The influence of system’s interactions on halal business performance in small-medium enterprises food manufacturers

Halal products are becoming more popular worldwide, including in Malaysia. Recent trends emphasize halal business performance in small-medium food Manufacturers. The purpose of this study is to examine the system's interactions That consisted of machine, people, and knowledge management and small-medium Enterprises (SME) halal business performance in Malaysia. The underpinning Theory used in this study was System Theory which highlighted the importance of The interactions of the key variables i.e. Machine, people, and knowledge Management on the outcome of the business. Hence, the System Theory Underpinned the research framework. The environment served as a mediator Between the key variables and halal business performance. Data were collected From respondents among the top management who represented smes halal food Manufacturers. Thus, the unit analysis in this study was the top management who Consisted of mainly the owner and the Chief Executive Officer of the company. The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) main steps Were conducted accordingly when used for the data analyses. The key findings Showed machine and knowledge management were significantly related to halal Business performance. In addition to that, the environment mediated the Relationship between machine, people, and knowledge management towards halal Business performance. This study hoped to contribute to an increased Understanding of the systems’ interactions in SME halal food manufacturers for Business performance enhancement. It could contribute to the body of knowledge In business performance studies particularly on strategic management’s research Interest. The implications for practice in terms of offering the industry players to Focus focusing on the key components system to enhance halal business Performanc

Audiovisual fascination tolerance in the Malaysian television material distributions

Common viewers heavily rely on dialogue listening to understand talking television content and visibly squint for better hearing during screen time. Thus, reading subtitles “to listen” requires viewer interactions to address the issues underpinning unfamiliar spoken words. This study, which used the cognitive load theory (CLT), cognitive theory of multimedia learning (CTML), and semiotic modes multimodal approach as a framework, revealed a better substitution of sound effects, narration, and subtitle works in an individual’s cognitive system by reducing. These elements were compared against music substitution. Based on the study, listening to a dialogue per se and disruptive fancy music proved less significant to the universal audience reception and definition through dialogue and music. The current work used quantitative approaches of percentage, mean, and mode. The variable (XN, MN, XS, MS, SN, MNS, and XNS) correlations were analysed using ANOVA and the Tukey Post-Hoc test. Notably, the instrument quantified the disruption resulting from sound against subtitles (Q2) and competition among extraneous and intrinsic (Q3), which embraced change to the audience’s cognitive system. Both male and female students and civil servant officers (n = 112) from various disciplines were selected as study samples. Resultantly, sound effects reflected a lower cognitive disturbance against subtitles and narration. Competition between extraneous and intrinsic was also lower for sound effects to be worked with subtitles and narration. Industry players should focus on the concept of sound effects-verbal sound information-subtitle semiotic modes with emphasis on theambient sound recording on filming for the audio split channel

Business success factors for microenterprises engaging in social commerce in Malaysia

In Malaysia, online business has become integral in daily business operations. Social commerce is an emerging trend in the online business. Social commerce employs social media as a means of communication in facilitating the sale and purchase of goods and services. Entrepreneurs saw the potential of social media to increase sales, leading to an interest in social commerce. In addition, the rapid development of social media has also led to changes in the way entrepreneurs handle their daily operations. In promoting the growth of social commerce, government provided entrepreneurship programs for entrepreneurs, such as financial aid, advisory services, and training. Yet, business failure rate, particularly among microentrepreneurs, kept increasing. This suggested a lack of business elements that should have been prioritised by online businesses. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the success factors of microenterprises that engaged in social commerce. A qualitative method was employed to ensure that robust data was collected and the research objectives were met. Purposive sampling was adopted in collecting the data. The analysis utilized thematic analysis to obtain insights into microenterprises and social commerce. The findings of this study demonstrated the success factors of microenterprises that were engaged in social commerce as part of their business expansion. The success factors framework was made up of seven important pillars: funding, financial management, marketing, management skills, technology, supplier management and government support. All these factors contributed to the microenterprises’ growth and sustainability. These factors were crucial to the success of microenterprises. They would have to be further examined and managed to ensure the microenterprises’ growth and long-term success. Microenterprises needed to prioritize each of these success factors and develop strategies to address them, especially in confronting and to flourish in Malaysia's highly competitive social commerce industry

Hubungan Pengubahsuaian Tingkah Laku Anak Autisme, Sokongan Sosial dan Penglibatan Kerja Terhadap Kelesuan Staf

This thesis examines the relationship between the modification behaviours of autistic children, social support, and work engagement toward the burnout of organisational staff (public and private) with autistic children. A total of 85 virtual questionnaires were obtained from organisations with staff with autistic children using a simple random sampling technique. The survey via Google Forms was disseminated to respondents through the social media platform. Multiple regression was used to analyse the hypotheses. The findings showed that modification behaviours of autistic children and social support had a negative and significant relationship toward the burnout of organisational staff with autistic children, while work engagement shows the opposite. Overall, the findings of this study are consistent with the recommendations of the Conservation of Resources theory and the results of previous studies. The findings also confirm the importance of organisational management to ensure that their staff with autistic children gets modified behaviour therapy for their autistic children, such as occupational therapy, speech therapy, medication and others, in intervention centres, hospitals and care centres or autism-related services. Thus, the organisation can help financially by sponsoring one or more of these therapies. Management also needs to ensure that staff gets the social support they need. Among the social support that the organisation’s management can provide is to give the staff a more flexible working time that allows them to start work late or return from work early according to their needs in certain circumstances

