The value of sales forecasting for firms with high strategic adaptation ability : a case study in the automotive industry / Faizal Mohamed Yusof

The purpose of this study is to delineate and signify the value of sales forecasting by examining the relationship between strategic adaptation ability and sales forecasting management. In doing so, this study also addressec an on-going debate on whether there should be ‘less or more’ forecasting in a competitive and volatile market environment. In addressing this gap, UMW Toyota (UMWT), an automotive firm with high strategic adaptation ability was identified for the study. This study employs a mixed-methods case study approach which is predominantly qualitative. A quantitative strategic adaptation framework based on Eunni et al. (2005) provides the context for resulting organizational adaptation capability of UMWT. Data were collected from Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) and companies commission of Malaysia (CCM). The sales Forecasting Benchmarking Model (SFBM) from mentzer and Moon (2005) offers a framework to qualitatively analyse the sales forecasting management of UMWT

Vesicles and lamella: outcome of the changing formation path of a sodium N-lauroylsarcosinate hydrate/1-decanol/water system

Vesicles are closed bilayers that enclose a part of the continuous phase inside the core. In spherical shape, they attain the minimum free energy state. Conversely, lamella with maximum free energy remain in planer bilayer shape in the colloidal dispersion. Even with the same amphiphile concentration the colloidal structures depend on different parameters, many of these already addressed in different reports. However, the effect of mixing procedure as a formation path is unidentified. Here we reported water in 1-decanol and 1-decanol in water; these two different mixing procedures yield vesicles and lamella at the same point of the phase diagram of a sodium N-lauroylsarcosinate hydrate/1-decanol/water system. It was found that the favorable and unfavorable contact of water with the weak tertiary ammonium cation in amino-acid head-group plays the crucial role in this process. Moreover, this weak cationic property of this amphoteric surfactant can be exploited to carry DNA for gene therapy with a nontoxic system instead of cationic

Adsorption Studies Of Heavy Metals On Activated Carbon Prepared From Agricultural Waste

Commercially available activated carbon (AC) is still considered expensive due to the use of non-renewable and relatively expensive starting material such as bituminous coal. Therefore, this study investigates the potential use of agricultural waste such as rubber seed coat (RSC) and corncob (CC) that available in Malaysia, as the precursor for the preparation of AC which can be applied for the removal of two types of heavy metal, which are Cu (II) and Zn (II) from aqueous solution. Physiochemical activation consisting of potassium hydroxide (KOH) impregnation plus carbon dioxide (CO2) gasification was used to prepare the ACs. The optimum preparation conditions of RSCAC-CU were found at activation temperature of 793 °C, activation time of 1h and KOH impregnation ratio (IR) of 2.46. As for RSCAC-ZN, the optimum preparation conditions were at activation temperature of 797 °C, activation time of 1h and IR of 2.61. Meanwhile, the optimum preparation conditions of CCAC-CU were found at activation temperature of 762 °C, activation time of 2.7h and IR of 3.25. For CCAC-ZN, the optimum preparation conditions were at activation temperature of 768 °C, activation time of 3h and IR of 3.5. All the activated carbons prepared were high BET surface area (>500 m2/g) and pore volume (>0.41 m3/g). RSCAC and CCAC demonstrated homogeneous and heterogeneous type pore structures, respectively. The effects of adsorbate initial concentration (10-100 mg/L), contact time, solution temperature (30-60 °C), solution pH (2-6), isotherms and kinetics of the adsorption systems were evaluated through batch adsorption test. The Cu (II) and Zn (II) adsorption uptakes increased with increasing initial concentration and optimum contact time. Adsorptions of Cu (II) and Zn (II) on all ACs were best fitted by the Freundlich isotherm model. Adsorption kinetics of Cu (II) and Zn (II) followed pseudo-second-order on all the ACs. Fixed bed study showed that the exhaustion period for Zn (II) was greater than Cu (II) and the increase in bed heights resulted in higher exhaustion period

