Clean earth – clean sky: impact of locating bus stations on sustainable transportation sector in Malaysia

Our climate condition is changing and there is now scientific, social and political recognition that it is definitely a consequence of increasing anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission. Transport now allocates for about 20% of global anthropogenic carbon dioxide emission, and these amounts are progressing faster than for any other sector. However, access to sustainable transportation supports our current way of life; indeed, good mobility is a fundamental component of our desires. The transport sector in particular depends entirely on system implementation, fuel consumption and planning, which is divided to urban planning and urban design. Networking efficient and public transportation helps to control transport sector in terms of urban planning, on the other hand, urban design presents some guidelines, for instance, land use functions, green integrative space, urban furniture design, transit oriented and green design _non-polluter vehicles such as bicycle _ which have the potentials to provide benefits to the sustainable transportation. The global climate policy is going to supply clean and healthy air with less fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emission; in urban furniture design locating bus stations in cities is one of the particular subjects proves it, which makes possible for fossil carbon to remain in the soil, instead of ending up in the atmosphere by optimizing distances between stations linking two main places. The paper defines the sustainability on the basis of relevant subjects in the view of transportation; which are Greenhouses gas emission, Biodiversity, Environment, Prosperity and Social well-being. It intends to know how large could the locating bus stations play a role in sustainable transportation in Malaysia? Also, it aims to address this main question through critical review of the literature for exploring of key development strategies for suitable placement of bus stations in cities focusing particularly on transportation from public healthy and pollution aspects

Employing biomimicry in urban metamorphosis seeking for sustainability: case studies

Objective: The current study has aimed to develop the framework of biomimicry involvement in urban metamorphosis for sustainability. This research has engaged four objectives to achieve the aim. Objective one is to explore the rudiment interaction between human and nature through interrogating history, nature’s design. Objective two is to excavate the biomimicry in emulating nature’s genius. Objective three is to investigate the association between biomimicry and sustainable development, focusing on architectural features. Objective four is to develop the framework based on the biomimicry rules for human evolution and survival in the natural environment. Methodology: To achieve objective one, the grounded theory method was applied for scrutinizing human development and human awareness about their natural environment. To achieve objective two, an evidence study was conducted on the biomimicry emulation of nature’s genius. To achieve objective three, a critical literature review was conducted using content analysis method to identify the biomimicry focus and architectural features. Through matrix development method, the focus and architectural features were tabulated. To achieve objective four, the waterfall framework design method and case studies were conducted to plot this framework. Conclusions: This research gained a better understanding of biomimicry-based on theories of the evolution of organisms, including humans in the urban context, as measurement against sustainable benchmarks. It followed the paths of ecological researcher and urban philosophers, such as Freya Mathews and Moore, by re-versioned the human relationship with nature and the surrounding environment and observing human actions and development about life principles. In particular, the research found out that biomimicry is an approach that recently becomes the focus of many researchers of different disciplines seeking a solution for human problems.The biomimicry has been merged with sustainable architecture design through specific features; included, form and function, geometry, metaphor, movement, material, pattern, proportion, sustainability, and technology. Furthermore, biomimicry is an approach that involves nature as a model, mentor, and measure for inspiration, which converges law, principles, and strategies in the context of biomimicry-based on human evolution. Originality: The findings allowed architects and urban designers to enhance people’s awareness of their natural environment and provide a better perception of biomimicry in the application of human world, whether founded because of base instinct or a strategic view derived from the life’s principle

Feasibility assessment of the implementation of solar and wind energy technologies in the current context of Iran-case study: Kerman

One of the most important issues in various energy issues is to decrease fossil fuel energy usage and promote renewable energies in developing countries. Iran as a developing country began exploiting renewable resources from the early 1990s. This paper investigates the financial viability of renewable energy technologies in Kerman, which is located in the hot and dry parts of Iran and has a high potential of solar and wind energy. First the potential for solar and wind energy sources are studied and afterwards through two quantitative methods, the cost of this implementation is compared to the benefits gained. The results prove that without a massive financial support by the government, renewable energies would not be economically feasible to be implemented into private household

Urban design guidelines to mitigate urban heat island (UHI) effects in hot-dry cities

Global warming and undeniable climatic change in the world have led to decreasing thermal comfort for humans. Urban heat island (UHI) is the most documented phenomenon which has led to the increasing temperature in urban areas. It has received much focus in the past few decades to evaluate the main effective criteria of UHI. Street heat has negative effects on human health and will only worsen in future; these negative effects would double in hot and dry urban area. This paper investigates the effects of UHI in these cities and illustrates the important factors which make them extremely hot. The outcome of this study can be used to determine the key guidelines for urban designers, urban planners, architects and landscape designers to recline the UHI impressions in urban areas and make more thermal comfort for Burgher

Construction player’s perception of training approach using serious game–A pilot study

Construction workers are always exposed to numerous occupational hazards of different kinds and levels of complexity in every project they engage in. Therefore, there is a need for training modules which can provide the knowledge to construction workers to acquire the skills necessary for occupational and environmental safety on site. However, current safety training still lacks hands-on approaches and it is theory-oriented. This is due to the nature of the construction environment itself in which hands-on approaches are impossible to be applied for certain types of hazards. Training which is assisted by technology is an effective tool in improving learning for not just for children but also for adults. Currently, serious game has become a new approach in training and learning not limited to the field of education but this approach has been applied across disciplines and areas including military, mining, transportation, oil and gas and also the construction industry. Therefore, this paper sought to review construction workers’ perceptions toward serious game as a training tool. Fifty players at various levels from the construction industry participated in a pilot study. A set of questionnaire was distributed to the participants during an occupational safety and hazard (OSH) training course with the cooperation of OSH state agency in the southern region of Peninsular Malaysia and also online. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data from the questionnaire. Preliminary findings of the pilot study indicated that construction workers had high expectation toward serious game in delivering hands-on training in safer environment. They also believed training module using serious game had the potential in creating affordable, interactive and entertaining training module for the industry. The study contributes to an understanding of occupational safety training needs in the construction industry for a safer, more affordable and interactive as well as entertaining approach