Meneroka pemetaan aliran nilai dalam industri penanaman padi

Rice is the primary agricultural commodity in Malaysia and a crucial factor in terms of food security, poverty reduction, and social issues. Accordingly, numerous initiatives have been implemented to increase the yield of rice crops in this country. One of the initiatives by the government is the provision of subsidy assistance, also known as Agricultural Input Assistance. Nonetheless, a statistical report from the Department of Statistics Malaysia in 2023 demonstrates that the country's rice production has steadily declined, particularly from 2015 and onwards. As a result, the study was conducted using a qualitative methodology, and a total of 46 officials from agencies associated with rice cultivation and paddy farmers were chosen as respondents to determine the difficulties associated with subsidy provision. This study investigates the extent to which the Lean methodology is applied to the administration and distribution of subsidies to farmers. Lean philosophy centres on minimizing waste by eliminating all elements that incur costs without adding value to the end customer. The Lean principle comprises five fundamental components: value, value stream, create flow, establish pull, and pursue perfection. Adhering to these principles enables organizations to streamline their operations and achieve optimal efficiency. Lean uses its own tools and methods, which must be understood to detect and eradicate waste in the organization's work processes. The data in this study is analysed with the application Atlas.ti. According to the findings, Lean practices are only used in a very general sense, and their implementation does not adhere to Lean's philosophy and principles. This study has produced a conclusive action plan with significant impact, namely Value Stream Mapping, to improve the performance of subsidy distribution so that it is more systematic and efficient. The limitations of this study and recommendations for future research are also discussed in this stud

Grouper fish feed formulation using enhanced evolutionary algorithm with fibonacci rabbit initialization and binary-standard deviation tournament selection

Fish is one of the main meals among people in many countries. Due to that, the problems of insufficient wild-caught fish and the high market demand have driven the effort for fish farming, especially for grouper since its high commercial value. However, fish feed is costly, while the nutrients’ quality needs to be prioritized. Thus, a formulation for grouper fish feed is essential involving appropriate combination of ingredients to optimize nutritional balance with minimal cost. Therefore, this research focused on feed formulation for grouper fish taking into consideration suitable 14 ingredients and 15 nutrients. A set of hard and soft constraints was involved with certain penalties given in ensuring grouper’s healthy growth. The main contribution of this research is the development of feed formulation using Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) with four variations of EA, which are Semi-Random Initialization – Binary Tournament Selection - EA (SR-BT-EA), Fibonacci Rabbit Initialization – Binary Tournament Selection - EA (FR-BT-EA), Semi-Random Initialization - Binary- Standard Deviation Tournament Selection - EA (SR-SD-EA) and Fibonacci Rabbit Initialization - Binary-Standard Deviation Tournament Selection - EA (FR-SD-EA). These variations include the enhanced SD Tournament Selection, novel FR Initialization and newly introduced Z-score expression in the fitness value function. The results show that the fitness function of the EA is able to minimize the penalty values related to weight of ingredients and nutrients’ quality. Among the four EA variations, the FR-SD-EA is the most significant formulation achieving lowest cost of RM 407.09 for a 100 kg feed with the best-so-far fitness value of 407.090 and zero penalty. Thus, this research offers a new approach of formulating the right amount of ingredients to produce a high-quality feed containing essential nutrients for the growth of grouper fish at a minimal cost. Moreover, industrial practitioners can take advantage of the flexibility of the EA methodology to readjust the bulk weight of 100 kg to user-preferred weights, with minor modifications to the EA

Higher derivative block methods of generalised steplength for the direct solution of fuzzy ordinary differential equations

Differential equations are useful in modelling various concepts and scenarios. However, when considering the initial or boundary conditions for these differential equation models, the use of fuzzy numbers is more realistic and flexible, as the parameters may vary within a certain range. Such situations are referred as unpredictable circumstances which introduce the concept of uncertainty. Thus, fuzzy derivatives and fuzzy differential equations (FDEs) are used to deal with these situations. Numerical methods are used to provide approximate solutions to differential equations, such as FDEs, in the absence of exact solutions. Conventionally, higher-order fuzzy ordinary differential equations (FODEs) are solved by first reducing the equations to their equivalent systems of first-order FODEs. Then, suitable existing numerical methods for first-order FODEs are employed to solve the resulting systems. This approach results in having more equations and thus increases the computational burden which jeopardises the accuracy of the solution. For this reason, several existing studies have developed numerical methods for the direct solution of FODEs. However, the results obtained possess accuracy that could be improved. Other issues encountered in existing studies that consider the numerical solution of FODEs include the methods being non self-starting, not solving both fuzzy initial value problems (FIVPs) and fuzzy boundary value problems (FBVPs), and the absence of a generalised form for the developed numerical methods. Therefore, to overcome these problems, this study developed more accurate higher derivative self -starting block methods with generalised steplength for the direct numerical solution of FODEs. A linear block approach using Taylor series expansion is adopted for the derivation of the block methods with the presence of two higher derivatives terms. Investigations on the order, error constant, zero-stability, consistency, convergence, and region of absolute stability of the new block methods with the presence of two higher derivatives were also conducted, and the developed new block methods satisfied all convergence properties in the fuzzy form successfully. To investigate the accuracy, the developed block methods were employed to solve both FIVPs and FBVPs considered in the literature. The numerical results confirmed the superiority of the new methods over the existing methods when solving the same test problems in terms of absolute errors. In conclusion, this study has successfully developed self -starting and efficient block methods in solving FODEs directly

