Fixed Bed Adsorption Of Carbon Dioxide On Modified Coconut Shell Granular Activated Carbon

Chemically modified adsorbent is attracting attention on its ability in carbon dioxide capture in order to increase the adsorption capacity and enhance its characteristics such as thermal and chemical resistance. In this research, a series of chemically modified coconut shell granular activated carbon were prepared, characterized and used in CO2 adsorption process in a fixed-bed adsorption system. Penjerap diubahsuai secara kimia telah menarik perhatian atas keupayaannya menangkap karbon dioksida untuk meningkatkan kapasiti penjerapan dan ciri-cirinya seperti rintangan haba dan kimia. Dalam kajian ini, satu siri karbon teraktif tempurung kelapa terubahsuai telah disediakan, dicirikan dan digunakan dalam proses penjerapan CO2 dalam sistem penjerapan lapisan tetap

Experimental investigation on cold-formed steel beams under pure bending

This paper presents the flexural behaviour of cold-formed double lipped channels beams under pure bending action. Two channel sections are bolted back-to-back to form an I-shape structural beam member. A series of six experiment tests were carried out on beam specimens DC200 and DC250, each with 200 mm depth and 250 mm depth respectively. The thickness of beam section is 2 mm and the design yield strength is 350 N/mm2. All beams failed at local buckling at top-flange due to lateral instability of the cold-formed steel structural members. The moment resistance for DC200 is 17.87 kNm and DC250 is 31.53 kNm. The experimental results are compared to theoretical resistance prediction based on British Standard and Eurocode. The comparison showed that the experimental moment capacity is lower than the theoretical bending moment resistance but higher than theoretical buckling moment resistance from Eurocode. This showed that a better agreement is achieved between experimental data and Eurocode buckling moment resistance for cold-formed steel beam under pure bending

Non-Catalytic And Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis Of Lignocellulosic Biomass Into Bio-Oil Over Aluminosilicate-Based Catalysts

Depletion of fossil resources and increasing motivation to develop renewable liquid fuels and chemicals have generated interest in the study of biomass conversion. This study aims to study the product yield and quality obtained from thermal and catalytic fast pyrolysis of durian shell, rattan and karanj shell in two-stage fixed-bed reactor over silica-alumina catalyst with different silica/alumina ratios, calcium- or iron-modified silica-alumina, and industrial waste-derived aluminosilicate catalysts. Effects of particle size (up to 5 mm) and pyrolysis temperature (250-650 'C) were investigated in thermal fast pyrolysis while the effects of catalytic temperature, catalyst/feedstock ratio, types of feedstock, and catalyst regeneration were determined in catalytic fast pyrolysis. The best temperature for liquid production for durian shell, rattan and karanj shell was 650 'C, 550 'C and 550 'C, respectively. Silica-alumina catalyst with microporous characteristic was synthesized using co-precipitation method. The bio-oil produced from durian shell over silica-alumina catalyst with silica/alumina ratio of 5.1 (SA-5.1) at 600 'C has deoxygenation degree of 93.61% with 75.45% aromatics content. The addition of calcium reduced coke deposition on SA-5.1 while iron promoted the yield of aromatics and hydrocarbons. Electric-arc-furnace-slag-derived catalyst (AS-EAF) produced 50.21 wt% bio-oil with deoxygenation degree of 85.49% and 72.82% hydrocarbons content at 500 'C. SA-5.1 promoted the formation of esters in catalytic fast pyrolysis of rattan and the formation of aromatics and hydrocarbons in catalytic fast pyrolysis of karanj shell. AS-EAF promoted the yield of esters and hydrocarbon in bio-oil produced from rattan, and the yield of aromatics in bio-oil produced from karanj shell. The coke deposited on SA-5.1 and AS-EAF in catalytic fast pyrolysis of durian shell is 12.68 wt% and 1.95 wt%, respectively. SA-5.1 has better performance after regeneration in catalytic fast pyrolysis of karanj shell at 500 'C, which the deoyxgenation degree increased from 35.15% to 57.13% and the coke deposition decreased from 15.71 wt% to 11.42 wt%. Although deoxygenation degree of bio-oil produced from karanj shell over AS-EAF reduced after five cycles, the coke deposition was 3.91 wt% after used, which is lower than that of SA-5.1. The kinetic parameters were calculated using Coats-Redfern method. The reaction models of thermal and catalytic pyrolysis of durian shell in Phase II are accounted for one-way diffusion model while the Phase III of thermal and catalytic pyrolysis follows second or third-order reaction models. Catalytic pyrolysis with SA-5.1 exhibited lower activation energy of 115.55 kJ/mol than thermal pyrolysis with activation energy of 170.84 kJ/mol in Phase III, indicates SA-5.1 promoted lignin decomposition

Perception of The Leadership Behaviour on Job Satisfaction Among Registered Nurses

There are many factors, and one of the factors influencing job satisfaction is leadership behavior. The purpose of this study is to determine the association between socio-demographic and the leadership behavior of nurse managers on job satisfaction based on the perception of registered nurses in a selected private hospital, Malaysia. A crosssectional descriptive study involving 161 registered nurses using convenient sampling with self-administered questionnaires and using Leadership Behaviour Description Questionnaire (LBDQ) and Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ). There was no significant correlation between socio-demographic data and job satisfaction with the Pearson correlation of (r < 0.3, p > 0.05). However, the result showed that there was statistically significant between leadership behaviour and job satisfaction with (p < 0.05, r = 0.572, p = 0.000 and r = 0.531, p = 0.022). Leadership behavior serves as an important aspect in nursing to determine job satisfaction and address nurse shortage issues in the future. Hence, staff development and monitor the leadership behavior among the staff to provide them a piece of measurable concept pertaining to leadership behavior at least to let them understand their progress to becoming an effective leader

