Intellectual Capital: a Focus on Human Capital Reporting Practices of Top Malaysian Listed Companies

This paper aims to examine the extent of human capital (HC) reporting among top Malaysian companies and introduce an HC reporting guideline that can be used by Malaysian companies and regulator. It begins by developing the HC framework based on previous intellectual capital (IC) frameworks. This framework is then used to examine each of the top 100 Malaysian companies listed on the Bursa Malaysia in year 2008. Using the content analysis method, it reviews the annual reports of these companies to determine the extent of HC reporting. The findings of this paper highlight the need for the development of IC framework particularly on HC. HC differences were also identified between Malaysia and other countries such as Sri Lanka and Australia, and it is argued that these differences can be attributed to the social, economic, and political factors

A comparative study of porous support from Sayong and Kankara clay

A porous supports were fabricated from Sayong ball clay and Kankara clay for wastewater treatment application using simple compaction method. The influence of sintering temperature (900-1200 °C) and starch addition (5-30 wt%) on the physical properties and flexural strength of the porous support were studied. Thermo-gravimetric analysis, particle size distribution, microstructure, phase, porosimetry analysis and strength analysis were studied to characterize the porous supports. The apparent porosity and pore diameter of Kankara porous support (48-55%; 6.62nm) was found to be higher than that of Sayong porous support (0.07-40%; 5.11nm). In contrast, the bulk density of Sayong porous support (1.15-1.93g/cm3) was higher than that of Kankara porous support (1.08-1.25g/cm3). However, the flexural strength of Kankara porous support (34-3MPa) shows sharp decrease compared with Sayong porous support (21-9MPa). This shows that Sayong porous support has better physical properties and flexural strength compared with Kankara porous support. Starch has been a good pore former in fabrication of the ceramic membrane. Sintering temperature and starch content have strong influence on the physical and flexural strength of the porous support. Therefore, the properties of the porous support can be varied by controlling the sintering temperature and starch content

Compatibility of Porous Chitosan Scaffold with the Attachment and Proliferation of human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells In Vitro

Adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) have potential applications in the repair and regeneration of various tissues and organs. The use of various scaffold materials as an excellent template for mimicking the extracellular matrix to induce the attachment and proliferation of different cell types has always been of interest in the field of tissue engineering because ideal biomaterials are in great demand. Chitosan, a marine polysaccharide, have wide clinical applications and it acts as a promising scaffold for cell migration and proliferation. ASCs, with their multi-differentiation potential, and chitosan, with its great biocompatibility with ASCs, were investigated in the present study. ASCs were isolated and were characterized by two different methods: immunocytochemistry and flow cytometry, using the mesenchymal stem cell markers CD90, CD105, CD73 and CD29. The ASCs were then induced to differentiate into adipogenic, osteogenic and chondrogenic lineages. These ASCs were incorporated into a porous chitosan scaffold (PCS), and their structural morphology was studied using a scanning electron microscope and hematoxylin and eosin staining. The proliferation rate of the ASCs on the PCS was assessed using a PrestoBlue viability assay. The results indicated that the PCS provides an excellent template for the adhesion and proliferation of ASCs. Thus, this study revealed that PCS is a promising biomaterial for inducing the proliferation of ASCs, which could lead to successful tissue reconstruction in the field of tissue engineering

Determining the ultrasound time of response using FPGA-based electronics read-out

This paper presents a system to measure accurate value of time of response (TOR) for ultrasound transducer pairs based on Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA). In the experiment, the transmitter is set to transmit the pulse to the target object and the reflected signal is then captured by the receiver. The time taken for the signal to travel back to the receiver is measured by TOR. FPGA technology and data acquisition system were used to generate a pulse at the transmitter site. The pulse is projected directly to the targeted object and the signal that has been reflected from the object will be captured three times by the receiver. The results show that the TOR value obtained can be calculated accurately. The best TOR found in this study is the signal capture 1 with the lowest percentage error of 0.819%

The level of adoption of green supply chain management and green innovation in Malaysian manufacturing industries

Recently, corporate environmental practice such as Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) and green innovation appears as a novel organized environmental practice for manufacturing companies to handle the increasing environmental issues. The aim of this paper is to assess the level of adoption of GSCM and green innovation practices. A total of 123 responses from Malaysian manufacturing companies were collected from mail questionnaire. The results showed Malaysian manufacturing companies are in trial adoption stage for both GSCM practices and green innovation. Internal environmental management practice of GSCM practices are relatively high adopted in Malaysian manufacturing organisation. Meanwhile, most of all green innovation practices are heavily implemented in Malaysian manufacturing companies. This paper empirically attempts to provide understanding and new insights for sustainability management area where GSCM and green innovation practices are important to improve organisational environmental performance, which can directly offer great benefits for both researchers and practitioners

Proliferation and Differentiation of Human Hair Follicle Stem Cells on Chitosan-Skin Engineered Template in Vitro

Hair follicles repeatedly regress and reconstitute themselves, suggesting the presence of intrinsic tissue stem cells. Among the unique characteristics of adult stem cells isolated from hair follicles is their ability to differentiate into keratinocytes. Study on chitosan skin-engineered templates (SETs) as scaffolds for the proliferation of human fibroblasts have shown the promise of SETs in facilitating skin cell growth in three-dimensional culture. High proliferation in three-dimensional culture using human cells allows the researcher to extensively evaluate the cultivation of desirable cell types on chitosan SETs. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the in vitro attachment, proliferation and differentiation of hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) on a chitosan SETs. HFSCs were isolated from human scalp tissues using collagenase type I prior to propagation in supplemented CnT-07 media. The phenotype of the HFSCs was verified using the markers keratin-15 (K15) and CD200, as detected by immunocytochemical staining. The attachment and proliferation of the HFSCs on the chitosan SETs were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), an alamar blue assay and a live/dead assay. Subsequently, the HFSCs were differentiated using CnT-2D differentiation media. The cells’ differentiation was verified using the markers involucrin and keratin-6 (K6), as detected by immunofluorescence staining. The HFSCs were successfully isolated, proliferated and differentiated according to staining positivity and microscopy imaging. HFSCs are able to proliferate and directly differentiate into keratinocytes on a chitosan SETs, which may facilitate their use in regenerative medicine

Understanding stakeholder pressures in adopting environmental management practices based on stakeholder theory: a review

The concept of green business is generated from the emerging of environmental pressures that mainly focused on eliminating negative environmental impacts throughout companies’ activities. This purpose of this paper is to review and provide understanding on the stakeholder pressures based on stakeholder theory in driving organization to implement any environmental management practices such as green supply chain management and green innovation. This paper concludes by suggesting the stakeholder theory can be as an underlying theory in supporting the connection between the implementation of an environmental management practices and organizational performance

The study on the micro-pits location on the extrusion die surface

The present research concerns study of the effects of micro-pits arrays formed on the taper die by experimental verification using. A series of taper die with micro-pits with different location at existence of die were design. A taper without micro-pits was used as a reference. The lubricant is additive free paraffinic mineral oil. P2 is a low viscosity lubricant while P3 is a high viscosity lubricant. The experimental results are focusing on the extrusion load, billet surface roughness, and grid pattern observation. From the result, the micro-pits array affected on surface roughness if the lubricant viscosity is higher but the extrusion load also become higher