State housing provision in Sarawak : an examination of accessibility, habitability, sustainability and affordability

PhD ThesisIt has been widely shown that the provider-based approach to the urban low cost housing problem in the developing world has ended in failure. It has not only failed to meet the demand for such houses but the costs of producing them are so enormous that they are hard to sustain. Worse, the beneficiaries of these houses do not even meet the affordability levels required even at their subsidised selling prices. Many causes have been suggested and recommendations proffered. Yet the urban housing problem remains as acute as ever while the approach is still actively pursued by some developing countries. This research aims to examine the performance of provider-based housing policy in the context of the accessibility of the target group to the houses, the habitability of these houses in terms of their standards and quality, the sustainability of the project(s) under study, and the affordability of the households which have succeeded in getting these houses. It uses three project areas constructed by the Sarawak Housing and Development Commission (SHDC), East Malaysia, as case studies. This study stands on the premise that it is not so much the approach which is at fault but the operational environment within which it operates; namely, the political, economic and social (even cultural) context. Any approach may not succeed if it fails to take cognisance of ihe peculiarities and distinctiveness of this contextual stage. The basis of the analysis is based on two types of data. The first is mortgage data which contains all the socio-economic information (as well as loan portfolios) of the beneficiaries who have taken loans from the SHDC. This information was collected when the beneficiaries first applied for the houses, and combined with a household survey of the same beneficiaries to provide a comprehensive set of data used for the analysis. The findings of the research support the conclusions of many similar studies; that the main causes of the poor performance lies mainly on the supply side of the housing market, most of which can easily be solved; thus confirming the premise that the success or failure of any approach depends heavily on the rules within which it has to operate.Universiti Sains Malaysi

Investigation Of Optical Wireless For Employment Within A Vehicular Environment

The substantial increase in powerful electronic systems and functions has produced significant implications for the vehicular industry, where the amount of wiring infrastructure has increased the vehicle weight, weakened performance, and made adherence to reliability standards difficult. Eventually, connecting the electronics infrastructure was mostly complicated and costly in vehicular domain systems. Thus, little research has been conducted to explore appropriate wireless technologies that may be suitable with the emerging network standard within the context of vehicular networks. This thesis describes an in-depth investigation of deploying an optical wireless communication system within the vehicular environment, particularly in confined spaces. A wide variety of measurements has been performed using tubes of various materials and geometries, in a laboratory setup. The principle objective is to provide a primary knowledge of optical wireless channel characterization within a laboratory vehicular setting. The work presented is a study on directed line-of-sight (LOS) and non-LOS (NLOS) links, and focuses on frequency response, power efficiencies, and path losses in different experimental settings. Further, a variety of experimental settings was used in respect to different receiver/transmitter orientations and various bent tubes angles in order to investigate the channel conditions. The noise analysis, SNR, path loss and the eye pattern for the digital system prototype designed were also analysed. The system requirement for the LOS link were based on the transmission of the sinusoidal signal at a distance of 1 m with 13 MHz signal and approximately 15.6 dB SNR. Successful demonstration of the OWC within smaller size and high reflection coefficient material are promising. In addition to good transmitter and high sensitivity receiver. The NLOS link also demonstrated a good indication, both in straight tube with angled transmitter/receiver orientation and bend tubes. Detail studies on NLOS link with pulse signal transmission, which replicates a digital system transmission with 54.48 mW or 44.58 mW/cm2 output power,6 MHz signal transmission with the aim of 10-4 to 10-6 BER. Although, the operational functionality of digital system has successfully demonstrated, however achieving the desired BER is a bit difficult with the designed system. Further improvement on the highly sensitive receiver design, a proper modulation scheme is required in order to improve the quality of the transmitted signal in terms of SNR and BER. The study also suggested that the transmission within the metal tubes is better than in plastic tubes in addition to minimum bend angle, smaller tube diameter and high reflective coefficient. Transmission within 20 mm circular aluminium tube and 35 mm galvanised aluminium tube are the best so far. Finally, based on the initial viability results, it was seen that it is possible to implement an optical wireless communication infrastructure within the vehicular environment. Experimental validation of the system proposed shows that achieving high data rates is not a problem with the use of high brightness, high power LEDs as this system is going to be implemented within the vehicle chassis, thus the eye safety constraints should not be a limiting factor. Therefore, in this study, optical wireless transmission within the vehicular environment is proposed, solving the problems of vehicular networking systems

