Sejarah dan rekabentuk masjid warisan Kampung Parit Melana di Alor Gajah, Melaka

Diketahui umum bahawa masjid adalah sebuah binaan sturktur yang dibina oleh penganut agama Islam yang berfungsi menyediakan ruang untuk melakukan solat serta aktiviti-aktiviti lain yang berhubungkait dengan kepentingan Islam. Reka bentuk masjid perlulah memenuhi tujuan asal pembinaannya, sementara faktor-faktor lain seperti keadaan setempat juga memberi pengaruh terhadap seni bina masjid tersebut. Objektif kajian Masjid Warisan Kampung Parit Melana adalah untuk mengenalpasti asal usul dan senibina identiti setempat. Kajian di peringkat awalan ini memberi fokus dari segi sejarah, senibina dan kaedah pembinaan masjid lama ini. Hasil kajian menyimpulkan bahawa seni bina masjid merupakan antara seni bina yang memainkan peranan penting dalam pencarian identiti senibina kebangsaan, di samping ia kekal menjadi tumpuan kepada komuniti sebagai pusat ibadah dan pelbagai aktiviti. Oleh itu, masjid warisan seperti Masjid Warisan Kampung Parit Melana perlu dikekalkan untuk rujukan penting bagi generasi akan datang

Preventing requirements defects to improve requirements engineering in information systems development / Mohd Farid Assamani Mohamed Zainon

There are lots of requirements defects that can delay the progress of development. It is also will give disaster on software product when it reaches on implementation phase. Even though it will interrupt the process, there are still some techniques that can help to prevent those requirements defects. This research is conducted to identify what are the commonly known requirements defects that occurred during the process and what are the techniques that can be used to prevent it. The objectives of this research are to compare each of the prevention techniques and proposing the effective prevention techniques that can be implemented. The research approach used is in a mixed method. Based on findings, 46 out of 50 respondents agreed that demand change is a most defect occurred, there are other defects that mostly occurred e.g., incomplete requirements, conflicting requirements, misimderstood requirements and inconsistent tacit. 35 respondents agreed that scenario was the best technique to prevent defects. While, there are some other techniques that also suitable to prevent defects, such as, user data model, focus groups with users and consistency review. From the propose techniques, it is conclude that the objectives are achieved

Performance Evaluation of Four-Sided Square Wind Catchers with Different Geometries by Numerical Method

The extensive enhance of using air conditioning to cool and ventilate buildings in hot - arid climate regions have turned into an actual crisis since these systems consume high load of electricity. Recently, green ventilation features such as wind catchers have been utilized as a solution in order to improve indoor air quality and decrease energy consumption. The most common ventilation device in hot and hot-humid areas of Iran was wind catcher or "Badgir". This study is an outline of the results of a research on the wind catcher element in the traditional architecture of Iran. An appraisal of the wind towers' individuality with prominence on their morphology is presented and classification of the wind towers based on their physical characteristic and parameters are thus proposed. This paper also presents a limited wind driven simulation results which shows the impact of different square wind catcher's plan geometry on the indoor ventilation rate. The simulations accomplished using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), reveal the effect of four different square wind catchers on the indoor ventilation rate

Comparison of green design strategies in five traditional Malay houses

The traditional Malay house architecture is undoubtedly one of the ideal green ideal design concepts that can be applied in Malaysian housing development for sustainability. Not only does it have unique features that symbolize national identity, but it is also an important example with various design strategies for habitable space based on local climate and sociocultural aspects. Nowadays, Malaysia’s construction sector has changed due to modernization and being replaced and disintegrated by modern influences. Thus, it erodes the values of the existing green design approaches commonly found in the design of traditional Malay house architecture, that respond well to the local sociocultural and climate conditions. The objective of this study is to identify the green approaches in traditional Malay houses in Malaysia. This study used a qualitative approach, which is a combination of literature studies and site observations. For the site observations approach, it limited to traditional Malay houses from five out of eleven states in Peninsular Malaysia. The investigated traditional Malay houses are from Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Terengganu, and Kelantan. The findings of the study show that the architecture of these traditional Malay houses have many green design strategies which prove the sustainability aspect exist in all investigated traditional Malay houses. Thus, this study lists 22 of typically found green design strategies in traditional Malay houses and it can be used as reference or guideline for designing homes in Malaysia

