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Role of design and innovation to enhance new product development among Malaysian small and medium manufacturing enterprises (SMEs)
No full textThe role of design and innovation through NPD process can be a good platform for Malaysian SMEs to
enhance their competitiveness. However, less study has been conducted to examine how the process
has been implemented by SMEs. NPD process requires a proper planning and commitment from the
company. Managing the NPD process by utilized design as a source of innovation will improve the
quality of the product. But, many of the SMEs not utilize the potential of design and innovation as their
sources to gain competitiveness. Therefore, there are gaps on how the process has been conducted by
SMEs such as how they implementing, managing and who are the parties should be involved in the
process. The objective of this paper is to explore the process of new product development conducted
by small and medium manufacturing industries (SMEs) through design and innovation in creating
added value to a product, based on an empirical study covering product, furniture, and automotive
manufacturing industries in Malaysia. A mixed-method was applied consist of 450 respondents for
questionnaire survey and 12 selected participants from different group's namely industrial designers marketers, and decision-makers. The results reveal the positive effects of managing design and
innovations in the industries are important to improve product value and to enhance company
performance through product development processes
Legal review on unfair force majeure clause in outbound package travel
No full textThe pandemic of covid-19 has an immense and rapidly changing impact on the everyday lives of the vast majority of citizens and companies. Businesses have been forced to close by legislation in particular. Even if the companies are still active, they frequently fail to meet their contractual responsibilities in the manner originally planned. Businesses that offer facilities for fun, relaxation, enjoyment and entertainment face unparalleled delays and cancellation. This includes the outbound travel package service. Force majeure is a common feature used by travel agencies in an outbound package trave
China-US confrontation on South China Sea and its implications on ASEAN
No full textThe current development in the South China Sea (SCS) where China and US has been competing
and flexing muscles with naval military technologies. China has laid claims to large swathes of sea
and land formations amounts to 90% of the whole South China Sea. while, in opposition, the United
States condemned Chinese Claims and considered it illegal in International Law of the Sea. As a
result, US has increased the frequency of its Freedom of Navigation Operations (Fonops) to a level
never seen before. The US Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group has carried on with a separate
trilateral exercise with the Australian and Japanese forces in the Philippine Sea, while China's
maritime authorities begin to issue notices about simultaneous military drills in multiple locations
in the South China Sea, the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Gulf. The roles played by South China Sea in
the world economy and security are so significant to the region and the world, it has been estimated
at US$5 trillion per annual. Tensions and confrontation seems dangerous to the smoothness and
peaceful navigation of the sea at present, especially on economy and security, and at the time when
the world is experiencing the presence of Covid-19 pandemic at every levels. As such, the paper is
aiming at analyzing the various disputes between China and the ASEAN counterparts on South
China Sea. It will further shed light on why various early measures have failed to resolve the issue,
the implication of the US involvement, and weather such involvement is also supported by ASEAN.
Analytical and historical methods are applied in carrying out the research. The research will conclude
with possible proposed future solution, while recommendations will be projected for various parties
involved to avoid direct confrontations and keeping the continuity of its status quo or resort to final
solution
Oleo cocos
No full textSome people tend to pour the used grease and cooking oil directly down to their kitchen sink drain.
These things will accumulate inside the drain pipes, which caused a plumbing problem. When the grease
and oil interact with water, it will coagulate and attaches itself to the interior of pipes. Over time, the
deposits can restrict water flow and eventually clog the drain that will block the entire pipe system and
could lead to the water overflowing out of the sink. Regarding this problem, superhydrophobic and
superoleophilic materials such as modified raw cotton, natural fiber material, organic adsorbent and
nanotubes have a significant role in treating the oil spillage. Activated carbon is one of the organic
sorbents used as an absorber to trap oil spills due to its high surface area, low density, good chemical
stability and environmental friendliness. Therefore, an invention named ‘Oleo cocos’ is introduced as
the solution to this problem. In this study, the activated carbon was formed from waste coconut shells by
carbonisation process and ground to powder form. The powder was then tested for the adsorption
efficiency in a simulated drainage system. The activated carbon from coconut shells has demonstrated
an effective adsorption capacity. Thus, this product can be used by the community for daily routine to
prevent the clog in the kitchen sink which can reduce the cost for plumbing maintenance. Thus, this
product is a new invention to solve the problem in our community by using household waste
Assessing the incalculable damages of pain and suffering
No full textThe damages or remedial regime for personal injury under tort compensation is diverse and
