The use of cement leftovers from the hollow of spun piles as an additive in self-compacting concrete

Spun piles have been used widely by developing countries, including Malaysia, to construct the foundation of most construction projects. A spun pile is a reinforced precast and prestressed concrete that is compacted in a mould through spinning compaction. The spinning compaction produces cement leftovers in the hollow part of spun piles that can be added to concrete mixtures as an additive. The cement leftovers of spun piles were used as an additive in cement in range of 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% (equal percentages). The resulting compressive strength after curing periods of 7 days and 28 days were presented to investigate the properties of self-compacting concrete containing cement leftovers from the spun piles. Other properties investigated include the physical properties of fresh concrete and water absorption. The results indicated that higher compressive strength and lower water absorption were achieved by the concrete samples containing cement leftovers compared to controlled concrete

Green Composites from Ionic Liquid-Assisted Processing of Sustainable Resources: A Brief Overview

The massive use of synthetic, petroleum-based polymeric composites has disturbed the fragile environmental equilibrium of our planet. Composites made solely from polysaccharides can offer unique intrinsic properties such as renewability, biodegradability, easy availability, eco-friendliness, facile processing, flexibility, and exciting physico-mechanical characteristics. The development of green processing of lignocellulosic materials and bio-based polymers such as cellulose, starch, chitin, and chitosan, the most abundant biorenewable materials on earth, is urgent from the perspectives of both environmental protection and sustainability in materials industries. Recently, the enormous potential of ionic liquids (ILs) as an alternative to ecologically harmful conventional organic solvents has been well recognized. Presently, a wide range of pronounced approaches have been explored to further improve the performance of ionic liquid-based processing of polysaccharides for green composite manufacturing. This review presents recent technological developments in which the advantages of ionic liquids as a dissolution medium for polysaccharides for production of plethora of green composites have been gradually realized

Exploring the legal aspects and court process of forensic entomology from the Malaysia’s perspective

This paper seeks to explore the legal aspects and court process relating to forensic entomology with reference to Malaysia. It aims to inform the non-legal person of the court process and giving of evidence in Malaysia’s court by expert witnesses such as forensic entomologist. The methodology used is a socio-legal analysis with reference to legal texts and statutes in Malaysia. Online search on the number of reported cases published in two legal journals relating to evidence by forensic entomologist was conducted. The finding from the reported cases where entomologist testify in court as an expert witness is scarce and so few assumptions were made on this. A brief case studies on the selected reported cases were chosen to explain the use of forensic entomology in the court process. This paper suggests that entomologists’ evidence on the issue of the time of death is important as accordingly, a charge sheet in the homicide cases must contain the time of death and prove in court. It is also suggested that recognition is given to forensic entomologists and that the Allied Health Professions Act 2016 [Act 774] which to regulate the practise of allied health of professionals including entomologists, be in force soon

Pengaruh Beban Kerja, Stres Kerja dan Kelelahan Kerja terhadap Kinerja Pegawai pada Puskesmas di Kabupaten Majalengka

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menguji pengaruh beban kerja, stres kerja dan kelelahan kerja terhadap kinerja pegawai pada salah satu Puskesmas di Kabupaten Majalengka. Metode penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode penelitian kuantitatif. Populasi dalam penelitian ini adalah pegawai Puskesmas di Kabupaten Majalengka sebanyak 64 pegawai dengan jumlah sampel 64 pegawai. Teknik penarikan sampel yaitu nonprobability sampling dengan menggunakan Teknik sampling total sehingga dalam penelitian ini sampel di ambil dari keseluruhan populasi di Puskesmas Kabupaten Majalengka. Teknik pengumpulan data menggunakan kuesioner dan hasil analisis data yang digunakan adalah analisis regresi berganda. Hasil penelitian menunjukan secara parsial pengaruh positif dan signifikan variabel beban kerja terhadap kinerja pegawai dapat dilihat dari thitung > ttabel yaitu 3,196 > 1,669, stres kerja berpengaruh negatif dan signifikan terhadap variabel kinerja dapat dilihat dari thitung > ttabel yaitu -3,216 > -1,669, kelelahan kerja berpengaruh negatif dan signifikan terhadap variabel kinerja dapat dilihat dari thitung > ttabel yaitu -2,104 > -1,669 dan secara simultan variabel beban kerja, stres kerja dan kelelahan kerja berpengaruh positif dan signifikan terhadap kinerja yang ditunjukan Fhitung > Ftabel sebesar 11,916 > 2,76

Assessment of energy flows and energy efficiencies in integrated catalytic adsorption steam gasification for hydrogen production

