ICAN INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL CONFERENCE 2022 (IIVC 2022) PROCEEDINGS – Navigating the VUCA World: Harnessing the Role of Industry Linkages, Community Development and Alumni Network in Academia

PREFACE

Many people throughout the world were shocked when they first heard about the pandemic COVID 19. The huge spike in the number of cases have led to massive impacts towards social and economic activities of human beings. Various socio-economic sectors were forced to shut down in order to curb or control the spread of the virus. Not limited to the COVID-19 pandemic, recently the conflict between two nations, Russia and Ukraine have bleed the world economic to even worse situations since the World War 2. The conflict has now lasted for about seven months without any signs of slowing down. Plus, the issues of climate change, which lead to diminution of crops and agriculture products at an alarming rate may cause famine to population in many regions. These are some of the conditions that can be related to volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) situations that been facing by humankind lately. In order to address these issues, collective approaches need to be implemented through involvement of different parties either at nucleus level of community up to global scale cooperation. As a comprehensive education institution, MARA Technology University (UiTM) play an important role to overcome and adapt to these VUCA situations. In Malaysia case, the detrimental impacts on socio-economic post COVID-19 have hit hard the lowest economic group the most. Out of jobs, lost of income, suicide cases, no access to basic necessities such as foods, no device for online learning process and poor internet access are some of the problems that have been reported. This e-book which compiles different articles is intended for the general public, including policymakers, naturalists, environmentalists, students and scientists from different backgrounds. We hope it will provide greater understanding and stimulate greater interest in the topic, and later a more educated public will strongly work together hand in hand, taking action to make this world a better place.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank our patron, UiTM Perlis Rector, Associate Prof. Dr Shukor Sanim Mohd Fauzi, for his valuable suggestions that make the IIVC 2022 virtual conference successful. We are grateful to Ts. Gs. Dr Ernieza Suhana Mokhtar for her continuous support and encouragement during the planning and organizing the conference. We also like to express our huge gratitude to the committee members who have contributed their times, energy and ideas; Dr. Tajul Rosli Razak, Dr. Non Daina Masdar, Dr. Ruzita Ahmad, Mdm Noraini Ismail, Dr. Nurul Fatihah Abd Latip, Dr. Fazly Amri Mohd, Sir Mohamad Hafiz Ismail, Sir Abdul Hapes Mohammed, Dr. Nor Anis Shafai, Dr. Masayu Norman, Dr. Farah Lina Azizan, Datin Eliy Nazira Mat Nazir, Dr. Zuraimy Ali, Dr. Muhammad Aiman Arifin, Mdm Nur Firdaus Abdul Rashid, Mdm Mimi Diana Ghazali, Mdm Aziani Ahmad, Mdm Noorzalianee Ghazali, Dr. Razlina Razali, Mdm Siti Hannariah Mansor, Mdm Mazura Mohayudin, Mdm Farah Farhana Abdul Rahman, Ms Ashnita Rahim, Ms Nor Alifah Rosaidi, Mdm Ellail Ain Mohd Aznan, Dr. Ang Lee Sin and Dr. Mohd Akmal Hashim for their undivided commitments throughout the process of creating this e-book. Finally yet importantly, we also thankful to the governmental and non-governmental organisations that are working hard to alleviate the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic and also to reach the people in needs. 

PROCEEDINGS OF THE IIVC 2022

Community Project: Artificial Floating Wetland Island  (IVS – ID1)

Khairul Naim Abd. Aziz¹, Tun Mohd Firdaus Azis², Nabilah Akemal Muhd Zailani³* and Zuliahani Ahmad⁴

¹,²,³*,⁴Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Perlis, Arau, Malaysia.

