East Coast Of Peninsular Malaysia Research Articles

Ultimate bearing capacity of peat treated with cement columns in physical model

Peat is classified as very soft and problematic soil due to its natural behaviour of high compressibility, low in shear strength and with high natural water content. Cement column method is commonly used to stabilise the soil by improving the engineering properties. This research aimed to study the unconfined compressive shear strength and the ultimate vertical bearing capacity of stabilized tropical peat of East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. A group of cement columns were tested in a series of physical model testing. To study the strength behaviour of peat with or without the cement stabilization, physical models were prepared with different variables such as; the number of cement column, proportion of binders (Ordinary Portland Cement-OPC) and the pozzolanic materials (Palm Oil Fuel Ash-POFA). In this research, a total of 9 physical models testing of peat soil including one without the stabilized cement column were conducted. A group of 4 and 6 cement columns with 25 mm diameter and 200mm in length each was installed. Samples were cured for 28 days as soon as the mixing of cement columns completed. After curing, a series of axial loads were applied uniformly on the pre-fabricated steel plate footing from the top of the cement column in order to study the ultimate bearing capacity of the stabilised soil. The change in strength of the soil was evaluated using Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) test. Based on the results, the highest ultimate bearing capacity was recorded in Model 6 with 6 cement columns with area improvement ratio of 18.83 %. The sample with 300kg/m3 of OPC has the highest UCS value of 106.88kPa. Hence, the cement columns mixed with binder and pozzolanic improved the strength and the ultimate bearing capacity of the peat soil.

An updated checklist of the marine fish fauna of Redang Islands, Malaysia.

BackgroundRedang Islands Marine Park consists of nine islands in the state of Terengganu, Malaysia. Redang Island is one of the largest off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, which is famous for its crystal-clear waters and white sandy beaches. The ichthyofauna of the Redang archipelago was surveyed by underwater visual observations between August 2016 and May 2018. Census data were compiled with existing records into the checklist of the marine fish of the Redang archipelago presented herein. A total of 314 species belonging to 51 families were recorded. The most speciose families (Pomacentridae, Labridae, Scaridae, Serranidae, Apogonidae, Carangidae, Gobiidae, Chaetodontidae, Lutjanidae, Nemipteridae and Siganidae) were also amongst the most speciose at the neighbouring Tioman archipelago (except Chaetodontidae). The coral fish diversity index value for the six families of coral reef fishes (Chaetodontidae, Pomacanthidae, Pomacentridae, Labridae, Scaridae and Acanthuridae) of the study sites was 132. We estimated that there were 427 coral reef fish species in the Redang archipelago. According to the IUCN Red List, eight species are Near Threatened (Carcharhinus melanopterus, Chaetodon trifascialis, Choerodon schoenleinii, Epinephelus fuscoguttatus, E. polyphekadion, Plectropomus leopardus, Taeniura lymma and Triaenodon obesus), eleven are Vulnerable (Bolbometopon muricatum, Chaetodon trifasciatus, Chlorurus sordidus, Dascyllus trimaculatus, Epinephelus fuscoguttatus, E. polyphekadion, Halichoeres marginatus, Heniochus acuminatus, Nebrius ferrugineus, Neopomacentrus cyanomos and Plectropomus areolatus) and three are Endangered (Amphiprion clarkia, Cheilinus undulatus and Scarus ghobban) in the Redang archipelago.New informationFive species are new records for Malaysia (Ctenogobiops mitodes, Epibulus brevis, Halichoeres erdmanni, H. richmondi and Scarus caudofasciatus) and 25 species are newly recorded in the Redang archipelago.

