Cities of today are shaped more by boundary rather than by rational design. Boundaries, on the other hand, are the result of the amalgamation of a community’s collective living experiences. Architecture defines boundary as a formal division of lines, walls and partitions. In public spaces, boundaries can be blurred arising from needs and usages. Conventional boundaries, because they do not take into account public and cultural needs, has resulted in unyielding spatial characteristics which stifle creativity in the utilization of space. In this paper, public space, in particular the streetscape will be examined in order to redefine the space usage. This paper also offers solutions in the use of street space in order to create a better quality of life.

Maintenance generally conducted in order to extend lifecyle of the product or system. Maintainability can be described as the measure of maintenance operation efficiency, which depends on location and condition of the targeted parts. In terms of time, the faster maintenance could be completed the better. Beside that there are several factors that should also be considered including the accesability dan location of the parts and the fasteners used. The objective of this study is to improve the present maintainability index measurement methods. Here, the Design for Assembly is used as a guideline to produce the assembly criteria. The result from the study indicated that, assembly have a great impact to the maintainability and there are a tremendous improvement.

The degree of mixing in aerobic biological porous packed reactors can be quantitatively determined by Reynolds Numbers calculation. The dimensionless parameter accounts for all the inertial and viscous forces in the fully and partially packed reactors. Two identical reactors were built; each reactor was 14 cm in diameter and 100 cm in height, providing an empty bed volume of 15 L. At approximate organic loading rates (OLRs) of 2, 3, 4, and 6 kg COD/m3.d, the Reynolds numbers in the partial-bed were 40 300, 36 100, 25 500 and 40 400 respectively, whilst those of the full-bed were 19 500, 20 500, 11 700 and 26 400. The quantity of media therefore had a significant effect on the extent of mixing in the filter. Porosity of the aerobic porous packed reactors is a bed characteristic resulting from the balance between the effect of biomass accumulation due to growth and biomass loss due to shear stress. The stress arises from increased organic loadings and increased upflow velocity due to aeration.

This paper is based on a survey conducted on top management of component suppliers to Malaysian automotive manufacturers. The survey was conducted to investigate the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) top managements’ perceptions on the following: critical competitive performance measures relative to their competitors; important goals that drive the SMEs to stay lean and competitive; on critical factors and major problems encountered in implementing benchmarking initiatives. This study aims at providing empirical evidence on the SMEs top managements’ perceptions of the above three major groups of factors. Analysis of the survey results showed that the three most critical competitive performance measures relative to competitors are product quality, manufacturing cost and technological competitiveness. Meanwhile, the three most important goals that help SMEs to stay lean and competitive are customer satisfaction, productivity improvement and operational performance. This survey also revealed the critical factors that must be in-place and major problems that must be overcome prior to the benchmarking implementation and adoption in order to ensure its success. The paper culminates with a discussion and general conclusion from the survey results.

The production of itaconic acid by Aspergillus terreus IMI 282743 from filtered Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) as an added supplement was investigated. The factor analysis method was applied to screen the most influential parameters for the production of itaconic acid. Through this analysis, the filtered POME was proven to be a significant parameter in the fermentation. In addition, the parameter could be considered as an inducer to the production of itaconic acid since the addition of filtered POME into the media was able to increase the itaconic acid concentration. The production of itaconic acid was achieved up to 5.76 g/L in shake flask fermentation from production medium consisted of 56 mL of filtered POME containing 51% of filtered POME. It is also believed that if POME formulated media is used with the industrial strain, higher concentration of itaconic acid could be attained since according to some researches, it has been shown that industrial type strain is capable to produce more of the acid. Other parameters that were found to have significant influence on the itaconic acid production include percentage of glycerol, pH , temperature, concentration of NH4NO3 and agitation speed.

