The influence of fairness on channel member relationship satisfaction: A case of Malaysian car dealers

Undeniably, buyer-supplier relationship has become an important issue in today’s business -to-business environment.In business-to-business, dealers or marketing channels are increasingly emphasising relationships they have with their suppliers.Consistent with the increasing interest in buyer-supplier relationships, relationship satisfaction has become an important factor in relationship marketing and channel theory.Despite the assumption that relationship satisfaction influences buyer-supplier relationship, the factors that contribute to relationship satisfaction has not received much research attention.Using a survey method, this study investigates the influence of fairness on relationship satisfaction among 107 Malaysian car dealers. The findings suggest that perceived fairness has significant associations with relationship satisfaction.The results of this study will be of particular interest of practicing suppliers for maintaining relationship with dealers

Knowledge workers and knowledge management: Some descriptive evidences on the MSC status companies in Malaysia

This paper provides the results of questionnaire survey, which was intended to seek and examine the opinions of respondents about the management of knowledge workers in the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) status companies in Malaysia. Out of 40 MSC status companies and 500 questionnaires initially sent out during the fieldwork, some 19 companies' participated and 171 questionnaires were returned from individuals within these companies. The findings presented in this paper focus on two main issues. Firstly, the demographic characteristics of participating knowledge workers are outlined. Secondly, an overview of the current movenment towards knowledge management practice in the MSC status companies is also given

Modelling and predicting energy consumption in laboratory buildings using multiple linear regression

This study was carried to improve the energy saving by investigating the influence factors that contribute to high energy consumption in a building particularly related to the building in Technology Campus, UTeM. Correlation analysis was performed to measure the strength of relationship between the influence factors whereby all the factors proven to have a strong linear correlation with the energy consumption. The Stepwise Selection of Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) were used to determine and modelling the most influence factors that affects the energy consumption. The final linear regression models was developed based on the amount of lighting in a building and surrounding temperature in the building which is considered as major influence factors that affect the energy consumption. Comparing the actual and predicted energy consumption in Technology Campus, UTeM showed that the MLR model obtained can be used to predict energy consumption and accounted for around 81% of the variance

Nanocellulose and nanoclay as reinforcement materials in polymer composites: a review

The advancement of nanotechnology has opened a new opportunity to develop nanocomposites using nanocellulose (NC) and nanoclay (NCl). Researchers have regarded these nanocomposites as promising substitutes for conventional polymers because of their characteristic and useful features, which include exceptional strength and stiffness, low weight, and low environmental impact. These features of NC and NCl explain their multifarious applications across many sectors. Here we review NC and NCl as well as various reinforced polymer composites that are made up of either of the two nanomaterials. The structural and physicochemical properties of NC and NCl are highlighted, along with the mechanical behavior and thermal properties of NC. Current nanomaterial hybrid biopolymers for the production of novel high-performance polymer nanocomposites are also discussed with respect to their mechanical properties

THE MULTIPLE APPROACHES OF GROUNDED THEORY: JUSTIFICATION FOR STRAUSSIAN VERSION

Qualitative researchers incline to develop a theory or seek for a form of meaning on the basis of data collection. They also do not build their research on pre-arranged hypotheses. Nevertheless, they obviously recognize a problem or subject they aim to examine. Qualitative research gives a flexible approach to researchers and using multiple sources to confirm results. This paper focuses on primary books review of chronological grounded theory as one of qualitative research methods in different versions, then the preference for Straussian version of grounded theory

Energy-saving framework for data center from reduce, reuse and recycle perspectives

