The Impact of Economic Development on Water Pollution: Trends and Policy Actions in Malaysia

The paper examines the impact of development activities on water pollution in Malaysia. Hence, the main objective of this paper is not just to examine the trends of development-induced water pollution around the region of the country but to know where the problems are and the policy measures taken by the government. It evaluates the probable causative relationship between problems introduced due to technology employed in water pollution control and governmental policy measures. It examines the relationship between development indicators as sources of pollution and polluted rivers over a period of 12 years. The findings of the paper have shown that despite the policy enforcement actions against the identified sources of water pollution, all the three development indicators (chosen based on those identified sources) still accounted for high percentage of river pollution in Malaysia. The findings of the paper were used to identify the central fact of the location of the problem. Some crucial conclusions of where the problems likely to be, as reflected in the findings, are: (a) the issue of interactive-effects between pollutants that many policy-makers are not aware of. This is when policy measures concentrate only on one source of water pollution; (b) the enforcement strength and/or effectiveness of policy measures themselves; (c) financial constraints to invest in appropriate technology especially sewerage systems for controlling human source of water pollution in the country; as well as those confronting small polluting industries (d) finally, lack of cooperation between government and private business firms to comply with regulatory policies for water pollution control.     

Influence of substrate temperature on structural and optical properties of RF sputtered ZnMnO thin films

The ZnMnO thin films were deposited on glass substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering method. The properties of ZnMnO thin films were investigated by high-resolution x-ray diffractometer (HRXRD),atomic force microscopy (AFM), UV-Vis spectrometer and room temperature photoluminescence (PL), under the influence of substrate temperature. The substrate temperature was varied from 300, 400 and 500°C. With increasing the substrate temperature, the structure of the films changed from cubic to hexagonal. The cubic ZnMnO thin films grown along [210] direction, while the hexagonal ones grown along [002] direction. The changes in surface morphology provided a proof on the structural transition. Also, decrease and increase of optical band gap is associated with cubic or hexagonal structure of the films.

     

Amperometric Simultaneous Measurement of Copper and Cobalt Ions with Polythiophene Incorporating Pendant Terpyridine Groups

Terpyridine containing thiophene monomer was synthesized. Electrochemical behavior of the monomer was studied by cyclic voltammetry. This monomer was polymerized via electrochemical methods and the resultant polymer was characterized. The stepwise fabrication process of the polymeric film electrode and its electrochemical sensing performance towards simultaneously Co and Cu ions were evaluated. The sensing parameters of the polymer electrode were investigated in detail, and the determination conditions were optimized. Under the optimal conditions, sensor response peak is linear to the Co ion concentration in the range of 1.0-50.0 µM and the Cu ion concentration in the range of 1.0–20.0 µM. Detection limit of terpyridine-based polythiophene film electrode for Co and Cu is respectively 100 nM and 0.05 nM.     

Influence of osmolytes on the stability of thylakoid‐based dye‐sensitized solar cells

In recent years, there has been considerable interest in incorporating naturally occurring components of the photosynthetic apparatus into man‐made solar cells, because of the high quantum efficiency of photosynthetic reaction centers. One hurdle to overcome regarding the use of native membranes in these devices is their limited lifespans. In this study, we used stabilizers to increase the long‐term viability of biomolecules in vitro, thereby alleviating this challenge. In this regard, it is known that osmolytes, such as glycine betaine (GB) and sucrose, preserve photosynthetic activity in isolated photosystems. Upon investigation of the thermal protection properties of GB and sucrose in thylakoid‐based dye‐sensitized solar cells, we report that the addition of GB and sucrose to the thylakoid photosensitizer maintains nonzero photocurrent in the thylakoid‐based solar cell upon heating to 50°C. At 50°C, the GB‐containing cell displayed about a fourfold increase in photocurrent than the control cell, in which the photocurrent was decreased to nearly zero. The addition of 0.5M and 1M sucrose has respectively caused nearly 40% and 70% increases in photoinduced electron transfer activity over the control at 35°С. Similarly, though to a lesser extent, 1M GB caused an approximate 40% increase in electron transfer activity as well. Moving forward, this approach will be extended to alternative membrane protein isolation strategies, allowing for an accurate comparison with traditional detergent‐isolated complexes, with the ultimate goal of developing a cost‐effective and sustainable solar cell.     