³(E-mail: [email protected])*

Abstract – An artificial floating wetland island is a man-made raft that stores the native wetland plants, and it can be used to manage water pollution as the interactions between plants, soil and roots will provide homes to beneficial water-cleaning microorganisms. Various research has been carried out to diversify the structure and design of the artificial floating wetland island to further improve its function. Recently, on the 23rd of May 2022, the Faculty of Applied Sciences UiTM Perlis Branch participated in Environmental Amazing Challenge 2022: Floating Wetland Island organized by the Centre of Excellence Water Research and Environmental Sustainability Growth (WAREG), Universiti Malaysia Perlis. This program is one of the activities under Jawatankuasa Pendidikan Latihan dan Penerangan Awam (JKPLPA) that has received a research grant from the UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP) Malaysia. The representatives from UiTM consists of three (3) teams of undergraduate students and lecturers from the field of Chemistry, Biology, and Marine. By aiming to preserve the environment, each team was required to build a floating wetland island using the items provided by the organizer. The evaluation was done by the expert juries based on the design, buoyancy test, creativity, and innovation of the produced floating wetland island. Overall, this program has successfully instilled the spirit to preserve the environment for the betterment of the community while promoting the culture of research and innovation among the participants. 

Keywords: Floating wetland island, artificial floating island, water pollution, buoyancy, environmental preservation

Abstrak - Pulau tanah lembap terapung ialah rakit buatan manusia yang menyimpan tumbuhan tanah lembap asli, dan ia boleh digunakan untuk menguruskan pencemaran air kerana interaksi antara tumbuhan, tanah dan akar akan menyediakan rumah kepada mikroorganisma pembersihan air yang bermanfaat. Pelbagai kajian telah dijalankan bagi mempelbagaikan struktur dan reka bentuk pulau tanah lembap terapung tiruan bagi meningkatkan lagi fungsinya. Baru-baru ini, pada 23 Mei 2022, Fakulti Sains Gunaan UiTM Cawangan Perlis telah menyertai Cabaran Menakjubkan Alam Sekitar 2022: Pulau Tanah Lembap Terapung anjuran Pusat Penyelidikan Air Kecemerlangan dan Pertumbuhan Kelestarian Alam Sekitar (WAREG), Universiti Malaysia Perlis. Program ini merupakan salah satu aktiviti di bawah Jawatankuasa Pendidikan Latihan dan Penerangan Awam (JKPLPA) yang telah mendapat geran penyelidikan daripada UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP) Malaysia. Wakil dari UiTM terdiri daripada tiga (3) pasukan pelajar prasiswazah dan pensyarah dari bidang Kimia, Biologi, dan Kelautan. Dengan menyasarkan untuk memelihara alam sekitar, setiap pasukan dikehendaki membina pulau tanah lembap terapung menggunakan barangan yang disediakan oleh penganjur. Penilaian dilakukan oleh juri pakar berdasarkan reka bentuk, ujian daya apungan, kreativiti, dan inovasi pulau tanah lembap terapung yang dihasilkan. Secara keseluruhannya, program ini telah berjaya menyemai semangat memelihara alam sekitar demi kemajuan masyarakat di samping menggalakkan budaya penyelidikan dan inovasi dalam kalangan peserta.

Kata kunci: Pulau tanah lembap terapung, pulau terapung buatan, pencemaran air, keapungan, pemeliharaan alam sekitar

1. Introduction 

Water is essential as human activities are highly dependent on it. The contamination of water was most likely to occur due to natural phenomena and anthropogenic resources. According to the Malaysia Environmental Quality (Industrial Effluent) Regulation (2009), the treatment needs to be done to the industrial wastewater prior to discharge into the environment to prevent the pollution of water resources. Thus, extensive researches has been conducted to treat wastewater. One of the cost-effective, eco-friendly, and sustainable alternatives to treat wastewater is the installation of a floating wetland island in the targeted area. The artificial floating wetland island can be defined as a man-made raft that stores the native wetland plants (Pavlineri et al., 2017). 

