2008/2009. Instrumen yangdigunakan untuk mengumpul data ialah soal selidik. Data dan dapatan kajian yang diperolehi dianalisismengikut peratusan dan min dengan mengunakan SPSS (Statistical Package For Social Science) 13.0 forWindows. Hasil kajian menunjukkan keseluruhan guru pelatih telah mendapat bimbingan daripada gurupembimbing dengan nilai min adalah 3.06 iaitu berada pada tahap tinggi. Manakala, bimbingan daripadapensyarah pembimbing pula didapati berada pada tahap rendah dengan nilai min 2.92. Kesimpulannya,guru pelatih telah mendapat bimbingan yang sewajarnya daripada guru pembimbing tetapi mereka masihkurang mendapat bimbingan daripada pensyarah pembimbing. Katakunci: Latihan Mengajar, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, SPSS (Statistical Package For Social Science

Perkampungan Melayu lama di Sayong dan rumah tradisinya / Aminatuzuhariah Megat Abdullah

Projek ini ditulis bertujuan melihat bagaimana sistem Tumkey dipraktikalkan dan sejauhmana ianya diterimapakai oleh pihak kerajaan di dalam projekprojek binaan. Sistem Turnkey telah diperkenalkan oleh pihak kerajaan di dalam perlaksanaan projek-projek pembangunan pada awal tahun lapan puluhan. Semasa sistem ini mula-mula diperkenalkan, ianya telah dikritik oleh sesetengah pihak yang terlibat di dalam industri binaan tempatan . Antara persoalan yang ditimbulkan berkisar dari aspek kesuaian dan keberkesanan pemakaian sistem ini di dalam industri binaan tempatan. Kini setelah lebih sepuluh tahun sistem Turnkey dipraktikkan, ianya telah memberi gambaran awal bahawa sistem ini dapat diterima dan berkesan untuk dipraktikkan di Malaysia. Tetapi adakah sistem ini benar-benar sesuai serta berkesan di dalam setiap projek binaan tempatan? Berdasarkan persoalan tersebut, kajian ini dilakukan dengan berlandaskan beberapa objekti/tertentu

Kinetic Studies on the Adsorption of Sungai Sireh Raw Water's Natural Organic Matters

The presence of dissolved organics in potable water supply is aesthetically undesirable. Apart from imparting colour, taste and odour to treated water, it is also potentially hazardous to health. Two types of coconut shell derived activated carbon, KI-6070 and KI8085, provided by Kekwa Indah Sdn Bhd, were studied for the removal of dissolved organic compounds from Sungai Sireh Water Treatment Plant raw water, notorious of its high organic content. The respective external surface area of the KI-6070 and KI-8085 are approximately 277 m/g and 547 m2jg. The rate constant (~) for the KI-8085 was higher than that of the KI-6070, ranging between 30 and 70 %, for adsorbent dosages between 1.0 and 3.0 g. This was expected since the total surface area (specific and external surface areas) of the KI-8085 was higher than that of the KI-6070. The rate constant for the mass transfer was a function of the adsorbent dosage where both adsorbents indicated a proportional increase in the rate constant with increasing adsorbent dosage. The increasing dosage raised the intra particle diffusion rate constant (K.,) for both the KI-6070 and KI-8085, with the KI-8085 having a higher intra particle diffusion rate