SEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF THETA ROLES OF VERBS IN THE MAH MERI LANGUAGE

The Mah Meri language, one of the severely endangered languages of Malaysia, is facing the threat of extinction. In order to save valuable information of this language, this paper focuses on one of its aspects, the Theta Roles in relation to the verbs. Using Radford’s (1997 2009) theory of Theta Roles, this study analyzes and explores the verb phrase of Mah Meri. The main objective of this study is to establish the Theta Roles in relation to verbs in the Mah Meri language. In order to fully understand the verb structures, the morphological entities of affixes such as prefixes and suffixes are studied. Moreover, the word order of the sentential constructions are also analyzed according to active and passive forms. These are done in tandem with analyzing the pronouns in relation to the placement of verbs in a Mah Meri sentential construction. It is found that Theta Roles are present in the data except for the Theta Role Recipient. However, this is not due to the lack of the Theta Role of Recipient in the Mah Meri language; rather it is due to the limitation of the scope in this study as data is analyzed based on the interviews only. On the other hand, the Theta Role of Agent is clearly evident in the Mah Meri language.Keywords: Mah Meri Language, Argument Structure, Theta Roles, Thematic Relation

Impact of Wetland Urbanization in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Wetlands provide an important ecological function that contributes to watershed functions, most notably in pollutant removal, flood attenuation, groundwater recharge and discharge, shoreline protection, and wildlife habitat. However, despite of the many watershed services wetlands provide, the pressure from the development of a city is great. This research is carried out to identify the threats that will affect wetlands and the surrounding area undergoing development by using several methodologies, namely observations, photograph analysis and interviews. The area chosen for the study is a wetland in the township of Kota Damansara, a suburb of Kuala Lumpur, the commercial city of Malaysia. The undergoing development of the area, reclaiming17.66 acres of the total 45.89 acres water retention lake to build 6 blocks of apartment and commercial units will create adverse impacts to the area down stream. Moreover, it is believed that the collapse of a bund in the wetland in 2006 had compounded towards the massive flood situation in other cities located down stream. This event more or less provides an attestation to the function and the role of this wetland and the impacts that may occur if it were to undergo any changes. There is a need to compromise between conservation and development as conservation of wetlands is of great significance in preventing flooding

Impact of Wetland urbanization in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Wetlands provide an important ecological function that contributes to watershed functions, most notably in pollutant removal, flood attenuation, groundwater recharge and discharge, shoreline protection, and wildlife habitat. However, despite of the many watershed services wetlands provide, the pressure from the development of a city is great. This research is carried out to identify the threats that will affect wetlands and the surrounding area undergoing development by using several methodologies, namely observations, photograph analysis and interviews. The area chosen for the study is a wetland in the township of Kota Damansara, a suburb of Kuala Lumpur, the commercial city of Malaysia. The undergoing development of the area, reclaiming17.66 acres of the total 45.89 acres water retention lake to build 6 blocks of apartment and commercial units will create adverse impacts to the area down stream. Moreover, it is believed that the collapse of a bund in the wetland in 2006 had compounded towards the massive flood situation in other cities located down stream. This event more or less provides an attestation to the function and the role of this wetland and the impacts that may occur if it were to undergo any changes. There is a need to compromise between conservation and development as conservation of wetlands is of great significance in preventing flooding

Acceptability of Malaysian construction practitioners in adopting 4D

The problem of delay in construction industry is a global phenomenon and the construction industry in Malaysia is no exception. In the current day context, despite significant benefits in terms of time and cost savings gained through the systematic use of 4D technologies on construction projects, Malaysia construction industry has yet to embrace this 4D CAD technology. The aim is to explore the acceptability of 4D as a planning and control tool during construction phase of project life cycle. Surveys and semi-structured interviews were carried out on 169 respondents comprising of the clients, local authorities or regulatory bodies, contractors and consultants. The responses obtained indicate that 96.3% acknowledges the application of this new 4D technology as a useful tool with good potential to mitigate delays especially in relation to visualization, analysis and communication during construction. Based on the outcome of the study, it is recommended that financial and technical support be made available before its actual implementation can be realized. Keywords: Malaysian construction industry, 4D, visualization, communication, mitigate dela

