Bayan Lepas Research Articles

The Effect of Work Stress and Work Environment on Job Performance in Manufacturing Industry: A PLS-SEM Approach

Employee performance is a critical determinant of growth and success within manufacturing organizations, making it essential to understand the factors influencing it. This study delves into the effects of work stress and the work environment on job performance, specifically within the electronics manufacturing sector in Penang, Malaysia. The research addresses how role ambiguity and conflict can act as stressors and also explores how intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors related to the work environment affect job performance. The study sample comprised 116 participants from five electronics manufacturing firms located in Bayan Lepas, Penang. Data collection was conducted through a structured questionnaire, and the analysis was performed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The results confirmed that the measurement model was robust, providing a solid foundation for validating the structural model. The PLS-SEM analysis demonstrated that the model had significant predictive capability, revealing that both work stress and the work environment exert substantial effects on job performance within the electronics manufacturing industry in Penang. Specifically, role stressors such as ambiguity and conflict were found to negatively impact job performance, while a supportive and motivating work environment positively influenced it. The study's results align with the theoretical frameworks of role stressors and self-determination, suggesting that effective management of stressors and the cultivation of a motivating work environment are essential for optimizing employee performance in the manufacturing sector.

ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF INEQUALITIES ON RESIDENTS' PERCEPTION AND CRIME INCIDENTS IN URBAN AND PERI-URBAN NEIGHBOURHOODS

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the issue of inequality to the forefront, exacerbating economic uncertainty and social injustice, which has led to widespread social disorder. This study examines the relationship between inequality and crime in urban and peri-urban neighborhoods in Penang; Moreover, an association between inequality and the incidence of crime will be investigated in two neighborhoods. Having considered the intricate relationship between social inequality and crime in previous studies, a quantitative approach was conducted to investigate how neighborhood locations impact the crime and inequality relationship. A face-to-face survey using a closed-ended questionnaire was conducted with 761 respondents, comprising 329 from Balik Pulau and 432 from Bayan Baru. The findings reveal that economic inequality significantly impacts crime rates in both Bayan Lepas and Balik Pulau, whereas social inequality only shows a negative significant effect in Bayan Lepas. Subsequently, results indicate income does not influence the fear of crime among respondents in Balik Pulau, but residents with higher income levels in Bayan Lepas exhibit a greater fear of crime. However, neighborhood locations do not distinctly affect criminal activity. These insights can help enhance crime prevention strategies, improve security, and foster balanced development in Penang.

Assessment of NASA POWER for Climate Change Analysis using the De Martonne Climate Index in Northern Peninsular Malaysia

Global warming is threatening human population, one of which is the frequent climate disasters, i.e., floods and drought, which affect the global food security. However, the assessment of regional climatic changes is constrained by the lack of high-quality long-term climate data. Taking the Northern Region of Peninsular Malaysia as the study area, this paper aims to assess the performance of NASA POWER in estimating annual and seasonal variability of the climate variables via De Martonne climate indices from 1985 to 2021. The findings shows that NASA POWER performed satisfactory in estimating both mean temperature and rainfall over the northern Peninsular Malaysia. The NASA POWER project performs the best in Bayan Lepas station with C = 0.70 for annual mean temperature while for annual rainfall is at the Ipoh station with C = 0.50. The annual De Martonne climate index shows that the study area is dominated by wet climate conditions, since the index classify the climate as “very humid” to “extremely humid”. The De Martonne climate indes is calculated from both data source is very similar. Therefore, NASA POWER data is useful in climate studies, while the knowledge of climate variability is beneficial for climate change mitigation and adaptation plans, particularly for agriculture.

THE CHALLENGES FACED BY RESIDENTS IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING AT BAYAN LEPAS, PULAU PINANG

This study focuses on the challenges of Bayan Lepas residents in obtaining affordable housing in Bayan Lepas, Penang. Affordable housing is frequently characterized as suitable for low and medium incomes. However, Bayan Lepas, Penang's housing situation demonstrates that high-end housing is more expensive than inexpensive housing. As a result, Bayan Lepas locals struggle to possess their own homes. This study aims to determine the residents' challenges to obtaining affordable housing in Bayan Lepas, Pulau Pinang. Fifty heads of families from low- and middle-income groups in the Bayan Lepas area were chosen to fulfil the study's goals. Semi-structured interview techniques are used for data collection. The qualitative data is next subjected to thematic content analysis. This study identified six (6) challenges to obtaining affordable housing for the Bayan Lepas people. The high cost of living, the difficulty in getting bank loans, the high down payments, expensive homes, the low income, and the problem in qualifying for affordable housing are a few challenges. Hence, it is suggested that the local government take a more active role in raising the ability of Penang's citizens and the number of affordable homes on the island, particularly in the Bayan Lepas region.

