Water quality of surface runoff in loop two catchment area in UKM

For a country that is developing, there is a need to control and maintain the quality of raw water, with adequate quantities to ensure continuous supply of clean water. In Malaysia, urban development activities especially constructions, is believed to be one of the activities that contributes to the deterioration of the quality of surface runoff. The main objectives of this project are to investigate water quality of surface water runoff at UKM’s loop two catchment areas and to observe the effect of slope failure, erosion, and construction activities on surface water quality in UKM Bangi campus. Besides that, the development of hydraulic models using HEC-RAS software is also the objective of this research. This research is conducted through field study and laboratory works. The main findings confirmed that water quality and total surface runoff in the catchment is directly affected by slope failure, erosion, and construction activities. Results from HEC-RAS modeling revealed that the drains surrounding the lake are not overflowing or flooding

Aplikasi GIS dan Simulasi Banjir Sungai Siak Pekanbaru Menggunakan XP-SWMM

Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province, consists of 12 localities and covering an area of 632.26 square kilometer. The current land utilization in this city may create sufcare hydrology problems, such as flooding and shortage of water. The objective of this work is to analyse the land utilization pattern in Pekanbaru in 2004 in conjunction with flooding problem. The ArcView GIS 3.2 software package was implemented to analyse the land utilization data provided by a satelite, and the XP-SWMM hydrodynamic software package was used to simulate the flooding of Siak river in Pekanbaru. The result showed that land utilization was dominated for farming (49.26%), followed by vegetation, forestry, and settlement (17.09%, 13.06% and 11.97%, respectively). The simulation revealed that the flood occured in 28 December 2004 had submerged three regions, i.e. Sri Meranti, Meranti Pandak, and Pesisir, covering an area of approximately 880 hectare. In addition to this, bigger floods had been predicted to occure in the near future if the utilization of land is not pecisely managed

Pengurusan latihan Kor Siswa Siswi Pertahanan Awam Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia di bawah tadbir urus KESATRIA-UKM

Aktiviti ko-kurikulum badan beruniform di peringkat institusi pengajian tinggi untuk para mahasiswa menjadi salah satu keperluan dan tumpuan utama dalam merealisasikan matlamat untuk melahirkan graduan yang kompeten, berdaya saing, serta mampu mengejar kecemerlangan akademik secara seimbang, sejajar dengan objektif Falsafah Pendidikan Kebangsaan (FPK). Aktiviti ko-kurikulum badan beruniform merupakan platform terbaik untuk membangunkan jati diri unggul, membentuk daya kepemimpinan, memupuk semnagat kerja berpasukan, serta menggarap nilai kesukarelawanan dalam pelajar institusi pengajian tinggi.Justeru, pengurusan yang sistematik dan bersepadu perlu diwujudkan bagi mengkoordinasi latihan menyeluruh badan-badan beruniform ini bagi memastikan objektif yang disasar dalam konteks pembangunan sahsiah dan keterampilan mahasiswa yang menyertai aktiviti ko-kurikulum ini mampu dicapai dengan baik dan berkesan. Di Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), model bersepadu pelaksanaan pengurusan latihan badan-badan beruniform pelajar ini digerakkan oleh sebuah Pusat Tanggungjawab (PTj) yang dinamakan Pusat Kesatria Universiti (KESATRIA-UKM). Sejak penubuhannya, Pusat ini bertanggungjawab menyelia dan memantau urus tadbir latihan secara menyeluruh terhadap badanbadan beruniform yang terdiri daripada Pasukan Latihan Pegawai Simpanan (PALAPES) Tentera Darat, Kor Sukarelawan Siswa Siswi Polis (SUKSIS), Kor Siswa Siswi Pertahanan Awam (SISPA), Bulan Sabit Merah Malaysia (BSMM) Cabang UKM, dan Kumpulan Latihan Kelanasiswa Malaysia (KLKM) Daerah UKM. Tadbir urus aktiviti ko-kurikulum badan-badan beruniform di bawah Pusat ini menunjukkan pelbagai impak positif dalam membina suasana pembelajaran dan latihan yang baik kepada para mahasiswa UKM. Kertas konsep ini mengupas aspek pengurusan latihan Kor SISPA UKM di bawah tadbir urus Pusat Kesatria Universiti (KESATRIA-UKM) pentadbiran, kewangan, logistik, serta gerak kerja kursus akademik. Kertas ini turut menyerlahkan keberkesanan pengurusan latihan secara menyeluruh hasil kolaborasi antara Kor SISPA UKM dengan Pusat Kesatria Universiti (KESATRIA-UKM)

