Supply chain collaboration among Malaysian SME manufacturers

Malaysian 3rd Industrial Master Plan was developed to improve the country global competitiveness by positioning Malaysia as a major manufacturing hub and service provider in the global supply chain. To achieve this, it is suggested that Malaysian manufacturers especially SME should be involved in supply chain collaboration in their business operations. However, it is discovered that there are very few reported research on the supply chain collaboration activities among Malaysian SME manufacturers. The objective of this research is to uncover the supply chain collaboration activities among Malaysian SME manufacturers with their trading partners. This is to be done by determining the level of supply chain collaboration of Malaysian SME manufacturer and investigating the reason Malaysian SME manufacturers supply chain collaborations is at that level. In order to achieve the above objective, a mixed method of quantitative approach using survey method is employed to determine the level of supply chain collaboration and qualitative approach using personal interview method is employed to find out the reason for why Malaysian SME manufacturers’ supply chain collaboration is at that level. This research discovered that the supply chain collaboration of Malaysian SME manufactures with their trading partners is at minimal level. This is due to their current business relationship that they have with their trading partners do not required them to collaborate at higher level. On the other hand, Malaysian SME manufacturer are willing to have a high level of supply chain collaboration if long term business relationship could be established. Therefore, it is concluded that the type of business relationship or cooperation with trading partners can determine level of supply chain collaboration

إنتاج مادة 17 ألفا هيدروكسي البروجستيرون على مستوى المخمر المعملي بواسطة فطرة كاننجهاميلا إيكينولاتا

The mircrobiological transformation of progesterone by a local isolate of Cunninghamella echiiiulata using a laboratory fermentor was studied. Progresterone (10-50 g/1) wetted by Tween 80 was added to 48-hour old culture and the transformation was left to proceed for 72 hours. Thereafter, the different transformation products were resolved chromatog-raphically. The identity of each product was established through the determination of m.p., mixed m.p., optical rotation and ultraviolet as well as infrared absorption spectra. A comparison of the R{ values of each product with that of the corresponding reference using different solvent systems as well as their colour expressed with two spray reagents, was used as a further proof for the identity of the isolated products. With all concentrations of progesterone tested, maximum yield of 17ot -hydroxyprogesterone was obtained after 48 hours of fermentation Progesterone concentrations of 10 and 20 g/1 were almost quantitatively converted to the different transformation products after 72 hours of fermentation. Using a concentration of 20 g/1 and incubation period of 48 hours, the transformation product mixture consisted of unchanged progesterone (6%), 17 o< -hydroxyprogesterone (54%),llotrhydroxyprogesterone (29%) and llo<;,17<^-dihydroxy-progesterone (2.5%).تم استخدام مخمر صناعي سعة 2 لتر لاختيار مقدرة الفطرة على تكوين هذه المادة في ظروف تشبه تلك المطبقة في الصناعة . وبدراسة تركيزات متعددة فن مادة البروجستيرون تتراوح ما بين 10جرام /لتر إلى 50جرام /لتر ، وجد أن أنسب التركيزات المختبرة هو تركيز 20 جرام من البروجستيرون لكل لترمن الوسط الغذائي ، حيث تم تحويل كل البووجستيرون المضاف إلى المشتقات المختلفة خلال 72 ساعة من بدء الاضافة . ووجد أن أعلى معدل لتكوين مادة 17 ألفا - هيدروكسي البروجستيرون كان بعد 48 ساعة من بدأ إضافة البروجستيرون . عند فصل المواد الناتجة من تحول البروجستيرون بواسطة الفطرة المستخدمة وذلك بواسطة أعمدة الفصل باستخدام مادة الالومينا وجد أن البروجستيرون يتحول إلى : 17 ألفا - هيدروكسي البروجستيرون ( 54 %) 11 ألفا - هيدروكسي البروجستيرون (29%) 11 ألفا ، 17 ألفا - ثنائي هيدروكسي البروجستيرون (2.5%

Survey instrument for measuring level of preparedness amongst healthcare personnel in radiation emergency

Drills and exercises are globally practiced to investigate the level of preparedness towards disaster events. However, these activities are rarely conducted because they require substantial investment, specifically to budget and time. A self-reported survey may serve as an alternative approach, although it may not be as effective as drills and exercises. As part of the survey development process, this article discusses preliminary validation of a survey instrument to measure the level of preparedness towards radiation emergency amongst healthcare personnel. Prior to this validation process, extensive literature reviews pointed out that the instrument consists of three constructs of preparedness, namely readiness, willingness, and ability. A total of seven subject matter experts were invited to judge the contents for verification purposes. Randolph Kappa analysis was then conducted to analyse their judgment to allow irrelevant items to be filtered from the rest prior to any improvements. Initially, the survey instrument consisted of 69 items; however, the analysis omitted 16 of them. The following values for each preparedness construct were: Readiness (0.77), Willingness (0.70), and Ability (0.73). These findings indicate that contents of the instrument are valid. Further analysis should be fulfilled to complete validation process to ensure its practicality prior to using it as an evaluation tool

