Papers by norela Sulaiman
Transactions on Science and Technology, 2016
A b s t r a c t The issue of more elementary children is seen to have respiratory sickness such a... more A b s t r a c t The issue of more elementary children is seen to have respiratory sickness such as asthma especially the younger ones age 5-13 years old is highlighted in this research. By fact 20 - 38% of acute pediatric admissions in the country and the third most common death in children between the age of 1 and 13 are caused by respiratory illness. Children are frail during their growth because of their immature immune systems; makes them more susceptible to the health effects of air pollution compare to adults. The indoor air quality (IAQ) in classrooms plays a major role in the children health since they spend at least 71% of their time in school building, approximately seven or more hours a day in school. This research aims to assess the elementary schools IAQ profile using filter-based sampler in Kota Kinabalu, with 8 hours measurement time for total twelve sampling days. Overall, the average concentration of coarse and fine particulates in weekdays found higher compared to ...
A total of 32 species of butterflies from five families, i.e. Nymphalidae, Papilionidae, Pieridae... more A total of 32 species of butterflies from five families, i.e. Nymphalidae, Papilionidae, Pieridae, Lycaenidae and Hesperiidae have been recorded in this study from the Fraser’s Hill, Pahang, Malaysia. There were 21 new added records compared to previous studies that have been done by some researchers. The current checklist of butterflies in Fraser’s Hill is 83 species. The species checklist includes three protected species that were listed under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010, namely Troides brookiana albescens Rothschild, Troides helena cerberus (C. & R. Felder) and Charaxes bernadus crepax Fruhstorfer.
This research focuses on the development of knowledge model for a prediction of the extreme rainf... more This research focuses on the development of knowledge model for a prediction of the extreme rainfall events by using the air quality parameters. A knowledge model is a model containing a set of knowledge by rules that was obtained from mining certain amount of data. These rules will help in detection of extreme weather changes events and therefore is significant for safety action plans and mitigations measures, in terms of adaptation to the climate change. In this study, an intelligent approach in data mining called a rough set technique has been used based on its capability on handling uncertain database that often occurs in the real world problem. As a result, an association and sequential rules were produced and used for prediction of the extreme rainfall events in Petaling Jaya as a case study. Petaling Jaya is an urban and industrialized city in tropical climate of Malaysia which always experiencing flash floods and severe storms that might due to air pollution. A total of 2102 data were obtained from Malaysian Meteorological Department and Department of Environment Malaysia. There were 7 attributes used as input and one attribute as an output for the intelligent systems. Data has been through a pre-processing stage to facilitate the requirement of the modeling process. A total of ten experiments using ten sets of different data have been conducted. The best model was selected from the total models generated from the experiment. As for conclusion, the model has given a promising result with 100% accuracy and the rules obtained have contributing to knowledge for the extreme rainfall events.
The firefly, Pteroptyx tener (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) lives in the mangrove area and is economica... more The firefly, Pteroptyx tener (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) lives in the mangrove area and is economically valuable for ecotourism because of its unique synchronous flashing behavior. It has been observed that the adult species does not have the appearance of sucking type mouthpart morphology though it is believed that its diet depends on the plant sap. This study focused on the morphology of the mouthpart and, anatomy and histology of the digestive tract of P. tener . From gross morphology observation, P. tener has hypognathus mouthpart with a crescent-like narrow apicle mandible. Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM) image showed that P. tener has a special food canal inside its mandible that runs from the tip to the end part of the mandible. The tip of the mandible could be used as piercing equipment for P. tener to suck plant sap for feeding purposes. Morphological investigations of the digestive tract showed that this species have a small crop, large ventriculus and long i...
