Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) sengon: an innovative sustainable building material in Indonesia

Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) is recently available in Indonesian markets. The veneers are majority from Sengon wood (Paraserianthes falcataria), which is a fast-growing timber species native to Indonesia. Their use in practice is limited to non-structural components since Sengon wood species has low engineering properties and less resistance to termite attacks. The LVL production introduced few years ago has significantly improved both mechanical properties and durability as well as has expanded its utilization into various structural components. This remarkable improvement has made LVL Sengon wood as an innovative sustainable building materials in Indonesia. This paper summarized a series of authors’ work conducted since couple years ago to initiate the utilization of LVL Sengon in structural components such as shear walls and floor systems as parts of a project to develop its design standard. In addition, creep behavior of this LVL is also highlihgted here as this phenomenon is essential for designers and engineers to anticipate their designs within their service life. In particular, the test results showed that addition of diagonal members increased both racking resistance and equivalent viscous damping ratio of the developed LVL shear walls. And the LVL floor model which is composed of built-up box joists and plywood sheathing remained liniear-elastic under bearing load up to 18.75 kN/2

Design of hose roller for firefighter: a fatigue study

In a working environment, worker’s safety and health are the most critical considerations. Previous study discovered that firefighters are exposed to a great deal of ergonomic risk factors (ERF). ERF exposure during hose rolling includes awkward posture and forceful exertion. Therefore, the primary goal of this research paper is to fabricate an ergonomic hose roller for firefighters and conduct a fatigue analysis to determine the efficiency of the tool designed to safeguard firefighters against the risk of low back disorder (LBD). Hose roller testing is necessary to guarantee that it can withstand the weight of fire hoses while still being comfortable for users’ bodies. Fatigue analysis was conducted using Industrial Lumbar Motion Monitor (i-LMM) equipment to evaluate LBD risk during hose rolling. Manual handling contributes 57.67% to the total average percentage value used to compute LBD risk results, while utilizing a roller tool, the hose rolling procedure yields a 27% LBD risk limit value. The design of experiment (DOE) method should be used in future studies to gather more information for the LBD risk assessmen

Successful treatment of tracheal stenosis by rigid bronchoscopy and topical mitomycin C: a case report

Tracheal stenosis is a known complication of prolonged intubation. It is difficult to treat and traditional surgical approach is associated with significant risk and complications. Recurrent stenosis due to granulation tissue necessitates repeated procedures. We describe a case of short web-like tracheal stenosis (concentric membranous stenosis less than 1 cm in length without associated cartilage damage) managed by a minimally invasive thoracic endoscopic approach. Topical application of Mitomycin C, a potent fibroblast inhibitor reduces granulation tissue formation and prevents recurrence

Geology and Economic Potential of Limestone in Gunung Rapat Area, Perak, Malaysia

This project is about the geology and economic potential of limestone in the Gunung Rapat area. The area is located in the Kinta Valley near Simpang Pulai, Perak, Malaysia and mostly made up of limestone hills that were remnants of massive carbonate beds covered with alluvial sediments. These areas are very well known for its limestone hills as one of the main carbonate rock formation there. The objective of this research is to conduct a geological study as well as to produce a geological map of the study area. The study includes several structural and laboratory analysis such as thin section analysis, Total Carbon analysis, X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Whiteness Test and Loss on Ignition (LOI) test, to determine the properties and mineral composition found in the rock as well as to assess the quality of the limestone there to identify its economic potential. The results show that the geology of Gunung Rapat areas are mostly made up of limestone hills which characterized by steep cliff, and surrounded by alluvium sediments. The lithology can be described as from the rock sample collected as white to light brown colored and range from fine to coarse grain size. The grains are good to medium sorted and the samples can be classified as crystalline carbonate. The samples from outcrop area C shows significant boundary between the fine grains and coarse grains rocks, which is the indication of metamorphism process had occurred near the area. Meanwhile, samples from outcrop J indicates that dolomitization process had occurred on the northeastern part of the study area. The northern parts of the Gunung Rapat are structurally active and have high complexities. The thin section and SEM result shows that the limestone samples are mostly high in calcite content, the total iii carbon shows that the limestones samples have about 13% of carbon content and the XRF result shows that most of the limestone samples from Gunung Rapat area are high in Calcium content. Moreover, the whiteness test and LOI analysis result indicates that the limestone from the Gunung Rapat area are mostly suitable to be used in cement manufacturing, dimension stone and tiles industry as well as for glass and ceramics industries

Geology and Economic Potential of Limestone in Gunung Rapat Area, Perak, Malaysia

