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Ionospheric scintillation is a common phenomenon in the equatorial, auroral, and polar areas, posing a threat to the Global Navigation Satellite System's (GNSS) operation. This ionospheric effect is thought to impact satellite signal propagation, hence, lowering positioning accuracy. Therefore, detecting ionospheric scintillation is critical in enhancing GNSS performance, particularly at low latitudes with severe amplitude scintillation. This paper investigates the effects of ionospheric scintillation on GPS signals at UNIMAS station, the East part of Malaysia. This study aims to identify the occurrence of ionospheric scintillation by calculating the index of scintillation strength during solar maximum 2014. The amplitude scintillation, which is measured in the S 4 index is obtained and classified accordingly from the data recorded at the UNIMAS station. The results have shown that strong scintillation (S 4 ≥ 0.5) occurred in the spring (April) and autumn (September and October) seasons, reaching 8 incidents. This paper also presents the diurnal, seasonal, and solar activity dependence of ionospheric scintillation. It is evident that the occurrence of amplitude scintillation is influenced by variations in solar activity, including solar flares and sunspots, as well as diurnal and seasonal changes. These findings provide valuable insights into the behaviour of the ionosphere and its impact on space-based communication and navigation systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomass gasification technology has gained significant attention as a potential solution for circular economies by converting organic waste into valuable energy and products (Waste-to-Power-to-X). This paper comprehensively evaluates biomass gasification technology from a techno-economic-policy perspective, providing valuable insights for circular economies. It examines technical aspects such as processes, feedstocks, and syngas production, assessing advancements that would improve efficiency and environmental performance by addressing key challenges like tar removal and gas cleaning. Economic feasibility is analysed through a techno-economic assessment, considering capital costs, operational expenses, revenue streams, and potential markets. Real-world examples and case studies offer insights into economic viability of these processes. The paper emphasizes the significance of supportive policy frameworks, discussing stimulus measures like feed-in tariffs, tax incentives, and regulatory reforms to promote biomass gasification adoption. By combining technological, economic, and policy perspectives, this paper provides a holistic reality check of biomass gasification technology, identifying opportunities, challenges, and pathways for leveraging as a sustainable and economically viable solution for waste management and energy production. The findings and insights presented in this paper can assist policymakers, investors, and stakeholders in making informed decisions regarding the implementation of biomass gasification projects in the future. [Display omitted] • These findings serve as valuable insights for exploring the market potential. • Waste materials are transformed into valuable resources. • Effectively managing by-products is crucial in unlocking their economic potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a viral infection that primarily affects children. The disease is characterized by fever, sores in the mouth, and a rash on the hands, feet, and buttocks. In this case study, we analyze the dynamics of HFMD in children under 15 years old in Malaysia using an age-structured modeling approach. First we prove backward bifurcation for a baseline model which is then extended to an age-structured model. We used data on the incidence of HFMD in Malaysia from 2021 to 2022 to calibrate the model parameters and simulate the disease dynamics. Sensitivity analysis is done by Latin hypercube sampling - partial rank correlation coefficient (LHS/PRCC) method. Simulation is done and the impact of imperfect vaccine and quarantine is explored. Our results show that the dynamics of the disease is mostly driven by children under 5 years old. The model also predicts that vaccination could significantly reduce the incidence of HFMD in Malaysia. Vaccination is most effective when targeted at young children, who are at the highest risk of disease as this will lead to drastic decrease in the incidence of HFMD in all age groups. Our simulations show that quarantining of infected children until they fully recover will reduce the transmission of HFMD, but this strategy needs to be sustained for a sufficient duration to have a significant impact. The result of this paper can inform the development of policies for controlling the spread of HFMD and other infectious diseases in Malaysia and other similar settings. • A novel age-structured mathematical model of HFMD. • Interactions between different age groups are investigated. • The model is calibrated with real-life data. • Sensitivity analysis is performed to illustrate the role of parameters with respect to disease control. • Prove backward bifurcation due to the incorporation of imperfect vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a survey assessing factors contributing to the public acceptance of hydrogen as a fuel for vehicles in Malaysia. For the survey, a set of questionnaires was prepared in Google Forms and distributed to respondents through social media (WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger, and Telegram). The survey was conducted during the movement order control in Malaysia due to the global pandemic, and the responses were collected from November to December 2021. One hundred seventy-six local respondents voluntarily participated in the survey. The responses were analysed using non-parametric statistical tests in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The highest number of respondents from the 18–25 age group is 101 (57.39 per cent), followed by 26–35 (26.7 per cent) and 36–45 (7.95 per cent). The statistical analysis of the survey shows that socio-demographics is a factor influencing public acceptance. The Spearman correlation test shows a positive correlation between Malaysia's environmental awareness and the potential to use a hydrogen-powered car; hence, there is a good chance of Malaysian acceptance of using hydrogen as fuel. Safety and public perception of hydrogen-powered cars also indicate a positive correlation, where the R- values for all questions are more than 0.5, indicating that safety is a factor that shapes public acceptance. Although the number of samples does not represent the population, it provides a reasonable basis to examine the influencing factors of public acceptance of hydrogen as a fuel for vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy plays a crucial role in human life as it is necessary for survival and enables us to perform daily activities. The passage of time has driven progress, with various tools, machines, and devices created to facilitate human affairs. Everything is very dependent on Energy. Unfortunately, the prevalent reliance on fossil fuels as the primary energy source has resulted in an environmental disparity attributed to greenhouse gas emissions. Besides, the depletion of fossil fuel reserves is a long-term concern for nations involved in fossil fuel production including Malaysia, which necessitates a delicate equilibrium between escalating energy demands and escalating pollution levels. This review paper aims to highlight the potential of renewable energy based on green hydrogen in Malaysia. The energy scenario in Malaysia has been reviewed by discussing energy demand, current population, energy policy synopsis, conventional energy sources, carbon emissions, and the direction of renewable energy in Malaysia. Besides, the conceptual framework for hydrogen as renewable energy was discussed covering the hydrogen economy, production technology, storage, and energy production using green hydrogen. Finally, potential applications for using hydrogen energy have been presented so that the future direction of using this alternative energy can be well planned in Malaysia. •An overview of hydrogen energy as Malaysian alternative energy is comprehensively discussed. •The hydrogen energy prospects are described in detail such as hydrogen economy, production, and consumption. •The progress of hydrogen energy implementation in Malaysia is studied towards embarking on this effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the antecedents of cashless payment systems among businesses in Malaysia. The adoption of cashless payment systems by businesses has the potential to reduce the costs related to handling huge amounts of cash in the market and enhance transaction speed. Unfortunately, its current adoption in Malaysia is still small and very little is known about the factors. A seven-factor model based on the TOE framework was developed and tested. The partial least square (PLS) statistical approach was employed to analyze data collected from 200 business entities in Malaysia. The results reveal that compatibility and technology competence have higher significant relationships with the adoption of cashless payment systems. Management support, firm critical mass, competitive pressure, and information intensity are significantly related to the adoption of cashless payment systems, while firm size is not associated with it. The findings of this study provide significant practical implications for Malaysian stakeholders and technology vendors to recognize factors that affect a firm's adoption of cashless payment systems to support business transactions. By investigating the phenomenon through the TOE framework, this study presents an integrated model of cashless payment systems by businesses. Our findings also offer guidance for future application of the PLS method in cashless payment and related research. The paper provides a more holistic understanding of the factors influencing cashless payment systems among businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research is the continuation from the previous paper which has been published. The focus of this paper is to analyse the tropospheric scintillation which consists of both fades and enhancements and the worst-month of scintillation fades and enhancements. This analysis is then compared against the six scintillation prediction models, namely Karasawa, ITU-R, Van de Kamp, Otung, Anthony-Mandeep and Nadirah-Rafiqul. The result shows that both measured scintillation fades and enhancements are 0.50 dB and 0.48 dB at 0.01% of time. Whereas the other six scintillation models have the following reading for the scintillation amplitude (both fades and enhancements) respectively: 0.44 dB and 0.36 dB (Karasawa), 0.42 dB (ITU-R only for fades but not enhancements), 0.23 dB for both (Van De Kamp), 0.70 dB and 0.68 dB (Anthony & Mandeep) and 0.38 dB and 0.33 dB (Nadirah & Rafiqul) at 0.01% of time. Otung has the highest scintillation fades and enhancements with values of 1.29 dB and 0.67 dB respectively. On the other hand, the measured worst-month of both scintillation fades and enhancements have the highest amplitude at 0.01% of time, which are 0.88 dB and 0.90 dB if compared to the annual cumulative distribution function (CDF), which yield 0.50 dB and 0.48 dB respectively. The month of February 2016 is declared to be the worst-month because it has