Aluminium alloys are increasingly being used in tribological applications, often in composite form, but to date no systematic work has been undertaken on optimising the matrix composition. In particular, it is not clear whether a work-hardened, a precipitation hardened or dispersion hardened matrix is optimum. Accordingly, the dry sliding wear behaviour of four aluminium alloys (A2124, A6092 (both precipitation hardened), A3004 (dispersion hardened) and A5056 (work hardened) was investigated against an M2 steel counterface in the load range 23-140N and at a fixed sliding speed of 1 ms-1. Severe wear was observed for all alloys, with domination of transfer of Fe from the counterface for all alloys, which resulted in the formation of a mechanically mixed layer. The relationship between alloy composition, deformation below worn surface and wear resistance is discussed.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia is working towards the establishment of “Sustainable and Environmental Friendly Campus”. The management of water bodies promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources, in order to maximise the benefit in term of economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems. A study on the water quality of Tasik Kejuruteraan of the UKM Bangi campus was carried out to determine the water quality, Water Quality Index (WQI) and its classification according to Interim National Water Quality Standard (INWQS). The purpose of this study was to identify the sources of the water pollution and level of pollution at the lake. The effect of dry and rainy days on the water quality was also evaluated. Parameters selected were pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), conductivity, turbidity, total suspended solids (TSS), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammoniacal-nitrogen, lead and cadmium. Temperature, pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen and turbidity were measured in-situ by using calibrated meters. Heavy metal concentrations were determined by using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS). Methods of sampling and water analyses were performed according to recommendations outlined by the American Public Health Association (APHA). On normal days, the average inflow and outfow of the lake were 0.057 m3s-1 and 0.052 m3s-1 respectively. The theoretical retention time of the lake with mean depth of 1.5 m and an area of 18,000 m2 was 62.5 days. All sampling stations were categorized as Class II i.e. good water quality except station S2, which was categorized as Class III or slightly polluted.

The objective of this study is to determine the effect of incorporating paint sludge bottom ash as cement replacement materials to the workability of fresh concrete and compressive strength of concrete. The paint sludge bottom ash is obtained from the incinerator plant of Perodua Manufacturing Sdn. Bhd, Sungai Choh, Rawang Selangor. Tests on the properties of the ash shows that the specific gravity is 2.50 and the specific surface of the ash particle is 829.82 cm2/g. The heavy metals test shows that the highest concentration of heavy metals is barium, which is 144.18 mg/L followed by zinc, 16.96 mg/L and lead, 15.72 mg/L. Meanwhile, the content of CaO and SiO2 found in the bottom ash are small. There are only 1.82% and 7.68% (weight in percent). The test on the properties of fresh concrete incorporating 10%, 20% and 40% of the paint sludge bottom ash by weight shows that the slump of the concrete increases as the bottom ash percentage increases. Consequently, test on strength shows that compressive strength decreases as the percentage of bottom ash replacing the amount of cement increases. The compressive strength (28th days) of the concrete incorporating 40% bottom ash experienced the maximum reduction (more than 50%) both for samples undergone wet or air-dry curing.

This study examines the sediment plume behaviour as it enters the sea. It uses the physical model and remote sensing techniques. This paper will only discuss the application of physical model in suspended sediment study at Sg. Langat estuary. Sg Langat estuary model was built according to Froude criterion. It was designed as a fixed bed using distorted scale model. Sg. Langat estuary model was characterized into wavelength (L), wave height (H), wave period (T), current velocity (V) and wave celerity (c). Prototype analysis was made using calculated data from physical model using upscale equation. It shows that, there exists a scale effect on wave height (H) data. Sediment plume dispersion simulation in physical model proved the importance of wave in sediment movement.

The use of numerical prediction of wind loads onto the structural model by computer simulation offers certain advantages compared to the model tested in the wind tunnel. This study will look into the effectiveness and the suitability of Finite Element Method (FEM) through numerical simulation using FEMLAB software in the prediction of wind load effects to the structure. The wind flow and pressure distribution around the model are obtained from two-dimensional simulation of turbulence flow k-e. Two models of low rise buildings are chosen in order to compare the simulation results of the full scale and of the wind tunnel measurements. The predicted pressure coefficients Cp obtained from the simulation are then compared to previous studies using other methods such as Finite Difference Method (FDM) and Finite Volume Method (FVM). Overall results of these two models show that the application of Finite Element Method (FEM) in two dimensional simulation are acceptable and comparable to the other methods for the windward face. Whilst, for leeward face the predicted pressure coefficient (Cp) obtained are much larger compared to the real measurement.

