E-Procurement For SMI

Internet-based business-to-business (B2B) commerce is revolutionizing the way business is conducted between organizations. Business procurement has emerged as the key driver of this B2B revolution. Online procurement services, or eprocurement, that automate all or part of the requisition-to-settlement processes and the new strategic emphasis on the purchasing function has made eprocurement the hottest area of Internet commerce today. The procurement of goods and services is a source of frustration and costly inefficiency in many organizations due to continue relience on inefficient manual, paper-based processes. E-Procurement promises to change the purchasing process dramatically, making it faster, cheaper and result in huge cost savings and increased efficiency. E-Procurement solutions can help organizations to manage the entire workflow and administration involved in procuring goods and services and at the same time encourage better sourcing and supply management. One of the Malaysia's pioneer e-government projects, e-procurement, will officially take over the registration of the government's 28,000 suppliers nationwide as soon as the system and infrastructure are ready. Most small to medium enterprises however, have paid little attention to the automation and integration of purchasing operating resources, such as office supplies, telephones, overnight delivery, travel and entertainment, and printing and publishing. These costs are often a greater portion of total revenue, additionally most companies do not realize how much capital is invested in the inventory and management of operating assets. This project is concerned with defining and developing an e-Procurement system that would help the SMI companies to streamline the purchasing process. The procurement solution adopted for this project is based on the concept of private exchange. It is ideal for SMI companies and provides the opportunity for the organizations to create their own community. The ultimate goal of this project is redefining and streamlining the procurement process for indirect material and to find a more effective way to connect buyers to sellers and improving the efficiency of the purchasing process. Firstly, the paper presents the overall concepts of e-procurement, followed by the alternative e-procurement solution that had been implemented in the market. A case study is conducted for a selected SMI company to further understand the operation and identify the potential areas of utilizing the e-procurement system. System analysis will emphasize on the business requirement of the procurement process and identify the limitations of the SMI companies in terms of the availability of various enterprise-wide solutions. System design is concerned not only with designing the new proposed system but to redefine the current process and practice of procurement in the SMI companies. In addition, company approaches to eprocurement depends on the structure of the organization and the industry it competes in. Structured system analysis and design methodology is used to conduct the full study of the proposed system. Lastly, a proposed e-procurement model for the SMI companies will be developed and presented

A New Image-Database Encryption Based on A Hybrid Approach of Data-at-Rest and Data-in-Motion Encryption Protocol.

Conventional database encryption is built based on the idea to encrypt data-at-rest and data-in-motion

The growth and biochemical responses on in vitro cultures of Oncidium taka orchid to electromagnetic field.

The effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF) strengths of 0, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120 kV/m were investigated using protocormlike bodies (PLBs) of Oncidium taka orchid cultures under in vitro condition. Various biochemical and antioxidant system changes in PLBs were investigated. The results obtained reveal the potential of using 40 kV/m electric field strength stimulated production of higher photosynthetic pigments and increasing the growth of Oncidium taka PLBs. The results also showed the difficulties in obtaining and establishing a clear relationship between the influencing electric field and the protein, nitrogen content, peroxidase (POX) and glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT) activities. This suggests that electromagnetic field could be used as a tool to promote Oncidium taka orchid growth via photosynthesis once the right EMF strength and duration of exposure has been established through future studies

Effect of Escherichia coli vaccination in gilts on piglet performances in a farm in Perak, Malaysia

This study aimed to determine the effect of Escherichia coli (Neocolipor vaccine – Merial) vaccination on neonatal diarrhoea score, growth parameters (average weight per piglet and average daily gain) and neonatal mortality rate in newborn piglets. A field trial was conducted in 35 litters of piglets from gilts selected from a farm in Perak, Malaysia. They were randomly allocated into treatment (16 litters from E. coli vaccinated gilts) and control (19 litters) groups. Body weights of the piglets were determined at days 1, 7, 14 and 21 of age and the episodes of diarrhoea and piglet mortality were monitored daily in each pen. The treatment group had significantly lower neonatal mortality rate, day-one neonatal diarrhoea percentage and diarrhoea in the overall period of 1- 21 days (p0.05) difference in the overall diarrhoea percentages and weekly growth parameters between groups. Some of the limitations of the study include environmental stress, routine and random treatment of piglets with diarrhoea with antimicrobial and biasness towards the control groups, which thereafter may have affected the significance of the diarrhoea score and growth parameters. It is presumed that piglets in the control group experienced severe diarrhoea during the first week of life, leading to the significantly (p<0.05) higher mortality rates. It is also deduced that piglets of the treatment group with diarrhoea that survived the first week have lower growth rates. However, in terms of neonatal mortality, the result is reproducible as it is in agreement with other field trials, which indicate that E. coli vaccination in dams could be an alternative way of moderating mortality due to E. coli. In conclusion, this pilot study showed that E. coli vaccination in gilts significantly reduces first week piglet mortality and diarrhoeal percentages at day-one under farm conditions

The impact of Asian financial crisis and global ICT sectors correction on the relationships between stock prices and exchange rates in ASEAN-5

This paper has investigated the dynamic impacts of the Asian financial crisis and global Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) sector correction on the relationships between exchange rates and stock prices for the ASEAN-5 funding countries. They are Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Using daily data 1995 – 2001, the results of variance decompositions analysis suggest that during pre-crisis, crisis and ICT bubble, the exchange rates have more influential power in influencing stock prices. Thus, this finding is in line with the traditional approach of stock prices determination, where exchange rate change is expected to give rise to stock price change. However, during post-bubble period stock prices become the dominant explanatory variable in all countries

Modeling Inner City Traffic Generated Air Pollution.

