Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons biodegradation using isolated strains under indigenous condition

The treatment and disposal of domestic sIudge is an expensive and environmentally sensitive problem. It is also a growing problem since sludge production will continue to increase as new wastewzter treatment plants are built due to population increase. The large volume of domestic sIudge produced had made it difficult for many countries including Malaysia to assure complete treatment of the sludge before discharging to the receiving environment. Domestic sludge contains diverse range of pollutants such as pathogen, inorganic and organic compounds. These pollutants are toxic, mutagenic or carcinogenic and may threaten human health. Iiilproper disposal and handling of sludge may pose serious impact to the environment especially on soil and water cycles. Previous studies on Malaysian domestic sludge only reported on bulk parameters and heavy metals. Thus, no study reported on organic micro pollutants, namely, polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Their recalcitrance and persistence make them problematic environmental contaminants. Microbial degradation is considered to be the primary mechanism of PAHs removal from the environment. Much has been reported on biodegradation of PAHs in several countries but there is a lack of information quantitative on this subject in Malaysia. This study is carried out to understand the nature of domestic sludge and to provide a better understanding on the biodegradation processes of PAHs. The methodology of this study comprised field activities, laboratory work and mathematical modelling. Field activities involved sampling of domestic sludge from Kolej Mawar, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Selangor. Laboratory activities include seven phases of experimental works. First phase is characterization study of domestic sludge based on bulk parameters, heavy metals and PAHs. Second phase is enrichment and purification of bacteria isolated from domestic sludge using single PAHs and mixed PAHs as growth substrate. This was followed by identification of bacteria using BIOLOG system. The fourth phase focussed on turbidity test to monitor growth rate of the isolated bacteria. Preliminary degradation study involves optimization of the process at different substrate concentration, bacteria concentration, pH and temperature. The optimum conditions established from optimization study were used in degradation study. In biodegradation study, two experimental conditions were performed. These conditions include using bacteria isolated from single PAHs as substrate and bacteria isolated from mixed PAHs. Protein and pH tests were done during degradation study. Final activity is mathematical modelling of the biodegradation process. In general results on bulk parameters are comparable to previous studies. Zinc was the main compound with a mean concentration of 11 96.4 mglkg. PAHs were also detected in all of the samples, with total concentration between 0.72 to 5.36 mglkg dry weight for six PAHs. In the examined samples, phenanthrene was the main compound with a mean concentration of 1.0567 mglkg. The results fiom purification studies of bacteria strains sucessfull isolated 13 bacteria strains fiom single PAH substrate while three bacteria were isolated from the mixed PAHs substrate. Based on bacteria growth rates, only six strains grown on single PAHs and three strains grown on mixed PAHs were used for further studies. Results from the optimization study of biodegradation indicated that maximum rate of PAHs removal occurred at 100 mg~-' of PAHs, 10% bacteria concentration, pH 7.0 and 30°C. The results showed that bacteria grown on lower ring of PAHs are not able to grow on higher ring of PAHs. As for example Micrococcus diversus grown on napthalene as sole carbon source was unable to degrade other PAHs like acenapthylene, acenapthene, fluorene, phenanthrene and antlracene. In the case of bacteria isolated from mixed PAHs, the results showed that most of the napthalene was degraded by isolated strains with the highest average degradation rate followed by acenapthylene, acenapthene, fluorene, phenanthrene and anthracene. 377$3(53867$.$$1�781.8�781�$0,1$+ D4ff + c\,cpda~ition trends were observed in the study could be attributed to the different subsr , i,lo\~ir 'Led during isolation process. Interaction through cometabolism and synergistic ocolq bacteria strains isolated from single substrate. Thus, only synergistic interaction was oL, :a 77ed for bacteria isolated from mixed substrate. Corynebacterium urolyticum re\e;;ed I,, be the best strain in degrading PAHs. The experimental results have led to a model conccl~t desclibing I'AHs degradation

