Timber use practices in Malaysia’s construction industry: single-family residential building sector

The importance of domestic timber market in Malaysia is recognised with the launch of the National Timber Industry Plan in 2009, which calls for promoting and encouraging the use of timber products by the local construction industry. A study was conducted to provide information on the current use of timber products in the single-family residential building sector as it is one of the major development projects undertaken by the construction industry. In specific, the study aimed to identify the types and to estimate the amount of timber products used in the construction and those installed in the completed single-family residential building units. Data for the study were collected using a self-administered, openended questionnaire sent to constructions firms in Selangor and the Federal territory of Kula Lumpur advertising the sale of their residential building units in the local newspapers and the internet during the survey period. The respondents of the study were project managers or quantity surveyors who were involved directly in the supervision and monitoring of the residential projects constructed by the construction firms. The amount of sawn timber and plywood used for the construction of the residential units ranges from 0.05 to 0.07 cu. m/sq. m. and 0.01 to 0.07 cu. m./sq. m., respectively. The most common timber products installed in the completed residential units are wooden/timber doors. Other traditional timber-based products are still being used but they are continually replaced by other building materials such as aluminium, steel and glass. Efforts to promote timber products to the single-family residential building sector should target on their uses in the completed residential building units

An Experimental Investigation and Improvement of Insulated Rail Joints

In this study the effect of sliding speed, applied load and period of time on the wear resistance of end post materials of Nylon12 (N12), Nylon66 (N66), Nylon66a (N66a), Epoxy Glass (EG) and Phenolic Resin Bonded Fabric materials were investigated. Wear tests were implemented in dry and wet conditions on a Block-on-Ring apparatus. The tests were carried out at different sliding speeds of 1.5 m/sec., 3.3 m/sec., and 7.2 m/sec., applied loads of 10 N, 30 N and 50 N, and three periods of time 5 min., 30 min. and 60 min. The obtained results in dry condition tests showed that the wear resistance of Nylon and composite materials used in this study decreases with an increase in applied load and sliding speed due to increase in contact temperature. But the impact of these increases in sliding speed and applied load was less on the wear resistance of composite materials. Unexpected results were that in wet test condition for Nylon66 materials where the wear resistance was less compared with the same material in a dry test

Artificial Neural Network Optimization Modeling On Engine Performance Of Diesel Engine Using Biodiesel Fuel

This paper presents a study of engine performance using a mixture of palm oil methyl ester blends with diesel oil as biodiesel in a diesel engine, and optimizes the engine performance using artificial neural network (ANN) modeling. To acquire data for training and testing of the proposed ANN, a four-cylinder, four-stroke diesel engine was fuelled with different palm oil methyl ester blends as biodiesel, operated at different engine loads. The properties of biodiesel produced from waste vegetable oil were measured based on ASTM standards. The experimental results revealed that blends of palm oil methyl ester with diesel fuel provided better engine performance. An ANN model was developed based on the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm for the engine. Logistic activation was used for mapping between the input and output parameters. It was observed that the ANN model could predict the engine performance quite well with correlation coefficients (R) of 0.996684, 0.999, 0.98964 and 0.998923 for the incylinder pressure, heat release, thermal efficiency, and volume, respectively. The predicted MSE (mean square error) error was between the desired outputs, as the measured and simulated values were obtained as 0.0001 by the model. Long-term effects on engine performance when running on biodiesel fuel can be further studied and improved

The potential risk of communication media in conveying critical information in the aircraft maintenance organisation : A case study

Thank you to Universiti Kuala Lumpur Malaysian Institute of Aviation Technology and University of Aberdeen, Scotland for the strong support.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Myocardial Infarction in a Young Female with Palindromic Rheumatism: A Consequence of Negative Remodeling

Palindromic rheumatism is a rare disease associated with systemic inflammation. Negative or constrictive coronary artery remodeling is typically not seen until the 7th or 8th decade of life. We report a case of a young female with palindromic rheumatism who suffered a non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction secondary to a flow-limiting lesion that demonstrated negative remodeling by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)

