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

Space sharing job scheduling policies for parallel computers

The distinguishing characteristic of space sharing parallel job scheduling policies is that applications are allocated non-overlapping processor subsets. The interference among jobs is reduced, the synchronization delays and message latencies can be predictable, and distinct processors may be allocated to cooperating processes so as to avoid the overhead of context switches associated with traditional time-multiplexing;The processor allocation strategy, the job selection criteria, and workload characteristics are fundamental factors that influence system performance under space sharing. Allocation can be static or dynamic. The processor subset allocated to an application is fixed under static space sharing, whereas it can change during execution under dynamic space sharing. Static allocation can produce more predictable run times, permits a wide range of compiler optimizations (e.g., static data distribution and binding), and avoids the processor releases and reallocations associated with dynamic allocation. Its major problem is that it can induce high processor fragmentation;In this dissertation, alternative static and dynamic space sharing policies that differ in the allocation discipline and the job selection criteria are studied. The results show that significantly superior performance can be achieved under static space sharing if applications can be folded (i.e., allocated fewer processors than they requested). Folding typically increases program efficiency and can reduce processor fragmentation. Policies that increase folding with the system load are proposed and compared to schemes that use unconstrained folding, no folding, and fixed maximum folding factors. The adaptive policies produced higher and more stable system utilization, significantly shorter mean response times, and good fairness curves. However, unconstrained folding resulted in considerably more severe processor fragmentation than no folding. Its advantage is that it exploits the efficiency improvement that typically results when an application is allocated fewer processors. Consequently, it can produce shorter mean response times than no folding under medium to heavy loads;Also because of this efficiency improvement, dynamic policies that reduce waiting times by executing a large number of jobs simultaneously are more promising than schemes that limit the number of active jobs. However, limiting the number of active applications can be the superior approach when folding does not improve application efficiency

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%

A Comparative Study of the Functions of the University Faculty Senate at the University of Nebraska at Omaha with its Counterpart at Bangalore, University in Bangalore, India

Education, especially college education, continues to ride on the crest of popularity because of the prestige attached to it. The aura a degree has, coupled with its potential as an instrument for enabling an aspirant to reach the higher echelons in any profession, has given an impetus to increased enrollment of students in colleges all over the world. This unprecedented increase in enrollment of students in colleges, more so in developing countries, particularly India, has brought in its wake a plethora of problems. In addition to political, social and economic problems, the country has witnessed students\u27 violence leading to large scale destruction of college as well as public property