Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThe primary objective of this project was to develop a downhole heater to raise oil shale to a specified temperature in-situ, and to recover energy-rich liquids and gasses. The project had two main phases. Phase I was a preliminary study investigating several different burner concepts for generating heat at great depth and over significant horizontal lengths. In Phase II, a unique configuration of a downhole heater was proposed that eliminates some of the issues regarding previously-considered configurations. The feasibility and applicability of the proposed heater were investigated by looking at key issues that have not been completely addressed in the literature by other researchers. First, calculations were performed to determine appropriate sizes for feeder pipes and nozzles, as well as the pressure distributions in different sections of the heater, so that a uniform flow distribution is maintained along the 2000 ft length of the heater. Then, the overall heat transfer coefficient in the heater and the required gas mixture temperature were determined based on design specifications. The average overall heat transfer coefficients of the outer annulus and the reaction chamber were estimated as 15 W/ (m2. K) and 3.5 W/ (m2. K). The average flue gas temperature was determined to be equal to 939 K. Second, a cold-flow study was performed to investigate the effect of nozzle spacing and orientation on the mixing behavior inside the heater. It was concluded the radial orientations of the nozzles have a more significant role in the mixing behavior than the axial positions. Finally, the effects of the diluents N2, CO2, and H2O on the oxidation behavior of methane-oxygen mixtures were investigated by CHEMKIN modeling studies and reaction sensitivity analysis. Thesestudies concluded that at low gas inlet temperatures, the flame temperature is mainly controlled by the thermal properties of the diluents, and the chemical effect of the diluents is almost negligible. As the heat capacity of the mixture increases, the reaction temperature and the flame speed drop, while the ignition delay time increases. Water vapor addition at a low initial temperature (800-900 K) and 30 atm promotes methane oxidation and decreases the ignition delay time

The status of river water quality in some rural areas, in state of Johor and its effects to life

Water is a basic requirement of human and other life. Water resources stems from rivers, streams, drains, ponds and so forth. The river is the natural water resources are very important for a human habitat. Malaysian water quality assessment is determined by the water quality Index (IKA) issued by the Department of environment (DOE) based on class I, II, III and IV. Now a water pollution also occurs in rural areas has affected the water quality and marine life. The objective of this writing is to determine river water quality in rural areas based on IKA. Kajian telah dijalankan di beberapa batang sungai di kawasan luar bandar di negeri Johor bermula dari bulan Februari sehingga April 2015. Water quality sampling was done three times in four different study locations. Determination of water quality involves measurement parameters pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammoniacal nitrogen (AN) and suspended solids (SS). The Measurements are made IKA the total calculated and used to classify the river either as untainted, slightly polluted moderately polluted, contaminated and polluted. The study found the status of three rivers polluted level contaminated (class IV) and a river are classified at the level of medium-polluted (class III). Deterioration of the status of IKA for all rivers surveyed not only affects marine life, even limiting water use to humans, for example, to daily activities

Effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral group therapy in quality of life and hope among patients with multiple sclerosis

Introduction: The present study was aimed at investigating the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral group therapy in quality of life and hope among patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial, using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design, 20 MS patients were selected through available sampling among the patients in Mashhad Multiple Sclerosis Association in 2016 and were randomly assigned into two experimental and control groups, each containing 10 subjects. The experimental group underwent cognitive-behavioral group therapy in 10 weekly sessions of 2 hours and the control group did not receive this treatment. In the pretest and posttest, Quality of Life Questionnaire-Short Form (SF-36) and Snyder ‎Adult Hope Scale (AHS)‎ were implemented on all the subjects of the experimental and control groups. Data was analyzed using analysis of covariance and t-test.Results: The results demonstrated that cognitive-behavioral group therapy significantly leads to increased overall index of quality of life and hope (p<0.001) in the experimental group compared to the control group. Further, out of quality of life components, dimensions of physical function, role limitation due to physical problems, fatigue or vitality, emotional health and general health of the experimental group showed a greater increase at the end of the intervention relative to the control group (p<0.001) and concerning other subscales, the difference between the two groups was not significant

Rain water harvesting management system in Zoo Negara, Selangor

Water is a key requirement either to human, animal or plant. Rainwater Harvesting System (RWH) is a technology used to collect and store rainwater from the roof for reuse. The objective of this study was to investigate the factors that influence the effectiveness of the application of RWH and RWH in terms of the quantity of water collected. The scope of the study is to carried out at the National Zoo, Hulu Kelang, Selangor. This study focuses only on the second phase of the application of RWH at the National Zoo. Method of methodology used was through observation and interview. The results shown, factors that affect the application of RWH at the National Zoo is water demand, improve the quality of lake water and rainfall. For the second objective, based on the analysis, the rainwater is channelled to assist in improve the lake water. This is because, as a result of water quality tests conducted NAHRIM every month found that the lake water quality status has changed from Class IV (contaminated) to Class III (moderately polluted). Rainwater is also able to accommodate the needs of the lake water. Respondents also agreed that the application of RWH at the National Zoo for the second phase is effective. The results of this study, it can be beneficial for the government to encourage the installation of Zoo SPAH in other states

