Responding to demands for transformed networking practices requires new forms of knowledge. Given their scale and complexity, networking problems can no longer be solved by way of extending intermediaries. Recent research on alternative approaches has focused on the understanding network structures formed by interactions between heterogeneous actors. Rather than linear extensions, network theory highlights cliques structure as a major determinant of performance derives largely from the frequent finding that managers that are embedded with influential connections are at increased likelihood of becoming influential themselves thus opening rooms for new knowledge and innovative technology and practices. It is suggested that the strong and consistent cliques are at least partially responsible to managing network complexity. This paper contributes to our understanding of such facilitation by investigating the networks in which managers exchange information. We report findings based on the study of managers in a maritime industry. Network surveys identified who the managers contacted for inputs and who they had talked to about the information by 6 months earlier. Snow-balling interviews collected farmer statements about their most valuable contacts and these statements have been analysed. The network analysis shows that managers with densely tied and occupationally homogeneous contacts grew their networks more than did managers with contacts that are loosely tied and diverse. The network analysis reveals an important principle: managers’s value knowledge delivered by persons of homogenous connections rather distance ones. It is argued that social network analysis is an appropriate method for studying influence development use in the context of networked organizations.
Wireless communication is a technology that plays an important role in current technology transformation. wireless communication is a method of telecommunication that are available for transmitting large amounts of data, voice and video over long distance using different frequencies. Specifically, Low Noise Amplifier which is located at the first block of receiver system, makes it one of the important element in improving signal transmission. This study was aimed to design a microwave Low Noise Amplifier for Long Term Evolution (LTE) application that will work at 5.8 GHz using high-performance low noise superHEMT transistor FHX76LP manufactured by Eudyna Technologies. The low noise amplifier (LNA) produced gain of 17.2 dB and noise figure (NF) of 0.914 dB. The input reflection (S11) and output return loss (S22) are -17.8 dB and -19.6 dB respectively. The bandwidth of the amplifier recorded is 1.2 GHz. The input sensitivity is compliant with the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards.
This paper presents the comparison of extraction methods between maceration extraction (ME) and ultrasonic assisted extarction (UAE) to the bioactive compounds yield (gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, epigallocatechin and rutin) of Labisia pumila. A grinded dried plant material with size ranging 246.58μm to 257.72μm was performed throughout this work. The gallic acid, protoctechuic acid, epigallocatechin and rutin qualification and quantification were performed using an ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled photodiode array (UPLC-PDA). Exact match between the residence time from the plant extract and external standard was found indicating a presence of these four targeted bioactive compounds. It was found that UAE method has the highest extraction yield; gallic acid (0.0293 mg GA/g DW), protocatechuic acid (0.0081 mg PCA/g DW), epigallocatechin (0.0057 mg EGC/g DW) and rutin (0.0038 mg Rutin/g DW) compared to ME. The findings in this work may serve as a useful guide to obtain a highest extraction yield of these four targeted bioactive compounds from L. pumila.
The purpose of this paper is to prepare a conceptual framework of hybrid lean and ergonomics for assembly manufacturing process based. The research used PDCA approach as a basis in linking the relationship between lean manufacturing and ergonomics. Comprehensive literature review identify the lean ergonomics issues, best practices, and also the way to improve the ergonomic conditions in the workplace, especially those impacting employees on the assembly process. The findings show that the job design strategies for reducing extreme injuries influence by repetitive tasks. Selections of lean tools and technique, human factors analysis and lean performance measure are the key point on the stages of the PDCA conceptual framework for lean ergonomics in working assembly process. This paper also demonstrates by continuous improvement applied between the elimination of waste and increased productivity and the impacts on the ergonomic conditions to carry out operations and consequently by improving the productivity and well-being of its employees based on implementation of PDCA conceptual frameworks.
This study was conducted to determine and compare the muscle activity during step forward lunge (SFL) and jump forward lunge (JFL) in badminton. Fifteen university badminton players (mean age = 22.07 ± 1.39 years old) were recruited and were assigned to perform SFL and JFL while holding a badminton racquet using their preferred hand. Muscle activation of vastus lateralis (VL), vastus medialis (VM), rectus femoris (RF), biceps femoris (BF), gluteus maximus (GM), medial gastrocnemius (MG), and lateral gastrocnemius (LG) were analysed and compared between SFL and JFL and also between dominant and non-dominant lower limb in each lunge protocol. Results showed for both the dominant and non-dominant lower limb, all the muscle activation was greater during JFL compared to SFL except for the MG muscle. All the muscle activation was also found to be greater in the dominant compared to non-dominant lower limb for both lunge protocols. Overall, findings demonstrated the existence of differences in muscle activation across difference protocols of movement and different site of limbs. This should be taken into consideration for developing training program in order to enhance performance and reduce the risk of injuries.
