Malaysian Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, 2019
In this paper, a study on the development of water quality index of ex-mining ponds was carried ... more In this paper, a study on the development of water quality index of ex-mining ponds was carried out for proper assessment and utilization of the abundant ex-mining ponds in Malaysia. Heavy metals were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrophotometer (ICPMS), and physico chemical parameters were analyzed in-situ. Chemometric analysis was successfully applied for the parameter selection process. The water quality index of existing Malaysian river did not accommodate the toxic metal pollutants that dominanted in ex-mining water. The acceptable index should therefore incorporate the metal pollutants in order to evaluate the quality status of ex-mining water for human consumption which is the major point of consideration. Two water quality indices were developed to assess the water quality status of ex-mining ponds with reference to Malaysia’s water quality standard (INWQS). The heavy metal index was comprised of contribution from Pb, As, and Cd as the selected metals, ...
ABSTRACT Jinjang River is a branch of the Klang River, which today suffers from a decline in wate... more ABSTRACT Jinjang River is a branch of the Klang River, which today suffers from a decline in water quality resulting from agricultural and development activities. A study on the water quality of Jinjang River was conducted in both June and October 2011. The purposes of the study were to determine the water quality of Jinjang River based on physicochemical and biological parameters and to classify the Jinjang River based on National Water Quality Standards (NWQS) and the Water Quality Index (WQI). A total of five sampling stations were selected along the river; two stations (S1 and S2) represented the upstream region and another three stations (S3, S4, and S5) represented the downstream region of the river. Fourteen water-quality parameters were selected. As a result of the analysis, Jinjang River was categorized as a slightly polluted river (WQI) and was classified as Class III. The result, compared with the NWQS, showed that most of the water-quality parameters studied ranged from Class I to Class IV, except for biological parameters (Escherichia coli), which were classified as Class V. This indicates that the river was extremely contaminated with fecal coliform bacteria (E. coli). Keywords: Jinjang River, water-quality parameters, in situ and ex situ analysis, slightly polluted river La rivière Jinjang est un affluent de la rivière Klang ; elle souffre aujourd'hui d'une baisse de la qualité de l'eau découlant d'activités agricoles et de développement. Une étude sur la qualité de l'eau de la rivière a été réalisée en juin 2011 et en octobre 2011. Ses objectifs étaient de déterminer le niveau de la qualité de l'eau de la rivière en fonction de paramètres biologiques et physico-chimiques, et de la classer sur la base de normes nationales de qualité de l'eau (NQWS) et de l'indice de qualité des eaux (WQI). Un total de cinq stations d'échantillonnage ont été sélectionnées le long de la rivière ; deux stations (S1 et S2) représentaient les régions en amont et trois autres stations (S3, S4, S5), l'aval. Quatorze paramètres de qualité de l'eau ont été sélectionnés. Les résultats signalent que la rivière Jingjang a été classée rivière légè-rement polluée (selon l'indice WQI) dans la classe III. Par rapport aux normes NQWS, la plupart des paramètres de qualité de l'eau ont été classés en classe I à la classe IV, à l'exception des paramètres biologiques (E. coli) qui relèvent de la classe The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 16, no 3 (2013) 349-362
The Geographical Information System (GIS) was utilized to generate dengue distribution cases and ... more The Geographical Information System (GIS) was utilized to generate dengue distribution cases and its correlation to the climatic factors in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The data were provided by Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL). The data was integrated with Kuala Lumpur map to graphically present information about the areas which been hit by the dengue outbreak through a graphic display. The analysis using focused on overlay, buffer creating, and query builder. The statistical analysis such as linear regression is undertaken to show the correlation between dengue diseases with the climatic factors that is rainfall, temperature and relative humidity for the year 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. The study found that there is no correlation between disease incidence and total rainfall (R=0.057). Thus, it can be concluded that the climatic factors were not contributed to the dengue cases. Through this research, highly expect that the dengue distribution map had been developed and can b...