Haplotype and network analysis of island flying fox (Pteropus hypomelanus) using D-loop region of mitochondrial DNA to confirm subspecies designation

Taxonomic confusion among island flying foxes (Pteropus hypomelanus) still in debate as in the lack of further genetic studies that describe subspecies validity needs verification. On the basis of morphological variants, 17 subspecies of P. hypomelanus are currently recognized. A previous study showed the distribution of two subspecies of P. hypomelanus in Malaysia: P. hypomelanus robinsoni in Pangkor Island, west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and P. hypomelanus lepidus from Perhentian Island, Kapas Island, and Tioman Island, east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Herein, using the displacement loop (D-loop) region of mitochondrial DNA sequences, phylogenetic and haplotype network was conducted on their population structure in Peninsular Malaysia upon 42 genetic samples from Dangli Island (Langkawi), Pangkor Island (Perak), Redang Island (Terengganu), and Tinggi Island (Johor). Phylogenetically, two main clades separating northwest and southeast populations emerged. No haplotype was shared between the populations. The results from genetic differentiation (estimate of population subdivision (FST) and nucleotide subdivision (Nst)) yielded a gene flow that was nearly cut-off because of the central mountain that forms as an effective barrier between islands of the east and west coasts of Peninsular Malaysia. Although the above finding genetically confirms their subspecies designation, examination using a nuclear marker is needed in future studies.

Otolith Morphology and Body Size Relationships of Monopterus albus in Malaysia

Monopterus albus production in Malaysia is widely depends on wild stock. Otolith morphology has been widely used to give additional information that is crucial for aiding the seed production. Otolith morphology of Asian swamp eel, Monopterus albus and its relationships to fish size was examined. A total of 125 samples were collected from the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia (ECPM) and Sabah for analyses. Otolith descriptions were based on its outline, including otolith length (OL, mm), otolith height (OH, mm) and otolith weight (OW, mm). Fish total length (TL, cm) and body weight (BW, kg) were also measured and recorded. Paired t-test result (p-value > 0.05) showed there is no statistically significant difference between left and right otolith dimensions. Regression models related to otolith morphometric parameters with eel length and body weight were determined. There is no morphological difference between left and right otolith of swam eel observed. Otolith weight is a good indicator of body weight (R2 =0.8994) and total length of fish (R2 =0.8707) since the R2 value is strongest than other relationship. If the otolith weight used to estimate the length and body weight of eel, the regression explains more than 87% of data variation in this Monopterus albus.

Practical Predictability of the 17 December 2014 Heavy Rainfall Event over East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia using WRF Model

An investigation on the practical predictability aspects of heavy rainfall event in the east coast states of Peninsular Malaysia was carried out by simulating the 17 December 2014 episode using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF). The WRF model was configured with three nested domains of 36 km, 12 km, and 4 km horizontal resolution for 36 h simulations. It was found that the cumulative rainfall amount and the location of the heavy rainfall centre are sensitive to the choices of Cumulus Parameterisation Scheme (CPS). The experiment with a resolution of 4 km that used the multiscale Kain-Fritsch for the outer domains and no cumulus scheme in the inner domain reasonably well simulated the case. Further analysis suggests that the CPS and initialisation gave larger impact to the forecast quality compared to boundary conditions. Grid resolution contributed the least error.

Seawater, biota and sediment partitioning of 137Cs in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia

Partitioning of 137Cs between marine compartments in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia was studied with the objectives were to quantify the level of 137Cs in seawater, biota and sediment and to assess its partition coefficient of CF and Kd. The results found the level of 137Cs were low in all type of samples and seems to be not significant. Therefore, this can be concluded that the levels of 137Cs in those samples remain in the background level and there is no new input of 137Cs into this region. Moreover, the evidence discussed in this work is reasonable to highlight the possible reasons or factors affecting the partitioning of 137Cs in seawater, sediment and its accumulation in biota as well as its CF and Kd.