Investigation on the properties of mortar containing palm oil fuel ash and seashell powder as partial cement replacement

The concept of utilizing various types of wastes, such as agricultural dumps and marine by-products, as a partial replacement of cement has gained a great interest to develop eco-friendly and economical mortars for sustainable construction. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of using palm oil fuel ash (POFA), an agro-industrial waste by-product from palm oil mills and seashell powder (SSP) derived from seashells, a marine waste material partial replacement of cement in mortars. The water to binder (w/b) ratio of 0.49 and the sand to binder (s/b) ratio of 2.54 with 0% to 30% of ordinary portland cement (OPC) by weight was replaced with POFA and SSP, and the resulting mortar samples were tested for mechanical properties and durability in this study. The compressive strength, flexural strength, water absorption, and flow table tests were performed in this study for different percentages of POFA and SSP after 7, 28, and 130 days. The results showed that the 30% POFA incorporated mortars achieved the highest compressive strength (35.12N/mm2), flexural strength (4.06N/mm2), high density with less water absorption (4.79%) after 130 days of curing and the high strength mortar with less water flow (22.2cm) during casting. Also, it found that the 25% POFA and 5% SSP incorporated mortars attained acceptable results as supplementary cementing material. This study suggests that the POFA and SSP incorporated mortars could be used in concrete for sustainable development of construction through the efficient valorization of waste materials

Dispute avoidance procedure: observing the influence of legal culture towards a workable legal system

It is pertinent to specifically conduct research on the viability of introducing dispute avoidance procedure (DAP) for construction industry due to the lack of research in this area, as most of the current research covers various issues within dispute resolution procedure and management field. The objective of this study is to examine the future of DAP in the Malaysian construction industry by looking into the perceptions of the construction industry players. Data were collected through interview of selected respondents and analyses to reveal patterns to help formulate a viable DAP mechanism. NVivo software has been used to manage and organise complete interview transcripts and facilitate data analysis process for this study. This study reveals that the existing DAP mechanisms are not viable for the Malaysian construction industry at present, mainly due to the issue of costing. Thus, a modified version of DAP was formulated to promote a viable mechanism. This study suggests that the structural elements of a viable DAP mechanism could be in the form of an 'involvement of top management' from both contracting parties (without the involvement of any third parties) who are decision makers or persons with financial authority, and the process is through 'discussion and negotiation'. In essence, this study captures the legal culture and trade usage of the industry which assisted the formulation of a viable DAP mechanism

Water salinity variability mapping for flooded paddy plots at Kuala Kedah, Malaysia

Salinity is an essential parameter in rice cultivation activity. It has a significant impact on paddy growth and also the yield of paddy. However, the level of salinity concentration in paddy plots depends on the surrounding conditions. The distance of the paddy area from the coastline, the temperature and intensity of rainfall should be considered in studies involving water quality. Additionally, the tide of events is also included in this study because of the position of the study area near the coastline. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the level of salinity in two different rice cultivation seasons and describe the level of salinity concentration using a salinity variability map using the Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) interpolation method. The data collection activities involved water sampling at 44 water inlets for each paddy plot in 30 hectares of the study area by referring to the Day After Sowing (DAS) as the paddy’s growth stage. These water samples were collected on 10 DAS, 40 DAS, and 60 DAS and subsequently tested using a portable conductivity meter namely EC500 Exstick II pH/Conductivity/Temperature Meter. Parallelly, georeference data which is latitude, longitude and elevation were gathered using Garmin GPSMAP 64s. Then, these data were analyzed using the IDW interpolation method in ArcGIS software and comes with salinity variability maps. The produced maps give an overview of the salinity concentration distribution by color scale range. Based on these salinity variability maps, the highest salinity concentration was recorded on 10 DAS and 60 DAS during Season 1 2019 and Season 2 2019, respectively for both tidal events. This result shows that the salinity concentration trend for both seasons is different due to the amount of rainfall received and the position of the paddy plot compared to the mean temperature factor