River is one of the most multifarious regular systems. The database can help in the appropriate u... more River is one of the most multifarious regular systems. The database can help in the appropriate understanding of river plan change and know the stand of Terengganu River, Malaysia. The data collected from Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) database. Analysis of Types of Lateral Activity (TYLAT) techniques and Modes of Meander Movement (MOME) method utilized to identify the advancement of the river arrange changes.
Stream classification system identified the characteristic of stream on the basin. Stream behavio... more Stream classification system identified the characteristic of stream on the basin. Stream behaviors can provide guidance for future problem in this basin. This study discusses on the development of stream classification system on tropical areas with statistical approval based on remote sensing, geographical information system, and river hydrographic survey based on Rosgen classification system. Pahang River Basin is the longest river in Peninsular Malaysia and the main channel to drain off water from the inundated area of Pahang Basin to the South China Sea. The environmental statistical techniques were used to identify the clustering development on the tropical river system using hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis (HACA), discriminant analysis (DA) and principal component analysis (PCA). The HACA results indicated that the main of Pahang tropical river system is classed into three main clusters namely the upstream reach, middle stream reach and downstream reach. The calibration and validation analyses proved the DA with 100% confident level. The PCA indicates three variables demonstrated significant correlations that are domination slope R 2 = 0.796, bankfull width-to-depth ratio R 2 = −0868, and sinuosity R 2 = 0.557, respectively. Model of stream classification system with future geomorphology process and problem expectations is produced where the first class considered in terrace and valley erosion zone, second class in a low terrace of land near the channels and sediment transports zone, and third class in valley deposition and floodplain zone. The results are important to local authorities as a decision support system using the river clustering model for Pahang River Basin.
Evaluation of health risks due to heavy metals exposure via drinking water from ex-mining ponds i... more Evaluation of health risks due to heavy metals exposure via drinking water from ex-mining ponds in Klang Valley and Melaka has been conducted. Measurements of As, Cd, Pb, Mn, Fe, Na, Mg, Ca, and dissolved oxygen, pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solid, ammoniacal nitrogen, total suspended solid, biological oxygen demand were collected from 12 ex-mining ponds and 9 non-ex-mining lakes. Exploratory analysis identified As, Cd, and Pb as the most representative water quality parameters in the studied areas. The metal exposures were simulated using Monte Carlo methods and the associated health risks were estimated at 95th and 99th percentile. The results revealed that As was the major risk factor which might have originated from the previous mining activity. For Klang Valley, adults that ingested water from those ponds are at both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks, while children are vulnerable to non-carcinogenic risk; for Melaka, only children are vulnerable to As com...
Assessing water quality of the ex-mining ponds for its proper utilization is pertinent considerin... more Assessing water quality of the ex-mining ponds for its proper utilization is pertinent considering the metal pollutants and lack of proper environmental measures is associated with the mining operations. In this study, water samples from 13 man-made lakes including 8 ex-mining ponds in the Klang Valley, Malaysia were analyzed for dissolved oxygen, suspended solid, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), biological oxygen demand (BOD), ammoniacal nitrogen (AN), total dissolved solid (TDS), and metals including As, Cd, Pb, Mn, Fe, Na, Mg, and Ca. The variations in these parameters were evaluated with the chemometric techniques. The results from the principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis suggested that in addition to the degree of contamination, the variations in heavy metal concentrations were mainly attributed to the ex-mining activities, whereas deviations in BOD, TDS, AN, and EC were subjected to the current domestic inputs. The linear discriminant analysis showed that water samples from the ex-mining ponds were highly associated with Mn, Cd, Ca, and As. The As and Cd levels recorded in most of the ex-mining ponds were 11.3 ± 0.4, 116 ± 2, and 42 ± 0.5 µg/L; and 12.9 ± 0.2, 12.23 ± 0.02, 12.19 ± 0.01, and 12.15 ± 0.01 µg/L, respectively. These values surpassed the reference limits, which make them unfit for domestic uses.
