The Impact of Thermal History on Buildings Occupants’ Thermal Assessments in Air-Conditioned Office Buildings

he aim of this study was to investigate physiological factor that may affect worker performance in office building. Air conditioning is essential for maint aining environment thermal comfort in indoor the building, especially for climates such as Malaysia. To investigate of the thermal sensation of people located in no -uniform environment, it is very important to define the local heat transfer detail. In this context, the purpose was to make thermal comfort comparison between temperature settings of air conditioning. The temperature was maintained at five different levels which are 19, 21, 23, 26 and 29 oC. The study was carried out in environmental chamber at Univeristi Malaysia Pahang. The result shows temperature ranges between 21oC -29oC and relative humidity 50% - 60% give difference heart rate level that indicates the level of comfort by subject

Virtual cinematic heritage for the lost Singaporean film Pontianak (1957)

In 1957, Cathay-Keris Studio in Singapore released “Pontianak”, the first of a hugely popular series of horror films featuring the female vampiric ghost based on Malay folk mythology. The visual transformation of the lead actress Maria Mernado into the Pontianak creature amazed the audience in cinemas (Mustafar, 2012) [1]. The Pontianak trilogy by Cathay-Keris was ground-breaking for the genre at that time and registered several firsts in Singapore: Pontianak was the first Malay film to be dubbed into Mandarin, while Sumpah Pontianak is the first local CinemaScope (widescreen) film. The 1957 film is also considered the first depiction of the Pontianak in a film [2]. Despite their relatively wide distribution in 1957 both films are believed to be lost, with no prints or copies surviving (Barnard, 2011) [3]. Film Heritage in the conventional way of ‘restoration’ being impossible, this project investigates the novel approach of creating a Virtual Cinematic Heritage application. In this paper, we outline our current work in progress from historical film research to recreating a scene from the lost film as a Virtual Reality experience.Ministry of Education (MOE)Nanyang Technological UniversityThis research has been made possible through the kind support of an MOE grant in Singapore and ADM, School of Art, Design andMedia, NTU Singapore.We also express our gratitude to Toh Hung Ping, the Asian Film Archive, Dr. Rohana Said, Allan Koay,Wong Han Ming and Tay Ying Hui. We would also like to thank Justin Cho, Syaza Arinah Bte Muhammad Sham, Gerald Wee, Amber Chan, Clemens Tan, Jessabel Teng and Zhu Chuan for their contributions, Naga Thummanapalli and Ramalingam Sivakumar for their technical support and Joshua Tan and Sishuo Yang of CraveFX (Singapore) for their kind support

Sustainable performance of formwork system in Malaysia

Construction industry is seen to play a bigger role for sustainable society by offering sustainable construction. One of the major areas that construction industry should most pay the attention and control is the use of green materials in construction. More carbon reduction can be gained to the minimisation of energy in the production of construction materials life cycle. Formwork is one of the important construction methods in building construction. Nowadays, for sophisticated and repetitive concrete structures formworks system is used and found lead to more sustainable construction. In this context, this paper discusses a study focused on the importance of the formwork system and its sustainable element that responses to three bottom line of sustainable development. Questionnaire survey was distributed to construction experts in order to gain their perspective on formwork system based on their experiences. The economic category had been selected as the most important factor influence the selection of formwork system and the environmentalcategory1comes second while social becomes the third. The findings of this study assist developers and others stakeholders to make evaluation of the formwork system performance, therefore, it helps to determine the best formwork system that most responsive to the nature of construction and environment. © 2013 American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved

Analysis and simulation of combustion and emission on small engine

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) has become an interesting topic in the automotive industry to develop the engines with clean emission characteristics. The usage of gasoline as a fuel to power up the vehicle will contribute to the heavy environmental problem. A single cylinder four-stroke spark ignition (SI) engine that fueled by LPG and gasoline are used to predict and analyze the combustion process in the cylinder. A zero dimensional models are most suitable analytical models for engine cycle simulation. The simulation program has been developed using MATLAB software by implementing a single-zone thermodynamic model. The first law of thermodynamics is applying into this model and Annand’s model was used to compute the convection and radiation of heat transfer within the cylinder. The engine performance parameters computed including the in-cylinder pressure, gas temperature, net heat release, mass fraction burn, brake power, torque, indicated specific fuel consumption. Then, exhaust emission in the cylinder was predicted by the formation of emission model. The results of engine performance are compared between gasoline and LPG as a fuel. Results show LPG engine has contributed to the lower HC and NOx emissions compared to gasoline. It proved that the development of simulation program is useful to calculate the engine performance at different operating points

Algae Disintegration in Raw Water at Semberong Barat Dam Johor Malaysia Using Sonification Wave

Algal bloom and eutrophication pose serious problems to water production from water treatment plants. The toxic that certainly produced from the enzyme secretion by algae also contribute the risk to human health. To control and identify the algal bloom and eutrophication in Sembrong Barat Dam, LG Sonic MPC-Buoy was used. This device uses ultrasonic waves to break down the gas vesicle and cell wall of algae. However, an accurate and reliable mathematical representation for algae disintegration is important to better manage the algal bloom. In this study, the used of Fourier Trigonometry form was fitted. The data were recorded for 14 months, from November 2014 to December 2015. Oscillatoria, actual algae, and chlorophyll-a, has measured using the FlowCAM imaging. Using the equation developed to calculate the sonic wave impact on algae is significant to advance a better understand on the breakdown of the algae cell. The osmosis process occurred once the sonic wave ruptured the cell wall.The derivation of the equation is benefited to determine the energy used to breaking the cell wall or membrane and cytoplasm