The Prevalence of Physical Activity and Sedentary Lifestyle among Adolescents in Palestine

Physical inactivity and sedentary behavior have been considered the most contributing predisposing factors for many chronic diseases. Regular Physical activity has the potential to attenuate the health and economic burden that Physical inactivity places on Palestinian society.The authors of this paper would like to thank the Department of Community Medicine, Universiti Sains Malaysia. As well as, the authors would like to thank both the all participants of this study, and the Palestinian Ministry of Education Board committee for their assistance during this study

Effect of cylinder deactivation strategies on engine performances using one-dimensional simulation technique

In order to meet consumer and legislation requirements, big investments on key technology strategies have been made to ensure fuel consumption is reduced. Recent technologies for gasoline engines are lean combustion technologies (including direct injection and homogenous charged compression ignition), optimizing intake and exhaust valve timing with valve lift and also cylinder deactivation system (CDA) have been practised to improve the engine efficiency. The purpose of this study is to investigate the engine behavior when running at different cylinder deactivation (CDA) strategies. One-dimensional engine model software called GT-Power is used to predict the engine performances. Five strategies were considered namely normal mode, spark plug off mode, cylinder deactivation mode, intake normal with exhaust off mode, and intake off with exhaust normal mode. Engine performance outputs of each strategy are predicted and compared at BMEP of 3 bars with engine speed of 2500 rpm. Also, the effect of CDA strategies on in-cylinder pressure and pumping loss are performed. The study shows that all of these cylinder deactivation strategies are capable of reducing the pumping loss (PMEP) and fuel consumption, thus increasing the thermal efficiency of the engine. The results suggest that the most beneficial strategy for activating CDA is for the case whereby both the intake and exhaust valves are kept closed. This CDA mode capable of increasing brake thermal efficiency up to 22% at entire engine speeds operation. This strategy successfully reduced the BSFC. It was found that most of these cylinder deactivation strategies improve the engine performance during part load engine condition

Effectiveness of Educational Intervention on Physical Activity-Related Knowledge among High School Students in Southern Rural Palestinian Community, in 2012

Low Physical activity during adolescence is recognized as a key public health concern. School-based interventions are thought to be the most globally applicable and effective way to counteract levels of physical inactivity and sedentary behavior. This study aimed to investigate the effects of an eight-week school-based teaching intervention to promote physical activity through increasing the physical activity-related knowledge of high school students in Palestinian national high schools in 2012. Baseline and 3 months post-test data from the Health Knowledge Inventory Survey (HKI) were analyzed for group differences through independent t tests and for improvement over time via repeated measures ANOVA. The findings indicated no significant differences between the groups in terms of mean physical activity knowledge scores (P = 0.059) before the intervention. There was a significant difference (P < 0.001) in mean knowledge scores between the intervention and control schools 3 month after intervention follow-up and there was a significant difference in term of gender [male (p=0.028) and female (p=0.007)] and stream of education track (Scientific and non-scientific) in the intervention schools. Whereas significant difference for control group (p<0.001) was found solely between scientific and non-scientific stream students. Media and internet were the two most common sources of physical activity-related knowledge. The evidence suggests the effectiveness of school-based physical activity interventions, given the positive effects on physical activity knowledge. Schools are a suitable setting for the promotion of healthy lifestyles. Additional research on the long-term impact of these interventions is needed.The authors of this paper would like to thanks to the Department of Community Medicine, Universiti Sains Malaysia. As well as, would like to thank all participants of this study. Also the authors would like to thank the Palestinian Ministry of Education Board committee for their assistance during this study. This study was self-sponsored

