Plasma sprayed titanium coatings with/without a shroud

Abstract: Titanium coatings were deposited by plasma spraying with and without a shroud. The titanium coatings were then assessed by scanning electron microscopy. A comparison in microstructure between titanium coatings with and without the shroud was carried out. The results showed that the shroud played an important role in protecting the titanium particles from oxidation. The presence of the shroud led to a reduction in coating porosity. The reduction in air entrainment with t he shroud resulted in better heating of the particles, and an enhanced microstructure with lower porosity in the shrouded titanium coatings were observed compared to the air plasma sprayed counterpart

Critical Success Factors (CFSs) Implementation Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) Into Building Information Modelling (BIM) Application Through Malaysian Government Healthcare Projects

The healthcare industry in Malaysia is proving to be one of the most competitive industries today. The sector is expected to grow to 127 billion ringgit (US$30 billion) by 2027, fuelled by increasing demand for healthcare services from an aging population, rising affluence, and increasing life expectancy. An advanced support system is required to ensure the deliverable and have a significant impact on national growth. One commonly used framework to support such crucial decisions in public projects and policies is Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA). Integration of more support systems such as CBA and Building Information Modelling (BIM) will further enhance government construction project delivery. The objective of this research was to analyse critical success factors toward the integration of CBA and BIM implementation in Malaysian government healthcare facility projects. The outlined research objective aimed to enhance the integration of CBA within BIM implementation. A mixed-methods approach had been selected to collect the data and obtain the desired information. Via this mixed method, a questionnaire survey was conducted first, followed by the interview session. 90 numbers of respondents (populations) registered via the MYBIM Resources Network List (MyBIM CIDB), 74 numbers of respondents were set as a sampling set, and five (5) random respondents who participated in the early questionnaire survey were then selected to be further interviewed. The most CSFs quoted by the respondents are “peoples” via the interview and training and development via a questionnaire survey. This finding, comparatively, looks almost similar to what was found by previous research done in Hong Kong and in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's construction industry. Since CBA and BIM are the most important tools in construction and its deliverables, it is expected that the government, via their technical agencies, will properly and strictly enforce their current policies, which will be followed by all the players in the construction industry. In addition, more training should be provided to equip our construction industry professionals with the latest technology regarding CBA and BIM

Design of internet-related courses for it professionals

With the emergence of E-commerce, the Internet-related activities have been escalated for the past two years in Hong Kong. As a result of this, there is an increasing demand on the IT professionals who are able to design, develop, and support the Web businesses. However, there are a few professional courses available in these areas to re-train the existing IT professionals. Although, e-commerce or related programmes are being offered by universities in Hong Kong, it needs to take a couple of years before the graduates are released to the market. There is an immediate need to design and offer related courses to meet the community need. This paper presents course design philosophy on the Internet-related certificate courses that are being offered jointly by the Division of Computer Studies and the School of Professional and Continuing Education, City University of Hong Kong. The paper covers the practicality on the course contents in order to meet the diversified skill sets. It addresses the balance between technical substances and commercial skills. These include the knowledge, skills and proficiency on e-commerce, programming, database design, IT security, legal issues, technical support, e-entertainment, web design involving multi-media technology etc. The strengths and weakness of these courses, students’ behaviours, and the future direction are also discussed in this paper

Designing a business model for SMEs global expansion: the case of WET in Hong Kong

Based on findings from Waste and Environmental Technologies Ltd. (WET) where I worked as director, this report demonstrates how WET as a Hong Kong-based small-medium enterprise (SME) succeeded to expand globally and build its international presence by establishing satellite operations, wherever the opportunity arises. It addresses internationalisation of expertise and technology by looking into the development of a patented invention, namely the WetSep system, to meet the needs of customers worldwide, supported by case studies of its success and failures in entering new markets. The major focus of the whole report can be categorised into four phases, namely review of existing business model and marketing strategy; case studies in Hong Kong, Australia and selected other countries from WET’s twenty years of operation; analysis of the case studies; and development of a future internationalisation strategy. I provided a detailed analysis of the business model and marketing strategy adopted for the long-term internationalisation for WET. My findings are that the 4 Is – Innovation (uniqueness and creative product of the business), Incubation, Intellectual Property and Integration (of technology) – are crucial in promoting the success of SMEs in internationalisation and business operation. Once a new idea is raised, the company should provide facilities and a good system to incubate and create solid ground for the development of the new idea. Moreover, key resources, key activities, key partners and market characteristics are important attributes for internationalisation. WET had been benefited from International Soft Landing Programme in Sydney Australia where WET’s 4 Is principle was well acknowledged for entering the programme. To conclude, I recommend that other SMEs follow the 4 Is principle when planning to expand their business internationally and always be open to changes. This Research Project Report hopes to prompt other SMEs to adopt a similar business approach based on WET’s 4 Is principle and internationalisation strategy