AbstractThreat posed by the heavy metals has been increasing globally rendering many water bodies... more AbstractThreat posed by the heavy metals has been increasing globally rendering many water bodies unfit for human consumption. This could be due to the increase in concentrations of these metals above natural background. This article reviews the literature data on variation of water quality in rivers, lakes, and ex-mining ponds in Malaysia and other selected countries. World Health Organization (WHO), United States Environmental Protection Agency, and Malaysian water quality standards (INWQS) are used as the baseline for the pollution and health risk assessments. It illustrates that concentrations of Pb, Cd, and As in lakes and ex-mining ponds, and Mn, Cd and Pb in rivers exceed permissible limits for direct consumption. The levels of dissolved oxygen, TSS, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) are not within WHO and INWQS limits, pH of lakes and ex-mining ponds are lower than reference standards while that of rivers are high. Principal component analysis reveals that TSS, COD, BOD, Pb, and As are highly assoc...
Glycerol is the main by-product of biodiesel production that produces from transesterification pr... more Glycerol is the main by-product of biodiesel production that produces from transesterification process. In this research, focused was on hydrogen production via glycerol steam reforming using nickel loaded HZSM-5 catalyst. The catalysts were prepared by using different loading amount of nickel (0.5, 1.0, 5.0, 10.0 and 15 wt %) on HZSM-5 catalyst through the wet impregnation method at temperature 500 ºC and atmospheric pressure. The catalyst was characterized by using XRD, FTIR and SEM. Then, only 15 wt % Ni loading has been chosen based on the parameter which is different range of catalyst weight (0.3-0.5g) at different range of glycerol flow rate (0.2-0.4mL/min) at temperature 600 ºC and atmospheric pressure. The products were analyzed by using gas-chromatography with thermal conductivity detector (GC-TCD) where it is used to identify the yield of hydrogen. The data of the experiment were analyzed by using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) in order to study the relationship of catalyst weight and glycerol flow rate. The results showed that the optimum condition to produce a maximum hydrogen yield with 15wt% Ni/HZSM-5 catalyst was 78.10004% at glycerol flow rate of 0.356484 mL/min and catalyst weight of 0.429267 g.
Living organisms require trace amounts of heavy metals, including cobalt, copper, manganese and z... more Living organisms require trace amounts of heavy metals, including cobalt, copper, manganese and zinc to survive. However, the excessive levels of the metal can be detrimental to the organism. Other heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium have no vital on organisms, and their accumulation in long time period in the bodies can cause serious illness or death. The consumption of fish is recommended because fish is a basic and good nutritious food that has omega-3 fatty acids due to its cardio-protective effects. This present mini-review accounts for the description of heavy metal in fish and the effect of toxic metals on the human health. Besides, the acid digestion method was also discussed in order to identify the best method for applying in the laboratory analysis. The best method used can reduce the contamination error in the results.
Radio signals detected from the ground are very weak since it travels far from the universe. Radi... more Radio signals detected from the ground are very weak since it travels far from the universe. Radio wave carries photons with low energies compared to other electromagnetic spectra such as visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and the most energetic electromagnetic wave is gamma-rays. The microwave region is the shortest wavelength of radio waves. Hence, microwave photons have greater energy. Radio astronomy studies are restricted due to radio frequency interference (RFI) that produces by human daily activities. If this disturbance is not shrinkage, it poses critical problems in radio observation. There are many factors of man-made RFI, such as, the availability of mobile telecommunications, radio transmission, TV broadcasting, satellite communication, vehicular traffic area, power transmission line and many more. In this paper, we present a preliminary study of the radio sources (electronic system in the car) from the vehicular traffic area (highway) on radio astronomy observation. Th...
An appropriate site selection for radio astronomy observation is very important in order to find ... more An appropriate site selection for radio astronomy observation is very important in order to find a low level site in RFI value. The aim of this study is to select the best possible factors for astronomical observation sites. There are many factors such as slope, raindrop, river, population density, road network, land used, wireless telephone technology interrupts radio astronomy observation. In this study, we have reported one of the factors that affect radio observation which is rain effect. The site selection study is the most crucial part of decision makers proposes where to build an astronomical observatory, especially in radio astronomy with a maximum efficiency. The observation apparatus was set up to study the effect of rainfall and raindrop to the radio signal. We found that, in the inside observation, we found that spectral lines (Deuterium, Hydrogen, and two Hydroxyl lines) show that the rain gives no effect to radio signal in those windows. We also found that there is ver...
