EXTRACTION OF ELEMENT AT RISK FOR LANDSLIDES USING REMOTE SENSING METHOD

One of the most critical steps towards landslide risk analysis is the determination of element at risk. Element at risk describes any object that could potentially fail or exposed to hazards during disaster. Without quantification of element at risk information, it is difficult to estimate risk. This paper aims at developing a methodology to extract and quantity element at risk from airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data. The element at risk map produced was then used to construct exposure map which describes the amount of hazard for each element at risk involved. This study presented two study sites at Kundasang and Kota Kinabalu in Sabah with both areas have experienced major earthquake in June 2015. The results show that not all the features can be automatically extracted from the LiDAR data. For example, automatic extraction process could be done for building footprint and building heights, but for others such as roads and vegetation areas, a manual digitization is still needed because of the difficulties to differentiate between these features. In addition to this, there were also difficulties in identifying attribute for each feature, for example to separate between federal roads with state and unpaved roads. Therefore, for large area hazard and risk mapping, the authors suggested that an automatic process should be investigated in the future to reduce time and cost to extract important features from LiDAR data

3DKL v1.0: creating the first 3D geological model of Kuala Lumpur

The objective of UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 is to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Geoscience can play a significant role in achieving targets within this goal by developing a better understanding of geological properties and processes within urban environments, and by ensuring that this understanding is integrated into urban development. A key step in this process will be enhancing awareness of urban geology among non-geoscience decision-makers, so that inherent subsurface risks and benefits are understood and accounted for during all phases of development. Three-dimensional geological models are an effective tool for geologists to communicate with stakeholders in government and industry during that process. They can also provide a framework to enable geological data and information to be integrated into Building and City Information Models, and thus facilitate more effective infrastructure and utility asset management. This paper describes the modelling workflow adopted by a consortium of geoscientists from government, industry and academia to deliver the first 3D geological model of Kuala Lumpur – 3DKL v1.0. The modelling workflow involved: digitising borehole logs from site investigation reports and storing them in a dedicated geospatially-enabled SQLite borehole database; viewing and interpreting that borehole data using QGIS software; generating multiple orthogonally oriented cross-section profiles across the modelled area using Groundhog Desktop software; and integrating the information derived from the interpreted boreholes, surface data and cross-section profiles to generate a 3D geological model in Leapfrog Geo software. 3DKL v1.0 has demonstrated proof-of-concept: we have developed a workflow, based largely on freely-available software, for transforming borehole information, previously captured in paper records, into a conceptual 3D model. The modelling process has also identified areas where geological knowledge and data need to be enhanced if 3DKL is to fulfil its potential to support more sustainable and resilient urban development in Kuala Lumpur

Monitoring Early Stage of Rice Crops Growth using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index generated from UAV

Abstract Remote sensing is a tool to gather the information about an object or any phenomenon without direct contact or damaging the objects. This technology had numerous application and one of it is in agriculture. Unlike tradition agriculture practiced that difficult to execute and required a large number of man power, implementing this technology will increase the production yield of the crops and improved the agriculture sector in managing and controlling. Remote sensing were able to forecast the crop production, identified the crop type, assess the crop damage and monitoring its progress. Therefore, this research was conducted in order to monitor the early stage of growth of rice crop planted by the farmers in the paddy field using remote sensing. To do so, popular empirical vegetation index known as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) generated from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was selected to monitor the changes of rice crop starting from the day it been planted until eleventh day of planted. Early stage of monitoring the crop growth using NDVI is a best approach to practice. Any damages that occur during this stage will affect the yield production and economy. Result from image analysis shown that NDVI were able to observe the rice crop growth and able to locate the damage part in the paddy plot. Fast action can be made by the farmers to counter attack the damage and treat the problematic points.</jats:p

Metastatic neuroendocrine tumor of small cell type in a kidney transplant recipient

Malignancy is a significant long-term complication of successful renal transplantation. Not only the rate is higher but also cases are highly aggressive. We report a case of metastatic, small cell, neuroendocrine tumor in a postrenal transplant patient with progressive left inguinal nodes and right lumbar swellings. He had a remarkably elevated serum lactate dehydrogenase levels with multiple metastatic masses in the left inguinal, left iliac fossa, and right lower abdominal wall on abdominal computed tomography scan. Excisional biopsy of a left inguinal node revealed extensive infiltration with malignant cells in it. Immunohistochemistry staining was positive for synaptophysin, prostatic specific antigen, and CD56. While the primary small cell carcinoma of genitourinary organs is rare, the case illustrates the highly aggressive nature of the disease in a kidney transplant recipient