Enhancing commercialization level of academic research outputs in research university

The aim of this study was to improve the commercialization level in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). For achieving this goal various factors and issues were examined to identify how they affect the procedure of university commercialization. These factors include the role of technology transfer office /center, availability of finance, availability of potential licensee and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) among the university researchers. Among these four factors, this study focused more on EO among academic researchers and its effect on the commercialization rate. This study was based on a qualitative research method and was designed to use a case study approach. For investigating the factors and issues in this study, a total of ten face-to-face interviews were conducted. The respondents were chosen from inventors, researchers, academic entrepreneurs, and Technology Transfer Office staff in UTM. The researcher utilized the content-analysis approach to analyze the data obtained from the semi-structured interviews of the respondents. The results indicated that EO among the university researchers, the role of technology transfer office /center, the availability of potential licensee and availability of finance were significant to the research output commercialization at university. Overall, the most critical factor was availability of finance

Effect of recycled homogeneous ceramic waste aggregates on water absorption of mortar

Nowadays, concern for environmental issues encourages the researchers to find a solution for reducing depletion of natural resources. Utilizing the industrial wastes as a construction material is a win-win situation which has two benefits; first, will solve the problem of the landfill and on another hand by recycling and reusing the waste will increase natural materials reservation life span. Ceramic wastes are one of the by-products of ceramic manufacturing, which is directly meant for landfill ends traditionally. There have been several studies on replacement of ceramic waste with concrete admixture. However, there is no research on the effect of the using high rate of ceramic waste replacement on the rate of water absorption. This experimental work focuses on utilizing the homogeneous ceramic wastes as recycled aggregates and partial cement replacement and verifies the effect of this replacement on water absorption of mortar. River sand fully replaced by recycled ceramic aggregates and 40% of cement was replaced by fine ceramic powder. The specimens were cast in 100 x 100 x 100 mm cube for compressive strength test and water absorption test. Mortar containing the recycled ceramic wastes shows lower water absorption in compared to control specimens where the rate value, at the age of 90 days, are 1.32% and 2.11%, respectively

Emerging factors shaping identity of indigenous urbanism concurrently adopting modernity in qatar: The application of diffusion theory

Forms, designs, and symbols are the components of built environment, which transfer the information of place and identity to users. This research aimed to explore the emerging factors shaping the identity of local urban districts while adopting the global culture and modernity. To achieve this aim, the research has conducted two phases within which include a few steps. Phase one was to explore different urban zoning. It includes a detailed analysis of the different architectural styles and elements that have spread the identity concerning the main constituents of urban zones. Because of the difficulty to survey the whole Doha region, this research has focused on four mega projects with different characteristics in Doha Governorates; Pearl Qatar (representing Islamic architecture), Souq Waqif (representing traditional architecture), Msheireb project (as the combination of traditional and modern architecture), and West Bay (as the reference for global approach). Phase one has two steps; Field Observation and Field survey. Phase two was to explore the new elements spread for built environment's identity with the concentration on the selected sites in Doha. Phase two has two steps; Photo survey and Interviews. To test the proposed premise, this phase prolonged into human geography using Torsten Hagerstrand's diffusion theory. The findings of this research help architects and urban designers to enhance susers' awareness of their natural environment, and provide a better perception of identity in local urban districts and vernacular architecture, based on instinct and strategic view derived from the global culture and societal modern architecture principles.Scopu

Waterproof performance of concrete: a critical review on implemented approaches

Permeation of water and other fluids in concrete can result in degradation and other aesthetic problems which shorten concrete structures' life. Several studies have been undertaken to produce waterproofing additives that extend the service life of concrete elements. Consequently, a great deal of repair and maintenance costs could be avoided. This paper aims to review the studies which have used various agents and tests to evaluate the waterproofing efficiency of concrete. The study establishes the taxonomy and construct of research in concrete waterproofing research. Study established frequency aggregation of different additive used and tests applied. The technique adopted by majority of the researchers was the use of surface coating. Water absorption was found to be the most common test in this research area. Study delineated that most researchers focused on the use of polymer-based materials, silicates containing compound, silanes, siloxanes, cementing materials and some nano materials. Finally, study established three classification of additives based on material structure, method of application and additives functions

Pavement structural assessment using automated tools: a comparative study

Pavement distress evaluation was traditionally conducted through visual observation. Traditional practice requires a person to walk along the stretch of pavement in order to survey distresses, take photos, and measure defects occurred at the deteriorated surface. However, this approach is too subjective causes inconsistencies of information, less reliable and time-consuming. Due to these shortcomings, the practitioners in pavement maintenance sector seek for a reliable alternative tools and techniques to arrest incapability of traditional approach. This research aimed to investigate feasibility of automated tools for pavement structural assessment conducting a comparative study. Series of interviews with expert panels and comparison matrix have been conducted comparing Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), Infrared Thermograph (IR), and Portable Seismic Pavement Analyzer (PSPA) by investigating across parameters; cost-time effectiveness, operating principle, depth of performance, method of application, and limitations of pavement evaluations. The research indicated the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is highly advantageous over IR and PSPA for pavement structural assessment. The GPR, as a geophysical tool, has extensive capabilities to accommodate data in pavement assessment, geotechnical investigation and structural assessment. GPR can considerably perform at high speed and save time. It is also beneficial for long-term investment with deeper information. Notably, the interpretation of radar gram images of GPR tool needs sufficient time and skill