Rapid urban development in many cities in Malaysia has given rise to traffic congestions during peak hours. to overcome this congestion foe,more roads are being planned and built to help ease traffic away from city centers. Hence city outer rings roads are been constructed to diverts traffic flow. The outer ring roads may, however cut right through some parts of inner city with high concentration of population.Traffic generated air pollution may pose hazards to health of people living in the vicinity of the roads

Malaysian Gen Y’s Work Behaviours and Attitudes towards Job Retention and Career Advancement

Gen Y behaviours in the workplace have been much written about based on observations and studies in Western settings but little is known about Gen Y in Asian work contexts, particularly in the context of employee retention and turnover. This study examined Malaysian polytechnic graduates’ work behaviours and attitudes towards job retention and career advancement. Through a questionnaire survey of 195 polytechnic graduates, the study showed that the polytechnic graduates are a homogeneous group. There were no significant differences in the work behaviours and attitudes of female and male polytechnic graduates. No significant differences were found for ethnic groups. They frequently sought guidance and feedback on their work, needed project deadline extensions, worked in groups, and expected positive comments on their work performance. The results showed that monetary incentives is the main motivating factor for them to stay at their current job, work hard and not change jobs. A collegial workplace with a good supervisor and enjoyable work with flexible work hours play some role in employee retention where Gen Y is concerned. However, the prestige and convenient location of a company cannot retain them in their present or future job. A majority of them expected to be promoted within two years of service and every two to three years. The findings suggest that a fast-track promotion and an attractive salary are critical factors in the attempt to understand the connection between Gen Y’s work behaviours and career advancement expectations in the context of employee retention and turnover

Germination, growth and biochemical responses of papaya (Carica papaya L.) to electric field

Electric field, a non-ionizing radiation, exists in abundant in the vicinity of high voltage power lines, covers a large area of the agricultural land and affects crop productivity. In this study, an attempt was made to unravel the potential of using electric field as an agricultural tool to increase seed germination and plant vigour, and to investigate the effect of electric field seed treatment of several strengths on the germination rate, and the subsequent growth and biochemical changes of papaya (Carica papaya L.) Eksotika II. Papaya seeds were subjected to electric field of different strengths such as 0 (control), 10, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120 kV/m prior to sowing. Electric field treatments exerted some influence on the growth and biochemical changes in papaya. Highest germination percentage occurred when seeds were treated with 60 kV/m electric field. Most of the electric field treatments resulted in higher shoot and root length and dry weight, but 120 kV/m resulted in negative growth responses. In terms of the biochemical responses of papaya, electric field treatments up to 40 kV/m yielded higher soluble protein and nitrogen content compared to control. Total chlorophyll and carotenoid content and peroxidase specific enzyme activity were also positively influenced by electric field treatment up to 100 kV/m. Therefore, 60 kV/m may be considered as the optimum electric field strength for seed treatment to increase the germination, growth and biochemical quality of papaya

Relationship between Brand Perceptions and Satisfaction: Empirical Study on Skin Products in Malaysia

In the highly competitive marketplace, marketers for the skin care product are facing challenges with identifying the consumer’s brand perception and brand satisfaction. Brand satisfaction is perceived as an important issue on skin care industry. Obviously, customers are the important stakeholders in organizations and their satisfaction is a priority to the company. This study aims to investigate the relationship between brand perceptions and brand satisfaction on skin care products with four independent variables (quality, promotion, image and preference). This study employed the statistic software of SPSS version 19.0 to evaluate 200 sets of questionnaires which collected from students, undergraduates, working adults and other respondents. The findings in this study shows that the brand perceptions on quality, image and preference have positive and significant relationship with brand satisfaction on skin care products. However, the relationship between brand perception on promotion and brand satisfaction is being rejected. Thus, the marketers can focus on perception on quality, image and preference to increase customers’ brand satisfaction to capture and retain them

Effects of Escherichia coli vaccination in gilts on piglet performance in a farm in Perak

This study aimed to observe the effects of Escherichia coli (Neocoliporvaccine – Merial) vaccination on diarrhoea percentages, growth parameters (average weight per piglet and average daily gain) and mortality rate in new-born piglets. A field trial was conducted in 35 litters of piglets from gilts selected from a farm in Perak. They were randomly allocated into Treatment (16 litters from E. coli vaccinated gilts) and Control (19 litters) groups respectively. Body weights of the piglets were measured at days 1, 7, 14 and 21 of age and the episodes of diarrhoea and piglet mortality were monitored daily for each pen. The Treatment group had significantly lower Day 1 neonatal diarrhoea percentage (p 0.05)in the overall diarrhoea percentages (1 - 14 days) and weekly growth parameters between both groups. Environmental stress and inevitable routine treatment of diarrhoea with antimicrobials within the farm may have affected the significance of the diarrhoea percentages and growth parameters in this study. In conclusion, E. coli vaccination in gilts was shown to significantly reduce piglet mortality from Day 1 to Day 7 and neonatal diarrhoeal percentageson1-day-old piglets under typical farm conditions in this pilot study in Malaysia