Cooling panel wall system with difference types of cooling mediums

Global warming has caused worldwide average surface temperature to rise about 0.74oC during the past 100 years, which is partly aggravated by air-conditioning that releases chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and forming a vicious cycle. This paper proposes a cooling house system that can promote thermal comfort in buildings without air-conditioning. The cooling panel wall forms a part of an Integrated Building System (IBS), and is essentially made of tubes filled with either water or glycerin as the coolant. Target strength for the panel wall was designed based on the Malaysian Standard (MS) while the building ventilation system followed the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standard. The results are reported based on indoor and outdoor temperature difference together with relative humidity to identify the best performing house model and also coolant. The outcome of this research is expected to add value to heritage house design concepts with a better promotion of air flow and circulation in the building, without over-usage of natural resources and higher building cost to achieve the same objective

An Annotated Checklist Of Herpetofauna Of Langkawi Island, Kedah, Malaysia.

The herpetofauna ofLangkawi Island was recorded during the Scientific & Heritage Expedition ofthe Langkawi Islands, Kedah from 10 -15 April 2003. The reptiles such as snakes, lizards and turtles and amphibians such as toads and frogs were captured or observed and then identified. The reptiles and amphibians were captured and observed during trekking bouts along used and unused trails, along rivers and streams and during chance encounter

The study on used of tropical wood sawdust as a replacement fine aggregates in concrete mix

The amount of wastage produced in the construction industry is increases. The revolution making alterations to conventional concrete had been introduced. Industrial wastage such as fly ash, sawdust, and sludge are often used to replace material in the concrete mix, by that, the value of sustainability increase. Reusing waste materials can reduce renewable and non-renewable resources such as sand and water. This study emphasis the mechanical properties of the lightweight concrete regarding the replacement of material, sawdust into the concrete mix by 0% (control sample), 10%, 20% and 40% for grade 30 N/mm2. The objectives for this study are to determine the mechanical behavior of concrete mix with partial replacement of recycled fine aggregates, to determine the concrete properties consolidating recycled tropical wood sawdust, and to identify the optimum percentage partial replacement of recycled tropical wood sawdust in the concrete mix. For fresh concrete, slump test were performed to determine the workability of the concrete while for hardened concrete tests were compressive strength test, water absorption test and density test. The tests were carried out at the age of 7 days and 28 days. The result shown that 10% of sawdust replacement in the concrete mix recorded the highest amount of compressive strength, lowest water absorption and highest density compared to the control sample

Binary effect of palm oil fuel ash and eggshell waste powder on heat of hydration for mortar

The effects of mortar containing palm oil fuel ash and eggshell waste powder on heat of hydration was investigated. This study covers the basic properties like the chemical composition of raw materials and the hydration temperature for binary mortar. Malaysia is one of the world’s largest palm oil producers. Palm oil fuel ash (POFA) is a product of the combustion of palm oil waste which is not used and usually disposed of in landfills. The use of eggs in the food industry also generate waste egg shells that can be transform into powder namely eggshell waste powder (ESP). The development in construction technology has contributed to research in producing various methods and materials that provide advantages in the construction field. One of the technologies is to investigate the effectiveness of OPC replacement with appropriate waste materials. In this research, POFA and ESP was used as ingredients to replace a proportion of OPC in the mortar thereby reducing the use of OPC. POFA used in this study were in forms of ground POFA (GPOFA) and unground POFA (UPOFA). GPOFA and ESP are ground to achieve a similar size as OPC while UPOFA was used in its original size. The total percentages replacement of POFA and OPC was 20% by weight with the different level replacements of 4%, 8%, 12%, 16% and 20%. The design of mortar mix proportion made up of three groups, A, B and C. Group A is the control mortar that is OPC only. Group B is the mortar that contains OPC, POFA and ESP. Meanwhile, a third group C, consisting of a mixture of OPC, GPOFA and ESP. The mix proportion used for hydration temperature determination was chosen from the previous study which identified the strength of mortar compression. The optimum compressive strength of each group is chosen to obtain the mortar hydration temperature. For determination of mortar hydration temperature, plywood with size 300 mm x 300 mm x 450 mm cube was used as the exterior mold. It was packed with 76 mm thick polystyrene acting as the insulator. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe with diameter of 150 mm and a height of 300 mm is used to fill the mortar mix. A thermocouple (Type K) was inserted into the center of each box and was connected to a data logger system. Temperature rises due to heat of hydration in all mixes were recorded for 5 days. The results revealed that the replacement of OPC with binary materials is beneficial, particularly for mass mortar where thermal cracking due to excessive heat rise is of great concern

