Environmental management activities of an infrastructure development project: the case of Beris Dam, Malaysia

Development projects need to integrate environmental dimensions into project management functions to ensure successful implementation of environmental management and control practices throughout the development process. The management functions include the scope of work for environmental control, the quality of work or performance to be delivered, the scheduling for environmental works, and the most important one is the budget for environmental control. The aim of this paper is to examine and discuss about the environmental dimensions of Beris Dam during its construction and development process. The environmental dimension criteria and elements of the project were examined by means of reviewing environmental control documents used in the project’s construction and development, and site visits. The review reveals that in general the Beris Dam EIA and EMP reports scored between ‘unsatisfactory’ to ‘good’ for the criteria and elements of good environmental practice. These findings indicate the need to increase both effort and implementation of environmental dimensions in project management to help improve the success of implementing environmental management activities in the construction and development of a projec

INFLUENCE OF MEVALONIC ACID AND LINALOOL ON LIMONENE ACCUMULATION IN CALLUS TISSUES OF CITRUS GRANDIS OSBECK

Effect on callus growth was studied for Citrus grandis  cultured with feeding of exogenous mevalonic acid (MVA) at concentrations of 0.04, 0.08, 0.38, 0.77, 1.15 and 1.54 mM. Similar effect with linalool ranging from 10 to 200 nl was studied under various incubation periods. The growth was proportional to the concentrations of precursors used meaning that higher precursors concentrations influenced more growth on C. grandis callus culture. Mevalonic acid and linalool showed quite similar precursor feeding effects on limonene accumulation of C. grandis callus cultures. It was revealed that limonene production was triggered with the introduction of MVA and linalool even at low concentration. Limonene accumulation was detected as early as week four and continued to increase at about 0.0030 and 0.0032 mg/g with MVA and linalool, respectively, after the seventh week incubation. In comparison to the unfed cultures, no limonene was detected from the callus up to eight weeks in incubation. Keywords :   C/rrusgrarafo/Limonene/Linalool/Mevalonic acid Abbreviations: 2,4-D: 2,4 — Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, ABA: Abscisic acid, MVA : Mevalonic aci

Environmental Educational Youth Action Task Program

An educational environmental youth camp was held comprising of fifty one 16-year old secondary students and facilitated by volunteers from the university and Friends of the Earth, a non profit organization in Penang.  A weekend camp on youth action task program was held at an isolated beach packed with activities that were structured towards environmental good sense. Five activities were conducted with the volunteers as moderators.  The main objective of the camp was to create more perceptive understanding on the environmental importance to the community, and the need for the community to protect the environment.  The students were brought to the realms of nature and issues currently plaguing our towns, cities and countryside. With the coming in contact with nature, the veracity of the environmental issues was infused into the students. The activities began with an ice breaking sessions with the facilitators, jungle trekking, ‘life chain’, ‘issues and its realities’, ‘action plan’ and wrapped by developing resolutions.  Each of these activities  were practical learning and  fun filled experiences that were well guided by facilitators  who were themselves dedicated volunteers in the youth action task program. The program ended with meeting the teachers at the respective schools to further develop the activities at school, interschool, and community and intercommunity levels.  It is also hoped that these students will be able to be continuously be active in the youth action task program and be the advocates and proponents to support the environment

Extraction of fish oil from the skin of Indian mackerel using supercritical fluids.

The total oil was extracted from the ground skin of Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta) using various techniques of supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) at 20–35 MPa and 45–75 °C and by the Soxhlet method for comparison. The oil yield increased with pressure and temperature and the highest yields were 24.7, 53.2, 52.8, and 52.3/100 g sample (dry basis) for the continuous, cosolvent, soaking, and pressure swing techniques, respectively, at 35 MPa and 75 °C. The yield from the Soxhlet extraction was 53.6/100 g sample (dry basis). The CO2 consumption was 581.8, 493.6, 484.9 and 290.9 g for the continuous, cosolvent, soaking and pressure swing techniques, respectively, at 35 MPa and 75 °C. The largest recoveries of PUFA, especially the ω-3 family, were achieved from the soaking and pressure swing techniques at 35 MPa and 75 °C. Thus, the pressure swing and soaking techniques are the most effective at extracting the oil from fish skin

