Glass Transition Behavior of Poly Methyl Methacrylate Microplastics Under Various Intermediates Ratio

In the recent era, a lot of plastic based intermediates have been derived and synthesized. Although the efforts area appealing, there is drawbacks which claimed that this process created another new type of pollution for waste degradation issues. Thus, many methods have been developed to find the best way for plastic waste disposal. Among others, degradation by worm under vermiculture which employs worms as decomposer agent is one of promising method. In this study, the degradation of microplastics namely Poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) at different ratio of initiator: monomer was synthesized and further tested under vermiculture condition. The mixture was prepared through emulsion polymerization. PMMA was grinded into fine particles and sieved to the size of 500 µm and then mixed with different ratio of cow manure and vermiculture setting was introduced throughout the process. Eudrilus eugeniae was used as decomposer under ambient condition. The rate of PMMA degradation was measured and characterized physically using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) to identify glass transition temperature (Tg). Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) was used to identify thermal degradation of the samples. Four types of PMMA samples were synthesized (PMMA 1, 2, 3 and 4). Laboratory work has demonstrated that the glass transition temperature, Tg of all pure PMMA was found to be in the range of 131°C – 136° C respectively. The optimized sample (PMMA 4) was then further tested under vermiculture at different ratio of cow manure. The result showed that

Development of durian peel activated carbon for the removal of cod and colour from semi-aerobic landfill leachate.

Pencemaran larut lesapan adalah masalah utama yang di hadapi oleh pihak pengurusan tapak pelupusan sampah kerana pembuangan larut lesapan tanpa rawatan yang sesuai akan mengancam hidupan akuatik dan manusia. Leachate pollution has been a major problem in landfill management since discharging of it without proper treatment could cause hazard to aquatic life and human being

Sustainable Treatment of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) by using Pectin and Chitosan in Jar Test Protocol – Sequential Comparison

Oil palm industry in Malaysia is developing as demand towards alternative and cheaper edible oil continuously received from the European Union. However, adverse environmental impacts from this activity coupled with laden recalcitrant effluent contribute to the water pollution pose risk to water body and human’s health. The purpose of this research project is to compare the efficiency between Pectin (Heteropolysaccharide) and Chitosan (D-glucosamine) for tertiary treatment of anaerobic-aerobic treated palm oil mill effluent (POME). Factor that affecting the efficiency of the coagulation process such as dosage of coagulant used was studied by using jar-test protocol. From the experimental results, the ideal experimental conditions that remove turbidity, COD and colour were exceptional when using Chitosan. At this condition 83% of turbidity, 88% of TSS, 79% of colour and 53.1% of COD were removed. Nevertheless, it was observed that pH plays dominating factor that contribute to the overall removal efficiency. This research would give an idea on alternative way for tertiary wastewater treatment of POME

Sustainable Treatment of Landfill Leachate

Landfill leachate is a complex liquid that contains excessive concentrations of biodegradable and non-biodegradable products including organic matter, phenols, ammonia nitrogen, phosphate, heavy metals, and sulfide. If not properly treated and safely disposed, landfill leachate could be an impending source to surface and ground water contamination as it may percolate throughout soils and subsoils, causing adverse impacts to receiving waters. Lately, various types of treatment methods have been proposed to alleviate the risks of untreated leachate. However, some of the available techniques remain complicated, expensive and generally require definite adaptation during process. In this article, a review of literature reported from 2008 to 2012 on sustainable landfill leachate treatment technologies is discussed which includes biological and physical–chemical techniques, respectively

Government Transformation Programme (GTP): Effects of 4S Approach in Malaysian Government Departments

The  Government  Transformation  Programme  has  become  the  central  issue  among  the public. For any government to retain its popularity, changes are needed to provide more vibrant,  dynamic,  and  progressive  services  to  its  client,  customer,  and  stakeholders. Therefore,   implementing   McKinsey   approach   is   one   mechanism   to   realise   the transformation  programme.  Implementing  McKinsey  approach  has  long  been  practised by  various  organisations  in  adding  value  to  delivery  and  improving  performance.  This article  demonstrates  findings  of  the  four  out  of  seven  McKinsey  approach  elements implemented  in  two  government  departments  in  Malaysia.  The  survey  method  was conducted  in  this  study  on  respondents  comprising  all  the  stakeholders  dealing  in  the everyday  transactions  with  the  government  departments,  including  suppliers,  vendors, and  many  more.  All  the  questionnaires  were  analysed  and  findings  explained  in  greater detail.  The  four  McKinsey  elements  included  strategy,  structure,  system,  and  shared values  (4S).A  comparison  was  made  between  the  results  of  the  4S  from  both  agencies. Interestingly,  the  results  illustrated  how  the  government  departments  transformed  their operational services by getting the whole organisation to put great efforts to undergo the overall process. The results also indicated that for a government department to undergo transformation, staff’s attitude toward changes, behaviour, and knowledge are crucial in making the process a successful one. Further elaboration on outcomes of each McKinsey elements is discussed in detail. The findings would become a guideline for future research dealing  with  elements  of  McKinsey  approach,  as  well  as  serve  as  a  reference  for  the betterment of any organisation that wants to apply the transformation agenda