The Malay Traditional Boat: Defending Malay Heritage Objects in Kelantan, East Coast of the Malaysian Peninsula

All nations have their own historical heritage and artifacts as proof of their glory and achievements. The cultural heritage of the coastal community in the Malay World is one of its highest achievements. The development of boat-making technology and navigation by the stars have been recognized by many local and foreign scholars as contributing to the advancement of humankind. The creation of various types of boats in the Malay World has also attracted the attention of many Western scholars who study these traditional boats. This article attempts to rediscover the precious Malay historical heritage of the East Coast, the Malay traditional boat, by connecting research conducted by Smyth, Gibson-Hill, Masengi and Shibata and that of other renowned scholars who carried out studies by recording information on traditional Malay boats on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. However, the recordings made by previous researchers were done at a time when traditional boat findings were few, and these were not in perfect condition. The discovery of only four traditional boat types in seven different locations suggests that the Malay heritage—which was once the glory of the Malays—has been forgotten.

Forecasting Particulate Matter Concentration Using Linear and Non-Linear Approaches for Air Quality Decision Support

Air quality status on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia is dominated by Particulate Matter (PM10) throughout the years. Studies have affirmed that PM10 influence human health and the environment. Therefore, precise forecasting algorithms are urgently needed to determine the PM10 status for mitigation plan and early warning purposes. This study investigates the forecasting performance of a linear (Multiple Linear Regression) and two non-linear models (Multi-Layer Perceptron and Radial Basis Function) utilizing meteorological and gaseous pollutants variables as input parameters from the year 2000–2014 at four sites with different surrounding activities of urban, sub-urban and rural areas. Non-linear model (Radial Basis Function) outperforms the linear model with the error reduced by 78.9% (urban), 32.1% (sub-urban) and 39.8% (rural). Association between PM10 and its contributing factors are complex and non-linear in nature, best captured by an Artificial Neural Network, which generates more accurate PM10 compared to the linear model. The results are robust enough for precise next day forecasting of PM10 concentration on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

Occurrence of meridional and easterly surges and their impact on Malaysian rainfall during the northeast monsoon: a climatology study

AbstractThe cold surge or meridional surge (MS) is known to be one of the main features that contributes to extreme Malaysian rainfall events during the boreal winter or northeast monsoon. This study investigates other factors that contribute to the heavy rainfall, besides the cold surge, as well as their impacts on rainfall in the Malaysian region. Based on known methods, two additional types of surge are identified, namely the easterly surge (ES) and the mixed surge (MES), which is a mixture of both ES and MS. Daily average wind data from the European Centre for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis ERA‐Interim for 37 seasons of the northeast monsoon (1979–1980 to 2016–2017, October–March) were used to identify the MSs, ESs and MESs. The impact of these surges on rainfall in the Malaysian region was investigated by using the rainfall data from the meteorological stations of the Malaysian Meteorological Department and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission. The results showed that the MS plays an important role in modulating heavy rainfall in the early season over the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Meanwhile, the ES dominates the rainfall distribution over Sarawak in the late middle season. The rainfall modulated by the MES shows a higher intensity and concentrates over the southern part of the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah. These findings provide a climatological view of the spatial and temporal distribution of heavy rainfall associated with different types of surge, which can be used as a forecasting tool for predicting surges and their impacts.

A Qualitative Approach towards the Understanding of Managerial Employees in Islamic Organizations

The critique on the failure of Islamic organizations to represent the Islamic nature has been pointed towards employees’ competency in understanding the Islamic concept. Hence, this study seeks to delve into the understanding of the employee in Islamic organizations regarding the concept, implementation and challenges in such organizations by employing the qualitative method. The study involves three Islamic organizations namely Islamic Banking, Takaful and Islamic Property Management Company located in three states of the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia i.e. Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang. Managerial employees from the three organizations were interviewed and the outcomes were triangulated with the experts. The findings show understanding among managerial employees in Islamic organizations is appropriate but there are still more that need to be improved.

