Effects of Different Fertilizer Regimes on the Growth of ‘Merawan Siput Jantan’ (Hopea Odorata Roxb.) for Urban Landscape

Fertilizer application is fundamental in providing adequate nutrients to landscape trees planted in and around urban areas. However, little information is available on the nutrient requirements of urban landscape trees especially on forest species planted for landscaping in Malaysia. An observation was carried out to examine the growth and nutrient status of Hopea odorata planted for urban landscape at the New Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE) on disturbed and undisturbed soils. Significant (p < 0.05) difference in total tree height, foliar nitrogen content and relative chlorophyll content was found between trees planted on disturbed and undisturbed soil. Limited availability of nitrogen (N) due to poor soil condition could be one of the reasons for the unsatisfactory growth of H. odorata on disturbed and cut soil. A fertilizer experiment was carried out to determine the effect of different fertilizer regimes as remedial treatment on H. odorata on cut and disturbed soil at the study site. The experiment employed a factorial design plus control in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). The treatments comprised of two types of fertilizer, two nitrogen rates in the form of compound fertilizer, two frequencies of application and a control. Result after twelve months of treatment indicated that types of fertilizer, nitrogen rates and frequencies of application affected the growth of H. odorata at the study site. Organic fertilizer AvantiTM (3.5 N : 4.5 P : 2.5 K : 1.0 Mg) gave significantly (p < 0.05) higher height and crown diameter increments, specific leaf area (SLA), net photosynthesis (Pn), apparent quantum yield (Qn) water use efficiency (WUE) and light use efficiency (LUE) than inorganic fertilizer Nitrophoska YellowTM (15 N : 15 P : 6 K : 4 Mg). Fertilizer combinations with higher N rate at 150 g N/year (1000 g Nitrophoska YellowTM and 4286 g AvantiTM) was found to give significantly (p < 0.05) higher height and crown diameter increments, SLA, leaf area index (LAI), foliar nitrogen (N) content, relative chlorophyll content and net photosynthesis (Pn) regardless of types of fertilizer and frequencies of application. The study showed that application of fertilizer at 4 times per year gave significant effect (p < 0.05) on total height increment and foliar N of H. odorata. All fertilizer combinations were found to give no significant effect (p < 0.05) on foliar phosphorus (P) as well as foliar potassium (K) content of H. odorata. The results further indicated that treatment combination of organic fertilizer with 150 g N (4286 g AvantiTM) applied 4 times per year gave the best response where significant (p < 0.05) difference with unfertilized control plot were observed in growth parameters of H. odorata with the exception of stem diameter (dbh) increment. It was also found to give significantly (p < 0.05) higher foliar N content, relative chlorophyll content, LAI, Pn, maximum assimilation (Amax) Qn and LUE than control

Cabaran dalam pengajaran dan pembelajaran al-Qur’an Braille di Kompleks Malaysian Association for the Blind (MAB)

Pengajaran dan pembelajaran (PdP) ialah satu proses menyampai dan menerima ilmu dengan melibatkan guru dan pelajar yang saling membantu antara satu sama lainnya. Di Malaysia, terdapat beberapa negeri yang menyediakan kelas al-Qur’an Braille bagi golongan orang kelainan upaya (OKU) cacat penglihatan. Kelas ini dianjurkan oleh Persatuan Orang-orang Cacat Penglihatan Islam Malaysia (PERTIS). Namun begitu, proses PdP ini sudah tentu berhadapan dengan pelbagai cabaran dan permasalahan, begitu juga dengan PdP al-Qur’an Braille. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengamati isu dan cabaran yang dihadapi dalam PdP al-Qur’an Braille dengan menjalankan satu kajian kes di Kompleks Malaysian Association for the Blind (MAB), Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur. Kajian ini berbentuk kualitatif dan melibatkan analisis dokumen, temu bual mendalam separa berstruktur, temu bual mendalam kelompok sasaran dan pemerhatian sebagai kaedah pengumpulan data dan maklumat kajian. Dapatan kajian ini menunjukkan terdapat cabaran dalam pengajaran dan juga pembelajaran. Cabaran dalam pengajaran ialah apabila berhadapan dengan pelajar yang tidak menguasai kod al-Qur’an Braille, masa pengajaran terhad, kekurangan tenaga pengajar serta bilangan dan keadaan kelas yang tidak sesuai. Manakala cabaran dalam pembelajaran pula ialah kekurangan daya sensitiviti jari dan masa pembelajaran yang terhad. Beberapa saranan dan cadangan penambahbaikan diutarakan dalam kajian ini bagi meningkatkan lagi kualiti proses PdP al-Qur’an Braille

