Haslina Arshad

Barriers of supply chain management implementation in manufacturing companies: a comparison between Iranian and Malaysian companies

Supply chain management (SCM) not only supports a companys goals and information sharing, but also supports a company in meeting and satisfying customer needs better than its competitors. Managers are faced with many barriers in implementing SCM. Implementing SCM in a developing country, such as Iran or Malaysia, is still considered to be a major challenge due to several barriers. It is essential for all managers to understand these barriers and try to minimize them and improve competition strength. This article presents the SCM implementation barriers between Iranian and Malaysian companies and suggests significant variations between these two countries regarding the barriers faced. This article also compares and highlights the results obtained from a literature study. A survey questionnaire and structure interviews were used to gather the data needed. The questionnaire was distributed to 600 automotive companies in Iran and Malaysia and a total of 132 replies were usable. The data were analyzed using SPSS software. The survey revealed that both Iranian and Malaysian companies suffer from a lack of expertise and lack of awareness about SCM, which are major limitations to implementing SCM. However, Iranian companies showed that lack of information and awareness about SCM is another major barrier as compared to Malaysian companies. The follow-up interviews were conducted with 10 Iranian and five Malaysian managements to investigate proper methods to counter these obstacles. The findings of this research provide invaluable information to all researchers who investigate the barriers of SCM implementation and to company managements who desire to implement SCM and to assist the development of an effective strategic plan as well as to design programs to overcome the SCM barriers.

Virtual Visualisation Laboratory for Science and Mathematics Content (Vlab-SMC) with Special Reference to Teaching and Learning of Chemistry

Research on the teaching of science and mathematics in schools and universities have shown that available teaching models are not effective in instilling the understanding of scientific and mathematics concepts, and the right scientific and mathematics skills required for learners to become good future scientists (mathematicians included). The extensive development of new technologies has a marked influence on education, by facilitating the design of new learning and teaching materials, that can improve the attitude of learners towards Science and Mathematics and the plausibility of advanced interactive, personalised learning process. The usefulness of the computer in Science and Mathematics education; as an interactive communication medium that permits access to all types of information (texts, images, different types of data such as sound, graphics and perhaps haptics like smell and touch); as an instrument for problem solving through simulations of scientific and mathematics phenomenon and experiments; as well as measuring and monitoring scientific laboratory experiments. This paper will highlight on the design and development of the virtual Visualisation Laboratory for Science & Mathematics Content (VLab-SMC) based on the Cognitivist- Constructivist-Contextual development life cycle model as well as the Instructional Design (ID) model, in order to achieve its objectives in teaching and learning. However, this paper with only highlight one of the virtual labs within VLab-SMC that is, the Virtual Lab for teaching Chemistry (VLab- Chem). The development life cycle involves the educational media to be used, measurement of content, and the authoring and programming involved; whilst the ID model involves the application of the cognitivist, constructivist and contextual theories in the modeling of the modules of VLab-SMC generally and Vlab-Chem specifically, using concepts such as `learning by doing, contextual learning, experimental simulations 3D and real-time animations to create a virtual laboratory based on a real laboratory. Initial preliminary study shows positive indicators of VLab-Chem for the teaching and learning of Chemistry on the topic of `Salts and Acids.

Increasing the Tracking Efficiency of Mobile Augmented Reality Using a Hybrid Tracking Technique

Traditional vision tracking approaches have failed to support the fast tracking required by Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) for a real-time interactive effect. The main problem addressed by this research is the tracking problem in MAR where the computational load is a major issue. In this paper we proposed a more efficient visual tracking technique based on fast detectors and small binary descriptors which are capable of providing both; scale and rotation invariance. We also propose a new hybrid tracking technique which can speed up the overall performance of MAR by reducing the detection rate of the tracking process. The hybrid technique is based on the usage of inertial sensors such as accelerometer, gyroscopes and gravitational vectors which can readily improve the efficiency of any vision based feature tracking system that uses computer vision. The preliminary tests carried out during the course of the study produced very promising results.

How implementing SCM affect different manufacturing companies

Presenting products with a shorter life cycle, intense competition among enterprises and the highest level of customer satisfaction, have forced organisations to invest more on their supply chain. Managers always tried to design effective business to meet customer demands better than competitors. So, understanding the main issues related to supply chain management (SCM) implementation can help managers to make an effective strategy in managing their customers’ demands and fulfilling suppliers’ requirements. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the important problematic issues which hinder companies to implement SCM. To achieve these goals implementing SCM in two important industries in Malaysia (automotive and food) have been considered. A questionnaire was used to identify the perceived problems and attitudes towards SCM. The questionnaire was distributed to 600 food and automotive organisations in Malaysia. A total of 62 usable replies were received from the automotive industry, and 140 from the food...

Handheld Augmented Reality Interaction Technique

Handheld devices are popular device for an Augmented Reality application. It has a basic hardware requirement for AR system. However it must be overcome some technical obstacle to realize its true power. One of the problems is interaction in handheld AR environment. Touch screen interaction is one of the common interaction methods in handheld AR but it is not easy to interact in touch screen with virtual object in handheld AR scene. Current research shows that Freeze Interaction technique shows its usefulness in handheld touch screen AR interaction. However it has a drawback such as, when users freeze their view it freezes the whole scene. When virtual object are updating continuously the real world-view is not being updated and remains as still picture. It can be a problem when users need to deal with current up-to date real world scene. To overcome current problem of Freeze Interaction technique we have implemented new freeze technique Freeze-Object for more precise interaction. This paper presents a short review of handheld AR interaction technique and our proposed work.