Modeling the Nonlinearity of Sea Level Oscillations in the Malaysian Coastal Areas Using Machine Learning Algorithms

The estimation of an increase in sea level with sufficient warning time is important in low-lying regions, especially in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia (ECPM). This study primarily aims to investigate the validity and effectiveness of the support vector machine (SVM) and genetic programming (GP) models for predicting the monthly mean sea level variations and comparing their prediction accuracies in terms of the model performances. The input dataset was obtained from Kerteh, Tioman Island, and Tanjung Sedili in Malaysia from January 2007 to December 2017 to predict the sea levels for five different time periods (1, 5, 10, 20, and 40 years). Further, the SVM and GP models are subjected to preprocessing to obtain optimal performance. The tuning parameters are generalized for the optimal input designs (SVM2 and GP2), and the results denote that SVM2 outperforms GP with R of 0.81 and 0.86 during the training and testing periods, respectively, at the study locations. However, GP can provide values of 0.71 and 0.79 for training and testing, respectively, at the study locations. The results show precise predictions of the monthly mean sea level, denoting the promising potential of the used models for performing sea level data analysis.

Diversity and Abundance of Scleractinian Corals in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia: A Case Study of Redang and Tioman Islands

The species lists of scleractinian hard corals in Peninsular Malaysia have not been updated for 15 years. The present study aimed to determine the diversity and abundance patterns of scleractinian hard corals at twenty eight fringing reef sites along the coast of Redang and Tioman Islands. Visual photograph analyses of the coral video transect method revealed a total of 128 species from 47 genera in Redang and 239 species from 55 genera in Tioman. Following recent taxonomy of scleractinian corals, coral surveys and past studies revealed a total of 166 species from 53 genera in Redang and 350 species from 67 genera in Tioman. Current data at both islands presented a total of 358 species from 69 genera and 15 families of scleractinian corals with an additional 8 new species records for the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Acropora, Montipora and Porites were the most dominant genera and were found distributed within the coral assemblages. The reefs around both islands can be categorized under “good” coral conditions with the live corals cover from 40.9% to 73.5%. Overall findings indicated that the less affected reef zones by coastal development and human activities at both islands have established good coral conditions and coral genera diversity.

Descriptive Research of Social Capital among Low Income Group in Urban Areas in East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia

The purpose of this study is to identify the descriptive analysis of social capital among low income group. Technological advances make society less directly connected among themselves. According to Malaysia Department of Statistics in 2015, there was 2.7 million of the low income group B40, with 63% living in the urban areas while 37% lived rural areas. This is intense circumstance since family pay can influence others perspectives throughout somebody's life, for example, personal satisfaction. Social Capital can turn into an apparatus so as to beat this issue and networks are urged to utilize this instrument admirably. This investigation included 288 respondents among low salary bunch in Kota Bharu, Kuala Terengganu and Kuantan. Information was gathered utilizing surveys and analysis was directed utilizing SPSS programming. The outcome demonstrates the component of social capital has a positive dimension. This finding can be used as a foundation to make a predominant procedures or program by the administration with a particular ultimate objective to diminish the dimension of B40 in Malaysia.

Shoreline change analysis and erosion prediction using historical data of Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia

At the present time, coastal changes are having a major impact in many regions of the world. Relative sea-level rise would significantly contribute to physical changes in coastal cities. Predicting the magnitude of coastal changes such as erosion and land loss is essential for a better understanding of the impacts on environment and coastal communities, as well as for management, planning and protection in coastal areas. An increase in the rate of sea-level rise and range of potential impacts, including flood and coastal erosion, will likely affect the wide East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia and would cause serious disturbance for sandy beaches, particularly in Kuala Terengganu. This study attempts to predict the future erosion in the coastal area of Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia. The shoreline erosion as a result of sea-level rise was predicted using the Bruun Rule. This is the best known model that provides a rate of shoreline erosion under sea-level rise for sandy beaches. The result of Bruun Model is analysed and presented in a Geographic Information System (GIS). Results indicate an upward trend in the future for erosion in this coastal area. The highest erosion rate is 3.20 m/year and the most sensitive zones are expected to be around Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) and left bank of Kuala Terengganu from 2015 to 2020. It also can provide the basic information that decision makers need when they are planning any new activity within the coastal area.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Regarding Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Among Outpatients in a Health Center in East-Coast of Peninsular Malaysia