Recently, there is a heightened level of awareness towards energy efficiency in high-performance data centers both to reduce environmental pollution and save cost. Such data centers consume massive amount of energy for processing huge computational requirements from users. These supercomputers demand a constant supply of electricity to be available 24/7 for both its core computing functions as well as cooling the data center. Previously, researchers had introduced various strategies for achieving energy efficiency. However, in order to achieve a truly effective energy management, factors that influence energy usages must also be taken into consideration. The failure to manage such factors leads to excessive energy consumption. In this work, we shall focus on factors relevant to running the operation of high-performance data centers. We reconstructed and analyzed such factors or attributes based on the universally accepted Reduce, Reuse and Recycle Concept (3R). We recategorized energy attributes of the existing Energy Efficient Data Center Frameworks (EEDCFs) to be aligned with 3R. Then, we developed energy-saving algorithms in response to the concept. Our framework was then measured according to the performance metrics namely power usage effectiveness (PUE), energy reuse effectiveness (ERE) and carbon usage effectiveness (CUE) against variability size of data center. The simulation results of our EEDCF showed that better energy saving is achieved in comparison to the existing EEDCFs. This signifies that the application of the 3R concept in energy consumption yielded a promising result as a platform for other researchers to explore more on energy renewal initiatives and embrace it for future application

Aplikasi Teknik NGT (Nominal Group Technique-Teknik Kumpulan Nominal) dalam penilaian elemen model pembangunan profesionalisme pengurusan Pendidikan Islam

This article discussing about Nominal Group Technique (NGT) in assessment of an Islamic Education teaching professionalism model. The objective is to determine to what extent this technique can adopted in assessing the elements of the main component of themodel. This technique was conducted in final phase of researcher’s research about the development of an Islamic education teaching professionalism model based on ‘Riadhah Ruhiyyah’ to identify the usability of that model. The findings show this technique can help the researcher to gain the data in simple and fastest way becausethe usability of the model can acquire directly from the items percentage score

TEACHER PRESENCE AS MEDIATOR IN ONLINE LEARNING: THE CASE FOR FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Fortunately, technology and long entered the education sectors when the world is faced with the pandemic. Whether teachers and learners are ready or not, online classes are here to stay. Online learning is a unique way of learning that allow flexibility at many levels. Language educators once felt that the learning of language can only be done face-to-face because of the needs of some language skills. This study is done to explore the portrayal of presence during online learning of the French as a foreign language. This quantitative study is done to investigate how learners cope learning French online. 170 respondents were purposely chosen from learners who took French as a foreign language. They attended the course in a few public and private universities. The instrument used is a questionnaire. Findings revealed interesting influence of the teacher as mediator in online learning. Article visualizations

A performance optimization model of task scheduling towards green cloud computing

Cloud computing becomes a powerful trend in the development of ICT services. It allows dynamic resource scaling from infinite resource pool for supporting Cloud users. Such scenario leads to necessity of larger size of computing infrastructure and increases processing power. Demand on the cloud computing is continually growth that makes it changes to scope of green cloud computing. It aims to reduce energy consumption in Cloud computing while maintaining a better performance. However, there is lack of performance metric that analyzing trade-off between energy consumption and performance. Considering high volume of mixed users’ requirements and diversity of services offered; an appropriate performance model for achieving better balance between Cloud performance and energy consumption is needed. In this work, we focus on green Cloud Computing through scheduling optimization model. Specifically, we investigate a relationship between performance metrics that chosen in scheduling approaches with energy consumption for energy efficiency. Through such relationship, we develop an energy-based performance model that provides a clear picture on parameter selection in scheduling for effective energy management. We believed that better understanding on how to model the scheduling performance will lead to green Cloud computing

EXPLORING EXPECTANCY THEORY AS MOTIVATION FOR LEARNING FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE ACROSS GENDER

Previously many language teachers feared that online learning may not give the same impact that it had for face-to-face learning. Nevertheless, now, online learning has become a new norm. More studies on online language learning have emerged. Past studies have shown that the success (or failure) of online classes is the strength of the engagement that took place during the online sessions. This study is done to see if there are gender differences in the learning of a foreign language; French; specifically in terms of Valence, instrumentality, expectancy. French as a foreign language across gender. The instrument used is a survey with four sections. Section A looks at the demographic profile, Section B looks at Valence, Section C looks at Instrumentality and Section D looks at Expectancy. A total of 170 learners responded to the survey. 44 of them were male learners, while 126 were female. Findings revealed variations in gender motivation and perceptions of online language learning. Article visualizations