STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF RICE HUSK IN GEOPOLYMER COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH

Geopolymerization is a field where the main concern is the utilization of solid waste and by products. Industrial waste products such as fly ash, rice husk ash or silica fume are used as the source of alluminosilicate powder. Geopolymerization is found to be cost effective and environmentally friendly. Geopolymer involves the silicates and aluminates of by products to undergo process of geopolymerization. Rice is a primary source of food in the Asian region. A total of 600 million tons of rice paddy are produced every year. The husks causes disposal problems. Rice Husk ash is a super pozzolan and would act as a suitable material for geopolymer cement. The project attempts to propose MIRHA geopolymer cement as a substitute to OPC for well cementing purposes by studying whether it fulfills the compressive strength requirement for well cement. There are several problems identified in the current usage of OPC. It is found that the manufacturing of OPC, the current well cement, consumes a lot of energy and resources. Currently, cement production is responsible for 5% to 8% of yearly manmade CO2 global emissions, or nearly 1.6 billion ton of CO2 and therefore is the second largest CO2 emitting industry behind power generation. Manufacturing of geopolymer cement releases up to 80% less CO2 compared to OPC. The project aims to find out the factors affecting the MIRHA geopolymer’s compressive strength and study them. This would further on lead to the possibility of substituting OPC with MIRHA geopolymer cement. By substituting OPC with MIRHA geopolymer cement, we could solve the RHA disposal issue and at the same time tackle the greenhouse gas emission from cement manufacturing that we are currently facing. The project manipulates several variables mainly the water/cement ratio, the concentration of NaOH solution, curing time, curing temperature, MIRHA grain size and ash/activator ratio in order to determine its effect on the MIRHA geopolymer compressive strength. The scope of study includes conducting research on MIRHA geopolymer cement. Devising the experiment procedures and methods of carrying them out is also researched. A few sets of experiments were conducted. In each experiment, a variable is manipulated and its effect on the geopolymer compressive strength is observed. From the experiments 3 conducted, we are able to figure out the optimum condition for MIRHA geopolymer cement that would result in a higher compressive strength. It is concluded that a water ration of 40% or lower should be used. It is found that a MIRHA to alkali activator ratio of 2:1 results in a better compressive strength. As for alkali activator, a 10M sodium hydroxide solution results in a higher compressive strength and can be concluded as the optimum molarity for geopolymer synthesis. A finer grain size results in a better compressive strength. A longer curing time results in an increased compressive strength. Finally, it is found that an optimum temperature of 60˚C should be used for curing rather than an elevated temperature. All of these results has been presented and discussed. The objectives of the final year project has been achieved

Students engagement in Open University Malaysia graduate centre (OUM GC): Does information seeking behaviour plays a role?

The objective of this study is to examine the relationships between Information Seeking Behaviour (ISB) and engagement of students in Open University Malaysia Graduate Centre (OUM GC). A literature review was undertaken to develop the instrument. Face-to-face data collection method was adopted. A total of 89 respondents from convenient sampling was analysed to answer the research hypotheses. A factor analysis was performed on the independent variable to manage the items and discover new constructs as a way to contribute to the area of study. The Kaiser Meyer Olkin figure is reported to be 0.77, indicating validity of the model. Cronbach Alpha for all variables are reported to be above 0.70, indicating reliability. There is a relationship between information seeking behaviour and student engagement as designated in the regression model. This paper will also give more information to ODL universities which can help them in their decision making process and ability to allocate resources. (Abstract by authors

The Susceptibility of Aphids, Aphis gossypii Glover to Lauric Acid Based Natural Pesticide

The susceptibility of aphids to lauric acid, a type of middle-chain fatty acids, based pesticide formulation was investigated. The insecticidal properties of lauric acid based pesticide formulation against aphids were evaluated through the three main routes of exposure: topical application, leaf-dipping (ingestion) and inhalation. Surface tension dependent aphids toxicity was also investigated by measuring the surface tension value of each formulation prepared. The relationship of surface tension and formulation toxicity was then observed on aphid tested. The obtained results indicate that all tested formulations had insecticidal activity against tested aphids depending on exposure method and lauric acid concentration. The topical application method recorded 100% mortality rates compared to the other two methods. With topical application method, most of the aphids died soon after treatment. Toxicity symptoms from lauric acid to aphids included unusual abdominal contractions which caused quick loss of coordination and decreased activity, and finally dehydration and necrosis within 24 hours. Results from surface tension study revealed close connection between toxicity and surface tension. This might lead to the conclusion that toxicity was possibly related to aphid suffocation in the highly wettable solution. Results from this research also demonstrated that there were possibility that lauric acid do not only kill aphids by suffocation, but also through change of cuticle and cell permeability and desiccation that lead to speedy death due to the chemical nature of lauric acid. Overall, the results recommend that lauric acid based pesticide formulation has both physical and chemical mode of action on aphids

Factors that influence truancy among secondary school students in Melaka Tengah / Mohamad Shafie Suleiman and Mohamad Shahril Fiqry Roslan

This study examines the factor that influences truancy among secondary students in Melaka Tengah. Reviews of the literature show that there are few factors that influenced the truancy among secondary students itself. Studies done by other researchers were used as guidelines to determine what factors that can be tested in this study, and the factors are family matters, school management, and also peer pressure. A questionnaire survey was distributed to 338 respondent among young people aged from 13years old to 16 years old. A total of 338 valid responses were obtained. Data analysis shows that significant relationship exists between three factors toward truancy among secondary students in Melaka Tengah. School management emerged as the most influential factor that influences truancy among secondary students in Melaka Tengah

