Abstract. Sufficient data about electricity consumption over large periods of time was accumulated and analysed in order to develop appropriate electricity-saving measures. An important first step was to analyse and identify electrical appliances that had energy saving potential. Different behavioural consumption profiles were analysed using information from two sources: 1) technical data about electricity consumption (electricity bill) and 2) data about household electrical appliance usage and consumer awareness obtained from a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire consisted of four sections of questions which concerned residents' backgrounds, residential information, consumers' awareness about energy efficiency (EE) and the energy usage of each house. The results showed that the electricity consumption profile of an individual household could be most related to the EE approach. It indicated that consumers' behaviour (awareness and practice) resulted in one of the important factors related to high electricity consumption. Another important conclusion of our questionnaire-based analysis was that the implementation of the EE approach could help the consumer to reduce their monthly energy consumption.
Abstract. Pulmonary function testing is a physiological test that measures how an individual inhales or exhales volumes of air as a function of time. Smoking is greatly associated with reduction of pulmonary function. This research is aimed to estimate the values of peak expiratory flow (PEF), forced expiratory volume in first second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC) and ratio between FEV1/FVC among smoking and non-smoking students in Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia. Smoking is often related to obstructive disorder with low value of FVC, FEV1 and FEV1/FVC. These pulmonary functions were analyzed based on several variables such as; the number of cigarette smoked per day, duration of smoking, age, and body mass index (BMI) values. 70 healthy volunteers consist of smoking and non-smoking students was selected through several sessions. Students were interviewed to answer questionnaire on demographic, lifestyles and their smoking habit. The pulmonary function tests were conducted according to American Thoracic Society (ATS) standards. The results of the pulmonary functions were analyzed by using SPSS software to compare the pulmonary functions between the smoker and the non-smoker students. The results of the studies showed that the number of cigarettes smoked by respondent and the BMI values were the significant predictors of the decrease in FEV1/FVC values among university students
Clay has been used as main material in fabrication of bricks however the use of waste materials in brick manufacturing has been introduced for conservation of dwindling clay resources, as well as preventing environmental and ecological damages caused by quarrying and depletion of raw materials. Bricks that available in some regions have poor quality, low compressive strength, higher water absorption and uneven surfaces Therefore in this study, rice husk ash has been utilized for the preparation of bricks in partial replacement of clay. The specimens were cast with different replacement levels of clay varying as 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% with rice husk ash. The specimens were tested for water absorption and compressive strength accordingly to Malaysian Standard EN 1008:2010 for 2 hours. Experimental shows that excessive addition of rice husk ash has higher water absorption and low compressive strength as rice husk ash percentage increases rice husk ash characteristics predominate. The bonding between the clay particle and the rice husk ash particles is weak. By adding 10% of rice husk ash by weight is the best brick properties which 6.80 MPa of compressive strength and 16.30% of water absorption. The water absorption of RHA brick developed did not exceed 20% hence promoted to be partial replacement of clay.
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