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This research is to integrate the focused economy into a more non-consumptive alternative; considering that a sustainable nature tourism could contribute to conservation of biodiversity. The objective of the study is to identify status and nature of existing tourism sites and products within Muar and Tangkak districts, in Johor. At the same time researchers pinpoint potential nature tourism products and suggest their development adding values to existing tourism activities. The final touch to this venture is creation of souvenir prototypes that portrays local image. Data were collected by site visits, scan observation and field sampling. Among chosen destinations were Gunung Ledang Johor National Park, C&C Mushroom Cultivation Farm Sdn. Bhd., Tangkak; Nasuha Herbs & Spice Farm and Tanjung Ketapang and Tanjung Emas Parks, Muar. Existing tourism products were oyster mushroom and herbal tea. From this research potential products proposed are stingless bee (Trigona group) and sandalwood (Aquilaria malaccensis), bunga tanjung (Mimusops elengi) and bird watching respectively. These new products were tested against eight criteria currently used for development of nature tourism product and they met six: morphological attractiveness, behavioural enticement, linkage to local culture, ecologically important to people, reliability of sightings and safety. Based on aspects such as time, cost and risk, data acquired were analyzed and used in formulating a tentative tourism package. Formulated tourism packages would need testing in the near future before released to be promoted into the market. From this research several other attractions and potential products were identified and discussed in this paper.

This work deals with the preparation of MgO films on Si (100) substrate by using pulsed DC magnetron sputtering of pure Mg target in reactive oxygen environment at room temperature. The sputtering power was varied in the range 100 W to 150 W while keeping the deposition time fixed at 4 h. In the next step, deposition time was changed from 1 h to 3 h by maintaining the sputtering power at 150 W. The results obtained were analyzed by x-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques. The XRD pattern at 100 W exhibited MgO2 diffraction peak along (211) plane. However, with increase of power to 125 W and 150 W, MgO diffraction peak corresponding to (200) plane appeared. The crystallinity of MgO was improved with increase of the sputtering power. On contrary, the crystalline quality of MgO film was degraded with increase of the deposition time. The FTIR analysis displayed peaks around 860 cm−1 and 740 cm−1 corresponding to the characteristic of cubic MgO. With increase of deposition time from 1 h to 3 h, the peaks at 860 cm−1 and 740 cm−1 were disappeared, indicating a decrease in the strength of chemical bond between Mg and O. The AFM results revealed a decrease in the surface roughness with increase of both sputtering power and the deposition time.

Owing to the advent of the industrial revolution 4.0, the need for further evaluating processes applied in the additive manufacturing application particularly the computational process for slicing is non-trivial. This paper evaluates a real-time slicing algorithm for slicing an STL formatted computer-aided design (CAD). A line-plane intersection equation was applied to perform the slicing procedure at any given height. The application of this algorithm has found to provide a better computational time regardless the number of facet in the STL model. The performance of this algorithm is evaluated by comparing the results of the computational time for different geometry.

The carburizing of titanium (Ti) is accomplished by utilizing energetic ion pulses of a 1.5 kJ Mather type dense plasma focus (DPF) device operated in methane discharge. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirms the deposition of polycrystalline titanium carbide (TiC). The samples carburized at lower axial and angular positions show an improved texture for a typical (200)TiC plane. The Williamson–Hall method is employed to estimate average crystallite size and microstrains in the carburized Ti surface. Crystallite size is found to vary from ~ 50 to 100 nm, depending on the deposition parameters. Microstrains vary with the sample position and hence ion flux, and are converted from tensile to compressive by increasing the flux. The carburizing of Ti is confirmed by two major doublets extending from 300 to 390 cm−1 and from 560 to 620 cm−1 corresponding to acoustic and optical active modes in Raman spectra, respectively. Analyses by scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) have provided qualitative and quantitative profiles of the carburized surface. The Vickers microhardness of Ti is significantly improved after carburizing.

The effect of pre-ionization by a shunt resistor on X-ray emission performance from a low-energy (2.7 kJ) plasma focus is investigated by employing time-resolved and time- integrated detectors. Different shunt resistors are employed and 71 MΩ is found the most appropriate in this experiment. It is estimated that with pre-ionization 49.56 J of energy is radiated as X-rays, out of which 21.5 J is in the form of Cu-Kα lines in 4π-geometry. The pre-ionization enhances the X-ray yield, broadens the working gas pressure range and improves the shot-to-shot reproducibility of the system. The pinhole images of X-ray–emitting zones indicate that the dominant X-ray emission is from the anode tip, although the emission from hot spots along the pinch axis also contributes.