the highest values for the scintillation fades and enhancements. Furthermore, the percentage fractional error and Root Mean Square (RMS) error are shown. Particularly at 0.01% of time, Van de Kamp has the highest fractional error for both scintillation fades and enhancements which are 100.8% and 100% respectively. Similarly, the same for RMS errors for both scintillation fades and enhancements with the values of 78.3% and 65.3% respectively. Whereas the other models have higher values for both percentage fractional error and RMS error except for Karasawa with the values of 11.6% and 17.2% for fades and enhancements respectively. Thus, this model is suitable to be used in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many industries operate or run 24 h and seven days a week with downtime only for maintenance and repair in manufacturing facilities. This continuous operating trend allows for a higher production volume since the industry has relentless pressures on cost containment to maintain profit margins. However, the practice poses high risks of occupational injuries or major accidents. Shift working hours could lead to various safety and health and significantly impact the workers' well-being. Based on this fact, this paper presents a correlation analysis of shift works with sleep patterns, fatigue, and work injuries in food manufacturing plants, specifically in Malaysia. A survey using a set of questionnaires was conducted on two food manufacturing industries in Selangor, Malaysia. The industry operates continuously with a pre-planned downtime due to market globalization, industrialization transformation, and the rising demand for food. The companies in the food manufacturing industry held frequent internal and external audits to ensure the food quality was not being compromised and adhered to the local acts and regulations. To ensure the company runs continuously, the companies practice slow rotation schedules of shift work systems, where workers change to a new shift every three months. The companies have three working shifts per day, namely the morning shift (7.00 am to 3.00 pm), the afternoon shift (3.00–11.00 pm) and the night shift (11.00 pm to 7.00 am). Based on the statistical analysis, many workers prefer the day shift over the afternoon and night shifts. Sleep patterns and fatigue are significantly correlated with work-related injuries. Due to shift work, the workers tend to have fewer sleep hours, resulting in poor sleep patterns, which could increase the possibility of work injuries. In conclusion, workers' physical, mental and social well-being in any industry should be promoted and maintained to the highest degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Safety Leadership influences both safety motivation and safety motivation. • Safety knowledge and motivation mediates safety leadership and safety behavior. • Effective safety leadership in hospitals indirectly leads to better safety behavior. • Safety leadership consist of caring, controlling, and coaching dimensions. • Self-efficacy theory sheds light on safety leadership and safety behavior. Introduction: This paper investigates the relationships among safety leadership, safety motivation, safety knowledge, and safety behavior in the setting of a tertiary hospital in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Method: Underpinned by the self-efficacy theory, we argue that high-quality safety leadership enhances nurses' safety knowledge and motivation and subsequently, improves their safety behavior (safety compliance and safety participation). A total of 332 questionnaire responses were gathered and analyzed using SmartPLS Version 3.2.9, revealing the direct effect of safety leadership on both safety knowledge and safety motivation. Results: Safety knowledge and safety motivation were found to directly and significantly predict nurses' safety behavior. Notably, safety knowledge and safety motivation were established as important mediators in the relationship between safety leadership and nurses' safety compliance and participation. Practical Applications: The findings of this study offer key guidance for safety researchers and hospital practitioners in identifying mechanisms to enhance safety behavior among nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Hybrid solar desalination system. • Active mode operation and passive mode operation. • Solar desalination systems efficiency and economic analysis. • Trend in distillate cost, and yield by hybrid solar desalination systems. • Innovation type, feedwater, weather variabilities, operation mode impact on distillate quantity. In this paper, a hybrid solar desalination system was fabricated and incorporated with a water heater powered by a photovoltaic (PV) system. It was experimentally evaluated at Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Malaysia. Daytime operating conditions without the use of a PV system were considered for the conventional operation, while the use of PV alone or combined with direct solar radiation was considered as the modified system. This study was carried out to determine the freshwater yield, weather variabilities impact on yield, economic analysis, and system efficiency of hybrid solar desalination systems. An encyclopaedic review of five years of different researchers from different countries was critically analysed and compared with this study to see their trends and relationship. Within the study period, solar still distillate cost ranges from 0.0051 to 0.8857$/L, and 0.006 to 0.789$/L for the modified and conventional systems respectively. Similarly, the distillate cost for this study is 0.0374$/L and 0.0892$/L for the conventional and modified systems respectively. Also, the distillate yield ranges from 0.93 to 24.3 L/m2.day with an average of 12.1 L/m2.day, for the modified system, and 0.55 to 6.63 L/m2.day with an average of 3.35 L/m2.day for the conventional systems. The hourly system efficiency is 30.07 %, and 8.29 % for the modified and conventional systems respectively. Solar still is economically reasonable with good efficiency as obtained from the result. The findings also suggested that researchers should target a distillate yield of at least 6 L/m2.day and a distillate cost of 0.2$/L or lower for innovation, for a good and economical system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Pilot study of solar/hybrid/storage system for vertical farming under tropical climate condition with a case study at Malaysia. • Energy utilization and management via optimized building geometry modeling integrated with energy yield estimation tool to evaluate the potential of integrating green energy into urban agriculture. • Comprehensive analysis and assessments including technological, economic and environmental aspects of the proposed work. • The proposed work is evaluated under different design configuration (grid connected, stand alone, hybrid, storage etc) considering various optimization and design requirements and real-life constraints. • Comparative studies with hypothetical model and verification with additional energy modeling tool. Human population is projected to reach 9.7 billion in 2050 and strike 11.2 billion by 2100. Residence shift from countryside to cities will occur and the human population resides in the cities is envisaged to rise from 55% to 68%. Vertical farming was proposed to address food insecurity caused by overcrowded population and farmland shortages. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of vertical farming in the Asia Pacific is forecasted to grow at 22.1% with a market size reaching USD 2,101.0 million by 2024. Malaysian government encourages the implementation of vertical farming as the production of major agricultural commodities has contracted by 3.4% from 2015 to 2017. However, high energy consumption is one of the shortcomings of a vertical farm as the estimated annual energy consumption for each square meter of growing area is 3500 kW h. Thus, this paper proposes an optimized building geometry modeling integrated with energy yield estimation tool to evaluate the potential of integrating green energy into urban agriculture. This research examines the load demand in the vertical farming systems and develops solar/hybrid/storage for vertical farming system with energy yield, performance ratio, economics and environmental assessments. Preliminary resources assessment by analyzing the solar radiation of the sites was carried out at stage 1. At stage 2, load consumption was calculated, and specifications of the system were justified. Stage 3 included the development of solar PV system for the vertical farms, the economic evaluation in the context of net present cost (NPC), levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and investigation of the environmental impact. Grid-connected and standalone solar PV systems were developed for comparative studies. The estimated daily energy consumption for vertical farms in Selangor and Kuching was 430.116 kW h and 1002.024 kW h. Energy generated by grid-connected solar PV systems supported 11.6% and 8.35% of the load consumption in Selangor and Sarawak. The performance ratios of grid-connected solar PV systems in both selected sites were 82.22% and 82.56%. The finding proved that proposed work has significantly reduced the dependency of the utility grid. Additionally, the LCOE with solar PV integration vertical farming system appeared to be lower than the LCOE of the grid and lower CO 2 emission. This paper serves as a reference guide to the vertical farming stakeholders, national policy-decision makers and non-profit organizations who planned for similar initiatives especially those within the tropical climate regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Sunbelt countries can develop reliable solar-dominant grids in the absence of wind. • Policymakers should be highly sceptical of low solar technical potential estimates. • Zero energy emissions Malaysia requires about 0.7 TW solar, 2 TWh pumped hydro. • Sarawak-Peninsular Malaysia interconnection reduces storage needs, but not costs. • Inclusion of about 0.4% hydrogen or synthetic methane reduces storage needs and cost. Three-quarters of the global population lives in the sunbelt region (±35o latitude) with excellent access to solar resources. Wind resources at the equator are very limited, while supply chain and permitting delays are slowing wind deployment at a global scale. This paper investigates the potential for solar photovoltaic-dominant 100% renewable grids to be developed in sunbelt countries through a case study of Malaysia. It was expected that the technical potential for solar photovoltaics and off-river pumped hydro would be far in excess of what is required to decarbonise Malaysia's electricity grids. A Geographic Information System analysis determined that Malaysia has the potential to deploy approximately 8.5 Terawatts of terrestrial photovoltaics and 25 Terawatts of marine floating solar on calm oceans. There are roughly 450 Terawatt-hours of energy storage available in the form of off-river (closed-loop) pumped hydro energy storage. A least-cost, 16-year hourly energy balance model was used to determine that an affluent, fully electrified, highly interconnected Malaysia could greatly reduce emissions through the deployment of 660 Gigawatts of photovoltaics and 2200 Gigawatt-hours of pumped hydro, supported by small amounts of hydrogen-based gas peaking. All-in costs for such a fully decarbonised energy