Empowering Distributed Solar PV Energy For Malaysian Rural Housing: Towards Energy Security And Equitability Of Rural Communities

This paper illustrates on how Malaysia’s development landscapes has been powered by cheap oil and gas making it dependent and addicted on using large amounts of fossil fuels. As a country that is primarily depended on fossil fuels for generating power supply, Malaysia needs to cogitate of long-term energy security due to fossil fuel depletion and peak oil issues. Loss of these resources could leadto thereduction of power generation capacitywhich will threaten the stability of the electricity supply in Malaysia. This could potentially influence in an increase in electricity costs which lead to a phase of power scarcity and load shedding for the country. With the risk of interrupted power supplies, rural households, especially those of low-income groups are particularly vulnerable to the post-effects of a power outage and an inequitable distribution to the people. Distributed generation of electricity by solar PVs diminishes the vulnerability of these households and can also offer an income to them by feeding the power supply to the national grid through Feed-in Tariff scheme. At the moment, the deployment of solar PV installations is still in the introductory stage in Malaysia, where roof-mounted PV panels are only available to commercial and urban residential buildings. This is due to the lack of a suitable renewable energy policy for rural householdsandthe high cost of the solar PV technology. This paper will put forward an analysis for incorporating solar photovoltaic on roofs of rural houses by identifying the energy consumption of these households and the extent to which PVs can alleviate electricity insecurity. The results present significant potential for distributed PV power generation in rural areas in Malaysia which shown a considerable amount of electricity needed to be harvested from roof-mounted solar PV for rural people in Malaysi

The Effect of Plasma-Treated Boron Nitride on Partial Discharge Characteristics of LDPE

Power supply reliability is a key factor in a country economic stability. It is contributed by the reliable power distributor via transmission lines, overhead or underground cables. However, the power cables and accessories are always exposed to pre-breakdown phenomena known as partial discharges (PD) which commonly occur in microvoids, defects or protrusions inside the insulation. To improve the performance of the cable insulation against PD, nanofillers are added into the insulating materials. However, to achieve superior performance of PD resistance, the nanofillers must be homogeneously dispersed into the polymer matrices with tightly bonded interfacial zones. Therefore, this could be achieved by employing method of surface functionalization by using cold atmospheric plasma to strengthen the filler/polymer interfaces. In view of foregoing, this study investigated the effects of surface treated boron nitride (BN) nanoparticles in Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) on the PD characteristics by following CIGRE Method II at 7 kVrms applied voltage. The phase resolved PD characteristics were performed. The results revealed that by treating the nanofillers with cold plasma, the PD resistance of LDPE were highly achieved compared with the untreated BN nanofillers

Cost Overruns on Federal Capital Territory Authority Road Construction Projects

The pervasiveness of cost overruns on construction projects has been an issue of great concern. Many studies have been carried out worldwide to address the problem. However, there is dearth of literature on Nigerian road construction projects cost overruns. This study focused on determining the extent of cost overruns on Federal Capital Territory Authority (FCTA)road construction projects and identifying the most significant of the causes. The study used questionnaire survey, interviews and examination of road construction documents to obtain data. Measure of discrepancy, relative index and thematic analysis were used for the data analysis. The study revealed different causes of cost overruns for the different methods employed. Analysis of the questionnaire survey data showed that inflation, fluctuation of prices, exchange rate, government related issues like changes in policies, and variation were the 5 most significant causes of road construction projects’ cost overruns. Examination of construction documents however showed that delays in payment, design changes, and unforeseen ground conditions were the main contributory causes. Yet, interview responses indicated that cost overruns on road construction projects occur due to many diverse reasons. It was therefore concluded that different road projects have different challenges and experience different magnitude of cost overruns that result from various reasons. Therefore, findings on one road are not always applicable to other roads.Keywords: Cost Overruns, Management, Nigeria, Road Construction Projects, PLS-SE

Comparative Study Of Iterative Search Method For Adaptive Filtering Problems.

Adaptive filtering problem refers to a class of application in signal processing that deals with adaptation of a system so as to adjust itself with the phenomenon that is taking place in its surrounding. Examples of such problem include adaptive system modeling, noise cancellation, equalization and prediction

Green Technology Policy as a Driver for Change Sustainability Practices among the Community in Melaka

The suggestion for people to change their minds towards a developed society in line with the idea of implementing green technology urban development is a necessity to achieve sustainable development. Therefore, this study attempts to analyze the issues related to the need to change society’s practices so that society is able to face the cultural environment of society based on green technology towards sustainability. This study uses a quantitative method that is using by a questionnaire instrument involving a total of 308 respondents. The results of the analysis found that those living in areas involved with green technology were higher their awareness towards green lifestyle compared to communities outside the green technology declaration area. In general, there are various challenges in the implementation of green technology urban development in Melaka, especially in changing the lifestyle of the community towards the ideology of sustainable development based on green technology

