Issue In Malaysia Research Articles

Genetic Variants of Obesity in Malaysia: A Scoping Review.

Obesity is a pressing public health issue in Malaysia, involving not only excess weight but also complex metabolic and physiological changes. Addressing these complexities requires comprehensive strategies, including understanding the population-level differences in obesity susceptibility. This review aims to compile the genetic variants studied among Malaysians and emphasize their implications for obesity risk. Relevant articles published up to March 2024 were extracted from the Scopus, PubMed, and ScienceDirect databases. The review process was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. From an initial pool of 579 articles, 35 of these were selected for the final review. The identified gene variants, including LEPR (K656N), LEP (G2548A-Indian only), ADIPOQ (rs17366568), UCP2 (45bp-I/D), ADRB3 (rs4994), MC3R (rs3827103), PPARγ (pro12Ala-Malay only), IL1RA (intron 2 VNTR), NFKB1 (rs28362491), and FADS1 (rs174547-Indian only), showed significant associations with obesity as measured by the respective studies. Overall, more intensive genetic research is needed, starting with population-based profiling of genetic data on obesity, including among children. Sociocultural contexts and environmental factors influence variations in genetic elements, highlighting the need for targeted interventions to mitigate the impacts of obesity in the population.

UNDERLYING SCHOOL DROPOUTS ISSUES IN SARAWAK

Students who leave school without completing formal education still remain an issue in Malaysia. This study is based on the research tracing the journey of school dropouts in Sarawak, Malaysia and the focus of this paper is identify the issues behind it. A cross-sectional survey was used to complete the data collection process among 120 school dropouts selected through purposive sampling. The obtained data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), described in frequency and cross-tabulated. The study discloses that most of the school dropouts come from the suburban areas (69.2%) compared to urban areas (30.8%). More males (54.2%) than females (45.8%) dropped out of school and most dropped out at secondary (77.5%) compared to primary (22.5%) school level. Interestingly, the number of students who dropped out from the academic schools (96.7%) is higher than those from the technical school (3.3%). More females than males got married at the schooling age of 18 years old and below. What is thought-provoking on these findings are issues underlying the school dropouts such as the lack of opportunity and social inequality, quality of education, inadequate facilities and infrastructures to facilitate students to continue and complete their education. These issues should be taken into seriously. It is not just the economic concerns of poverty and unemployment but there is also a need to include structural and social concerns such as inequality and violation of children’s right. The underlying background of those who are still in school need to be addressed and studied by all the stakeholders involved and they should be sensitive to their backgrounds in order to identify relevant measures to prevent those who are at risk from further dropping out of school.

Book Review 'The Orchid Project: There Is Still Love’

The stories in this book are written by mental illness fighters, carers and support groups. The events narrated involve sensitive issues such as attempted self-harm, suicide, sexual harassment, bullying and violent acts. If the reader faces problems related to mental illness or is at risk of being affected by knowing this kind of situation, the reader is not advised to read this book and immediately seek the help of mental health professionals such as psychologists, psychiatrists and certified counselors. Mental illness should not be taken lightly and the lack of knowledge or sharing to deal with this problem has led to an increase in many such cases in Malaysia. The issue of mental illness is not a new issue in Malaysia. However, the increase in cases related to mental health is very worrying. The reason for this increase is possible because many people think that mental problems such as stress, depression, extreme anxiety and so on are only temporary and will pass away. Not many people know what treatment can be taken, the therapy that can be used and the importance of strong support from family members, friends and employers in helping mental patients. This book is the result of the experience of patients who faced mental health problems but managed to overcome these challenges and rise again. All writers who are willing to share their stories and life experiences are not something to be ashamed of but rather a bravery and will be a guide and guideline to other patients who have the same problem. This book can inspire anyone who goes through a similar experience.

Strategic Approaches for Optimizing Solar Energy at Universiti Sains Malaysia (Main Campus)

The optimization of solar energy is a critical issue in Malaysia, given the country's location within the Sunbelt and its potential for year-round solar power generation. This research aims to identify the critical success factors for optimizing solar energy in Malaysia. The problem statement is that despite the growing interest in solar energy optimization, there are still challenges in achieving optimal performance and efficiency. This research aims to explore the factors that contribute to the successful integration of solar energy, including proper system sizing and design, high-quality components, monitoring, and maintenance. The research methodology used is qualitative, involving in-depth interviews with industry professionals and installers and a thematic analysis of the data collected. The principal results indicate that regular monitoring and maintenance, technological advancements, and proper system sizing and design are the most critical success factors for optimizing solar energy. The major conclusion is that by prioritizing and investing in regular monitoring and maintenance, solar energy system owners can guarantee peak performance, maximize efficiency, and protect their green energy investment.

