Preparation and characterisation of irradiated waste eggshells as oil adsorbent

Adsorption method had been developed by using natural organic adsorbent for the removal of oil because of its ability to bind the oil molecules into the surface of adsorbent. In this study, chicken eggshells waste was used and it undergoes irradiation process with four different amount of dose which was 0.5 kGy, 1.0 kGy, 1.5 kGy, and 2.0 kGy by using Gamma Cell Irradiator. Three equipment had been used for the characterization process which were the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The adsorption experiment was conducted to calculate the sorption efficiency by using different mass of samples. The result showed that irradiated chicken eggshells powder with 2.0 kGy amount of radiation dose has a best performance as oil adsorbent

Malaysia attempts in reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emission and sequestration in bio-concrete system; a future direction

In Malaysia, upbringing the production of mussel is one of the most second important aquaculture The greenhouse gasses increase in this century especially carbon dioxide (CO2) compare to the previous centuries due to the increase of anthropogenic activities in all countries around the world [1][2][3]. The high concentration CO2 in the atmospheric cause a catastrophic environmental issues such as; global warming, change in rainfall, rise of sea level and climatic changes.

Potential dopant in photocatalysis process for wastewater treatment-a review

Nowadays, too much pollution has happened around us, and one of them is water pollution, which each day has become more severe and worse. One of the sources of water pollution comes from the industry that has used dyes either excessively or not. In case of that, the wastewater needs to be treated before released to the river or environment. In this paper, a review of the wastewater treatment using dopants such as nitrogen and magnesium, will be discussed

Ventricular arrhythmias classification and onset determination system

Accurately differentiating between ventricular fibrillation (VF) and ventricular tachycardia (VT) episodes is crucial in preventing potentially fatal missed interpretations that could lead to needless shock to the patients, resulting in damaging the heart. Apart from accurately classifying between VT and VF, the predetermination of the onset of the ventricular arrhythmias is also important in order to allow for more efficient monitoring of patients and can potentially save one’s life. Thus, this research intends to focus on developing a system called Classification and Onset Determination System (CODS) that is able to classify, track and monitor ventricular arrhythmias by using a method called Second Order Dynamic Binary Decomposition (SOD-BD) technique. Two significant characteristics (the natural frequency and the input parameter) were extracted from Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals that are provided by Physiobank database and analyzed to find the significant differences for each ventricular arrhythmia types and classify the ECGs accordingly (N, VT and VF). The outcome from these ECG extractions was also used to locate the onset of ventricular arrhythmia that is useful to predict the occurrence of the heart abnormalities. All the ECGs analysis, parameters extraction, classification techniques, and the CODS are developed using LabVIEW software

Factors of Entrepreneurial Personality Characteristics on Business Failure of SMEs

The purpose of this research is to identifythefactorofentrepreneurialpersonality characteristics that can lead to the business failure of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in Melaka, Malaysia. This research used the Big Five Personality Model or OCEAN Model as the independent variables which include openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. The quantitative method had been conducted by the researcher to collect the data through the questionnaire that was distributed and answered by the respondent of this research. A total of 379 Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) that established and operate in the business in Melaka, Malaysia had been participating in this data collection process. The result of the analysis showed that openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and neuroticism have significant relationship with the factors of entrepreneurial personality characteristics on business failure of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in Melaka, Malaysia. There is one factor of entrepreneurial personality characteristics which is agreeableness has no significant relationship with factors of entrepreneurial personality characteristics on business failure of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in Melaka, Malaysia. The result of this study contributes in improve the rate of business success among SME in Melaka, Malaysia by eliminating the possibility of business failure.Keywords—Entrepreneurial personality characteristics, Big Five Personality Model, business failure, Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), Melaka.

Pulsed Laser Heating of a Thermoelastic Medium with Two-temperature under Three-phase-lag Model

In this paper, the problem of the generalized thermoelastic medium for three different theories under the effect of a laser pulse and two-temperature is investigated. The Lord–Shulman (L-S), Green-Naghdi of type III (G-N III) and three-phase-lag (3PHL) theories are discussed with two-temperature. The normal mode analysis is used to obtain the analytical expressions of the displacement components, force stress, thermodynamic temperature and conductive temperature. The numerical results are given and presented graphically and the thermal force was applied. Comparisons are made with the results predicted by (3PHL), (G-N III) and (L-S) in the presence and absence of two-temperature. The boundary plane surface is heated by a non-Gaussian laser beam