Introduction: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is becoming a global epidemic and a threat to the world population. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) regarding T2DM among outpatients of a health center in East-Cost of Peninsular Malaysia. A total of 104 participants aged above 18 years were selected using purposive sampling by the researcher to answer an interviewer-guided questionnaire. The total scores for each KAP were computed to find the associations using SPSS. Results: There were significant correlations between knowledge and practice (r=0.481, p<0.001) and between age of participants with knowledge (r=0.562, p<0.001) and practice regarding T2DM (r=0.607, p<0.001). Besides, there was also a significant difference in terms of knowledge and practice regarding T2DM between different sexes and education levels. However, while making a comparison between Malays and other races, the significant difference was only found for practice regarding T2DM. The attitude was found to be similar in all groups. T2DM can be prevented by having accurate knowledge, adopting a positive attitude and practicing a healthy lifestyle. Conclusion: Therefore, policies and campaigns which may change people’s knowledge, attitudes, and practices for preventing T2DM should be properly formulated and implemented to tackle this health issue.

Influence of Oceanographic Parameters on the Seasonal Potential Fishing Grounds of Rastrelliger kanagurta using Maximum Entropy Models and Remotely Sensed Data

Understanding of the spatial distribution of fish habitats is crucial in order to achieve optimum fishing and to increase efficiency of marine resource management. In this study, seasonal potential suitability habitat model for Rastrelliger kanagurta off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia was derived using maximum entropy (MaxEnt) by utilizing fishing locations and environmental parameters from remotely sensed sea surface temperature (SST) and chl-a concentration (chl-a) data. The influence of environmental parameters on the formation of the potential fishing zones was also determined. The results showed that all the seasonal models performed significantly better than random with AUC > 0.80, which indicated that the constructed models were applicable with ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ predictive accuracy. The model also showed that chl-a influenced R. kanagurta’s potential fishing ground during northeast and intermediate monsoon of October. Meanwhile, SST contributed more in defining the potential fishing grounds during southwest and intermediate monsoon period of April. The seasonal and spatial extents of potential fishing grounds were largely explained by chl-a (0.32-0.42 mg/m3 during northeast, 0.27-0.66 mg/m3 in April, 0.21-0.30 mg/m3 during southwest monsoon and 0.22-0.39 mg/m3 in October) and SST (29.05-29.94oC during northeast monsoon, 31.18-31.47oC in April, 31.17-31.48oC during southwest monsoon and 30.34-31.11oC in October). This indicated that seasonal changes in oceanographic parameters influenced spatial distribution of fish. The results also demonstrated the applicability and potential of MaxEnt in determination of potential fishing grounds and describing the influence of oceanographic factors on the formation of the area.

Chemical characterisation of water-soluble ions in atmospheric particulate matter on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract. Air quality on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia is influenced by local anthropogenic and biogenic emissions as well as marine air masses from the South China Sea and aged emissions transported from highly polluted East Asian regions during the winter monsoon season. An atmospheric observation tower has been constructed on this coastline at the Bachok Marine Research Station. Daily PM2.5 samples were collected from the top of the observation tower over a 3-week period, and ion chromatography was used to make time-resolved measurements of major atmospheric ions present in aerosol. SO42- was found to be the most dominant ion present and on average made up 66 % of the total ion content. Predictions of aerosol pH were made using the ISORROPIA II thermodynamic model, and it was estimated that the aerosol was highly acidic, with pH values ranging from −0.97 to 1.12. A clear difference in aerosol composition was found between continental air masses originating from industrialised regions of East Asia and marine air masses predominantly influenced by the South China Sea. For example, elevated SO42- concentrations and increased Cl− depletion were observed when continental air masses that had passed over highly industrialised regions of East Asia arrived at the measurement site. Correlation analyses of the ionic species and assessment of ratios between different ions provided an insight into common sources and formation pathways of key atmospheric ions, such as SO42-, NH4+ and C2O42-. To our knowledge, time-resolved measurements of water-soluble ions in PM2.5 are virtually non-existent in rural locations on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Overall this dataset contributes towards a better understanding of atmospheric composition in the Maritime Continent, a region of the tropics that is vulnerable to the effects of poor air quality, largely as a result of rapid industrialisation in East Asia.