Optimisation of extraction parameters of Aquilaria malaccensis on in vitro antiurolithiatic activities using Response surface methodology (RSM)

The prevalence of urolithiasis has become a concerning issue in Malaysia. Its treatment normally relies on medical processes which are costly and can trigger reoccurrence. Traditional healers have used Aquilaria malaccensis (agarwood) to treat urolithiasis; however, the extraction parameters that result in optimum effectiveness have not been determined. Hence, this research aims to optimise the extraction parameters of A. malaccensis stem on in vitro antiurolithiatic activities by applying response surface methodology (RSM) and central composite design (CCD). The studied parameters were solvent concentration (X1), extraction temperature (X2) and extraction time (X3). Their effects on antiurolithiatic activities (turbidity assay, Y1; titrimetric assay, Y2) were also investigated. The presence of phenols, alkaloids and terpenoids was assessed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The quadratic model was selected for both antiurolithiatic activities as the R2 values achieved were close to 1 and were significantly affected by each studied parameter (p < 0.05). The optimum extraction condition of A. malaccensis stem extract was 100% ethanol, 30.0°C extraction temperature and 30 min extraction time. The extract demonstrated antiurolithiatic activities measured at 83.58 ± 0.75% (turbidity assay) and 86.57 ± 0.80% (titrimetric assay). The phytoconstituents in A. malaccensis stem extracts showed positive correlations with both antiurolithiatic activities. This research has established the reliability of RSM to optimise extraction conditions of A. malaccensis stem to exhibit high antiurolithiatic activities.

A study of oil and gas producers subsector portfolio using the trade-off ranking method

In the topic of stock selection, numerous multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques have been applied to handle selection difficulties. This paper proposes a compromise approach for the subsector stocks of oil and gas companies, motivated by the pandemic crisis and the political issue in Malaysia. The paper presents a novel analysis of the existing trade-off ranking (TOR) method for ranking the stocks of oil and gas producers in conflicting multi-criteria problems. As a result, the TOR technique ranks the subsector stocks effectively for two criteria weights. Comparison with TOPSIS shows that both methods exhibit similar performance.

Perception of water pollution among Malaysian university students: A case study

<p>The present study aimed to understand the perception and knowledge of university students toward water pollution. In the present study, demographic profile, knowledge of water pollution, university students’ perception of water pollution and attitudes towards water pollution prevention were included in the survey questions. This survey on water pollution was conducted among a diverse group of Malaysian university students using Google Forms. The results showed that almost 50% of the respondents have basic knowledge of water pollution, and agreed that industrial activities were the main factor causing water pollution in Malaysia, followed by the accumulation of organic chemical wastes and heavy metals accumulation. It was also revealed that have shown that the water pollution campaign was a key factor to spread awareness among Malaysians and increase knowledge about water pollution problems. The results further confirmed that water pollution needs to be aware of, which showed that respondents were well aware of the water pollution issue in Malaysia and felt obligated to spread awareness and take action towards water pollution regardless of their surrounding community.</p>

Public perspectives on strays and companion animal management in Malaysia

Strays and companion animal management is a sensitive issue in Malaysia that incites solid and conflicting views. Through structured questionnaires administered to a random sample of 704 respondents, this study explored public opinion on a) causes of the stray animal population, b) the management of the stray animal population, and c) the national strategy on strays and companion Animal Management. The results show that 70.3% of respondents agreed that a lack of public awareness regarding animal care was the major contributor to the stray animal population. In addition, 58.1% of respondents felt that treating and vaccinating animals exposed to zoonotic diseases is a viable approach that could be instituted as a reasonable measure in stray animal population management. Finally, developing animal protection areas through a multi-stakeholder partnership strategy initiative recorded the highest support (48.4%) for intervention planning for stray animal management at a national level. Notably, a significant percentage of public responses were implicitly influenced by demographic variables. These findings provide valuable insights into public opinion regarding stray and companion animal management in Malaysia. These findings could inform the development of future legislation aimed at reducing the unfavorable effects of stray animal populations on humans and the ecology of Malaysia.

