Sewage Pollution in the Coastal Waters off Port Dickson, Straits of Malacca

The distribution of fecal colifonn bacteria in the near-shore waters and coastal waters of Port Dickson was studied between August 1987 and August 1989. Although a significantly high level of fecal coliform bacteria was found in the near- shore waters, very low levels were detected in the sediments and in roastal waters between 0.5 km and 5 kIn away from the roast. The results indirate that the coastal waters of Port Dickson are suitable for recreational and aquaculture uses

An enhancement of sliding window algorithm for rainfall forecasting

Various rainfall forecasting models or techniques are presented by researchers to obtain the best result of forecasting. Despite of various techniques and methods, not all of them produce the satisfy result of rainfall forecasting. Therefore, this study proposed a forecasting rainfall method based on sliding window algorithm (SWA), in order to obtain the best rainfall prediction value. The problem statements in this study are related to unsatisfactory accuracy rainfall output on previous study of SWA. Hence, SWA is enhanced in order to produce highly accurate prediction rainfall. The proposed method is tested by using three different rainfall gauge station data that are taken from the Department of Drainage Irrigation (DID), Perlis, Malaysia. Then, the rainfall forecasting result is validated by using mean square error (MSE), and relative geometric root mean squared error (relative GRMSE). The validation analysis shows that the proposed method has a higher forecasting accuracy than the previous method of sliding window algorithm

Magnetic torque obtained using finite element modelling of electromagnetic micro relay / Azahar Taib, Mohamad Adha Mohamad Idin and Nor Azlan Othman

Micro Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) is an area of research and applications that is becoming increasingly popular. One of MEMS device that is becoming increasingly important in a wide range of industries such as the computer industry, the medical industry and the automotive industry is micro relay. Generally, there are three types of micro relay based on actuation methods; electrostatic, electrothermal and electromagnetic. This research project focuses on electromagnetic micro relay. The need to study the magnetic behavior of electromagnetic micro relay is due to ongoing demand in area of micro relay design and fabrication. This study will focus on analyzing the magnetic behaviors of a specific electromagnetic micro relay. It involves the analytical and finite element modeling. The results from these two analyses are compared in order to verify the reliability of results obtained. Prior to the validation, a complete model of micro relay is developed using finite element modeling via ANSYS software. Investigations on magnetic behaviors of the electromagnetic micro relay are performed via Finite Element Analyses. By varying the current density on the EM planar coil on the micro relay structure, the operating principle of electromagnetic micro relay can be simulated and observed. In addition, it also includes the investigation of magnetic torque upon the armature of the micro relay when certain parameters are varied. The parameters are the thickness of the armature, air gap between the permanent magnet and EM planar coil, and the amount of current density applied to EM planar coils. The effect of the parameter's variation are presented and discussed. These results provide a good insight of the magnetic behavior of the investigated electromagnetic micro relay which will be very useful in designing an electromagnetic micro relay

The relationship between peer attachment and delinquent behavior among young offenders

This study examined the relationship between peer attachment and delinquent behavior among young offender in Sabah. A total of 92 young offenders aged 16-21 years old were selected by using purposive sampling method from rehabilitation institutions in Sabah. The revised version of Inventory of Parents and Peers Attachments (Revised-IPPA-R) and the Junger Delinquency Scale were used in this study. The results showed that there is no significant relationship between peer attachment and delinquent behaviour (r=.023, k>0.05). Recommendations are discussed where attachment could be included as a target for intervention

Engineering properties of asphalt binder modified with cup lump rubber

olymers are being extensively used for modification of asphalt which yields several key benefits over conventional asphalt. Interest in using natural rubber polymer i.e. cup lump in asphalt modification has increased recently due to fluctuation in natural rubber prices and demand for improved asphalt properties. Since this current innovative road building technique is still new and there is limited information available on this topic, more studies are needed for better understanding the cup lump rubber modified asphalt (CMA). Therefore, this study investigates the engineering properties of the rubberised asphalt binder with 5, 10 and 15% cup lump rubber compared to conventional asphalt binder of 60/70 pen. Laboratory tests, i.e. penetration, softening point, ductility, viscosity, loss on heating and storage stability were performed and compared to the specification. From the results, the addition of cup lump rubber was found to harden the asphalt binder, produced low ductility, high softening point and viscosity resulting in less temperature susceptibility. Remarkably, 5% cup lump rubber gives better performance compared to other rubber percentages

Human platelet lysate promotes proliferation but fails to maintain chondrogenic markers of chondrocytes

Traditionally, foetal bovine serum (FBS) is used as a serum supplement for stem cell expansion in vitro. However, it is associated with xenoimmunisation and the transmission of animal pathogens, which may cause harm to stem cell recipients. As a safer alternative, human platelet lysate (HPL) has been introduced for propagating stem cells. Chondrocytes are expanded in vitro for cartilage repair via autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI). In this study, we compare the efficacy of HPL prepared from expired platelet concentrates with that of FBS for promoting the proliferation and maintenance of the chondrogenic markers of primary human chondrocytes expanded in vitro. Chondrocytes were cultured in F12:Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) supplemented with 5% HPL, 10% HPL and 10% FBS. The cell morphology, viability and growth rate were examined from passage 1 (P1) to P3. RNA was isolated from P3 cells for quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) to determine the gene expression level of the chondrogenic, dedifferentiation and hypertrophic markers. HPL promoted chondrocyte proliferation without compromising cell viability. In addition, the chondrocytes cultured with HPL were smaller. However, HPL failed to maintain the chondrogenic markers, except SOX 9 (SRY-box transcription factor 9), which was upregulated, but not significantly. Nonetheless, HPL also suppressed the expression of type X collagen (Col X), a chondrocyte hypertrophic marker. In summary, we demonstrate the benefits of HPL supplementation in human chondrocyte culture, where it enhances cell proliferation and suppresses chondrocyte hypertrophy. In the future, HPL can be used for the large-scale expansion of chondrocytes for ACI