Table of contents

MEST 2017 Chairman's Preface

Bismillahi Rahmanir Rahim – In the name of Allah the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful for His blessings to all of us for having successfully establishing The 1st International Conference in Mechanical Engineering, Science and Technology (MEST 2017).

The 1st MEST2017 was successfully organized by Tensei Innovative Solutions and Metro Polytechnic (Politeknik Metro) Johor Bahru in conjunctions of bridging the connections between the Malaysian's small and medium enterprises (SME) and the technological and research activities within the higher institutions. Undeniably the SME's in Malaysia are in dire need to collaborate their business activities with the higher institution researches in upbringing their entrepreneurship and businesses to higher levels.

A heartily welcome to all our participants and delegates coming from various institutions both locally and internationally. We have participants submitting their papers, coming afar as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran. And not forgetting from the Malaysians higher institutions as well.

MEST2017 would like to express our highest gratitude to our honorable invited keynote speakers; Assoc. Professor Dr. Abdullah Saleh Alsuwaiyan from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Assoc. Professor Dr. Waluyo Adi Siswanto from JogJakarta, Indonesia and Dr. Abdul Latif Mohd Tobi from UTHM for finding the time and sharing their wonderful researches and experiences with us.

We at Tensei Innovative Solutions whom we considered experts in creative problem solving in customized machineries and consultancies are very grateful for the supports from the participants and industrialists for their contributions to creatively and diversify the knowledge bridging activities. We will strive to keep on publishing peer reviewed papers with Scopus indexed with one purposed only, which is to benefit the graduate students and researchers to keep on producing quality academic papers at an affordable and reasonable expenses and we hope to continue doing so in the future. We deeply hoped that all the postgraduate students could utilize this platform to keep on growing in terms of networking, presentation skills and while sharing their research activities and foreseeing their opportunities to share their research findings and bringing the knowledge gained at their research institutions towards the industries especially the small and young entrepreneurs internationally and locally.

And we sincerely hope to see more and more researchers and students in sharing the knowledge and expanding their networking beyond the wall of higher institutions realistically towards the industries in our next conferences.

