Supply chain collaboration among Malaysian SME manufacturers

Malaysian 3rd Industrial Master Plan was developed to improve the country global competitiveness by positioning Malaysia as a major manufacturing hub and service provider in the global supply chain. To achieve this, it is suggested that Malaysian manufacturers especially SME should be involved in supply chain collaboration in their business operations. However, it is discovered that there are very few reported research on the supply chain collaboration activities among Malaysian SME manufacturers. The objective of this research is to uncover the supply chain collaboration activities among Malaysian SME manufacturers with their trading partners. This is to be done by determining the level of supply chain collaboration of Malaysian SME manufacturer and investigating the reason Malaysian SME manufacturers supply chain collaborations is at that level. In order to achieve the above objective, a mixed method of quantitative approach using survey method is employed to determine the level of supply chain collaboration and qualitative approach using personal interview method is employed to find out the reason for why Malaysian SME manufacturers’ supply chain collaboration is at that level. This research discovered that the supply chain collaboration of Malaysian SME manufactures with their trading partners is at minimal level. This is due to their current business relationship that they have with their trading partners do not required them to collaborate at higher level. On the other hand, Malaysian SME manufacturer are willing to have a high level of supply chain collaboration if long term business relationship could be established. Therefore, it is concluded that the type of business relationship or cooperation with trading partners can determine level of supply chain collaboration

Early detection of corrosion activity in reinforced concrete slab by AE technique

Chloride induced corrosion of steel reinforcement in concrete is the main cause of damage to concrete structures in marine, or structures exposed to de-icing salt environments. The need for early detection of corrosion in reinforced concrete structures is widely acknowledged in corrosion health monitoring for strategic civil engineering projects. This paper summarizes results from a laboratory experiment, using Acoustic Emission (AE) technique, regarding early detection of corrosion in reinforced concrete slabs that are exposed to chloride. The Results showed that while AE was able to determine the initiation of corrosion in reinforced concrete slab, Half-cell potential (HCP) was not able to detect it at the early stage of corrosion

إنتاج مادة 17 ألفا هيدروكسي البروجستيرون على مستوى المخمر المعملي بواسطة فطرة كاننجهاميلا إيكينولاتا

The mircrobiological transformation of progesterone by a local isolate of Cunninghamella echiiiulata using a laboratory fermentor was studied. Progresterone (10-50 g/1) wetted by Tween 80 was added to 48-hour old culture and the transformation was left to proceed for 72 hours. Thereafter, the different transformation products were resolved chromatog-raphically. The identity of each product was established through the determination of m.p., mixed m.p., optical rotation and ultraviolet as well as infrared absorption spectra. A comparison of the R{ values of each product with that of the corresponding reference using different solvent systems as well as their colour expressed with two spray reagents, was used as a further proof for the identity of the isolated products. With all concentrations of progesterone tested, maximum yield of 17ot -hydroxyprogesterone was obtained after 48 hours of fermentation Progesterone concentrations of 10 and 20 g/1 were almost quantitatively converted to the different transformation products after 72 hours of fermentation. Using a concentration of 20 g/1 and incubation period of 48 hours, the transformation product mixture consisted of unchanged progesterone (6%), 17 o< -hydroxyprogesterone (54%),llotrhydroxyprogesterone (29%) and llo<;,17<^-dihydroxy-progesterone (2.5%).تم استخدام مخمر صناعي سعة 2 لتر لاختيار مقدرة الفطرة على تكوين هذه المادة في ظروف تشبه تلك المطبقة في الصناعة . وبدراسة تركيزات متعددة فن مادة البروجستيرون تتراوح ما بين 10جرام /لتر إلى 50جرام /لتر ، وجد أن أنسب التركيزات المختبرة هو تركيز 20 جرام من البروجستيرون لكل لترمن الوسط الغذائي ، حيث تم تحويل كل البووجستيرون المضاف إلى المشتقات المختلفة خلال 72 ساعة من بدء الاضافة . ووجد أن أعلى معدل لتكوين مادة 17 ألفا - هيدروكسي البروجستيرون كان بعد 48 ساعة من بدأ إضافة البروجستيرون . عند فصل المواد الناتجة من تحول البروجستيرون بواسطة الفطرة المستخدمة وذلك بواسطة أعمدة الفصل باستخدام مادة الالومينا وجد أن البروجستيرون يتحول إلى : 17 ألفا - هيدروكسي البروجستيرون ( 54 %) 11 ألفا - هيدروكسي البروجستيرون (29%) 11 ألفا ، 17 ألفا - ثنائي هيدروكسي البروجستيرون (2.5%

Experimental investigation of feedforward control schemes of a flexible robot manipulator system

This paper presents experimental investigations into the applications of feedforward control schemes for vibration control of a flexible manipulator system. Feedforward control schemes based on input shaping and filtering techniques are to be examined. A constrained planar single-link flexible manipulator is considered in this experimental work. An unshaped bang-bang torque input is used to determine the characteristic parameters of the system for design and evaluation of the input shaping control techniques. The input shapers and filtering techniques are designed based on the properties of the system. Simulation results of the response of the manipulator to the shaped and filtered inputs are presented in time and frequency domains. Performances of the shapers are examined in terms of level of vibration reduction and time response specifications. The effects of derivative order of the input shaper on the performance of the system are investigated. Finally, a comparative assessment of the control strategies is presented and discusse