A study of moth fauna was conducted at the GunungTebuForest Reserve, Terengganu, during the Biodi... more A study of moth fauna was conducted at the GunungTebuForest Reserve, Terengganu, during the Biodiversity ScientificExpedition from the 8thto 13th July 2012. Passive sampling was carriedout in the forest reserve area and along the river near the campsite(LataBelantanForest reserve) for three consecutive days using a lighttrap, while at the GunungTebu itself, sampling was done using ametal trap and a white cotton sheet illuminated by a standard Actinicfluorescentlight run overnight in a semi-open part of the forest from2000 to 2300 hours. The checklist of moths recorded here comprises83 species under 13 families, namely: Geometridae (29 species),Arctiidae (11 species), Noctuidae (12 species), Sphingidae (7 species),Uraniidae (4 species), Nolidae (4 species), Lymantriidae (6 species),Saturnidae (1 species), Notodontidae (3 species), Lasciocampidae (3species), Pyralidae, Zygaenidae and Crambidae(with one species each),respectively. The most dominant family recorded here is Geometridae,w...
Global Ecology and Conservation, 2021
This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the ad... more This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
Oriental Insects, 2020
Records of fireflies are numerous in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah although little is known regar... more Records of fireflies are numerous in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah although little is known regarding the firefly population in Sarawak. Thus, the aim of this study is to document the diversity and abundance of the congregating fireflies and their display trees in Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia and to investigate the possible significance of several abiotic factors in relation to the abundance of fireflies. The study was conducted in February 2019 at Sungai Raan, Sungai Sibuti and Sungai Niah in Sarawak using the sweep net at eleven display trees selected randomly along each river. A total of 296 firefly individuals representing two species, namely Pteroptyx bearni (Olivier 1909) and Pteroptyx malaccae (Gorham, 1880) were recorded. Both species occurred at Sungai Niah with a total of 146 individuals, however, only P. bearni was recorded at Sungai Sibuti (97 individuals) and Sungai Raan (53 individuals). Most fireflies were observed to congregate on the mangrove tree species, Rhizophora apiculata. There was significant negative correlation (r =-0.164, p<0.05) between the total dissolved solids in the river water and firefly abundance at Sungai Sibuti. However, there were no significant correlations (p>0.05) between the firefly abundance and other abiotic factors at all the study rivers.
Sains Malaysiana, 2018
LUSI (Lumpur"mud"-Sidoarjo) is the mud volcanic which was initiated by the failed gas drilling ex... more LUSI (Lumpur"mud"-Sidoarjo) is the mud volcanic which was initiated by the failed gas drilling exploration activities carried out near an urban area. The evaluation of the LUSI mud volcanic emission and its dried mud effects on air pollution and human health was carried out from 2011 to 2012. The concentrations of particulate matter (PM 2. 5), hazardous gases (H 2 S, SO 2 , NO 2), volatile organic compounds (VOC): Including total hydrocarbons (THC)), toluene (C 6 H 5 CH 3) and benzene (C 6 H 6) as well as heavy metals (Pb, Cr and Cd) were measured following standard methods. The results showed that the average concentration of PM 2.5 ranged from 24.0-399.9 μg/m 3 , H 2 S: 1.53-2.92 ppm; SO 2 : 0.021-1.321 ppm and NO 2 : 0.007-0.076 ppm. The VOC included total hydrocarbons from 0.57-0.96 ppm, toluene 0.33-0.92 ppm and benzene 0.33-0.40 ppm. Furthermore, heavy metal concentrations were as follows: Pb 2.6-37.34 μg/m 3 ; Cr 0.14-12.8 μg/m 3 and Cd 0.78-4.16 μg/m 3. LUSI contributed to increased air pollution primarily through H 2 S, SO 2 and PM 2.5. The Air Quality Index (AQI) of PM 2.5 (164-217) and SO 2 (235-291) showed that the air quality at the disaster area was 'very unhealthy'. Backward trajectories indicated that the wind direction may have had an impact on the air pollution load.
