The influence of safety climate on safety performance among workers of a food emulsifiers company in Malaysia

This study aimed to determine the relationship between safety climate and safety performance in Danisco Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. Six dimensions of safety climate were studied in this research namely management safety practices, safety attitude, safety training, supervisory safety practices, the involvement of co-workers, and job safety. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, 146 sets of questionnaires were distributed to the staff in the operation department of Danisco Malaysia. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS software. Pearson correlation test found a significant positive relationship for five out of six dimensions of safety climate against with safety performance. The five significant dimensions are management safety practices, safety training, supervisory safety practices, the involvement of co-workers, and job safety. However, safety attitude was found to have an insignificant relationship with safety performance. Multiple regression tests revealed that safety climate dimensions significantly influence safety performance. Finally, the implications of the study are discussed to provide recommendations and guidelines for future researches

Photophysics of the electronic states S0 and S1 for the coplanar molecular structures of the α,ω-diphenylpolyenes DPH and DPO

Spectroscopy of the monoclinic and orthorhombic crystalline forms of all-trans-diphenylhexatriene (DPH) and all-trans-diphenyloctatetraene (DPO) show absorption and emission bands that do not generate the widely known Stokes shift of the polyene compounds, discovered by Hausser et al. in 1953 and repeatedly studied over the last 60 years. It can be concluded from our study that the crystallization system, whether in a monoclinic or orthorhombic system, does not significantly influence the photophysics of DPH and DPO in the crystal phas

Suitability of bio-desiccants for energy wheels in HVAC applications

Government of the Saskatchewan (Ministry of Agriculture), Agricultural Development Fund: Project #20160266Peer ReviewedThis paper investigates the suitability of bio-desiccants for moisture recovery in energy wheels. Bio-desiccants are environment-friendly materials that have high water vapor adsorption capacities. The main contribution of this paper is that it reports the latent effectiveness of flax-fiber (bio-desiccant) coated energy wheels for a wide range of operating conditions and compares the effectiveness of the flax-fiber wheels with wheels that are coated with commercially available desiccants and other biomaterials. The moisture transfer performance of a flax-fiber coated exchanger is determined using a small-scale test facility and two different experimental methods: single step change tests and cyclic tests. The test results are used to verify the applicability of an effectiveness correlation from the literature. Using the energy wheel correlation and the sorption isotherms, the latent effectiveness of commercially available energy wheels coated with molecular sieve, ion exchange resin and silica gel desiccants are obtained and compared with that of bio-desiccants (flax fiber and starch particles). The highest latent effectiveness is obtained for silica gel followed by starch particles, ion exchange resin, flax-fiber and molecular sieve. The results from this study will be useful in research and development of bio-materials for energy recovery systems for building applications

Determinantes de la intención de uso de las aplicaciones de banca para móviles: una extensión del modelo TAM clásico

This study has been conducted with financial support received from Excellence Research Project P12-SEJ-1980 of the Andalusia Regional Government and Project ECO2012- 39576 of Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.For financial institutions mobile banking has represented a breakthrough in terms of remote banking services. However, many customers remain uncertain due to its security. This study develops a technology acceptance model that integrates the innovation diffusion theory, perceived risk and trust in the classic TAM model in order to shed light on what factors determine user acceptance of mobile banking applications. The participants had to examine a mobile application of the largest European bank. In the proposed model, an approach to external influences was included, theoretically and originally stated by Davis et al. (1989). The proposed model was empirically tested using data collected from an online survey applying structural equation modeling (SEM). The results obtained in this study demonstrate how attitude determine mainly the intended use of mobile apps, discarding usefulness and risk as factors that directly improve its use. Finally, the study shows the main management implications and identifies certain strategies to reinforce this new business in the context of new technological advances.Para las entidades financieras la banca para móviles ha representado una innovación en términos de servicios de banca remota. Sin embargo, muchos clientes siguen considerando incierta su seguridad. Este estudio desarrolla un modelo de aceptación tecnológica que integra, en el modelo TAM clásico, la teoría de la difusión de la innovación, el riesgo percibido y la confianza, a fin de clarificar qué factores determinan la aceptación de las aplicaciones de banca para móviles por parte del usuario. Los participantes tuvieron que examinar una aplicación para móviles perteneciente al mayor banco europeo. En el modelo propuesto, se incluyó una aproximación hacia las influencias externas, que fue establecida de manera teórica y original por parte de Davis et al. (1989). El modelo propuesto se testó empíricamente utilizando la información recolectada mediante una encuesta online, aplicando el modelo de ecuaciones estructurales (SEM). Los resultados obtenidos en el estudio demuestran el modo en que la actitud determina principalmente el uso previsto de las aplicaciones para móvil, descartando la utilidad y el riesgo como factores que mejoran directamente su uso. Por último, el estudio muestra las principales implicaciones para la gestión, e identifica ciertas estrategias de refuerzo de este nuevo negocio en el contexto de los nuevos avances tecnológicos.Excellence Research Project P12-SEJ-1980 of the Andalusia Regional GovernmentProject ECO2012- 39576 of Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivenes

Erythema ab igne (Unilateral) due to "Chulla"

Erythema ab igne (EAI) is characterized by localized areas of reticulated erythema and hyperpigmentation due to chronic and repeated exposure to infrared radiation. Taking a good history plays an important role in coming to the diagnosis of the disease condition; and at the same time, the particular cultural practices of a place determine its occurrence in the local masses. Herein we report the case of a young lady in her early thirties who presented to us with a dusky hyperpigmentation over her right arm and leg. Her detailed history and cutaneous examination led to the diagnosis of erythema ab igne

Pages: 324-332 To Cite This Article

Background: The iPad is an upcoming technology that will chalk the way of lives of most people in the world. Knowledge on consumer satisfaction on iPad is less especially among university students in Malaysia. Objective: The main objective of this study is to determine the consumer satisfaction on iPad among university students in Malaysia. Results: The findings indicate that attitude, quality and perceived price are the most important factors and education, branding and security are insignificant predictors of the consumers' satisfaction on iPad among university students in Malaysia. Conclusion: Therefore, this study suggests that marketers should take great weightiness in pricing their products. Moreover, continuous constant product research and development must be executed to be in par with the current quality expectations of the consumers. Indulging in good business practices and corporate social responsibility activities will help to capture the consumers' minds. Also, this study offers valuable insight into the factors that influence consumer satisfaction on iPad within the Malaysian context

The effects of the number of participants on collaborative l2 summary writing / Sri Darshini Bala Krishanan

This study investigates the relationships between the number of participants in summary writing and the quality of their final summary writing. A total of 52 participants aged 16, participated in this four week, mixed-method study. The summaries were scored using Brown and Bailey’s (1984) scoring scale which has five components. The components are organization, logical development of idea, grammar, punctuation, spelling, mechanics and finally style and quality of expression. The participants’ overall scores and analytic scores were analysed with paired t-test (individual and collaborative group) and independent t-test (pair and groups of four). The paired t-test was utilized to compare the quality of summary writing by individual and collaborative groups. The results for the overall scores revealed that the collaborative writing improves students’ final summary writing and the analytic scoring revealed that the participants in the collaborative groups had improved in terms of organization, content, and grammar, whereas there was no improvements in terms of their punctuation, spelling, mechanics and style and quality of expressions components. On the other hand, the independent t-test was utilized to compare the performance of pairs and groups of four. The results for the overall score did not reveal any significant improvement, however there were improvements shown by groups of four in the mean score value. In contrast, the analytic scoring results revealed that the participants in groups of four had improved in all five components. This shows that working in groups of four helps participants’ to improve their summary writing compared to working in pairs as they can pool their knowledge and ideas better. The study also elicits participants’ feedback on collaborative summary writing. A questionnaire (Fernandez Dobao & Blum, 2012) was utilized to get their feedback. Majority reacted positively and agreed that collaborative task had improved their vocabulary knowledge compared to grammar and content. Thus, it reveals that collaborative writing helps the participants in improving their final writing through discussion as they get to learn from their partners. In future research, the sample size of the study should be expanded as the current study had only 52 participants. In addition, verbal interviews and Language Related Episodes (LREs) could be incorporated to obtain richer results. Finally, the participants could be selected based on the same proficiency level and the treatment phase could be extended

Data analysis package for X-ray diffractometer

Details of a software package in BASIC for processing data from an automatic X-Ray diffractometer are presented. This package accepts rough scan data and calculates the data needed for the fine scan . Accepting fine scan data, the program calculates the peak,half-width and integral width. Plots of both the scan addition of a suitable data are also available . With the communication module this can be used in any real-time automatic X-Ray diffractometer analysis

Foundry Industry in Great Britain and some general trends of development

The British foundry industry produces more than 4 million tons of castings, bulk of which are of iron. The range and size of products manufactured are indeed wide and varied to meet the demands of a highly diversified market for both consumer and capital goods. Modern innovations like shell moulding, precision investment process, carbon dioxide process, the Shaw process and the like have made sufficient impact for the production of castings in iron, steel, non-ferrous and special alloy steels. Equal importance is also given to scientific management and in this field considerable progress has been made in the post war period in perfecting market research, work study and work measurement, vocational training, job evaluation and standard costing to meet the demands of a growing competitive market. (Mr. R.M. Krishnan, Senior Scientific Officer, National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur