Estimates and physicochemical properties of food waste in Bandar Baru Bangi

Estimating the quantity and physicochemical characterization of food waste is necessary to optimize composting process. A survey was conducted to estimate the amount of food waste generated by commercial (n=10) and household (n=50) sectors in Bandar Baru Bangi. The presence of cooked rice residue, meat based residue, fish based residue, vegetable and fruit residue and whether the food waste was in wet condition were also examined. Physicochemical characteristics of the food waste was also analysed. About 11.41 MT of food waste was generated daily in Bandar Baru Bangi. From the total, household sector contributed 67.3% whereas commercial sector contributed another 32.7%. Compared to household sector, food waste in wet condition was found more frequently (p<0.05) in the commercial sector. Rice residue was the most frequent food waste component of household and the commercial sector. Physicochemical analysis showed that pH value, ash, organic matter, organic carbon, nitrogen and crude fat contents as well as C/N ratio were found significantly different (p<0.05) among food waste generated on different days. Food waste was acidic (pH 4.82-5.17), contained high moisture (65.9 – 69.5%) and crude fat content (13.1 – 20.2%) but low in nitrogen content (0.63 – 0.85%). Nevertheless, the C/N ratio was still within an appropriate range (20-25) for effective composting. Hence, if composting process is introduced, the food waste has the potential to be converted into compost

Influence of secondary forest canopy towards interception rate in hydrological cycle of Tasik Chini, Pahang, Malaysia

Part of a rainfall is captured by the crowns of the trees and other surfaces as interception, which is then evaporated back into the atmosphere. Water moves down through the forest canopy via two mechanisms; stemflow and throughfall processes. Stemflow refers to the total quantity of rain water which reach the ground through tree stems and branches. Throughfall in the other hand, is the tendency of the rainfalls to penetrate the forest canopy directly through the spaces between the leaves or by dripping from the leaves, twigs, and branches. Both components were measured in an interception plot size 100 ¥100 m2 in a secondary tropical forest at Tasik Chini. Thirty tree samples were used and each tree was well-identified based on their species, family, diameter breast height (DBH), canopy size and its density. In this study, the data were collected based on two rainfall events, namely in November 2007(44.51% in throughfall form and 55.49% in stem flow form) and rainfall distribution on December 2007 (39.65% in throughfall form and 60.35% in stem flow form). This interception study provided essential information on how the function of the forest can affect the crucial hydrological cycle occurring within this forest ecosystem and the wetland water balance

The success factors of public consultation in the establishment of a biosphere reserve - evidence from Tasik Chini

Biosphere Reserves are the UNESCO's programmes to achieve sustainable development. One important prerequisite in the nomination of a new Biosphere Reserve site is the implementation of a public consultation with all stakeholders including the local community. This article analyses the stakeholder perception during a public consultation exercise conducted for the nomination of Tasik Chini as a Biosphere Reserve. The methodology involved a focus group discussion and a perception survey of 53 adults and 18 youths who participated in a public awareness programme held in 2008. The results of the analysis identified four main success factors of the public consultation programme: (1) an in situ public awareness programme cleverly and interestingly designed to adequately inform the stakeholders on the essence, elements and objectives of a Biosphere Reserve (BR); (2) the care taken by the organisers of the awareness and public consultation programme to get every segment of the stakeholders invited, represented and consulted; (3) the content of the awareness campaign which focussed directly on the benefits of the BR - the 'what's in it' – for the various stakeholders involved; and (4) the sequencing of the public consultation activities – where dissemination of knowledge and awareness creation preceded opinion gathering - had managed to convert an initial 70% ignorance to an eventual 100% acceptance of the BR project. In conclusion, it is essential to note that without sustained involvement of the local stakeholders the future of a BR will more likely than not be in peril

Impact of landuse on seasonal water quality at highland lake: a case study of Ringlet Lake, Cameron Highlands, Pahang

A study to find the relationship between landuse development and seasonal water quality changes in highland lake, Ringlet Lake, Cameron Highland, Malaysia was carried out. The study found that most of the parameter analyzed in both seasons shows that the Ringlet Lake is Class III in the Water Quality Index Due to high percentage of cleared area, as indicated by individual type of landuse, pollutants were transported through Bertam and Ringlet river and eventually to the lake

Peranan pengusaha dalam pembangunan warisan tenunan Pahang DiRaja

Negeri Pahang tidak asing lagi memiliki budaya warisannya yang asli dan tersendiri. Tenunan merupakan salah satu tradisi yang bukan sahaja mempunyai nilai-nilai yang tinggi tetapi juga menyumbang kepada industri pelancongan negeri dan negara. Walau bagaimanapun, ketika ini, tradisi ini berdepan dengan keterancaman kepupusan kesan daripada beberapa faktor kritikal pengusaha dan persekitaran sosio-budaya. Makalah ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti peranan komuniti dalam membangunkan produk warisan tenunan Pahang DiRaja daripada perspektif pengusaha. Kajian ini tertumpu di sekitar Kampung Budaya Pulau Keladi, Institut Kemahiran Tenun Pahang DiRaja(IKTPD), Pramu Jaya Pekan, Pusat Tenun Pahang DiRaja Felda (PTPDF), Kompleks Pengembangan Tenunan Pahang DiRaja (KPTPD) Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Kampung Sungai Soi, Kuantan. Hasil kajian menjelaskan pola keterlibatan komuniti selaku penggerak warisan tenunan Pahang terdiri daripada dua iaitu pengusaha dan juga pekerja. Terdapat tujuh faktor kelestarian pihak pengusaha iaitu faktor produk (Product), faktor harga (Price), faktor lokasi (Place), faktor promosi (Promotion), faktor aktiviti khidmat pelanggan (Physical evidence of customer Service), faktor proses (Process), faktor sumber manusia (People). Kesemua faktor ini berperanan besar dan saling memerlukan dalam membangunkan produk warisan ini di samping mengekalkan dan menjaga kelestarian warisan tenunan

Statistical optimization of the phytoremediation of arsenic by ludwigia octovalvis in a pilot reed bed using response surface methodology (RSM) versus an artificial neural network (ANN)

In this study, the removal of arsenic (As) by plant, Ludwigia octovalvis, in a pilot reed bed was optimized. A Box-Behnken design was employed including a comparative analysis of both Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) for the prediction of maximum arsenic removal. The predicted optimum condition using the desirability function of both models was 39 mg kg-1 for the arsenic concentration in soil, an elapsed time of 42 days (the sampling day) and an aeration rate of 0.22 L/min, with the predicted values of arsenic removal by RSM and ANN being 72.6% and 71.4%, respectively. The validation of the predicted optimum point showed an actual arsenic removal of 70.6%. This was achieved with the deviation between the validation value and the predicted values being within 3.49% (RSM) and 1.87% (ANN). The performance evaluation of the RSM and ANN models showed that ANN performs better than RSM with a higher R2 (0.97) close to 1.0 and very small Average Absolute Deviation (AAD) (0.02) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) (0.004) values close to zero. Both models were appropriate for the optimization of arsenic removal with ANN demonstrating significantly higher predictive and fitting ability than RSM

The world-first deployment of narrowband IoT for rural hydrological monitoring in UNESCO biosphere environment

The success of a rural wireless monitoring system depends on establishing a reliable wireless link over the TCP/IP communication protocol in a challenging terrain and elevation profile. Several studies have shown that link reliability in a rural area can neither be predicted with high accuracy nor precisely modeled using existing mathematical channel modeling tools. Hence, the use of the empirical approach to infer wireless link reliability. This work focuses on the revival of a rural hydrological/water monitoring system with emphasis on the wireless link located in Tasik Chini, a lake with UNESCO biosphere status. The contributions of this study include: understudy the link reliability of a centralized wireless sensor network infrastructure system using the 2G and Long Range (LoRa) wireless network, the performance limitation of the low data wireless sensor network in a rural environment, approaches to revive rural water station monitoring center and finally highlight potential opportunities in rural wireless communications. View les

Diatoms in a sediment core from a flood pulse wetland in Malaysia record strong responses to human impacts and hydro‐climate over the past 150 years

Rapid development and climate change in southeast Asia is placing unprecedented pressures on freshwater ecosystems, but long term records of the ecological consequences are rare. Here we examine one basin of Tasik Chini (Malaysia), a UNESCO?designated flood pulse wetland, where human disturbances (dam installation, iron ore mining, oil palm and rubber cultivation) have escalated since the 1980s. Diatom analysis and organic matter geochemistry (?13Corg and C/N ratios) were applied to a sediment sequence to infer ecological changes in the basin since c. 1900 CE. As the Tasik Chini wetland is a rare ecosystem with an unknown diatom ecology, contemporary diatom habitats (plant surfaces, mud surfaces, rocks, plankton) were sampled from across the lake to help interpret the sedimentary record. Habitat specificity of diatoms was not strongly defined and, although planktonic and benthic groupings were distinctive, there was no difference in assemblages among the benthic habitat surfaces. An increase in the proportion of benthic diatom taxa suggests that a substantial decrease in water level occurred between c. 1938 and 1995 CE, initiated by a decline in rainfall (supported by regional meteorological data), which increased the hydrological isolation of the sub?basin. Changes in the diatom assemblages were most marked after 1995 CE when the Chini dam was installed. After this time both ?13Corg and C/N decreased, suggesting an increase in autochthonous production relative to allochthonous river flood pulse inputs. Oil palm plantations and mining continued to expand after c. 1995 CE and we speculate that inputs of pollutants from these activities may have contributed to the marked ecological change. Together, our work shows that this sub?basin of Tasik Chini has been particularly sensitive to, and impacted by, a combination of human and climatically induced changes due to its hydrologically isolated position

The aeration effect in pilot reed bed to phytoremediate water containing Lead (Pb)

A pilot reed bed study was conducted with the aid of aeration to remove lead (Pb) contaminated water using Scirpus grossus L. f. The plants were grown in sand medium in pilot-scale reed beds, and exposed to water containing Pb in a various concentration (10, 30 and 50 mg/L) with aeration rate of 2 L/min. The samples were taken on day-1, day-14, day-28, day-42, day-70 and day-98. The results showed that Pb concentration in water decreased 74% on day-7, 80% on day-14, 99% on day-28 and reach 100% on day-48 for treatment 10 mg/L. Pb concentration decreased 91% on day-7, 93% on day-14 and then on the day-28 the reduction reached 99% for treatment of 30 mg/L. For Pb treatment of 50 mg/L, the reduction reached 92% on day-7, 96% on day-14, and 99% on day-28. The sand adsorbed Pb up to 7.91×10-4 mg/kg for 10 mg/L, 1.07×10-3 mg/kg for 30 mg/L and 2.41×10-3 mg/kg for 50 mg/L. Pb uptake by plant was 2286 mg/kg on day-98, 4174 mg/L on day-28 and 8297 mg/kg on day-14 for 10, 30 and 50 mg/L, respectively. The highest Bioaccumulation Concentration (BC) was 10618 for 10 mg/L on day-28, 81311 for 30 mg/L and 81467 for 50 mg/L both on day-42, with the Translocation Factor (TF) related to the same day of these BC were 0.13, 0.24, and 0.35 respectively. The highest TF value for 10 mg/L were 0.7 on day-98, 0.38 for 30 mg/L on day-70 and 0.59 for 50 mg/L on day-14

Phytoremediation of Nutrients and Organic Carbon from Sago Mill Effluent using Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)

The aim of this study was to investigate the ability of floating water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) to survive under selected concentrations of sago mill effluent (SME) and determine the nutrient uptake by the plant. Phytoremediation at 10, 15, and 20% (VSME/Vwater) SME concentrations by water hyacinth was conducted under greenhouse conditions for 30 d in a batch type experiment. After 30 d of phytoremediation, the removal efficiency of chemical oxygen demand, ammonia and phosphorus from SME wastewater were (86.4% to 97.2%), (91.4% to 97.3%) and (80.4 to 97.2%), respectively. The results proved the efficiency of water hyacinth to polish SME wastewater