Biodiversity Data Journal, 2019
Riparian areas hold vast number of flora and fauna with exceptional contributions to the ecosyste... more Riparian areas hold vast number of flora and fauna with exceptional contributions to the ecosystem. A study was conducted in Sungai Sepetang, Sungai Rembau and Sungai Chukai to identify the insect community in a riparian zone of Peninsular Malaysia. Sampling was conducted in six consecutive months from December 2017 to May 2018 during both day and night using sweep nets. Twenty sampling stations (S1-S20) had been assembled along the riverbanks with an average distance of 200 m between each station. The 17,530 collected insects were from 11 orders and consisted of Diptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Neuroptera, Orthoptera, Blattodea, Thysanoptera, Mantodea and Odonata. The three most abundant orders were Diptera (33.84%; 5933 individuals), Coleoptera (28.82%; 5053 individuals) and Hemiptera (25.62%: 4491 individuals). The collected insect community consisted of different guilds such as the scavenger, predator, herbivore, pollinator and parasitoid. Sungai Sepetan...
Sains Malaysiana, 2019
The ultrastructure of the light organ Pteroptyx tener was examined using a Carl Zeiss Axioscope m... more The ultrastructure of the light organ Pteroptyx tener was examined using a Carl Zeiss Axioscope microscope and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The light organ of the male and female P. tener comprises of two layers namely the photogenic layer and the dorsal (reflector) layer. Photogenic layer consists of several elements, i.e. photocyte, differentiated zone, cylinder, trachea and trachea end cell. The photocyte is the main source of the emitted light. This layer is packed with photocyte granules except at a differentiated zone that have low granules but high number of mitochondria. The reflector layer comprised of trachea and the cytoplasm of the cells in this layer is densely packed with spherical uric acid granule. The finding of this study has shown that P. tener have similar general histology structure of light organ of fireflies species that produce sharp flashes. However, the cylinder and trachea end cell may have significant capacities in controlling the luminescent creation in the fireflies that need to be investigate further.
Jamba (Potchefstroom, South Africa), 2018
Shelter centres are important locations to safeguard people from helpless situations and are an i... more Shelter centres are important locations to safeguard people from helpless situations and are an integral part of disaster risk reduction (DRR), particularly for flood DRR. The establishment of shelter centres, and their design based on scientific assessment, is crucial. Yet, they are very much related to the geographic location, socio-economic conditions and the livelihoods of the affected communities. However, many parts of the developing world are still lagging behind in ensuring such scientific design. Considering the flood disaster in 2014 that affected the residents living along the Pahang River Basin, in this study we delineate the communities at risk and evaluate the existing shelter centres to determine how they reduce people's vulnerability to the risks associated with rural and urban landscapes. We used spatial analysis tools to delineate risk zones and to evaluate existing evacuation systems. A flood disaster risk map was produced to determine which communities are li...
Sains Malaysiana, 2017
The Sidoarjo mud is the first visible phenomenon of a mud volcano that occurs in a human settleme... more The Sidoarjo mud is the first visible phenomenon of a mud volcano that occurs in a human settlement and which is subsequently channelled into a river. Clay, aluminium and iron were reported to be the dominant contaminants that could possibly come into contact with and accumulate on the surface of local fish and initiate alteration in scale microstructure. The aim of this study was to evaluate the extent of water body contamination in the Sidoarjo mud by evaluating the chromatophore density and microstructure deformation of fish scales that act as biomarkers. Scale samples were obtained from caged Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) fish that were placed downstream and upstream of the Sidoarjo mud spillway pipes. With respect to melanophore density, it was found that the scales of fish exposed in the downstream section were significantly lower in chromatophores (<50 chr/mm²) than the control scales in fish from the upstream station (>100 chr/mm²). This study suggested that the density of chromatophores was closely related to the concentration of total suspended solids (r = 0.69), which was possibly enhanced by iron (r = 0.56). Using scanning electron microscopy analysis, some deformation, i.e. irregularity of spherule shape and increasing pits in the space between ridges, were observed.
