Microalgae have recently attracted considerable interest worldwide, due to their extensive application potential in the renewable energy, biopharmaceutical, and nutraceutical industries. Microalgae are renewable, sustainable, and economical sources of biofuels, bioactive medicinal products, and food ingredients. Several microalgae species have been investigated for their potential as value-added products with remarkable pharmacological and biological qualities. As biofuels, they are a perfect substitute to liquid fossil fuels with respect to cost, renewability, and environmental concerns. Microalgae have a significant ability to convert atmospheric CO2 to useful products such as carbohydrates, lipids, and other bioactive metabolites. Although microalgae are feasible sources for bioenergy and biopharmaceuticals in general, some limitations and challenges remain, which must be overcome to upgrade the technology from pilot-phase to industrial level. The most challenging and crucial issues are enhancing microalgae growth rate and product synthesis, dewatering algae culture for biomass production, pretreating biomass, and optimizing the fermentation process in case of algal bioethanol production. The present review describes the advantages of microalgae for the production of biofuels and various bioactive compounds and discusses culturing parameters.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12934-018-0879-x.pdf

The promising future of microalgae: current status, challenges, and optimization of a sustainable and renewable industry for biofuels, feed, and other products

Existing building retrofits: Methodology and state-of-the-art

Green building is one of measures been put forward to mitigate significant impacts of the building stock on the environment, society and economy. However, there is lack of a systematic review of this large number of studies that is critical for the future endeavor. The last decades have witnessed rapid growing number of studies on green building. This paper reports a critical review of the existing body of knowledge of researches related to green building. The common research themes and methodology were identified. These common themes are the definition and scope of green building; quantification of benefits of green buildings compared to conventional buildings; and various approaches to achieve green buildings. It is found that the existing studies played predominately focus on the environmental aspect of green building. Other dimensions of sustainability of green building, especially the social sustainability is largely overlooked. Future research opportunities were identified such as effects of climatic conditions on the effectiveness of green building assessment tools, validation of real performance of green buildings, unique demands of specific population, and future proofing.

Green building research–current status and future agenda: A review

Real-time vibration-based structural damage detection using one-dimensional convolutional neural networks

Influence of metakaolin on the properties of mortar and concrete: A review

http://eprints.um.edu.my/9120/1/Efficiency_of_calcined_kaolin_and_silica_fume_as_cement_replacement.pdf

Efficiency of calcined kaolin and silica fume as cement replacement material for strength performance

This study presents the potential energy saving, life cycle cost analysis and payback period of the lighting system in campus buildings of the University of Malaya, Malaysia. The survey results indicate that almost 90% of the lighting system at the University Malaya campus consists of fluorescent lamp. Cost benefit analysis of retrofitting with more efficient lighting system in terms of potential energy saving, life cycle cost analysis and payback period have been conducted. Comparison of existing and retrofitting of lighting system based on the energy consumption is presented. From the analysis, it can be concluded that by using energy efficient lighting system will save a significant amounts of energy and cost, and also indirectly reducing emission.

http://eprints.um.edu.my/9066/1/Life_cycle_cost_analysis_and_payback_period_of_lighting_retrofit_at_the_University.pdf

Life cycle cost analysis and payback period of lighting retrofit at the University of Malaya

http://eprints.um.edu.my/9085/1/The_effect_of_corrosion_on_the_natural_frequency_and_modal.pdf

The effect of corrosion on the natural frequency and modal damping of reinforced concrete beams

Strength estimation model for high-strength concrete incorporating metakaolin and silica fume

This paper presents the results of an investigation on the use of metakaolin and silica fume as supplementary cementing materials in enhancing the near surface properties of concrete. Metakaolin and silica fume mixtures, each with 10% replacement, were prepared and tested for initial surface absorption, water absorption and sorptivity. Metakaolin and silica fume were found to enhance the overall near surface characteristics of the concrete. The inclusion of metakaolin and silica fume greatly reduced the initial surface absorption, water absorption and sorptivity of concrete in varying magnitudes. Generally, the curing method adopted had significant effects on the near surface properties of concrete incorporating metakaolin or silica fume.

http://eprints.um.edu.my/9081/1/Near_surface_characteristics_of_concrete_containing_supplementary_cementing_materials.pdf

H. Abdul Razak

Papers

Efficiency of calcined kaolin and silica fume as cement replacement material for strength performance

Life cycle cost analysis and payback period of lighting retrofit at the University of Malaya

The effect of corrosion on the natural frequency and modal damping of reinforced concrete beams

Strength estimation model for high-strength concrete incorporating metakaolin and silica fume

Near surface characteristics of concrete containing supplementary cementing materials