Predicting automobile insurance fraud using classical and machine learning models

Insurance fraud claims have become a major problem in the insurance industry. Several investigations have been carried out to eliminate negative impacts on the insurance industry as this immoral act has caused the loss of billions of dollars. In this paper, a comparative study was carried out to assess the performance of various classification models, namely logistic regression, neural network (NN), support vector machine (SVM), tree augmented naïve Bayes (NB), decision tree (DT), random forest (RF) and AdaBoost with different model settings for predicting automobile insurance fraud claims. Results reveal that the tree augmented NB outperformed other models based on several performance metrics with accuracy (79.35%), sensitivity (44.70%), misclassification rate (20.65%), area under curve (0.81) and Gini (0.62). In addition, the result shows that the AdaBoost algorithm can improve the classification performance of the decision tree. These findings are useful for insurance professionals to identify potential insurance fraud claim cases

Study On The Implementation of Drainage System at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM): Kajian Perlaksanaan Sistem Saliran di Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM)

Abstract: Drainage systems play an important role in the development of managing surface runoff water. This is because without proper management of the drainage system, it can cause flooding in the area. Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) has suffered floods and caused significant losses. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to study the types of drainage systems available around the UTHM area. In this regard, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a number of respondents from the Development and Maintenance Office UTHM to study the problems of each existing drainage system around the area and to look at ways of improving the existing drainage system. The types of drainage systems available at UTHM have been identified as conventional drainage systems, Urban Stormwater Management Manual (MSMA), monsoon drainage, main drainage and land drainage. Problems such as drainage system, waste and clogged drainage also being identified. Among the improvements identified are replacing MSMA with open drainage. In conclusion, the study of drainage system implementation at UTHM can provide a clearer picture of the drainage system used around the study area. &nbsp

Keselesaan ke tempat kerja mempengaruhi kualiti hidup masyarakat bandar di Mukim Kajang, Selangor

Keselesaan penduduk ke tempat bekerja boleh mempengaruhi kualiti hidup masyarakat. Kajian ini telah mengenalpasti bahawa keselesaan ke tempat bekerja merupakan aspek yang boleh menyumbang kepada kualiti hidup yang baik. Oleh itu, aspek keselesaan ke tempat kerja harus diambilkira dalam menilai kualiti hidup masyarakat di bandar. Permasalah kajian ini ialah isu ketidakselesaan penduduk ke tempat bekerja telah menyebabkan gangguan pada kualiti hidup. Objektif kajian ialah mengkaji persepsi penduduk di bandar terhadap keselesaan ke tempat kerja. Kajian dijalankan di Bandar Kajang dan Bandar Baru Bangi. Kaedah soal selidik telah digunakan di lapangan. Sejumlah 700 responden telah dipilih secara rawak bebas di kawasan kajian. Data-data yang dikumpul telah dianalisis menggunakan program SPSS. Hasil kajian mendapati paling ramai responden iaitu 135 orang bekerja di tempat lain-lain, 112 bekerja di Kajang,105 bekerja di Bandar Baru Bangi, 36 bekerja di Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia dan 26 bekerja di Serdang. Analisis perkaitan antara jarak rumah ke tempat bekerja menunjukkan nilai khi kuasa dua sebanyak 89.329 dan signifikan pada aras 0.05 (p=0.000), perkaitan antara jarak rumah ke tempat kerja dengan tempoh terlibat kesesakan lalu lintas menunjukkan nilai khi kuasa dua sebanyak 227.568 dan signifikan pada aras 0.05 (p=0.000). Sejumlah 208 responden terganggu emosi semasa berhadapan dengan kesesakkan lalu lintas, manakala 150 menyatakan masih boleh bersabar. Seramai 359 responden menyatakan tidak selesa ke tempat kerja sekiranya berlaku kesesakan lalu lintas.Kajian merumuskan bahawa kajian keselesaan ke tempat kerja wajar digunakan sebagai penunjuk kualiti hidup masyarakat di bandar, berdasarkan konflik-konflik yang dialami penduduk di bandar semasa berinteraksi ke tempat bekerja

