Comparative study for Utilization of machines in the Flow-Shop Scheduling Problems

Scheduling is the procedure of generating the schedule which is a physical document and generally informs the happening of things and demonstrate a plan for the timing of certain activities. The flow shop problem is one of the most widely studied classical scheduling problems and reflects real operation of several industries. The aim of the present work is to evaluate the performance of four methods when it is used to solve flow shop scheduling problems with minimization makespan. The four heuristics methods are Johnson, Palmer, CDS and Gupta methods. In this work, an attempt has been made to solve the flow shop scheduling problem for comparative study for utilization of machines in the flow-shop scheduling problems among pervious methods.  A simulation study has been made to evaluate the performance of the four method under consideration based on two performance measures  makespan and utilization of machine , the results has been proved  that the Palmer and CDS heuristic methods show the minimum value of average of makespan and average utilization of machine  when it compared with other heuristic methods

Stochastic Programming for Selection Variables in Cluster Analysis

Cluster analysis is one of the most important techniques in the exploratory data analysis; it is goal to discover a natural grouping in a set of observations without knowledge of any class labels.  Variable selection has been very important for a lot of research in several areas of application. The study suggested a stochastic programming approach which selects the most important variables in clustering a set of data. The study evaluates the performance of the stochastic programming suggested approach for selection variables in cluster analysis used numerical example. The suggested stochastic programming approach selects the most important variable in cluster analysis simultaneously and the results are satisfied

Two-dimensional profiling of proteins from Curculigo latifolia fruit by three different extraction protocols.

Lemba, Curculigo latifolia (family Hypoxidaceae) is an indigenous plant of Malaysia, found mainly in swampy areas of tropical Asia and Australia. This study was designed to compare the efficiency of three protocols employed for the extraction of proteins from C. latifolia fruit and to find the best compatible with proteomic analysis of fruit on the basis of profiling using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Phenol, trichloroacetic acid–acetone and trichloroacetic acid–acetone/phenol-based extraction protocols were evaluated by examining the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the extracted proteins. A few modifications were introduced to the phenol and the combination of phenol and trichloroacetic acid–acetoneprotocols in order to improve the two-dimensional gel electrophoresis analysis results. With the exception of trichloroacetic acid–acetone method, the two other protocols were found to extract proteins efficiently and reproducibly. The protein yields from the phenol (3.5 ± 0.12 mg/g) and trichloroacetic acid–acetone/phenol-based (3.7 ± 0.11 mg/g) protocols as well as and the two-dimensional gel electrophoresis patterns showed no appreciable differences. Since using phenol protocol is considerably more time consuming and laborious than the trichloroacetic acid– acetone/phenol-based protocol, therefore trichloroacetic acid–acetone/phenol-based protocol was considered to be a superior protocol for total proteins extraction of C. latifolia fruit

The importance of non-technical skills in accounting graduates

The purpose of this study is to look at the quality issue from the perspective of one of the most important customers of higher education institutions-employers that hire the accounting graduates.Specifically, this study determines how well skill requirements match skill preparedness of accounting graduates.Results re­vealed that. five most important non-technical skills required by employers were the ability to perform assigned tasks, having initiative, teamwork, computer literacy, and problem solving.Employers, however; perceived that higher education institutions do not seem to prepare accounting graduates with all the skills required.The majority of employers agree that quality differences exists between accounting graduates ,from public and pri­vate institutions, and accounting graduates with and without professional qualifications.Finally, the study highlights suggestions to improve the quality of accounting graduates, and also recommendations for future research

Genotoxicity and acute and subchronic toxicity studies of a standardized methanolic extract of Ficus deltoidea leaves

OBJECTIVE: Ficus deltoidea leaves have been used in traditional medicine in Southeast Asia to treat diabetes, inflammation, diarrhea, and infections. The present study was conducted to assess the genotoxicity and acute and subchronic toxicity of a standardized methanol extract of F. deltoidea leaves. METHODS: Sprague Dawley rats were orally treated with five different single doses of the extract and screened for signs of toxicity for two weeks after administration. In the subchronic study, three different doses of the extract were administered for 28 days. Mortality, clinical signs, body weight changes, hematological and biochemical parameters, gross findings, organ weights, and histological parameters were monitored during the study. Genotoxicity was assessed using the Ames test with the TA98 and TA100 Salmonella typhimurium strains. Phytochemical standardization was performed using a colorimeter and high-performance liquid chromatography. Heavy metal detection was performed using an atomic absorption spectrometer. RESULTS: The acute toxicity study showed that the LD50 of the extract was greater than 5000 mg/kg. In the subchronic toxicity study, there were no significant adverse effects on food consumption, body weight, organ weights, mortality, clinical chemistry, hematology, gross pathology, or histopathology. However, a dose-dependent increase in the serum urea level was observed. The Ames test revealed that the extract did not have any potential to induce gene mutations in S. typhimurium, either in the presence or absence of S9 activation. Phytochemical analysis of the extract revealed high contents of phenolics, flavonoids, and tannins. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis revealed high levels of vitexin and isovitexin in the extract, and the levels of heavy metals were below the toxic levels. CONCLUSION: The no-observed adverse effect level of F. deltoidea in rats was determined to be 2500 mg/kg