A review on the influence of drinking water quality towards human health

An adequate supply of safe drinking water is one of the major prerequisites for a healthy life. Inadequate of safe drinking water produce waterborne disease and a major cause of death in many parts of the world, particularly in children. Therefore, it must be treated properly before it can be used and consumed. This chapter provides the guidelines of important parameters for drinking water standard in order to ensure the safeness of drinking water. All the selected parameters were elaborated on the effect of high concentration if human consume the drinking water directly

Vermicomposting of food waste

The use of food waste recycling concept can be an interesting option to reduce the use of landfill. This strategy is more environmental friendly, cheap and fast if proper management to treat the food waste is applied. Nowadays, the concept of recycling is not well practice among the community. In this study, vermicomposting is introduced as an alternative of the food waste recycling. Vermicomposting consists of the use of earthworms to break down the food waste. In this vermicomposting treatment, the nightcrawler earthworm are used to treat the food waste. The food will be collected from UTHM cafe. The experiment consist of peat soil as a base, earthworms and the food waste. The pH number and moisture content of each container were controlled at 7.0 to 7.2 and 60 to 80 % to maintain the favorable environment condition for the earthworms. The weight of the sample will be measured in three days time after exposure to the earthworm. The vermicomposting study was taken about two weeks time. After the treatment, the soil sample are tested for nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K) concentration. Based on the result obtained, it shows that vermicomposting will reduce the weight of treatment sample and the concentration of N, P, and K for the soil is greater than the chemical fertilizer. Therefore, vermicomposting is a promising  alternative treatment of food waste as it is more ecofriendly

The relationship between employment with labour productivity, capital productivity and output of small and medium sized enterprise (SME) in manufacturing industry / Norzila Othman

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between employment with labour productivity, capital productivity and output of Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (SME) in Manufacturing Industry. This study includes data from year 2002-2006. For this purpose all the data will be analyze using the correlation analysis to see the relationship between each variable. The data that being used in this study is the growth performance of employment, labour productivity, capital productivity and output of Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (SME) and concentrated on the manufacturing industry. For data analyzing, this study used SPSS to get the result. Based on the analysis only capital productivity that have a significant relationship with employment

Waste to wealth: production of activated carbon from agricultural waste

Adsorption is the main process for wastewater and drinking water treatment. The ability of activated carbon as an absorbent was proven by many researchers. Agriculture waste can be produced as an activated carbon based on availability, cost, and purity. Physical and chemical activations are the main process in activated carbon (AC) development. Both processes have its own advantage. Before proceeding with the activation process the precursor must be characterized for metal element and surface functional group by doing (X-Ray Fluorescence) XRF and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). TGA will determine the exact carbonization temperature. Adsorbent pore will be analyzed using BET. Activating agent and carbonization temperature gives the main effect for surface area and total pore volume of AC. This chapter will review the AC development process and the exact characterization method in preparing the AC

A Study of Leadership and Followership: The Case of Universiti Malaya Dental Clinic

This study highlights the aspects or forces that are inherent in the subordinate position of Matrons, Receptionists and Dentists that sheds further light on the understanding of followership as it pertains to the Dental Clinic of University Malaya. The purpose of the present study was to determine the transferable or non-transferable between leadership to followership in the area of their expertise in the Dental Clinic of University Malaya environments. This study also sought to answer the following question of the respondent understanding of the terms and the acceptance of the terms of Leadership, Leader, Follower and Followership and how the respondents identify their position to the roles. Using the interview of the qualitative approach, four respondents were selected from the Dental Clinic of University Malaya area as subjects . Therefore, after a comprehensive analysis of the research findings have revealed that effective followers have leadership qualities that are similar or different from those who are placed within positions of leading and the leadership position cannot be transferred to follower as the results

Natural Luteolin from Methanolic Extract of Malaysian Brucea javanica Leaves Induces Apoptosis in HeLa Cell Lines