Intellectual property rights and agro-based natural product: Malaysian legal perspective

Malaysia is a country which has been blessed with plethora of natural resources and product such as plants and animals. It is an established fact that the agriculture sector part of our natural product contributed substantially to the growth and development of the Malaysian economy. At the same time, it falls as part of the property which must be protected to ensure its sustainability. This paper will look into the right and protection of agro-based natural product specifically to the plant varieties and geographical indications from Intellectual Property Rights perspective in Malaysia

Case Study PAB Unit Trust Management Berhad

The Investment Committee lays out strict procedures as to the management of the trust funds. The committee stipulates that if any investment in KLSE goes down by more than 20% than the fund manager must take all necessary steps to force sell the counters and to recover the remaining balance. The fund managers are allowed only to purchase approved sectors and counters. They are definitely not allowed to purchase any shares or counters that are not approved for. As to other means of investment, as in derivative securities, prior approval is required before any decisions being made. Tan Sri Datuk Chang Min Tat is the only independent member in the committee. The Securities Commissions requires independent members to be at least 1/3 (onethird) of the total members. The independent member is supposed to represent interest of the public. Other members in the committee are directly related to the bank by way of employment. Currently Amanah Saham PHB (ASPHB) has no cash to invest in stock market since approximately 90% of total fund is already in the market. The ASPHB records an unrealized loss of RM50 million or 70% of total investment as at 30 April 1998

Distributed Object Medical Imaging Model

Abstract- Digital medical informatics and images are commonly used in hospitals today,. Because of the interrelatedness of the radiology department and other departments, especially the intensive care unit and emergency department, the transmission and sharing of medical images has become a critical issue. Our research group has developed a Java-based Distributed Object Medical Imaging Model(DOMIM) to facilitate the rapid development and deployment of medical imaging applications in a distributed environment that can be shared and used by related departments and mobile physiciansDOMIM is a unique suite of multimedia telemedicine applications developed for the use by medical related organizations. The applications support realtime patients’ data, image files, audio and video diagnosis annotation exchanges. The DOMIM enables joint collaboration between radiologists and physicians while they are at distant geographical locations. The DOMIM environment consists of heterogeneous, autonomous, and legacy resources. The Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), Java Database Connectivity (JDBC), and Java language provide the capability to combine the DOMIM resources into an integrated, interoperable, and scalable system. The underneath technology, including IDL ORB, Event Service, IIOP JDBC/ODBC, legacy system wrapping and Java implementation are explored. This paper explores a distributed collaborative CORBA/JDBC based framework that will enhance medical information management requirements and development. It encompasses a new paradigm for the delivery of health services that requires process reengineering, cultural changes, as well as organizational changes

Chemical Attack of Malaysian Pozzolans Concrete

Malaysia produces more than 10 million tonne of by-product from industrial sector per year. As the environmental impact concerns, more than half of the by-product can be recycled to be used as construction materials. One of them is pozzolan, a cement replacing material that can be used to enhance the properties of the concrete. This paper studies the chemical attack to local prozzolans concrete. The parameters studied include weight loss, length change, and residual strength of local pozzolans concrete after been exposed to severe environment. The specimen were tested under normal room temperature, exposed to magnesium sulfate, MgSO4. 2H2O where both sulfate attack and acid attack take place. Two series of pozzolans&lt; which is Pulverized fly ash (PFA) and Palm oil fuel ash (POFA) were identified. Another series of admixture, Quarry Dust (QD) from quarry waste that contain high amount of silica content also been carried out. Each series will study the effect of cement replacement percentage of 5%, 10% and 15%. The parameters were compared to conventional ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete as control mix. Accelerated testing was conducted at 3, 7, 28, 56 and 90 days. The result shows that the local pozzolans concrete were found to be in good resistance against sulfate attack compared to conventional concrete. Compared to all series conducted, series of PFA replacement gave the best resistance followed by POFA and QD replacement series

Synthesis Of Ultrafine Ba07 Sr0.3 TiO3 by Mechanically Activating Process.

The project 'Synthesis of Ultrafine Ba0.7 Sr0.3 TiO3 by Mechanically Activating Process' was successfully completed early 2008. As reported in the technical report attached, the single phase BST was produced successfully at a relatively low temperature of 500oC, albeit the challenges encountered during the synthesis, one of which is the caking problem as well as melting of phase formed. The caking effect was due to the mechanical activation process, while the melting phase was a result of the low meting chemicals used

SCIENTIFIC EXEGESIS REAPPRAISED: A CRITICAL STUDY OF THE AL-JAWĀHIR FĪ TAFSĪR AL-QUR’ĀN AL-KARĪM

This research aims to explore and examine the discipline of ‘scientific exegeses’ by providing a critical study of one of the first major works in that field, the al-Jawāhir fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-Karīm of Ṭanṭāwī Jawharī (1862-1940) a contemporary prominent Muslim theologian and exegete of Egypt. Since the aim of this thesis is critically examine and explore the al-Jawāhir fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-Karīm as a founding document of scientific exegesis in contemporary Muslims world, historical development of scientific exegesis from the traditionalists up to contemporary scholars’ arguments, rational and textual, are examined to provide context for the research. Comparative discursive analysis method is used in order to differentiate between the traditionalists and modern time with regard to their methodology in dealing with the scientific exegesis. Ṭanṭāwī Jawharī is chosen due to his seminal contributions in pioneering some important intellectuals in the study of scientific exegesis. Besides providing a biographical sketch of Ṭanṭāwī Jawharī, this research examines some of the significant matters and assesses the methodology of Ṭanṭāwī in dealing with his magnum opus incorporated into discussions of the al-Jawāhir in the eyes of other prominent scholars. This research concludes that classifying the al-Jawāhir as an encyclopedic scientific exegesis is fairly justified and that it significantly contributed to the rich of Islamic scientific exegesis in contemporary Muslims world. Ṭanṭāwī and the al-Jawāhir’s main contribution, as suggested by this study, is in the integration of two branches of knowledge; the Qur’ān and science. In this, the al-Jawāhir represents a trend parallel to a new school of thought, the pioneers of which were philosophers who attempted to reconcile philosophy and religion

Multi-stage power conversion using matrix converter for solid state transformer technology

The traditional power transformer typically operated at low frequency with the bulky size either working with step-down voltage or step-up voltage in power system. Aiming to reduce the size of this transformer structure, the solid-state transformer (SST) is suggested. In brief, SST is an ac-to-ac power electronics circuits that operate in high switching frequency offering higher efficiency. Implementation of the smart-grid concept can be made faster than expected with the introduction of SST technology. To-date, there are plenty of power converters that incessant proposed to be used on SST technology. The benefit in term of the structure will give the smaller size and less weight if compare with magnetic transformer. On the other hand, it will impact the cost of equipment and transportation during the installation process. This project will review one of the multi-stage power converters for SST technology of three-phase power system introduced in term of important indices by using a matrix converter. The aims of this project to simulate and analyses the performance of a matrix converter as the ac-ac converter in SST technology