Employers' perception of the quality of accounting graduates in Malaysia

The purpose of this study is to look at the quality issue from the perspective of one of the most important customers of higher education institutions, employers that hire the accounting graduates.Specifically, this study determines how well skill requirements match skill preparedness of accounting graduates.Results revealed that five most important non-technical skills required by employers were the ability to perform assigned tasks, initiative, teamwork, computer literacy, and problem solving. Employers, however,perceived that higher education institutions had failed to prepare accounting graduates with all the skills required. Majority of employers agree that quality differences exists between accounting graduates from public and private institutions, and accounting graduates with and without professional qualifications. Finally, the study highlights suggestion to improve the quality of accounting graduates, and also recommendations for future research

The effect of calcium silicate as foliar application on aerobic rice blast disease development

The bio-efficacy of calcium silicate as foliar application in enhancing physical barrier mechanism against Pyricularia oryzae in aerobic rice was investigated. A blast-partially resistant cultivar, MR219–4 and a resistant cultivar MARDI Aerob 1 were cultivated under aerobic conditions with foliar application of calcium silicate at 3, 6 and 9 mg/L. Foliar application of calcium silicate at 9 mg/L indicated the highest rice blast disease reduction for both cultivars, MR219–4 (89.21%) and MARDI Aerob 1 (97.87%). Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) demonstrated that MARDI Aerob 1 has uniform distribution on the dumbbell shape of silica bodies in leaf epidermis compared with MR219–4 where there was a fractured on the dumbbell shape with non-uniform distribution of silica dumbbell bodies. Besides, MARDI Aerob 1 has significantly higher Silicon (Si) weight (34.49%) compared with MR219–4 (18.29%). Both rice cultivars exhibited significant increases in Si deposition for plant treated with calcium silicate through foliar application, especially when P. oryzae was inoculated. The Si content in rice leaf shown a consistence result with the Si distribution. However, the lignin content in Si-treated rice plant was significantly increased only with P. oryzae inoculation. MARDI Aerob 1 demonstrated higher lignin content (0.74%) compared with MR219–4 (0.60%) for Si-treated and P. oryzae inoculated treatment. This study revealed that foliar application of calcium silicate at 9 mg/L enhanced the resistance of aerobic rice against P. oryzae infection through accumulation and fortification of Si in the epidermal cell wall and increased lignin content in the leaf

Structural equation modeling test for relationship between selected leadership competencies and effective academic leadership styles

How can an academic leader become more effective? This research question is examined in the context of middle-level leadership in Malaysian research universities as World Class Universities. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between six leadership competencies and their relationship to four Effective Academic Leadership Styles (EALS) in the present context of globalization and academic excellence. Based on results in Structural Equation Modeling, contributions of leadership competencies depend on leadership styles in certain situations. Most of the competencies have relationships to EALS, except for two dimensions,organizational strategy and communication. Finally, systematic leadership development programs should be developed in research universities

Synthesis and characterization of Zeolite/Fe3O4 nanocomposite by green quick precipitation method.

A green quick precipitation method was successfully used for synthesis of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe3O4-NPs) on the surface of sodium/potassium type zeolite. Ferric chloride, ferrous chloride and sodium hydroxide aqueous solutions were used in the synthesis and coating of the Fe3O4-NPs on the surface of the zeolite to produce the zeolite/magnetic iron oxide nanocomposite (zeolite/Fe3O4 –NCs). The reaction was performed in aqueous suspension phase under the ambient condition as green chemistry method. Characterization with Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FT‒IR), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXF) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirmed the formation of Fe3O4-NPs with mean particle sizes of 3.55±1.02 nm on the surface of the zeolite

Corporate governance and the extent of directors' remuneration disclosure

This study aims to investigate the extent of Malaysian directors’ remuneration disclosure in the annual reports. In addition, this research seeks to examine the relationship between corporate governance structure and the disclosure practices of directors’ remuneration. We measure the extent of directors’ remuneration disclosure by the following four measures – the disclosure of individual pay for each director, band of pay, linkage to performance, and components of pay. Drawing on agency theory, we expect that the extent of directors’ remuneration disclosure is positively associated with the independence of boards of directors, audit committees and remuneration committees. In addition, we expect an inverse relationship between directors’ remuneration disclosure and ownership structure. The annual reports of 376 companies listed on Bursa Malaysia are randomly selected and analyzed.The results reveal that most of the sampled firms communicate information about the directors’ pay in bands of RM50,000, together with the narration of linkages between the directors’ pay and performance in their annual reports.Not many companies disclose information about individual directors’ pay, or separately disclose the salary and bonus components.In addition, the regression results suggest that the independent of board of director and remuneration committee are associated with disclosure of directors’ pay bands.Bigger firms are more likely to communicate individual director’s pay, and disclose salary and bonus components separately in their annual reports.The findings have important implication in understanding the disclosure practices of companies in relation to the directors’ remuneration