Implementation of Skilled Training Programs at Vocational College: A View of the Instructors’ Perspectives

The vocational colleges of Malaysia have been running several engineering related programs to certify their students with Malaysian Skills Certificate, Malaysian Vocational Diploma and Malaysian Vocational Certificate. The aim of these programs is to provide competent skilled and knowledge workers for the needs of the local industries in order to foster national development towards achieving developed nation status. To ensure the success of these programs, instructors are expected to be able to conduct training and master the engineering education process. This study was conducted to identify vocational college instructors’ views on the implementation of the skill training programs in the aspects of curriculum, infrastructure and industrial training. A total of 116 technical instructors in the fields of engineering skills namely Welding Technology, Automotive Technology, Electrical Technology, Refrigeration and Air conditioning, Electronic Technology, Industrial Machining and Construction Technology participated in this research. The data were analysed to determine the average mean score of the measured variables. Findings showed that the average mean score for curriculum and industrial training aspects were found to be at high level, while moderate level was obtained for the aspect of infrastructure. This finding implies that professional development programs are less crucial compared to facilities required to run the skill training programs. This issue needs to be addressed by the vocational colleges’ management and government to ensure successful implementation of these skilled training program at college level.

Effects of modified hydrothermal nanotitania on the viability of Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is an important bacterium with significant pathological implications in the field of medicine. Attempting to cure bacterial infections at an advanced stage results in considerable waste of time, effort and expenditure. Thus, the prevention of such illnesses is paramount. Besides using chemical drugs to treat infections, several non-organic extracts have been tested in trials and been shown to impede the bacteria’s growth. This paper proposes that the modified hydrothermal nanotitania extract has great potential to combat this lethal organism. The viability of S. aureus was shown to be markedly reduced following the addition of nanotitania extract with 0.01%, 0.03% and 0.05% silver after 24, 48, and 72 hours. The ability of the nanotitania extract to inhibit the growth of S. aureus indicates its antimicrobial characteristics

UWB MAC Design Constraints and Considerations

In this paper, we consider the possibility of developing an optimal medium access control (MAC)layer for high data rate ultra-wideband (UWB) transmission systems that transmit minimal power. MAC in UWB wireless networks is required to coordinate channel access among competing devices. The unique UWB characteristics offer great challenges and opportunities in effective UWB MAC design. We first study the background of UWB and available MAC protocols that have been used in UWB. Secondly, we explore the constraints on UWB MAC design. Finally we present the considerations that need to be made in designing an optimal UWB MAC protocol

Portable fingerprint-based attendance recording and monitoring system

This paper presented the development of a portable attendance monitoring system based on fingerprint identification that can be used by lecturers to monitor attendance of students. Fingerprint-based identification is one of the oldest method among all biometric or security techniques which has been successfully used in numerous applications. Every person has unique, immutable fingerprints. A fingerprint is made of a series of ridges and furrows on the surface of the finger. The distinctiveness of a fingerprint can be determined by the pattern of ridges and furrows as well as the minutiae points. Minutiae points are local ridge characteristics that occur at either a ridge bifurcation or a ridge ending. A portable fingerprint scanner has been utilized as the input to acquire fingerprint images and a laptop equipped with attendance recording and monitoring software as a mobile terminal to process the fingerprint images and record the attendance. This system can be used by lecturers to replace the old method of attendance recording, so that the integrity of the attendance record can be upheld. The actual student’s attendance can be recorded and stored in database. The system is also capable of processing the record to determine students who do not fulfill the attendance percentage requirement

Development and characterization of bio-composite films made from bacterial cellulose derived from oil palm frond juice fermentation, chitosan and glycerol

This study reported for the first time, the combined effects of chitosan and glycerol addition on the properties of bacterial cellulose (BC) based films for food packaging applications. Films were prepared by solution casting method using BC derived from oil palm frond juice as the main material combined with different concentrations of chitosan (0.5 and 1 %w/v) and glycerol (0.5, 1.5 and 2.5 %v/v). Pure BC, chitosan-free and glycerol-free films were used as control. The effect of incorporating chitosan and glycerol on bacterial cellulose (BC) based films was evaluated based on the physical properties (thickness, moisture content, solubility), mechanical properties (tensile strength, modulus Young, elongation at break) and chemical structure by FTIR. Increased concentration of chitosan and glycerol affected the physical and mechanical properties. The combination of 1 %w/v chitosan and 0.5 %v/v glycerol had a strengthening effect on the BC-based films with maximum tensile strength of 15 MPa and Young’s modulus of 772 MPa. Meanwhile, BC films incorporated with 1 %w/v chitosan and 2.5 %v/v glycerol demonstrated high plasticizing effect of 7 % elongation at break. The acquired FTIR spectrum of the bio-composite films suggested intermolecular interactions between BC, chitosan, and glycerol. Therefore, the BC-based bio-composite films incorporated with chitosan and glycerol have the potential to be used as food packaging materials

The Influence of Perception and Tax Knowledge on Non-Compliance in Indirect Tax among Public Universities Student

Studies on tax non-compliance remain limited. This is due to the challenges and difficulties of getting access to the correct information on indirect tax. However, these studies only focus on economic factors. The researchers focus on examining the relationships between non-economic factors and tax non-compliance. This study distributed a sample of 285 public universities student in Selangor and Klang Valley. The findings reveal a strong relationship between tax knowledge and perception of non-compliance behavior. Therefore, tax administrators need to collaborate more closely with universities or other educational institutions to create more awareness among Malaysians to comply with Malaysian tax systems. Keywords: Tax non-compliance; Non-economic factor; Public universities students; Tax knowledge eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under the responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians), and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7i21.374