Pollen sources foraged by domesticated stingless bee (Heterotrigona itama) reared in gelam forests of Terengganu, Malaysia

Melittopalynological analysis is one of the principal tools used to reveal significant floral sources to bees. Gelam (Melaleuca spp.) forest provides habitat for bees and provision for high quality honey. However, the forests are declining due to anthropogenic activities which directly reduced the availability of botanical sources on which bees rely for survival. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the pollen sources preferred by domesticated stingless bees (Heterotrigona itama) reared in fragmented Gelam forests from two meliponiaries in Terengganu. The palynological analysis was carried out on pollen load foraged by the stingless bees. Thirty seven pollen types belonging to 13 plant families were collected from the pollen loads of 251 stingless bee foragers. Tiliagraphs with CONISS and rank abundance curves were used to illustrate the pollen grains preferred by H. itama. Results clearly showed that Melastoma malabathricum and Cyperus aromaticus were the most frequently visited and vital pollen sources for H. itama in the Gelam forests. Interestingly, Gelam (Melaleuca cajuputi) pollen is one of the floral sources, suggesting that Gelam is one of the preferred pollen and nectar sources for stingless bees. This study discovered a causal link between the fragmentation of Gelam forests and the low abundance of Melaleuca cajuputi pollen foraged by H. itama. Information on this dynamic is critically important for maintaining the health of bee colonies as well as for the conservation efforts of Gelam forests in Terengganu, Malaysia

Microhabitat factors influenced the prevalence of pathogenic Leptospira spp. in small mammal host

Leptospirosis, a widespread zoonotic disease, is a public health problem, especially in major urban centres, and is mainly reported to be associated with rats. In Malaysia, focus has been primarily given to the Leptospira prevalence in rodents per se, but there is lack of information on the microhabitat structure of the outbreak areas. We aimed to determine the diversity of small mammal species, microhabitat types, and their prevalence of pathogenic Leptospira spp. in the outbreak areas, which were categorized as urban, semi-urban, and recreational forests. Sampling involved deploying 100 to 300 live traps at each study site. Kidney samples were extracted from selected individuals, for screening of pathogenic Leptospira spp. by PCR. Out of 537 individuals from 15 small mammal species captured, 4 species were recorded from urban, 13 from semi-urban, and 11 from recreational forest sites. From 389 individuals screened, 58 were tested positive for pathogenic Leptospira. Recreational forests recorded the highest prevalence with 19.4% (n = 93), followed by urban, 16.6% (n = 163) and semi-urban sites with 9.8% (n = 133). Seven rodent species were tested positive for pathogenic Leptospira from all areas. R. norvegicus was found to harbour the highest prevalence (66.7%) in urban, R. rattus (53.8%) in semi-urban, whereby M. whiteheadi (44.4%) in recreational forest sites. Microhabitat analysis revealed that rubbish quantity contributed especially strongly to a high prevalence of Leptospira. This study contributes to understanding of the host and microhabitat preferences of Leptospira, which is important in controlling the spread of this disease in human's landscapes

Data of insect visitors to oil palm inflorescence in an oil palm plantation in Peninsular Malaysia

This dataset presents the frequency on visitations by the insects to the anthesising oil palm inflorescences in an oil palm plantation in Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia. Although insects are known as the pollinators to the oil palm trees, only the one that visits both the staminate and pistillate inflorescences however, showed the potential to act as pollinator. The visitation frequencies of each insect visitor are useful to assess the effectiveness of these insects as pollinators