Small and Medium-Sized Businesses in Malaysia Can Look Forward to the Future of Co-Creation, a Literature Review

Purpose: The fundamental objective of the study is to provide Malaysian SMEs with a competitive edge by creating a knowledge infrastructure around the co-creation phenomena and pinpointing the existing gap in prior understanding of co-creation.   Theoretical framework: The study provides a summary of the literature on topics such as form, success, origins, definitions, diversity, competitive advantage, differentiation, co-creation innovation, the notion of collaborative advantage, and the DART model for co-creation. The theory and model codes that were uncovered as part of the literature review provided a solid foundation upon which to build further investigations.   Design/methodology/approach: This is a descriptive-based study. The literature review within that article will stress the need for top-level management to know about the positive effects of customer co-creation.   Findings: Co-creating value with customers has the potential to increase brand equity, but this has not been well studied, especially in the context of small and medium-sized businesses. To address these research gaps, this study delves into the topic of co-creation among clients of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the service sector.   Conclusion: It looked into and offered writings on a wide variety of topics, including the landscape of forms, success, and beginnings; definitions; diversity; competitive advantage; uniqueness; and co-creation innovation. The codes from the theory and model would be used to build clusters and emergent themes in the literature review, which would then serve as the basis for further studies

Design of ultra-low voltage 0.5V CMOS current bleeding mixer

This paper presents an ultra-low voltage and low power current bleeding CMOS double balanced mixer targeted for ZigBee application in 2.4GHz frequency band. It introduces and discusses a modified CMOS based current bleeding mixer topology adopting a combination of NMOS current bleeding transistor, with a PMOS Local Oscillator (LO) switching stage and integrated inductors to achieve ultra-low voltage headroom operation at 0.5V. This mixer is simulated and verified in 0.13µm standard CMOS technology. The result shows a conversion gain (CG) of 11.84dB, 1dB compression point (P1dB) at -14.36dBm, third-order intercept point (IIP3) of -5dBm and a noise figure (NF) of 15dB and with a power consumption of 930µW

Sustainable tourism, deforestation and growth: a case for Malaysia

Sustainable tourism perceived as a significant driver of income and creates job opportunities for local communities, which, as a result, deliver significant incentives to preserve biodiversity. Preserving the quality of environment becomes the prime concern to attract more tourists, which as a result, increase funds for biodiversity conservation. Massive increase in tourism together with limited environmental resources capacity, there is an urgent need to raise the awareness on the issue of biodiversity for tourism development. For the purpose of this research, we examine the impact and economic growth on sustainable tourism for the period 1996 – 2012 in Malaysia. For the purpose of this study, we construct a Sustainable Tourism Index (STI) and employed few methods which are the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Canonical cointegrating regression (CCR), Dynamic OLS (DOLS) and Fully-Modified OLS (FMOLS) methods to test the long-run model of sustainable tourism. Generally, our results found that economic growth and mitigating do contribute to sustainable tourism in Malaysia

Delayed presentation of compartment syndrome of the thigh secondary to quadriceps trauma and vascular injury in a soccer athlete

AbstractIntroductionCompartment syndrome isolated to the anterior thigh is a rare complication of soccer injury. Previous reports in the English literature on sports trauma-related compartment syndrome of the thigh are vague in their description of the response of thigh musculature to blunt trauma, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of high-risk features of compartment syndrome, vascular injury in quadriceps trauma, and the role of vascular study in blunt thigh injury.Case reportWe present herein the rare case of a 30-year-old man who developed thigh compartment syndrome 8 days after soccer injury due to severe edema of vastus intermedius and large thigh hematoma secondary to rupture of the profunda femoris vein. MRI revealed “blow-out” rupture of the vastus lateralis. Decompressive fasciotomy and vein repair performed with subsequent split-skin grafting of the wound defect resulted in a good functional outcome at 2-years follow-up.ConclusionA high index of suspicion for compartment syndrome is needed in all severe quadriceps contusion. Vascular injury can cause thigh compartment syndrome in sports trauma. MRI findings of deep thigh muscle swelling and “blow-out” tear of the vastus lateralis are strongly suggestive of severe quadriceps injury, and may be a harbinger of delayed thigh compartment syndrome

Performance Measurement of Revolving Vane Compressor

Over the years, rotary compressors have gained popularity and widely used in household and automotive air-conditioning applications because of the compact nature and silent characteristics. By engaging a revolutionary concept to elevate the rotary compressor efficiency, a novel compressor mechanism, named the Revolving Vane compressor is invented. The prototype R134a compressor was designed, fabricated, instrumented and tested. Compressor tests were conducted for varying suction pressures, superheats, discharge pressures and oil circulation ratio. For each test, refrigerant mass flow rate, power consumption, suction and discharge temperatures and pressures were recorded. The new compressor mechanism has been proven for its compression ability and the preliminary measurements show comparable volumetric and mechanical efficiencies to the other existing compressors. In addition, the novel compressor design is outstanding for its cost competitiveness due to mechanism simplicity. It is foreseen that this new compressor will be a great candidate in future air-conditioning and refrigeration market

Solution enhanced dispersion by supercritical fluids (SEDS): an approach in particle engineering to modify aqueous solubility of andrographolide from Andrographis paniculata extract

The objective of study is to improve aqueous solubility of andrographolide through particle engineering using Solution Enhanced Dispersion by Supercritical Fluids (SEDS) approach. The precipitation pattern of sticky crude Andrographis paniculata extract from CO2-acetone system and CO2-acetone:ethanol (v/v) 1:1 system as well as the aqueous solubility of andrographolide precipitated were first studied at different pressure (100, 150 bar) and temperature (40, 50 °C) combination (full factorial design). The modification of aqueous solubility of andrographolide was then attempted by manipulating its precipitation process from CO2-solvent systems consisting of single solvent and solvent mixture at different proportions (v/v) at the appropriate pressure-temperature combination. A. paniculata powder precipitated from CO2-acetone system at 150 bar, 40 °C was found to be large, irregularly shaped, less crystalline with the highest andrographolide aqueous solubility (twofold increment compared to crude extract) and recovery compared to those precipitated from CO2-ethanol system and other CO2-solvent mixture systems. Complete dissolution of andrographolide from A. paniculata powder precipitated from CO2-acetone system had been achieved within 90 min. For SEDS precipitation under solvent mixture system, with increment of proportion of ethanol from 25% to 75%, larger particles and change of powder morphology from stripes into plates were resulted. Based on the higher aqueous solubility and dissolution of andrographolide, recovery as well as a different morphology observed from the less crystalline A. paniculata powder precipitated from CO2-acetone system, less impurities could have co-precipitated with andrographolide

Does biodiversity attract the number of tourist arrivals? a cross-country analysis

It has been recognized that biodiversity is vital for tourism. Biodiversity become the main attraction of nature tourism, for instance scuba diving, wildlife tourism and tourism in protected areas. Biodiversity can be the determining factor that influencing the tourists’ choices where to go for their next trip. In this study we analyse whether biodiversity is the attractor for international tourists’ destinations for a cross-section of 107 countries for 2013. Apart from the level of economic development, we employed three biodiversity indicators – stock of forest cover, protected areas, and number of fish species threatened as tourists’ destination choices. Further, we also included the governance indicators to account for the level of risk and safety offered to tourists. Our results suggest that the level of economic development, forest area, protected areas, and number of fish species threatened, and also governance are important factors determining tourist destination choices worldwide. The results of our study clearly justify the importance of biodiversity conservation that will benefit the tourism sector and related industries