Low concentration of Bisphenol a induces proliferation of gastric cancer cells, HGC-27

Bisphenol A, an endocrine disrupting compound that affects human homeostasis. Studies on BPA are focusing on the impact of BPA in reproductive function and brain development. However, the effect of BPA on gut especially gastric cells is not well explored. Gut is directly in contact with ingested BPA; therefore, we aimed to determine the effect of BPA exposure on gastric cells proliferation at safe recommended concentration. Human gastric cancer cells (HGC-27) were treated with BPA at different concentration (low: 10-9M, 10-7M; high10-5M, 10-4M) and time point (24 hr, 48 hr, 72 hr). Cell viability assays were determined using MTS assay. Cells were further stained with Alexa Fluor-635 (F-actin) and Fluorescein (Hif-1α) protein for immunocytofluorescence. Data were analysed using ANOVA (p<0.05, n≥3). Cells treated with 10-9M BPA showed significance increase of cell viability after 48 hr (Mean ±SEM; 146%±0.03, p=0.01) and 72 hr (113%±0.03, p=0.00) compared to 24 hr treatment (77%±0.11, p=0.002). Similarly, cell treated with 10-7M BPA showed a significance increase after 48 hr (141%±0.03, p=0.03) and 72 hr (190%±0.03, p=0.02) compared to 24 hr cells treated with 10-7M (88%±0.05, p=0.01) and untreated (100%±0.07). Lower concentration of BPA increases the condensation of F-actin in all HGC-27 cells. Meanwhile, translocation of Hif-1α protein were observed in all BPA-exposed cells. Findings of this study revealed that BPA induced proliferation and condensation of F-actin structure of gastric cancer cells at low concentration

Acute Deep Vein Thrombosis Involving the Inferior Vena Cava: Interventional Perspectives

Extension of an iliofemoral thrombosis into the inferior vena cava (IVC), or from the IVC descending into the iliofemoral segments, can confer significant morbidity and mortality. Interventional management of acute deep vein thrombosis (DVT) has been controversial, but there is little doubt that certain subpopulations benefit, such as those with symptomatic IVC thrombosis. When considering an intervention, caval involvement introduces technical difficulties due to its larger diameter, high thrombus burden, bilateral limb clot extension and need for dual access. The frequent coexistence of an IVC filter increases the complexity even more. This review summarises the current indications and treatment modalities available for the management of acute DVT involving the vena cava

Impact of shoreline changes to pahang coastal area by using geospatial technology

Malaysia has a long coastline stretching over 4,809 km where more than 1,300 km of beaches are experiencing erosion. Coastal erosion is recognised as the permanent loss of land and habitats along the shoreline resulting in the changes of the coast. Thus, it is important to detect and monitor shoreline changes especially in Pahang coast by identifying the rate of shoreline erosion and accretion. This study used temporal data and high spatial resolution imagery (SPOT 5) using remote sensing and GIS techniques to monitor shoreline changes along 10 study locations, which is from Cherating to Pekan of the Pahang coast. The total length of shoreline changes is about 14 km (14035.10 m) where all these areas are very likely to experience erosion ranging from 0.1 to 94.7 ha. On the other hand, these coastal areas found a minimal accretion with increased sediment from 0.1 to 2.8 ha. Overall, the coastal areas are exposed to higher erosion process than accretion with a very high vulnerability of erosion rate from 1.8 to 20.9 meter per year. The findings on monitoring shoreline changes and identifying vulnerable erosion areas might be useful in the policy and decision making for sustainable coastal management