Mixed-use developments (MXDs) are a single development project that integrates and interacts with different land uses. Traffic is estimated to be reduced with such development. However, there is no standard procedure is available to estimate the MXD trip generation rates in Malaysia. The Malaysian Trip Generation Manual (MTGM) is the guidelines currently been used to forecast future trips for single land use. If the trip generation rates for multiple land uses are summed as MXD trips, the total trips will be overestimated without considering the internal trip capture. This study aimed to establish an improved method for estimating the MXD trip generation rates. Four MXD observation sites were selected in Klang Valley. Traffic survey counts were conducted considering person-trip, including passengers in vehicles and pedestrians. The results revealed that the MXD trip generation rates with MTGM were higher than actual traffic counts during peak hours. The MXD adjustment factor was established as 0.63, which can be applied by multiplying the MTGM trip generation rates to reduce the generated MXD trips in PCU per hour. This research has formulated a new data collection method by integrating person counts, alongside with new guidelines for pedestrian counts. The findings provide an option to adjust the MXD trips and prevent from overestimating future trips, which may result in overdevelopment and spending on mitigation measures in urban planning and road infrastructure.
Paving block is a widely used pavement material due to its long service life, fast and easy production and easily replaced for maintenance purpose. The huge production volume of paving blocks consumes large amount of natural aggregates such as sand and granite. Therefore, there is a necessity to review the utilization of alternative materials as the aggregate replacement to cut down both the consumption of natural resources and disposal of various waste. This paper thus analyses published works and provides a summary of knowledge on the effect of utilizing selected waste materials such as soda-lime glass, cathode ray tube (CRT) glass, recycled concrete waste, marble waste, crumb rubber (CR) waste and waste foundry sand (WFS) as aggregate replacement in concrete paving blocks fabrication. The influence of each waste material on the properties of paving block is discussed and highlighted in this paper. The adherence of the waste material paving block to the standard requirements is also presented to provide a clear direction on the utilization of these materials for practical application. Soda-lime glass, CRT glass, pre-treated RCA and calcined WFS have the potential to be utilized in high quantities (30-100%), normal RCA and marble waste can be incorporated in moderate amount (30%) while CR waste and WFS is limited to low amount (6-10%). In overall, the usage of waste materials as aggregate replacement has good potential for producing eco-friendly concrete paving block towards the sustainable development of construction material.
Railway and metro transport systems (RS) are becoming one of the popular choices of transportation among people, especially those who live in urban cities. Urbanization and increasing population due to rapid development of economy in many cities are leading to a bigger demand for urban rail transit. Despite being a popular variant of Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP), it appears that the universal formula or techniques to solve the problem are yet to be found. This paper aims to develop an optimization algorithm for optimum route selection to multiple destinations in RS before returning to the starting point. Bee foraging behaviour is examined to generate a reliable algorithm in railway TSP. The algorithm is then verified by comparing the results with the exact solutions in 10 test cases, and a numerical case study is designed to demonstrate the application with large size sample. It is tested to be efficient and effective in railway route planning as the tour can be completed within a certain period of time by using minimal resources. The findings further support the reliability of the algorithm and capability to solve the problems with different complexity. This algorithm can be used as a method to assist business practitioners making better decision in route planning.
This research incorporates sustainable materials such as ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) and recycled waste glass (RWG) as cement and fine aggregate replacement respectively to produce green dry mix mortar paving blocks. The GGBS and RWG contents in the mortar paving block were optimised using the response surface methodology (RSM), considering the performances of the ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), flexural and compressive strengths, water absorption, and Cantabro loss. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was also conducted to evaluate the environmental impact of the optimised green mortar paving blocks. The RSM suggested that the paving block with optimum GGBS and RWG contents of 26.5% and 91.3%, respectively, could exhibit compressive strength of 36.5 MPa, which complied with the requirement for concrete segmental paving units (MA20). Excluding the mixes not fulfilling the MA20 requirement, the mix with 40% GGBS and 100% RWG exhibited the lowest values for the acidification potential (AP), global warming potential (GWP), photochemical oxidation (POCP), abiotic depletion potential for fossil fuel (ADPF), and water scarcity/strength ratio. Whereas, for eutrophication potential (EP) and abiotic depletion for elements (ADP (elements))/strength ratio, the mix with 100% RWG exhibited the lowest value. The optimised mix from RSM showed a similar performance as the two mixes.