Irrigation Management in GAP

The multisectoral Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) is the largest regional developmentplan for one of the less developed parts of Turkey. The GAP project includes the irrigation of 1.7 million ha of land and generation of 27 billion kWh of hydroelectric power with an installed capacity of 7500 MW. In order to optimize the benefits to be obtained from irrigation and to ensure sustainable irrigation in the GAP area, the Government of Turkey has commissioned the GAP Management, and Operation Maintenance study (GAP MOM). The overall MOM model provides an institutional and organizational framework that promotes the most effective development of irrigated agriculture in the GAP region. This goal can be expressed as three major objectives: maximize net benefits, ensure sustainability and be implementable and flexible.     

Decentralizing semiconductor capacity planning via internal market coordination

Semiconductor capacity planning is a cross-functional decision that requires coordination between the marketing and manufacturing divisions. We examine the main issues of a decentralized coordination scheme in a setting observed at a major US semiconductor manufacturer: marketing managers reserve capacity from manufacturing based on product demands, while attempting to maximize profit; manufacturing managers allocate capacity to competing marketing managers so as to minimize operating costs while ensuring efficient resource utilization. This cross-functional planning problem has two important characteristics: (i) both demands and capacity are subject to uncertainty; and (ii) all decision entities own private information while being self-interested. To study the issues of coordination we first formulate the local marketing and the manufacturing decision problem as separate stochastic programs. We then formulate a centralized stochastic programming model (JCA), which maximizes the firm's overall profit. JCA establishes a theoretical benchmark for performance, but is only achievable when all planning information is public. If local decision entities are to keep their planning information private, we submit that the best achievable coordination corresponds to an alternative stochastic model (DCA). We analyze the relationship and the theoretical gap between (JCA) and )DCA), thereby establishing the price of decentralization. Next, we examine two mechanisms that coordinate the marketing and manufacturing decisions to achieve (DCA) using different degrees of information exchange. Using insights from the Auxiliary Problem Principle (APP), we show that under both coordination mechanisms the divisional proposals converge to the global optimal solution of (DCA). We illustrate the theoretic insights using numerical examples as well as a real world case.     

Floc settling characteristics of turbid water coagulated with moringa oleifera seeds

The results of studies into the particle aggregations and settling rates of flocs from turbid water (kaolin suspension) with turbidities varying from 50 to 550 NTU coagulated with Moringa oleifera seeds are presented. The results of the laboratory based study showed that the maximum value of the “apparent aggregation rate”, K _app,increased with increase in initial turbidity. K _app was found to be 0.000778 for low turbidity (50 NTU) and 0.00654 for high turbidity (550 NTU). The velocity gradient for rapid mix at the maximum K _app was found to be constant at 443/sec for all turbidities. Settling rate of floc coagulated with Moringa oleifera seed was dependent on the initial turbidity of the water sample. For water with initial turbidity of 50 NTU, 30% to 70% turbidity was removed between 60 and 210 minutes, while for high turbidity of 400 to 550 NTU, 80% to 95% turbidity removal occurred between 60 and 150 minutes.     

Bench Scale Studies for Pretreatment of Sanitary Landfill Leachate with Moringa Oleifera Seeds Extract

A laboratory study using a bench scale model of two unit operations involved processes of coagulation (using Moringa oleifera seeds as a natural coagulant) and flocculation-sedimentation have been adopted to treat the leachate from Air Hitam Sanitary Landfill at Puchong in Malaysia. The results of this study has shown, that M. oleifera has a potential for the removal of heavy metals from the leachate, and may be used as a pre-treatment stage for biological treatment to eliminate a portion of the toxic heavy metals, which limit the activity of micro-organisms in the leachate.     

Control and dynamic analysis of a packed distillation column based on modeling approaches

In this work, dynamic analysis and control of a packed distillation column have been utilized theoretically and experimentally. In theoretical studies, two types of mathematical models stagewise (Frank model) and partial differential approaches (back-mixing model), were used. Packed distillation uses 1400 mm packing height, and packing type is rashing ring with 20-15 mm diameter. The reboiler was made from a 13 L glass container. Reflux ratio was adjusted by an on-line computer. The system temperature was measured with six thermocouples. For control studies, the reflux ratio and the reboiler heat dutywere chosen as manipulated variables. Perturbation in feed composition was utilized as the disturbance. Decoupling multivariable dynamic matrix control (DDMC) and Nondecoupling multivariable dynamic matrix control (NDMC) of overhead and bottom compositions were applied for control studies. Performance of the control system was tested by using an integral absolute error (IAE) criterion and it was also compared with decoupling multivariable PID control (DPID) and Nondecoupling multivariable PID control (NDPID).