Morphological characteristics of black aspergilli isolated from clinical wastes

The present study aimed to recognize the microscopic characteristics of black aspergilli species which exhibit similar characteristics on culture media. Forty eight black aspergilli isolates were obtained from clinical wastes and purified using single spore technique on six different culture media. The ultrastructure of fungal conidiophore and spores was detected by using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The fungal isolates were identified within five species included A. niger, A. tubingensis, Aspergillus section Nigri, A. violaceofuscus, A. neoniger. Besides, two isolates identified as Aspergillus sp. strain no. 39, Aspergillus sp. strain no. 53 appear as new strains based on the structure of conidiophore and spores. The fungi species have similar culture characteristics. However, SEM observation demonstrated that they have quite different conidiophore and spores morphology. The study revealed that the microstructure of the fungal spores and conidiophores plays an important role in the identification of fungi species based on the phenotypic method

Gelatinization properties of sago and wheat flour mixtures

Gelatinization or pasting properties of sago-wheat flour mixtures (10-50% sago) were studied for mixtures of sago-high protein wheat flour (HPW), sago-medium protein wheat tlour (MPW) and sago-low protein wheat flour (LPW). Gelatinization temperature (TG)increased as the sago portion in HPW, MPW and LPW increased. The peak temperature (Tp) and peak viscosity (Vp) increased with increasing sago in the sago-wheat mixtures. The setback values (5B) in sago-LPW mixtures were higher than in sago-HPW and sago-MPW mixtures. The setback viscosities (Vs) were not much different for any mixtures or control flours. The breakdown viscosities (VB) increased with increased sago in the mixtures. The breakdown value (BD) increased with increased sago in the sago-wheat mixtures

One- and Two-Dimensional Hydrological Modelling and Their Uncertainties

Earth processes, which occur in land, air and ocean in different environment and at different scales, are very complex. Flooding is also a part of the complex processes, which need to be assessed accurately to know the accurate spatial and temporal changes of flooding and their causes. Hydrological modelling has been used by several researchers in river and floodplain modelling for flood analysis. In this chapter, factors affecting flash flood, possible options of basic input parameters in one- and two-dimensional hydrological models in data sparse environment, some case studies and uncertainty in hydrological modelling were discussed. This discussion will help the readers to understand the flooding factors, selection of input parameters in data sparse environment, a brief insight of one- and two-dimensional hydrological models and uncertainties in their input and model parameters and model structures

Hard cocoa butter replacers from mango seed fat and palm stearin

The blending effects of mango seed fat (MSF), extracted using supercritical fluid, and palm stearin (PS) to formulate hard cocoa butter replacers (CBRs), were investigated. The triglycerides (TG), thermal properties and solid fat content (SFC) of the formulated blends were determined using different chromatographic and thermal techniques. All the blends had three main TGs; namely, 1,3-dipalmitoyl-2-oleoylglycerol (POP) (8.6 to 17.7%), 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-3-stearoyl-glycerol (POS) (12.6 to 19.6%), and 1,3-distearoyl-2-oleoyl-glycerol (SOS) (37.2 to 31.4%), with SOS being the major component. The melting peak temperatures gradually increased and shifted towards higher temperatures with PS. The crystallization onset temperatures increased, while the offset decreased with PS. The SFC did not drop to 0% at 37.5 °C, which was shifted to 0% at and above 40 °C for some blends. The studies revealed that CBRs could be prepared by blending MSF and PS, and they could be utilized by chocolate manufacturers in tropical countries

Techniques for extraction of bioactive compounds from plant materials: a review

The use of bioactive compounds in different commercial sectors such as pharmaceutical, food and chemical industries signifies the need of the most appropriate and standard method to extract these active components from plant materials. Along with conventional methods, numerous new methods have been established but till now no single method is regarded as standard for extracting bioactive compounds from plants. The efficiencies of conventional and non conventional extraction methods mostly depend on the critical input parameters; understanding the nature of plant matrix; chemistry of bioactive compounds and scientific expertise. This review is aimed to discuss different extraction techniques along with their basic mechanism for extracting bioactive compounds from medicinal plant

Optimization of arecoline extraction from areca nut using supercritical carbon dioxide.

The mass transfer of arecoline using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) from areca nut is studied by analyzing the diffusion coefficient derived from Crank equation for sphere model. Comparisons of the SC-CO2 extracted yield under various conditions showed that the combination of pressure at 10.3 MPa and temperature of 50°C provided the optimum condition for extraction, followed by extraction at 40°C and 25.6 MPa. From the diffusion coefficient analysis, the optimum conditions also gave the highest coefficients. It was found that the yield is directly proportional to the values of the coefficients