Media Literacy and Behavioral Change on Vaccination Issue in Malaysia

Vaccination is a hotly discussed topic that has been around for a long time. Part of this is because many people, particularly parents, have false beliefs about vaccinations and avoid vaccinating their children. If this kind of speculation keeps getting worse, it could pose serious risks to public health. Assumptions about what constitutes reality and what constitutes rumor are spreading like wildfire through the media, especially the Internet, and may be to blame. Therefore, they need to have knowledge of vaccination, which can be received through numerous sources such as the internet, television, radio, newspapers, books, and others. This research aims to measure parents' familiarity with and comfort using various forms of media and their habits around their online searches for data related to childhood vaccinations. The primary tool for data collection in this study was a questionnaire, making quantitative research methodologies the backbone of this investigation. The survey used questions taken from earlier research. Parents with children aged one day to fifteen in five regions of Malaysia accounted for 396 of the study's respondents. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), used in this study, is a method for analyzing hypothesis models, testing and correlating all media literacy constructs, knowledge, and behavior change among parents in Malaysia. All correlations were statistically significant, and the results suggest that just two media literacy characteristics genuinely influence change in Malaysian parents. In sum, this research contributes to a deeper comprehension of media literacy. It may provide a tipping point for parents in Malaysia, allowing them to have a deeper awareness of a specific topic and its impact on the shift in parenting practices in that country.

TOWARDS CURBING CYBER-BULLYING IN MALAYSIA BY AUTHOR IDENTIFICATION OF IBAN AND KADAZANDUSUN OSN TEXT USING DEEP LEARNING

Online Social Network (OSN) is frequently used to carry out cyber-criminal actions such as cyberbullying. As a developing country in Asia that keeps abreast of ICT advancement, Malaysia is no exception when it comes to cyberbullying. Author Identification (AI) task plays a vital role in social media forensic investigation (SMF) to unveil the genuine identity of the offender by analysing the text written in OSN by the candidate culprits. Several challenges in AI dealing with OSN text, including limited text length and informal language full of internet jargon and grammatical errors that further impact AI's performance in SMF. The traditional AI system that analyses long text documents seems inadequate to analyse short OSN text's writing style. N-gram features are proven to efficiently represent the authors' writing style for shot text. However, representing N-grams in traditional representation like Tf-IDF resulted in sparse and difficult in grasping the semantic information from text. Besides, most AI works have been done in English but receive less attention in indigenous languages. In West Malaysia, the supreme languages that transcend ethnic boundaries are Iban of Sarawak and KadazanDusun of Sabah, which both are inherently under-resourced. This paper presented a proposed workflow of AI for short OSN text using two Under-Resourced Language (U-RL), Iban and KadazanDusun tweets, to curb the cyberbullying issue in Malaysia. This paper compares Tf-Idf (sparse) and SoA embedding-based (dense) feature representations to observe which representations best represent the stylistic features of the authors’ writing. N-grams of word, character, and POS were extracted as the features. The representation models were learned by different classifiers using machine learning (Naïve Bayes, Random Forest, and SVM). The convolutional neural network (CNN), a SoA deep learning model in sentence classification, was tested against the traditional classifiers. The result was observed by combining different representation models and classifiers on three datasets (English, Iban, and KadazanDusun). The best result was achieved when CNN learned embedding-based models with a combination of all features. KadazanDusun achieved the highest accuracy with 95.76%, English with 95.02%, and Iban with 94%..

Money Laundering: Factors Leading to Money Laundering in Gold Investment Company in Malaysia

Money laundering has always been one of the biggest frauds in the world and it has also been a serious issue in Malaysia. Money laundering can destabilize the economy of a country by introducing large amounts of illicit funds into the financial system, which can distort markets, increase inflation and undermine the integrity of financial institutions. This activity can be defined simply as a process of cleaning ‘dirty’ money to make it seem like the funds come from legitimate transactions. It is classified as a criminal activity since it uses a legal business to conceal the sources of their illegal incomes. Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (AMLA) was established to discuss the issue of money laundering in Malaysia. Some of the famous cases regarding money laundering are 1MDB, Shafee’s case and Genneva Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. This study focuses on the case of Genneva Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. that uses the gold bullion investment to cover up their money laundering activity. The stages in money laundering are placement, layering and integration. These three stages are usually being used by all criminals involved in this fraud activity. There are several factors leading to money laundering discussed in this paper which are pressure, opportunity, rationalisation and capability. This study is using literature review matrix method to understand influences of money laundering in Malaysia. This paper proposed some recommendations on how money laundering can be reduced especially in Malaysia.

COVID-19 Anti-Vaccine Sentiments in Malaysia: Narratives of Comments from Facebook Post.

The anti-vaccination movement was an ongoing issue in Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country, even before the COVID-19 pandemic. It is unclear whether the introduction of new COVID-19 vaccines would similarly provoke anti-vaccine sentiments. This study analyzed COVID-19 anti-vaccine sentiments in the Malaysian community. Anti-vaccine comments from Facebook page posts were extracted. The qualitative software QSR-NVivo 10 was used to manage, code and analyze the data. The fast-track COVID-19 vaccine evoked the fear of unknown long-term effects, safety, effectiveness and the duration of protection. The halal status of the COVID-19 vaccines is important. Although it is permissible to use vaccines that are not certified halal under the state of darurah (emergency), there was doubt that the current state has reached the stage of darurah that warrants the use of vaccines. COVID-19 vaccine microchip conspiracy theories were raised. COVID-19 is viewed as only severe for vulnerable populations, and hence vaccination is not needed for the healthy. There were opinions that coronavirus treatments would be more beneficial than vaccination. The anti-COVID-19 vaccine sentiments uncovered in this study provide important insights for the formulation of public health messages to instill confidence in new COVID-19 vaccines. Despite the pandemic being nearly over and many people worldwide having received COVID-19 vaccines, the findings provide important insight into potential issues regarding the introduction of new vaccines in the event of future pandemics.

Examining Human Trafficking Issue In Malaysia's Post-Pandemic Era: Preventive Measure and Challenges

Human trafficking is a serious issue that has received international attention since the 1990s and has affected security and human rights, including Malaysia. In Malaysia, this crime is increasing despite various eradication efforts carried out by the Malaysian Government in terms of policy, legislation, enforcement, care and protection, media and publicity and awareness. The Report on Human Trafficking issued by the United States (TIP) 2021 states that Malaysia has been downgraded to Level 3, which is an unsatisfactory level. Therefore, this study aims to examine the issue of human trafficking in Malaysia during the post pandemic era by focusing its analysis on challenges and preventive measures that the government can take to fill the gaps in the enforcement of government policies and legislation. This research was conducted using qualitative methods using primary sources obtained from in-depth interviews, direct observation through field studies in selected areas as well as document analysis from authoritative sources such as official government documents and reports. The findings of the study conclude that there are two main challenges facing Malaysia in dealing with the issue of human trafficking, First, the enforcement aspect, mainly the coordination between the various responsible government agencies. Second, the delay in prosecution is an obstacle to the resolution of this issue from a legal perspective. Thus, this study found that it is very timely for the government to implement more proactive, effective measures continuous efforts to solve the crime of human trafficking in Malaysia.

COVID-19 Related Mental Health Effects in the Workplace: A Case of Fast-food Industry in Malaysia

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the fast-food industry adversely. Consequently, the employee's responsibility is expanding, they are stressed over their well-being also in light of the fact that they are in touch with individuals consistently. This might increase the stress and tension alongside contributing to mental health issues among the employees. However, little attention has been paid to this issue in Malaysia towards a deep understanding of the influential factors. Thus, the goal of this study is to identify the influential factors and the most consequential factor that cause mental health issues among fast food employees in the workplace during pandemics as well as to examine the relationship between the influence factors and fast-food employees' mental health. Quantitative research data has been gathered among 161 fast food workers in Malaysia to determine the workload, job satisfaction, work environment, and salary to deal with employees' mental health. The convenience sampling method was used to select fast food restaurants for the study. Besides, personal contact was used to approach the fast-food workers, who were then snowballed into participating. The data was collected by using a self-administered questionnaire through google form. Then, the data was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26. Multiple regression was conducted to identify employees’ mental health using the aforementioned four variables, and the findings revealed that 52% of the variance in employees’ mental health was explained by workload, job satisfaction, work environment, and salary. In addition, the findings gathered from this study indicated a favorable correlation between employees' mental health and both workload and work environment. Meanwhile, researchers found that employees' mental health was weakly positively correlated with both their job satisfaction and their salary. This research attempts to encourage managers in focusing on these four criteria in order to improve employee well-being.

Football Training: Prophylaxis of Hypertension and Prediabetes in Malaysia

According to the 2019 National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS), 3.4 million Malaysians are affected by at least two of the three major noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), i.e., diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol. The fundamental issue in Malaysia is that individuals are unwilling to attend the hospital for periodic examinations and to seek preventative medical care. It is necessary to adapt football training as a hobby and concurrently as a preventative measure against the NCDs as it appears to be the optimal strategy. In Germany, a prospective interventional study was conducted. Statistical analysis using IBM SPSS Statistics version 26 revealed that providing middle-aged hypertensive patients with football training can improve blood pressure control and minimize the need for antihypertensive medication. Using SPSS version 22, it has been demonstrated in a randomized control trial in the Faroe Islands that football training combined with professional nutrition counseling had a greater effect on metabolic and cardiovascular health prediabetes individuals aged 55 to 70 than expert dietary advice alone. At the state level, Selangor has greatly progressed in health sector reform. Initiatives to minimize noncommunicable diseases have received special attention. This study implies that the mission and vision of the Selangor Health and Sports Council align. After a comprehensive assessment, a viable policy for integrating football training as a preventative intervention should be considered.

Digital Technologie and Corruption Control Mechanism

Nowadays, corruption is a serious issue in Malaysia and international levels. Digital technology that can detect and prevent fraud and corruption is particularly important to manage processes in public sector activities more transparently. The availability of information and the application process to support the delivery system in certain public sectors is more transparent to the public if through digital technology. Therefore, this paper aims to understand the use of digital technology in an effort to eliminate the symptoms of corruption, overcome fraud, and increase transparency in the government service delivery system for the well-being of the community. The method used is literature review analysis. The paper's results can provide information to the government about the importance of improving digital technology for more efficient control mechanisms in Malaysia. Therefore, the government should focus on efforts to streamline better regulatory affairs and standards by using additional anti-corruption technology in service delivery processes with more transparent access to the public through digital technology.

One Health surveillance approaches for melioidosis and glanders: The Malaysian perspective.

The One Health concept was initiated to promote the integration of human, animal, and environmental ecosystems into healthcare to ensure effective control and the sustainable governance of multifaceted health matters. Climate change, deforestation, and rigorous farming disrupt the environment, which serves as the natural habitat for many animals and microbes, increasing the likelihood of disease transmission between humans and animals. Melioidosis (neglected tropical diseases) and glanders are of humans and animals caused by the gram-negative bacteria Burkholderia pseudomallei and its close relative Burkholderia mallei, respectively. In Malaysia, although melioidosis is endemic, it is not a notifiable disease. Hence, the true prevalence of melioidosis in Malaysia is unknown and varies in different regions of the country, with reported hotspots associated with agriculture-related activities. To date, no incidence of human glanders has been reported in Malaysia, although occupational exposure for equine handlers and veterinary professionals remains a concern. Additionally, antibiotics are widely used in the healthcare and veterinary sectors to treat or prevent B. pseudomallei and B. mallei infections, leading to the emergence of resistance in B. pseudomallei. Lack of surveillance, research, assessment, and management of glanders and melioidosis is a major issue in Malaysia. Proper assessment systems and cross-discipline cooperation are vital to recognize and manage both diseases. Experts and practitioners from clinical and veterinary disciplines, environmentalists, law enforcement, policymakers, researchers, local communities, and other experts need to communicate, collaborate, and coordinate activities to fill the knowledge gap on glanders and melioidosis to reduce morbidity and mortality rates in the country. This review aims to define the organizational and functional characteristics of One Health surveillance approaches for glanders and melioidosis from a Malaysian perspective.

Enhancing Rubisco gene expression and metabolites accumulation for better plant growth in Ficus deltoidea under drought stress using hydrogen peroxide.

Growth improvement of the medicinal plant, Ficus deltoidea (Mas Cotek) under drought conditions is a vital issue in Malaysia since it is a slow-growing plant and disposed to leaf damage under the stresses of drought. Therefore, investigation was done to examine the outcomes of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) application on Rubisco gene expression and metabolites accumulation of stressed F. deltoidea plants, and thereby to record the changes in leaf histology, photosynthesis, biochemical properties, and the growth of the plant. H2O2 at the rates of 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 mM were foliar sprayed biweekly on the drought stressed plants using a hand sprayer. The application of 20 mM H2O2 amplified leaf number, tallness, stomatal conductance, and photosynthetic yield by 143, 24, 88, and 18%, respectively, over the control plant. A reduced transpiration rate and improved chlorophyll fluorescence were also noted in H2O2-treated plants. The treatment produced a greater amount of chlorophyll a, total phenols, total flavonoids, sugar content, and antioxidant activities by 1.61-, 1.30-, 1.98-, 1.92-, and 1.53-fold, respectively. Application of 15 mM H2O2 enhanced net photosynthetic rate and internal CO2 concentrations by 1.05- and 1.25-fold, respectively. Additionally, H2O2 treatments promoted stomatal closure, increased stomata size, the number of stomata, improved vein structure, and reduced the damage of the leaf margin and mesophyll cells of drought stressed plants. The application of H2O2 also accumulated significantly higher contents of sodium (Na+), calcium (Ca2+), potassium (K+), magnesium (Mg+), and iron (Fe2+) in stressed plants. Although the amount of Arsenic (As+) and Antimony (Sb3+) increased to some extent, the increases were not at a toxic level. The use of H2O2 enhanced the Rubisco gene expression to a greater level and the ratio of Rubisco expression increased up to 16-fold. Finally, thirteen (13) identified and five (5) unmatched volatile compounds with a quality score above 70% were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS). The GCMS analysis showed that the foliar application of H2O2 accumulates a higher percentage of volatile components in plants which helps to mitigate the negative effects of drought stress. It is concluded that under drought stressed conditions the F. deltoidea plants should be treated with 10–15 mM of H2O2 twice a week to improve leaf histology, photosynthesis, the level of Rubisco gene expression and volatile compounds accumulation, and plant growth and development.

Social Integration, Community's Sense of Perception of Safety among Neighborhood Communities in Klang Valley Area

Perception of safety has become a concerning issue in Malaysia. It is proven by the rapid growth of gated community in Malaysia due to public concern over the safety of their family. The important of the topic is to find out in what extent the social capital such as concept of social cohesion and sense of community besides environment design in helping to create perception on safety among residential community area in Klang Valley. The aim of this study was to determine the relationships between social cohesion, sense of community towards safety perception in Klang valley area community. The methodology was uses a quantitative approach and survey techniques using descriptive and inferential analysis. A total of 500 respondents covering gated and non-gated neighborhood communities in the Klang Valley area. Respondents were selected through multi-stage sampling method. Data were collected using a self -administered questionnaire form by the respondents with minimal monitoring by the researcher. A set of questionnaires that includes a combination of several scales were used, namely demographic background, social cohesion, sense of community and safety perception. Analysis was used is descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation and multiple regression. Major finding of the study is respondents who have better sense of community will create a better perception of safety in gated and non-gated resident. It is believed that the findings of this study would add new perspective on how social cohesion is important to create better perception of safety to their neighborhood community. Therefore, responsible parties such as local authorities need to give more emphasis to programs that build social capital among residents and eventually create a safe environment in a neighborhood. For further research, researcher can include environmental design as a second variable in strengthen social capital (sense of cohesion and sense of community) to build good vibe of perception of safety among gated and non-gated communities in Malaysia.

Mixture of Sludge and Chicken Manure in Membrane-Less Microbial Fuel Cell for Simultaneous Waste Treatment and Energy Recovery

In addition to disposal issues, the abundance of sludge and chicken manure has been a rising issue in Malaysia. Membrane-less microbial fuel cell (ML-MFC) technology can be considered as one of the potential solutions to the issues of disposal and electricity generation. However, there is still a lack of information on the performance of an ML-MFC powered by sludge and chicken manure. Hence, with this project, we studied the performance of an ML-MFC supplemented with sludge and chicken manure, and its operating parameters were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM) through central composite design (CCD). The optimum operating parameters were determined to be 35 °C, 75% moisture content, and an electrode distance of 3 cm. Correspondingly, the highest power density, COD removal efficiency, and biomass acquired through this study were 47.2064 mW/m2, 98.0636%, and 19.6730 mg/L, respectively. The obtained COD values for dewatered sludge and chicken manure were 708 mg/L and 571 mg/L, respectively. COD values were utilized as a standard value for the substrate degradation by Bacillus subtilis in the ML-MFC. Through proximate analyses conducted by elemental analysis and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), the composition of carbon and magnesium for sludge and chicken manure was23.75% and 34.20% and 78.1575 mg/L and 71.6098 mg/L, respectively. The proposed optimal RSM parameters were assessed and validated to determine the ML-MFC operating parameters to be optimized by RSM (CCD).