Transmission losses cost allocation in restructed electricity market environment

During these recent decades, the restructuring system of electricity market has been taken places around the whole world. Due to the restructuring (deregulation), the electrical power system has been divided into three separates categories according to the function. First stage of power system is the generation companies (GENCOs), followed by transmission companies (TRANSCOs) and distribution companies (DISCOs). The competitive environment will be handling by a non-profit entity, independent system operator (ISO) that functioning as the system securities that have to make sure that the power system continues to operate in a stable and economical manner. However, restructuring system can give effect during the energy transmission. One of the transmission issues is regarding the power losses. To overcome the losses, generators must generate more power. The issue regarding the transmission losses in deregulated system is how to allocate it to the user and charge them in fair ways as in for instance the pool trading model, it is hard to trace the power contribution and losses of each user in transmission line. In addition, the users didn’t want to pay the losses, it means that the ISO have to responsible for the losses and it will be unfair to put the responsible to ISO alone. Therefore, in this project, the allocation of transmission losses and loss cost methods which are the pro-rata and proportional sharing method will be investigated. Comparison between those methods will be done in order to identify which types of method that reflect an efficient and fair way to distribute the cost of the transmission losses to the user. These chosen methods will be tested on IEEE bus system

Empirical investigation on satisfaction and service quality level of radical process change implementation

The paper reviews the literature related to the implementation of radical process changes in higher education (HE) environment. Several issues and implementation results related to radical process change in HEIs, particularly business process reengineering (BPR), are being investigated. Furthermore, as the implementation of process change would have an impact in HEIs,specifically on service quality and customer satisfaction, this paper discusses both concepts. A survey has been developed to assess the students’ satisfaction of the radical process change implemented in one of the HEIs, namely HEI-A which was selected as a case study. The results indicate some significant differences among groups for both satisfaction and service quality measured.The paper provides a framework for future research to develop a metric for measuring satisfaction and service quality level in HEIs. This research contributes to studies of BPR in HE context, by focusing on the key processes performance

Equity in health care financing: The case of Malaysia

Background: Equitable financing is a key objective of health care systems. Its importance is evidenced in policy documents, policy statements, the work of health economists and policy analysts. The conventional categorisations of finance sources for health care are taxation, social health insurance, private health insurance and out-of-pocket payments. There are nonetheless increasing variations in the finance sources used to fund health care. An understanding of the equity implications would help policy makers in achieving equitable financing. Objective: The primary purpose of this paper was to comprehensively assess the equity of health care financing in Malaysia, which represents a new country context for the quantitative techniques used. The paper evaluated each of the five financing sources (direct taxes, indirect taxes, contributions to Employee Provident Fund and Social Security Organization, private insurance and out-of-pocket payments) independently, and subsequently by combined the financing sources to evaluate the whole financing system. Methods: Cross-sectional analyses were performed on the Household Expenditure Survey Malaysia 1998/99, using Stata statistical software package. In order to assess inequality, progressivity of each finance sources and the whole financing system was measured by Kakwani's progressivity index. Results: Results showed that Malaysia's predominantly tax-financed system was slightly progressive with a Kakwani's progressivity index of 0.186. The net progressive effect was produced by four progressive finance sources (in the decreasing order of direct taxes, private insurance premiums, out-of-pocket payments, contributions to EPF and SOCSO) and a regressive finance source (indirect taxes). Conclusion: Malaysia's two tier health system, of a heavily subsidised public sector and a user charged private sector, has produced a progressive health financing system. The case of Malaysia exemplifies that policy makers can gain an in depth understanding of the equity impact, in order to help shape health financing strategies for the nation

Work-related teaching and learning methods to foster generic skills in Higher Education. An Italian experience

open5siWithin the framework of modernisation of higher education systems in Europe, universities are invited to go beyond a knowledge-based perspective focused on disciplinary approaches and to be more concentrated on encouraging generic skills to deal with today’s complex and unpredictable career paths. The literature about Work-Related Learning and Work-Integrated Learning offers evidence to research regarding contributions of work-related experiences to the development of generic skills. The first part of the article presents a literature review carried out following the matching among three main keywords: work-related learning, generic skills, and higher education. Resources focused on the integration/teaching of generic skills in formal curriculum or in co-curriculum work-related activities and they were collected in order to explore the link between work-related learning in higher education and the development of generic skills. The focus is to identify valuable considerations to improve teaching strategies and methods. The second part presents an Italian work-related experience developed within the course of “Organizational Intervention Research Methods,” which involved 22 master’s degree students. The work-related assignment will be described in addition to the content analysis process of the 22 collected texts and the findings about the development of generic skills.openDaniela, Frison; Concetta, Tino; Jonathan, W., Tyner; Monica, FedeliFrison, Daniela; Tino, Concetta; Jonathan, W.; Tyner, ; Fedeli, Monic

Trade and Investment Linkages in Higher Education Services in Malaysia

This study aims to explore the trade and investment links in private higher education in Malaysia. Specifically, the study assesses whether, and if so, how trade and investment policies in general, and in the education sector in particular, are coordinated at the national level.Trade and Investment, Education Services,Mode 1,Malaysia

Case Study On Quality Management System (Quality Assurance and Quality Control) In Construction Projects

