Business Strategies Through Fit Management of Human Capital as Competitive Advantage

Many organizations fail to interpret what the competitive advantages of their business. Based on lean philosophy about waste, one of the reasons is to unlock (by understandingand take advantages) of their employee's potential. This paper proposes a conceptual framework of the so-called ‘Fitted Management'. The concept discusses two issues i.e. 1)‘Fitted Management', an integrated concept of performance challenges, performance measurement and performance management combined with the vision and missions intocompetitive management; 2) ‘Human Transformation', a conceptual model to support the first concept. It discusses the processing of exploring human capabilities (in organization)and how to manage this (to fit with the organization) as well as business competition in dynamic market and business climates

Numerical and experimental investigations on efficient design and performance of hydrokinetic Banki cross flow turbine for rural areas

Micro hydrokinetic energy scheme presents an attractive, environmentally-friendly and efficient electric generation in rural, remote and hilly areas. However, this scheme is yet to be fully discovered, as researchers are still searching for solutions for the main problems of low velocity of current in the open flow channels and low efficiency of hydrokinetic turbines. This research proposes a novel system configuration to capture as much kinetic energy as possible from stream water current. This system, known as bidirectional diffuser augmented (BDA) channel, functions by utilizing dual directed nozzles in the flow and is surrounded by dual cross flow/Banki turbines. It is also important to obtain the efficient design parameters of the turbines to use in the current configuration. The appropriate angle is important in order to guide the flow to touch the blades more perpendicularly to capture as much torque and power as possible. Hence, experimental and numerical investigations have been carried out in this research paper to study the performance characteristics of the CFT configuration applied in BDA system and investigate the effects of blades’ inlet and outlet angles of CFT runners on the internal flow characteristics and efficiency. In this study, four different runners with various inlet and outlet angles of two CFT have been investigated. The CFD results have been validated with the experimental work and proven acceptable with flow pattern and performance characteristics. The results of the current study conclude that the maximum power coefficients (Cp) of 0.612 and 0.473 for lower and upper turbines are recorded for best runner angles of Case 3

Effects Of Different Processes On Mechanical Properties Of CFRP By RTM And VIP Techniques

There is a high demand of hinge bracket for aircraft spoilers from metallic to composite materials in aircraft industries. Therefore, new fabrications process studies to replace the current process. Moreover, the current fabrication processes are of tooling and production are expensive as well as high testing cost. Thus, studies present the effect of different number and orientation of woven carbon fiber layers in laminated composites (CFRP) system in mechanical properties. The composites were fabricated based on eight plies, 16 plies, 24 piles and 32 plies of woven carbon fiber layers. The same orientation of woven carbon fiber layer was fabricated using two different processes which are Resin Transfer Moulding Process (RTM) and Vacuum Infusion Process (VIP). The composites fabricated using both processes undergo tensile test and flexural test to evaluate the effect of different process fabricating the composites with a different number of woven carbon fiber layers. Based on the results, the best properties of composites based on the different fabricated process and number of woven carbon fiber layers can be proposed to replace the manufacturing process for hinge bracket for aircraft spoilers were obtained. The result from the experiment shows that 8CF/EP composites fabricated using VIP have 10.6 % higher in specific strength obtained from tensile test and 64.4 % higher in specific strength obtained from the flexural test. From this results of this study indicate that the composites with 8 plies of carbon fiber fabricated using VIP has a good tensile and flexural strength compared to composites fabricated using RTM and other different plies of carbon in the composite

Gunung Tahan Trail: a historical review

There are still a lot of information on the history of Gunung Tahan Trail which remain unknown to the Malaysian public; some were buried with the demise of the elderly living around this mountain. This paper attempts to reveal the history of this famous trail which is located in Taman Negara in relation to the origin of its name, local belief and folklore of the mountain, colonial proposal for the establishment of grand hill station and early attempts to explore the mountain. Most of the data and information for this review were gathered from field notes and expedition reports published in various journals between 1880 and 1940. These information would be useful to Taman Negara Park Management in enriching recreational and nature tourism experiences among users of Gunung Tahan Trail

Augmented diffuser for horizontal axis marine current turbine

The potential of renewable energy sources is enormous as they can make a major contribution to the future of energy needs. The ocean has a great potential to become a practicaland predictable energy source compared to other energy resources such as solar, wind, and nuclear. It offers different sources of energy which can be utilized namely wave, tidal, offshore wind, thermal, and tidalcurrent. Among these sources, marine tidal current has major advantages such as higher power availability and predictability. The main objective of this research work is to design and develop a horizontal axis marine current turbine (HAMCT) that suitable for operating within Malaysian ocean, which has low speed current (0.5 – 1 m/s average). A prototype of augmented diffuser 4-bladed HAMCT applying NACA 0014 was proposed in the current study. The turbine model has 0.666 m diameter, and it was designed to produce as much as power from flowing water current. Model was constructed and tested at Marine Technology Center (MTC) in three conditions, namely, free tow testing, ducted tow testing, and ducted diffuser tow testing in order to predict the power and efficiency of the turbine system. The results showed that the application of duct was significant to concentrate the flow and diffuser arrangement was effective when it was placed behind of the rotor in this condition of low water current speed. The maximum efficiency Cp obtained in the current system was 0.58

A review on fish lipid : composition and changes during cooking methods.

Fish lipids are known to be beneficial for human health since they are rich in eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). This benefit can be affected by some processing or cooking methods. The effects of different cooking methods on lipid content and fatty acid composition of different fish species have been previously studied. In this article, the fish lipid characteristics and their changes during different cooking methods were reviewed. The fat content and fatty acid composition of fish vary according to the species, season, and environmental conditions. The fish lipid characteristics also change during different cooking processes. Frying generally gives higher changes in the fish lipid composition than other cooking methods. For example, frying results in higher losses of DHA and EPA (compared to other cooking methods). Further, the lipid changes occurring during frying depend on the fat content of the fish, the frying oil composition, and the type of frying technology

Determination of free fatty acids in palm oil by near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy

A near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy calibration was developed for the determination of free fatty acids (FFA) in crude palm oil and its fractions based on the NIR reflectance approach. A range of FFA concentrations was prepared by hydrolyzing oil with 0.15% (w/w) lipase in an incubator at 60°C (200 rpm). Sample preparation was performed in Dutch cup, and the spectra were measured in duplicate for each sample. The optimized calibration models were constructed with multiple linear regression analysis based on C=O overtone regions from 1850–2050 nm. The best wavelength combinations were 1882, 2010, and 2040 nm. Multiple correlation coefficients squared (R2) were: 0.994 for crude palm oil, 0.961 for refined-bleached-deodorized (RBD) palm olein, and 0.971 for RBD palm oil. Calibrations were validated with an independent set of 8–10 samples. R2 of validation were 0.997, 0.943, and 0.945, respectively. The developed method was rapid, with a total analysis time of 5 min, and environmentally friendly, and its accuracy was generally good for raw-material quality control

Determination of iodine value of palm oil by differential scanning calorimetry

Iodine value (IV) is used as a parameter in process control as well as a quality parameter in traded palm oil products. IV measures the number of double bonds in the molecular structure of an oil. To form a double bond, carbon requires more energy (615 kJ/mol) than to form a single bond (350 kJ/mol). Therefore, the thermal behavior of an oil could reflect its iodine value. This study was conducted to demonstrate the use of a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) to determine the IV of palm oil and its products as an attempt to reduce the use of chemicals in the analysis. The DSC thermograms of palm oil showed a clear separation of the substances that have low melting points (low-T), consisting of triunsaturated, monosaturated and disaturated triglycerides, from the high ones (high-T), consisting of trisaturated triglycerides. Regression analysis showed that the peak characteristics, namely, area and height of the low-T group and height of the high-T group in the heating thermogram and also the height of the high-T group in the cooling thermogram, can predict the IV of palm oil with R 2 higher than 0.99. This study concludes that DSC can be used to determine the IV of palm oil and its products

Co-curricular management practices among novice teachers in Malaysia

This article aims to identify the level of knowledge and preparedness among novice teachers in the implementation of co-curricular activities in secondary schools in the state of Kedah, Malaysia.A total of 162 novice teachers deployed to teach in secondary schools throughout the state of Kedah answered the questionnaire completely.The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and statistical inference including mean, percentage, independent samples t-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation.The results, based on six different academic disciplines, show that novice teachers in the humanities, sciences and technical were higher than novice teachers of language areas in the level of knowledge in managing as well as their willingness to plan teaching and learning co-curricular activities in school.A comparison of novice teachers based on gender showed that there was no significant difference between male and female teachers related to level of knowledge and preparedness in managing co-curricular activities. The Pearson correlation analysis showed positive and significant correlation between teachers' readiness in planning teaching and learning and the teachers’ knowledge in managing co-curricular activities.Furthermore, novice teachers who had attended the extra-curricular course during the first degree acquired higher levels of knowledge in managing extra-curricular activities after teaching in schools