Exploring mobile 4G adoption in Malaysia

The purpose of this paper is to determine the main factors affecting mobile 4 G service for adoption. The main reason to stimulate the present study was the significantly low rate of using 4G service among mobile users in Malaysia where unlike many other countries the rate of this usage runs in opposite way. Thanks to increasing advances in wireless communications devices, the number of mobile users has growingly increased and as a result the development of mobile commerce (m-commerce) has been accelerated. The research attempts to examine the factors predicting consumer intention for m-4 G adoption in Malaysia. For the purpose of the research, the diffusion of innovation model and some other variables are integrated including awareness, affordability, accessibility and acceptability. The research findings revealed that in view of consumers, acceptability, accessibility, affordability seem more significant than awareness in regard with 4G adoption. Identifying the above factors will drive telecom operators to provide more successful 4G services to enhance the rate of 4G service adoption

The importance of design characteristics in walking from student's perspective: a case study in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Walking is a common form of physical activity, which has a lot of both social and recreational impacts. It is studied as a way of achieving sustainability. Many researchers recommend that walking can increase mental and physical health. Spectators of new urbanism recommend that the good design will encourage walking. There are several characteristics for designing walkable communities, which were frequently described in researches by many authors. In this paper, the four criteria noticed for making walkable university campus include connectivity, accessibility, safety/security and comfort. These criteria have been assessed by gathering survey in the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia to find out if these criteria can cause or affect walkability in university campus and it has been supported by previous studies. The result of the survey shows that these criteria are important from students’ perspective as high numbers of the students consider these characters as important for walking activity. The conclusion is to achieve walkable university campus as it will be necessary to evaluate present walking conditions, research walking behavior in different settings and consider these four criteria in designing campus for improving walking condition

Effect of amphoteric and cationic polyacrylamide on the structural and strength properties of coir paper

This study explores the benefits of using Amphoteric PAM (aPAM) and Cationic PAM (cPAM) as a dry strength agent in coir based paper. The aPAM and cPAM were incorporated to coir pulp slurry in different dosages (0.5% - 2.0%) during stock preparation. Industrial grade of potassium aluminum sulfate (alum) was used for all sets handsheet. For each treatment, 12 handsheets, each having basis weight of 120 g/m2 were made. The results showed that the utilization of cPAM had better drainage compared to the aPAM for all treatment. In general, the apparent density and strength properties were significantly affected by the addition of dry strength agents. The enhancing effect of aPAM on strength properties of coir paper was much higher than using cPAM except for ring crush test (RCT) and concora medium test (CMT)

Development of polymer composites using modified, high-structural integrity graphene platelets

Previous studies on polymer/graphene composites have mainly utilized either reduced graphene oxide or graphite nanoplatelets of over 10 nm in thickness. In this study we covalently modified 3-nm thick graphene platelets (GnPs) by the reaction between the GnPs’ epoxide groups and the end-amine groups of a commercial long-chain surfactant (Mw = 2000), compounded the modified GnPs (m-GnPs) with a model polymer epoxy, and investigated the structure and properties of both m-GnPs and their epoxy composites. A low Raman ID/IG ratio of 0.13 was found for m-GnPs corresponding to high structural integ-rity. A percolation threshold of electrical conductivity was observed at 0.32 vol% m-GnPs, and the 0.98 vol% m-GnPs improved the Young’s modulus, fracture energy release rate and glass transition tem-perature of epoxy by 14%, 387% and 13%, respectively. These significantly improved properties are cred-ited to: (i) the low Raman ID/IG ratio of GnPs, maximizing the structural integrity and thus conductivity, stiffness and strength inherited from its sister graphene, (ii) the low thickness of GnPs, minimizing the damaging effect of the poor through-plane mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of graphene,(iii) the high-molecular weight surfactant, leading to uniformly dispersed GnPs in the matrix, and (iv) a covalently bonded interface between m-GnPs and matrix, more effectively transferring load/electron across interface

Vitamin D3-loaded electrospun cellulose acetate/polycaprolactone nanofibers: Characterization, in-vitro drug release and cytotoxicity studies