system were modelled to be in the range of 95–103 USD per Megawatt-hour. A Sarawak-Peninsular Malaysia interconnected grid could produce a similar electricity cost to two separate grids while reducing the long-term energy storage needs by approximately 33%. Inclusion of about 3 Terawatt-hours (0.1% of average annual generation at 20 Megawatt-hours/capita/year demand) of hydrogen, synthetic methane, or legacy fossil fuels could further reduce long-term energy storage needs by about 30% by helping to ride through occasional prolonged cloudy periods. Policymakers in sunbelt countries should be highly sceptical of technical potential estimates that suggest limited area for solar photovoltaics. Sunbelt countries can comfortably proceed with the development of cheap, reliable solar-dominant grids primarily supported by pumped hydro energy storage and inter-regional transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysia is one of the leading producers and exporters of oil palm, and the industry contributes significantly to the growth of the national economy. Nonetheless, the consequential oil palm biomass (OPB) with a potential yield of ∼97 million tonnes annually presents both challenges and opportunities, demanding innovative waste management solutions. This paper explores the feasibility of converting OPB into valuable commodities by employing concentrated solar-driven pyrolysis. A detailed overview of the biomass produced from oil palm plantations and mills is provided, along with a discussion of the industry stakeholders and associated biomass management challenges. The pyrolysis of OPB is explored, emphasizing benefits, potential barriers, and techniques. The focus then shifts to Malaysia's solar potential, which ranges from 1470 to 1900 kWh/m2 annually. The potentials of solar pyrolysis are explored, encompassing discussions on solar concentrator types, reactors, and the distribution of solar and OPB resources throughout Malaysia. The paper then recommends Tawau in Sabah, as an ideal location for OPB solar pyrolysis, due to its solar availability (up to 1873 kWh/m2), potential OPB resources from 19 mills and 241 plantations, and supportive infrastructure. The paper proposes solar-driven pyrolysis as a sustainable solution for Malaysia's OPB management, offers insights for policy initiatives and technological innovations in optimizing OPB and solar energy utilization. • Analyzes oil palm biomass potential for solar pyrolysis in Malaysia. • Explores solar resources in Malaysia for solar-driven pyrolysis. • Examines solar concentrators and reactors for pyrolysis. • Identifies potential city, as the optimal location for solar pyrolysis. • Discusses commercialization challenges of solar-driven pyrolysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A cross-country analysis identifying risk and protective factors on the COVID-19 deaths. • Ranking of 100 countries based on the proposed pandemic containment effectiveness (PCE) score. • Positive relationship between the PCE score and economic growth in major economies. • A counterfactual analysis discussing the tradeoff between the PCE scores and GDP growth. This paper studies whether containing COVID-19 pandemic by stringent strategies deteriorates or saves economic growth. Since there are country-specific factors that could affect both economic growth and deaths due to COVID-19, we first start with a cross-country analysis on identifying risk and protective factors on the COVID-19 deaths using large across-country variation. Using data on 100 countries from 3 January to 27 November 2020 and taking into account the possibility of underreporting, we find that for deaths per million population, GDP per capita, population density, and income inequality are the three most important risk factors; government effectiveness, temperature, and hospital beds are the three most important protective factors. Second, inspired by the stochastic frontier literature, we construct a measure of pandemic containment effectiveness (PCE) after controlling for country-specific factors and rank countries by their PCE scores for deaths. Finally, by linking the PCE score with GDP growth data in Quarters 2 and 3 of 2020, we find that PCE is positively associated with economic growth in major economies. Countries with average PCE scores, such as Malaysia, would gain more GDP growth by 3.47 percentage points if they could improve their PCE scores for deaths to South Korea's level in Q2 of 2020. Therefore, there is not a trade-off between lives and livelihood facing by governments. Instead, to save economy, it is important to contain the pandemic first. Our conclusion is also mainly valid for infections due to COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • We looked into the potential applications of hydrate-based desalination (HBD) • HBD process treats produced water with a concentration 2.8 wt% • CO 2 as guest gas produced a water recovery of 45.55% • The desalination efficiency is strongly dependent on the ionic radii and strength of the ionic charge. This paper emphasizes sustainable development goal 6 and accepts that social progress and economic prosperity depend on the appropriate management of produced water. Produced water being the largest source of wastewater, several conventional desalination methods (thermal, membrane and freeze–thaw), are applied to obtain treated water. Nevertheless, the methods are highly energy intensive. Prospective utilization of hydrate-based desalination was proposed with a novel filter-based apparatus design to separate hydrate crystals from residual water and enhance the gas–liquid contact with all the unit operations (hydrate formation, and dissociation) occurring inside a single reactor. Experimentations were implemented to obtain the optimum conditions for CO 2 hydrate formation and compared with pure water. CO 2 hydrate formation kinetics revealed induction time, moles consumed, water-to-hydrate conversion, and water recovery were 57 mins, 1.28 mol, 27.72 %, and 50.65 % at optimum conditions of 500 ml, 3.0 MPa, 450 rpm, and 275.15 K for purification of produced water. A desalination efficiency of 62–80 % is achieved with each of the metal ions in the sequence K+>Na+>Mg2+>Ca2+, and anions SO 4 2- > Cl- without any pre and post-treatment. Also, demonstrated that the ionic charge and size have a significant impact on the ion rejection mechanism. The findings disclosed that with an upsurge in the temperature to 277.15 K the desalination efficiency enhanced nevertheless the volume of formed hydrate is less resulting in less driving force. The total dissolved solids and electrical conductivity results indicate that the treated water meets Malaysia's water quality standards for irrigation purposes. This showcases the execution of the hydrate-based desalination process, investigating salt rejection and yield with our custom reactor design. The proposed reactor design may be utilized for the effective separation of hydrate and effectively desalinating waters of higher salinities. Hydrate-based desalination integrated with membrane reactors could lead to a sustainable source of clean water by treating produced water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Importance of predicting Water Quality Index (WQI) for assessing water bodies' health and safety. • Development of hybrid model (CNN-CRNN-M5T) combining CNN, Clockwork RNN, and M5 Tree for WQI prediction. • Enhancement of M5T model's data analysis capability for intricate patterns in water quality parameters. • Utilization of GLM-ANOVA to determine significant input variables for WQI prediction. • CNN-CRNN-M5T model's superiority in reducing MAE and increasing efficiency for spatial and temporal WQI predictions in Malaysia. Predicting a water quality index (WQI) is important because it serves as an important metric for assessing the overall health and safety of water bodies. Our paper develops a new hybrid model for predicting the WQI. The study uses a combination of a convolutional neural network (CNN), clockwork recurrent neural network (Clockwork RNN), and M5 Tree (CNN-CRNN-M5T) to predict a WQI. The M5T model lacks advanced operators for extracting meaningful data from water quality parameters, so the new model enhances its ability to analyze intricate patterns. The general linear model analysis of variance (GLM-ANOVA) is an improved version of the ANOVA. Our study uses the GLM-ANOVA to determine significant inputs. As all input variables had p < 0.050, they were defined as significant variables. Results showed that NH-NL and PH had the highest and lowest impact, respectively. Our study used the CNN-CRNN-M5T, CNN-CRNN, CRNN-M5T, CNN-M5T, CRNN, CNN, and M5T models to predict the WQI of a large basin in Malaysia. The CNN-CRNN decreased testing mean absolute error (MAE) of the CRNN, CNN, and M5T models by 2.1 %, 12 %, and 15 %, respectively. The CNN-CRNN-M5T model increased Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient of the other models by 4–20 % and 2.1–19 %, respectively. The CNN-CRNN-M5T model was a reliable tool for spatial and temporal predictions of WQI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development has many dimensions, such as clean energy, green growth, and sustainable industry. Green finance has a key role in realizing these targets. The core focus of the existing paper is to demystify the influences of green finance, green energy on environmental dynamics in Malaysia covering the timeframe from 1990 to 2018. To this end, we employ the QARDL technique to peruse the effect of green finance, renewable energy, and economic growth on CO 2 emissions and ecological footprint separately. By doing so, we crosscheck the empirical outcomes and inspect the consistency of the analysis. Firstly, empirical results show that the ecological footprint model yields similar results to the CO 2 emissions model in terms of statistically significant quantile ranges and the magnitude of the coefficients. According to the overall results, GDP increases environmental degradation while green finance and renewable energy have a mitigating role. Finally, we confirm a significant EKC hypothesis for Malaysia. Based on these findings, we recommend Malaysian policymakers focus on energy efficiency, realize financial reforms and promote green energy through the financial system to achieve the 2050 net-zero emission target. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the climate change influence on landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM) using a case study conducted on Penang Island in Malaysia, a region prone to landslides. This study was carried out due to limited research assessing the climate change effect on LSM, considering rainfall and temperature. The study employs climate factors, including temperature and rainfall, alongside 12 causative factors in a Support Vector Machine (SVM) model to develop LSM. The Statistical Downscaling Model (SDSM) is used to derive climate change projections under two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). Data preparation and normalization are performed using ArcGIS 10.7. Based on the results, future annual rainfall and daily temperatures are expected to rise under both scenarios, with RCP8.5 exhibiting more significant climatic changes. The LSM zonation is impacted more significantly under RCP8.5 due to the severity of climate change. LSM under an observation period achieves the best results (area under the curve (AUC) = 85.75, average statistical index (SI) = 94.48%, kappa = 0.885), followed by LSM under RCP4.5 (AUC = 84.38, average SI = 93.54%, kappa = 0.865) and LSM under RCP8.5 (AUC = 84.13, average SI = 93.34%, kappa = 0.860), demonstrating their reliability and adequate performance. These LSMs can assist local authorities in designating critical areas for monitoring and implementing an early-warning system to respond more effectively to landslide risks caused by climate change. However, the study's limitation is considering only two climate scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). Future research should encompass a broader range of climate scenarios to develop the most reliable LSM, given the high uncertainty associated with climate change. • Climate change was projected using the SDSM model. • Climate change has more changes under RCP8.5. • Climate change, directly and indirectly, affect slope stability. • LHM was developed using the SVM model under the climate change effect. • Climate change has a significant impact on landslide distribution zoning in LHM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the escalating burden of diabetes in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), there is a pressing concern about the widening disparities in care and outcomes across socioeconomic groups. This paper estimates health poverty measures among individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Malaysia. Using data from the National Diabetes Registry between 2009 and 2018, the study linked 932,855 people with T2DM aged 40–75 to death records. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the 5-year survival probabilities for each patient, stratified by age and sex, while controlling for comorbidities and area-based indicators of socio-economic status (SES), such as district-level asset-based indices and night-time luminosity. Measures of health poverty, based on the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) measures, were employed to capture excessive risk of premature mortality. Two poverty line thresholds were used, namely a 5% and 10% reduction in survival probability compared to age and sex-adjusted survival probability of the general population. Counterfactual simulations estimated the extent to which comorbidities contribute to health poverty. 43.5% of the sample experienced health poverty using the 5% threshold, and 8.9% were health poor using the 10% threshold. Comorbidities contribute 2.9% for males and 5.4% for females, at the 5% threshold. At the 10% threshold, they contribute 7.4% for males and 3.4% for females. If all patients lived in areas of highest night-light intensity, poverty would fall by 5.8% for males and 4.6% for females at the 5% threshold, and 4.1% for males and 0.8% for females at the 10% threshold. In Malaysia, there is a high incidence of health poverty among people with diabetes, and it is strongly associated with comorbidities and area-based measures of SES. Expanding the application of health poverty measurement, through a combination of clinical registries and open spatial data, can facilitate simulations for health poverty alleviation. • Novel health poverty measures applied to T2DM in Malaysia using early mortality risk. • Administrative dataset comprising 1M adults combined with death records and SES. • Male gender, older age and area deprivation drive health poverty. • Nighttime luminosity reveals regional patterns in health poverty. • Combining luminosity data and medical datasets enhances risk stratification in LMICs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a maritime country, Malaysia relies on its diverse marine ecosystems, contributing to 23% of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), amounting to USD 63 billion. Anthropogenic activities threaten these ecosystems, impacting both the environment and socio-economics. Environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play a crucial role in protecting the marine environment. This paper examines the educational initiatives of the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS), the oldest environmental NGO in Malaysia which promotes marine conservation. Through document analysis of the society's annual management report from June 2016 to May 2021, three educational strategies emerged: dissemination of knowledge, hands-on activities and application of knowledge. A guideline for implementing effective marine educational programs has been developed to enable other environmental NGOs to adopt these strategies and contribute to the conservation of marine ecosystems. • The Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) demonstrates the role of NGOs in the conservation of marine ecosystem through education. employed three educational strategies: dissemination of knowledge, hands-on activities and application of knowledge • MNS employed three educational strategies: dissemination of knowledge, hands-on activities and application of knowledge. • A framework for effective implementation of marine conservation education programs was developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of rocks is one of key rock strength parameters. Generally speaking, UCS can be measured directly through uniaxial compression tests, which is often unfeasible, especially when intact rock samples are highly fragile. Alternatively, the UCS of rocks can be estimated indirectly from other easily available rock indices. Note that adequate measurement data is the prerequisite for the accurate estimation of UCS using indirect methods. This may be difficult to achieve due to the limitation of time and budget, especially for small- to medium-sized projects. In this case, it becomes a challenging issue on how to develop a robust and reliable model for UCS estimation using the sparse measurement data. A fully Bayesian Gaussian process regression (fB-GPR) approach with Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE) is proposed in this paper to address this problem. A real-life example from Malaysia was used for illustration and validation of proposed method. Results showed that when the synthetic sample size in SMOTE reaches 30 (i.e., optimal synthetic sample size), the coefficient of determination (R 2) increases by about 18.92%, and the accuracy of feature selection reaches 98%, compared with the scenario with only sparse measurement data used for fB-GPR model development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper employs a partial equilibrium model to investigate the economic and environmental impact of commercial bioethanol production from biomass on the Malaysian agricultural markets. The results show that the palm oil mills can produce bioethanol commercially as the mills utilize the waste biomass created onsite and thus avoid the feedstock and hauling costs. Furthermore, by consuming biomass that recycles carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, a large bioethanol industry would help Malaysia reduce its GHG emissions and meet its GHG commitments in the Paris Agreement. With a potential to lead to greater forestation as landowners clear rainforests to enlarge oil palm plantations, such an industry could also be expected to expand the agricultural industry, reduce the agricultural prices, and raise agricultural employment. • Producing bioethanol from waste biomass is economically viable in Malaysia. • Gasoline-bioethanol blends can significantly reduce Malaysia's greenhouse gas emissions. • A commercial bioethanol industry would expand the agricultural sector and hasten deforestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a detailed target-oriented performance assessment of a 232.5 kWp grid-connected solar PV (GCPV) system installed on a commercial building in Malaysia. Technical and meteorological data for 2019, in 5-min intervals, was retrieved from the solar data logger. The GCPV system generated about 301.5 MWh of energy in 2019, almost achieving the stated target of 305.0 MWh. While most months in 2019 successfully achieved the set monthly target, some did not due to low solar irradiance. The Performance Ratio (PR), Capacity Utilization Factor (CUF), system efficiency, and Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) were found to be 85.4%, 14.85%, 9.15%, and 0.396 MYR/kWh, respectively. The PR of the present GCPV system was higher than other GCPV systems surveyed. Approximately 177 metric tons of CO 2 emissions were saved during the year after installing the GCPV system. In addition, performance models, based on the key factors of solar irradiation and PV module temperature that affect the yield and power output of the GCPV system, were developed and tested statistically. The findings of this study should be of use to solar energy customers and stakeholders. [Display omitted] • A target-oriented performance analysis of grid-connected solar PV (GCPV) system is assessed. • Actual yield of GCPV system achieved about 90% of the set target yield. • The annual PR, CUF, and system efficiency was 85.4%, 14.85%, and 9.15%, respectively. • The payback period and LCOE was ∼8 years and 0.396 MYR/kWh, respectively. • About 177 metric tons of CO 2 was reduced due to GCPV system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • PV performance reduces due to high diurnal surface temperatures and nocturnal dew accumulation. • PV/T is proved concept to reduce the PV surface temperature and enhance the PV performance. • Ground heat exchanger is proposed to manage the diurnal and nocturnal problems of PV. • Results show enhanced PV/T performance by integration with ground heat exchanger. • The proposed technique mitigates both, diurnal surface temperatures and nocturnal dew. Solar photovoltaic panels are experiencing lower performance due to two reasons, high diurnal surface temperatures and nocturnal dew accumulation leading to mud formation on the surface of photovoltaic panels. The current paper presents a collective solution for the two problems of elevated cell temperatures and dew formation using a photovoltaic/thermal unit integrated with ground embedded heat exchanger. The proposed technique was assessed experimentally and mathematically. An experimental setup implemented in the solar research site of Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS was subjected to a series of measurements under various operational and environmental conditions. A mathematical model of the integrated solution was developed in MATLAB/Simulink environment. With only 6% error in PV surface temperatures, the mathematical model results and experimental measurements were in good agreement. The model determined the daily and annual variation of the PV surface temperature based on two real-time weather data sets: first, the nearly constant tropical climates as in Malaysia and secondly, the transient climatic conditions as in the desert of Qatar. The results show that the suggested idea of integrating a PV/T panel with an underground heat exchanger is able to increase the annual PV efficiency by 9%. This is due to a substantial reduction of diurnal PV cell temperatures and to resolving the setback of nocturnal dew formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Construction industry in Malaysia have been bedevilled by myriads of risk issues. • This manuscript contributes might serve as bench mark towards construction risk management area. • Data was analyzed by using PLS-SEM software. SEM provides complete information regarding the extent to which a model is supported by data. Introduction: The