Rheological properties of Kaolin/PolyetherSulfone(PESf) used in Hollow Fiber Fabrication: effects of content ratio

In the present work, the rheological properties in terms of shear stress and viscosity of Kaolin/Polyether-Sulfone (PESf) of varying ratio were investigated by a rotating rheometer. The shear rate of Kaolin/PESf sample was measured at increasing interval shear rate. By assuming that the fluid behaves like a typical Non-newtonian polymeric liquid, the consistency index, K and flow index, n were able to be determined. Thus, the rheology behaviors of the kaolin/PESf suspension could be investigated at a wider range of shear rate. The shear stress was found to increase with increasing shear rate, with the rate of change quite apparent at low shear rate. At higher shear rate, the shear stress increases definitively with the increase of kaolin content. On the other hand, the viscosity decreased at a faster rate initially and slows down to monotonous rate as the shear rate increases. Evidently at increasing shear rate, the viscosity tends to become constant as the deviation become smaller which is also known as zero shear rate viscosity region

Rheological properties of kaolin/PolyetherSulfone (PESf) used in hollow fiber fabrication: Effects of content ratio

In the present work, the rheological properties in terms of shear stress and viscosity of Kaolin/Polyether-Sulfone (PESf) of varying ratio were investigated by a rotating rheometer. The shear rate of Kaolin/PESf sample was measured at increasing interval shear rate. By assuming that the fluid behaves like a typical Non-newtonian polymeric liquid, the consistency index, K and flow index, n were able to be determined. Thus, the rheology behaviors of the kaolin/PESf suspension could be investigated at a wider range of shear rate. The shear stress was found to increase with increasing shear rate, with the rate of change quite apparent at low shear rate. At higher shear rate, the shear stress increases definitively with the increase of kaolin content. On the other hand, the viscosity decreased at a faster rate initially and slows down to monotonous rate as the shear rate increases. Evidently at increasing shear rate, the viscosity tends to become constant as the deviation become smaller which is also known as zero shear rate viscosity region

Experimental study to determine the effect of wire mesh pore size on natural draft chimney performance

Chimney is an important part of the industries to remove waste heat from the processes side to the atmosphere. The increased demand of energy helps to restart to think about the efficiency of chimney as well as to find out a valid option to replace forced draft chimney system from industries. In this study natural draft chimney model is air flow rate; exit air temperature and pressure losses are studied through modification with wire mesh screen and compare the results with without wire mesh screen chimney model. The heat load is varies from 0.1 kW to 1kW and three different wire mesh screens that have pore size 0.15 mm2, 0.40 mm2 and 4.0 mm2 respectively are used. The experimental results show that natural draft chimney model with wire mesh screens significantly restored the flow losses compared to the system without wire mesh screen. The natural draft chimney model with 0.40 mm2 pore size wire mesh screen can minimize the draft losses better than others and able to enhance velocity about 54 % exit air temperature about 41% and pressure loss decreased by about 20%. Therefore, it can be decided that the wire mesh screens significantly minimize the draft losses in the natural draft chimney and 0.40 mm2 pore size screen will be a suitable optio

Recycling model in developing countries: an illustration for Malaysia

Most of the municipalities in Malaysia are facing the problem of getting new disposal sites as most of the existing disposal sites are nearly exhausted. Thus, waste managers should be flexible to accept new ideas and technologies particularly programmes of waste reduction and recycling in their waste management plans. This paper discusses the recycling model in Malaysia particularly the current status of waste recycling and its future prospects. Cost benefit analysis was also conducted in this study on different options of recycling. Recommendations to increase recycling are also discussed in this paper

Prevalence and Factors Associated with Alcohol Use among Dayak Adolescents in Sarawak, Malaysia.