Identification Prevalence Of Endoparasite In Canines Bayan Lepas, Penang

This study aims to determine the type, prevalence and influence of sex and age on the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites on dogs in Bayan Lepas, Penang. A total of 100 samples of dog feces were collected from three Districts. Feces examination was performed by direct smear, sedimentation, and floatation methods. The kind of helminth was Trichuris sp. 2% (2/100), Dipylidium sp. 2% (2/100), Ancylostoma sp. 1% (1/100), Toxocara sp. 2% (2/100), Strongyloides sp. 2% (2/100) and protozoa Isospora sp. 18% (18/100), Giardia sp. 1% (1/100) samples were positively infected by helminth and protozoa. According to the statistics analysis, could be concluded that sex and age do not affect the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasite.

Integrating Social, Economic, and Environmental Factors to Evaluate How Competitive Urban Landscapes Are for the Development of Sustainable Cities: Penang Island in Malaysia as a Case Study

The competitiveness of urban landscapes is a subject of growing attention as cities strive to become the best places to support enterprises, economic development, and high-quality living while preserving environmental resources. In evaluations of urban competitiveness, financial factors are frequently emphasized. In this systematic study for the future sustainable urban landscape (SUL), we use the instance of Penang Island, Malaysia, to present an integrated methodology for finding, evaluating, and validating good indicators for developing an urban landscape index that balances economic, sociocultural, and environmental factors. First, we provide a framework for developing such an index by developing a Delphi Analytical Hierarchy Process (DAHP) model that aids in choosing the most important aspects and sub criteria affecting the sustainability of urban landscapes. Then, under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), we demonstrate how to use these data to assess the competitiveness of various zones on Penang Island, namely Bayan Lepas and George Town. According to the quantitative results of the DAHP model, economic criteria, which were given a weight of 0.595 and a corresponding inconsistency (CI) of 0.04, had a greater influence on Penang Island’s urban landscape than environmental criteria, which were given a weight of 0.276 and a CI of 0.02, and social and cultural criteria, which were given a weight of 0.128 and a CI of 0.08. In terms of economic criteria, Zone 1 has a weight of 0.360, which indicates that it has less sway than Zone 2, which has a weight of 0.636. In the discussion, we highlight the essential elements of the methodology to assess the competitiveness of urban environments.

Temporal and Spatial Evaluations of Extreme Rainfall Relationship with Daily Surface Air Temperature in Peninsular Malaysia

Extreme rainfall is expected to increase as the climate warms, with the rate of increase at 7% per degree of warming following the Clausius-Clapeyron (CC) relationship. However, studies showed that the rate of increase might not necessarily follow the relationship. This study investigates temporal and spatial variations of daily rainfall relationship with surface air temperature in Peninsular Malaysia using data from the Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN) using a fixed temperature interval binning method and quantile regression method. Investigation reveals that a negative scaling of daily extreme rainfall was observed for all surface air temperature and percentiles investigated, in contrast with the expectations from the CC relationship. The largest seasonal variation at 99th percentile was observed in December-January (DJF), while the lowest scaling rate was in March-May (MAM). The scaling rate tends to be higher in Subang and Melaka, and lower in Bayan Lepas, Kota Bharu and Kuantan. The scaling rate also tends to be stronger at 99th percentile compared to the lower rainfall events at 95th and 75th percentile and in warmer seasons compared to colder seasons. Further, the results show that the intensity of daily extreme rainfall in Peninsular Malaysia is decreasing with increasing surface air temperature.

Confidence Interval for Parameters Estimates in Circular Simultaneous Functional Relationship Model (CSFRM) for Equal Variances using Normal Asymptotic and Bootstrap Confidence Intervals

Few studies have considered the functional relationship model for circular variables. Anuar has proposed a new model of Circular Simultaneous Functional Relationship Model for equal variances. However, the confidence interval for all parameter estimates in this model has not received any consideration in any literature. This paper proposes the confidence interval for all parameter estimates of von Mises distribution in this model. The parameters are estimated using minimum sum (ms) and polyroot function provided in (built-in package) Splus statistical software. The parameters confidence may be obtained from parameter estimation. Those estimation values are obtained by minimizing the negative value of the log-likelihood function. Then, the confidence interval for all parameters based on the bootstrap method will be compared with the normal asymptotic confidence interval via simulation studies. It is found that bootstrap method is the superior method by measuring the performance using coverage probability and expected length. The confidence intervals are illustrated using real wind direction data of Bayan Lepas that collected at 16.3 m above ground level, latitude 05°18’N and longitude 100°16’E. The results showed that the estimate parameters fall between the estimate interval, and we note that the method works well for this model.