Previous researches often emphasize on the sources and effects of air pollutants in the environme... more Previous researches often emphasize on the sources and effects of air pollutants in the environment and human population. A part of those studies were done in order to explore the spread or distribution pattern of those pollutants, especially regarding the emission from industrial steam boilers. It is very important to evaluate the transfer trend of air pollutants at both local and global scales. In this study, Industrial Source Complex Short Term Version 3 (ISCST3) model has been used to predict the distribution of NOx emitted from industrial steam boilers in the District of Hulu Langat, Selangor. The result of analyses indicates that the emission rates for steam boilers were ranging from 0.0083 kg NOx/hour to as high as 0.2771 kg NOx/hour while the total emission load was 1.9969 kg NOx/hour. The evaluation on dispersion contour shows that the concentration of NOx was higher in 1-hour reading than 24-hour value. The highest concentration of NOx was predicted to be within 104.65 km...
Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, 2013
The objective of this study is to identify spatial and temporal patterns in the air quality at th... more The objective of this study is to identify spatial and temporal patterns in the air quality at three selected Malaysian air monitoring stations based on an eleven-year database (January 2000-December 2010). Four statistical methods, Discriminant Analysis (DA), Hierarchical Agglomerative Cluster Analysis (HACA), Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), were selected to analyze the datasets of five air quality parameters, namely: SO2, NO2, O3, CO and particulate matter with a diameter size of below 10 μm (PM10). The three selected air monitoring stations share the characteristic of being located in highly urbanized areas and are surrounded by a number of industries. The DA results show that spatial characterizations allow successful discrimination between the three stations, while HACA shows the temporal pattern from the monthly and yearly factor analysis which correlates with severe haze episodes that have happened in this country at certain periods of time. The PCA results show that the major source of air pollution is mostly due to the combustion of fossil fuel in motor vehicles and industrial activities. The spatial pattern recognition (S-ANN) results show a better prediction performance in discriminating between the regions, with an excellent percentage of correct classification compared to DA. This study presents the necessity and usefulness of environmetric techniques for the interpretation of large datasets aiming to obtain better information about air quality patterns based on spatial and temporal characterizations at the selected air monitoring stations.
ABSTRACT This study focused on the pattern recognition of Malaysian air quality based on the data... more ABSTRACT This study focused on the pattern recognition of Malaysian air quality based on the data obtained from the Malaysian Department of Environment (DOE). Eight air quality parameters in ten monitoring stations in Malaysia for 7 years (2005–2011) were gathered. Principal component analysis (PCA) in the environmetric approach was used to identify the sources of pollution in the study locations. The combination of PCA and artificial neural networks (ANN) was developed to determine its predictive ability for the air pollutant index (API). The PCA has identified that CH4, NmHC, THC, O3, and PM10 are the most significant parameters. The PCA-ANN showed better predictive ability in the determination of API with fewer variables, with R 2 and root mean square error (RMSE) values of 0.618 and 10.017, respectively. The work has demonstrated the importance of historical data in sampling plan strategies to achieve desired research objectives, as well as to highlight the possibility of determining the optimum number of sampling parameters, which in turn will reduce costs and time of sampling.
This research investigates the relationship between the physicochemical levels and the drinking w... more This research investigates the relationship between the physicochemical levels and the drinking water quality in Kuala Kubu Bharu, Selangor, Malaysia based on three different classes of drinking water. The environmetric techniques such as the discriminant analysis (DA), the principal component analysis (PCA) and the factor analysis (FA) were applied to analyze the spatial variation of the most significant physicochemical parameters of the drinking water quality and to determine the source of pollution. Seven physicochemical variables were analyzed. The forward and backward stepwise DA managed to discriminate six and two variables, respectively from the original seven variables. PCA and FA (varimax functionality) were to identify the origin of each water quality variable based on the three different drinking water classes. This study shows that environmetric method is the ideal way into provide meaningful information on the spatial variability of sophisticated drinking water quality data.