Preparation and Characterization of Alginate Beads by Drop Weight

The preparation and characterization of macro alginate beads are always associated with appropriate techniques involving precise measurement of shape, size, volume and density of the products. Depending on the type of application, encapsulation of macro alginate beads can be accomplished by various techniques including chemical, ionotropic, physical and mechanical methods. This work describes a method for preparing macro alginate beads through drop weight. The macro beads (2.85–3.85 mm) were prepared via different concentrations of alginate (0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 g/L), dripping tip size (0.04–0.14 cm) and immersion into a predetermined concentration of calcium chloride (CaCl2) bath. A custom made dripping vessel fabricated from acrylic plastic, connected to an adjustable dripping clamp was used to simulate the dripping process of the molten alginate at different tip sizes. It was observed that at different dripping tips, the correction factor for the alginate slurry was found in the range of 0.73–0.83. Meanwhile, the lost factor, KLF was observed at 0.93–2.3 and the shrinkage factors were limited to 2.00% from the overall distributed data. It was concluded that liquid properties had no effect on the liquid lost factor. The bead size prediction for different concentrations of alginate solution was compared to the experimental data. Subsequently, it was concluded that increasing the tip size caused the bead size to deviate almost 20% when compared to the experimental and predicted values, respectively

A comprehensive review of crop yield prediction using machine learning approaches with special emphasis on palm oil yield prediction

An early and reliable estimation of crop yield is essential in quantitative and financial evaluation at the field level for determining strategic plans in agricultural commodities for import-export policies and doubling farmer’s incomes. Crop yield predictions are carried out to estimate higher crop yield through the use of machine learning algorithms which are one of the challenging issues in the agricultural sector. Due to this developing significance of crop yield prediction, this article provides an exhaustive review on the use of machine learning algorithms to predict crop yield with special emphasis on palm oil yield prediction. Initially, the current status of palm oil yield around the world is presented, along with a brief discussion on the overview of widely used features and prediction algorithms. Then, the critical evaluation of the state-of-the-art machine learning-based crop yield prediction, machine learning application in the palm oil industry and comparative analysis of related studies are presented. Consequently, a detailed study of the advantages and difficulties related to machine learning-based crop yield prediction and proper identification of current and future challenges to the agricultural industry is presented. The potential solutions are additionally prescribed in order to alleviate existing problems in crop yield prediction. Since one of the major objectives of this study is to explore the future perspectives of machine learning-based palm oil yield prediction, the areas including application of remote sensing, plant’s growth and disease recognition, mapping and tree counting, optimum features and algorithms have been broadly discussed. Finally, a prospective architecture of machine learning-based palm oil yield prediction has been proposed based on the critical evaluation of existing related studies. This technology will fulfill its promise by performing new research challenges in the analysis of crop yield prediction and the development

Oil palm and machine learning: reviewing one decade of ideas, innovations, applications, and gaps

Machine learning (ML) offers new technologies in the precision agriculture domain with its intelligent algorithms and strong computation. Oil palm is one of the rich crops that is also emerging with modern technologies to meet global sustainability standards. This article presents a comprehensive review of research dedicated to the application of ML in the oil palm agricultural industry over the last decade (2011–2020). A systematic review was structured to answer seven predefined research questions by analysing 61 papers after applying exclusion criteria. The works analysed were categorized into two main groups: (1) regression analysis used to predict fruit yield, harvest time, oil yield, and seasonal impacts and (2) classification techniques to classify trees, fruit, disease levels, canopy, and land. Based on defined research questions, investigation of the reviewed literature included yearly distribution and geographical distribution of articles, highly adopted algorithms, input data, used features, and model performance evaluation criteria. Detailed quantitative– qualitative investigations have revealed that ML is still underutilised for predictive analysis of oil palm. However, smart systems integrated with machine vision and artificial intelligence are evolving to reform oil palm agri-business. This article offers an opportunity to understand the significance of ML in the oil palm agricultural industry and provides a roadmap for future research in this domain

Knowledge, attitude and practice on food higiene among the homemakers in Bukit Aup, Sibu, Sarawak from 8th July 2013 to 20th September 2013

Background: Foodborne diseases are a potential threat to the public health. Despite all the Food Act and Regulation, the problem of foodbome diseases is still not uncommon in Malaysia. Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) with regards to food hygiene among homemakers of Bukit Aup in Sibu, Sarawak. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study done among 101 homemakers in Bukit Aup, Sibu, Sarawak. A Non-probability sampling method was adopted to select at least one homemaker from each household in the village. An interviewer-guided style of data collection was used. The data was analysed for descriptive data of mean and median, frequencies and standard deviation using SPSS. Results: Among the respondents, the level of good KAP are 53.5%, 39.6% and 58.4% respectively. A significant positive correlation is noted between attitude score and practice score (r=0.203, p<0.05) using Pearson correlation analysis. Out of a total number of 457 villagers, 33 of them (7.2%) had gastrointestinal health complaints in the past six months. There were 36 episodes (7.9%) of abdominal cramp or pain, followed by 18 episodes (3.9%) of diarrhoea and three episodes (0.7%) of vomiting. Conclusion: Generally, it was observed that the respondents had a satisfactory level of knowledge and practices of food hygiene. However some of the respondents had some lapses in their responses to queries on food hygiene attitude

Sustainable Treatment of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) by using Pectin and Chitosan in Jar Test Protocol – Sequential Comparison

Oil palm industry in Malaysia is developing as demand towards alternative and cheaper edible oil continuously received from the European Union. However, adverse environmental impacts from this activity coupled with laden recalcitrant effluent contribute to the water pollution pose risk to water body and human’s health. The purpose of this research project is to compare the efficiency between Pectin (Heteropolysaccharide) and Chitosan (D-glucosamine) for tertiary treatment of anaerobic-aerobic treated palm oil mill effluent (POME). Factor that affecting the efficiency of the coagulation process such as dosage of coagulant used was studied by using jar-test protocol. From the experimental results, the ideal experimental conditions that remove turbidity, COD and colour were exceptional when using Chitosan. At this condition 83% of turbidity, 88% of TSS, 79% of colour and 53.1% of COD were removed. Nevertheless, it was observed that pH plays dominating factor that contribute to the overall removal efficiency. This research would give an idea on alternative way for tertiary wastewater treatment of POME