The Influence of Human Resource Practices on Employee Work Engagement

The main objective of this study is to investigate the influence of Human Resources Management (HRM) practices (employee communications, employee development and rewards and recognitions) on employee work engagement, as well as to determine whether demographic factors (age, gender, academic qualifications, job category, department and length of service) have any influence on employees work engagement. To attain the objectives, the quantitative method was used and data were collected through questionnaires. A total of 152 questionnaires were distributed to 10 departments in a medical device manufacturing company in Perlis. Only 133 questionnaires were received and used for further analysis. The data were analyzed using Pearson correlation, regression analysis and frequency test. The findings exhibited that, there were relationship between Human Resource practices with work engagement. However, only two dimensions of HR practices correlated with work engagement namely employee communication and employee development. Through the ANOVA test, the finding revealed that only three demographic variables have significant relationships with work engagement, which were job category, academic qualifications and length of service. Lastly, the regression analysis between HRM practices and work engagement indicated that only 9.5% of total variance of work engagement was explained by HRM practices. In conclusion, it is observed that HRM practices have influence on the employee work engagement. Demographic factors also affect the engagement level of the employees. This shows that employers need to develop a proper and well-structured HRM policies in attaining high work engagement level among the employees

Laboratory simulation of LNAPL spills and remediation in unsaturated porous media using the image analysis technique: a review

Leaking from underground storage and surface spills of hydrocarbon sources can cause serious nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL) contamination in subsurface environments. The toxic compounds of chemicals have made field study impracticable and it has been replaced by laboratory and numerical simulations. This paper introduces the methodology for two-dimensional light nonaqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) flow behavior and remediation experiments using the image analysis technique (IAT). The LNAPL flow behavior experiments are divided into qualitative and quantitative infiltration and redistribution experiments, with and without numerical modeling. The laboratory setup for the quantitative experiments emphasizes the sand tank fabrication, sand packing techniques, typical porous media properties, and the selection of the LNAPL source. In this paper, several methods of enhanced remediation experiments are discussed to explain how LNAPL extraction was carried out for remediation. The requirements and image processing in the IAT are also highlighted from the existing researches. From the discussion, this nondestructive and nonintrusive technique can provide safer and larger coverage of regions for saturation imaging of LNAPL distribution in porous media compared to other techniques. Overall, this paper discusses the laboratory works to produce a highly reliable saturation imaging and current visualization technique for characterizing and analyzing NAPL migration in 2-D aquifer models

Application of cucumber green mottle mosaic virus vector as peptide presentation system

Recently plant viruses have been exploited as an alternative production method for pharmaceutically important peptides [1-9]. Antigenic peptides that were produced through this approach have been shown to be immunogenic

Fabrication of nanocomposite membrane via combined electrospinning and casting technique for direct methanol fuel cell

Emergence of nanotechnology has resulted in the introduction of the electrospinning process in fabricating and characterising the polymer electrolyte membrane from the sulfonated poly (ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) nanocomposite membrane comprised of electrospun Cloisite15A® (e-spun CL) for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). Poly (ether ether ketone) polymer is sulfonated up to 63% by sulfuric acid. SPEEK63/e-spun CL nanofibers were fabricated via electrospinning in which SPEEK63 was used as carrier polymer while the SPEEK63/e-spun CL nanocomposite membrane was obtained by the casting method. Characterizations on physical, morphological and thermal properties of SPEEK63/e-spun CL were conducted and compared to the SPEEK membrane fabricated by casting simple mixing 2.5wt.% Cloisite15A® and 5.0wt.% triaminopyrimidine solution (SPEEK63/2.5CL/5.0TAP). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed well electrospun Cloisite15A® with an average diameter nanofiber around 187.4 nm. Moreover, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) revealed that Cloisite15A® particles at a nanometer range were uniformly distributed and 66% smaller than those in SPEEK63/2.5CL/5.0TAP. Furthermore, x-ray diffraction proved that the dispersion state of Cloisite15A® fell into an intercalated phase. A very small amount of Cloisite15A® (0.05wt.%) in SPEEK63/e-spun CL successfully enhanced the proton conductivity up to 50%, whereas, unfortunately the methanol permeability value was 27 times higher than SPEEK63/2.5CL/5.0TAP. Proton conductivity and methanol permeability of SPEEK63/e-spun CL were 24.49 x 10-3 Scm-1 and 3.74 x 10-7 cms-1, respectively. Even though this study contributed to 95% selectivity lower than SPEEK63/2.5CL/5.0TAP, electrospinning showed a promising technique to further reduce original sized Cloisite15A® particles from mixed size (μm and nm) to nanometer sized. In addition, by fine tuning, the dispersion of Cloisite15A® enhances the SPEEK63/e-spun CL performance in DMFC

Fabrication and characterisation of superhydrophobic bio-ceramic hollow fibre membranes prepared from cow bone waste

Superhydrophobic membranes have great potential towards various application, especially for thermal-based membrane system such as membrane distillation. In this study, bioceramic hollow fibre membranes derived from cow bone waste were prepared by phase inversion/sintering method, followed by surface modification via immersion grafting with fluoroalkylsilane (FAS) agent. Interestingly, the grafting process led to the formation of hydroxyapatite nanorods, mimicking the unique structure of electrospun nanofiber membranes. The hydrophobicity of the modified membranes was assessed by measuring the water contact angle and showed excellent improvement from hydrophilic property to superhydrophobic with the highest value of 174° After the modification, the water entry pressure also improved from 0 to 1 bar. In addition, the presence of FAS agent on the membrane surface was observed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). A correlation between pore size, porosity, and mechanical strength of the modified membrane was discussed; the increment of membrane pore size after grafting process is synonym to the dental erosion mechanism. The result indicates that the superhydrophobic bioceramic hollow fibre membranes derived from cow bone waste have significant potential to be developed for membrane distillation application in treating water and wastewater

