Ergonomics effect of prolong standing at work (static and dynamic) in manufacturing division

Standing at work is a common practice in today’s manufacturing environment. It is believed that standing at work produce higher productivity as it is not restrain workers movement compares to sitting at work. In this research study, the researcher is exploring the ergonomics effect of prolong standing at work (static and dynamic) in Peripheral Device manufacturing Division of Sony EMCS (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. In this research study, the variables influence the ergonomics effect of standing at work had been explored and analysed. There are three (3) independent variables identified, they are Management Commitment, Employee Behaviour and Workplace Design and one (1) dependent variable for this project paper, in the Ergonomic effect of prolong standing at work which is measured by using Body part symptoms. Total of 168-sample size has been taken from various level groups that consist of manufacturing operators, supervisors, line leaders and repairers. Study survey has been conducted through stratified sampling. Quantitative survey has been used for this study. From analysis result it shows that two (2) hypotheses supported with significant value. The result concludes that Management Commitment, and Workplace Design give significant impact in influencing the ergonomic effect of prolong standing at work while Employee Behaviour does not have significant impact to the ergonomic effect of prolong standing at work. The study has revealed that the working condition can be further improves by taking action in the areas of study especially involving management awareness and commitment, and by improving the workplace design

Implementation of Skilled Training Programs at Vocational College: A View of the Instructors’ Perspectives

The vocational colleges of Malaysia have been running several engineering related programs to certify their students with Malaysian Skills Certificate, Malaysian Vocational Diploma and Malaysian Vocational Certificate. The aim of these programs is to provide competent skilled and knowledge workers for the needs of the local industries in order to foster national development towards achieving developed nation status. To ensure the success of these programs, instructors are expected to be able to conduct training and master the engineering education process. This study was conducted to identify vocational college instructors’ views on the implementation of the skill training programs in the aspects of curriculum, infrastructure and industrial training. A total of 116 technical instructors in the fields of engineering skills namely Welding Technology, Automotive Technology, Electrical Technology, Refrigeration and Air conditioning, Electronic Technology, Industrial Machining and Construction Technology participated in this research. The data were analysed to determine the average mean score of the measured variables. Findings showed that the average mean score for curriculum and industrial training aspects were found to be at high level, while moderate level was obtained for the aspect of infrastructure. This finding implies that professional development programs are less crucial compared to facilities required to run the skill training programs. This issue needs to be addressed by the vocational colleges’ management and government to ensure successful implementation of these skilled training program at college level.

Health Screening Behaviour among Female Urban Dwellers

An ageing population is a public health challenge, affects most countries. Health screenings are able to detect diseases at the earliest stage. A cross-sectional study in December 2014 conducted among 643 older women who randomly interviewed using structured questionnaire from two urban governmental health centres in Malaysia. Aims of the study were to describe health screening services behaviour and health care accessibility among women aged 50 and above. Factors such as living arrangement and age played important roles in health screening execution among older female community dwellers. Advocacy on health screening is vital as to reduce the morbidity and mortality among them.  © 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies, Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.Keywords: Older people; female; urban; health screenin

Health Screening Behaviour among Female Urban Dwellers

An ageing population is a public health challenge, affects most countries. Health screenings are able to detect diseases at the earliest stage. A cross-sectional study in December 2014 conducted among 643 older women who randomly interviewed using structured questionnaire from two urban governmental health centres in Malaysia. Aims of the study were to describe health screening services behaviour and health care accessibility among women aged 50 and above. Factors such as living arrangement and age played important roles in health screening execution among older female community dwellers. Advocacy on health screening is vital as to reduce the morbidity and mortality among them.   © 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies, Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. Keywords: Older people; female; urban; health screenin

Pengurusan Pembiayaan Perdagangan Antarabangsa Islam Dalam Sistem Perbankan Islam Di Malaysia

Perkhidmatan pembiayaan perdagangan antarabangsa mula diperkenalkan dalam sistem perbankan Islam di Malaysia pada awal 1990an apabila terdapat keperluan terhadap instrumen-instrumen Islam dalam bentuk perdagangan terutamanya di peringkat antarabangsa. Kebanyakan instrumen-instrumen pembiayaan perdagangan adalah berasaskan instrumen konvensional seperti surat jaminan bank (BG), surat kredit(LC), bil penerimaan(AB), jaminan perkapalan(SG), pembiayaan semula kredit eksport (ECR dan lain-lain. Untuk membolehkannya diterima oleh perbankan Islam, maka beberapa pengubahsuaian dilakukan supaya selaras dengan kehendak syariah seperti mengaplikasikan kontrak-kontrak muamalat Islam dalam produk-produk tersebut . Kontrak-kontrak muamalat yang banyak digunakan dalam produk-produk pembiayaan perdagangan antarabangsa Islam ialah murabahah, bai- al-dayn, kafalah dan wakalah. Kertas kerja ini menganalisis pengurusan pembiayaan perdagangan antarabangsa secara Islam yang dilaksanakan oleh bank-bank Islam di Malaysia dari aspek kontrak-kontrak muamalat yang digunakan dan produk-produk yang ditawarkan