AIP Conference Proceedings, 2016
BIOSORPTION POTENTIALS OF ACID MODIFIED Saccharum bengalense FOR REMOVAL OF METHYL VIOLET FROM AQ... more BIOSORPTION POTENTIALS OF ACID MODIFIED Saccharum bengalense FOR REMOVAL OF METHYL VIOLET FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS Article Highlights • Removal of methyl violet dye from aqueous solution by acid modified Saccharum bengalense • Adsorption reaction follows pseudo second order kinetics • Langmuir adsorption isotherm is best followed by adsorption data • Adsorption of dye molecules on the surface of adsorbent is in single layer
Symbiosis, 2016
The System of Rice Intensification (SRI), a management-based approach for improving rice producti... more The System of Rice Intensification (SRI), a management-based approach for improving rice production, has demonstrated various positive effects on rice plants' growth, resilience and yield. These effects have been attributed in part to symbiotic interactions between rice plants and the microbes that live around, on and inside them; but research on this is still very limited. To examine such relationships, a multifunctional symbiotic fungus Trichoderma asperellum SL2 was evaluated to assess its effects, if any, on the germination and growth of young seedlings and then the subsequent performance of rice plants during their crop cycle. Greenhouse studies were conducted under gnotobiotic conditions to assess any effects associated with inoculating rice seeds with Trichoderma asperellum SL2 compared with uninoculated controls in terms of seedling establishment, an essential part of SRI methodology; and then assessing the capacity of this fungus to enhance the growth, physiological characteristics, nutrient uptake, and yield of rice plants growing under simulated SRI conditions. Results showed that the presence of Trichoderma asperellum SL2 in association with SRI cultural practices led to significant increases in rice seedling growth, germination rate, vigour index, and chlorophyll content, and elicited more favourable phenotypical responses from given genotype potential. The research observations further illustrated that for some parameters, there were no significant differences between inoculated and uninoculated SRI plants, both giving results superior to those for conventionally-grown plants even when inoculated. This indicated that SRI growing conditions are more favorable for Trichoderma to contribute towards the growth, physiological traits, nutrient uptake, and yield of plants, whereas conventional management methods diminish or inhibit these effects. Focused research remains to be done to establish how aerobic microbes such as Trichoderma can affect and accelerate the performance of rice plants being grown in SRI environments above and below ground.
Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2016
Purpose-In order to reduce the health impacts of air pollution effectively, developing strategies... more Purpose-In order to reduce the health impacts of air pollution effectively, developing strategies that involves individual or community level is crucial. The purpose of this paper is to assess people's protective practices for inhalable particulate matter and its significant determinants such as general characteristics, knowledge and attitude among residents of an urban residential area, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach-This cross-sectional study was conducted by systematic random sampling. A total of 424 people, who lived in that area for not less than two years before the survey, were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. χ 2 and Fisher's exact test were used to analyze the data. Findings-Only a small proportion of respondents had high practice level. In addition, a little more than half has high level of knowledge about inhalable particulate matter, its adverse health effects and protective practices and almost 70 percent had high level of attitude toward air pollution. The protective practices for small inhalable particulate matter was significantly associated with age, educational level, occupation, knowledge and attitude toward small inhalable particulate matter, its adverse health effects and protective measures. Originality/value-A good level of knowledge about the prevailing air pollution and related health risks can be crucial to develop more focused attempt at changing the current situation with public participation. The environmental experts and health volunteer should disseminate precise and adequate information about long-term health hazards of particulate matter and measures of exposure prevention to improve the protective practices.