Figure 1 shows the mechanism of treatment by an artificial floating wetland island system. The root of the plants functions to take up the dissolved nutrients and metals directly from the water (Rezania et al., 2016). This leads to the growth of biofilm in the root matrix and the floating bed which then undergo microbial activity to further reduce the concentration of pollutants (Lucke et al., 2019). Aside from that, aquatic plants are also capable of inhibiting the growth of algal which can harm the aquatic ecosystem (Jones et al., 2017).

Figure 1. The mechanism for the artificial floating wetland island system (Nuruzzaman et al., 2021)

The structure of the artificial floating wetland island must be made of low-density materials such as polyester sheets and PVC pipes (Nafath-ul-Arab et al., 2021). These materials will play a role in keeping the plants' crowns floated hence letting them establish their roots in the deeper zones.

Previous studies had proven that the application of floating wetland island can provide an effective, low cost and low-maintenance ways of improving water quality (Lucke et al., 2019). This is in line with the 6th Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of clean water and sanitation for all.

Therefore, realizing the importance of the artificial floating wetland island in reducing the water pollution, the Faculty of Applied Sciences UiTM Perlis Branch had participated in Environmental Amazing Challenge 2022: Floating Wetland Island organized by the Centre of Excellence Water Research and Environmental Sustainability Growth (WAREG), Universiti Malaysia Perlis on the 23rd of May 2022.

2. Practice and Process

This program involved undergraduate students and lecturers from five (5) educational institutions of Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), and Politeknik Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin (PTSS). Each team was required to build a floating wetland island using the items provided as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Items for floating wetland island.

Using the items given, the participants are trained to use their critical thinking to design the main structure of the floating wetland island with the highest buoyancy. Various innovations may also be embedded in the floating wetland island to diversify or enhance its function. 

The participants’ efforts were evaluated via two main sessions. In the first session, the buoyancy test was carried out for the main structure of the floating wetland island (Figure 2). 

Figure 2. The buoyancy test session

Meanwhile, in the second session, the participants were evaluated based on their presentation of the final design of the floating wetland island (Figure 3). 

Figure 3. The final evaluation session

The Closing and Winners Announcement Ceremony was conducted after the evaluation sessions (Figure 4). The event started with the welcoming speech from Head of WAREG CoE, Ts. Dr. Abdul Haqi Ibrahim followed by the speech by Honorary Deputy Secretary of UNESCO-IHP Malaysia, Ir. Hjh. Norlida Mamat. Then, the event was launched by the Vice Chancellor of UniMAP, Lt. Kol. Prof. Zaliman Sauli.

Figure 4. The Closing and Winners Announcement Ceremony, (a) Chemistry team, (b) Marine team and (c) Biology team

Lastly, all the produced floating wetland islands were released to the lake at Kompleks Sukan Syed Sirajuddin Areeb Putra UniMAP (Figure 5). 

Figure 5. The release of the floating wetland island into the lake

3. Discussion

Figure 6 shows two (2) designs of floating wetland islands that have been constructed by UiTM’s teams. The main structure for Design 1 (Figure 6a) used Styrofoam as a base to improve the buoyancy. The inclusion of coconut coir as the medium along with the soil helped in the growth of the aquatic plants and at the same time, it possessed the algacidal property (Billore & Sharma, 2009). Besides that, the high silica content in the coir enables it to withstand 6 years of water logging with minimal decomposition (Ravi & Periasamy, 2021; Billore & Prashant, 2006).

While, Design 2 (Figure 6b), adapted three vertical layers for the island created to increase the vegetation structural complexity which projected could increase the biodiversity (Walter et al., 2021) apart from aesthetically attractive. Besides wetland vegetation, the intention is not just focusing on underwater fish breeding and juveniles support system at the bottom layer, but also expand to the top layer where birds could be attracted too (Wright et al., 2021). Additional plastic bottles were added to increase buoyancy besides acting as a vase for the vegetation.