Introduction: Alcohol is classified as a psychoactive substance, and its dependence is one of the three leading risk factors for death, disability, or disease. Early age alcohol use by the age of 15 is implied to be harmful due to interference in the brain development of adolescents, causing alcohol-related problems later in life. This study aims to determine the prevalence and factors associated with alcohol use among Dayak adolescents in Sarawak, Malaysia. Methods: This was a cross-sectional quantitative research approach. A total of 12 districts within the 12 divisions were selected by multistage stratified cluster sampling. Dayak housing area lists were obtained from district offices and the local councils. The respondents were selected systematically according to male and female respondent houses, and they were interviewed using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data were entered into Microsoft Excel and analysed through IBM SPSS Version 27.0. Results: Dayak adolescents’ mean age was 17.31 years. They were either low-risk (50.0 %), hazardous (31.0%), abstainers (11.0%), harmful (5.0%) or alcohol dependant (3.0%) drinkers. Age (p<.001), gender (p<.05), ethnicity (p<.001), religion (p<.05), employment (p<.001), level of education (p<.01), allowance (p<.001), family relationship (p<.05), and family size (p<.05) were the potential predictors of alcohol use disorder. Conclusion: Dayak adolescent alcohol drinking is prevalent and a public health problem, particularly among disadvantaged socio-economic families. The lower proportion of abstainers suggested that alcohol use among adolescents is on the rise. Hence, the results should be utilised to do targeted health promotion regarding harmful alcohol use among adolescents since early use of alcohol among adolescents may lead to more severe health and non-health outcomes in the futur

Support and Practice of Smoke-Free Eating Places in Sarawak, Malaysia: A Structural Path Analysis

Background: Smoke-free eating places are effective in reducing exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS). Eateries should comply with implementing smoke-free eating-places under the Control of Tobacco Products Regulations 2018 in all open-air eating-places to reduce tobacco consumption to achieve the plan of having Malaysia free of tobacco by 2045. Objectives: To determine the impact of perceived knowledge on tobacco control law and SHS and attitude to support and practice smoke-free eating-places. Methods: A total of 620 respondents participated in this cross-sectional study. The eating-places were selected randomly from 5 administrative divisions of Sarawak. Data on perceived tobacco control law, knowledge of the effects of SHS on health and environment, attitude and support towards smoke-free eating-places, and current smoke-free eating-places were collected by face-to-face interview using a structured questionnaire. A partial least squares model was developed to examine the impact of knowledge, attitude, and support towards the smoke-free eating-places with the current practice of smoke-free eating-places. WarpPLS version 7.0 was used to examine the structural path and to test the hypothesis. Results: The structural path analysis revealed that perceived knowledge of tobacco control lawhad no impact on practicing smokefree eating-places (P > 0.05). However, the knowledge of the health and environmental effects of SHS had direct and indirect effects on attitude and support for smoke-free eating-places (P < 0.001). In addition, attitude towards smoke-free eating-places had a significant mediating effect on practicing smoke-free eating-places (P < 0.001). Besides that, supporting smoke-free eating-places had a significant direct impact on the practice of smoke-free eating-places (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Legislation and implementation of smoke-free eating-places along with the antismoking program and education efforts could support the cessation of tobacco use in all public places, including all eateries

Factor associated with tobacco use among the adult population in Sarawak, Malaysia: a cross sectional study