Switchable Absorptive Bandstop to Bandpass Filter using Stepped-Impedance Dual Mode Resonator

In this paper, a new switchable absorptive bandstop to bandpass filter using stepped-impedance dual mode resonator is proposed. This switchable filter provides two modes of operation which is absorptive bandstop and bandpass response. The first part of this paper presents a theoretical analysis of the absorptive bandstop filter using steppedimpedance dual mode resonator. The absorptive bandstop response can be achieved by connecting λ/4 length with the stepped-impedance dual mode resonator with correct diameter and position of via hole as an inductive element. The second part of this paper presents an investigation and design of the switchable absorptive bandstop to bandpass filter. PIN diodes are used as the switching element. The selectivity of the bandpass response can be improved by using extended via hole. The parametric studies together with the EM simulation of the new switchable absorptive bandstop to the dual mode bandpass filter is presented in this paper

Assessment of fluoride and pH levels in a range of ready-to-drink children’s beverages marketed in Malaysia

This study aimed to determine the fluoride and pH levels of beverages likely to be consumed by children in Malaysia and to estimate daily fluoride intake from consumption of these beverages. A convenience sampling of 120 ready-to-drink beverages were purchased and categorised into 11 groups (UHT recombined milk, fresh milk [pasteurised], cultured milk [probiotic], yogurt beverages, fresh fruit juices, fruit flavoured beverages, soy-based beverages, malt-based beverages, tea, carbonated beverages and bottled waters). Fluoride concentration was measured using a fluoride ion-selective electrode while the pH level was measured using a pH meter. The fluoride concentration in the beverages ranged from 0.02±0.00 mg/L to 2.77±0.06 mg/L. Tea was found to have the highest fluoride concentration. The intake of fluoride from consumption of other types of beverages is below the lowest-observed-adverseeffect level (except tea). The pH of the beverages included in the study ranged from 2.20±0.01 to 7.76±0.00. Carbonated beverages (mean pH: 2.98±0.50) were found to be extremely acidic followed by fresh fruit juices (mean pH: 3.38±0.34) and fruit flavoured beverages (mean pH: 3.90±0.92). The correlation between fluoride and pH levels was weak, τ = 0.058 and not statistically significant (p < 0.35). The majority of the beverages had a low fluoride level and their consumption is unlikely to cause fluorosis except for tea. Almost half of the beverages had a low pH level with carbonated beverages being the most acidic

A Solution to Finite Escape Time for H∞ Filter based SLAM

This paper proposed a solution to the Finite Escape Time problem in H∞ Filter based Simultaneous Localization and Mapping problem. Finite escape time has been one of the obstacle that holding the realization of H∞ Filter in many applications. For this reason, a method of decorrelating some of the updated state covariance of the filter is suggested to avoid the finite escape time from occurred during mobile robot estimations. Two main cases are investigated in this paper to observe the filter performances which are the unstable partially observable and stable partially observable H∞ Filter-SLAM. The simulation results have shown convincing outcomes to the overall estimation, which can prevent the finite escape time in the estimation especially for the stable partially observable H∞ Filter-SLAM case

Comparison of Biodiesel Properties Produced from Moringa Oleifera Seeds Oil and Palm Oil

Biodiesel possess a great potential to help in reducing the dependence on non-renewable fuel which will run out in a near future. Moreover, problems regarding environmental pollution caused from the combustion of fossil fuel and volatile price of this valuable energy had escalated the research and development in production of biodiesel from various feedstocks. This research was conducted to study the effect of different solvent on the yield percentage of extracted oil. Also to produce biodiesel from Moringa oleifera seeds oil and palm oil. Also, to compare the properties of biodiesel produced from these two resources. The Moringa oleifera seeds were crushed and the oil was extracted by solvent extraction process using three different solvent (n-hexane, methanol, and ethanol). The extracted Moringa oleifera seeds oil and palm oil were converted into biodiesel through transesterification process in a presence of methanol and potassium hydroxide as catalyst. As a conclusion, n-Hexane was the best solvent which gives the highest oil yield with an average percentage of 34.3%. The biodiesel properties (such as: cetane number of 66.7, 59.5, kinematic viscosity of 4.8 mm2/s, 5.04  mm2/s, cloud point of 18oC, 16oC, pour point 12oC, 7oC, flash point 162oC, 155oC, and density 875 kg/m3, 890 kg/m3)produced from Moringa oleifera seeds oil and palm oil, respectively. Moringa oleifera seeds oil had the potential to become a better feedstock to produce biodiesel (MOME) as it possess a better properties compared to biodiesel produced from palm oil (POME)