Married Dispensation in Pressing Efforts of Divorce Numbers

The purpose of this study is to determine the factors and judges' considerations that influence the application for the grant of dispensation of marriage, as well as the role of dispensation of marriage in an effort to reduce the divorce rate. The research method used is juridical-sociological, juridical, which discusses research using laws and regulations related to marriage dispensation. The sociological approach is used to find out and understand how the judge's consideration factors in granting a marriage dispensation request. From the results of the study concluded that the factors causing the submission of applications for dispensation of marriage include pregnancy outside of marriage, concerns of parents about their children, economic factors and educational factors. The basis for the judge's consideration in granting dispensation to marriage is that there is no prohibition on marriage, physical, mental, biological, sociological and financial maturity in a state of urgency (pregnancy out of wedlock) the desire/agreement of both parties. While efforts to dispensate marriage in an effort to reduce the divorce rate are not yet certain, it can actually increase the divorce rate due to the unstable mental and psychological stability of children in fostering a household

Frequency Chirp Characteristics On Wdm External Modulation

The paper studies the effect of frequency chirping and the Extension Ratio (ER) on the performance of optical communication system. The characteristics are obtained from the simulation using OptiSystem 7.0 on the externally modulated experimental setup. The parameter known as alpha factor (a) is used to characterize the chirp behavior and the effects of ER on Bit Error Rate (BER. This studies proved that the frequency chirping can be reduce by controlling the a factor and the ER where the amount of chirp can be eliminated by controlling the symmetry factor k

Investigation of optical wireless for employment within a vehicular environment

The substantial increase in powerful electronic systems and functions has produced significant implications for the vehicular industry, where the amount of wiring infrastructure has increased the vehicle weight, weakened performance, and made adherence to reliability standards difficult. Eventually, connecting the electronics infrastructure was mostly complicated and costly in vehicular domain systems. Thus, little research has been conducted to explore appropriate wireless technologies that may be suitable with the emerging network standard within the context of vehicular networks. This thesis describes an in-depth investigation of deploying an optical wireless communication system within the vehicular environment, particularly in confined spaces. A wide variety of measurements has been performed using tubes of various materials and geometries, in a laboratory setup. The principle objective is to provide a primary knowledge of optical wireless channel characterization within a laboratory vehicular setting. The work presented is a study on directed line-of-sight (LOS) and non-LOS (NLOS) links, and focuses on frequency response, power efficiencies, and path losses in different experimental settings. Further, a variety of experimental settings was used in respect to different receiver/transmitter orientations and various bent tubes angles in order to investigate the channel conditions. The noise analysis, xviii SNR, path loss and the eye pattern for the digital system prototype designed were also analysed. The system requirement for the LOS link were based on the transmission of the sinusoidal signal at a distance of 1 m with 13 MHz signal and approximately 15.6 dB SNR. Successful demonstration of the OWC within smaller size and high reflection coefficient material are promising. In addition to good transmitter and high sensitivity receiver. The NLOS link also demonstrated a good indication, both in straight tube with angled transmitter/receiver orientation and bend tubes. Detail studies on NLOS link with pulse signal transmission, which replicates a digital system transmission with 54.48mW or 44.58 mW/cm2 output power,6 MHz signal transmission with the aim of 10-4 to 10-6 BER. Although, the operational functionality of digital system has successfully demonstrated, however achieving the desired BER is a bit difficult with the designed system. Further improvement on the highly sensitive receiver design, a proper modulation scheme is required in order to improve the quality of the transmitted signal in terms of SNR and BER. The study also suggested that the transmission within the metal tubes is better than in plastic tubes in addition to minimum bend angle, smaller tube diameter and high reflective coefficient. Transmission within 20 mm circular aluminium tube and 35 mm galvanised aluminium tube are the best so far. Finally, based on the initial viability results, it was seen that it is possible to implement an optical wireless communication infrastructure within the vehicular environment. Experimental validation of the system proposed shows that achieving high data rates is not a problem with the use of high brightness, high power LEDs as this system is xix going to be implemented within the vehicle chassis, thus the eye safety constraints should not be a limiting factor. Therefore, in this study, optical wireless transmission within the vehicular environment is proposed, solving the problems of vehicular networking systems

