Background: Present intensifying forest fire incidents are becoming a major concern as they pose threats to the environment, economy and human’s safety. This paper aims to identify forest fire hotspots using advanced hotspot analysis in the Geographical Information Systems (GIS), and suggest appropriate preventive measures. Objective: Brunei Darussalam is one of the Southeast Asian countries that is significantly affected by the increase in forest fire incidents in this region. Brunei Muara is the worst-hit district by forest fire in Brunei Darussalam, and hence it was selected as a case study for this research. Results and Conclusion: This research identified and prioritized forest fire hotspots, highlighted the shortage of fire stations within the identified hotspots and suggested the suitable locations for new fire stations in Brunei Muara district.

This paper presents a literature review of the application of cement, lime and polymer emulsion in road construction. The focus is mainly on the soil candidates, binding mechanism, the reported strengths and weaknesses for each chemical stabiliser used in soil stabilisation. While it is generally agreed that cement is best suited for sand-sized to gravel-sized soil mixtures (well-graded), lime is mainly used for wet heavy-clay soil mixtures. Polymer emulsion is more suitable for silt-sized to fine gravel-sized soil mixtures (well-graded). Organic soils are the most difficult soil type to stabilise, and for any kind of chemical stabiliser used, the strength gain is relatively minimal. Cement undergoes hydration reaction which is rapid, and results in high compressive strength, while lime undergoes a slower pozzolanic reaction is slower, and provide lower compressive strength. Polymer emulsion depends on the rate of evaporation for the film formation to complete, and results in ductile polymer-soil matrix. Like lime, polymer does not provide significant compressive strength but does provide great flexural strength that prevents crack propagations. The outcomes from this paper provide an insight into recent and upcoming research trend using chemical soil stabilisers on local soil mixtures to improve the engineering properties of pavement layers made of these soil mixtures.

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Abstract. Road T raffic Accidents (RT A) are known to be one of the main causes of fatalities worldwide. One usef ul approach to improve road safety is through the identification of RT A hotspots along a road, so they can be prioritised and treated. T his paper introduces an approach based on Geographical Information System (GI S) to identify and prioritise RT A hotspots along a road network using historical RT A data. One particular urban road in Brunei with a historically high rate of RT As, Jalan Gadong, was selected as a case study. Five years of historical RT A data were acquired from the relevant authorities and input into a GIS database. GI S analysis was then used to identify the spatial extension of the RT A hotspots. The RT A hotspots were ranked according to three different schemes: frequency, severity and socio-economic impact of RT As. A composite ranking scheme was also developed to combine these schemes; this enabled the prioritisation and development of intervention and maintenance programmes of the identified RT A hotspots. A visualisation method of the RT A spatial distribution within each identified RT A hotspot was also developed to determine the most risky road stretches within each hotspot, which is important for treatment prioritisation when limited resources are available.

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