Exploring the opportunities and perceived success of internationalization strategies in Malaysian SME’s

There is a complete transforming process all around the global economy. Technological displacement is displacing all the business activities into information oriented or information based activities. Internationalization has the great contribution in the fundamental changes which took place all over the world. In fact due to internationalization a revolution has been introduce globally. Due to the web there is availability of extended opportunities for Malaysian customer and small & medium enterprises (SME‟s). There is a need of an orderly frame work, due to limited research on the role of internet in international marketing. In order to have the better understanding to the role of internet in international marketing strategy, it is needed to examine the purpose for which SME‟s use the internet in the international marketing context(Shanker & Meyer, 2009). This paper will be providing a significant contribution in the development of internationalization process among Malaysian SME's. This paper will also help Malaysian SME's to improve their internationalization strategies in contrast with the electronic commerce

Environmental Risk Factors of Bronchial Asthma among Primary Schoolchildren in Abu Dhabi City

The aim of this study was to describe the current epidemiological pattern of bronchial asthma among the schoolchildren aged 7-12 years old in 60 government primary schools at Abu Dhabi city -UAE. The analytical cross-section design (ACSD) was chosen as a suitable method to investigate the exposure variables (environmental risk factors) and prevalence of bronchial asthma simultaneously in a representative samples. A self-administered questionnaire was completed by the parents of the school children to collect information regarding bronchial asthma, other related allergic conditions and family history of respiratory allergy. Analyses of the effect of the different socio-demographic variables and clinical history data of 3521 cases have been done. Out of which 503 (14.28%) asthmatic cases have been found. The socio-demographic data finding that father\u27s educational level were preparatory education (35.8%) of asthmatic and (31.7%) of non-asthmatic cases with significant difference was found (P\u3c0.05). Asthmatic male were higher (54.67%) than non-asthmatic male (47.75%) and statistical significant difference was found to be (P\u3c0.05). While asthmatic female were lower (45.53%) than non-asthmatic (52.2%) statistical significant difference was found (P\u3c0.05). Maternal asthma was higher among the asthmatic group (15%) than non-asthmatic (10.3%) a statistical significant difference was found between these two groups (P\u3c0.05). History of asthmatic father\u27s (11.9%) had the strongest associations with childhood asthma than non-asthmatic (8.2%). and the difference was found to be (P\u3c0.05). Frequency of allergic rhinitis symptoms was significantly higher in asthmatic children (7.9%) than non-asthmatic (1.8%). And their relationship was also significant difference (p\u3c0.05).Indoor pollution (smoking) is a risk of development of bronchial asthma among the studied cases exhibited that father\u27s smoking (56%) among the asthmatic and (37.9%) of non-asthmatic cases with a significant difference was found (p\u3c0.05). The finding support the hypothesis that environmental risk factors, socio-demographic and family history may be had strong association factors of asthma. The research had provided a good amount of quality data that can be of great advantage for school health programs as well as for research and development. More comparative and community-based studies are needed to determine the differences among the various geographical areas of UAE and ethnic groups. A detailed genetic study and a modified health education system are required in this region. Health care and school-health delivery system needs exhaustive assessmen

Effects of Motor Insurance Industry and Its Role in Road Safety Management: A Study of Saudi Arabia

Motor insurance is difficult business to manage and the progress report from the insurance companies shows that Saudi Arabia motor insurance industry, is suffering from higher motor claims as a result of increment in cost of materials and payment for the victims The aim of this research is to identify how the motor insurance industry participates in road safety management activities and factors influencing its involvement in road safety management. Statistics of Saudi Arabia indicates that approximately 13 deaths and 4 injuries occur daily due to road traffic accidents. Hence, there arises an urgent need to compile a comprehensive demographic baseline statistics and pattern of injuries that will provide scientific evidence based information to effectively educate the public regarding road safety. It will also help to plan better interventions that was previously overlooked to prevent such losses of life and lifelong disability. Survey revealed that as a result, the research output helps in insurance industry and road safety management program and regulations, enforcement, promotion, financing  were identified as the way motor insurance industry (MII) involves in road safety management (RSM). Keywords: Motor Insurance Industry, Road Safety Management, Accident Claim.             