construction industry in Malaysia has been bedevilled by myriads of risk issues that have hampered its smooth operations in recent times. This paper is an empirical assessment that aims to examine the effect of coercive pressure on the relationship between organizational structure and construction risk management among construction industry in Malaysia. Method: Based on the proposed model, a quantitative method was employed to obtain data from G7 construction industry operating within the peninsular Malaysia. Out of the 180 copies of questionnaire, 165 copies were properly filled, returned, and used for the analysis. PLS-SEM was used to analyze the obtained data. Results: The findings of the study affirmed that specialization, centralization, and management of risk by the construction industry had positive correlation. Conclusions : As anticipated, coercive pressure had positive moderating correlation with both formalization and the management of risk by the construction industry. Similarly, it was also found that in the course of carrying out construction activities, coercive pressure made significant interactive influence on formalization, specialization, and centralization. Practical Applications : Coercive pressure reduced the frequency of accidents among workers in the process of carrying out construction works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Middle–Late Triassic volcanism and contemporary granitoids in East Malaya provide significant insights into the magmatic evolution and geodynamic processes of the Paleotethyan Ocean in SE Asia. This paper presents new zircon ages and whole-rock geochemical data including Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf isotopic analyses for newly identified felsic volcanic rocks and granites in SE Peninsular Malaysia. Zircon geochronological data constrain their formation time at 238–235 Ma. All samples have relatively high SiO 2 contents with enrichment in light rare earth elements but have negative anomalies at Nb, Ta, Ti, and Eu on spidergrams. Calculated zircon saturation temperatures are between 840 °C and 957 °C. Samples have (87Sr/86Sr) i ratios between 0.70501 and 0.71014 and ε Nd (t) values ranging from −6.6 to −5.9, with (206Pb/204Pb) i = 18.45–18.77, (207Pb/204Pb) i = 15.68–15.71, and (208Pb/204Pb) i = 38.88–38.97. The zircon in-situ ε Hf (t) values and T DM2 ages range from −5.6 to +4.5 and 1.62 Ga to 0.98 Ga, respectively. The primary melting source which produced these felsic volcanic rocks and granites was Proterozoic crustal rocks with a juvenile middle-lower crustal component. Triassic volcanism in SE Peninsular Malaysia northerly correlates with synchronous volcanic rocks in the Lancangjiang and Chiang Khong-Lampang-Tak volcanic zones. Our data, along with regional observations, indicate that these volcanic rocks and granites formed in a localized extensional setting in response to the Paleotethyan slab breakoff. While the initial collision of Sibumasu with East Malaya may have occurred at ∼237 Ma. [Display omitted] • Felsic volcanic rocks and granites in SE Peninsular Malaysia formed at 238–235 Ma. • Triassic felsic magmatism formed in response to the Paleotethyan slab breakoff. • The initial collision between Sibumasu and East Malaya might occur at ∼237 Ma. • Felsic volcanic rocks in East Malaya can correlate with the LCJ and CLT zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advancements in space technology have enabled the acquisition of reliable marine data, facilitating research on the potential of ocean renewable energy as an alternative source that can reduce dependency on fossil fuels, subsequently mitigating climate change. However, the ocean renewable energy development in Malaysia has not received adequate attention from local authorities and communities due to low resources in this area. Insufficient in-situ data, both in spatial and temporal dimensions, poses challenges in investigating the characteristics of ocean parameters, hindering a thorough study of the potential for ocean renewable energy development. Hence, this paper aims to identify potential ocean renewable energy development locations using the altimetry data and spatial-temporal clustering using the K-means technique. Theoretically, Malaysian seas are suitable for harnessing wind and waves with energy density ranges of up to 104.69 kW/m2 and 4.21 kW/m, respectively. This study enhances the understanding of Malaysian potential for ocean renewable energy, providing valuable information to stakeholders and the government to increase their interest in ocean renewable energy as a sustainable source for electricity generation in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to study the determinants that affect sustainability performance in manufacturing companies and the impact of business intelligence and big data analytics capability on performance considering the moderating role of green knowledge management. An online questionnaire survey was conducted with 488 ISO14001-certified manufacturing companies in Malaysia to test the framework developed in this study. Nonprobability sampling was used in this study. A total of 283 responses were received, whereby the data was then analyzed using structural equation modeling via SmartPLS 4 software. The results indicated that the significant factor determining big data analytics capability is business intelligence, and the positive outcome of big data analytics capability is sustainability performance. Big data analytics capability also plays a mediating role in the positive relationship between business intelligence and sustainability performance, whereby green knowledge management does not moderate the relationship between big data analytics capability and sustainability performance. Even though business intelligence has a substantial impact on sustainability performance, the relationship is not stronger when the level of green knowledge management changes. This research provides awareness to manufacturing companies on the critical factors contributing to big data analytics capability and its outcomes on corporate sustainability performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Rough set theory and PCA were applied for environmental data modelling. • The similarity assessment of 16 + 1 US EPA PAHs from Sungai Perak is presented. • LMW PAHs were found to be the most prominent in the water. • Variance were equal to 68.47% (Nap) and 27.63% (carbazole) • The LMW PAHs were likely due to incomplete combustion from vehicles. This paper presents application of rough set theory and PCA for modelling of similarity characteristics of PAHs from Perak River: Tanjung Belanja Bridge (TBB, l 1), Water Treatment Plant Parit (WTPP, l 2), Parit Town Discharge (PTD, l 3), Water Treatment Plant Senin (WTPS, l 4), and Water Treatment Plant Kepayang (WTPK, l 5). The clustering involved PAHs as attributes and sampling stations as objects. The l 1 and l 3 were clustered in Sim deg x , y ≥ 0.8. The Sim deg x , y ≥ 0.7 was observed in all attributes (except l 5) forming two sets of clusters. PCA showed that low molecular weight (LMW) PAHs were prominent with variances of 68.47% (naphthalene, Nap) and 27.63% (carbazole). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical alluvial soil has distinctive physical characteristics when compared to common sedimentary soils. Ignoring such distinctive characteristics might lead to geotechnical problems that require a thorough re-investigation. Foundation failures have been identified along some river banks of tropical alluvial soil deposits in Sarawak, Malaysia, which were speculated to be due to cyclic loading effects. This paper presents preliminary results on tropical alluvial soil engineering behaviors from simple shear cyclic loading tests. Specimens measuring 50 mm in diameter and 16 mm in height were obtained from three undisturbed samples. They were sheared using an Electro-Mechanical Dynamic Cyclic Simple Shear (EMDCSS) for thirty cycles at three different target displacements. The results showed hysteresis loops, where the shear stress decreases as the cycle increases. Excess pore water pressures develop during shearing, which correspond to the target displacement levels. The damping ratio increases as the shear strain increases but decreases as the cycle increases. The normalized shear modulus decreases as both the shear strain and loading cycle increase. A comparison with previous literature on cohesive soils shows that the tropical alluvial soil has a lower damping ratio and normalized shear modulus, which range from 3.3% to 9% and 0.0004 to 0.01, respectively. The findings indicate that the tropical alluvial soil has a potential reduction in strength when subjected to continuous cyclic loading. The paper provides a better understanding for academics and engineering professionals before conducting design or remedial work in the tropical alluvial soil environment. • Cyclic simple shear tests on tropical alluvial soil showed strength reduction. • Tropical alluvial soil has low normalized shear modulus and damping ratios. • Tropical alluvial soil has distinctive behavior than common sedimentary soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will present five flash flood cases in Johor and two hailstorms from Kuala Lumpur and Melaka reported during lightning activities to determine the relationship between lightning flash rate and rainfall that occurred from 2013 to 2017. The flash floods were observed based on lightning data obtained from Tenaga Nasional Berhad Research Sdn. Bhd. (TNBR) and rainfall data from the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID). On the other hand, storm-producing hails were observed based on the lightning flash rate using electromagnetic field measurements and weather radar for their reflectivity value and cloud structure. The detection of a lightning flash, especially the negative narrow bipolar event (−NBE) and positive cloud-to-ground (+CG), could be a possible indicator of a deeper convective storm that could lead to the production of hails. In the 24-h observation of selected days when a flash flood occurred, lightning strikes correlation with rainfall had r-values ranging from 0.6 to 0.9, where the lightning data may enhance flood forecasting accuracy when combined with rainfall. Meanwhile, during the first hailstorms in Kuala Lumpur, the highest −NBEs flash rate detected during the hails appeared where 16 −NBEs were detected in a span of 5 min with reflectivity value between 53 and 55 dBz and cloud top height of 20 km. During the second hailstorms in Melaka, more + CG flashes rather than −NBE were detected during the appearance of the hail, with 64 +CG flashes and five −NBEs with reflectivity values between 60 and 66 dBz and cloud top height of 18.8 km. Based on the high convective strength, cloud top height, and presence of hailstones, −NBE and +CG flash could be possible indicators of storm severity, especially in Malaysia. • Relationship between lightning events and the severity of convective thunderstorms • The severity of the thunderstorm may not be visible at its earlier stage until the damages occurred • In Malaysia, a severe thunderstorm is not frequently studied as in temperate regions because this phenomenon is unusually formally reported • Investigating the relationship between the occurrence of severe convection with a lightning detection system, the severity of convective thunderstorms may be detected earlier with the pronounced lightning activities