Malaysian Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, 2019
In this paper, a study on the development of water quality index of ex-mining ponds was carried ... more In this paper, a study on the development of water quality index of ex-mining ponds was carried out for proper assessment and utilization of the abundant ex-mining ponds in Malaysia. Heavy metals were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrophotometer (ICPMS), and physico chemical parameters were analyzed in-situ. Chemometric analysis was successfully applied for the parameter selection process. The water quality index of existing Malaysian river did not accommodate the toxic metal pollutants that dominanted in ex-mining water. The acceptable index should therefore incorporate the metal pollutants in order to evaluate the quality status of ex-mining water for human consumption which is the major point of consideration. Two water quality indices were developed to assess the water quality status of ex-mining ponds with reference to Malaysia’s water quality standard (INWQS). The heavy metal index was comprised of contribution from Pb, As, and Cd as the selected metals, ...
ABSTRACT Jinjang River is a branch of the Klang River, which today suffers from a decline in wate... more ABSTRACT Jinjang River is a branch of the Klang River, which today suffers from a decline in water quality resulting from agricultural and development activities. A study on the water quality of Jinjang River was conducted in both June and October 2011. The purposes of the study were to determine the water quality of Jinjang River based on physicochemical and biological parameters and to classify the Jinjang River based on National Water Quality Standards (NWQS) and the Water Quality Index (WQI). A total of five sampling stations were selected along the river; two stations (S1 and S2) represented the upstream region and another three stations (S3, S4, and S5) represented the downstream region of the river. Fourteen water-quality parameters were selected. As a result of the analysis, Jinjang River was categorized as a slightly polluted river (WQI) and was classified as Class III. The result, compared with the NWQS, showed that most of the water-quality parameters studied ranged from Class I to Class IV, except for biological parameters (Escherichia coli), which were classified as Class V. This indicates that the river was extremely contaminated with fecal coliform bacteria (E. coli). Keywords: Jinjang River, water-quality parameters, in situ and ex situ analysis, slightly polluted river La rivière Jinjang est un affluent de la rivière Klang ; elle souffre aujourd'hui d'une baisse de la qualité de l'eau découlant d'activités agricoles et de développement. Une étude sur la qualité de l'eau de la rivière a été réalisée en juin 2011 et en octobre 2011. Ses objectifs étaient de déterminer le niveau de la qualité de l'eau de la rivière en fonction de paramètres biologiques et physico-chimiques, et de la classer sur la base de normes nationales de qualité de l'eau (NQWS) et de l'indice de qualité des eaux (WQI). Un total de cinq stations d'échantillonnage ont été sélectionnées le long de la rivière ; deux stations (S1 et S2) représentaient les régions en amont et trois autres stations (S3, S4, S5), l'aval. Quatorze paramètres de qualité de l'eau ont été sélectionnés. Les résultats signalent que la rivière Jingjang a été classée rivière légè-rement polluée (selon l'indice WQI) dans la classe III. Par rapport aux normes NQWS, la plupart des paramètres de qualité de l'eau ont été classés en classe I à la classe IV, à l'exception des paramètres biologiques (E. coli) qui relèvent de la classe The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 16, no 3 (2013) 349-362
The Geographical Information System (GIS) was utilized to generate dengue distribution cases and ... more The Geographical Information System (GIS) was utilized to generate dengue distribution cases and its correlation to the climatic factors in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The data were provided by Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL). The data was integrated with Kuala Lumpur map to graphically present information about the areas which been hit by the dengue outbreak through a graphic display. The analysis using focused on overlay, buffer creating, and query builder. The statistical analysis such as linear regression is undertaken to show the correlation between dengue diseases with the climatic factors that is rainfall, temperature and relative humidity for the year 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. The study found that there is no correlation between disease incidence and total rainfall (R=0.057). Thus, it can be concluded that the climatic factors were not contributed to the dengue cases. Through this research, highly expect that the dengue distribution map had been developed and can b...