Exploratory Factor Analysis-Key to a Successful Mentoring Relationship

Abstrac

The Ukay Perdana Shear Zone in Kuala Lumpur: a crustal-scale marker of early Jurassic orogenic deformation in Peninsular Malaysia

A ‘top-to-the-east’ ultramylonite zone is identified in north-eastern Kuala Lumpur and named here as the ‘Ukay Perdana Shear Zone (UPSZ). The UPSZ is at least 250–300 m thick, east-verging, and superimposed on the later stages of assembly of the c. 200 Ma S-type ‘Western Belt’ granite plutons generated by crustal thickening and assigned to the Main Range Granite Province. Younger bodies of S-type granitic rocks cut the shear zone. These intensely deformed quartzofeldspathic rocks contain distinctive relict porphyroclasts of perthitic K-feldspar (microcline), oligoclase and quartz, entrained within the ultramylonitic fabric. Migrating sub-grain boundaries in quartz indicate deformation occurred under moderate to high temperature conditions during ductile deformation (c. 500–600°C); undulose extinction suggests down-temperature evolution of the deformation history. This deformation event implies that the final stages of collisional interaction between Sibumasu and the Sukhothai Arc would have involved now east-directed (080°N, then generally northward) over-thrusting of the leading edge of Sibumasu onto the Sukhothai Arc/Indochina-East Malaya margin after 198 ±2 Ma. Kenny Hill Formation strata in Kuala Lumpur preserve widespread evidence of a dominant phase of E- or ENE-verging, upward-facing fabrics and folds; that deformation is judged to be a hanging wall response to deformation in the UPSZ. This early-Mesozoic structural framework is significant during assembly of the Peninsular Malaysia region of Sundaland; evidence form Kuala Lumpur is combined with new published Singapore data. Dextral strike-slip tectonics is superimposed on this collisional framework in the later Mesozoic and Cenozoic; subsurface development across Peninsular Malaysia, and in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore in particular, should account for deformation structures linked with this expanded record of Mesozoic tectonic

Simulation study on photovoltaic panel temperature under different solar radiation using computational fluid dynamic method

Abstract The electrical production is the primary performance of any solar photovoltaic (PV) system. The PV panel operating temperature is inversely proportional to the electrical production of the PV panel. The operating temperature of PV panel is influenced by solar radiation absorbed and the ambient temperature. In the present work, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method is used to investigate a three-dimensional (3-D) model of a PV panel. It is also essential to estimate the thermal behaviour of the PV panel under various environmental conditions. The primary purpose of this current work is to analyse temperature distribution from the PV panel under given operating conditions. The model geometry is built by using CATIA design software. ANSYS software was simulated the different intensity of solar radiation that applied to the PV panel in order to observe the temperature distribution on each layers of the PV panel. The ambient temperature of the simulation is fixed 35 °C according to the maximum ambient temperature captured in Malaysia. The simulation results show that an increase in solar radiation intensity along with the PV panel operating temperature increase.</jats:p

Application of multispectral UAV for paddy growth monitoring in Jitra, Kedah, Malaysia

Abstract Rice is the staple food for most people in Southeast Asia, mainly Malaysia. Unfortunately, Malaysia does not reach a 100% self-sufficiency level on rice production due to inefficiency of rice farm management, pest and disease outbreak, poorly irrigation system, and climate change. Each spectral band of electromagnetic signature in the rice crops can be identified to analyse the crop condition based on the reflectance value. Therefore, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can capture different spectral band images of the rice field depending on the sensors used. This study aims to produce a paddy growth map based on the normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI) value and validate the paddy growth map using the soil plant analysis development (SPAD) data. This study was carried out at the paddy field planted with PadiU Putra rice variety in Muda Agricultural Development Authority (MADA), Jitra in Kedah. Three reading samples for each point at the paddy field within 1 m radius were recorded. Then, the samples from each point were scanned using SPAD chlorophyll meter. The image data were collected using multispectral and RGB cameras at the altitude of 60 m, and a calibrated reflectance panel was used to calibrate the image. Ground control point (GCP) was placed at the four corners of the study plot, and it was being used as a georeferencing point for aerial imagery mapping. Those images were undergone orthomosaic process to produce a single overlapped image. NDVI was used to measure the healthy level of rice crops. NDVI map had shown the distribution of NDVI value across the study plot, which includes the healthy and less healthy vegetative area. SPAD value has no significant relationship with the aerial imagery of NDVI value. The NDVI map allows the farmers to monitor the paddy growth status and effectively improve their rice farm management. In the future, advanced classification methods based on the reflectance of weed, water, and soil can be prioritized and separated into different classes, whereby the NDVI map can be plotted on the paddy crops.</jats:p