RECONSTRUCTION OF APPLICATION FOR MARRIAGE DISPENSATION REGULATION IN RELIGIOUS COURT BASED ON ISLAMIC JUSTICE

Marriage dispensation is the granting of a marriage license by a court to prospective husbands and wives who are not yet 19 years old to come into a marriage and must be based on the agreement of both prospective bride and groom. The application for dispensation from marriage for those who have not reached the age of 19 for the prospective husband and wife is submitted by both male and female parents to the Religious Court in the area where they live. After the issuance of Law Number 16 of 2019 and Supreme Court Regulation Number 5 of 2019, the marriage age limit was changed to 19 years for both parties from 16 years to 19 years. However, after the increase in the age limit for dispensation for marriage, the number of applications for dispensation for marriage has increased. This of course raises differences of opinion among law enforcers. The focus of this research is 1). Why is the regulation on requests for marriage dispensation in religious courts not based on Islamic justice? 2). What are the current weaknesses in the Marriage Dispensation Application Regulations in the Religious Courts? 3). How is the Reconstruction of Marriage Dispensation Application Regulations in Religious Courts Based on Islamic Justice? The aims of this research are (1). to analyze and find regulations on requests for dispensation from marriage in religious courts that do not yet have the value of Islamic justice. (2). to analyze and find weaknesses in the regulation of requests for marriage dispensation in the current religious courts (3). to find the reconstruction of regulations on requests for dispensation from marriage to religious courts that do not yet have the value of Islamic justice. Paradigm This research uses a constructivism paradigm, with a social legal research approach that uses primary data. Methods of data collection using interviews, observation, and field systems. The legal theory used in this dissertation is the theory of Islamic justice as a Grand Theory, Middle Theory of legal system theory and Applied theory of Progressive legal theory. The results of this dissertation research found that the regulation on requests for dispensation from marriage in the religious courts has not yet had the value of Islamic justice, namely the normalization of the marriage law Article 7 and Perma No. 5 of 2019 Article 2 and Article 14 have not provided the values of justice that are able to realize the nature of marriage, namely forming a family that is Sakinah, mawadah, wa rahmah, or eternal based on the orders of Allah SWT. The current weaknesses in the regulation on requests for dispensation from marriage in the religious courts are weaknesses in legal substance, legal structure and legal culture. Therefore, with regulations on requests for dispensation from marriage in religious courts that do not yet have the value of Islamic justice, it is necessary to reconstruct the provisions in Article 7 of Law Number 16 of 2019 and Supreme Court Regulation Number 5 of 2019 Article 2 and Article 14. Keywords: Marriage Dispensation; Reconstruction; Justice; Petition; Court DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/132-07 Publication date:May 31st 202

Factors Associated with Sexual Intercourse, Condom-Use, and Perceived Peer Behaviors Among Adolescents in Malaysia: A School-Based Cross-Sectional Study