River is one of the most multifarious regular systems. The database can help in the appropriate u... more River is one of the most multifarious regular systems. The database can help in the appropriate understanding of river plan change and know the stand of Terengganu River, Malaysia. The data collected from Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) database. Analysis of Types of Lateral Activity (TYLAT) techniques and Modes of Meander Movement (MOME) method utilized to identify the advancement of the river arrange changes.
Stream classification system identified the characteristic of stream on the basin. Stream behavio... more Stream classification system identified the characteristic of stream on the basin. Stream behaviors can provide guidance for future problem in this basin. This study discusses on the development of stream classification system on tropical areas with statistical approval based on remote sensing, geographical information system, and river hydrographic survey based on Rosgen classification system. Pahang River Basin is the longest river in Peninsular Malaysia and the main channel to drain off water from the inundated area of Pahang Basin to the South China Sea. The environmental statistical techniques were used to identify the clustering development on the tropical river system using hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis (HACA), discriminant analysis (DA) and principal component analysis (PCA). The HACA results indicated that the main of Pahang tropical river system is classed into three main clusters namely the upstream reach, middle stream reach and downstream reach. The calibration and validation analyses proved the DA with 100% confident level. The PCA indicates three variables demonstrated significant correlations that are domination slope R 2 = 0.796, bankfull width-to-depth ratio R 2 = −0868, and sinuosity R 2 = 0.557, respectively. Model of stream classification system with future geomorphology process and problem expectations is produced where the first class considered in terrace and valley erosion zone, second class in a low terrace of land near the channels and sediment transports zone, and third class in valley deposition and floodplain zone. The results are important to local authorities as a decision support system using the river clustering model for Pahang River Basin.
Evaluation of health risks due to heavy metals exposure via drinking water from ex-mining ponds i... more Evaluation of health risks due to heavy metals exposure via drinking water from ex-mining ponds in Klang Valley and Melaka has been conducted. Measurements of As, Cd, Pb, Mn, Fe, Na, Mg, Ca, and dissolved oxygen, pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solid, ammoniacal nitrogen, total suspended solid, biological oxygen demand were collected from 12 ex-mining ponds and 9 non-ex-mining lakes. Exploratory analysis identified As, Cd, and Pb as the most representative water quality parameters in the studied areas. The metal exposures were simulated using Monte Carlo methods and the associated health risks were estimated at 95th and 99th percentile. The results revealed that As was the major risk factor which might have originated from the previous mining activity. For Klang Valley, adults that ingested water from those ponds are at both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks, while children are vulnerable to non-carcinogenic risk; for Melaka, only children are vulnerable to As com...
Assessing water quality of the ex-mining ponds for its proper utilization is pertinent considerin... more Assessing water quality of the ex-mining ponds for its proper utilization is pertinent considering the metal pollutants and lack of proper environmental measures is associated with the mining operations. In this study, water samples from 13 man-made lakes including 8 ex-mining ponds in the Klang Valley, Malaysia were analyzed for dissolved oxygen, suspended solid, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), biological oxygen demand (BOD), ammoniacal nitrogen (AN), total dissolved solid (TDS), and metals including As, Cd, Pb, Mn, Fe, Na, Mg, and Ca. The variations in these parameters were evaluated with the chemometric techniques. The results from the principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis suggested that in addition to the degree of contamination, the variations in heavy metal concentrations were mainly attributed to the ex-mining activities, whereas deviations in BOD, TDS, AN, and EC were subjected to the current domestic inputs. The linear discriminant analysis showed that water samples from the ex-mining ponds were highly associated with Mn, Cd, Ca, and As. The As and Cd levels recorded in most of the ex-mining ponds were 11.3 ± 0.4, 116 ± 2, and 42 ± 0.5 µg/L; and 12.9 ± 0.2, 12.23 ± 0.02, 12.19 ± 0.01, and 12.15 ± 0.01 µg/L, respectively. These values surpassed the reference limits, which make them unfit for domestic uses.