Introduction: Consumption of tobacco in any form is one of the leading causes of preventable mortality. The World Health Organization recommends that it should be monitored regularly. &nbsp;This study was designed to estimate the prevalence of tobacco use among the rural adult population in Sarawak and factors associated with it. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among the adult population in Sarawak. Data were collected from ten villages in Kota Samarahan and Kuching Division by face to face interview using modified Global Adult Tobacco Survey questionnaire. Non-probability sampling method was adopted to select the villages. All the households of the villages were visited and an adult member was selected randomly from each house irrespective of the sex. After missing value imputation, 1000 data were analysed using statistical software SPSS 19.0 version. Results: Analysis showed that 30.9% of the respondents were current tobacco users and 11% were past tobacco users. The mean age (SD) at starting tobacco was 18.1 (6.48) years. The frequency of tobacco use was 14 times per day.&nbsp; Hierarchical Logistic regression analysis revealed that age with male sex (OR=1. 064, 95% CI: 1.052, 1.076), secondary education (OR=-2.712; 95% CI: 1.122, 6.555), higher secondary and above (OR=3. 571; 95% CI: 1.641,7.774), occupation as business (OR=3. 152; 95% CI: 1.732, 5.735) and environmental exposure such as smoking at working place (OR=2. 754;95% CI: 1.895,4.002), coffee house (OR=2. 274;95% CI: 1.32,3.919) and at home (OR=1. 827;95% CI: 1.242,2.687) appeared to be&nbsp; important predictors of tobacco use (p&lt;0.05). Conclusion: A large proportion of males use tobacco products. Though tobacco use was negligible among females, but they would be potential users. Environmental exposure to tobacco appeared to be important predictors. Tobacco control campaigns should target banning of tobacco use in closed and open areas and also to intensify the monitoring of all forms of tobacco used by the population

Development of palm biomass briquettes with polyethylene plastic waste addition

High global energy demand scenario has driven towards transformation from sole dependence on fossil fuels to utilization of inexhaustible renewable energy sources such as hydro, biomass, solar and wind. Renewable energy sources are abundant in Malaysia, especially palm biomass residues that are produced during the oil extraction process of fresh fruit bunch. Therefore, it is inevitable to harness these bioenergy sources, in order to prevent waste accumulation at adjacent to palm mills. Briquetting of palm biomass such as empty fruit bunch (EFB) with polyethylene (PE) plastics waste addition is expected not only could maximize the utilization of energy resources, but also could become as a potential solution for residue and municipal plastics waste disposal. In the present study, the physical and combustion properties of palm biomass briquettes that contain novel mixture of pulverized EFB and PE plastics waste were investigated experimentally. The briquettes were produced with different mixing ratio of EFB and PE plastics (weight ratios of 95:5, 90:10 and 85:15), under various heating temperatures (130-190°C) and at constant compaction pressure of 7 MPa. Based on the results, it can be said that heating temperature plays a significant role in affecting physical properties such as relaxed density and compressive strength. The values of relaxed density and compressive strength are within the range of 1100 to 1300 kg/m3 and 0.8 to 1.2 MPa, respectively. Meanwhile, mixing ratio does affect relaxed density and gross calorific value. All values of gross calorific (17900 to 21000 kJ/kg) and moisture content (7% to 9%) are found to fulfill the requirement for commercialization as stated by DIN51731 (gross calorific value>17500 kJ/kg and moisture content<10%). Even though the values of ash content (3% to 4%) exceed the limitation as stated by the standard (<0.7%), it is still considered very competitive if compared to the commonly used local briquette that contains mesocarp fibre and shell (5.8%). Finally, it can be concluded that the best quality of briquette can be achieved when highest composition of PE plastics (weight percentage of 15%) is used and the briquetting process is performed at the highest temperature (190℃)

Preliminary data of evaporation characteristics for an open pond in East Malaysia

Evaporation is being considered as an alternative dewateringprocess of an increasing number of wastewater treatment applications and algae harvesting for biodiesel production. For simplicity, this paper presents work on modeling the performance of solar evaporation ponds. It will provide useful new technology towards commercial production of algal biodiesel. Evaporation is the combination of two phenomena involving the change of the phase from liquid into vapor, and the transfer of vapor. In open ponds, passive solar energy is used to the change of the phase from liquid to vapor. The ability to transfer vapor particles of open ponds in the air is a function of the relative humidity, wind speed, air temperature, water concentration, vapor pressure of air on water surface, pond size, water depth, among other things. The evaporation rate of an open pond of similar dimensions to modified class-A evaporation pan was measured over 15 days under typical East Malaysia climactic conditions.The experimental result is compared to the Penman evaporation method