As a way to enhance performance in sports, apart from in-field or in court training, athletes are recommended to adopt resistance training into their training routine. As an exercise that needs the performer to split their legs, lunge is suggested to be included as an exercise in a training session. Various researches had been conducted on lunge and several findings showed different methods or protocols of lunge affect the kinematics, kinetics muscle activation and fascicle behaviour response during the exercise. Although not much study conducted on the chronic adaptations, the existing studies suggested that performers should well plan the training protocols as this will cause different training adaptations.
The measurements of dielectric and thermal properties for bio composite substrate conducted between the mixture of polypropylene (PP) and saw dust filler Leucaena Leucocephala (150μm). The high temperature Agilent 85070E dielectric probe and Quickline 30 Thermal properties analyser used as an instruments to measure the dielectric properties (εr) and handling temperature of the substrate for frequency range of 1GHz to 20 GHz that are suitable for radio frequency applications. The effect of increasing wood filler indicated that it will raise the DK value from 1.84 to 2.49 and decreases the thermal conductivity behaviour from 0.2 to 0.11w/m.k for all 5 mixture fabricated substrate (PP100, PB9010, PB8020, PB7030 and PB6040). In this research the composition of PP must be greater than the sawdust filler due to PP act as laminating and hold the composite structure. The result presented on this research will useful for planar antenna and microwave filter substrate up to frequency 20 GHz and it could support the technical and vocational education tanning (TVET) learning process that hybrid the knowledge among different field.
The preparation technique during synthesizing process and heat treatment plays an important role in the properties of the ceramic materials. In this paper, ceramic perovskite-type oxide based on Ba (Ce,Zr)O3 was prepared by sol-gel method and sintered via two-step sintering (TSS) technique. In the TSS, the sintered pellet was undergoing twice heat treatment. The first temperature profile was set at T1= 1400°C and the second temperature were varied at T2 = 1150°C, 1200°C, 1300°C and 1350°C, respectively. XRD results showed that all samples TSS1 to TSS5 exhibit single-phase of cerate-zirconate ceramics except for the pellet sintered at 1300°C (TSS4). The crystalline peaks for single-phase sintered pellets were matched to the standard compound Ba(Ce,Zr)O3 . On the other hand, the presence of secondary phases of CeO2 , Ba2ZrO4 and BaCO3 along with the main phase of Ba(Ce,Zr)O3 were detected in TSS4. SEM analysis revealed that the samples formed clear and compact grains with submicron sizes whereby the size of grain decreased from 336.4 to 192 nm as the second sintering temperature increased. This paper attempts to show that the implementation of different sintering profile in TSS method was found to give significant effect on the phase and morphology of solid solution of Ba(Ce,Zr)O3 .
This paper is a review of the chemical and physical properties of coconut fiber in asphalt mixtures. Coconut fibers (CF) are natural fibers and also an agricultural waste, which is abundant after the extraction of juice and coconut fruit. Nowadays, CF has been studied for its potential use in the construction field to increase the strength of materials with its high tensile strength. Additionally, CF can also be one the materials in highway construction as it can improve the skid resistance of asphalt pavements. It was shown that CF treated with NaOH lowered the penetration value and increased the softening point of modified bitumen. Flow of bitumen also can be avoided at high mixing and compaction temperatures by adding 0.7% of CF.
The architectural physical appearances of shopping malls posed serious challenges to the development of shopping malls and attracting customers especially in developing countries. This study aimed at assessing the influences of the architectural features that attract customers’ to shop in the Malaysian shopping malls. Four architectural features namely: location of the mall, facilities and services installed, aesthetics and design and also quality of structures in the malls are the main constructs attracting customers to shop in the Malaysian shopping industry. Survey instruments were administered to the customers of major shopping malls in Penang Island of Malaysia. A Warp PLS-SEM software algorithm was used for the analysis of collected data. The results indicated that locations, facilities and services in malls contribute significantly to the attraction of customers’ to shop in a mall. The results also show positive substantial relationships between customers’ attraction and the architectural features and among the independent variables. The study recommended the developments of shopping malls close to residential houses where customers could easily walk a short distances for shopping. The facilities and services installed in shopping malls attract customers; the developers of shopping mall should consider the design and installation of modern facilities like conveyors, elevators, lifts etc. while designing and constructions of shopping malls.
