Hawkers’ Satisfaction with A Local Authority Water Meter Reading Management

This paper aims to identify hawkers' satisfaction with a local authority water meter reading management. Three years ago, the licensing and business development department installed meter readers at the hawker centres. Currently, water meter readers are no longer available, causing the department substantial losses. There are complaints on the use of bulk meters that the amount charged each month is indifferent. Several water meters in the hawker centres are not working correctly, resulting in difficulties by the authority to process the correct amount of water bills. The hawkers need to travel to the headquarters to make payment, making it more difficult. Hawkers are not happy because they have to pay the same amount though they might have consumed less than others. A total of 176 questionnaires was distributed to 500 hawkers in Kuala Lumpur City Hall (KLCH). Data were analysed using SPSS. The results showed that only one variable, water meter management, has a significant and weak relationship, influencing hawkers' satisfaction. This finding will give an excellent insight to the local authority in better control of water meter reading at hawker centres

Automated recyclable waste classification using multiple shape-based properties and quadratic discriminant

Nowadays, a crucial issue in major cities throughout the world is waste management where tons of waste being generated every single day. Fortunately, people can count on other methods to protect the environment through waste recycling. In most countries, waste that can be recycled are being categorised or handled manually by using human labour. The objective of this project is to develop an automated recyclable waste classification method which can replace the traditional ways of dealing with three types of waste, namely plastic bottles, papers, and soda cans. Firstly, we computed a global threshold value based on the Otsu method to obtain a binary image representation. Few morphological operators are then executed to obtain the regions of interest (waste’s object). For feature representation, we calculated multiple shape properties of the waste’s object such as perimeter, area, eccentricity, and major axis length. We experimented the extracted feature vectors with few classifiers. Our findings have shown that the waste classification prototype is able to effectively categorise waste up to 94.4% accuracy based on the proposed shape representation and Quadratic Discriminant classifier

Proteomics Analysis of Latex from Hevea brasiliensis (Clone RRIM 600)

The natural rubber latex extracted from the bark of Hevea brasiliensis plays various important roles in today's modern society. Following ultracentrifugation, the latex can be separated into 3 layers; C-serum, lutoids, and rubber particle. Previous studies showed that a large number of proteins were present inside these three layers. However, a complete proteome for this important plant is still unavailable. Protein sequences have been recently translated from the completed draft genome database of H. brasiliensis leading to the creation of annotated protein databases of H. brasiliensis biosynthetic pathways; photosynthesis, latex allergens, rubberwood formation, latex biosynthesis, and disease resistance. This research was conducted to identify the proteins contained within the latex by way of de novo sequencing from mass spectric data obtained from the 3 layers of the latex. Peptides from these proteins were fragmented using collision-induced dissociation (CID), higher-energy collisional dissociation (HCD) and electron-transfer dissociation (ETD) activation methods. A large percentage of proteins from the biosynthetic pathways were successfully identified, ranging from 63% to 100%. In addition, a total of 1839 unique proteins were identified from the whole translated draft genome database (AnnHBM).The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Indoor Air Auality (IAQ) characteristics and microbial identific ations in two selected schools in Pahang, Malaysia

It is important to assess IAQ characteristics and to identify possible microbial contaminants in schools indoor environment because children are more vulnerable to air pollutants as they inhale more air pollutants per kilograms of body weight. Objectives: This study is done to assess and to compare the level of selected IAQ parameters and microbiological contaminants inside the classroom of schools in urban area and rural area during occupied and non-occupied period. This study also aims to identify airborne bacteria species and fungi genera within classroom of schools in those area. Methods: School X (SX) is located in Kuantan, Pahang, while school Y (SY) is located in Pekan, Pahang. The physical IAQ parameters (Temperature, Relative Humidity (RH), Carbon Dioxide (CO2)) and airborne particulate matter (PM) were measured using VelociCalc® Multi-Function Ventilation Meter 9565 (TSI®, Minnesota, USA), and DustMate (Turnkey Instruments, UK) respectively. Surface Air System Indoor Air Quality (SAS IAQ), (PBI International, Italy) was used to collect the microbial contaminants and subsequently CFU were counted. The data were recorded for 30 minutes for each time-slot for 8 hours during occupied and non-occupied period within selected classrooms. Bacteria identification was done using 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and fungi were identified macroscopically through direct identification technique up to genus level. The results were compared to standard reference limit based on Industrial Code of Practice on Indoor Air Quality (ICOP, 2010) regulated by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH, 2005). Results: This study found that temperature (SX, Occupied; 34.9±3.9, Non-Occupied; 32.8±0.7), (SY, Occupied; 30.7±0.2, Non-Occupied; 30.6±0.5), RH (SY, Occupied; 74.4±2.9, Non-Ocupied; 70.05±1.0) and bacterial CFU counts (SX, Occupied; 558±308), (SY; Occupied; 903±415, Non-Occupied; 1176±303) exceeded the standard limit regulated by DOSH. Number of gram-negative bacteria dominated over gram-positive bacteria in both settings. Bacillus sp. (B. atrophaeus, B. subtilis, B. pumilus, B. altitudinis,. B. tequilensis and B. aerophilus). were the most dominant species, followed by Staphylococcus sp. (S. warneri, S. sciuri, S. haemolyticus and S. gallinarum). The common fungal species isolated in both schools during occupied and non-occupied period were Aspergillus, Alternaria, Cladosporium, Penicillium and Mucor

Heritage studies and measured drawings of Masjid Jamek Sultan Abdul Samad, Kuala Lumpur

Masjid Jamek Sultan Abdul Samad was built in 1909 following the demolition of Masjid Kampung Rawa that is located at Java Street (Jalan Tun Perak) due to expansion of road and to carter the increasing number of Jemaah. The masjid was one of the earliest mosques in Kuala Lumpur. The establishment of Kuala Lumpur is always closely related to Masjid Jamek Sultan Abdul Samad. Furthermore, the quaint masjid is located at the confluence of Klang River and Gombak River, which gives Kuala Lumpur its name. The masjid has gone through a few renovations to cater for the needs of the worshippers. Besides, to pay respect to the third Sultan of Selangor, Almarhum Sultan Abdul Samad, the masjid has been renamed from Masjid Jamek Kuala Lumpur to its current name, Masjid Jamek Sultan Abdul Samad. This report material is separated into (two) 2 parts. The first part of the report highlights the literature review and the findings of Masjid Jamek Sultan Abdul Samad from the fieldwork. It focusses on the contextual studies, the colonial influences, the background history, the details of building construction and case studies from buildings with similar architectural elements. Meanwhile, the second part of this report comprise a compilation of measured drawings of Masjid Jamek Sultan Abdul Samad in 2D and 3D. This report is to convey the analytical studies of the part of Masjid Jamek history and chronology, architectural influences, and the site context of the masjid, and how the structure affect the surrounding context, the culture, the society and the economy activities of Kuala Lumpur until this day. Hopefully, these studies can be beneficial and better enhancement to others in term of its architectural and historical data. Therefore, it is important for the next generation to come appreciate the past story amid the rapid growth and advancement of Kuala Lumpur