This study addresses the energy flows and energy efficiency of integrated catalytic adsorption biomass steam gasification for hydrogen production in a pilot scale bubbling fluidized bed system utilizing palm kernel shell as feedstock. The integrated catalytic adsorption utilizes catalyst and CO2 adsorbent together in the single fluidized bed gasifier. Various variables such as effect of temperature (600–750 °C), steam to biomass ratio (1.5–2.5 w/w), adsorbent to biomass ratio (0.5–1.5 w/w), fluidization velocity (0.15–0.26 m/s) and biomass particle size (0.355–0.500 to 1.0–2.0 mm) are investigated. The results imply that the overall requirement of gasification energy increases with increasing gasification temperature, steam to biomass ratio, fluidization velocity, and decreases with adsorbent to biomass ratio whilst no significant increase is observed by varying the biomass particle size. However, a slight reduction in required energy is observed from 600 °C to 675 °C which might be due to strong CO2 adsorption, an exothermic reaction, and contributes to the energy requirements of the process. Besides, hydrogen-based energy efficiencies increase with increasing temperature while first increases to a medium value of steam to biomass ratio (2.0), adsorbent to biomass ratio (1.0) and fluidization velocity (0.21 m/s) followed by a slight decrease (or remains unchanged). The integrated catalytic adsorption steam gasification is found to be a high energy consuming process and thus, waste heat integration needs to be implemented for feasible hydrogen production

PERANCANGAN SISTEM INFORMASI WISATA KULINER

Desain sistem informasi wisata kuliner di Surabaya Barat berbasis web, pada hakikatnya merupakan suatu bentuk sistem informasi yang mampu memberikan informasi serta kemudahan bagi para pengusaha di bidang kuliner yang ingin mempromosikan serta memperkenalkan tempat usaha kulinernya di media internet dengan biaya yang sangat terjangkau (sangat murah) atau bahkan tanpa biaya sama sekali. Sistem informasi ini akan mencakup berbagai informasi mengenai kuliner yang ada dan ditawarkan, mulai dari petunjuk lokasi tempat, cara mencapai lokasi tersebut, jam buka, fasilitas – fasilitas pendukung, layanan yang diberikan, paket – paket serta promosi – promosi yang ditawarkan, keunikan yang ada, dan yang terutama adalah menu makanan yang ditawarkan. Desain Sistem Informasi ini akan menggunakan metode waterfall, sedangkan untuk perancangan sistem menggunakan model rancangan UML (Unified Modelling Language). Berdasarkan hasil penelitian didapatkan hasil berupa desain sistem informasi tempat-tempat dan menu kulinernya secara lengkap yang berada di Surabaya Barat, sehingga berbagai potensi wisata kuliner di wilayah tersebut akan tergali dengan sempurna dan akan semakin berkembang. Adapun desain informasi ini meliputi use case diagram dan class diagram

Improved biological delignification of wood biomass via Ionic liquids pretreatment: A one step process

The enzymatic pretreatment of wood biomass for degrading lignin, a complex aromatic polymer, has received much attention as an environmentally safe or “green” process. However, this process for lignin degradation has been found to be very slow, even needed several months. To overcome this limitation, this study reports a new approach for enhanced enzymatic delignification of wood biomass using room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs)- a potentially attractive “green” and “designer” solvent- as (co)solvents or/and pretreated agents. The method comprised pretreatment of wood biomass prior to enzymatic delignification in ILs-aqueous systems with the aim of overcoming low delignification efficiency associated with the difficulties in enzyme accessibility to the solid substrate and the poor substrate and products solubility in aqueous system. The results showed that IL [emim] [OAc] (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate) was better solvent for wood delignification than IL [bmim][Cl] (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride). The recovered cellulose rich materials obtained from combination effects of IL and biological pretreatment contained significantly lower amounts of lignin as compared to the amounts found when each method applied alone. The produced cellulose rich materials were characterized by acid hydrolysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). SEM and XRD revealed considerable microstructural and crystallinity index changes in the pretreated cellulose rich materials.  We believe that this newly developed process will play a great role in converting cellulosic biomass- the most abundant renewable biomaterials in the world- to biomaterials, biopolymers, biofuels, bioplastics and hydrocarbons. Keywords: ionic liquids, wood biomass, cellulose, lignin, laccase, enzymatic delignification

Love and marital satisfaction among urban Malays: comparing three groups length of marriage

Love is an important psychological entity in relation to marital satisfaction. Therefore, this study aimed to compare how married couples from three groups’ length of marriage (1-5 years, 6-18 years and 19 years) perceive love (intimacy, passion and commitment) and to compare marital satisfaction across three length of marriage. This study applied the survey research design using a combination of cluster and stratified sampling techniques. Questionnaires which were distributed consisted of ques-tions related to personal background, marital background, love and marital satisfaction. Malay mar-ried individuals residing in Lembah Klang from eight different locations who volunteered to partici-pate in this study were given questionnaires to complete. 310 participants (155 males and 155 fe-males) completed the questionnaires which later were collected for data analysis. Results showed that there were significant differences on how three groups length of marriage (1-5 years, 6-18 years and 19 years above of marriage) perceive love (commitment and passion). However, there were no differ-ences in marital satisfaction between the three groups length of marriage as suggested by previous research. Results indicated that love has an important psychological role at any stages of marriage. This research suggested that more research should explore the psychological aspects of love within marriage and its contribution to psychological wellbeing of married couples

A deadly hole: postmortem multislice computed tomography of gunshot injury

We report a case of a fatal gunshot injury to the chest which illustrates the compatibility of the Postmortem Multislice Computed Tomography (PMCT) features with that of conventional forensic autopsy findings. This case demonstrates that the PMCT has high potential to enhance the investigation and performance of conventional forensic autopsy