A real-time vision-based framework for human-robot interaction

Building human-friendly robots which are able to interact and cooperate with humans has been an active research field in recent years. A major challenge in this field is to develop robots that can interact and cooperate with humans by understanding human communication modalities. Nonetheless, human face is a dynamic object and has a high degree of variability in its appearance, which makes face detection a difficult problem. In this paper, we present a real-time vision-based framework to detect human face and analysis of the human face direction in window area to interact with robot. A cascade of feature detectors trained with boosting technique has been employed. Experimental results using servo motors connect to SD21 and PIC16F887A microcontroller; and the MIABOT Pro have validated our approach. Our future work is to build an intelligent wheelchair whose motion can be controlled by the users face direction.

Cutting down the Difficulties of SCM Implementation: A Comparison between Iranian and Malaysian Companies

Although management of organizations are faced with a number of problems which come up during implementing SCM projects, intense competition force them to overcome these difficulties on order to be successful in the fierce global market . In Developing countries, such as Iran and Malaysia, this matter is still considered as a major challenge due to facing several troubles for implementing SCM across their organizations. This paper presented several problems which have occurred when SCM were implemented across Iranian and Malaysian organizations and also suggested a proper framework for cutting down the most important of those difficulties. A survey questionnaire was used to gather the data needed and the review of literature leads authors to propose two frameworks. The survey reveals that both Iranian and Malaysian companies suffer from the “lack of information” as a major difficulty in implementing SCM. Framework A and B were suggested for sharing point of sale (POS) data across the SCM to overcome the lack of information across the chain. The findings of this research would give invaluable information to all managements who investigate for the proper method to conquer the SCM problems.

A visual art education tool to create logo (APH-Pensil) based on the fundamental design theory approach

This paper outlines the research conducted to develop and evaluate a Visual Art Education tool (APH-Pensil), based on the fundamental design theory. This tool consists of six modules. The Art element module help students acquire skills in creating lines, space and colour; the Design module, help students acquire skills to identify harmony, balance, emphasis, contrast, rhythm, variations and integration of design that is created; the Design process module, enable students to redesign available logos; the technique module on the other hand, help students in colour selection and recognition; whilst the Logo HSR module, help students to differentiate different types of logos; and the Fundamental design application module, enable students to design 2D and 3D Logos. The evaluation of the Visual Art Education tool (APH-Pensil), was conducted on the quasi-experimental method to test for effectiveness and creativity of the users using the visual art tool. Data was collected based on instruments such as pre and post tests, specific tasks administered and observational checklist. The Torrance Test for Creativity Thinking (TTCT) and the creativity formula was used to measure the outputs of the students. The best creative measurement is one that can produce logos based on the original works sketched on paper and transferred using the system. Findings of the study showed that there was a significance difference in the achievement of students from the experimental group, based on the tasks undertaken by them as compared to the control group. Generally, the findings also showed that the use of the Visual Art Education Tool was effective in the teaching and learning of Visual Art Education amongst the secondary school children tested, and that the tool is capable of motivating students to be creative in the design of Logos based on the fundamental visual art design theory.

Framework Methodology of the Autism Children -- Vibratory Haptic Interface (AC-VHI)

This paper provides the Framework Methodology of the Autism Children -Vibratory Haptic Interface (AC-VHI) conducted on the mild autism children who have impairment in social interaction. This paper has exclusively explored problems faced by Malaysian autistic children in a National Autism Society at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It also has been conducted at two locations: the classroom and the court of the National Autism Society in Malaysia (NASOM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The paper has sampled 20 children with mild autism, who have impairment in social interaction, based on the records of the National Autism Society of Malaysia. The sample collection method followed the purposive sampling approach, which is a form of non-probability sampling that allowed us to choose a case, because it illustrates some features or processes, in which we are interested. The framework included three main three process which are Process one, process Two and Process Three. Thiss three processes of the framework was suitable with the area of research and could to accomplish objectives of this research in helping the autism children to interact and communicate effectively with their families, friends and the broad community. The framework included three main three process which are Process one, process Two and Process Three. Thiss three processes of the framework was suitable with the area of research and could to accomplish objectives of this research in helping the autism children to interact and communicate effectively with their families, friends and the broad community.

Enhancing learning experience of novice surgeon with virtual training system for jig and fixture usage

Complex surgical procedures, highly costs and time to prepare for the conventional surgical training are the factors which contribute to the development of virtual surgery training system in medical studies. A new jig and fixture has been designed to help orthopedic surgeons perform the knee replacement surgery. The jig and fixture is used to align the cutter blade in the right position before the sawing begins. It can also reduce the overall time taken when using computer assisted surgery system. Thus, training are required to practice the right techniques to apply the newly jig so that the time required to place the jig at the optimum position can be reduced. As an alternative to the conventional method, a virtual training system was developed to enhance the learning experience of novice surgeon. A testing with 8 novice surgeons showed that the time to align the jig on tibia after implementing the virtual training system were decreased compared to before. This showed that the virtual training system managed to train the doctors on the correct technique to use the newly designed jig and fixture.