Validity of the technology acceptance model (TAM) : A sensemaking perspective

This study investigates whether sensemaking activities influence technology acceptance and if the strength of relationship between TAM’s constructs changes over a period of time. This study was a panel-based longitudinal study, whereby data was collected in three stages within a single semester. The setting of the study was at the School of Management, USM. The major findings of the study showed that sensemaking does influence the TAM if activities are undertaken at high and low levels and also sensemaking influences individual constructs of TAM rather than the whole model. This study failed to prove that there is a significant change in the strength of relationship between TAM constructs over a period of time under sensemaking influence, which is that sensemaking activities were found not to exhibit any moderation effect on the TAM constructs. Sensemaking acts as an external variable which influences TAM rather than moderate the strength of the relationship between TAM constructs. This could be because the technology in question was mandatory to be used by the subjects rather than voluntary. Implications for managers are discussed

Change management and implementation of total productive maintenance: an exploratory study of Malaysian manufacturing companies

This study examines the effects of change management towards the implementation of productivity and quality improvement programs through the concept of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), in manufacturing firms in Malaysia. The factors measured are management commitment, training and education, employee empowerment, team culture and company policies and goals for change management. Autonomous maintenance and planned maintenance factors were used to measure TPM. The findings of the study provide empirical evidence that change management factors significantly enhances the extent of TPM implementatio

Extraction of biological hydroxyapatite from tuna fish bone for biomedical applications

Natural hydroxyapatite (HAp) is known for its common use in biomedical applications including in orthopaedic and implantation. HAp can be extracted from natural resources such as eggshells, fish bones and coral. Annually, it is found that huge amount of tuna fish bones was thrown away and being wasted as results from great consumption of tuna fish. In this study, tuna fish bones were extracted and characterised to be used in biomedical applications. Specifically, tuna fish bones were cleaned, and calcined at high temperature of 700 °C, 900 °C and 1100 °C. Powders calcined at 700 °C showed pure HAp compared to powders calcined at 900 °C and 1100 °C which showed the presence of β-TCP. As temperature rising, the morphology of the powders also changes from spherical-shaped to irregular-shaped indicated the substitution of phosphate and calcium from the β-TCP which also influenced the ratio of Ca/P obtained. In this study, powders calcined at 700 °C obtained optimum Ca/P ratio of 1.60. Moreover, EDS analysis showed the presence of tracer elements such as Ca, Mg, Sr Na, K and Zn in all calcined samples. These elements can help improve the biocompatibility of the HAp and beneficial for biomedical applications

The Impact Of Intra And Inter-Firm Sourcing Strategy On Supplies' Quality, Delivery And Cost

In recent years, the business environment has become extremely competitive. Firms, searching for sources of competitive advantage began to look into the potential of sourcing in adding value as purchased inputs account for 60% to 80% of cost of goods sold. Thus, the objective of this paper is to investigate which sourcing strategy, inter-firm or intra-firm, will lead to better supplies' quality, delivery and cost and whether in the process of achieving this outcome, it is moderated by environment-related factors. Intra-firm sourcing takes place when a firm procures materials, parts and components from within its corporate system, either a parent from its subsidiaries, or subsidiaries from their parent or from other related subsidiaries. By contrast, inter-fi rm sourcing occurs when a firm sources from independent, unrelated suppliers. The population for thi s study is the organizations that are involved in the manufacturing of electronics and electrical product located in Penang. The results reveal that in all of the three performance measures: quality, delivery and cost, intra-firm sourcing is seen to outperform inter-firm sourcing. Additionally, assets specificity is not a significant moderating variable on the differences in supplies' quality, delivery and cost of intra-firm and inter-firm sourcing, but bargaining power is. This study provides an avenue for further exploration on the potential of intra-firm sourcing

Rancang Bangun Sistem Informasi Penjualan Peralatan Parking System pada PT. Autoparking Indonesia

PT Autoparking Indonesia adalah Perusahaan yang bergerak pada bidang penjualan dan penyediaan alat parking system. PT Autoparking Indonesia berpusat di kelapa gading, Jakarta Utara. Divisi Pemasaran dan penjualan memegang peranan penting dan bertanggung jawab dalam mengawasi dan menjamin kelangsungan sektor penjualan dengan memberikan informasi yang tepat bagi Perusahaan dan konsumen. Karena divisi pemasaran dan penjualan berinteraksi langsung dengan konsumen dan menjadi ujung tombak bagi Perusahaan. Informasi harga jual sangat diperlukan keberadaannya oleh berbagai pihak, antara lain bagi pihak PT. Autoparking Indonesia sebagai bahan acuan harga jual bagi konsumen. Oleh karenanya, diperlukan suatu sistem yang cepat, tepat, dan akurat sehingga PT. Autoparking Indonesia akan terpenuhi kebutuhan atau kepentingannya. Sistem penjualan yang berjalan saat ini masih bersifat konvensional (Aryanto & Tjendrowaseno, 2013) sehingga menyebabkan terlambatnya pembuatan laporan penjualan (Luqman & Wardati,2012), masalah lainnya adalah belum adanya media pemasaran secara online sehingga penjualan belum optimal. Selain itu sering terjadi ketidakkonsistenan data yang menyebabkan kerangkapan data (Jayanti & Iriani, 2014) Saat ini suatu bidang USAha tentu kurang kompetitif jika tidak memiliki pemasaran secara online. Konsumen sangat kesulitan mencari informasi tentang keberadaan PT. Auto Parking Indonesia yang tentu mengakibatkan Perusahaan tersebut kurang terkenal oleh banyak orang

Implementing Total Productive Maintenance (Tpm) in Malaysian Manufacturing Organisation: an Operational Strategy Study

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) has been recognized as one of the significant operation strategy to regain the production losses due to equipment inefficiency. Many organizations have implemented TPM to improve their equipment efficiency and to obtain the competitive advantage in the global market in terms of cost and quality. In the implementation of TPM in a manufacturing organization, both Human-oriented and Process-oriented Strategy has been identified as critical success factors. This paper, therefore, focuses on the two TPM operational strategies, which is posited, will improve the extent of TPM implementation in manufacturing organizations. This study is an attempt to look at the TPM implementation from the perspective of a developing country such as Malaysi

Implementation the Knuth Morris Pratt (KMP) Algorithm in Interactive Web Monitoring and Recording Rabbit Reproduction System

Recording and monitoring rabbit reproduction data at Balai Penelitian Ternak (Balitnak) are yet integrated using systematic recording and searching system approach. Thus the purpose of this study is to build an interactive web monitoring and recording rabbit reproduction system as well as implementing the Knuth Morris Pratt (KMP) algorithm in order to provide a reliable search function. This research produced an interactive monitoring of recording rabbit reproduction data which record important information about rabbit codes, dates (mating, palpation, childbirth, 21 days, 35 days), weight (mating, palpation, after giving birth, 21 days, 35 days ), the number of children born alive or dead (giving birth, 21 days, 35 days). The results of the implementation of the KMP algorithm generated a search with a time of 0.015095 milliseconds with an algorithm test based on the search for rabbit names as many as 20 types of rabbits

Pemanfaatan Informasi Iklim sebagai Sinyal Peringatan Dini Kasus Dbd di Banjarbaru, Kalimantan Selatan

Among the various types of disasters, diseases outbreaks were categorized as a non-natural disaster. Similar with natural disasters, non-natural disasters also requires an early warning mechanism to anticipate outbreaks that can cause human fatalities. One of them is Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF) and considered as a disease with potential outbreak. Therefore, DHF required an early warning mechanism as an important step for decreasing the numbers of DHF victims. The emerging of DHF closely related to climates which will affect the vectors behaviors and life cycle as well as the setting of human body physiology itself. The routine observation, recording and even climates prediction becomes very important to be done considering climate information has great potential in providing an awareness signal against DHF incidence. The purpose of this study was to encapsulate climate information which consists of rainfall, temperature and humidity and observe its influence on the DHF incidence of dengue in Banjarbaru during the period 2004-2013. This is a quantitative research with time trend ecological study as the research design. The path analysis is used to explain the causal relationships mechanism between variables. The analysis showed that rainfall has the most dominant influence on the DHF incidence in Banjarbaru during the period 2004-2013 and can be predicted that by the time the rainfall has reached the range of 275.4 mm - 359.1 mm, 83.3% - 86.3% humidity and 26,8°C - 27,4°C of air temperature then this condition can be perceived as a signal againts the rise of DHF occurrence rises that led into an outbreak in Banjarbaru