High-risk sexual behavior among young adults is concerning to clinicians, public health practitioners and policy makers because it is associated with unintended health outcomes including transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancy.This paper analyzes how knowledge of HIV, experience with dating behavior, and perception of peer behavior factors are associated with having sexual intercourse and use of condoms among adolescent students in Malaysia. National data from school-age adolescents who completed the Malaysian HIV/AIDS Knowledge, Attitude and Practice survey were used. Chi-square analysis and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. Having sexual intercourse was associated with urbaneness (p<0.001); correctly answered all UNGASS indicator (p=0.011); and perception of peer behavior having had sex (p=0.001). Condom use among those who had sexual experience was associated with males (p=0.013), believing condoms prevent HIV and STIs (p<0.002), and having friends who report having had sex (p=0.034).Equitable and effective sexual education program must be developed to promote the health of adolescents. Practical education about how condoms may prevent the transmission of STIs and HIV should be promoted

Orientation Effects For LOS And NLOS OWC Characterisation Within Small Structures

This paper reports an experimental investigation of the orientation effect towards optical wireless channel parameters within small structures.The experiment has characterised the orientation effect of the line-of-sight (LOS)and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) infrared transmission when using different material and geometrical properties on significant infrared channel parameters.Two measurement setups were used,(1) the straight guiding structures,and (2) bending guiding structures,with three different bending angles (30o,45o and 60o bend).In each of the measurement,the receiver/transmitter is rotated in the steps of 15˚ each time.The results revealed that the characteristic of the channel depends on the physical geometries,the orientation of the transmitter/receiver and also depend on reflection coefficient of the materials.The results are valid for both LOS and NLOS transmission

Free space optical in vehicular networks using rectangular guiding models

This letter introduces Free-Space Optical (FSO) Communication links in vehicular applications using potential guiding structures around a vehicle. An optical wireless communication system simulation is described which delivers received power, bandwidth, root mean square delay spread channel impulse response for purely diffuse and diffuse-specular materials with omnidirectional and directed transmitters. In the former case, a bandwidth of 225 MHz with a power deviation of 25% results at the exit. For the latter, a 75GHz bandwidth is available at best but with a power deviation of over 99% making receiver positioning critical. The impulse response is calculated using a Modified Monte Carlo algorithm taking into account up to 15 reflections. The effect of the pipe bend angle on the path loss is also presented and the simulation is supported with experimental work

Continuous electrocoagulation treatment system for partial desalination of tropical brackish peat water in Sarawak coastal peatlands

Sarawak coastal peatlands located on Borneo Island have vast availability of brackish peat water sources especially in some coastal rural areas. However, brackish peat water is currently underutilized as the source for water treatment plants due to excessive salinity levels. As such, this study aims to investigate the salinity reduction in brackish peat water sources for domestic consumption in Sarawak coastal peatlands by utilizing continuous electrocoagulation treatment with aluminium electrodes. Correspondingly, this study analyzes the effects of salinity percentage, electric current, and flow rate on salinity reduction with electrocoagulation treatment. This study has found that the treated salinity levels in brackish peat water with 30 % of salinity percentage meet the Malaysia Class I in National Water Quality Standard. The study has also identified both monolayer and multilayer adsorption that occurs in electrocoagulation treatment as the precursor to salinity reduction. In addition, the presence of in-situ aluminium hydroxide coagulants could adsorb some sodium chloride from brackish peat water with 70 % of salinity percentage at 2503 mg/g of maximum adsorption capacity and 2.65 min−1 of adsorption rate. This study has also found that electrocoagulation treatment could achieve 91.78 % of maximum salinity reduction efficiency at an optimum electric current of 5 A and flow rate of 1.2 L/min in brackish peat water with 30 % of salinity percentage. This treatment system costs only Ringgit Malaysia (RM) 0.29 or United States Dollars (USD) 0.06 per meter cubic of treated brackish peat water. Overall, this study demonstrates that continuous electrocoagulation treatment could partially desalinate brackish peat water with 30 % of salinity percentage in which the treated salinity levels could be utilized for domestic consumption in Sarawak coastal peatlands at reasonable cost