The acceptability of four dimension (4D) virtual construction in Malaysia

The problem of delay in construction industry is a global phenomenon and the construction industry in Malaysia is no exception. In the current day context, despite significant benefits in terms of time and cost savings gained through the systematic use of 4D technologies on construction projects, Malaysia construction industry has yet to embrace this 4D CAD technology. The objective of the study find out the acceptability of 4D planning tool as a to tool to mitigate delays during project control among construction practitioners focusing on the construction phase of project life cycle. Surveys and semi-structured interviews were accomplished on 169 respondents comprising of the clients, local authorities or regulatory bodies, contractors and consultants. The responses obtained indicates that 96.3% acknowledges the application of this new 4D technology as a useful tool with good potential to mitigate delays in relation to visualization, analysis and communication. Based on the outcome of the study, it is recommended that financial and technical support be made available before its actual implementation can be realized. Keywords Malaysian construction industry, 4D, visualization, communication, mitigate dela

Indoor microbial growth prediction using coupled computational fluid dynamics and microbial growth models

This study investigates, using in-situ and numerical simulation experiments, airflow and hygrothermal distribution in a mechanically ventilated academic research facility with known cases of microbial proliferations. Microclimate parameters were obtained from in-situ experiments and used as boundary conditions and validation of the numerical experiments with a commercial CFD analysis tool using the standard k–ε model. The findings revealed good agreements with less than 10% deviations between the measured and simulated results. Subsequent upon successful validation, the model was used to investigate hygrothermal and airflow profile within the shelves holding stored components in the facility. The predicted in-shelf hygrothermal profile were superimposed on mould growth limiting curve earlier documented in the literature. Results revealed the growth of xerophilic species in most parts of the shelves. The mould growth prediction correlates with the microbial investigation in the case studied room reported by the authors elsewhere. Satisfactory prediction of mould growth in the room successfully proved that the CFD simulation can be used to investigate the conditions that lead to microbial growth in an indoor environment. Keywords Hygrothermal performance; in-situ experiments; microbial growth prediction; CFD simulation; indoor microclimate

IMPROVEMENT OF DIPOLE ANTENNA GAIN USING 8 CBU AMC-EBG AND 8 CBU FSS

This paper investigates the performances of dipole antenna incorporated with and without 8 CBU AMC-EBG and 8 CBU FSS at 5.8 GHz. The designs are simulated on Rogers RO 3010. Due to the flexibility of the material used as a substrate, the effect of a different angle is investigated. Both 8 CBU AMC-EBG and 8 CBU FSS act as reasonably good ground plane for the dipole antenna and help improving the realised gain and improve the radiation patterns by push the front lobe at the same time reduce the side lobes. The maximum improvements led by dipole antenna with 8 CBU AMC-EBG thus 8.543 dB of realised gain achieved and the front lobe is pushed higher and the side lobe is significantly lowered than with 8 CBU FSS. The designs of dipole antenna with 8 CBU AMC-EBG and 8 CBU FSS can be applied as high gain atenna for Intelligent Transport System (ITS)

Malaysian labour productivity for reinforced concrete structural frame: a case study

Abstract Labour productivity is one of the major tools in preparing an effective work program.As there is no principle on labour productivity being practiced in Malaysia for the preparation of work program, most of the construction planners are adopting the labour productivity data from other countries such as United Kingdom, United States. These labour productivity rates are unsuitable for Malaysian condition and frequently caused over-run in time and cost.The aim of the study is to come up with Malaysian labour productivity for reinforced concrete structural frame. Data were collected from two construction sites through observation and time study method. From the data calculations on labour productivity for reinforced concrete structural works were obtained. The study also came up with productivity equations which were derived from regression analysis.It is recommended that a more extensive data collection to be carried out in future studies to improve the accuracy of the data and the precision of the equations. Keywords Labour productivity, reinforced concrete structure, regression analysis, work program, construction planner