Pilihan Raya dalam politik Kelantan 1990 - 2013: antara parti, pemimpin dan isu

Politik dan pilihan raya Kelantan sering kali dianggap umum sebagai sebuah fenomena politik yang unik. Malah terdapat beberapa usaha untuk memahami keunikan itu, tetapi akhir mereka memerihalkan bahawa politik Kelantan sememangnya unik. Pemahaman umum bahawa politik negeri itu adalah unik adalah kerana di saat negeri-negeri lain di Semenanjung Malaysia secara konsisten, sebelum Pilihan Raya Umum (PRU) 2008 mengundi Barisan Nasional (BN), pengundi di Kelantan berterusan mengundi Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) sebagai kerajaan negeri khasnya sejak PRU 1990. Makalah ini dinukilkan dengan tujuan yang sederhana, dalam mengkaji dan membongkar keunikan politik pilihan raya di Kelantan. Berdasarkan analisis data-data dari SPR dan beberapa temubual, kawasan Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) dan kawasan parlimen Kelantan telah dibahagikan kepada tiga kategori, iaitu kawasan kubu kuat PAS, kawasan BN dan kawasan pengundian berubah-ubah. Selepas itu pengkaji mengidentikasi corak pengundian pengundi di kawasan-kawasan itu berdasarkan teori pengundian (perilaku pengundi) yang terpilih. Bagi melihat kekuatan perilaku pengundi itu, maka perbandingan (dan ujian) dibuat di antara kawasan-kawasan mengundi di dalam kategori itu dan juga keputusan-keputusan yang direkodkan dalam pilhanraya-pilihanraya yang lepas. Namun, atas kekangan masa dan sumber, data perbandingan yang dapat digunapakai, dan fokus kajian hanyalah tertumpu dari PRU 1990 ke PRU 2013

TRANSTERSTERFICATION OF JATROPHA CURCAS OIL RADIATED WITH THE MICROWAVE

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Incidental radiological finding of charm needles in the hip region: A potential surgical precaution.

We report an unusual incidental radiographic finding of this 71 year old Malay lady who suffered a closed neck of femur fracture due a fall at home which had undergone total hip replacement at our establishment .This is one of the only papers showing incidental occurrence of susuk or charm needles in hip region in orthopaedic field

Residential satisfaction in military family housing

Military family housing is a different yet important form of residential property asset in Malaysia. It is common that military family housing were found to be in dissatisfactory conditions by the governmemet financial auditor. Residential satisfaction has been adopted in many research as a tool to assess housing inadequacies and advise housing policy improvements. However, studies in residential satisfaction for military family housing are scarce, in Malaysia there is none. Therefore this research explores the concept residential satisfaction in a military family housing complex known as Desa Setia Wira in Kuala Lumpur. This housing complex had with numerous problems during the construction phase. The focus of the research was to find the variables that affected the resident satisfaction and to understand the problems using the concepts residential satisfaction. Data obtained from 102 residents whom responded to an open ended questionaire survey were analysed using content analysis and coding. Data set of 164 problems were uncovered. Analysis using contextual coding, axial coding and selective coding processes revealed that the problems can be categorised into 19 causes of the problems, 15 categories of the problems and finally the 4 themes. In final, representive diagram of the overall contextual problems were presented. The key implication of this study is that through the identifications of the problems in the residential environment, future improvements efforts will be better guided. This research also opens up the path to future studies in Desa Setia Wira and other military family housing in Malaysia as well as enriching the literatures in the world relating to residential satisfaction in military family housing

Prevalence of NS1 Dengue Antigen among Blood Donors In Perak and Penang

Virus denggi boleh berjangkit melalui pemindahan darah daripada penderma darah yang telah dijangkiti kepada penerima. Di Malaysia, peningkatan kes jangkitan denggi boleh menyumbang kepada kewujudan penderma darah yang asimptomatik dan meningkatkan risiko pemindahan darah yang tercemar dengan virus ini Dengue virus is one of the emerging agents that can be transmitted via blood transfusion from infected blood donors to recipients. In Malaysia, the increase in dengue infection may contribute to the existence of asymptomatic blood donors and increase the risk of blood transfusions contaminated with this viru

Bovine Parasitic Gastroenteritis and Bronchitis: Control vs Immunity

This thesis comprises a series of studies carried out (1) to review the literature on parasitic gastroenteritis and bronchitis with special emphasis on epidemiology, immunity and control methods (2) to determine the influence of anthelmintic prophylaxis in calves on their subsequent immunity to Ostertagia, Cooperia and Dictyocaulus as yearlings (3) to assess the parasitological status of adult dairy cattle and (4) to compare the efficacy of several techniques used in these studies