Category: News

BUKIT MERTAJAM, PULAU PINANG, 19 September 2020 – Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) terus memperkasakan inovasi bagi meningkatkan kesedaran komuniti mengenai kitaran semula bahan plastik melalui ciptaan Mini Kiosk Percetakan Plastik Terpakai yang terbukti mampu menghasilkan semula barangan berguna untuk komuniti.

‘Mini Circular Economy Manufacturing Kiosk: For Community Plastic Recycling’ hasil ciptaan pensyarah dan penyelidik dari Pusat Pengajian Kejuruteraan Bahan dan Sumber Mineral(PPKBSM) USM, Profesor Dr. Zulkifli Mohamad Ariff itu mampu menghasilkan pelbagai produk yang dikitar semula melalui plastik terbuang untuk kegunaan komuniti.

Mini kiosk itu didapati mampu menghasilkan produk akhir menggunakan plastik terbuang sepantas 30 minit sehingga 2 jam bergantung kepada kompleksiti dan kehalusan cetakan yang ditetapkan oleh pengguna.

Ketika ditemui, Zulkifli yang juga Timbalan Dekan Akademik, Kerjaya dan Antarabangsa PPKBSM USM berkata, mini kiosk ciptaan beliau itu adalah kombinasi beberapa proses industri menjadi satu di dalam mesin tersebut supaya penghasilannya lebih mudah, selamat dan pantas dari awal hingga ke proses akhir pengeluaran produk.

“Mesin ini menggabungkan tiga proses bermula dengan ‘plastic shredder’, ‘Screw Extruder’ dan terus melalui ‘3D Printer’ berdasarkan reka letak yang ditetapkan oleh pengguna dengan menggunakan perisian khas menghasilkan model 3D untuk penghasilan produk akhir,” jelas beliau.

Tambah Zulkifli yang pakar di dalam bidang ‘Polymer Rheology dan Polymeric Foams’, inovasi mini kiosk tersebut hanya mengambil masa dua bulan untuk dihasilkan bersama-sama pasukan beliau, antara tujuan utama untuk mendidik komuniti mengenai kesedaran menjaga alam sekitar yang semakin kritikal pada masa kini, terutamanya pembuangan sisa plastik tanpa kawalan dan penguatkuasaan.

“Keutamaan saya dalam inovasi ini adalah berfokuskan mendidik dan membimbing komuniti setempat supaya mereka mampu mengenalpasti jenis plastik terbuang, memperkasakan ilmu pengetahuan sisa plastik melalui pembelajaran dan pengalaman, apa tindakan yang perlu diambil, seterusnya menjadikan mini kiosk ini sebagai penyelesaian kepada masalah sehingga terhasilnya produk akhir yang bermanfaat.

“Jika mini kiosk ini mampu disebar luas kepada komuniti, saya percaya komuniti akan lebih kreatif dan berminat menggunakan mesin tersebut untuk menghasilkan pelbagai produk berguna, apatah lagi ia mampu menjana ekonomi setempat melalui keberhasilan pelbagai produk, dan pada masa yang sama mengurangkan bebanan kos pelupusan sisa plastik di negara ini,” katanya di majlis Pelancaran Mini Kiosk Percetakan Plastik Terpakai USM yang pertama di Pulau Pinang oleh Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang, Chow Kon Yeow.

Jelas beliau lagi, melalui mini kiosk ini juga pihaknya mampu melaksanakan kajian sosial terhadap kesedaran komuniti mengenai aktiviti kitar semula plastik dan di samping itu dapat membantu penguatkuasaan yang memerlukan masyarakat di negara ini mengasingkan bahan buangan plastik di rumah.

“Apa yang menggembirakan saya dan pasukan terlibat, walaupun tiada geran penyelidikan untuk melaksanakan inovasi ini dan hanya gabungan pengalaman dan pengetahuan serba sedikit oleh pasukan penyelidik, mini kiosk ini telah menarik minat Datuk Bandar Seberang Perai, Dato’ Sr. Hj. Rozali Hj. Mohamud dan Majlis Bandaraya Seberang Perai (MBSP) untuk memberi kerjasama sepenuhnya menjayakan produk tersebut,” katanya lagi.

Yang turut hadir ke majlis pelancaran adalah Datuk Bandar Seberang Perai (MBSP), Dato’ Sr. Hj. Rozali Hj. Mohamud; Ahli Majlis Mesyuarat Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang merangkap EXCO Perumahan, Kerajaan Tempatan dan Perancangan Bandar & Desa, Jagdeep Singh Deo a/l Karpal Singh; Setiausaha Bandaraya, Ir. Hjh. Rosnani Mahmod; Pengarah Pusat Kajian Kelestarian Global (CGSS) USM, Profesor Madya Dr. Saidatulakmal Mohd (mewakili Naib Canselor USM); dan pegawai-pegawai utama MBSP.

Teks: Mohd Azrul Mohd Azhar/Foto: Mohd Fairus Md. Isa 

2-3 September 2020-  Pemeriksa luar bagi program Sarjana Sains (Kejuruteraan Bahan) Mod campuran, Prof. Dr. Mohd. Zaidi Omar daripada Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia telah melawat Pusat Pengajian Kejuruteraan Bahan dan Sumber Mineral. Lawatan ini adalah bersempena sesi viva bagi 7 orang pelajar Sarjana Sains (Kejuruteraan Bahan) Mod campuran yang diadakan selama 2 hari.