Sincerely

Dr. Mohd Sallehuddin Bin Yusof

Chairman MEST2017

1. Conference Chair MEST2017

Dr. Mohd Sallehuddin Bin Yusof

Tensei Innovative Solution

No. 51, Blok C, UTHM Kampus Bandar,

Parit Raja, 86400 Batu Pahat,

Johor, MALAYSIA

Email: mdsalleh@mest-ic.org

Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,

Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM),

86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat,

Johor, MALAYSIA

Email: mdsalleh@uthm.edu.my

2. Program Chair MEST2017

Assoc Prof Dr Waluyo Adi Siswanto

Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,

Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM),

86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat,

Johor, MALAYSIA

Email: waluyo@uthm.edu.my

3. Publication Chair MEST2017

Dr. Abdul Latif Mohd Tobi

Tensei Innovative Solution

No. 51, Blok C, UTHM Kampus Bandar,

Parit Raja, 86400 Batu Pahat,

Johor, MALAYSIA

Email: abdlatif@mest-ic.org

Faculty of Engineering Technology,

Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM),

86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat,

Johor, MALAYSIA

Email: abdlatif@uthm.edu.my

4. Publicity Chair MEST2017

Dr. Mohammad Zulafif bin Rahim

Tensei Innovative Solution

No. 51, Blok C, UTHM Kampus Bandar,

Parit Raja, 86400 Batu Pahat,

Johor, MALAYSIA

Email: zulafif@mest-ic.org

Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,

Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM),

86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat,

Johor, MALAYSIA

Email: zulafif@uthm.edu.my

TECHNICAL EXPERTS: MEST2017

1. Dr. Abdul Latif Mohd Tobi

2. Dr. Affero Ismail

3. Dr. Ahmad Salahuddin Mohd Harituddin

4. Mr. Atheer Hashim

5. Dr. Mohd Yazid Bin Abu

6. Dr. Muhammad Aizzat Bin Zakaria

7. Dr. Hanida Abdul Aziz

8. Dr. Hasyamuddin Bin Othman

9. Mr. Helmy Bin Mustafa El Bakr

10. Dr. Husnul Azan Tajarudin

11. Dr. Mohamad Aizat Abas

12. Mr. Mohamad Ridzuan Bin Mohamad Kamal

13. Dr. Mohammad Zulafif Bin Rahim

14. Dr. Mohd Aizudin Bin Abd Aziz

15. Dr. Mohd Erfy Ismail

16. Dr. Mohd Fairus Mohd Yasin

17. Mr. Mohd Nadzeri Omar

18. Dr. Mohd Sallehuddin Bin Yusof

19. Dr. Muhammad Fairuz Remeli

20. Dr. Nor Dalila Nor Affandi

21. Ir. Dr. Sarjito

22. Dr. Sivakumar A/L Dhar Malingam

23. Dr. Supriyono

24. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Waluyo Adi Siswanto

25. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Wan Fauziah Wan Yusoff

26. Dr. Zainon Binti Mat Sharif

All papers published in this volume of IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering have been peer reviewed through processes administered by the proceedings Editors. Reviews were conducted by expert referees to the professional and scientific standards expected of a proceedings journal published by IOP Publishing.

Transparent soap is actually the combination of actual soap and solvent. The solvent is added into the soap solution to produce the transparent characteristic. The problem from the previous production is that tiny air bubbles were observed inside the soap resulted in less attractive appearance. Current method of producing the soap bar had taken more than 8 hours and having difficulties to take out the soap bar from the plastic mold with low production rate. It is expected that the air bubble problem can be solved using this new soup molder machine. The soap production rate is believed to increase with the invention of soap molder machine. By reducing the production time from 8 hours to 2 hours, it improve production rate significantly.

The development of new methods for addition fine ceramic powders to Al aluminium alloy melts, which would lead to more uniform distribution and effective incorporation of the reinforcement particles into the aluminium matrix alloy. Recently the materials engineering research has moved to composite materials from monolithic, adapting to the global need for lightweight, low cost, quality, and high performance advanced materials. Among the different methods, stir casting is one of the simplest ways of making aluminium matrix composites. However, it suffers from poor distribution and combination of the reinforcement ceramic particles in the metal matrix. These problems become significantly effect to reduce reinforcement size, more agglomeration and tendency with less wettability for the ceramic particles in the melt process. Many researchers have carried out different studies on the wettability between the metal matrix and dispersion phase, which includes added wettability agents, fluxes, preheating the reinforcement particles, coating the reinforcement particles, and use composting techniques. The enhancement of wettability of ceramic particles by the molten matrix alloy and the reinforcement particles distribution improvement in the solidified matrix is the main objective for many studies that will be discussed in this paper.

There is a growing demand for hydroxyapatite (HA) especially in medical applications, production of HA which is totally green is however a challenge. In this research, HA was produced from biowaste through ultrasound followed by calcination techniques. Pre-treatment of the biowaste was effectively achieved through the help of ultrasound. After calcination at 950°C, the obtained HA was characterized through Thermogravimetric (TGA) analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Spectrum of the produced HA was compared with standard HA index. The spectrum is in agreement with the standard HA as confirmed through FTIR, XRD and TGA result. Furthermore, morphological study of the HA through Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) shows almost uniform spherical shape for the HA as expected. Based on the results obtained herein, combining ultrasound with calcination can help to produce pure HA with potential medical applications without the use of any organic solvent.

The quantity of plastics used throughout the world is increasing every year. Municipal solid wastes (MSW), manufacturing processes and service industries produce a lot of waste plastic materials. The increasing awareness among consumers about the environment has contributed to the concerns over disposal of generated wastes. The growing number of plastic materials every year and limited landfill conditions causes many alternatives exist for the disposal of plastic waste. This paper provides a summary of the study on the utilization of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in road construction. Data from researcher show that PET can improve some properties of modified asphalt mixture. Having considered the economic and environmental prudent angles, utilization of PET as an additive to asphalt mixture is suitable to be used for road pavement.

Plastic bottle for recycling can be found from the household waste stream, and most of them are made from Polyethylene Terephthalate. In this research, PET is utilized to explore the potential prospects to upgrade asphalt mixture properties. The objectives include deciding the best measure of PET to be used. For experimental, Marshall mix design was utilized to determine the ideal bitumen binder content and to test the modified mixture properties. The samples were created per the requirement for aggregate course wearing (ACW14) using the Standard Specification of Road Work (SSRW) in Malaysia. 20 samples were utilized to determine the binder content, and 30 samples were used to research the impact of modifying asphalt mixtures. 2%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% of PET by weight of the optimum binder content (4.8%) were tested. Optimum PET content is 10%, and the result shows a good stability with 16.824kN, 2.32g/cm3 bulk density, void filled with bitumen (VFB) with 71.35%, flow with 3.2248mm, air void (AV) with 4.53%, and void of mineral aggregate (VMA) with 15.15%. The outcomes showed that PET modifier gives better engineering properties. Therefore, 10% of PET by the weight of binder content was suggested as the best amount of the modifier.