Ya Quds Academic Cultural News Letter, Issue No. 1

In this issue, we introduce CJS and its programmes. The newsletter also contains short articles and essays in English and Arabic written by academics, researchers, students, and others interested in the city and society of Jerusalem. We do not focus on a specific theme but have rather left it up to individual contributors to decide upon topics of interest to them under the general rubric of Jerusalem. We would like to thank the President of the University, Prof. Dr. Imad Abu Kishek, for his support and introductory words presenting the various institutions of Al- Quds University in Jerusalem. We would also like to thank Dr. Safa Nassereldin, Vice President for Jerusalem Affairs for her constant support, as well as the staff of CJS for their assistance in making this issue possible. Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who have contributed to this first issue of Ya Quds!. Despite the tense situation reigning today in the Old City of Jerusalem, we at CJS are committed to maintaining our presence there as an academic and cultural institution in Suq Al-Qattanin (the Cotton Market) in the Old City of Jerusalem, on the hope that Ya Quds! will become a forum for the many voices of the city. We hereby send out a call for articles for the second issue of Ya Quds!. Articles may be in Arabic or English, should not exceed 1200 words, and should be dedicated to a topic on Jerusalem. The deadline for submission is May 20, 2016. We look forward to your contributions. The newsletter is available online at: www.jerusalem-studies.alquds.ed

Physicochemical and Microbiological Quality of Selected Commercial and Traditional Honey in Klang Valley Market, Malaysia

This study was intended to determine the physicochemical and microbiological quality of commercial and traditional honey in Klang Valley. Eleven honey samples from different origins were obtained and examined. Commercial honey samples were labelled as A, B, C, D, E and F and traditional honey samples consisted of Yemeni Sidr honey, Red Tualang honey, Black Tualang honey, Acacia honey and Fraser Hills Tualang honey. Physicochemical quality such as sugar content moisture content, water activity, pH and colour were measured. The pH value for commercial honey reached from pH 3.48 to 3.97 while the pH value for traditional honey reached from 3.07 to 4.72. The moisture content of commercial honey ranged from 17.53% to 18.93% compared to moisture content for traditional honey ranged from 18.03% to 20.67%. The water activity for commercial and traditional honey was in the range 0.56 to 0.62 aw and 0.52 to 0.62aw, respectively. Total sugar content obtained for commercial honey varied from 79.27 to 81.73 g/mL while total sugar content obtained for traditional honey were slightly higher, from 80 to 83.77 g/mL. Colour revealed that commercial honey, D, has the darkest colour compared to other honey (*L=2.11±0.08, *a=-0.02±0.21, *b=1.63±0.15). Standard plate count and yeast and mould were carried out to determined microbiological quality of honey. Generally, honey samples A, B, C, D and Acacia honey were considered safe, as no growth was detected on standard plate count. Less than 10 CFU/g was detected in Honey E, Black Tualang honey and Fraser Hills Tualang honey. There was no growth of yeast and mould count except for Red Tualang honey with not more than 10 CFU/g. Results in this study are within the limits of standards and are comparable with previous reports on honey from various countries

The application of taḥawwul (transformation) process for determination of vinegar status in the Malaysia market

Taḥawwul is a changing process of a form to another form thus could affect the status of a particular ḥukm especially in vinegar products. Vinegar which produced before the taḥawwul ṣaḥīḥ can be considered as low-quality vinegar and is classified as fasīd vinegar (ḥarām) due to the presences of alcohol which is prohibited in Islam. Therefore, in this study, twenty-five different types of vinegar in Malaysian market were tested using Gas Chromatography attached with Flame Ionization Detector (HS-GC-FID) with Head Space Analyzer (HS-10) and Gas Chromatography (GC) with time of flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS) to find out the contents of alcohol and acetic acids present in the said vinegar products. The results showed that majority of the sample were ḥalāl. However, there were two types of vinegar that were not considered ḥalāl because these products did not go through a complete process of (taḥawwul ṣaḥīḥ)

Revealing Malay Royal Town identity: Seri Menanti, Negeri Sembilan

Malay royal town in Malaysia have been establish dating from the 16th century with a unique and significant identity that creates the image of these towns. Malay Royal town identity constitutes the physical environment, human activities, cultural and meaning that creates social phenomenon and place genius loci. Nevertheless, identity in Malaysia's royal towns were facing alteration which resulted to places are becoming less meaningful, placelessness and lose their identity. A case study was carried out in Sri Menanti, Negeri Sembilan, which is one of the royal towns in Malaysia. Thus, this paper discusses the components that characterised the Malay royal town identity of Seri Menanti, Negeri Sembilan. The study methodology involves a historical map overlay, site observations and also the use of semi-structured interviews. The paper concludes that the vitality of these components contributed to identity of the Malay Royal towns in Seri Menanti, Negeri Sembilan