Vitamin D deficiency is nowa global health problem; despite several drug delivery systems for carrying vitaminD due to low bioavailability and loss bioactivity. Developing a new drug delivery system to deliver vitamin D3 is a strong incentive in the current study. Hence, an implantable drug delivery system (IDDS) was developed from the electrospun cellulose acetate (CA) and ε-polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibrous membrane, in which the core of implants consists of vitamin D3-loaded CA nanofiber (CAVD) and enclosed in a thin layer of the PCL membrane (CAVD/PCL). CA nanofibrousmat loadedwith vitaminD3 at the concentrations of 6, 12, and 20% (w/w) of vitamin D3 were produced using electrospinning. The smooth and bead-free fibers with diameters ranged from 324 to 428 nm were obtained. The fiber diameters increased with an increase in vitamin D3 content. The controlled drug release profile was observed over 30-days, which fit with the zero-order model (R2 > 0.96) in the first stage. The mechanical properties of IDDS were improved. Young's modulus and tensile strength of CAVD/PCL (dry) were161 ± 14 and 13.07 ± 2.5 MPa, respectively. CA and PCL nanofibers are non-cytotoxic based on the results of the in-vitro cytotoxicity studies. This study can further broaden in-vivo study and provide a reference for developing a new IDDS to carry vitamin D3 in the future

Critical powder loading and the rheology of nanosized cemented carbide with titanium carbide as grain growth inhibitor for injection molding

The purpose of this paper is to determine the critical powder loading of WC-Co and to study the effect of TiC powder on the rheological behavior of MIM feedstock. WC-TiC-6Co metal powder was taken as raw material. 60% (mass fraction) palm stearin and 40% low density polyethylene were employed as binders to prepare injection feedstock. Three feedstocks were prepared at different TiC % loadings of 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0 (by weight). A homogeneous metal powders is formed by using ball mill mixer and mixed together with binder system by using Brabender mixer. Based on the result obtained, it was concluded that feedstock with 0.75 wt. % TiC powder show a good pseudo-plastic behavior within acceptable ranges in MIM

The University Development Planning From The Aspects Of Accessibility And Circulation : A Comparative Study Of Four Malaysian Universities

The purpose of this research is to review the existing university campus planning development in Malaysia and to identify the advantages and the disadvantages of every planning in order to create a sustainable campus. Case study method has been used in this research. This research was confined to the campus of public institutions of higher learning and campus physical planning only. There are four institutions that have been selected, which are Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). The techniques used are the survey form, behavioral observation and visual research. Data obtained were compared between research campus.This research found out that there are a lot of disadvantages arising because of the existing planning from accessibility, circulation, building design, landscape design as well as lightning and security aspect. This paper is part of the study and will be discussing on two main aspects which are accessibility and circulation

The Performance of Academic Libraries: A Case Study at Research University (Rus) In Malaysia

The academic library at the Research University should show quality performance The performance of an academic library can be measured using several elements i e number of books on the shelves the treatment given by the staff the library collection is up-to-date accurate information that can shared by the staff accessibility to the internet or its online database This study is conducted to examine the service quality performance of the academic library at four 4 research universities using five 5 SERVQUAL dimensions like the library as a place its collection its access to information reliability and empathy Four 4 research universities in Malaysia were chosen to be the sample for this study namely Universiti Malaya UM Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia UKM Universiti Sains Malaysia USM and Universiti Putra Malaysia UPM The five SERVQUAL dimensions used in this study show a significant positive relationship with the performance of the academic library and this result are in line with the previous researches done by Collen Fred 2001 Junaida Aishah Mahadir Sharunizam Siti Hajjar Afida 2011 Narit Haruki 2003 and Ashok Kumar 2007 The essential lesson that all academic libraries in Malaysia can learn from this study is the academic libraries should adapt the five SERVQUAL dimensions in their daily services to enhance their performance the loyalty and the satisfaction of their user

PWDs accessibility audit: commercial complexes, Klang Valley, Malaysia / Ahmad Ezanee Hashim … [et al.]

Barriers may restrict the mobility of people with disabilities (PWDs) in a building. This research identifies the effectiveness of accessibility in commercial complexes in the Klang valley in the state of Selangor Malaysia. Data were based from semi structured interviews and site audit with four groups of respondents of different type of disability. The finding reveals it is mandatory requirements to provide user friendly accessibility within and outside buildings as there are weaknesses found such as poor thought out solution, poor quality materials, limited guidelines and weak enforcement by the relevant authorities. The findings highlighted could be a benchmark for PWDs building industry in developing a user friendly and accessible building environment in commercial complexes