‘Conscientous Objectors: A Matter of Conscience or Freedom Expression?

One of a series of posters for public exhibition as part of Plymouth History Month 2018 'Legal Tyranny: Conscientious Objection in the Three Towns 1853-1914' explaining how the concept of 'conscientious objection' later came to be associated with the Great War and the Military Act 1916. The exhibition also highlighted some of the powerful modern echoes with the contemporary resistance from some parents to the MMR vaccine Presentation date: 05 May 201

The Effect of Islamic Legislation on Contemporary Arab Islamic Architecture

تُعد العقائد إحدى الموجهات الفكرية الأكثر تأثيراً في العمارة، وبذلك تشكل العقيدة الإسلامية بأبعادها الفكرية والعملية المؤثر الرئيس في النتاجات المعمارية شكلاً ومضموناً وتمثل الشريعة الإسلامية الجانب التطبيقي لهذه العقيدة، فلكلِ مجتمعٍ ثقافتهُ وعاداته وتقاليدهُ , لذا فإنَّ التشريع الإسلامي يُعدْ منظومة متكاملة تحكم تصرفات هذا المجتمع ونتاجه على المستويين المادي والروحي وإنَّ هدف الدين الإسلامي والشريعة السمحاء تحقيق وحفظ المقاصد الخمس :الدين,النفس,المال , العرض والنسل فضلاً عن تحقيق العدل والمساواة وإصلاح حياة الإنسان وتُعدْ العمارة من أكثرُ الوسائلِ التي يقوم بها البشر كي يحققوا تلكَ المقاصدِ فضلاً عن كونها الأكثر تعبيراً عن ثقافة المجتمعات قوة وتأثيراً بالمجتمعات الأخرى مما يستتبع الأثر الديني في التصميم المعماري وبذلك تتشكل المشكلة العامة للبحث . إنّ ما عكسته التشريعات الإسلامية المستمدة من النصوص القرآنية الكريمة والأحاديث الشريفة وعلى الأعمال العمرانية التي قام بها الرسول (ص) والتي شَكلتْ المشكلة الخاصة للبحث ومن دراسة مجموعة من الدراسات تم تحديد مشكلة البحث بالآتي :( وجود قصور معرفي لأَثر التشريع الإسلامي في بلورة النتاجات المعمارية المعاصرة على مستوى الفكر والتطبيق) , ويهدف البحث إلى إغناء المعرفة بخصوص دورُ التشريع الإسلامي في بلورة عمارة عربية إسلامية ذات مضامين جوهرية معبرة عن روح العصر وإعتمد البحث المنهج الوصفي التحليلي والتي تضمن بناء إطاراً مفاهيمياً ومعرفياً وبناء إطار نظري الذي يُعد أولى خطوات حل مشكلة البحث . واهم ما توصل إليه البحث هو( بين التواصلية والإستمرارية يتوجه الإنسان المعمار إلى خلق نتاجات إبداعية ترتبط بإصول العمارة ذات الصبغة الإسلامية وقدرة تلك النتاجات على مواكبة المعاصرة من خلال تحقيق حاجة الإنسان ورغباته المتغيرة بتغير الزمان والمكان) ليختم البحث بالإستنتاجات والتوصيات والمصادر.                                                                     Religion is one of the most effective intellectual guides in architecture. Thus, the Islamic religion, with its intellectual and practical dimensions, is the main effective of architectural products in form and substance. Islamic legislation represents the practical aspect. Each society has its own culture, customs and traditions. Therefore, Islamic legislation is an integrated system that governs the actions and results of this society, and that the goal of the Islamic religion and legislation is to achieve and save the five purposes: religion, self, money, supply and birth as well as justice, equality and human life reform. Architecture is one of the most effective means by which human beings achieve these goals, as well as being the most expressive of the culture of societies, which is powerful and effective in other societies, which entails religious influence in architectural design it is the general problem of research As well as the Islamic legislations derived from the Quranic texts and the noble Hadiths on the urban work which formed the special problem of the research and the study of a group of studies. The research problem was identified by: (the lack of knowledge of the impact of Islamic legislation on the crystallization of architectural products Contemporary at the level of thought and application), and the study aims to enrich knowledge about the role of Islamic legislation in the development of Arab Islamic architecture with the contents of the essence of the spirit of the age and the research adopted the descriptive analytical methodology, which includes the construction of a conceptual framework and the construction of a theoretical framework, which is the first step in solving the research problem . The most important of the research findings is (between communication and continuity, the human architecture to create creative products linked to the architecture of Islamic architecture and the ability of those products to keep up with contemporary through the realization of human needs and desires changing time and place) to conclude the research conclusions, recommendations and source

Factors Affecting Readiness for Business Process Reengineering-Developing and Proposing a Conceptual Model

In this paper researcher made an effort to suggest an approach to minimize risk of implementing Business Process Reengineering (BPR) initiatives by identifying certain factors crucial towards creating readiness for BPR. Lack of readiness is main factor behind high rate of BPR failures. Extensive literature review and interviews from the panel of experts provided sufficient background information. Leadership style, Information technology (IT), Top management commitment and collaborative working figured out as critical factors towards creating readiness. Regular leadership actions consistent with organizational environment, collaborative working, Information Technology and Top management commitment could promote coherence in organizational members' readiness perceptions. Assessing BPR readiness can address strong points, weak points and risks, and hence the ranking/level of readiness in the organization. Keywords: Business process reengineering, Business process readiness, Critical success factors, Organizational change

Comparative Costs and Returns Pattern of Small-scale Groundnut Milling of RMP-12 and Ex-dakar Varieties in Gombe Metropolis, Gombe State Nigeria

The study determined the costs and returns involved in small-scale groundnut oil processing of two varieties in Gombe metropolis. Twelve markets were purposively selected for their popularity in groundnut oil processing, where 90 processors were selected by simple random sampling technique. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and were analysed using farm budget model, profitability index and t-test analysis. The results revealed that Cost of shelled groundnut constituted the major (92.3% and 91.6%) components of processing costs (P<0.01) for RMP-12 and Ex-dakar respectively. The  gross ratios, fixed ratios and operating ratios of the two groundnut varieties were < 1, meaning that the business was profitable. Also, the returns per naira invested of the respective groundnut varieties was ₦ 0.17 ($0.0006) and ₦ 0.25 ($ 0.0009) significant (P<0.01). Although, the RMP-12 variety gave higher gross income, but the Ex-dakar variety gave higher profit of ₦ 7,428.80 ($ 26.20) per tonne per week (P<0.01). To achieve higher profit, the traders should embark on Ex-dakar variety as the main resource input. They should also have access to formal loans so as to improve productivity and efficiency. Keywords: Comparative costs, Groundnut, Small-scaleJEL Classification: D24; D6

Direct numerical simulation of turbulent pipe flow up to Reτ=5200Re_\tau=5200

Well-resolved direct numerical simulations (DNSs) have been performed of the flow in a smooth circular pipe of radius $R$ and axial length $10\pi R$ at friction Reynolds numbers up to $Re_\tau=5200$. Various turbulence statistics are documented and compared with other DNS and experimental data in pipes as well as channels.Small but distinct differences between various datasets are identified. The friction factor $\lambda$ overshoots by $2\%$ and undershoots by $0.6\%$ of the Prandtl friction law at low and high $Re$ ranges, respectively. In addition, $\lambda$ in our results is slightly higher than that in Pirozzoli et al. (J. Fluid. Mech., 926, A28, 2021), but matches well with the experiments in Furuichi et al. (Phys. Fluids, 27, 095108, 2015). The log-law indicator function, which is nearly indistinguishable between the pipe and channel flows up to $y^+=250$, has not yet developed a plateau further away from the wall in the pipes even for the $Re_\tau=5200$ cases. The wall shear stress fluctuations and the inner peak of the axial velocity intensity -- which grow monotonically with $Re_\tau$ -- are lower in the pipe than in the channel, but the difference decreases with increasing $Re_\tau$. While the wall values are slightly lower in channel than pipe flows at the same $Re_\tau$, the inner peaks of the pressure fluctuations show negligible differences between them. The Reynolds number scaling of all these quantities agrees with both the logarithmic and defect power laws if the coefficients are properly chosen. The one-dimensional spectrum of the axial velocity fluctuation exhibits a $k^{-1}$ dependence at an intermediate distance from the wall -- as also seen in the channel flow. In summary, this high-fidelity data enable us to provide better insights into the flow physics in the pipes and the similarity/difference among different types of wall turbulence.Comment: 22 pages, 15 figure

Optimal Trajectory Tracking Control for a Wheeled Mobile Robot Using Fractional Order PID Controller

يقدم هذا البحث, المتحكم التناسبي التكاملي التفاضلي الكسري الامثل اعتمادا على خوارزمية اسراب الطيور للسيطرة على تتبع المسار للانسان الالي ذو العجلات. حيث يتم تقليل مشكلة تتبع المسار مع إعطاء السرعة المرجعية المطلوبة للحصول على المسافة وانحراف زاوية يساوي الصفر، لتحقيق الهدف من تتبع المسار يتم استخدام اثنين من وحدات المتحكم التناسبي التكاملي التفاضلي الكسري للتحكم في السرعة والزاوية لتنفيذ سيطرة تتبع المسار. &nbsp;تستخدم أساليب تخطيط وتتبع المسارات لإعطاء مسارات تتبع مختلفة. تم استخدام خوارزمية اسراب الطيور لإيجاد المعلمات المثلى لوحدات المتحكم التناسبي التكاملي التفاضلي الكسري. وتم محاكاة النماذج الحركية والحيوية للانسان الالي ذو العجلات لتتبع المسار المطلوب مع خوارزمية أسراب الطيور في برنامج المحاكاة &nbsp;ماتلاب. وتبين نتائج المحاكاة أن &nbsp;وحدات المتحكم التناسبي التكاملي التفاضلي الكسري الأمثل هي أكثر فعالية ولها أداء ديناميكي أفضل من الطرق التقليدية.This paper present an optimal Fractional Order PID (FOPID) controller based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) for controlling the trajectory tracking of Wheeled Mobile Robot(WMR).The issue of trajectory tracking with given a desired reference velocity is minimized to get the distance and deviation angle equal to zero, to realize the objective of trajectory tracking a two FOPID controllers are used for velocity control and azimuth control to implement the trajectory tracking control. A path planning and path tracking methodologies are used to give different desired tracking trajectories.&nbsp; PSO algorithm is using to find the optimal parameters of FOPID controllers. The kinematic and dynamic models of wheeled mobile robot for desired trajectory tracking with PSO algorithm are simulated in Simulink-Matlab. Simulation results show that the optimal FOPID controllers are more effective and has better dynamic performance than the conventional methods

Screening for Tuberculosis and Its Histological Pattern in Patients with Enlarged Lymph Node

Settings. Tuberculosis is a major health problem in the Republic of Yemen. Tuberculous lymphadenitis is one of the most common forms of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. Therefore, this retrospective descriptive study was conducted in Yemen to investigate the morphological pattern of tuberculous lymphadenitis, as well as to assess the reliability measures of (ZN) Ziehl-Neelsen and fluorescent methods in identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Methodology. One hundred lymph nodes tissue biopsies that were previously diagnosed by conventional histopathology as having tuberculous lymphadenitis were reinvestigated. Five micron in thickness sections were obtained from formalin-fixed paraffin wax processed tissues. The sections were stained using Haematoxylin and eosin (H & E), ZN, and fluorescent methods. Results. All of the 100 specimens were proved as having histopathological pattern of tuberculosis lymphadenitis. The most major histological features were giant cell (88%), caseation (84%), epithelioid cells (80%), granuloma and caseation (68%), lymphocytes (31%), and histiocytes (4%). After staining the specimens with ZN and fluorescent, of the 100 specimens only 3 (3%) and 9 (9%) specimens were found positive, by ZN and fluorescent methods, respectively. Conclusion. Conventional ZN and fluorescent methods have limitations in diagnosis of tuberculous lymphadenitis due to their lower sensitivity. Histopathology remains the most suitable method for the diagnosis of tuberculous lymphadenitis. In cases of suspected tuberculous lymphadenitis, it is advisable to confirm with more sensitive and specific method, such as polymerase chain reaction PCR or immunohistochemistry before reporting the negative results