In a project or a process of the making of a product, quality is always a priority. In a building construction or infrastructure, the quality is also the main interest of the investor or owners of the properties. There are some methodology used to determine the quality of the product which has been enact in the ISO 9000 as a quality guidelines and management. In the process of making a product, there are Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC). This two (2) things are the documentation used in order to ensure the quality of the product. QA is a tool or documentation used to plan a corrective method or plan to avoid defects while QC is the process or activity to ensure that the product meets the QA standards. However, these two things are being carried out differently by each company. Some company may have only 5-6 forms in order to achieve their target and some company uses more than 10 different forms to achieve their standards. These forms usually proposed by the contractors but some has been prepared by the consultant or owner itself. In this case study, the importance of QA/QC will be determine and the causes of poor QA/QC management or evaluation or standardization will be determine by evaluation from the questionnaire and an interview to the selected body or company. This is to determine the ability of our local company in producing products with proper standards

Management quality management processes in a naval ship construction company: A qualitative case analysis

This industrial research study investigates the challenges encountered in the quality management implementation in a naval ship construction and maintenance company. This study will provide a proper view of the work completed in the process of ship construction and maintenance, especially in the Quality Department and will recommend improvements in quality, particularly in the building of a ship. Specifically, it aims to deeply examine the application of quality management knowledge and tools in the process-based work inspection planning, work monitoring activities and record-keeping information management. Additionally, the role of the Quality Department in the ship construction projects has been the main focus of this research study. In achieving the objectives, this case study has applied the qualitative approach which involved activities such as interviewing the focus group especially in Quality Department, observing the work-related activities that involve with quality work inspection process and reviewing quality-related documentation base on the ship construction work report and quality work inspection activities. The results of the three approaches were then triangulated and analysed by using Nvivo sohare for identification of relevant themes that normally use by qualitative researcher. The study has revealed the importance of team work and high understanding among various departments in managing the inspection planning and work-related information. It has identified the issues that had occurred in during the research, provided an analysis that can benefit the company and contributed to academic knowledge and also enhance the company's vision and mission. Furthermore, with proper improvement activities aligned with the actual work process will also result in higher productivity and quality of work processes as well as reducing the difficulties and problems encountered in the implementation of the quality management of this company

Electronic government procurement adoption behavior amongst Malaysian SMEs

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between a model of electronic procurement (e-procurement) adoption behavior and the level of Government e-procurement adoption amongst Small Medium Enterprise (SME) in Malaysia. Data was collected through questionnaires that were distributed to SME selected randomly in all SME in Malaysia.The data were analyzed using factor analysis, reliability analysis, independent-sample t-test, descriptive statistics, Pearson Correlation and multiple regressions. Regression results reveals that ‘power’, ‘trust’ and ‘value’ have a positive relationship with the level of e-procurement adoption amongst SME in Malaysia.All dimensions, namely; the power of supplier, power of procurement, trust on supplier, trust on information technology, value of implementation system efficiency and value of cost efficiency were also correlated with the level of e-procurement adoption amongst SME. Past studies on e-procurement are beset by problems of buyer-seller relationship perspective.In addition, these studies are skewed towards Government-SME relationship perspective which the Government possesses more power than SME and provide a better incentive to educate and influence SME to adopt e-procurement.In investigation the relationship between a model of e-procurement adoption behavior and the level of Government e-procurement adoption amongst SME in Malaysia, this study also tries to provides recommendation to Malaysian government for improving the level of e-procurement adoption amongst SME

MBNQA criteria in education: Assigning weights from a Malaysian perspective and proposition of an alternative evaluation scheme

In order to improve quality and productivity among American companies, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) was launched by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under the Department of Commerce of US government in 1987. Over the years, the award has been proved to be effective in improving companies’ market share, customer satisfaction, employee morals and also profitability. MBNQA has been a ‘role model’ in developing national quality award for many other countries in the world. Furthermore, for organizational self-assessment, the criteria framework of MBNQA has been in use throughout the world. Presently, the award is offered in three categories: Business, Education, and Health-care. The present paper is concerned with MBNQA in Education. NIST has developed a comprehensive set of criteria to be fulfilled in order to be eligible to win the award. However, in the existing literature, it is not clear how the weights are assigned to the criteria and subcriteria. The present paper uses analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to reassign criteria weights from a Malaysian perspective. Furthermore, the paper points out the fallacy of the present evaluation scheme and proposes an alternative one based upon the absolute measurement procedure of AHP. The modified scheme is expected to enhance the fairness in evaluation of the award aspirants. The paper also shares the experiences gathered in data collection using AHP.Malcolm Baldrige national quality award, total quality management, analytic hierarchy process, evaluation

Total Quality Management Enablers for SMEs: A Study of Malaysian Companies

This study was designed to identify the enablersof successful TQM implementation by Malaysian SMEbusinesses. The study is importance due to the facts thatSMEs are left behind in TQM implementation as compareto large organizations. The survey questionnairedistributed to 500 Malaysian small businesses and 153responded which contribute to 30.6% response rate. Theaim of this survey was to gain a general understanding ofTQM implementation and to identify the enablers fromthe respective respondents. The study investigated andidentified the enablers of TQM implementation that arecontributing to the SMEs performance