and selected flashes trend • Hailstorms and heavy rainfall lead to flash floods are one of the outcomes of the severity of these thunderstorms [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The output power is conducted using 3D-PV model. • A new fusion of improved bi-archive multi-objective optimization algorithm is proposed. • A new hybrid MCDM method is considered to choose the most desirable configuration. • An accurate hybrid numerical method is used for validation of the proposed method. • Performance of optimum designs are evaluated for both cases: Malaysia and South Africa. Photovoltaic (PV) and Wind turbine (WT) systems are the most promising options for rural energy delivery. In the literature, numerous studies have simply considered only on economic efficiency, while maximizing dependability by a constant value for the given demand load. Moreover, a single set Pareto optimal front (PF) has been attained for the multi-objective optimization problem. Furthermore, the primary challenge of various the off-grid multiple renewable energy sources is excessive energy loss, resulting over/under sizing and a highly total cost for the system. Therefore, this paper presents a unique improved bi-archive approach to develop the diversity and convergence independently in order to find four optimum sets of PF solutions. In addition, a new integration based on best worst method (BWM) and preference ranking organization for enrichment evaluations (PROMETHEE II) method along with group decision making (GDM) mechanism are addressed to sort and rank the optimal sets PF solutions with full consistency ratios of the three experts opinions and high degree of stability in ranking configurations. The theoretical results based on actual hourly meteorological data in Malaysia and South Africa indicated that the suggested improved two-archive-BWM- PROMETHEE II-GDM method is not only able to construct a uniform set of Pareto optimal solutions with fast convergence and high diversity, but can also rank and select the most desired design for the PV/WT/Battery system. The optimum configurations of the two cases studies are composed of a single WT, 105 PV modules, and 69 batteries storages at zero LLP, 60185 ($) of LLC, and 13548018 (KWh) of P dump for Malaysia case study, meanwhile it composes of 16 WTs, 80 PV modules, and 69 batteries storage at zero of LLP, 66073 ($) of LCC, and 31371 (KWh) of P dump. The proposed standalone hybrid renewable energy sources system is verified and assessed in a comparison with existing hybrid methods in terms of increasing the reliability, lowering overall cost, and reducing wasted energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Two hybrid models for wind power forecasting MWSO-RBFNN and MWSO-GRNN are proposed. • Six cases of Turkey and Malaysia are analyzed by RE, MAE, RMSE, NSC and R 2 correlation. • Comparisons with SOTA models confirm the performance superiority of the proposed models. In order to combat the global warming, much stress is put on integrating non-conventional energy resources, such as wind power plants and solar energy systems, into standard electricity generation systems. The stochastic nature of wind energy at a large scale requires precise forecasting in short and medium terms to manage electricity demands for regional grids because the safety and control of electricity systems are highly sensitive to voltage drop. Unfortunately, the existing forecasting models achieve less desirable performance in short term power forecasting. To resolve this issue, based on hybrid stochastic algorithm based intelligent models, which are proven to be a highly effective predictive tool, this paper proposes two new hybrid models using modified white shark optimization (MWSO) algorithm based GRNN and RBFN. To enhance the forecasting performance, the parameter mv is projected as a function of time to enforce the convergence by accelerating computation as well for effective exploration and exploitation to reinforce features of data. The supervised control and data acquisition (SCADA) data provide the input metrics to the system. A hybrid decomposition model is used to prep data for feature enhancement. Six case studies are formulated from Turkey and Malaysia to validate the forecasting performance of our technically advanced models. Recommended modifications allow MWSO for enhanced training. The results are compared with four hybrid ANN topologies in combinations with PSO and BMO stochastic optimization algorithms. Seasonal results are compared graphically and statistically through 15 min ahead forecasting. The results show that the proposed MWSO-RBFNN model outperforms the classic models in all cases for point forecasting and interval forecasting with higher convergence rate and lower stochastic error. The point and interval forecasting accuracy is extremely important to ensure power systems' stability, efficiency, and safety. Our model achieves Nash-Sutcliffe constant score of 0.99 and exhibits superior performance with the least RMSE, RE, R2, and MAE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Case Study paper presents the first exploration of Speculative Design as a participatory democracy method for navigating the future of ageing in Malaysia. Speculative Design in the context of Global South is emerging, but without much data on how it is applied within different socio-economic conditions from the Global North countries. This Case Study considers the challenges and opportunities of employing Speculative Design as policy identification and development method from the context of Malaysia, a Global South country with its own unique characteristics. The paper concludes by suggesting that the novelty of Speculative Design as a policy-design approach in Global South countries, such as in Malaysia, requires the right selection of provocations and culturally familiar content to ease introduction of the methodology. Also, the efficacy of this approach as a participatory design application would require further enculturation within targeted communities, as well as sustained engagement through Champions. • Employing Speculative Design in a Global South context requires adaptation to local contexts. • Future thinking is unfamiliar to many societies still facing non-equitable development. • Participatory Speculative Design can disrupt the top-down policy-making in Malaysia. • More research is required to better localize and measure the proposed method impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports an outbreak of lymphocystis disease virus infection in cultured juvenile John's snapper (Lutjanus johnii) in Malaysia. In mid-January 2021, approximately 19,000 juvenile John's snapper exhibited signs of lethargy and isolating themselves from the schooling group, developed lymphocysts all over the body and fins, and died. The outbreak started at day 3 after the introduction of fish into the hatchery, and the severity of the disease was observed between day 7 and 14, resulting in 53% mortality. No bacteria was isolated, while a low prevalence of protozoan parasite was observed at 5% of fish samples. Histopathology examination revealed focal nodular dermal fibroblast hypertrophy with karyomegaly and hyaline capsule formation. Basophilic intracytoplasmic inclusions were observed in the diseased fish. PCR and sequence analyses revealed that all affected fish were positive to lymphocystis disease virus (LCDV), which was absent from the clinically healthy fish. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the isolates from this outbreak were from the cluster of LCDV genotype 2. This paper reports the first documentation of LCDV infection in cultured John's snapper in Malaysia. Farmers and authorities should beware of the impacts LCDV infection, as it can cause high mortality and economic losses in cultured fish. • The first documentation of LCDV infection in cultured John's snapper in Malaysia • Affected fish exhibit lethargy, development of lymphocysts and mortality. • PCR and sequence analyses revealed that affected fish were positive to LCDV genotype 2. • LCDV can cause high mortality and economic losses in cultured juvenile fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic has had an adverse effect on the global economy, particularly the hotel industry. Industry players have turned to big data to recover and improve their business performance. This paper aims to identify the key resources to develop and build big data analytics capabilities (BDAC). Drawing upon the knowledge-based and dynamic capability views, this research also examines the interplay among BDAC, organizational agility, marketing and organizational innovations, and firm performance in the hotel industry. The partial least square structural equation modeling is used for the data analysis, while quota sampling is used for the sampling design. Based on the statistical data analysis from 115 star-rated hotels in Malaysia, BDAC positively impacts organizational agility, marketing and organizational innovations, and firm performance. Likewise, organizational agility positively impacts firm performance, marketing and organizational innovations. The empirical findings provide researchers and industry players with meaningful insights for improving firm performance in the hotel industry using big data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of restaurants is increasing day by day in almost all the developing countries, causing the increase in the generation of restaurant wastewater. Various activities (i.e., cleaning, washing, and cooking) going on in the restaurant kitchen lead to restaurant wastewater (RWW). RWW has high concentrations of chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), nutrients such as potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen, and solids. RWW also contains fats, oil, and grease (FOG) in alarmingly high concentration, which after congealing can constrict the sewer lines, leading to blockages, backups, and sanitatry sewer overflows (SSOs). The paper provides an insight to the details of RWW containing FOG collected from a gravity grease interceptor at a specific site in Malaysia, and its expected consequences and the sustainable management plan as prevention, control, and mitigation (PCM) approach. The results showed that the concentrations of pollutants are very high as compared to the discharge standards given by Department of Environment, Malaysia. Maximum values for COD, BOD and FOG in the restaurant wastewater samples were found to be 9948, 3170, and 1640 mg/l, respectively. FAME and FESEM analysis are done on the RWW containing FOG. In the FOG, palmitic acid (C16:0), stearic acid (C18:0), oleic acid (C18:1n9c), linoleic acid (C18:2n6c) are the dominant lipid acids with a maximum of 41, 8.4, 43.2, and 11.5%, respectively. FESEM analysis showed formation of whitish layers fprmed due to the deposition of calcium salts. Furthermore, a novel design of indoor hydromechanical grease interceptor (HGI) was proposed in the study based on the Malaysian conditions of restaurant. The HGI was designed for a maximum flow rate of 132 L per minute and a maximum FOG capacity of 60 kg. [Display omitted] • Characterization and analysis of restaurant wastewater containing FOG was conducted. • Peak flow discharge was measured at the gravity grease interceptor which was the sampling point during the study. • FAME & FESEM analysis was carried on the composition of FOG in restaurant wastewater. • Design of