The changing trend towards the use of natural ingredients in product formulation has becoming very significant nowadays. Herbal products have gained increasing popularity in the last decade, and are now used by approximately 20% of the population and contribute to the health care of our people. The natural products global trade is projected to be over RM2 trillion by the year 2020 as more people are turning to herbal-based products as nutritional and dietary supplements; an alternative to the conventional therapeutic medicine. Therefore it is hoped that the utilisation of natural ingredients could be capitalised for the mass production of herbal based products. Malaysian herbal product market is experiencing tremendous growth. Malaysia's rich tropical biodiversity is a reliable source for natural health products, and the Government is now addressing its full potential. Although herbs are often perceived as “natural” and therefore safe, many safety issues and side effects have been reported owing to active ingredients, contaminants, or interactions with modern drugs. Before herbal-based products are commercialized, several processes/steps which are critical aspects of the development and marketing of product must be addressed. Thus, there is an urgent need to conduct experimental research to provide scientific evidence in terms of safety, efficacy and quality of herbal medicines. In addition the plants as sources for new lead structure for drug development especially the active compounds that are beneficial for human health requires further investigation.
Being the most abundant element on earth, aluminium has become one of the major restricting factors that affect the growth and development of plants. The first target of aluminium toxicity is the root apex which would in turn affect the overall growth of the plants. In this study, the effect of various concentrations of aluminium (Al) on the growth of Lobelia chinensis was determined. Nodal explants of L. chinensis were cultured on MS medium containing various concentrations of aluminium chloride (AlCl3) (0, 1.0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, 10.0 and 20 µM) with 1250.0 μM ion phosphate and pH was adjusted to 4.6. It was observed that both the growth of shoot and root decreased with the increasing concentrations of Al.
Manufacturing systems, in pursuit of cost, time and flexibility optimisation are becoming more and more complex, exhibiting a dynamic and nonlinear behaviour. Unpredictability is a distinct characteristic of such behaviour and effects production planning significantly. Complexity continues to be a challenge in manufacturing systems, resulting in ever-inflating costs, operational issues and increased lead times to product realisation. This challenge must be met with appropriate decision-making by manufacturing companies to secure competitive advantage without compromising sustainability. Assessing complexity realises the reduction and management of complexity sources which contribute to lowering associated engineering costs and time, improves productivity and increases profitability. Therefore, this study was undertaken to investigate the priority level and current achievement of manufacturing performance in Malaysia’s manufacturing industry and the complexity drivers on manufacturing productivity performance. The results showed that Malaysia’s manufacturing industry prioritised product quality and they managed achieved a good on-time delivery performance. However, for other manufacturing performance, there was a difference where the current achievement of manufacturing performances in Malaysia’s manufacturing industry is slightly lower than the priority given to them. The strong correlation of significant value for priority status was observed between efficient production levelling (finished goods) and finish product management while the strong correlation of significant value for current achievement was minimised the number of workstation and factory transportation system. This indicates that complexity drivers have an impact towards manufacturing performance. Consequently, it is necessary to identify complexity drivers to achieve well manufacturing performance.
The aluminium-silicon (Al-Si) based on Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) is widely used in lightweight
constructions and transport applications requiring a combination of high strength and ductility. A grain
refinement plays a crucial role in improving characteristics and properties of Al alloys. In this investigation,
titanium diboride (TiB2) and scandium (Sc) inoculants were added to the Al-Si alloys for grain refinement of
an alloy. In this investigation, the corrosion resistance rate of Al-Si cast alloy reinforced by TiB2 and Sc were
measured by potentiostat (AUTOLAB) instrument. The aim of this research is to investigate the corrosion
rate for Al-Si-TiB2-Sc composites that immersed in different concentration of acidic solutions. Besides, the
immersion time of acidic solutions also was investigated. All the samples were prepared accordingly for
ASTM standard by the composition of 6.0 wt% TiB2 and 0.6wt% Sc. All the samples undergo cold mounting
technique for easy handling on corrosion tests. Then the samples were immersed in two different
concentrations acidic medium solutions, which were 0.1.and 1.0 M hydrochloric acids (HCl). The corrosion
rate also was investigated for immersion samples of 1.0 M HCl for 21 days. From the results obtained, added
TiB2 and Sc onto Al-Si alloy gave the better properties in corrosion resistance. Corrosion rates to reduce when
the samples were immersed in a lower concentration of acidic medium, 0.1 HCl. However, there are some
significant on the result but it still following the corrosion rates trend. Thus, improvements to reinforcement
content need to be done in further research to cover the lack of this corrosion rates trend.