It is forecasted that with the miniaturization of materials being processed, energy consumption will also be 'miniaturized' proportionally. The aim of this researchis to design a low energy micro-sheet-forming machine for the application of thin sheet metal. A fewconcept designsof machine structure were produced. With the help of FE software, the structure is then subjected to a forming force to observe deflection in the structure for the selection of the best and simplest design. Comparison studies between mild steel and aluminium alloys 6061 were made with a view to examine the most suitable material to be used. Based on the analysis, allowable maximum tolerance was set at 2.5µm and it was found that aluminium alloy 6061 suffice to be used.

Blades are significant components of steam turbines which are failed due to stresses arising from centrifugal and bending forces. The turbine blade has a number of geometrical variables that need to be considered at the design stage. Hence, this paper investigated a three-dimensional model of steam turbine blade with different lengths and thicknesses using finite element method. A three-dimensional model of blade was developed using a computer-aided design software. All materials were assumed linear, homogenous, elastic and isotropic. A 5 N widespread force was applied to the blade. The results of this study showed that longer blades are experienced higher maximum Von Mises stress and strain than shorter ones. The blade with the length of 400 mm and thickness of 20 mm experienced the lowest maximum Von Mises stress at 51 kPa. Furthermore, blade with the length of 400 mm and 600 mm experienced the lowest and highest strain at 3.07 × 10^–6 and 4.3 × 10^–6 respectively. In addition, thicker blades were undergone less maximum Von Mises stress and strain than thinner ones. Understanding stress and strain pattern in turbine blades provides useful knowledge which can be useful to estimate the fatigue in turbine blades.

In this paper, a system consisting of multiple perfectly tuned identical translational vibration absorbers, having both hardening and softening springs, attached to a main mass under harmonic excitation is considered. The existence of absorbers' synchronous and non-synchronous responses is checked. The method of averaging is employed to reach to the averaged autonomous equations of motion that describe the dynamics of the absorbers. A graphical method is then employed to check the existence of different responses of the absorbers. It is found that for absorbers with hardening springs, only one synchronous response of the absorbers occurs and no other responses take place. However, for the case of absorbers with softening springs, other responses were found to exist. These include multi-valued synchronous responses and a jump instability. These findings are in agreement with those of another study by the author where a similar system was considered using different approach.

Drying process is an essential step to produce instant noodles. Yet, the industries especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), is seeking for an efficient method to dry the noodles. This paper discusses the performance of an invented drying system which employed heating and humidifying process. The drying system was tested using 30 kilogram of the raw noodle known as "Mee Siput". Temperature controlled system were used in the study to control the temperature of the drying process and prevent the dried noodles from damage by maintaining the temperature of lower than 80°C. The analysis shows that the system was drastically decreased the humidity from 80% to 40% just after 200 minutes of the drying process. The complete dehydration time of noodle has also decreased to only 4 hours from 16 hours when using traditional drying system without sacrificed the good quality of the dried noodle. In overall, the invented system believed to increase the production capacity of the noodle, reduce cost of production which would highly beneficial for Small Medium Industries (SMEs) in Malaysia.

Petroleum sludge is a dangerous waste that needs to be treated to avoid any contamination of soil and groundwater due to its disposal. As an attempt to treat this waste, it has been incorporated into cement production as substitution for gypsum. As results, 5% of petroleum sludge has shown effective results and could play the same role of gypsum in delaying the flash setting of cement clinker.

Sewage sludge is a by-product generate from wastewater treatment process. The sewage sludge contains significant trace metal such as Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd and Pb which are toxic to the environment. Sewage sludge is disposed of by landfilling method. However, this option not suitable because of land restriction and environmental control regulations imposed. Therefore, sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plant was incorporated into fired clay brick to produce good quality of brick as well as reducing heavy metals from sludge itself. Sewage sludge with 0%, 1%, 5%, 10% and 20% of were incorporated into fired clay bricks and fired at 1050°C temperature with heating rates of 1°C/min. The brick sample then crushed and sieved through 9.5 mm sieve for Synthetic Precipitation Leaching Procedure (SPLP). From the results, incorporation up to 20% of sewage sludge has leached less heavy metals and compliance with USEPA standard.