complex, in the sense that there are many branches or heads that are claimable or unclaimable
and each of those heads has their own methods of computing the damages. This paper focusses
on one of the heads of damages claimable in a personal injury claim; the general damages for
pain and suffering. The conventional view of the tort remedial regime postulates to make the
victim of a wrong whole by providing him with the compensatory damages necessary for redirecting him, economically if not physically, from his post-wrong position back to the position
he occupied in the pre-wrong status quo. However, strict application of the theory in context
or practice seems implausible or misconceived, as it is almost impossible to obtain or gauge
exact measurement for non-pecuniary or future losses. For instance, the loss of a limb may
never be completely substituted by any monetary compensation or replaced by artificial limbs
as compared to damage to movable properties, which can either be replaced or repaired (but
not any sentimental values attached to the property). There may be less complication in the
assessment of damages if losses could consistently and constantly be calculated in arithmetical
certainty. However, assessment of general damages which are non-pecuniary damages is
usually based on judicial discretion short of divine revelation in determining the appropriate
amount for the pain and suffering. In tort, the highest limit of damages is the whole extent of
loss sustained by the claimant. Thus, damages should not exceed the 'loss', nor should it be less
than the 'loss', which makes quantifying the damages an arduous process capped limited by
human frugality and ability. This paper hypothesises that there is currently no applied
mechanism which can reliably establish a consistent or standard rate for a particular loss, i.e. a
specific item of pain and suffering and loss of amenities. There is a presupposition of law that
each item of pain and suffering and loss of amenities are distinct and unique, and thus, the
judges have the unfettered discretion to determine the rate of loss based on the distinct
individual cases characteristics
Prompted workplace stair climbing and effects on glucose and lipoprotein profiles: a feasibility study
No full textAR clinical skill lab: design and development
No full textNowadays 80% of young people particularly students own smartphones.
They use these gadgets to assess social platforms, play games and to be
in connection with friends and relatives. In the meantime, much lesser
part of young adults uses phones for studying purposes. The potential of
combining smartphones and Augmented Reality for education is big,
grant students extra digital information and make learning more fun. AR
clinical skill lab created by our team use Zappar Augmented Reality App.
The code are provided besides the equipment at our clinical skill lab and
the students can use their time while waiting for the classes or as selfdirected learning. The user satisfaction survey was done using an
interview method to know the usefulness of the app and user satisfaction.
Result showed that most of the respondents satisfied with the function of
the app. As a conclusion, by AR Clinical Skills Lab, lecturers get to catch
the attention of medical students and motivate them better, while students
get new tools to visualize their subjects and complex concepts, as well as
obtain practical skills
Virtual teaching experiences for medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic: advantages and disadvantages
No full textThe best books for medical students are their patients in the bedside.
However COVID-19 pandemic already changed the educational
landscape from traditional methods to the virtual classroom. Movement
control order (MCO) have made teaching and learning in the hospital,
clinical skills laboratory and tutorial suspended. So at Faculty of Medicine,
Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, novel virtual teaching methods such as
webinars and Moodle learning management system (LMS) were used to
replace traditional medical teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. We
organized webinars on relevant topics. These were viewed via Webex
and included medical topics and clinical scenario discussions. Medical
webinars were recorded and uploaded to Telegram group. Notes and
clinical scenario discussions were uploaded in Moodle LMS, Knowledge
and E-learning Integrated Platform (KeLIP) UniSZA. 32 webinars were
organized by Anaesthesiology Unit with 448 attendees total. 12 webinars
were uploaded to Telegram group, 12 lecture notes and 28 clinical
scenario discussions were uploaded to KeLIP, a Moodle LMS. We
received great feedback for all webinars and Moodle LMS. Virtual
teaching is useful for teaching theory; attendees can watch anywhere,
easily recorded for later viewing, no room bookings and no need for social
distancing However the main disadvantage of note for airway and
anaesthetics skill is inability to obtain hands-on practice. We feel virtual
teaching provides continuing teaching and learning during pandemic
crisis
Solving unconstrained minimization problems with a new hybrid conjugate gradient method
No full textConjugate gradient (CG) method is an efficient method for solving unconstrained, large-scale optimization problems.
Hybridization is one of the common approaches in the modification of the CG method. This paper presents a new
hybrid CG and compares its efficiency with the classical CG method, which are Hestenes-Stiefel (HS), Nurul HajarMustafa-Rivaie (NHMR), Fletcher-Reeves (FR) and Wei-Yao-Liu (WYL) methods. The proposed a new hybrid CG
is evaluated as a convex combination of HS and NHMR method. Their performance is analyzed under the exact line
search. The new method satisfies the sufficient descent condition and supports global convergence. The results show
that the new hybrid CG has the best efficiency among the classical CG of HS, NHMR, FR, and WYL in terms of the
number of iterations (NOI) and the central processing unit (CPU) per time