This project is about the geology and economic potential of limestone in the Gunung Rapat area. The area is located in the Kinta Valley near Simpang Pulai, Perak, Malaysia and mostly made up of limestone hills that were remnants of massive carbonate beds covered with alluvial sediments. These areas are very well known for its limestone hills as one of the main carbonate rock formation there. The objective of this research is to conduct a geological study as well as to produce a geological map of the study area. The study includes several structural and laboratory analysis such as thin section analysis, Total Carbon analysis, X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Whiteness Test and Loss on Ignition (LOI) test, to determine the properties and mineral composition found in the rock as well as to assess the quality of the limestone there to identify its economic potential. The results show that the geology of Gunung Rapat areas are mostly made up of limestone hills which characterized by steep cliff, and surrounded by alluvium sediments. The lithology can be described as from the rock sample collected as white to light brown colored and range from fine to coarse grain size. The grains are good to medium sorted and the samples can be classified as crystalline carbonate. The samples from outcrop area C shows significant boundary between the fine grains and coarse grains rocks, which is the indication of metamorphism process had occurred near the area. Meanwhile, samples from outcrop J indicates that dolomitization process had occurred on the northeastern part of the study area. The northern parts of the Gunung Rapat are structurally active and have high complexities. The thin section and SEM result shows that the limestone samples are mostly high in calcite content, the total iii carbon shows that the limestones samples have about 13% of carbon content and the XRF result shows that most of the limestone samples from Gunung Rapat area are high in Calcium content. Moreover, the whiteness test and LOI analysis result indicates that the limestone from the Gunung Rapat area are mostly suitable to be used in cement manufacturing, dimension stone and tiles industry as well as for glass and ceramics industries

A preliminary study investigating industrial designer role in Malaysian furniture industry

The study has been conducted to investigate the Industrial Designer role in Malaysian Furniture Industry to understand challenges faced by the industrial Designer and to explore the current situations involved with Industrial Designer in furniture Industry. The study wills involve interviews and observations data collection work with Industrial Designers and Furniture Manufacturing companies in the current environment. As this research is still an ongoing investigation, we found that in Malaysia the role of industrial designers in furniture industry has not specified and Industrial Designers are required to perform many different tasks which has not been taught in their studio learning experience. This research work hope to find some career path system involved with Industrial Designer in furniture Industry or as a specific guidelines to establish the role of designer especially in Malaysia Furniture manufacturing industries, which can be beneficial to the industry as well as design education in Malaysia

Immobilized lipase-catalysed synthesis of fructose oleate ester in ionic liquid [Bmim][TfO] and tert-butanol solvent systems

Fructose oleate is one of the most sought-after sugar esters, but its production is challenging due to the poor solubility of its substrates. However, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium (Bmim)-based ionic liquids can solubilize a wide range of substrates and prevent denaturation of enzymes as their physical and chemical properties can be easily tailored. In this work, the enzymatic synthesis of fructose esters using immobilized lipase was investigated using a series of Bmim-based ionic liquids and tert-butanol as solvents. The reaction conditions were optimized for different esterification parameters, such as fatty acid chain length, enzyme loading, reaction temperature and time. The immobilized lipase was found to be more stable in BmimTfO and had a high affinity towards the monounsaturated acyl donor, oleic acid. Optimum ester conversion (73%) was achieved under ideal reaction conditions comprising low enzyme loading (5% w/w) and a reaction temperature of 60 °C for 72 hours. The synthesis of fructose oleate in BmimTfO under these optimized conditions has great potential for use in many applications

Significance of applying theory of planned behaviour, theory of hexaco, religiosity and tawakal in COVID-19 pandemic

Research dealing with various aspects of theory of Hexaco, theory of planned behavior, tawakal and religiosity are reviewed, and some unresolved issues are discussed in coping of COVID 19 disease in Malaysia. In broad terms, the theory is found to be well supported by empirical evidence. Intentions to perform behaviors of different kinds can be predicted with high accuracy from attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control; and these intentions, together with perceptions of behavioral control, account for considerable variance in actual behavior with religiosity aspect. Theory of Hexaco, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, religiosity and tawakal are shown to be related to appropriate sets of salient behavioral, normative, and control beliefs about the behavior, but the exact nature of these relations is still uncertain. Expectancy. value formulations are found to be only partly successful in dealing with these relations. Optimal rescaling of expectancy and value measures is offered as a means of dealing with measurement limitations. Finally, inclusion of past behavior in the prediction equation is shown to provide a means of testing the theorys sufficiency, another issue that remains unresolved.&nbsp