AbstractThreat posed by the heavy metals has been increasing globally rendering many water bodies... more AbstractThreat posed by the heavy metals has been increasing globally rendering many water bodies unfit for human consumption. This could be due to the increase in concentrations of these metals above natural background. This article reviews the literature data on variation of water quality in rivers, lakes, and ex-mining ponds in Malaysia and other selected countries. World Health Organization (WHO), United States Environmental Protection Agency, and Malaysian water quality standards (INWQS) are used as the baseline for the pollution and health risk assessments. It illustrates that concentrations of Pb, Cd, and As in lakes and ex-mining ponds, and Mn, Cd and Pb in rivers exceed permissible limits for direct consumption. The levels of dissolved oxygen, TSS, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) are not within WHO and INWQS limits, pH of lakes and ex-mining ponds are lower than reference standards while that of rivers are high. Principal component analysis reveals that TSS, COD, BOD, Pb, and As are highly assoc...
Glycerol is the main by-product of biodiesel production that produces from transesterification pr... more Glycerol is the main by-product of biodiesel production that produces from transesterification process. In this research, focused was on hydrogen production via glycerol steam reforming using nickel loaded HZSM-5 catalyst. The catalysts were prepared by using different loading amount of nickel (0.5, 1.0, 5.0, 10.0 and 15 wt %) on HZSM-5 catalyst through the wet impregnation method at temperature 500 ºC and atmospheric pressure. The catalyst was characterized by using XRD, FTIR and SEM. Then, only 15 wt % Ni loading has been chosen based on the parameter which is different range of catalyst weight (0.3-0.5g) at different range of glycerol flow rate (0.2-0.4mL/min) at temperature 600 ºC and atmospheric pressure. The products were analyzed by using gas-chromatography with thermal conductivity detector (GC-TCD) where it is used to identify the yield of hydrogen. The data of the experiment were analyzed by using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) in order to study the relationship of catalyst weight and glycerol flow rate. The results showed that the optimum condition to produce a maximum hydrogen yield with 15wt% Ni/HZSM-5 catalyst was 78.10004% at glycerol flow rate of 0.356484 mL/min and catalyst weight of 0.429267 g.
Living organisms require trace amounts of heavy metals, including cobalt, copper, manganese and z... more Living organisms require trace amounts of heavy metals, including cobalt, copper, manganese and zinc to survive. However, the excessive levels of the metal can be detrimental to the organism. Other heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium have no vital on organisms, and their accumulation in long time period in the bodies can cause serious illness or death. The consumption of fish is recommended because fish is a basic and good nutritious food that has omega-3 fatty acids due to its cardio-protective effects. This present mini-review accounts for the description of heavy metal in fish and the effect of toxic metals on the human health. Besides, the acid digestion method was also discussed in order to identify the best method for applying in the laboratory analysis. The best method used can reduce the contamination error in the results.
Radio signals detected from the ground are very weak since it travels far from the universe. Radi... more Radio signals detected from the ground are very weak since it travels far from the universe. Radio wave carries photons with low energies compared to other electromagnetic spectra such as visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and the most energetic electromagnetic wave is gamma-rays. The microwave region is the shortest wavelength of radio waves. Hence, microwave photons have greater energy. Radio astronomy studies are restricted due to radio frequency interference (RFI) that produces by human daily activities. If this disturbance is not shrinkage, it poses critical problems in radio observation. There are many factors of man-made RFI, such as, the availability of mobile telecommunications, radio transmission, TV broadcasting, satellite communication, vehicular traffic area, power transmission line and many more. In this paper, we present a preliminary study of the radio sources (electronic system in the car) from the vehicular traffic area (highway) on radio astronomy observation. Th...
An appropriate site selection for radio astronomy observation is very important in order to find ... more An appropriate site selection for radio astronomy observation is very important in order to find a low level site in RFI value. The aim of this study is to select the best possible factors for astronomical observation sites. There are many factors such as slope, raindrop, river, population density, road network, land used, wireless telephone technology interrupts radio astronomy observation. In this study, we have reported one of the factors that affect radio observation which is rain effect. The site selection study is the most crucial part of decision makers proposes where to build an astronomical observatory, especially in radio astronomy with a maximum efficiency. The observation apparatus was set up to study the effect of rainfall and raindrop to the radio signal. We found that, in the inside observation, we found that spectral lines (Deuterium, Hydrogen, and two Hydroxyl lines) show that the rain gives no effect to radio signal in those windows. We also found that there is ver...