A selective microalgae strain for biodiesel production in relation to higher lipid profile

Biodiesel have become the important asset by the country especially to build up their economy. Currently, microalgae have been choosing as the source for production of biodiesel based on their advantages. Microalgae are a photosynthetic organism that use light as an energy source and able to produce their own food. These microalgae also produce a lipid that can be used to produce a biodiesel. Using microalgae that contain high lipid profile are very important to make sure the biodiesel can be produce in large quantity in short time and more cost saving. Although many microalgae species have been identified and isolated for lipid production, there is currently no consensus as to which species provide the highest productivity. Different species are expected to function best at different aquatic, geographical and climatic conditions. So, this experiment is conducted to identify which strain of microalgae contains high lipid profile that can be used to convert into the biodiesel. There are three main objectives that involve in this experiment which is to isolate and identify different strain of microalgae from Kuantan Coast, East Coast Peninsular Malaysia, to convert the lipid from microalgae into biodiesel through transesterification, and to estimate higher lipid profile of microalgae species for biodiesel production. Two species of green microalgae were isolated, which is Nannochloropsis sp and Coelastrum sp. Based on lipid extraction and lipid analysis, it shows that the Nannochloropsis sp. have more concentrated of lipid and higher lipid profile compared to Coelastrum sp. Hence, Nannochloropsis sp. are most suitable species that can be used as a biodiesel feedstock due to higher lipid profile of MUFA.

Overview of Monsoon Induced Coastal Erosion Disaster in Peninsular Malaysia Based On Mass-Media Reports

Peninsular Malaysia coastline is undergoing extreme level of erosion causing economic retardation and life threatening situation. National Coastal Erosion Studies 1984 shows that around 52% of Peninsular Malaysia’s coastline is undergoing erosion and these value might have increased over the years. Hence, this paper aims to locate the erosion prone area in Peninsular Malaysia in response to monsoon by utilizing documented mass media reports. The review of mass media reports were analysed together with wind speed in representative of monsoon for the five years period to achieve the aim of this paper. The outcome of this study shows that the severity of coastal erosion in Peninsular Malaysia is increasing drastically. In addition, the northeast monsoon shows the highest impact on the erosion disaster especially in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The result from this empirical studies shows a good correlation between coastal erosion and monsoon in Peninsular Malaysia. Therefore, the coastal erosion is highly catalysed by monsoon (wind) as its prime catalyst.

Radio Frequency Interference on Nearby Radio Astronomical Lines: Relationship between Wind Speed and Radio Signal Strength Measured at East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia

The East coast of Peninsular Malaysia receives a strong wind speed, heavy rain and high humidity during the Northeast monsoon. The Malaysian Meteorological Department claims that the wind speed during the Northeast season could reach 55.56 km/h or more. This strong wind speed and heavy rain could contribute to the attenuation of radio signals. This paper investigated the relationship between wind speed (km/h) and radio signal strength, RSS (dBm). The statistical correlation was employed to identify the correlation value and strength between them. The wind speed and RSS were collected during wet and dry seasons at Kusza Observatory, while the Spectrum analyser was used for measuring RSS (dBm) and the weather station for wind speed (km/h). The result showed that the wet season has strong and significant correlation compared to the dry season. Frequencies of 382.5 MHz, 945 MHz and 2160 MHz with correlation values of r = -0.583;-0.631 and -0:514, respectively, showed strong, negative and significant correlations with wind speed in the wet season. As for the dry season, only a frequency of 382.5 MHz showed a strong, positive and significant correlation with r = 0.555, while small and medium for others. This finding is useful to a radio astronomer to help determine the best period for radio astronomy observation with the lowest interference considering the weather in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Besides, this finding benefits a spectrum of users involved in mobile telecommunication, wireless internet, radio TV transmission and satellite broadcasting.