Imports are the only source of food supply to Singapore. Such condition offers a very attractive proposition for agricultural oriented countries. The dependence on type of food imports is determined by consumer demand. This study intends to do an exploratory study on the current conditions of Singaporean food consumption and expenditures with implications on Malaysia as an important agricultural exporting country to Singapore. It is identified that Singaporean consumers tend to demand for high quality poultry, pork, seafood, vegetables, and fruits in future, particularly in response to income growth. At the mean time, Malaysia is seemingly rich in the production of these food commodities and commits to exports for the excess of the supplies. While facing competition from various countries, Malaysia still possesses various competitive advantages over the other countries.
In competitive markets, agribusiness firms have embarked on improving their service quality for building and maintaining a profitable relationship with their customers. However, such impact of service quality on business commitment has not been empirically investigated. To fill this gap, this study explores the relationship between service quality and commitment, using a case of supplier selection of fresh produce by hotel, restaurant, and catering (HORECA) sector in Malaysia. Using SERVQUAL as the main component of the conceptual framework, the relevant information was collected from 195 random HORECA operators and analyzed using partial least squares. The results indicate that service quality explains little of HORECA’s decision to stay with their current suppliers. While most service quality factors were insignificant, “responsiveness” in term of providing delivery service had a statistically significant positive impact on HORECA’s contractual arrangement with their current suppliers. These findings imply that quality service is being seen as a supplement; economic factors (e.g., prices and their stability, credit term) are likely to be the key drivers affecting buyer-seller relationships. If suppliers want to stay on course, they have to improve their service quality and focus more on delivery service. In addition, more research is needed in this relatively new area.
Candida albicans is a normal flora caused fungal infections and has the ability to form biofilms. The aim of this study was to improve the antifungal effect of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and the light source for reducing the biofilm survival of C. albicans. AgNPs were prepared by silver nitrate (AgNO3) and trisodium citrate (Na3C6H5O7). To determine the antifungal effect of treatments on C. albicans biofilm, samples were distributed into four groups; L + P+ was treatment with laser irradiation and AgNPs; L + P- was treatment with laser irradiation only; L - P+ was treatment with AgNPs only (control positive); L - P- was no treatment with laser irradiation or AgNPs (control negative). The growth of fungi had been monitored by measuring the optical density at 405 nm with ELISA reader. The particle size of AgNPs was measured by using (particle size analyzer) and the zeta potential of AgNPs was measured by using Malvern zetasizer. The PSA test showed that the particle size of AgNPs was distributed between 7.531-5559.644 nm. The zeta potentials were found lower than - 30 mV with pH of 7, 9 or 11. The reduction percentage was analyzed by ANOVA test. The highest reduction difference was given at a lower level irradiation because irradiation with a density energy of 6.13 ± 0.002 J/cm2 resulted in the biofilm reduction of 7.07 ± 0.23% for the sample without AgNPs compared to the sample with AgNPs that increased the biofilm reduction of 64.48 ± 0.07%. The irradiation with a 450-nm light source had a significant fungicidal effect on C. albicans biofilm. The combination of light source and AgNPs provides an increase of biofilm reduction compared to the light source itself.