Previous researches often emphasize on the sources and effects of air pollutants in the environme... more Previous researches often emphasize on the sources and effects of air pollutants in the environment and human population. A part of those studies were done in order to explore the spread or distribution pattern of those pollutants, especially regarding the emission from industrial steam boilers. It is very important to evaluate the transfer trend of air pollutants at both local and global scales. In this study, Industrial Source Complex Short Term Version 3 (ISCST3) model has been used to predict the distribution of NOx emitted from industrial steam boilers in the District of Hulu Langat, Selangor. The result of analyses indicates that the emission rates for steam boilers were ranging from 0.0083 kg NOx/hour to as high as 0.2771 kg NOx/hour while the total emission load was 1.9969 kg NOx/hour. The evaluation on dispersion contour shows that the concentration of NOx was higher in 1-hour reading than 24-hour value. The highest concentration of NOx was predicted to be within 104.65 km...
Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, 2013
The objective of this study is to identify spatial and temporal patterns in the air quality at th... more The objective of this study is to identify spatial and temporal patterns in the air quality at three selected Malaysian air monitoring stations based on an eleven-year database (January 2000-December 2010). Four statistical methods, Discriminant Analysis (DA), Hierarchical Agglomerative Cluster Analysis (HACA), Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), were selected to analyze the datasets of five air quality parameters, namely: SO2, NO2, O3, CO and particulate matter with a diameter size of below 10 μm (PM10). The three selected air monitoring stations share the characteristic of being located in highly urbanized areas and are surrounded by a number of industries. The DA results show that spatial characterizations allow successful discrimination between the three stations, while HACA shows the temporal pattern from the monthly and yearly factor analysis which correlates with severe haze episodes that have happened in this country at certain periods of time. The PCA results show that the major source of air pollution is mostly due to the combustion of fossil fuel in motor vehicles and industrial activities. The spatial pattern recognition (S-ANN) results show a better prediction performance in discriminating between the regions, with an excellent percentage of correct classification compared to DA. This study presents the necessity and usefulness of environmetric techniques for the interpretation of large datasets aiming to obtain better information about air quality patterns based on spatial and temporal characterizations at the selected air monitoring stations.
ABSTRACT This study focused on the pattern recognition of Malaysian air quality based on the data... more ABSTRACT This study focused on the pattern recognition of Malaysian air quality based on the data obtained from the Malaysian Department of Environment (DOE). Eight air quality parameters in ten monitoring stations in Malaysia for 7 years (2005–2011) were gathered. Principal component analysis (PCA) in the environmetric approach was used to identify the sources of pollution in the study locations. The combination of PCA and artificial neural networks (ANN) was developed to determine its predictive ability for the air pollutant index (API). The PCA has identified that CH4, NmHC, THC, O3, and PM10 are the most significant parameters. The PCA-ANN showed better predictive ability in the determination of API with fewer variables, with R 2 and root mean square error (RMSE) values of 0.618 and 10.017, respectively. The work has demonstrated the importance of historical data in sampling plan strategies to achieve desired research objectives, as well as to highlight the possibility of determining the optimum number of sampling parameters, which in turn will reduce costs and time of sampling.
This research investigates the relationship between the physicochemical levels and the drinking w... more This research investigates the relationship between the physicochemical levels and the drinking water quality in Kuala Kubu Bharu, Selangor, Malaysia based on three different classes of drinking water. The environmetric techniques such as the discriminant analysis (DA), the principal component analysis (PCA) and the factor analysis (FA) were applied to analyze the spatial variation of the most significant physicochemical parameters of the drinking water quality and to determine the source of pollution. Seven physicochemical variables were analyzed. The forward and backward stepwise DA managed to discriminate six and two variables, respectively from the original seven variables. PCA and FA (varimax functionality) were to identify the origin of each water quality variable based on the three different drinking water classes. This study shows that environmetric method is the ideal way into provide meaningful information on the spatial variability of sophisticated drinking water quality data.
Uploads
Papers by hafizan juahir