A study of x-ray emission from a low energy (1.8?kJ) plasma focus (PF) device powered by a 9??F capacitor bank, charged at 20?kV and giving peak discharge current of about 175?kA by using three different anode shapes with a lead insert at the tip is reported. Quantrad Si PIN-diodes with differential filtering are employed as time-resolved x-ray detectors, whereas a multipinhole camera with suitable absorption filters is used for time-integrated analysis. The x-ray flux in different energy windows is measured as a function of the hydrogen filling pressure for each anode. The maximum values of the energy-integrated x-ray flux are found to be 1.36?0.06?J?sr?1, 2.70?0.11?J?sr?1 and 2.17?0.09?J?sr?1 for a cylindrical anode with a 75? cut at the tip, a tapered anode with a 75? cut at the tip and a tapered anode without any cut, respectively. The maximum x-ray emission in 4?-geometry is estimated to be 17.09?0.75?J, 27.91?1.28?J and 27.25?1.13?J with a cylindrical anode with a 75? cut at the tip, a tapered anode with a 75? cut at the tip and a tapered anode without any cut, respectively, and the corresponding wall plug efficiencies for x-ray generation are 0.95%, 1.55% and 1.51%. X-ray emission, presumably due to the electrons' bombardment activity at the anode tip, was dominant, which is confirmed by the pinhole images. To demonstrate the feasibility of the present PF device as a possible x-ray source for good contrast radiography, a set of experimental images is presented.

This study investigates the acoustics behavior of wood fibre filler of Red Meranti - filled polyurethane foam as a sound absorbing material. Three different thicknesses have been selected which is 10 mm, 20 mm and 30 mm. By choosing percentage loading of Red Meranti (RM) wood fibre of 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% added with polymer foam is namely as polymer foam (PF) composites of PF5%, PF10%, PF15% and PF20%. The sound absorption coefficient (α) and pore structure of the foam samples have been examined by using Impedance Tube test and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The results revealed that the highest thickness of highest filler loading (PF20%) gives higher sound absorption coefficient (α). The absorption frequency level is observed at 0.9922 and 0.99889 which contributed from low and high frequency absorption level respectively. The smallest pores size structure was observed with highest filler loading of PF. The higher the thickness and the higher the percentage loading of wood filler gives smaller pore structure, consequently, increased the sound absorption coefficient level.

The characteristics of cobalt as a soft x-ray filter are investigated. It is found to be a good choice to diagnose 0.5-5 keV hot plasmas in a device like a plasma focus. The focus plasma temperature is found to be filling pressure dependent. The highest temperature recorded is 5 keV at a filling pressure of 2.5 mbar, which gives the highest neutron yield in the 2.3 kJ low-energy Mather-type device under study. The advantage of the cobalt filter is to prevent contamination of the temperature-sensitive continuum radiation by the dominant Cu Kα line radiation. The energy dependence of the detector sensitivity is incorporated to yield a more accurate temperature measurement. The Ni-Co filter combination helps to estimate the Cu Kα line radiation from the device, which is the highest at 0.5 mbar. The emitted energy is estimated to be 1.2 J in the 4π geometry, which corresponds to system efficiency of about 0.045%. The Cu Kα is 90-95% of the total x-ray emission.

We demonstrate a facile and cost effective method to obtain gold nanoparticles on graphene by dispersing Au144 molecular nanoclusters by spin coating them in thin layers on graphene-based films and subsequent annealing in a controlled atmosphere. The graphene-based thin films used for these experiments are prepared by solvent-assisted exfoliation of graphite in water in the presence of ribonucleic acid as a surfactant and by subsequent vacuum filtration of the resulting graphene-containing suspensions. Not only is this method easily reproducible, but it leads to gold nanoparticles that are not dependent in size on the number of graphene layers beneath them. This is a distinct advantage over other methods. Plasmonic effects have been detected in our gold nanoparticle-decorated graphene layers, indicating that these thin films may be useful in applications such as plasmonic solar cells and optical memory devices.