There are a growing number of deaths of cancer patients due to toxicity of conventional chemotherapy. Therefore, continuous discovery of natural anticancer compounds with cytoselective actions would be an ideal strategy to overcome the problem. Thus, natural products from plant are still the alternative source in the search for anticancer drugs that can have a direct effect on both cancer cell removal and also minimize the side effects to the patients. Based on the traditional usage and pharmaceutical potential of Brucea javanica reported before, a study on the leaves of this plant was carried out. The aims of the study were to isolate the bioactive compound from B. javanica Leaves (BJL) extracts via bioassay-guided fractionation using several selected cancer cell lines, to determine the mode of cancer cell death induced by BJL’s active compound and the molecular mechanism of apoptosis implicated in cancer cell lines by measuring the level of apoptotic protein expression such as bax, bcl-XL, caspase-3 and tumour suppressor p53. Among three crude extracts of BJL, methanol was the most potent against selected cancer cell lines which consist of cervical, breast, bone, ovarian and liver cancer cells. Cisplatin was used as positive control for the antiproliferative assay. Using a bioassay-guided fractionation, chromatography, NMR and mass spectrometry analysis we have isolated luteolin. It is a known compound from the flavonoid group which was found to be cytoselectiv

Keberkesanan cerpen dalam mempertingkatkan prestasi penulisan karangan Bahasa Melayu dalam kalangan murid

This research analyses the effectiveness of literature texts to upgrade the performance of 64 average-achiever students in Form Two. This experimental research was conducted to compare the effectiveness of the use of literature texts and conventional methods of teaching composition. Both groups were given two tests, namely pre-test and post-test to compare the performance of the overall composition, elaboration of points and sentence type. The research findings of the pre-test and post-test show that the teaching of composition using the literature texts is more effective than the conventional method

Xanthorrhizol Induces Apoptosis Via the Up-regulation of Bax and p53 in HeLa Cells

Xanthorrhizol is a sesquiterpenoid compound extracted from Curcuma xanthorrhiza, which is known locally as Temulawak. Traditionally, C. xanthorrhiza was found to have antibacterial, anticancer and anti-inflammatory activity. The rhizome has also been used to treat inflammation in postpartum uterine bleeding. An antiproliferative assay using methylene blue staining revealed that xanthorrhizol inhibited the proliferation of the cervical cancer cell line HeLa with an EC50 value of 6.16 Ìg/ml. Xanthorrhizol significantly increased apoptosis in HeLa cells, as evaluated by the Tdt-mediated dUTP nick end-labelling (TUNEL) assay and nuclear morphology by Hoechst 33258 staining. Western blot analysis, which was further confirmed by the immunostaining results, implied an up-regulation of tumor suppressor protein p53 and the pro-apoptotic protein Bax, following the treatment with xanthorrhizol. Xanthorrhizol, however, did not affect the expression of the anti-apoptotic protein, Bcl-2 and the viral oncoprotein, E6. Hence, xanthorrhizol is a promising antiproliferative and anticancer agent which induces p53 and Bax-dependent apoptosis in HeLa cervical cancer cells

Performance assessment of cassava peel starch and alum as dual coagulant for turbidity removal in dam water

The agricultural and food processing industries generate a significant portion of residues, refuse and waste. Conversion of these wastes into useful end product would be beneficial not only to the economy but also the environment as it reducing the solid waste disposal problem. The present study was aimed to investigate the performance of cassava peel starch (CPS) extracted from cassava peel waste in combination with alum to act as dual coagulant for turbidity removal in raw water from Sembrong dam. Comparative studies by employing both alum and CPS as primary coagulant using several series of Jar test were also conducted. Results showed that the usage of alum-CPS as dual coagulant not only enhanced the turbidity removal with maximum achievement up to 91.47%, but also significantly improve the coagulation process by reducing both alum dosage and settling time up to 50% which indicates broad prospects to be further developed as emerging green coagulant