Air pollution is becoming a major environmental issue in Malaysia. This study focused on the identification of potential sources of variations in air quality around the study area based on the data obtained from the Malaysian Department of Environment (DOE). Eight air quality parameters in ten monitoring stations for seven years (2006 – 2012) were gathered. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method from chemometric technique was applied to identify the source identification of pollution around the study area. The PCA method has identified methane (CH4), non-methane hydrocarbon (NmHC), total hydrocarbon (THC), ozone (O3) and particulate matter under 10 microns (PM10) are the most significant parameters around the study area. From the study, it can be concluded that the application of the PCA method in chemometric techniques can be applied for the source apportionment purpose. Hence, this study indicated that for the future and effective management of the Malaysian air quality, an effort should be placed as a priority in controlling point and non-point pollution sources.
This study intends to show the effectiveness of hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis (HACA), discriminant analysis (DA), principal component analysis (PCA), factor analysis (FA) and multiple linear regressions (MLR) for assessing the air quality data and air pollution sources pattern recognition. The data sets of air quality for 12 months (January-December) in 2007, consisting of 14 stations around Peninsular Malaysia with 14 parameters (168 datasets) were applied. Three significant clusters -low pollution source (LPS) region, moderate pollution source (MPS) region, and slightly high pollution source (SHPS) region were generated via HACA. Forward stepwise of DA managed to discriminate 8 variables, whereas backward stepwise of DA managed to discriminate 9 out of 14 variables. The method of PCA and FA has identified 8 pollutants in LPS and SHPS respectively, as well as 11 pollutants in MPS region, where most of the pollutants are expected derived from industrial activities, transportation and agriculture systems. Four MLR models show that PM 10 categorize as the primary pollutant in Malaysia. From the study, it can be stipulated that the application of chemometric techniques can disclose meaningful information on the spatial variability of a large and complex air quality data. A clearer review about the air quality and a novel design of air quality monitoring network for better management of air pollution can be achieved.
Living organisms require trace amounts of heavy metals, including cobalt, copper, manganese and zinc to survive. However, the excessive levels of the metal can be detrimental to the organism. Other heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium have no vital on organisms, and their accumulation in long time period in the bodies can cause serious illness or death. The consumption of fish is recommended because fish is a basic and good nutritious food that has omega-3 fatty acids due to its cardio-protective effects. This present mini-review accounts for the description of heavy metal in fish and the effect of toxic metals on the human health. Besides, the acid digestion method was also discussed in order to identify the best method for applying in the laboratory analysis. The best method used can reduce the contamination error in the results.
The map of Tanjung Lumpur to Cherok Paloh from 1996 to 2004 revealed that there were significant changes on coastal profiles. If the problem remains unsolved within 5 to 10 years, the beaches in the area might be fully eroded. The main objective of this study is to measure erosion of the coastline along Tanjung Lumpur to Cherok Paloh, Pahang during the northeast monsoon (December 2013 to February 2014). Transit set and dry sieving method were used for beach profile and grain size characteristics measurement. GRADISTAT v8 program is used for sedimentological analysis. Cluster analysis was used to show the group of higher eroded, medium eroded and lower eroded. The study found that almost all of the beach profiles had increased in length and the beach slopes were steeper; meanwhile the sedimentological analysis indicated that all the stations were dominated by sandy type during the period of study. The action of higher waves, tides and currents were the biggest contribution to erosion during northeast monsoon. From this study, it can be concluded that almost all stations have undergone erosion during the northeast season.
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