The removal of plumbum and zinc using activated carbon

This project was about removing heavy metal, Pb and Zn using activated carbon and to investigate the effect of activated carbon dosage and pH of heavy metal solution during the experiment. In the experiment, the effect of different particle size of activated carbon also being studied. The experiment was using different doses of activated carbon to investigate the removal of heavy metal. It was carried by adding different doses of activated carbon to stock solution. Besides, it was also tested at different value of pH, which was done by adding an amount of activated carbon that gives the best performance into different pH of stock solution to get the maximum heavy metal removal. The powdered and granular activated carbon (GAC) used to see the different effect. To get the maximum effect, the solution was well mixed using the orbital shaker for 1 hour at 30oC. Samples were taken after it mixed and analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). From the result, pH 10 gives the highest removal percentage of the heavy metal which is 92.8% for zinc ion and 93.36% for plumbum ion. From the result also, the removal percentage of heavy metal ion was highest when 5g of activated carbon was added to both simulated waste water. The removal percentage was 47.2% for zinc ion and 62.68% for plumbum ion. The result also shows that the powdered activated carbon (PAC) can increase the percentage of heavy metal ion removal compare to GAC. The removal percentage was 95.2% when the PAC was used while 53.74% for GAC. As conclusion, we know that activated carbon dosage and pH totally influence the removal of heavy metal ion.-Autho

Teamworking in Two Dissimilar Secondary Comprehensive Schools: An Account of Team Roles, Interaction and interdependence in Action

This study investigates team working in four middle level teams within two socio economically and geographically dissimilar secondary comprehensives. Over a period of two years, data was collected using Belbin’s (1993) Self-Perception Inventory, administered to a total of thirty eight teachers at various levels of responsibility within the two schools. The response rate was 91.9%. A total of twelve team meetings were observed, videoed and analysed using Bales’ (1950) Interaction Process Analysis schedule. The result is a descriptive account of how teachers and their leaders deploy their roles and interact as they work together in teams. This study found that, although school cultures assumed that teachers would work in a team structure, both teachers and their leaders seemed either not to have a conceptual understanding of their team roles, or considered it unimportant in the pursuance of their day to day work. Interactions in meetings did not always reflect teachers’ self-perceived team roles, and interdependence tended to be predominantly task-focussed. The study revealed that the quality and extent of teamworking was problematic in many respects. The practice of teamworking in the school contexts studied showed gaps between the prescription and advice proffered by management literature, and the reality of teamworking in key areas of team management such as leadership, goal management, vision making and conflict recognition/resolution

MULTIVARIATE MULTISITE STATISTICAL DOWNSCALING OF ATMOSPHERE-OCEAN GENERAL CIRCULATION MODEL OUTPUTS OVER THE CANADIAN PRAIRIE PROVINCES

Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Models (AOGCMs) are the primary tool for modelling global climate change in the future. However, their coarse spatial resolution does not permit direct application for local scale impact studies. Therefore, either dynamical or statistical downscaling techniques are used for translating AOGCM outputs to local scale climatic variables. The main goal of this study was to improve our understanding of the historical and future climate change at local-scale in the Canadian Prairie Provinces (CPPs) of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, comprising 47 diverse watersheds. Given the vast nature of the study area and paucity of recorded data, a novel approach for identifying homogeneous regions for regionalization of precipitation characteristics for the CPPs was proposed. This approach incorporated information about predictors ― large-scale atmospheric covariates from the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Reanalysis-I, teleconnection indices and geographical site attributes that impact spatial patterns of precipitation in order to delineate homogeneous precipitation regions using a combination of multivariate approaches. This resulted in the delimitation of five homogeneous climatic regions which were validated independently for homogeneity using statistics computed from observations recorded at 120 stations across the CPPs. For multisite multivariate statistical downscaling, an approach based on the Generalized Linear Model (GLM) framework was developed to downscale daily observations of precipitation and minimum and maximum temperatures from 120 sites located across the CPPs. First, the aforementioned predictors and observed daily precipitation and temperature records were used to calibrate GLMs for the 1971–2000 period. Then the calibrated GLMs were used to generate daily sequences of precipitation and temperatures for the 1962–2005 historical (conditioned on NCEP predictors), and future period (2006–2100) using outputs from six CMIP5 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase-5) AOGCMs corresponding to Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP): RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5 scenarios. The results indicated that the fitted GLMs were able to capture spatiotemporal characteristics of observed climatic fields. According to the downscaled future climate, mean precipitation is projected to increase in summer and decrease in winter while minimum temperature is expected to warm faster than the maximum temperature. Climate extremes are projected to intensify with increased radiative forcing

Skill Development and Motivational Enhancement to Change Drinking Behavior in Sabah Borneo

Alcohol is the third highest risk factor for disease prevalence in the world and threatens the quality of life of people and societies Consumption of alcohol is a challenge in a few of the native communities of Sabah and Sarawak with the highest prevalence of risky drinking in Malaysia This study aimed to compare drinking refusal self-efficacy DRSE and quality of life QOL between the experimental group and the control group before and after the Motivational Enhancement Intervention MEI and to compare DRSE and QOL of the experimental group before and after the MEI A quasiexperimental design was used to assess the effectiveness of MEI at baseline and three months follow-up by using pretest and posttest design A total of 56 villagers in the West Coast Division of Sabah participated in this study Purposive sampling by using Alcohol Use Identification Test AUDIT was applied to select hazardous and harmful drinkers between age 18 to 56 years old Data was analyzed by using IBM SPSS version 26 0 The result found a significant difference in DRSE and QOL in the intervention group before and after MEI A significant difference in these measures was also found between the intervention and control groups after MEI The study results are significant to provide direction for the next action plan for intervention purposes aimed to increase the ability to resist drinking alcohol in various situations and to improve the QOL among the indigenous communities of Saba