Potential and Electric Field Characteristics of Broken Porcelain Insulator

Overhead line insulators can be damaged for various reasons during their service life. Porcelain or glass insulators once damaged can affect the reliability of power system networks. This paper presents the study of voltage and electric characteristics along the surface of a broken porcelain insulator located in a string of 10 unit insulators. Three models of broken porcelain insulators were being proposed and the analysis results on voltage and electric characteristics were individually collected. The broken porcelain insulator with the most significant effect were then being investigated in the strings of 10 unit insulators. The finite element software of Quickfield was used to analyze the voltage and electric characteristics. Form the presented results, it is proven that the single porcelain insulators with broken shed at the nearest to the electrode terminal gave the most significant effect of voltage and electric field distribution pattern along the creepage distance. However, when this type of broken insulator was included in a string of 10 unit insulators, maximum average value of voltage achieved once the broken insulator was located at the HV terminal. Meanwhile, the highest electric field strength was recorded when the broken insulator was located in the middle of the string

Cognitive function assessment in young adult using trail making and stroop tests

Cortical network between brain regions is one of the topics that being investigated by brain researchers. Methods that are used to investigate brain developments of cognitive function include Partial Directed Coherence (PDC) and the power spectrum of the brain activity. The purposes of this study were to determine the cortico-cortical functional connectivity between brain regions using PDC and to investigate the power spectrum of brain activity while performing cognitive function assessments. Twenty healthy young adults, age between 20 to 30 years old, were asked to perform two tasks/tests, Trail Making Test (TMTA-alphabet, TMTA-number, TMTB-mixed alphabets and numerical) and Stroop Task. An electroencephalogram (EEG) machine was used to record the brain signals, and the data were analyzed using PDC and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Our findings showed that not only frontal area but temporal and occipital area also generates information and the information was sent to various scalp location. Theta frequency was significantly increased at frontal area while gamma and high-gamma frequency bands were significantly increased at centroparieto-occipito-temporal regions. All of these areas are associated with cognitive function doing specific task

Standard time of import paperwork clearance department for sustainability organization performance in forwarding company

In order to achieve sustainable performance, it was emphasized for an organization for improvement of the standard performance. This paper attempts to propose a benchmark for the standard time to complete daily paperwork received at a forwarding company by using the define-measure-analyse-improve-control (DMAIC) approach. Results showed that the import clearance agent required 3 days or more to clear paperwork for duty or tax confirmation. The impact led to delayed shipment delivery, caused by customer dissatisfaction and company loss of trusts amongst customers. It was also found that that the number of paperwork received daily was 516, distributed among an average of 15 employees, from January to April 2018. Each employee received an average of 34 paperwork daily. The amount of paperwork received by each employee was at alarming level. The time required to complete paperwork for duty/tax confirmation were 3 days or more for most of the employees, which stood at 62%. Therefore, based on the results of the findings, the proposed benchmark of the standard time for paperwork clearance should not be more than 1 day to allow for same day delivery to the customers, as per the commitment promised by the company

Two-pump parametric amplification in the presence of fiber dispersion fluctuations: a comparative study

Fiber optical parametric amplifiers (FOPAs) operating based on four-wave mixing (FWM) are versatile devices with increasing applications in optical communication systems. In this paper, the effects of dispersion fluctu�ations on the performance of bandwidth, ripple, parametric gain, and saturation power of a two-pump FOPA based on four-wave and six-wave models are studied and compared. Coupled-amplitude equations representing the non-degenerate FWM process in optical fiber are solved numerically to compute the parametric gain over the communication wavelengths. The behaviors of the performance parameters are critically analyzed and compared with different types of fluctuation strengths (or amplitudes) specified by the combinations of correlation length (Lc) and fluctuation amplitude (σ). Based on the results, it was found that the flat gain bandwidth for the four-wave model remains unchanged and is insensitive to the strengths of fluctuations. The gain ripples, however, get higher as the fluctuation strengths increase. On the other hand, the flat gain bandwidths of the six-wave model are hardly identified due to the tremendous and continuous ripples within the pump wavelengths. In addition, the minimum parametric gain values for both four-wave and six-wave models reduce as the fluctuation strengths increase. Also, the lowest value of parametric gain leads to the highest saturation power and vice versa. The dispersion fluctuations affect the FWM process’s efficiency and deteriorate the overall amplifier performance, particularly for the six-wave model. The numerical analysis obtained via the six-wave model is especially useful since this model closely matches with practical circumstances