Impact of Meteorological Conditions on Airborne Particulates (PM2.5 & PM10) Concentration on Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) Ambient: Humidity: Humidity

The goal of this study at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia is to determine the impact of meteorology on the concentration of airborne particulates in the ambient air. Air pollution is becoming more of a problem as a result of unregulated chemical gas emissions from industry, fossil fuel combustion, and forest fires. Air quality in UTHM ambient shall be considered carefully as it will give unsatisfactory comfort level and affecting the health of the occupants in UTHM as there are various human activities contribute to air pollution at UTHM ambient air. In this study, the concentration of particulate matter in UTHM air ambient are measured using Met One E – Sampler and the Meteo Compact Station to collect data on particulate matter and meteorological conditions such as wind speed, relative humidity, and temperature and were used to compared the data collected from both stations. A total of 14 days of data were gathered at Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built Environment (FKAAB) and Makmal Kejuruteraan Bahan Termaju (FKAAB). COMET software was used to retrieve the data from Met One E-Sampler, meanwhile the data from Meteo Compact Station can be retrieve from Delta Ohm Cloud website after instrument is set up. However, in this study, the data was provided by FKAAB Building Services and Maintenance Cluster. The concentration measured may be generated by surrounding human activity such as manufacturing plants, construction, heavy traffic, and other human activities. From the study, the result that shows the greatest average levels of PM10 and PM2.5 were found in Makmal Kejuruteraan Bahan Termaju (FKAAB), with 33.21 µg/m3 and 29.0 µg/m3, respectively. However, both stations' particulate concentrations are below the New Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). Future research should focus on determining the most significant human activities that contribute to the presence of contaminants in the ambient air at UTHM by using instruments that can collect various data at the same time, such as the Meteo Compact Station. This enables data to be collected and compared simultaneously. Other than that, the relevant parties or university must take action by developing more solutions for reducing society's exposure to airborne particles and improving UTHM's air quality to ensure that their comfort and health do not deteriorate

Determination of flow resistance coefficient for vegetation in open channel: laboratory study

This study focused on determination of flow resistances coefficient for grass in an open channel. Laboratory works were conducted to examine the effects of varying of roughness elements on the flume to determine flow resistance coefficient and also to determine the optimum flow resistance with five different flow rate, Q. Laboratory study with two type of vegetation which are Cow Grass and Pearl Grass were implementing to the bed of a flume. The roughness coefficient, n value is determine using Manning’s equation while Soil Conservation Services (SCS) method was used to determine the surface resistance. From the experiment, the flow resistance coefficient for Cow Grass in range 0.0008 - 0.0039 while Pearl Grass value for the flow resistance coefficient are in between 0.0013 - 0.0054. As a conclusion the vegetation roughness value in open channel are depends on density, distribution type of vegetation used and physical characteristic of the vegetation itsel

Ammonia detection in water with balloon-like plastic optical fiber sensor

This work presents the demonstration of a plastic optical fiber(POF)-based ammonia sensor. The sensor head is formed by bending an unclad fiber optic sensor into a balloon-like structure. The bending radius of the balloon-like bent fiber optic sensor is varied from 1.0 to 2.5 cm. The performance of each sensor is tested using ammonia solution with concentration ranging from 0 to 15 mg l−1 . Results show that the optimized performances of the proposed sensor occur when the bending radius is fixed at 1.5 cm. At this bending radius, the sensor illustrates the sensitivity of − 0.0024 (mg/l) −1with linearity of 0.97 and resolution of − 4.17 mg l−1 . For comparison, the bent sensor is compared to the straight sensor and performances of the former is found to be more superior. In addition, the balloon-like bent sensor is further tested with real water samples. The sensor sensitivity is found to be − 0.0022 (mg/l) −1with linearity of 0.95 and resolution of − 4.54 mg l−1 . The result shows that the sensor has comparable performance in the ammonia detection for both pure ammonia and real water samples. In essence, this balloon-like bent sensor functions without additional coating on the sensor head, making it favorable in terms of the simplicity of the design