Effect of partial sugar replacement with ultrasonically treated citrus pectin on aeration and rheological properties of batter

Ultrasound treatment was applied on citrus pectin solution prior mixing into batter as partial replacement of sugar content. The pectin solutions were treated with ultrasound at 20%, 40%, and 60% amplitude for 5, 15, and 25 min. It was then replaced with 20% and 30% of sugar content in batter formulation. Aeration properties were tested by measuring batter density and rheological properties of batter, also volume and hardness of cake. The results shown that 20% of sugar replacement with non‐treated pectin in batter system gave lower batter density at lower viscosity, and higher consistency index with less viscoelasticity produced lower cake volume and cake hardness compared with 30% of sugar replacement. Ultrasound treatment on pectin solution at shorter duration was able to further reduce the batter density which increases the cake aeration by producing higher cake volume with lower hardness compared with non‐treated pectin in lower level of sugar replacement

Splitting Tensile Strength of Lightweight Foamed Concrete with Polypropylene Fiber

This paper presents the design mix of foamed concrete and split tensile strength of lightweight foamed concrete with the addition of polypropylene fiber. The design mix of the foamed concrete was targeted to achieve a density of 1500 kg/m3. Six different water-cement ratios (w/c) range from 0.30 to 0.40 were taken into consideration. Three different group of LFC with 0% PP, 0.25% PP and 0.40% PP are prepared. The optimum w/c was determined by comparing the compressive test result of different percentage polypropylene fiber. By using the LFC with optimum w/c ratio and designated amount of PP of 3:1 c/s ratios, the concrete specimens were tested with splitting tensile test to determine the effects of PP to the tensile strength of the lightweight foamed concrete. From the result, it is found that by using 2:1 c/s ratio, the optimum w/c of mix with 0% PP, 0.25% PP and 0.40% PP are 0.36, 0.34 and 0.32 respectively, while for c/s equals to 3:1, the optimum w/c are 0.34, 0.32 and 0.32 respectively. From the splitting tensile result, under a controlled density of 1500 ± 50 kg/m3, the tensile strength range of 0.991-2.138 MPa were observed. From the result, it can be concluded that, the addition of polypropylene fiber to the lightweight foamed concrete does affect the tensile strength of the foamed concrete. However further addition of PP will not cause any positive and significant effect to the tensile strength of lightweight foamed concrete

Understanding the T cell immune response in SARS coronavirus infection

10.1038/emi.2012.26Emerging Microbes and Infections1Article number e23, 6 page

Environmental noise impact assessment from mass rapid transit to the adjacent community

Due to the extension of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) network throughout the years, the noise generated from MRT had increased and this environmental noise tends to cause annoyance to the adjacent community. The aim of this research is to measure the environmental noise level generated by MRT at one of the MRT stations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, compare the permissible limit and community annoyance response to the measured noise impact to the surrounding community. A total of 4 monitoring points were selected for environmental noise impact assessment. After that, a sound level meter was set up at these monitoring points to measure the sound level. For each monitoring point, the noise level was measured for 6 hours continuously from 7:00 am to 1:00 pm. Based on the results, the noise levels at critical monitoring points exceeded 9.23 % in Taman Midah MRT Station. Little community annoyance is caused in the study areas and this will affect the quality of life of the adjacent community. In conclusion, the environmental noise impact assessment was carried out to safeguard the noise level to be within the noise limit and to enhance the quality of life of the community alongside MRT

Assessing the performance of the simple noise chart method for construction noise prediction in earth-moving activity

Construction activity has long been associated with health problems caused by excessive noise exposure from the high noise emission machines. Indeed, predicting noise levels during the planning stages of a construction project can be challenging, particularly when considering complex and dynamic noise sources. This study aims to determine the accuracy and reliability of the simple prediction charts method in predicting construction noise. A case study of piling activity had been conducted at a construction site in Klang valley, Malaysia. The results showed that the average predicted noise levels were slightly higher than the actual measurements, but the highest absolute difference was only 0.9 dBA. The simple prediction charts can approximate the sound pressure level with high reliability with R2 values of 0.9959. These results show that the simple prediction charts can accurately and reliably predict construction noise levels, providing a useful tool for predicting the noise levels from earthmoving machines at any point of the construction site. With the help of these charts, construction noise practitioners can more easily anticipate and manage potential noise issues

The impact of Asian financial crisis and global ICT sectors correction on the relationships between stock prices and exchange rates in ASEAN-5

This paper has investigated the dynamic impacts of the Asian financial crisis and global Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) sector correction on the relationships between exchange rates and stock prices for the ASEAN-5 funding countries. They are Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Using daily data 1995 – 2001, the results of variance decompositions analysis suggest that during pre-crisis, crisis and ICT bubble, the exchange rates have more influential power in influencing stock prices. Thus, this finding is in line with the traditional approach of stock prices determination, where exchange rate change is expected to give rise to stock price change. However, during post-bubble period stock prices become the dominant explanatory variable in all countries