Hydromechanical grease interceptor was proposed for the indoor and onsite installation to control the FOG. • Prevention, control, and mitigation approach to combat the deleterious effects of FOG in RWW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• First application of methodology of text highlighting to product consumer research. • Case study with kiwifruit conducted in Singapore and Malaysia (1140 consumers). • Sensory and health characteristics of kiwifruit that consumers 'like' and 'dislike' were identified. • Penalty/lift analysis was used to analyse text highlighting responses to product characteristics. Text highlighting is a new method for online sensory-consumer research where participants read a text while making use of highlighting functions to indicate content that they, respectively, 'like' and 'dislike.' In a recent series of papers, consumers have been found to approach the text highlighting task in a logical and systematic manner, and the results have been shown to deliver attitudinal insights about the focal topic that fit expectations. Building on the early successes of text highlighting, it was an obvious step to try to extend it to applications in product research which occupies a central role in sensory-consumer research. A case study with kiwifruit was performed with consumers in Singapore and Malaysia (n = 1140). Participants read a text (288 words, 19 sentences) which primarily described sensory, nutrition and health characteristics of green and gold kiwifruit. Focusing on 43 specific fruit characteristics, sentiment (difference between the frequency of 'like' and 'dislike' highlights) was higher for nutrition and health characteristics than for those describing sensory characteristics. Only the Chinese origin of kiwifruit and the hairy skin of green kiwifruit were negatively perceived overall. A novel use of penalty/lift analysis to identify the specific fruit characteristics that significantly influenced expected liking of kiwifruit confirmed the results based on sentiment scores. Moreover, a difference between the drivers of liking for gold and green kiwifruit was identified; the use of 'like' highlighting for sensory properties positively contributed to expected liking for gold kiwifruit only. The case study also demonstrated the potential to meaningfully segment consumers based on their highlighting responses to product specific characteristics. The results are discussed in the context of future applications of text highlighting in product research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Machine learning method is used to predict probable factors impacting fatal falls from height accidents. • The analysis uses 3321 fatal fall incidents from Malaysia. • This study establishes the feasibility of machine learning in the field of construction safety management. The focus of this paper is to use machine learning to create a prediction model that detects the probable factors impacting fatal falls from heights accidents at the Malaysia construction industry. The dataset used in this study was imported from the Department of Occupational Safety and Health of Malaysia's industrial accident database. The dataset details 3321 accident scenarios which include; the date, the activity, the region, the summary of the accident, the direct cause, the root cause, and the factors. Seven machine learning models were tested to determine which model fits the dataset better, and as a result, the Random Forest Classification model was selected for this work. Random Forest classification tested several contributing factors such as: site conditions, management factors, individual characteristics and agent factors separately to determine their accuracy. Management factors and individual characteristics factors recorded the highest accuracy in every other prediction model; while agent factors recorded the highest accuracy in the random forest model. Additionally, this approach created ensemble predictions based on all of the dataset's characteristics. As a result, this study establishes the feasibility of machine learning in the field of construction safety management. The provided results can aid in accident prevention by increasing awareness of potential safety hazards, quantitatively predicting fatal accidents, and implementing the findings in potential safety management systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The characteristics of one's neighborhood have a significant impact on life satisfaction in older people, as a properly designed neighborhood can support aging in place. Although there are various aspects subsumed under neighborhood environment, this study examines perceived and objective neighborhood environmental characteristics, such as accessibility, neighborhood safety, environmental quality, neighborhood problems, and third places. Using a questionnaire survey as well as an in-depth interview, this paper examines the effect of neighborhood environment attributes on life satisfaction among older people living in a green accredited township. The quantile regression estimates show that different quantiles of respondents attach different importance to the determinants of life satisfaction. As for third places, visiting neighborhood shopping centers and taking lifelong learning courses at school may be determinants of life satisfaction when controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. By revealing the environmental determinants of life satisfaction among Malaysian older people, this study provides information for housing associations and urban planners to design an age-friendly neighborhood. • Perceived and objective neighborhood environment would have a significant impact on the life satisfaction of older adults. • Different quantiles of respondents attached different importance to the determinants of life satisfaction. • Attending neighborhood shopping centers and taking lifelong courses at local schools are important determinants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical country such as Malaysia experienced high intensity and long period of rainfall, which is the main factor of slope failure. The increasing of seepage subjected by rainfall not only distress suction distribution, but also affects hydraulic properties of soil lead to the decreasing of soil strength. This also leads to soil slope failure. The main hydraulic properties for soils are Soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) and hydraulic conductivity, k. The relationship of these parameters is highly influenced by tropical soil, thus contributes to soil instability phenomenon. The main objective of this paper is to study the relationship between soils' hydraulic properties and particle size distribution (PSD). Four types of soils investigated in this research include one sample taken from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)'s reserved forest, and three samples were commercially obtained. Other than soil basic properties, pressure plate extractor and permeability tests were conducted for SWCC and permeability, respectively. Tests show that different types of soils demonstrate different characteristic of SWCC and hydraulic conductivity. Result also shows that PSD has the influence and affect the result of hydraulic properties of soils. This study is expected to enhance the understanding of complex phenomenon of residual soil instability. • Infiltration of rainwater into soil is a main cause of slope instability. • Tackle this issue by studying relationship of hydraulic properties of soils. • Result shows that PSD has the influence and effect to hydraulic properties of soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debris flow caused high number of deaths among many of geohazard events in Malaysia due to the characteristics of sudden outburst and high energy density. This paper reviewed the initial mechanism and characteristics of existing debris flow in Malaysia. Almost all debris flows occurrence were initiated on natural terrains as opposed to other forms of landslides. Most of the events were induced by the rainfall. This is due to the geographic locations of Malaysia that lies on the equator with tropical climates and received abundant rainfall of 2400 mm annually. Intense and heavy rainfall increases the water content and pore water pressures within the residual soil that could trigger landslides. Thus, an intense and prolonged rainfall has become the major triggering factor for debris flow. This review article focus on clarifies the characterization of historical debris flow events that had an impact the infrastructure in Malaysia. In summary, this review attempts to systematically summarize the existing research on the mechanism of debris flow in Malaysia to provide further reference on debris flow prevention. Comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms and the behaviour of the debris flow will assist to the fundamental hazard and provide proper planning for structural measures. • The initial mechanism and characteristics of existing debris flow in Malaysia. • The effects are more severe due to the climate change and human activities. • Formation of natural dam also can produce a disastrous debris flow. • Reality ofthe occurrence in Malaysia known as cascading geological process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of sustainable materials in the construction industry has been on the rise recently. Studies have proven that the use of conventional concrete and its raw materials has a negative impact on the environment. Research on incorporating biochar as a supplementary cementitious material has been recently evolving and has shown that the attributes of biochar are highly affected by the pyrolysis parameters. These attributes have enhanced the properties of biochar concrete and mortar composite. This paper identifies the different physiochemical properties exhibited by palm kernel shell biochar through optimization by response surface methodology. Focusing on some of the properties of biochar that have proven beneficial when used as a cement replacement. Very limited research has used optimization tools for the production of biochar with the intention of using it as a cement substitute. Pyrolysis was conducted by a tubular furnace at different temperature ranges from 200 °C to 800 °C. The biomass and biochar have been analyzed with TGA and FESEM-EDX. The targeted biochar properties and selected responses are the yield, carbon, oxygen, silica, and potassium content. The optimized parameters obtained are 409 °C, 15 °C/min, 120 min with responses of 38.2% yield, 73.37% carbon, 25.48% oxygen, 0.39% potassium and 0.44% silica. Thermal properties of the palm kernel shell biochar affected by the pyrolysis factors such as temperature, heating rate and residence time have also been discussed. In conclusion, this study supports and encourages the use of palm waste, which is abundant in Malaysia, as a supplementary cementitious material to promote sustainable growth in construction. [Display omitted] • Hypothesis for a high potential of palm kernel shell biochar to be used as supplementary cementitious replacement. • The factors that are taken into consideration are pyrolysis temperature, heating rate and residence. The responses are biochar yield, carbon, oxygen, potassium, and silica content. • Optimized round of palm kernel shell biochar is 409 °C, 15 °C/min and 120 min. • The carbon content of the biochar is directly proportional to the pyrolysis temperature. • The