Optimization of the capillary underfill (CUF) encapsulation process is vital to enhance the package's reliability. Therefore, the design and sizing of the newly developed ball grid array (BGA) device must be considered so that it is compatible with the CUF process. The scaling effect of BGA on CUF flow and its dynamic properties is thoroughly investigated by means of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) numerical simulation. This paper generally highlighted the differences in CUF flow behaviours, together with the pressure distributions between the actual industrial size BGA and the scaled up models for large BGA setup. While flow front profiles appeared to be similar across BGA of various sizes at relative error less than 10%, the CUF filling time gradually increases as the BGA become larger. The scaling limit is found to be at 20, based on the analysis of dimensionless number. The entrant pressure however decreases when the BGA device being scaled up. These findings will assist in the future BGA designs for various sizes used in the CUF encapsulation process.

In this paper, the scaling effect of ball grid array (BGA) device on the capillary underfill (CUF) flow and its velocity profiles is thoroughly investigated by means of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) numerical simulation. It is found that generally the flows front profiles attained from device of different scale sizes are comparable to the actual miniature BGA, with relative error approximately under 10%. Based on dimensionless number analysis, the scaling limit is estimated at 20, to maintain low scaling error. The velocity profiles attained on the CUF flow in each models of different scales are relative similar in magnitude and trend. Although the increases in gap height reduces the strength of capillary flow, the flow's velocity still be maintained and the scaling effect is counter-balance with the increases in driving pressure force. The magnitude of entrant velocity is higher at earlier stage of CUF (less than 40% filling); while higher magnitude of exit velocity is found at later stage of CUF (beyond 60% filling). Additionally, the pressure and velocity distributions of CUF flow in miniature device were also studied thoroughly.

Tungsten carbide (WC) hardfacing coating is commonly used to enhance carbon steel blade performance which works in acidic and abrasive condition during production process. This paper deals with tungsten carbide (WC) hardfacing microstructure analysis on a carbon steel blade. Mixing of ilmenite ore with sulphuric acid is performed by the carbon steel blade as part of a production process. Tungsten carbide hardfacing is deposited on the carbon steel blade to enhance its wear resistance. The carbide distribution along with elemental composition analysis of the hardfaced carbon steel blade specimens is examined using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) respectively. Microstructure analysis revealed that different sizes of carbides with non-uniform distribution are found around the coating region. The carbide region is contains high percentage of tungsten (W) meanwhile, non-carbide region rich in tungsten (W) and iron (Fe).

Cracking phenomenon in soap production is an imminent problem. It renders the soap aesthetically unpleasing. This study attempts to find best solution to solve cracking phenomenon in premium soap production. The adopted approach is a stamping method with stretched LLDPE wrap film. The result shows that stretched LLDPE wrap film able to solve the cracking problem. The appearance of the premium transparent was improved. This paper presents the results and the SOP for stretched LLDPE film wrap for soap making industries to adopt.

Thermal necrosis results fracture problems and implant failure if temperature exceeds 47 °C for one minute during bone drilling. To solve this problem, this work studied a new thermal model by using three drilling parameters: drill diameter, feed rate and spindle speed. Effects of those parameters to heat generation were studied. The drill diameters were 4 mm, 6 mm and 6 mm; the feed rates were 80 mm/min, 100 mm/min and 120 mm/min whereas the spindle speeds were 400 rpm, 500 rpm and 600 rpm then an optimization was done by Taguchi method to which combination parameter can be used to prevent thermal necrosis during bone drilling. The results showed that all the combination of parameters produce confidence results which were below 47 °C and finite element analysis combined with Taguchi method can be used for predicting temperature generation and optimizing bone drilling parameters prior to clinical bone drilling. All of the combination parameters can be used for surgeon to achieve sustainable orthopaedic surgery.

Micro-flexographic printing which is combination of flexography and micro-contact printing is a unique printing technique that create graphic, electronic and biomedical printed image on variable substrates. Therefore, an investigation for its potential usage in global area of printing hence a research for suitable ink and printing plate related to this process is vital. This paper will focus on investigating the printability of Carbon Nanotube (CNT) ink with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) printing plate. There are two types of CNTs ink which are solvent base and water base. A printing trial has been carried out in comparison with CNTs inks and PDMS printing plate with fine solid lines image on it to check the suitability of the printing plate development for micro-flexographic printing technique. The result shows that CNT water base ink is suitable with PDMS printing plate in printing fine solid lines image.