This paper is about the reduction of the overall size of metal blanking sheet that is being used to form a stamping product or car body panel of a car manufacturer in Malaysia. The current blanking sheet produces extra waste which will be recycled and does not contribute to increase productivity but increases inventory cost. The reduction in the blanking sheet size will lead to the reduction of raw material hence reduced the production cost. However, the reduced size of blanking sheet could affect the yield strength of the product. The study of the yield strength and yield improvement of the product are done by simulating stress analysis by using CATIA software. The results show that the new proposed size of the metal blanking sheet provides accuracy of the product dimension as well as maintaining the yield strength of the product and it reduced a significant amount of metal scrap which is nearly 4% of material weight and save around 10% of inventory cost.
Rivers as surface water in Malaysia are recipients of effluents and wastewater and yet it is important water source for daily uses of some villagers living along the river. Endocrine disruptors such as Bisphenol A (BPA) can be found in river due to continuous discharge into it. The objectives of this research is to find out the occurrence and concentration of BPA in Sungai Langat and also to see how water quality parameters such as temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), turbidity, Total Suspended Solid (TSS), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen (AN) affecting the concentration of BPA. 12 stations in total including upstream to downstream of Sungai Langat and also tributary of Sungai Langat. The instrument used to find out concentration of BPA is Triple Quadrupole LC/MS. The source of BPA are mainly industrial effluents and also direct domestic discharges. The water quality parameters that will affect concentration of BPA are Ammonia Nitrogen (AN), turbidity, Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Total Suspended Solid (TSS), and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Dissolved Oxygen (DO). While pH and water temperature are also factors that will affect concentration of BPA but the significance is not shown in the analysis. It can be concluded that upstream of Sungai Langat has lower concentration of BPA than downstream.
In this research, sago mill effluent was treated using anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR). Seven HRT from 10 to 1.5 days were tested to evaluate the methane production from sago mill effluent. The findings revealed the highest methane production rate was found at 1.288 L CH4/L reactor. d under HRT of 2 days The results showed that COD removals decreased from 70% to 47% as HRT was reduced from 10 to 2 days. The HRT 1.5 days was found critical for the studied system, which leads to decreased in methane production, yield and COD removal. Overall, ASBR was capable to treat sago mill effluent in producing methane by means of anaerobic digestion.
Automatic Vehicle Number Plate Recognition (AVNPR) system is an image processing technology in computer vision which captures the image of the vehicle and recognizes its number plate. Currently, the security and management of transportation system becomes an important key in controlled place such as campus area. With an increased number of vehicles, there is a need for vehicle recognition mechanism that is effective, affordable and efficient. The objective of this paper is to propose an efficient automatic vehicle identification system by recognizing the vehicle plate number. The system will be installed at the main entrance of POLIMAS to ensure that only the authorized vehicles can automatically enter the campus area. Once the vehicle is detected by the input sensors, AVNPR system will capture the image of vehicle plate number. An image is then extracted and investigated character segmentation by using optical character recognition (OCR). The method used for detection of a plate number is by preprocessing of the image and using a combination of Sobel edge detection and Laplacian edge detection techniques. Bounding Box technique is used to find the number plate and character segmentation. For character recognition, OCR method is used by using template matching to compare the segmented image with the template. The system is sustainable as the camera will only be switched on when a car is present. The propose system successfully detects and recognizes the vehicle number plate on real images. This system can also be used for security and traffic control.
Driving posture is important to determine the comfortability of the driver. The purpose of this study is to investigate the muscle response in car pedal operation. To evaluate this response, 11 volunteers involved in simulated driving experiment using an electrical impedance myography to detect the muscle contraction of the lower leg, particularly at Gastrocnemius medial (GM). The driver requires to perform different pedal actions. The results depict that GM muscle shows different reaction according to pedal actions. According to these results, different degree of ankle angle lead to different muscle response. These findings help us to understand the effect of physical attribute related to muscle response and joint angle on driver during monotonous driving task.
Nowadays Silicone Rubber (SiR) is recommended in high voltage cable accessories fabrication as it offers excellent electrical and mechanical properties. Electrical tree is one of the phenomenon which contributes to the main factor of SiR insulation breakdown. Recently, a new approach has been applied in order to enhance the insulation strength properties by introducing nano filler in undoped material. Thus, this paper presents the influence of nano-alumina and halloysite nanoclay on electrical tree growth in SiR at 0, 1 vol%, 2 vol% and 3 vol% concentration. The electrical tree growth was investigated at 8kVrms after tree inception voltage (TIV) within 30 minutes under room temperature. The results show reductions of electrical tree growth speed and accumulate damage (%) up to 2 vol% nano-alumina and up to 3 vol% halloysite nanoclay. Nevertheless the presence of 3 vol% nano-alumina in SiR leads to the faster electrical tree growth rate and the worst accumulate damage within 1 minute of electrical tree growth process.