pyrolysis temperature and residence time are more effective than heating rate on the physiochemical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ethnic Chinese and Indians in Malaysia are deemed perpetual diasporas. • Malay hegemony sees the linguistic citizenship of non-Malays as foreign. • However, non-Malays claimed their language behaviours prove their Malaysianness. • Their discourses revealed contradictions in their perceived linguistic citizenship. This paper analyzes contradictory tensions in the linguistic citizenship of Chinese- and Indian-Malaysian youths. Malay ethnonationalism describes the languages of the local Chinese and Indian minorities as immigrant. A sociological perspective, however, tells us it is difficult to see these communities as diasporic. They hold Malaysian state citizenship, they may have no contact with China and India, and in some cases their ancestors settled in Malaysia centuries ago. This paper analyzes how, in that sociopolitical context, a cohort of Chinese- and Indian-Malaysian youths constructed their linguistic citizenship within a series of 16 semi-structured folk linguistic group discussions about multilingualism in contemporary Malaysia. The paper reveals two parallel discourses. Malay ethnonationalism has prompted discourses of linguistic allegiance to China and India as prescribed, if not impractical, homelands. However, the youths also divorced their languages and communities from India and China to instead forge a non-diasporic linguistic citizenship. In doing so, they negated Malaysia's linguistic hierarchy, despite Malay ethnonationalist discourses, by describing their unique interethnic language practices as quintessentially Malaysian and as an interethnic leveller. Malaysia showcases how linguistic citizenship in the diaspora can be both vexed by historical sociopolitical processes as well as empowered by sociopolitical resistance, resulting in contradictory discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• GCAOA is applied for parameter extraction of the TD PV model to predict the output current of the PV model. • Non-dominated multi-objective principle is proposed for constructing sets of Pareto optimal solutions using three conflicting objectives. • A new integration based on MOO and MCDM aided by numerical methods are considered to choose the most desirable configuration. • MODA based on AHP-VICKOR-GDM method is used for validation of the proposed method. • Performance of optimum designs are evaluated using hourly meteorological data for one year. This paper presents a new optimum design for an off-grid hybrid solar photovoltaic (PV), wind turbine (WT), and battery storage system for power isolated dwellings in Malaysia and South Africa. Selecting a desirable design of the WT/PV/Battery system among a wide variety of configurations, particularly at a favorable level of reliability, lowering the total cost, and reducing the surplus energy, remains a challenging task. The procedure of this work is summarized as follows: First, the parameter of the three diode PV model is optimally extracted from datasheet information to forecast the output power of the Yingli PV module. Then, the upper and lower variables bounds of the WT/PV/Battery system are intuitively determined. Afterward, the numerical method is employed to identify every possible configurations inside the design space. The non-dominated multi-objective principle is then established to generate optimal sets of Pareto front solutions. Finally, an integration of the best worst method, technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution, and group decision making technique are employed to weight the objectives with complete consistency ratios and rank the optimal designs based on practical judgments. The performance results showed that the optimal designs are comprised of 1 WTs, 105 PV modules (21 in series and 5 in parallel), and 69 storage batteries with zero loss of load probability (LLP), 60185.47 ($) of life cycle cost (LCC), and 13548017.77 KWh of excess energy for Malaysian scenario. While the optimum configuration of the South African case study consists of 16 WTs, 80 PV modules (20 in series and 4 in parallel), and 69 storage batteries with a favorable LLP values of 0.00068, 59180.15 ($) of LCC, and 19174160.54 ($) of excess energy, respectively. It can be concluded that the proposed methodology for finding appropriate size of the WT/PV/Battery system is capable of operating with extremely confident dependability while minimizing the overall cost of the system and minimizing the surplus energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insight on how industrial's practices and commitments could affect better energy-efficient buildings implementation is still limited despite the emerging concerns over the demand to minimize energy consumption. This study aims to fill the gap by investigating industry behaviours and practices and recommending holistic energy-efficient management strategies in Malaysia. The study used an explanatory sequential mixed approach comprising 4 case studies of conventional buildings, 72 building stakeholders submitted a survey questionnaire, and 7 experts were interviewed to enable triangulation of information. The analysis revealed that current energy management strategies are based on low-hanging fruit measures. The results also suggest that financial, managerial, and knowledge limitations are the primary constraints to effectual energy-saving methods. This paper demonstrates three-tier intervention strategies in education, policy, and technology towards accelerating industry transition in achieving best practices in energy-efficient buildings. The outcomes of this study may advantage building interested parties in addressing relevant barriers to energy-efficient execution and designing effective efforts to encourage conventional building for the building advancement in Malaysia. This research offers findings by delivering greater practical perspectives on the extent of industry practises and behaviours regarding energy-efficient building implementation, including by presenting energy management approaches for benchmarks in energy-efficient buildings in Malaysia. • Financial, managerial and knowledge are the constraints to effectual energy-saving. • Intervention in education, policy and technology are the strategies for energy-saving. • Low-hanging fruit measures effective for simple behavioural changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Using RGibbs, CSTR, and PFR block of Aspen Plus for gasification process simulation. • The relative error for syngas composition prediction at ER 0.15 is lower than 40%. • 10 kW on power and 110 kg/h on steam production were observed for the case study. • Higher efficiency in steam generation 15% than in electricity generation 1.9%. • 100% and 5.4% of electricity and steam consumption of the integrated process are covered. This paper proposes an improved model to predict the performance of sewage sludge updraft gasification more accurately by using Aspen Plus. The reaction rate of gas-gas and gas-solid reactions as well as the formation and destruction of tar composition were not adequately accounted for in the previous models. To solve that, a pair of Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor and Plug Flow Reactor blocks was configured for reaction zones of the gasifier. The number of tar compositions inserted in the model was increased to 6 components including benzene, toluene, phenol, naphthalene, acid palmitic, and indene. In comparison to the previous model, the accuracy of syngas composition prediction increased by 10–20%, particularly, the error of prediction was below 40% for all compositions at an equivalence ratio of 0.15. To make the first comprehensive study on energy production from sewage sludge treatment in Malaysia, the validated gasification model was applied to develop an integrated waste-to-energy with gasification model for Pantai 1 sewage treatment plant. There was a higher energy generating efficiency for the steam generation of 15.5–16.5% than for electricity generation of 1.4–1.9%. The electricity demand for sewage sludge treatment was fully satisfied, while 5.4% of the steam demand was met. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides new insight on the complex interactions between regional tectonic evolution, differential subsidence across the basin, and variation in sediment supply based on a reconstruction of the gross depositional environment in the northern part of Malay Basin. In addition, the variation in sedimentary facies, established from an integrated analysis based on seismic interpretation, well-log analysis, and core evaluation, are used to establish the gross depositional environment for key surfaces within the Oligocene to Miocene succession. The basin fill comprises Oligocene syn-rift and Miocene post-rift successions. The syn-rift successions are Syn-Rift Unconformity (SRU)-Base of Syn-Rift (BSR), and Base Chattian Unconformity (BCU)-Syn-Rift Unconformity (SRU) sequences. Whereas, the post-rift successions represent by Intra-Aquitanian MFS (IAM)-Base Chattian Unconformity (BCU), Intra-Burdigalian MFS (IBM)-Intra-Aquitanian MFS (IAM), Miocene Transgressive-Regressive (MTR)-Intra-Burdigalian MFS (IBM), Intra-Serravalian MFS (ISM)-Miocene Transgressive-Regressive (MTR), and Intra-Tortonian (ITM)-Intra-Serravalian MFS (ISM) sequences. The Oligocene-early Miocene syn-rift succession in the study area is characterized by aggradational stacking patterns, with an indication of retrogradation in individual sand packages for SRU-BSR, and BCU-SRU intervals, whereas an overall aggradational stacking pattern can be observed within the IAM-BCU sequence. The depositional environment of the syn-rift succession is mainly deltaic, fluvial, alluvial fan, shallow and deep lacustrine at the basin center. The early-middle Miocene post-rift succession is characterized by mostly aggradational and fining upwards stacking within the IBM-IAM sequence. This gradually changed to a retrogradational pattern in the MTR-ISM sequence. Depositional environments for this succession consist of an alternation between fluvio-marine and sub-tidal to marine sedimentation. Depositional environments for the overlying late Miocene Intra-Tortonian to Intra-Serravalian (ITM-ISM) was estuarine or tidally-influenced environments comprising fluvial channel, tidal or distributary channel, tidal sand flat, and tidal flat deposition. This interval mainly consists of coarsening upward units that gradually changed to a stacked higher-order fining upwards package. The deeper stratigraphic units are generally more continental (non-marine) in character, but fluvio-tidally influenced marine environments became more dominant in the shallower sequences. • The sedimentary succession and paleo-depositional environment in MTJDA were related to the tectonic evolution of the Malay Basin. • Gross depositional environment in MTJDA are mainly; lacustrine dominated and tidal to fluvio-marine dominated settings. • The depositional sequences exhibit cyclical sedimentation which is similar to other Tertiary basins in South-East Asia. • The syn-rift and post-rift successions were deposited as deltaic, fluvial, alluvial fan, shallow lake and deep lacustrine. • The deeper successions are non-marine, whilst the shallower successions is dominated by tidal to fluvio-marine dominated environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]