Pengaruh keadilan organisasi dan diskriminasi terhadap tingkah laku kewargaan pekerja terhadap organisasi

Kepelbagaian individu dalam organisasi rnenimbulkan variasi ragam dan tingkah laku yang berbeza-beza. Khususnya di Sabah, kepelbagaian dan keunikan etnik melahirkan pelbagai budaya, adat resam dan tingkah laku. Pada masa yang sarna, perbezaan jantina turut memainkan peranan dalam membentuk tingkah laku seseorang individu. Tingkah laku kewargaan pekerja dalam organisasi merupakan satu tingkah laku yang dilakukan di luar daripada deskripsi tugas seseorang pekerja. Terdapat pelbagai faktor yang dapat mempengaruhi tingkah laku kewargaan pekerja. Di mana, keadilan organisasi merupakan satu tunjang utama dalam setiap perubahan yang dilakukan dalam organisasi yang berupaya menentukan tingkah laku pekerja dalam organisasi. Sebaliknya, diskriminasi yang berlaku mendorong kepada tingkah laku tidak produktif dalam orgasasi. Oleh itu, satu kajian dilakukan bertujuan untuk menyokong kenyataan tersebut dengan menilai pengaruh keadilan organisasi dan diskriminasi etnik dan jantina terhadap tingkah laku kewargaan pekerja. Kajian turut menilai peranan diskriminasi etnik dan jantina yang dirasakan sebagai moderator dalam hubungan keadilan organisasi dengan tingkah laku kewargaan pekerja dalam organisasi. Seramai 453 orang pekerja di sekitar kawasan Kota Kinabalu terlibat dalam kajian ini. Kajian ini berbentuk kuantitatif yang menggunakan satu set soal selidik yang mengandungi Organizational Justice Survey, OJS (Colquitt, 2001), Perceived Discrimination (Sanchez dan Brock, 1996) dan Organizational Citizenship Behavior Questionnaire, OCBs (Moorman dan Blakely, 1995). Hasil analisis mendapati pengaruh yang signifikan secara positif keadilan organisas\ terhadap tingkah laku kewargaan pekerja terhadap organisasi. Oiskriminasi etnik dan jantina yang dirasakan berpengaruh signifikan secara negatif ke atas tingkah laku kewargaan pekerja terhadap organisasi. Kesan moderator diskriminasi etnik dan jantina yang dirasakan ditemui dalam hubungan di antara keadilan pengagihan dengan tingkah laku interpersonal membantu pekerja dalam organisasi

Alternative livelihoods in a coastal village

Women, Gender, Economic situation, Philippines,

Effects of Alcohol towards Quality of Life in the Indigenous Groups of the West Coast Division, Sabah, Malaysia

Alcohol consumption has consequences for the health and quality of life of individuals and communities. It is a problem among some of the Indigenous groups of Sabah and Sarawak with some of the highest prevalence of risky drinking in Malaysia. Alcohol is considered to be part of the culture of some of these Indigenous groups and a way to maintain the connection to their culture and traditions. However, drinking too much on a single occasion and drinking regularly over time is not a part of the culture. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the positive and negative effects of alcohol on quality of life (QoL) of an Indigenous community of Sabah. A total of 56 villagers from the West Coast Division of Sabah were interviewed in focus group discussions using the diamond dialogue tool. Data were analysed using thematic analysis and revealed that alcohol consumption has both beneficial and adverse effects on health, behavioural, social, economic and psychological factors, depending on the drinking patterns. These harmful results suggest that awareness and harm-reduction programmes may help to empower the Indigenous groups of Sabah to reduce alcohol-related harm

Using the diamond dialogue to explore community ambivalence towards changing alcohol use and strengthen community action

Statement of the Problem: Alcohol related harm is considered significant in many areas in Sabah. This project aimed to provide community members with information and approaches to addressing this problem in their own area. This paper shows a unique approach to health promotion and community engagement in rural communities. Method: This project used action research methodology. A workshop for alcohol misuse was held in a rural village. At the start of the workshop four groups were formed and focus group discussions were held using the diamond dialogue technique. Responses were analysed for themes, using grounded theory methods. The position on the diamond shape was analysed by overlaying a 11 point grid, with 10 corresponding to the highest level of happiness and 0 corresponding to the lowest level of happiness. Results & Findings: The diamond dialogue was originally created as a research tool to measure the effectiveness of community level interventions on wellbeing. This tool was initially used as a way of evaluating our alcohol intervention. While being used in this way it was noted that the tool itself provided an avenue for change. It has not previously been used specifically as an intervention in itself. The respondents appeared to understand the exercise well. Five main themes were found: Family and relationships, security, health, expanding horizons, religion. Alcohol was a topic that pervaded all of these themes, with positive and negative effects. Results suggest that using the diamond dialogue created a collective motivation to change. Exploring community ambivalence towards alcohol, acceptance of both the positive and negative effects and validation of the community’s views provided a platform for engagement. This leads to “change talk” and ownership of possible solutions. Conclusion & Significance: This research suggests the diamond dialogue tool is useful both as an explorative tool and a standalone community level intervention tool. Further research is underway to further explore this conclusion and develop the tool for wider use in communities

Surface Modification Inspired by Malayopython Reticulatus for Friction Control

This research is to study the frictional characteristics of a real Malayopython Reticulatus snake ventral scales and to evaluate its feasibility as an inspiration for surface modification designs. Two types of experiments were carried out at different sliding directions and surfaces to analyze the frictional characteristics of snake ventral scales. From this study, snakeskin demonstrates frictional anisotropy and it is prominent under wet condition. Based on these findings, surface designs inspired by snakeskin is suitable for parts or components that are subjected to directional friction especially in wet conditions