Thermally conductive plastic is the composite between metal-plastic material that is becoming popular because if it special characteristic. Injection moulding was regarded as the best process for mass manufacturing of the plastic composite due to its low production cost. The objective of this research is to find the best combination of the injection parameter setting and to find the most significant factor that effect the strength and thermal conductivity of the composite. Several parameter such as the volume percentage of copper powder, nozzle temperature and injection pressure of injection moulding machine were investigated. The analysis was done using Design Expert Software by implementing design of experiment method. From the analysis, the significant effects were determined and mathematical models of only significant effect were established. In order to ensure the validity of the model, confirmation run was done and percentage errors were calculated. It was found that the best combination parameter setting to maximize the value of tensile strength is volume percentage of copper powder of 3.00%, the nozzle temperature of 195°C and the injection pressure of 65%, and the best combination parameter settings to maximize the value of thermal conductivity is volume percentage of copper powder of 7.00%, the nozzle temperature of 195°C and the injection pressure of 65% as recommended..

Research on machining process of Polycrystalline Diamond (PCD) is becoming important as the material was believed suitable to be used for cutting tools of advanced aeronautical structure. Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) was regarded as the suitable method to machine PCD due its noncontact process nature. The objective of this research is to determine the influence of several EDM parameter such as sparking current, pulse duration, and pulse interval to the material removal rate and surface roughness of the machined PCD. Instead of significantly influenced the material removal rate, the sparking current was also highly influenced tha surface roughness. Highest material removal rate of approximately 0.005mm³/s was recorded by the EDM process with the highest current used of 5A, and lowest pulse interval of 1µs. The influence of pulse duration is not clearly seen at the lowest pulse interval used. On the other hand, 0.4pm was the lowest surface roughness value obtained in this research indicated by the highest sparking current, highest sparking duration and lowest sparking interval of 5A, 1μs and 1μs respectively.

Preparing insightful teaching and learning materials for a lesson does need the effort from the educators. Educators should make some research of suitable ways to improve their teaching and learning sessions. In this 21^st century, technologies are widely used as tools for education. Even so, there are educators that willing to support and some who do not agree to change. The aim of this study is to develop an innovation teaching materials by applying web 2.0 tools. The intention is to broaden knowledge and in the same time getting response and feedback from people regarding the teaching and learning session materials produced with proper instruction. Action research was used to give a structured flow of this study. The outcome of this study was encouraging and the reflection of this study can help educators in improvising their teaching and learning sessions and materials using action research.

A mathematical formulation to obtain the non-dimensionalized added virtual mass incremental factor for uniform circular plate in contact with fluid is presented. Based on Rayleigh's quotient, the natural frequencies can be evaluated using the added virtual mass incremental factors. A suitable approximation is used to describe the effect of non-dimensionalized added virtual mass incremental factors in the vibration analysis of circular plates. The numerical results obtained from the present formulation are compared with the known results reported in the literature and a good agreement was found. The maximum error percentage has been predicted from the present formulation is 0.005%.

The Engineering Drawing subject develops skills in geometry drawing becoming more professional. For the concept in Engineering Drawing, students need to have good visualization skills. Visualization is needed to help students get a start before translating into a drawing. So that, Problem Based Learning (PBL) using animation mode (PBL-A) and graphics mode (PBL-G) will be implemented in class. Problem-solving process is repeatedly able to help students interpret engineering drawings step work correctly and accurately. This study examined the effects of PBL-A online and PBL-G online on visualization skills of students in polytechnics. Sixty eight mechanical engineering students have been involved in this study. The visualization test adapted from Bennett, Seashore and Wesman was used in this study. Results showed significant differences in mean scores post-test of visualization skills among the students enrolled in PBL-G with the group of students who attended PBL-A online after effects of pre-test mean score is controlled. Therefore, the effects of animation modes have a positive impact on increasing students' visualization skills.