Urban Transportation: Issue and Solution

Generally, quality of life of urban population is heavily dependent on social facilities provided within the environment. One of the most important facilities is transportations. Study on transportation mode in an urban area is especially very important because for almost every individual living in a large and densely populated area, mobility is one of the most crucial issues in everyday life. Enhance mobility, faster journey to work and less pollution from petrol-propelled vehicles can increase the quality of life, which in turn lead to a sustainable urban living. The study present transportation mode usage issues faced by community related to quality of life in an urban area. This study identifies several issues of transportation mode in urban areas and its impact on the quality of life. The study areas are Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur and Bandar Kajang, Selangor. The methodology used in this research is secondary and primary data. The questionnaires for the survey were distributed from May 2008 to Jun 2008. These researches were conducted on 144 respondents for to evaluate their perception of transportation mode correlated to the quality of life. The collected data were then analyzed using “Statistical Packages for the Social Science” (SPSS). The respondents comprise of 61 males and 84 females from the age group of 18 to 57 years. This study identifies the percentage of public transportation mode usage in urban area, such as buses (16.7%), train (ERL, monorail and commuter-6.4%); which is very low compared to owning personal car (45.8%) and motorcycle (25.4%).The result shows owning personal car is the highest (45.8%) in three study areas and monorail and taxi are the lowest (1.4%). The Chi Square Test shows that among the mode transportation with traffic jam is quite difference in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Kajang. Analysis of the Chi Square Test shows the result is 0.000 (two sides) to respondent answering “yes” and analysis of Spearman Correlation test is P =0.362 and significant to level = 0.000. This study also identifies the impact of mode of transportation to community. However impact due to traffic jam is very critical (88.8%) in three areas which between > 10-15 minutes and >40-45 minutes This research also indicated some psychologies effect. The psychological effects of people with the mode of transportation in urban areas are tiredness, headache and stress. The study concludes with some suggestion on future transportation development towards higher consideration for community in urban areas which can contribute to a higher quality of life

Aplikasi sistem penuaian air hujan (SPAH) di kawasan perumahan

Pada masa kini, kekurangan sumber air bersih merupakan satu ancaman di kebanyakkan negara, dan tidak terkecuali Malaysia. Keadaan ini adalah disebabkan oleh kaedah penggunaan sumber air yang tidak berkesan serta kemusnahan kawasan tadahan air disebabkan oleh pembangunan pesat yang tidak mematuhi peraturan. Sebagai alternatif untuk mengatasi masalah ini, Sistem Penuaian Air Hujan (SPAH) telah diperkenalkan sebagai kaedah pengurusan terbaik dalam amalan pengurusan air yang berkesan di Malaysia. Sistem ini bertujuan untuk melambatkan aliran air larian permukaan dan untuk menggalakkan penggunaan air secara efisien. Kajian ini dijalankan adalah untuk menentukan pelaksanaan Sistem Penuaian Air Hujan (SPAH), serta untuk menilai keberkesanan pelaksanaan Sistem Penuaian Air Hujan (SPAH). Hasil dapatan kajian ini adalah berdasarkan data yang dikumpul melalui siri-siri temubual yang dilaksanakan dengan enam orang responden iaitu Pemaju harta tanah, Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan, dan Kontraktor. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa tangki Penuaian Air Hujan yang sesuai untuk unit kediaman adalah dianggarkan bersaiz 200 gelen (50-60m3), dan jumlah kos pemasangan adalah RM 3000.00 seunit. Merujuk kepada keberkesanan pelaksanaan Sistem Penuaian Air Hujan (SPAH), majoriti responden berpuashati bahawa sistem yang digunakan memadai untuk mengawal masalah pembaziran gunaan air serta mampu menjimatkan penawaran air bersih. Diharapkan supaya dapatan kajian ini akan membantu untuk menyeimbangkan kegunaan air dan keperluan pembangunan air untuk generasi akan datang

Adaptation of thermal comfort in naturally ventilated students residential college in tropical climates of Malaysia

The climate in tropical regions was affecting the level of thermal comfort of the individual while accommodating the residential buildings. Residential buildings especially student residential colleges in Malaysia were mainly build depending on natural ventilation systems as a tool to facilitate comfort in their daily life without the consent of the mechanical ventilation system such as air conditioners. This study has been done by distributing a questionnaire to the occupants who live in the naturally ventilated residential college and conducting an interview series with a college management officer to prove and validate the data collected throughout the study. The result of the study shows that students most likely will change their behavior due to the level of heat stress in the dormitory. Statistics from the data collected shown that students were very relying on the support of the mechanical ventilation system and they are also keener towards wearing a thinner and comfortable clothing material as it will help them to reduce the heat discomfort throughout the day. This study also shows a positive correlation analysis between the relationship of low ventilation flow and the level of indoor thermal comfort. This situation is regarded as the environmental factors that play important roles in the level of thermal comfort in a residential building, especially in tropical climates