A sharing session on ‘Writing a research article’ has been conducted by Prof Ir. Dr Mariatti Jaafar on 17 September 2020. The sharing session was held at the Seminar room, School of Materials & Mineral Resources Engineering, USM. In the session, Prof Mariatti has explained on step-by-step guide to write a good research article. It is believed that the postgraduate students have obtained useful knowledge on how to prepare a good research article including procedures involve in submission and reviewing process.

A seminar on ‘Publication Strategy’ has been conducted by Assoc. Prof. Dr Ahmad Azmin Mohamad on 28 August 2020. The sharing session was held at the Computer Lab, School of Materials & Mineral Resources Engineering, USM. In the hands-on session, Assoc. Prof. Dr Ahmad Azmin showed strategies to get publish in good journal with the hope that the research will bring maximum impact to the scientific community. It is believed that the postgraduate students have obtained useful knowledge on how to evaluate the journal quality, select relevant journals, and identify predatory journals.

A sharing session on ‘Editorial expectations and how to handle reviewer comments’ has been conducted by Dr. Akindoyo John Olabode (Postdoctoral Fellow) on 19^th August 2020. The sharing session was held at the Seminar room, School of Materials & Mineral Resources Engineering, USM.

Dr Akindoyo shared few tips on how to prepare the response documents and how to tackle editor and reviewer comments in the revised manuscript. It is believed that the postgraduate students have obtained useful knowledge on dealing with editors and reviewers’ comments during the article publication process.

USM PENANG, 30 March 2020 – One initiative by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) to support the front line COVID-19 medical workers in the midst of the pandemic is the production of intubation boxes especially for anaesthetists in dealing with COVID-19 patients.

The project was initiated based on requests from various healthcare facilities on and around Penang Island that require the use of an intubation box as an additional personal protective equipment (PPE) when medical personnel intubate a COVID-19 patient.

The present initiative is an industry-collaborated project, initiated with technical and funding support from the USM Division of Industry & Community Network (BJIM), in having collaboration with a private company, Carsion Advertising Enterprise.

According to the Director of USM Industry Network, Associate Professor Dr. Yeoh Fei Yee, beside the funding support from USM, the team has also successfully initiated a fundraising campaign in relation to the production of these intubation boxes through various social media platforms.

“The whole production process of the intubation boxes, which include ideation, coordinating with healthcare facilities such as hospitals, fundraising, design and development, raw material acquisition, building, and delivering were efficiently completed within 36 hours,” said Yeoh, who also lectures at the USM School of Material and Mineral Resources Engineering.

He added, “Currently, there are 12 intubation boxes made with the vision to help protect our anaesthetists from COVID-19, and four have each been delivered to Pantai Hospital, Penang General Hospital (GH), Seberang Jaya Hospital and Bukit Mertajam Hospital.”

“Another eight units will be distributed to Parit Buntar Hospital, Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital (HUSM), Advanced Medical and Dental Institute (IPPT) USM as well as Pusat Sejahtera USM,” he said.

“Based on the feedback from the medical doctors from both Pantai Hospital and Penang GH, the intubation boxes from their present suppliers are rather fragile and can break down easily.

“This is usually caused by the thinner plates which are made from cheap raw materials and joined conventionally using adhesive such as chloroform/acetone that are typically weak, and cannot last long in standard operation conditions to accommodate swift movement of the doctors,” Yeoh explained.    

“Thus the selection of materials and the joining process must be carefully designed, and various factors have to be taken into account, including material strength, durability and applications ergonomics, as well as material availability.  

“The 4mm transparent acrylic plate was chosen and the intubation boxes are designed with minimum joints, by replacing two side joints with bending processes assisted by heating.

“While such design would require larger acrylic plates and is more difficult to make, it ensures better durability especially during transportation and applications,” he further explained, adding that USM is looking into the possibility of scaling up production.  

The intubation boxes were built based on the open source design from Dr. Lai Hsien-Yung, a medical practitioner in Taiwan, specifically to address the global challenge of intubating COVID-19 patients worldwide, while maintaining care on workers’ safety as much as possible.

Intubation is the process of inserting a plastic tube into a patient’s trachea to help keep their airway open, and is specifically necessary when someone needs to be put on a ventilator – a common outcome for patients severely affected by COVID-19.

Distribution of the intubation boxes was coordinated by the USM COVID-19 Nerve Centre here.

Text: Dr. Yeoh Fei Yee, Nabella Ridhuan Lau, Tan Ewe Hoe/Foto: Ebrahim Abdul Manan & Shahnizam Ab Rahim

17^th October 2019 – Congratulations to all postgraduate students who received awards at the Persada Kencana Awards Ceremony. Pang Ai Ling won the Best Thesis Awards and 17 postgraduate students won Journal Publication Awards at the ceremony.

A 2-days short course on Polymer Composites Processing and Characterizations has been conducted in the School of Materials & Mineral Resources Engineering, USM. The course was conducted from 26^th to 27^th Ogos 2019. A total of 14 participants from industry and universities involved in this course. The course was facilitated by Prof. Dr. Zainal Arifin Mohd Ishak, Prof. Ir. Dr Mariatti Jaafar, Prof. Dr. Chow Wen Shyang and Prof. Dr. Zulkifli Ahmad. Participants were introduced with lecture and lab practical on the processing and characterizations of polymer composites.