A Study on aesthetic insects (macro-moth fauna) was conducted at three different locations of Tsi... more A Study on aesthetic insects (macro-moth fauna) was conducted at three different locations of Tsik Chini area in Pahang , Malaysia The three locations were the base camp (site A) an abandoned mine (site B) and kampung melai (site c) Sampling were conducted from 22-26 may 2004 and from 22-24 july 2004 using a light-trap (9illuminated by a 160-watt mercury vapour buld). A total of 176 species has been recorded, comprising 106 species (310 individuals) from location B and 28 species (210 individuals)from location c, respectively. This total encompassed 19 families, geometridae (67 species),noctuidae (38 species), arctiidae (17 species),sphingidae(9 species),notodontidae (8 species),Lymantriidae (8 species), Lasiocampidae (7 species), limacodidae (5 species) drepanidae( species),uraniidae, bombycidae saturniidae(two species each),chalcosiidae, nolidae, agaristidae, cossidae, cyclidiidae, and epiplemidae) one species each). All of the 176 species recorded in this study are preliminary records since there no previous publication of moth from Tasik Chini, Pahang. The Shannons diversity index (H') for location A(H'=4.23)was significantly higher(p<0.05)that than of location B (H'=3.71 or location C (H'=2.01))respectively. In terms of the cumulative value for species diversity of moths(H') the study found thar seven sampling occasions were still insufficient for location A, six samplings were minimally sufficient for location B and two samplings were minimally sufficient for location C. Percentages of overlapping species were all low between A and B (22.62%),B and C (15.74%) and A and C (12.5%) respectively .A total of 12 species were found to be common spatially (i.e found in all three locations). Among all thespecies, Hypochrosis binexata walker(geometridae) was found to be the nost common spatially as well as temporary ( i.e found on every sampling occasion, with an overall total of 180 individuals) some 79 species appeared rare, each represented by only one individual throughout the study period.
AIP Conference Proceedings, 2015
This study was conducted to study the firefly species found in Tasik Chini, the soil factors that... more This study was conducted to study the firefly species found in Tasik Chini, the soil factors that suitable for larval development fireflies flashes, and the sociological aspects of the community’s availability to engage in firefly ecotourism. This was achieved through firefly sampling, soil analysis, abiotic data collection and by questionnaire surveys from local community perceptions and knowledge on fireflies and ecotourism. Fireflies sampling were conducted from December 2011 to January 2013 at Kampung Melai and Kampung Cenahan. Three non-synchronize fireflies genus were found, namely Colophotia sp., Pygoluciola sp., and Pyrocoelia sp. A total of 25 questionnaires were given to four groups of respondents consisting orang asli (5 respondents), boat operator (2 respondents), resort workers (5 respondents) and FELDA residents (13 respondents). The questionnaires were analysed using Rasch Winstep Software based on Rasch Measurement Model. Results of the survey indicated that the local community was not rea...
Kampus Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, kaya dengan spesies kupu-kupu. Hasil daripada penye... more Kampus Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, kaya dengan spesies kupu-kupu. Hasil daripada penyelidikan terhadap 850 specimen yang telah dapat dikumpulkan sejak tahun 1974, kini diketahui ada sebanyak 134 spesies (13.11%), mewakili 8 dari 9 famili kupu-kupu yang terdapat di seluruh Semenanjung Malaysia. Peratusan ini dianggap besar dengan mengambil kira keluasan, topografi dan jenis hutan kampus UKM. Tiga daripada spesies kupu-kupu UKM adalah termasuk di dalam senarai spesies yang dilindungi: Troides acus thomsoni (Bates); Troides helena cerberus (C. & R. Felder); Plyura schreiber tisamenus Fruhstorfer.
Journal of Pure and Applied Microbiology
System of Rice Intensification(SRI) is an agroecologically sound rice cultivation method that has... more System of Rice Intensification(SRI) is an agroecologically sound rice cultivation method that has been proven to improve yield and support Sustainable rice farming towards achieving green economy. A study was conducted to evaluate the impact of SRI practices from an agroecological perspective in Kampung Kesang Tasek, Ledang, Johore. The results showed that SRI significantly increases the number of rice tillers, plant height, filled grains and 1000 grain weight, and increase rice productivity up to 7.58 ton/ ha, increase the number of soil beneficial microbes, as well as insect biodiversity. The results proven that SRI should be considered as a potential cultivation method for sustainable rice production. The volunteer of the farmers to try this cultivation method support the success of this effort.
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Papers by norela Sulaiman