Bil. 10/2018

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Eco-Brick Mesra Alam

KITA sedang berdepan degan cabaran pembangunan yang semakin mementingkan kelestarian alam sekitar. Namun adakah kita sedar Malaysia mempunyai komitmen yang terkandung dalam Perjanjian Paris dalam konteks pengurangan pelepasan karbon dioksida dan pada masa sama pembinaan kini menuju kepada prodik yang hijau, mengurangkan penggunaan tenaga tetapi kekal menyamankan?

SEKUMPULAN penyelidik Fakulti Kejuruteraan Awam, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) yang mempunyai kepakaran pelbagai disiplin termasuklah antaranya bahan pembinaan mampan, ketahanlasakan konkrit, pengaratan tetulang dan kejuruteraan forensik menyahut cabaran tersebut.Kumpulan berkenaan menjalankan penyelidikan berkenaan bahan pembinaan mesra alam yang dikenali sebagai Eco-brick.

Menurut ketua kumpulan penyelidik, Prof Dr. Mohammad Ismail, penyelidikan bermula pada tahun 2011 dan siap pada tahun lalu. Inovasi High Performance Lightweight Alka-line Activator Concrete Brick (Eco-brick) merupakan satu bahan pembinaan berasas-kan teknologi hijau.“Ia diperbuat 100 peratus menggunakan bahan buangan iaitu habuk kayu, abu terbang (PFA) dan sanga relau bagas berbutir halus,” ujarnya.

Katanya lagi, bahan-bahan ini dicampur kepada cecair alkali (sodium hidroksida dan sodium silikat) untuk membentuk sifat seakan-akan konkrit.Habuk kayu adalah peng-ganti kepada pasir.Hasilnya, bata mesra alam yang dihasilkan lebih ringan daripada bata konkrit sebanyak 48 peratus.Kos menghasilkan ekobata pula adalah 25 peratus lebih rendah dari bata biasa.

‘ Integriti Menjana Kecemerlangan & Jati Diri ’

DR. MOHAMMAD ISMAIL bersama Dr. Ha�zah Abdul Khalid menunjukkan Eco-brick di UTM Skudai, Johor

Selain beliau ahli kumpulan tersebut termasuk Dr. Ghasan Fahim, Dr. Mohamad Ali Saad, Dr. Mohd. Azreen Mohd. Ariffin, Dr. Nurhazifah Abd. Khalid dan Dr. Noor Nabilah Sarbini.

Dalam pada itu, beliau memberitahu, konkrit adalah pilihan utama sebagai bahan pem-binaan sejak dahulu.Komponen utama di dalam konkrit ialah simen. Bagi menghasil-kan satu tan simen juga mengeluarkan satu tan karbon dioksida.

Hari ini dunia mula sedar akan kepentingan penjagaan alam sekitar. Hakikat perlunya menjaga kelestarian alam agar kehidupan generasi akan datang terjamin.Maka dalam bidang pembinaan, istilah conservation, recycle, reuse (pemuliharaan, kitar semula, guna semula) mula diperkenal.

Katanya, UTM antara universiti yang awal menyelidik dan menyumbang dalam bidang berkenaan.Kata beliau, terdapat banyak bahan buangan di negara ini. Ada yang dalam bentuk cecair, ada dalam bentuk pepejal sama ada daripada industri atau pertanian.Contoh cecair ialah seperti air sisa daripada industri berat, kelapa sawit dan domestik.

Sisa pejal industri seperti kepingan tembaga, sanga keluli (steel slag), enap cemar kertas (paper sludge), abu terbang (pulverished fuel ash ), sanga relau bagas berbutir halus (ground granulated blast furnace slag), manakala sisa pejal pertanian ialah abu kelapa sawit (palm oil fuel ash), abu sekam padi dan hampas tebu.

Amalan semasa ialah membuang semua sisa tersebut di lapangan mengakibatkan berlaku pencemaran alam sekitar.Oleh itu, sesuatu harus dilakukan demi kesejahter-aan masa depan generasi kemudian.Beberapa ujian awal dijalankan terhadap bahan-bahan berkenaan bagi menilai sama ada ia sesuai untuk dijadikan bahan pembinaan atau sebaliknya

Terdapat tiga pendekatan penggunaan bahan sisa di dalam konkrit. Ia boleh sebagai bahan gantian separa agregat, separa air, separa simen dan simen sepenuhnya.Penggantian simen sepenuhnya bermaksud tidak menggunakan simen langsung.

Nilai keasidan (pH) simen tinggi melebihi 12.5, maka menggunakan sesuatu bahan yang pHnya tinggi dan bersifat simen boleh menjadi alternatif kepada simen biasa.Penyelidikan tersebut menghasilkan bahan yang 25 peratus lebih rendah berbanding bata biasa. Untuk menghasilkan bata normal harganya berharga RM1.15, manakala eco-brick lebih kurang 90 sen sahaja.

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Utusan Online 24 Oktober 2018

KELESTARIAN ALAM

Bil. 10/2018

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Writing a resume: Art of your ownself

WHEN writing a resume, job applicants should create an outstanding first impression through an attention grabbing layout, powerful keywords and clearly articulated achievements. A resume is a tool to promote and market yourself to the industry. A lot of effort should be put into writing a resume.

Career Expert managing director Ainul Naim, a resume consultant, said a good resume is one that attracts recruitment managers and promises a job interview opportunity.

“When the industry offers you an interview, you know that your resume is good. A good resume is a masterpiece of your own, crafted with proper guidance,” she added.

Writing a good resume is where the life of a graduate begins. It is important for graduates to learn to write their own resume it’s an art of your ownself. If they fail to make a good impression through the resume, then it will be a rough career journey ahead. It requires a lot of effort to market yourself, much more than the work put in at university.

As a Certified Professional Rèsumè Writer and Certified Employment Interview Professional with more than 13 years of experience, Hans Toh said the best resume is one that is tailored made for a specific position.

An excellent resume contains three key elements — relevant working experience, measurable achievements and educational background or professional training obtained. In a resume, work experiences are the subjects while measurable achievements are the grades. You only have less than 10 seconds to market yourself. That is all it takes for employers to read your resume and know you.

‘ Integriti Menjana Kecemerlangan & Jati Diri ’

When writing a resume, job applicants should create an outstanding �rst impression through an attention grabbing layout, powerful keywords and clearly articulated achievements..

Fresh graduates should keep their resumes to one or two pages. Don’t make the mistake that the longer the resume, the better. “The information presented in the resume has to be relevant to the job,” he added.

Job seekers should ideally start planning three months before they graduate. “Every year, public and private universities produce hundred of thousands of graduates who compete in the job market. So it is important to kick-start the job hunt as early as possible.”

Fresh graduates make similar mistakes in their resumes which are not meant to be a history of every course, training and examination in their life. There are two types of skills — specific job-related skills and transferable skills that are general and can survive the shift from one industry to another

Highlight the ones that match the requirements of the position — the more matches, the higher the chances of getting a job interview. Provide relevant, important information in short, simple sen-tences and bullet points, and your resume will have a much higher chance of catching the right attention.

Details such as format, standardised headings and spacing as well as font sizes make the overall appearance of the resume look well-planned. Use bullet points instead of long-winded sentences. State your facts, and leave out unnecessary flowery words and adjectives unless you’re applying to be a writer. Avoid unnecessary use of bold and italics, they are for emphasis only.”

Toh has developed highly effective resumes and cover letters for many clients in all fields through-out the country. He also provides coaching on effective interviewing skills and conducts workshops at universities and colleges. He recently published a book on resume-writing and interview tech-niques, Get Hired!

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New Strait Times 7 November 2018