Selected HRM functions, Chinese culture and employee outcomes in privately-owned smes in China

This research investigates the role of selected human resource management (HRM) functions and the influence of Chinese culture on employee outcomes in privately-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China. The research employs a regression model to analyse the relationship between HRM functions and employee outcomes using a sample of 308 respondents. The results indicated that HRM functions, such as recruitment, performance management, reward management, learning and development, and HR planning, significantly contribute to positive employee outcomes. Interestingly, the study finds that Chinese culture moderates the connection between HRM functions and employee outcomes, emphasizing the importance of cultural factors in HRM strategies. This research provides valuable insights for SMEs in China, stressing the necessity for culturally tailored HRM functions to achieve better employee outcomes

Determinants of tax compliance intention among salaried taxpayers in Klang Valley

This study aimed to analyse the determinants of tax compliance among Malaysian salaried taxpayers in Klang Valley using the extended Theory of Planned Behaviour as a theoretical framework. Tax compliance in this study focused on voluntarily tax reporting in accurate and timely tax return filing. The objectives of the study were to determine the level and relationship of attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control (PBC), tax knowledge and trust in the government towards tax compliance intention among salaried taxpayers in Klang Valley. The method of data collection used was online questionnaires. Descriptive analysis, reliability analysis, factor analysis, and multiple regression analysis were conducted using the data collected from 202 respondents chosen through random sampling. Through multiple regression analysis, the results showed that independent variables that significantly influenced the intention towards tax compliance were attitude, PBC, and trust in the government. The results also found that the tested independent variables explained 63.9% of the variation in tax compliance intention about tax reporting and filing among salaried taxpayers in Klang Valley

Factors influencing acceptance of mobile augmented reality application based on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

This study introduces a Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) app that allows women to explore, choose, and try on hijabs at their leisure. In addition, a study of perception and acceptance was also conducted among a sample of respondents who have used the app. Hijab shopping in the traditional sense requires users to come a retail shop to choose and try on the hijab. This type of shopping necessitates the shoppers' time and effort. Meanwhile, while purchasing for a hijab online, customers may only rely on the sizing chart and photographs to make their decision. These methods are not really precise or interactive enough to help buyers make the best decision. As a result, a new approach to trying on hijabs anywhere and anytime is required. This study proposes the Virtual Hijab Try-on (VHT) app, which employs MAR as the primary technology and Multimedia as the supporting technology to examine users' perceptions and acceptance based on perceived augmentation, enjoyment, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude towards use, and intention to use. The aim of this article is to assess if Augmented Reality (AR) is attractive to consumers and in which areas it can create the most value. Hence, we have sought to identify the most useful areas of AR applications, as well as factors influencing augmented reality’s attractiveness. This study has adapted a research methodology consisting of five phases from Vaishnavi and Kuechler. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was applied as the underpinning theory for this study. The study incorporates the VHT app and constructivist theory to measure user acceptance and validate the new MAR acceptance model. The results showed that all of the measurements were strongly agreed upon by the users and these reflect the high level of users’ acceptance towards the use of the VHT app. The phase starts with the planning process involving the definition of the scope of the research and the identification of the target users. It continues with the establishment of the research constraints whereby it is a systematic approach to overcome any limitations pertaining to the research. The findings revealed that users rated perceived augmentation, enjoyment, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude touse, and intention to use in the category of strongly agreed. The TAM was found to be a good theoretical tool for understanding users' acceptance of the app, based on the results of structural equation modelling. Enjoyment and perceived augmentation positively influence users’ acceptance of the app. Furthermore, we found a gap between the supply and needs of customers in terms of types of AR application offered on the market. We identified advantages and disadvantages of AR applications over their traditional counterparts impacting its adoption besides Enjoyment and perceived augmentation positively influence users’ acceptance of the app. The study's key contribution is the research model which proves the vigorous establishment of the TAM. The results indicate that the TAM is a viable model for understanding users' acceptance of a technology like the VHT app. Besides that, enjoyment and perceived augmentation have positive influence on users’ acceptance of the VHT app. Thus, when designing and developing try-on app, factors that include enjoyment and perceived augmentation have to be incorporated into the app which are crucial to improve the acceptance of the tool