The rapid development of information technology today has given a new breath toward usage of computer in education. One of the increasingly popular nowadays is a multimedia technology that merges a variety of media such as text, graphics, animation, video and audio controlled by a computer. With this technology, a wide range of multimedia element can be developed to improve the quality of education. For that reason, this study aims to investigate the use of multimedia element based on animated video that was developed for Engineering Drawing subject according to the syllabus of Vocational College of Malaysia. The design for this study was a survey method using a quantitative approach and involved 30 respondents from Industrial Machining students. The instruments used in study is questionnaire with correlation coefficient value (0.83), calculated on Alpha-Cronbach. Data was collected and analyzed descriptive analyzed using SPSS. The study found that multimedia element for animation video was use significant have capable to increase imagination and visualization of student. The implications of this study provide information of use of multimedia element will student effect imagination and visualization. In general, these findings contribute to the formation of multimedia element of materials appropriate to enhance the quality of learning material for engineering drawing.

As a developing country, Malaysia faces challenging tasks to develop her economy just like many other countries. Nowadays, change involves many aspects like the economy from agriculture to manufacturing, technology from modern to more advanced ones; mindset from traditional to advanced and so on. Previous studies show that one of the major issues facing local graduates is the lack of employability skills. This problem concerns not only the government but undergraduates and institutions alike. From the pedagogical aspect, one of the more effective ways to improve this is through instructional delivery and in this case the use of Problem-based Learning (PBL). The need to adopt PBL should involved applied subjects undertaken by engineering students. Studies have shown that the use of PBL has been proven to make learning more attractive and effective. In this research, we studied the effectiveness of PBL towards enhancing employability skills among engineering undergraduates. This study adopted a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. Data was collected using documents analysis. Student samples comprised manufacturing engineering undergraduates from public institutions of higher learning in Malaysia. The results show that student's employability skills can be enhanced using PBL. In addition, students become more competitive towards making them more relevance with the needs of the industry with regard to employability skills. In conclusion, PBL is a very effective catalyst towards raising the employability skills among engineering undergraduates and should be adopted in all engineering education.

The effects of two drying methods, oven and microwave drying on the effective moisture diffusivity and activation energy of rambutan seed were studied. Effective moisture diffusivity and activation energy are the main indicators used for moisture movement within the material. Hence, it is beneficial to determine an appropriate drying method to attain a final moisture content of rambutan seed that potentially could be used as secondary sources in the industry. An appropriate final moisture content will provide better storage stability that can extend the lifespan of the rambutan seed. The rambutan seeds were dried with two drying methods (oven and microwave) at two level of the process variables (oven temperature; 40°C and 60°C and microwave power; 250W and 1000W) at constant initial moisture contents. The result showed that a higher value of effective moisture diffusivity and less activation energy were observed in microwave drying compared to oven drying. This finding portrays microwave drying expedites the moisture removal to achieve the required final moisture content and the most appropriate drying method for longer storage stability for rambutan seed. With respect to the process variables; higher oven temperatures and lower microwave powers also exhibit similar trends. Hopefully, this study would provide a baseline data to determine an appropriate drying method for longer storage period for turning waste to by-products.

This research paper presents the possible solutions to prolong the shelf life of spicy (chili) soy sauce. The current spicy soy sauce formulation is without adding preservative which result in shorter shelf life. It is suggested to add chemical preservative to this spicy soy sauce in order to prolong its shelf life without jeopardising its prevailing taste. The proposed preservative is sodium benzoate. It is hope that by adding sodium benzoate, it can prolong the shelf life of the products from one year to two years without jeopardising the taste and quality of the products. The problem to extend the shelf life of spicy (chilli) soy sauce was 100% solved. The product could be extended to 2 years without adding any preservative (sodium benzoate) as the main raw material (soy sauce) purchased from "Kicap Jalen" had been added sodium benzoate as their preservative to prolong the soy sauce shelf life. All the physicochemical and nutritional analysis shown good results. As for the microbiological analysis, all the 3 samples shown good results on the total plate count.

The main objective of this study is to determine the relationship between quality of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) and handling processes. The study employs exploratory and descriptive design, with quantitative approach and purposive sampling using self-administrated questionnaires, were obtained from 30 smallholder respondents from the Southern Region, Peninsular Malaysia. The study reveals that there was a convincing relationship between quality of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) and handling processes. The main handling process factors influencing quality of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) were harvesting activity and handling at the plantation area. As a result, it can be deduced that the handling process factors variable explains 82.80% of the variance that reflects the quality of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB). The overall findings reveal that the handling process factors do play a significant role in the quality of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB).