Search

n emerging countries, information technology (IT) and access to financial services (AFS) are critical determinants determining household income. However, little is known about how IT and AFS work together to increase home wellbeing. This research aims to look into the influence of access to financial services in mediating the impact of IT on household income in Ghana. The study investigates the role of social networks as a moderator in the IT-AFS interaction. A multi-stage sampling strategy was used to collect data from 478 farmers for this study. The study discovered that having access to technology and financial services increases household income. Due to the mediation role of access to financial services, the positive impact of access to IT on household income was also proven. The variable, social network, influenced these mechanisms. This research shows how having access to technology and financial inclusion can help people get out of poverty. This work adds to the body of knowledge. The paper includes policies for ensuring IT and AFS development to improve the welfare of rural households.

Industrial revolution has created high dependent on fossil fuels for energy creation. However, combustion of fossil fuels has created excessive amount of greenhouse gases, hence led to climate change. Thus, renewable energy has been proposed to alleviate the environmental pollution issues around the globe. One of the promising renewable energies is green hydrogen energy. Commercialized technologies such as electrolysis and thermochemical reaction are utilized to form hydrogen energy. Nonetheless, these processes require high energy and yet producing greenhouse gases that harm the environment. In this study, biodegradation process to produce hydrogen energy has been explored. To our knowledge, Bacillus paramycoides strain has not yet been investigated for biological hydrogen evolution. Therefore, in this paper, the ability of Bacillus paramycoides to produce biological hydrogen has been studied. The rod-shaped and gram-positive Bacillus paramycoides was identified under scanning electron microscope and gram staining procedure. Furthermore, biological hydrogen generation by Bacillus sp. was experimented for 96 hours. The result shows that 4668 ± 120 ppm cumulative hydrogen gas was generated through dark fermentation process. For Bacillus sp. growth study, lag, log, and stationary phase have been achieved in 96 hours. In a summary, metabolic engineering to degrade abundant biomass wastes is a sustainable pathway to produce hydrogen energy, simultaneously resolve waste management issue around the globe.

Ceramic tile dust is a by-product from manufacturing plant or construction site which leads to the disposal or environmental issues. Previous research has identified the potential of ceramic tile dust in concrete and soil stabilisation. This research investigates on the potential application of ceramic tile dust for tropical residual soil stabilisation. Atterberg limits, compaction and unconfined compression tests were conducted on residual soil from Cheras, Malaysia with different ceramic tile dust contents (i.e., 0 %, 10 %, 20 %, 30%). The effect of ceramic tile dust percentage on plasticity index, compaction properties and unconfined compressive strength was discussed. It was found that the maximum dry density of the soil increased slightly until ceramic tile dust content of 20 %. However, the optimum moisture content and plasticity index were reduced with the addition of ceramic tile dust. The unconfined compressive strength was improved about 1.4 times for residual soil with 30 % of ceramic tile dust. In conclusion,ceramic tile dust is suitable to be recycled as a soil stabiliser as it could increase the maximum dry density and strength of the tropical residual soil.

Virtual design and construction (VDC) is a combination of building information modelling (BIM) technologies with adequate work and management scheme for product in supporting people working together in an integrated and simultaneous way. The use of VDC in construction project has positive effects in reducing risk related to design and multidisciplinary coordination. This enhanced the decision-making process by reducing miscommunication issue. This paper presents a case study to investigate the process of integrating different dimensions of information i.e., time (4D) and cost (5D) with a 3D model for doublestorey residential building construction considering the zoning conditions. Implementation of VDC with zoning plan leads to an efficient construction management in project feasibility study. It enabled comparison of a virtual model to evaluate the advantages and practicality of VDC for doublestorey residential building. The 3D architectural and structural models elements are prepared at level of detail (LOD300) using Autodesk Revit. The 3D models are then integrated to simulation software (i.e., Autodesk Navisworks Manage). Visualisation of the project (i.e., 4D and 5D) is achieved as the outcome of the simulation by implementation of VDC. The results revealed that the practicability of VDC was affected by LOD and software interoperability.

In Malaysia, the shear strength and corresponding deformation characteristics of residual soils are normally investigated by isotropically consolidated undrained (CIU) triaxial test. In the present study, anisotropically consolidated undrained compression (CAU) tests were carried out and explored in an attempt to facilitate understanding on the fundamental behaviours of a selected residual soil. A triaxial apparatus setup which was capable of performing the CAU test was first developed. Through a monotonic strain-controlled triaxial test apparatus, soil properties and stress paths could be obtained experimentally. It was confirmed that the newly fabricated triaxial apparatus could provide reasonable experimental results. As distinguished from the isotropically consolidated undrained compression (CIU) test, anisotropic stresses were induced in the stress path test. It follows that the soil responses were different between the CIU and CAU tests. The coefficient of earth pressure at rest (Ko) values as obtained in the present experiment showed a good agreement with the values estimated using equation reported by Jaky (1948).

Deep lime stabilization such as lime column, can effectively improve the problematic soft clay through stabilization, settlement reduction and embankment stabilization. Nevertheless, the reduction of lime column load capacity was often encountered due to the column lateral displacement which was induced by high lateral earth pressure in embankments and deep excavation. In order to protect and enhance the mobilization of lime column strength, geotextile encapsulation was proposed for lime column. In this study, large shear box tests were conducted on lime column and geotextile encapsulated lime column (GELC) stabilized Pontian marine clay samples with different column sizes and curing ages, in order to investigate the performance of geotextile encapsulation on lime column in Pontian marine clay under shear loading. It was found that geotextile encapsulation effectively increased the horizontal shear resistance of lime column and protected the column from defect due to lateral displacement, especially at early age when modification was still in process. Geotextile encapsulation also successfully protected lime column from shear and bending failure under lateral load.