Figure 6. Artificial floating wetland island (a) Design 1 and (b) Design 2

4. Significance

Aside from supporting the 6th SDG, this program is significant in developing innovation and leadership skills among the participants. The collaboration between the participating universities also can be initiated by exchanging ideas and insights during the program. 

5. Conclusion

Overall, this program has successfully instilled the spirit to preserve the environment for the betterment of the community while promoting the culture of research and innovation among the participants. Aside from that, releasing the artificial floating wetland island into the lake will help control the pollution in that area. Further studies on other factors such as the coverage area, type of plants, and pollutant loading rate need to be carried out to improve the efficiency of the artificial floating wetland island.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Centre of Excellence Water Research and Environmental Sustainability Growth (WAREG), Universiti Malaysia Perlis for organizing this program.

References 

Billore, S. (2007). Floating islands treat polluted water. Appropriate Technology, 34(1), 53.

Billore, S. K., & Sharma, J. K. (2009). Treatment performance of artificial floating reed beds in an experimental mesocosm to improve the water quality of river Kshipra. Water Science and Technology, 60(11), 2851-2859.

Environmental Quality (Industrial Effluent) Regulations (2009). https://leap.unep.org/countries/my/national-legislation/environmental-quality-industrial-effluent-regulations-2009

Jones, T. G., Willis, N., Gough, R., & Freeman, C. (2017). An experimental use of floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) to reduce phytoplankton growth in freshwaters. Ecological Engineering, 99, 316-323.

Lucke, T., Walker, C., & Beecham, S. (2019). Experimental designs of field-based constructed floating wetland studies: A review. Science of the Total Environment, 660, 199-208.

Nafath-ul-Arab, A. A., Balkhi, M. H., Bazaz, A. I., Yousuf, Z., Hafeez, Z., Khan, B. S., & Ahmad, I. (2021). Floating wetlands-a new Sustainable Lake Cleaning Technology. Asian Journal of Fisheries Research, 1(1), 01-05.

Nuruzzaman, M., Anwar, A. F., Sarukkalige, R., & Sarker, D. C. (2021). Review of hydraulics of Floating Treatment Islands retrofitted in waterbodies receiving stormwater. Science of The Total Environment, 801, 149526.

Pavlineri, N., Skoulikidis, N. T., & Tsihrintzis, V. A. (2017). Constructed floating wetlands: a review of research, design, operation and management aspects, and data meta-analysis. Chemical Engineering Journal, 308, 1120-1132.

Ravi, K. P., & Periasamy, S. (2021). Systematic discrimination of irrigation and upheaval associated salinity using multitemporal SAR data. Science of the Total Environment, 790, 148148.

Rezania, S., Taib, S. M., Din, M. F. M., Dahalan, F. A., & Kamyab, H. (2016). Comprehensive review on phytotechnology: heavy metals removal by diverse aquatic plants species from wastewater. Journal of hazardous materials, 318, 587-599.

Walter, J. A., Stovall, A. E., & Atkins, J. W. (2021). Vegetation structural complexity and biodiversity in the Great Smoky Mountains. Ecosphere, 12(3), e03390.

Wright, D., Purnell, A., Altern, S., & Frenzel, P. (2017). Floating wetlands–increasing biodiversity and cleaning water in farm dams. Table Mountain Fund, Cape Town.

Roadside Assistance Mobile Application using TOPSIS for Service Provider Selection  (IVS – ID2)

Mohd Suffian Sulaiman¹, Mohd Fitri Afiq Azmi², Azri Azmi³, Zuraidah Derasit⁴

¹*,²,⁴ Faculty of Computer & Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.

³ Razak Faculty of Technology & Informatics, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

¹(E-mail: [email protected])*

Keywords: Mobile platform, TOPSIS, MCDM, PWA and ODS

Abstract – Many drivers have faced the struggle of getting help when the vehicle breaks down on the road. This difficult situation is very stressful since there are limitations of seeking help such as the service