This paper presents the simulation of two-stroke free piston linear engine motion consisting of combustion and air-kickback chambers. Dynamic and gas-dynamic models for slider-piston motion are presented. The influence of the intake and exhaust port position on the engine performance is explored. Using chosen variables, the motion of two-stroke free piston linear engine is successfully simulated. It shows that the velocity profile of slider-piston motion is far from sinusoidal. The comparison between both simulations with different location of intake and exhaust port reveals that the slider-piston velocities are not similar. Slider-piston velocity of model 2 with intake and exhaust port at the top of the cylinder block is 19 % higher than model 1 (intake and exhaust port at the cylindrical-side of cylinder block). Although that was the case, model 1 has an advantage in a way that it does not need valves and open close valves system.

Maintaining the quality of lubricant oil quality can guarantee maximum ability in engine functions of vehicles. Currently, the quality of lubricant oil is primarily determined by two factors, namely, vehicle’s mileage and duration. However, these judgments are inaccurate because there are many other factors like conductivity, humidity, temperature and viscosity that may affect the oil quality. In addition, improper treatment of used lubricant oil will greatly pollute the environment. From the investigation carried out, some parameters were suitably identified to determine the current quality of lubricant oil. Those parameters were error and change of error of lubricant oil temperature that were used as the inputs to a fuzzy logic system. The expert knowledge was compiled to justify the human expertise. This developed fuzzy logic system was able to function on its own by using Prolog programming language. The language eased the representation of rule-based knowledge so that its inference can be performed naturally. The obtained data of temperature relation to the lubricant oil quality were applied to the developed membership function of the the fuzzy logic system and had gone through several stages to obtain crisp values representing the lubricant oil quality. The results obtained shows that 90% of the data can be predicted with 82.4 to 98.11% accuracy.

Presently, there is no published relationship between speed and traffic flow for arterial road in Malaysia. Report on Traffic Study Malaysia indicates the relationships of speed and traffic flows for uninterrupted flow facilities. An arterial road is a road consisting of traffic light junctions within 3 km distance or less and carrying high through traffic volume. This study is conducted towards producing the relationships between speed and traffic flow for arterial roads in Malaysia. The speed-flow relationships was developed using an existing traffic flow model. The specific aim of this study is to determine which model is appropriate with respect to Malaysian traffic characteristics. The relationships of speed and traffic flow are two parameters that are very important for planning and modeling of transportation facilities. In this study, travel speed and traffic flow were collected at several selected sites. The collected data were analyzed based on Greenshields, Greenberg, Underwood and Drake Models. The results of the analysis study has shown that Underwood Model is the most suitable model that can be used to define the relationships between speed and traffic flow based on Malaysian road condition. The data of observed free-flow speed in the field were also compared with predicted free-flow speed by each model.

It is widely recognized that construction industry is information intensive and complex industry. However, present trend and proliferations towards multi-participant mega projects have heightened the need for an effective and efficient evaluation and monitoring by stakeholders. A persistent problem in construction has been in documenting changes, which occur in the field, and preparing the as-built schedule. Combining computer vision technology with 3D CAD to produce as-built drawing offers a potential solution. However a recent investigation indicated that there is a lack of systematic and automated evaluation and monitoring in construction projects. The aim of this research is to identify techniques which are used in the construction industry for monitoring and evaluating the actual physical progress and to establish how the current computer technology can be used for monitoring the construction physical progress on site. 3D CAD is increasingly being used as a design tool for construction projects and digital images can be used to provide accurate information needed to document as-built construction schedule. The DCM provides a bridge for storing structural design information in an integrated construction relational database management system that can be shared by a range of computer applications. The DCM model is a part of developing the Tele-Construction base site management system, which retrieves the status of construction work in progress and develop the actual progress bar chart. A pilot study of Car Parking for Larkin Mosque is conducted to check the validity of DCM. The application of DCM model in monitoring the progress enables project management teams to better track and controls the productivity and provides better mechanism for management of project.

This study is on the development of a new design method of silicon corrugated diaphragm using KOH anisotropic etching technique. Design rules for designing and fabricating corrugated silicon diaphragm structures were developed based on the application of the design rules for corrugated metal diaphragm structures which is later being modified. The KOH etching process has been performed by using etching simulation tool of Intellisuite AnisE in order to realize the corrugated structures on the silicon wafer prior to the fabrication process. The disparity of the etching error percentage, De was found to be too small between the simulated and experimental results which are 0.15%.