The effects of void on natural ventilation performance in multi-storey housing

Enhancing natural ventilation performance in multi-storey housing is very important for the living environment in terms of health and thermal comfort purposes. One of the most important design strategies to enhance natural ventilation in multi-storey housing is through the provision of voids. A void is a passive architectural feature, which is located in the middle of deep plan buildings. It is very crucial to consider the configurations of voids in the buildings for enhancing natural ventilation, especially for multi-storey housing. In this study, Malaysian Medium Cost Multi-Storey Housing (MMCMSH), which is an example of multi-storey housing located in a suburban area,has been selected in this study. This study aims to investigate the potential of void for enhancing natural ventilation performance in multi-storey housing by the comparison of two different void configurations. Field measurement of MMCMSH has been conducted to validate Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) model and Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) is an important parameter for setting up the CFD Model’s domain. Ventilation rate (Q), which is necessary for comfort and health reasons, is an important parameter for the comparison of the different void configurations. This study revealed that the provision of void can enhance natural ventilation performance in multi-storey housing with an increase in the value of Q, from 3.44% to 40.07%, by enlarging the void’s width by 50% compared to the existing void

Consumers Attitude Towards Organic Food

AbstractThe awareness on the harmful effects of chemicals present in food is increasing among the consumers. The trend towards purchasing organic food is growing among people. A study to identify what actually induces consumers to turn towards organic food is important. Some of the prominent motivating factors to purchase organic foods include environmental concern, health concern and lifestyle, product quality and subjective norms. This empirical study is aimed at identifying the purchase intention of consumers towards organic foods. The study predicts the purchase intention of consumers based on the influences of factors like environmental concern, health concern and lifestyle, product quality and subjective norms on the attitude towards organic foods. The results of the study show that quality of products, environmental concern, health concern and lifestyle are the most commonly stated motives for purchasing organic foods

Kajian persepsi arkitek terhadap pelaksanaan bumbung hijau di Malaysia: faedah, halangan dan cadangan

Pelaksanaan bumbung hijau sebagai kaedah mampan untuk menangani kesan pulau haba bandar masih baru di Malaysia. Walaupun bumbung hijau belum diuji pada skala bandar, beberapa kajian telah menunjukkan bahawa bumbung hijau dapat mengurangkan impak perbandaran dan meningkatkan kualiti alam sekitar. Pelaksanaannya yang rendah di Malaysia adalah disebabkan oleh pelbagai faktor seperti faktor kos dan kekurangan kesedaran di kalangan penggiat industri pembinaan. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti persepsi arkitek tempatan terhadap pelaksanaan bumbung hijau dan mengenal pasti faedah, halangan dan cadangan untuk menangani halangan pelaksanaan bumbung hijau. Kaedah soal selidik telah digunakan untuk menilai pandangan arkitek tempatan terhadap sepuluh faedah, sembilan halangan pelaksanaan bumbung hijau dan lapan cadangan untuk menangani halangan bumbung hijau. Keputusan yang didapati menunjukkan bahawa faedah bumbung hijau yang paling penting adalah untuk mengurangkan kesan pulau haba bandar (N = 8.14), manakala faedah bumbung hijau yang paling lemah adalah untuk meningkatkan penebat haba bumbung (N = 3.73). Halangan untuk melaksanakan bumbung hijau yang paling penting adalah kekangan pelaksanaan daripada pelanggan (N = 4.22), manakala halangan untuk melaksanakan bumbung hijau yang paling lemah adalah kerana arkitek kurang yakin dengan faedah bumbung hijau (N = 2.62). Cadangan untuk menangani halangan pelaksanaannya yang paling penting adalah melalui memperbanyakan insentif kepada penggiat bumbung hijau (N = 4.37), manakala cadangan yang paling lemah merupakan membawa masuk kepakaran luar dan pertukaran teknologi (N = 3.65). Hasil kajian ini dapat membantu mempromosikan pelaksanaan bumbung hijau di Malaysia dan meningkatkan penyumbangan bumbung hijau kepada persekitaran dalaman dan luaran bangunan