Energy-Efficient Cooperative Protocols for Full-Duplex Relay Channels

In this work, energy-efficient cooperative protocols are studied for full-duplex relaying (FDR) with loopback interference. In these protocols, relay assistance is only sought under certain conditions on the different link outages to ensure effective cooperation. Recently, an energy-efficient selective decode-and-forward protocol was proposed for FDR, and was shown to outperform existing schemes in terms of outage. Here, we propose an incremental selective decode-and-forward protocol that offers additional power savings, while keeping the same outage performance. We compare the performance of the two protocols in terms of the end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio cumulative distribution function via closed-form expressions. Finally, we corroborate our theoretical results with simulation, and show the relative relay power savings in comparison to non-selective cooperation in which the relay cooperates regardless of channel conditions

A Comparative study of physicochemical properties of gariss from two production sites under two management systems

The objectives of present study were to eluddate the differences between physicochemical properties of gariss samples procured from two different production sites in two different management systems (Le. traditional system Kordofan site and semi-intensive system Khartoum site). The effect of the season in which gariss samples collected was studied. Gariss samples from two production sites investigated were collected in the different season, namely summer, autumn and winter. Means of the physicochemical properties of gariss collected in autumn (Kordofan), summer (Khartoum), and winter (Khartoum and Kordofan) were determined, and then the age of gariss was documented when the samples were collected . The period of camel milk fermentation is the age of gariss which was reported by the persons responsible for gariss production. Four different ages of gariss were registered (5-Shrs, 12hrs, 48hrs and more than 48hrs). Each fermentation time (age of gariss) was analysed for the physicochemical properties. Gariss prepared from different locations and in different seasons in Kordofan and Khartoum production sites were significantly (Ps0 .05) different in most of the physicochemical properties examined. This could be explained by the fact that camels may depend on different nutritional sources or different physiological status that may affect their milk and consequently gariss, also various age of gariss had various trends in physicochemical properties investigated

Wat Pathumwihaan of Baan Maalaj : a study of Siamese and Chinese Buddhists in a Malay State

Theravada Buddhism is the religion of the Siamese of Kelantan, but it is also adhered to by the majority of the rural Chinese population of the state. This study establishes that it is through their identification with Buddhism that the Siamese have been able to assert their ethnic identity vis-a-vis other groups in the larger society, namely the majority Malays who are Muslims, and the Chinese. Siamese conception of and commitment to the Buddhist religion differ considerably from that of the Chinese as demonstrated by the fact that on the whole Theravada Buddhism is perpetuated and maintained by an exclusively Siamese religious elite, consisting of monks, ex-monks and ritual specialists. Together they become the custodians of the sacred knowledge of the religion and the keepers of the Siamese Buddhist tradition. Although the Chinese appear to be very supportive of the temple and monkhood they are not normally as fully committed to the religion as the Siamese are. This study examines the social organisation of a Buddhist temple in order to demonstrate the level of commitments and involvement of the Siamese in maintaining the continuity of a Theravada tradition. It concludes by showing that even though Buddhism finds support particularly among the rural Kelantan Chinese, it is among the Siamese that it flourishes and becomes crucial and meaningful because it underwrites the very basis of Siamese ethnic identity. The continuity of Theravada Buddhist tradition ensures such identity

Production of Processed Cheese Using Lipase-Catalyzed Transesterified Palm Kernel Olein and Anhydrous Milk Fat Mixtures

In recent years, lipase-catalyzed transesterification has received considerable attention from the fats and oils industry due to its potential to modify the physical and chemical properties of edible fats and oils. In this study, enzymatic transesterification of three different ratios of palm kernel olein (PKO) and anhydrous milk fat (AMF) was carried out using immobilized lipase from Rhizomucor miehei (Lipozyme 1M 60) to modify their chemical and physical properties, such that they can be used in the production of processed cheese. After transesterification for 8 hours, there were either increases or decreases in the concentrations of several existing triglycerides (TG) of the reaction mixtures and, in some cases, the formation of new peaks. The results also showed that increasing the reaction time, increased the % free fatty acid (FF A) between 1 to 2%.of free fatty acids, declined after the transesterification process. The solid fat content (SFC) decreased with respect to the control samples. At 40°C, the PKO:AMF (7:3) transesterified fat mixture was completely melted, making it a potential candidate in the formulation of processed cheese. Thermal profiles showed that the original peaks of the transesterified mixtures have either shifted or completely changed and some new peaks were also formed. It was also found that the transesterified fat mixtures were in the β form, compared to a predominantly β form before transesterification. After the preparation of experimental processed cheese, several chemical and physical analyses of this final product were carried out. The results showed that the experimental processed cheese had a satisfactory aroma and texture compared to the commercial sample. It also recorded a high total solid content and a low amount of moisture, with a good workability and overall general behaviour at cool, ambient, and elevated temperatures.Sensory evaluation and texture analysis studies were also conducted on the final product. The experimental processed cheese samples achieved an acceptable response from the panelists, where there was no significant difference between the samples in terms of colour and texture. The texture profiles indicated that the experimental processed cheese samples exhibited close texture profiles compared to their counterpart commercial sample