Kerosene draw at Petronas Terengganu Refinery

Six Sigma is a quality improvement methodology that is widely used by both service and manufacturing organisations. It was pioneered by Motorola but gained wide-reaching recognition through extensive adoption of the methodology by General Electric. Six Sigma focuses on the DMAIC principles of define, measure,analyse, improve, and control with team-based decision-making and problem-solving approach as the mainstay of its implementation. Kerosene draw at Petronas Terengganu Refinery was improved from 69.7 m3 /hr before implementation of Six Sigma to 73.03 m3 /hr after its successful implementation, which represented a breakthrough improvement from -1.47 to 12.32 sigma level. Headed by a Master Black Belt, the Six Sigma project team first began by mapping the process of kerosene draw in the define stage, followed by rigorous statistical analysis in analysing the critical to quality characteristics (CTQs)of the process, before arriving at an optimum process without compromising the quality of the kerosene. During the first six months of implementation, the project made a cost-savings of RM 5.5 million without any capital expenditure

Regulating cars' safety standards in controlling fatal accidents: a comparative study / Ahmad Benyamine Noor Rahimin, Ahmad Mukmin Aimi Azmi and Mohd Shahril Madisa.

Technological advances have revolutionized the safety standards of cars in this modern era. It has become the integral part of the car itself and plays a major role in saving thousands if not millions of lives each year. This has brought about the creation of institutions such the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) and the introduction of the Malaysian Vehicle Assessment Programme (MyVAP). However, there is still a lack of rules and enforcement of safety standards in Malaysia. This paper was done to critically analyse the current situation in Malaysia regarding the issue of inadequate Acts, rules and regulations governing safety standard of passenger cars. This research represents the initial effort to provide comparisons and perhaps justifications towards an improvement of overall safety standards of cars in Malaysia by improving the already available safety standards or by enacting a new legislation in the future. The important comparative subjects in this research are the Third Australian Design Rule (ADR) governed under the Motor Vehicles Standards Act 1989 in Australia and also the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) and Regulations which is legislated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the United States of America (USA)

A qualitative analysis on methadone maintenance programme in the Malay language newspapers / Noor Mayudia Mohd Mothar, Hajar Abd Aziz and Shahril Anuar Abdul Ghalim

How do the Malay language newspapers in Malaysia report the Methadone Maintenance Therapy programme? Based on this main question, the study investigates the news reports of the Berita Harian and Harian Metro, to see how the Methadone Maintenance Theraphy (MMT) were being treated in their news reports. The researchers adopted interpretive approach to analyse a sample of 11 news reports on MMT published on these newspapers throughout the year 2009. Five research questions were generated from the samples studied, namely "how do the newspaper reports on methadone-related issue", “does the report potrayed addiction as a sickness?”, “is there any misconception on the reporting of methadone issues”, “does the government care about methadone issues” and “what were people‟s reactions on MMT”. Study findings suggested that methadone has not been reported negatively by the newspapers, but there is a general idea in Berita Harian that the MMT programme has not been fully successful. On the contrary, Harian Metro prefers to give an idea that the MMT is a promising programme for drugs addicts to actually lead a normal life. These newspapers too have been treating drug addictions as sickness and not as social problem, therefore answered the main question that the newspapers has portrayed methadone as a recommended substitution for theraphy and not a type of harmful drug. News reports too were often medicallysound and had highlighted the government‟s intention to champion the programme as a main effort to help drug addicts become a productive members of the society. The study found out that the newspapers too has treated the public as the antagonist in their reports, and that it is a task uphill to correct their persistent misconception on MMT programme and drug addictions

Media and the methadone drug substitution therapy (MDST): a content analysis of news on methadone In Berita Harian And Harian Metro in 2008 / Siti Hajar Abd Aziz...[et al.]

Malaysia media has been covering the issues of Methadone Drug Substitution Therapy (MDST) since the year 2005, when the government decided to give free syringes, condom and methadone as part of a “harm-reduction” programme for the drug addicts. After a number of years, the public’s perception of methadone users and the treatment has not improved much. The public still misconceived the treatment as just another alternative to meet the addiction habits. Question arose whether the media has been supporting the MDST programme in their news based on the style of news writing and the information offered in the news. Therefore, the paper will examine the contents and writing style of news on methadone treatment by Berita Harian and Harian Metro in throughout year 2008 to determine their level of support on the programme. The study found out that Berita Harian was dedicated at focusing their news on methadone to on the awareness and the treatment part of the methadone maintenance, using sources from ministry and health practitioners. Harian Metro, however, preferred to represent methadone in the form of crime news, and using enforcement bodies as their sources. Although both newspapers has shown their support to the methadone treatment programme, but methadone treatment did suffered from this stereotype of news values practised by most tabloid newspapers when it often fall under the theme of crime. It was feared that associating methadone with crime and harmful drugs would create a perception that methadone is just another type of harmful drugs and not a therapy drug or medicine for the addicts

Effects of modified hydrothermal nanotitania on the viability of Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is an important bacterium with significant pathological implications in the field of medicine. Attempting to cure bacterial infections at an advanced stage results in considerable waste of time, effort and expenditure. Thus, the prevention of such illnesses is paramount. Besides using chemical drugs to treat infections, several non-organic extracts have been tested in trials and been shown to impede the bacteria’s growth. This paper proposes that the modified hydrothermal nanotitania extract has great potential to combat this lethal organism. The viability of S. aureus was shown to be markedly reduced following the addition of nanotitania extract with 0.01%, 0.03% and 0.05% silver after 24, 48, and 72 hours. The ability of the nanotitania extract to inhibit the growth of S. aureus indicates its antimicrobial characteristics