Hydrophobic mullite ceramic hollow fibre membrane (Hy-MHFM) for seawater desalination via direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD)

A low-cost hydrophobic mullite hollow fibre membrane (Hy-MHFM) fabricated via phase inversion/sintering technique followed by fluoroalkyl silane (FAS) grafting is presented in this study. The prepared CHFMs were characterized before and after the grafting step using different characterization techniques. The pore size of the CHFM surface was also determined using ImageJ software. The desalination performance of the grafted membrane was evaluated in direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) using synthetic seawater of varying salt concentrations for 2 h at various feedwater temperatures. The outcome of the evaluations showed declines in the permeate flux of the membrane at increasing feed concentration, as well as increased flux with increased feed temperature. The long-term stability of the membrane was achieved at time 20 h, feed temperature 60 °C, and permeate temperature 10 °C, the membrane achieved a salt rejection performance of about 99.99 % and a water flux value of 22.51 kg/ m2 h

Novel ceramic hollow fibre membranes contactor derived from kaolin and zirconia for ammonia removal and recovery from synthetic ammonia

The adverse effects of ammonia found in wastewater streams lead to the development of advanced water treatment technology, i.e. membrane contactor (MC). In this study, single layer hollow fibre membrane (SLZK) and dual layer hollow fibre membrane (DLZK) were prepared from zirconia and kaolin and modified into hydrophobic membrane through simple grafting process via fluoroalkylsilane (FAS) agent. The properties of membranes such as morphology, surface roughness, mechanical strength, wettability and liquid entry pressure were analysed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), 3-point bending strength, contact angle and LEPw setup. Finally, the performance of the membranes was also investigated towards ammonia removal via membrane contactor system. Our findings showed that hydrophobicity properties significantly improved for both SLZK and DLZK membranes after grafting modification process as indicated by the increase of contact angle value from 5° and 1° to 132.7° and ~180.0° respectively. Based on the morphological analysis, the surface of DLZK showed more porous structure as compared to the SLZK. In addition, DLZK also displayed the highest mechanical strength and contact angle reading of 125 MPa and ~180° respectively. This suggests that the DLZK showed an excellent membrane contactor performance with highest value of mass transfer coefficient (3.77 x 10-5 ms-1) and almost complete removal of ammonia removal (91%). Overall, these results implied that dual layer ceramic membrane developed from kaolin and zirconia could provide the basis for the development of alternative ceramic membrane with excellent properties for membrane contactor system

Experimental investigation of dual operation EMC-fed antenna having dual-perturbed structures

This paper presents the experimental investigation of a dual-operation antenna operating in the L-band region. The basis of the design is the basic rectangular patch. The patch is perturbed with embedded two L-section structures. The chosen frequencies are 1.575 GHz for Giobal Positioning System (GPS) satellite receiver and 1.8 GHz for Global System for Mobile (GSM). The antenna has been measured for its one and two-port performance. Optimum feed location was determined to be at the 14.5 mm location from the antenna edge. It was found that the antenna operates well near the designed frequency of operations

Modified bifin fractal antenna with size reduction

This paper discusses the resonance of a modified bifin fractal antenna in comparison to the corresponding printed modified bifin having a centre-feed microstrip line. The antennas are designed based on a finite biconical antenna operating at 1.575 GHz. The Global Positioning Satellite system receiver operates at this frequency. Modifications have been made to the bifin structure which is half-wavelength long. The modification done on the bifin is intended to maintain the operating frequency. Hence, a compact structure can be obtained. By employing a configuration that resembles the fractal, the modified antenna is further reduced in size. The modified bifin antennas have 60° arm flare angle. The antennas have been successfully investigated using numerical simulations. The one-port performance of each modified fractal bifin is investigated and analysed. The structures operate at the corresponding frequency of operations

Fabrication and characterisation of superhydrophobic bio-ceramic hollow fibre membranes prepared from cow bone waste

Superhydrophobic membranes have great potential towards various application, especially for thermal-based membrane system such as membrane distillation. In this study, bioceramic hollow fibre membranes derived from cow bone waste were prepared by phase inversion/sintering method, followed by surface modification via immersion grafting with fluoroalkylsilane (FAS) agent. Interestingly, the grafting process led to the formation of hydroxyapatite nanorods, mimicking the unique structure of electrospun nanofiber membranes. The hydrophobicity of the modified membranes was assessed by measuring the water contact angle and showed excellent improvement from hydrophilic property to superhydrophobic with the highest value of 174° After the modification, the water entry pressure also improved from 0 to 1 bar. In addition, the presence of FAS agent on the membrane surface was observed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). A correlation between pore size, porosity, and mechanical strength of the modified membrane was discussed; the increment of membrane pore size after grafting process is synonym to the dental erosion mechanism. The result indicates that the superhydrophobic bioceramic hollow fibre membranes derived from cow bone waste have significant potential to be developed for membrane distillation application in treating water and wastewater