Evaluation of temporal variability and stationarity of potential evapotranspiration in Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract Potential Evapotranspiration (PET) functions as an indicator to estimate the amount of water loss to the atmosphere. Over the years, global climate change has eventually led to a change of PET capacity and this has affected the agricultural sector and water resource management. The objective of this study was to determine the best PET estimation method as well as to carry out a trend analysis and stationarity test of PET in Peninsular Malaysia. The Mann–Kendall (MK) test and Sen's slope estimator were applied for the trend analysis while the Augmented Dickey–Fuller (ADF) test and Kwiatkowski–Phillips–Schmidt–Shin (KPSS) test were applied for the stationarity test. The findings showed that Pulau Langkawi and Kuantan stations exhibited increasing trends while Bayan Lepas station exhibited decreasing trends for the daily, monthly, and annual PET time series. The daily, monthly, and annual PET time series at Bayan Lepas, Ipoh, Subang and Muadzam Shah stations were found to be stationary. Overall, the PET trend was found to be higher in the coastal regions and stationary in the mountainous region.

Trend analysis of seasonal rainfall patterns in Peninsular Malaysia

Long records of rainfall data with good quality is a significant component that triggers the entire chain of responses in a hydrological cycle by providing useful information to hydrologist and related parties. In this study, the temporal trend analysis of seasonal rainfall data was carried out in Peninsular Malaysia using the non-parametric Mann-Kendall test. Then, the magnitude of the seasonal rainfall trend line was determined using Sen’s Slope Estimator. Historical rainfall data with a minimum duration of 25 years were checked using four homogeneity tests and the missing values in the data were infilled using multiple imputation method. According to the output of the homogeneity tests, 64.3%, 7.1% and 28.6% of the rainfall time series can be categorised as useful, doubtful and suspect, respectively. From the trend test results, almost all the rainfall data were detected to have an increasing trend except Bayan Lepas for Inter-Monsoon 1, Southwest Monsoon and Inter-Monsoon 2. In addition to that, Bayan Lepas, Hospital Seremban, Ipoh and KLIA Sepang were detected to have a significant increasing trend for Northeast Monsoon as well as Batu Pahat and KLIA Sepang for Inter-Monsoon 2. In conclusion, Peninsular Malaysia exhibited increasing rainfall trend from year 1984 to 2019.

Trend analysis of potential evapotranspiration in peninsular Malaysia

Potential evapotranspiration (PET) plays a prominent part in hydrologic water cycle which is responsible for the water from the Earth’s surface travel back to the atmosphere. Climate change brought contradictory changes in PET which led to the inconsistency of PET trend globally. Hence, the present study carried out the trend of potential evapotranspiration using meteorological data from 7 different meteorological stations located in Peninsular Malaysia. Mann-Kendall and Sen’s slope estimator tests were employed in this article for PET trend analysis. Bayan Lepas experienced significant increasing trend for both FAO 56-Penman Monteith and Mahringer models during Southwest monsoon. For Mahringer model, significant increasing trends were observed at Ipoh and Pulau Langkawi stations during Northeast and inter monsoon 2, respectively. There were only a few meteorological stations experienced decreasing trend throughout the period. Although the combinations of increasing and decreasing PET trends were observed, it can be highlighted that majority of the PET time series exhibited increasing trend in Peninsular Malaysia.

Case Study: An Improvement of Inspection Approach of Printed Multilayer Circuit Products Related to Visual Based Inspection Technique

Product quality is an important issue in all manufacturing industry nowadays to meet the customers’ requirement. In this regard, most of the factory has a special department namely Quality Control (QC) Department which control the product quality. The studied factory is a flexible printed circuit board manufacturer which is located in Bayan Lepas, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. QC Department of the studied factory has high amount of work-in-progress (WIP). Therefore, the products have to be sent out to subcontractors for quality inspection. However, this method is not economically effective. Hence, the objective of this study was to develop an improved inspection method which will reduce the overall inspection time of the current inspection method (CIM). By reducing the inspection time, productivity of the department will increase and subsequently reduce the amount of WIP. This study is focused on the improvement of one product only. Before the improved inspection method (IIM) of the selected product was developed, performance of the CIM was evaluated by using one of the graphical productivity analysis charting techniques which is flow process chart. It was found that the IIM was able to reduce the inspection time of whole inspection process by 85.06 sec for every 12 panels inspected.

"The Legend of Nakhoda Ragam" in the Malay World and Its Link to Penang's Early History

The Malay World has produced many legends about extraordinary people such as rulers, nobles, warriors and the like. Patih Gajah Mada and Hang Tuah are examples of such legendary figures who possess a variety of extraordinary abilities and who are proudly regarded as idols of the community that produced them. Nevertheless, there are many other legendary figures who are not yet well known within the community but who have played no less than an important part in the history of the nation. Legends do not tell the life stories of ordinary persons; they showcase very special events associated with particular figures, which are then told and retold many times again. This article will discuss "Legenda Nakhoda Ragam" [The Legend of Nakhoda Ragam], which is well known in Brunei Darussalam, and his extraordinary adventures as a traveller in the Malay World, including his link to the founding of Pulau Pinang (Penang). Based on notes by Vaughan (1857), Nakhoda Ragam was a trader who often sailed between Lingga and Kedah. There was only one island between these two places that was attractive for him to anchor at, which he named "Pulo Ka Satu" (later Pulau Pinang or Penang). Nakhoda Ragam was also said to have founded several other places here, among them "Pulo Kindi", "Bayan Lepas", "Gerattah Sangkol", "Pulo Bittong" and "Puchut Muka", which all still exist today. This article presents evidence regarding the presence of this figure and his connection to the early history of Penang.

Application of the bin weather data for building energy analysis in the tropics

The present study presents the bin weather data for four cities in the tropical region and its significance in the building energy analysis. The bin weather data for four cities in Malaysia, which are Bayan Lepas, Kuala Terengganu, Senai and Kuching, were generated. The bin weather data are in the range from 18 to 38 °C with 2 °C intervals and tabulated based on six 4-h shifts. Since there is a lack of updated bin weather data in Malaysia, the present paper provides valuable data for engineers and designers to conduct an energy analysis using the bin method in this region. This data may also serve as an important reference for all tropical regions with similar weather characteristics. Energy analysis is an important tool for estimating the energy usage of a building in order to minimize energy wastage and maximize energy efficiency. The significance of applying bin weather data in energy analysis is also investigated using a case simulation. When the mean outdoor temperature of occupied period is used in simulation, the results deviate less than 1.6% from the results with the bin weather data, but the deviation rises up to 16.68% with the use of the annual mean outdoor dry bulb temperature.

Physicochemical characteristics of PM2.5 particles during high particulate event (HPE) in school area

Observations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and meteorological parameter (temperature, relative humidity and wind speed) fluctuations during a high particulate event (HPE) in Sekolah Kebangsaan Bayan Lepas, Malaysia have been conducted for three days (48 hrs). Selected sample spot of collected PM2.5 particles with high concentration was chosen to investigate the physicochemical characteristics using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray (FESEM-EDX). The results show that the 24 h average concentration ± standard deviation of PM2.5 (81.87 μg m−3 ± 31.83) exceeded the limit suggested by Malaysia Ambient Air Quality Standard (MAAQS-2020) and United State Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) which is 35 μg m−3. The diurnal variations of PM2.5 concentration fluctuated significantly during HPE. Results from Pearson correlation shows that relative humidity gives the most significant influence towards PM2.5 concentration (r = 0.410; p < 0.01) followed by wind direction (r = -0.306, p < 0.01), temperature (r = -0.262., p<0.01) and wind speed (r = -0.206; p < 0.01). From a morphological and elemental analysis, it shows that PM2.5 particles collected on a filter consist of two possible sources, natural and anthropogenic sources. The element components found in the natural particles were C, O, Na, Al, Si, S, K and Fe. The major components were C, O, Al, and Si with weight percentages were 18%, 39%, 9%, and 22%. Dominant elements in anthropogenic particles were C (41%) and a significant amount of K (3%) are found which considered as biomass burning soot. Besides that, the particles also consist of O, Na, Al, Si, and Cl. In summary, particles from natural and anthropogenic sources are dominant in the ambient PM2.5 during HPE.

Markov Chain: First Step towards Heat Wave Analysis in Malaysia

Extreme temperature has been carried out around the world to provide awareness and proper opportunity for the societies to prepare necessary arrangements. In this present paper, the first order Markov chain model was applied to estimate the probability of extreme temperature based on the heat wave scales provided by the Malaysian Meteorological Department. In this study, the 24-year period (1994-2017) daily maximum temperature data for 17 meteorological stations in Malaysia was assigned to the four heat wave scales which are monitoring, alert level, heat wave and emergency. The analysis result indicated that most of the stations had three categories of heat wave scales. Only Chuping station had four categories while Bayan Lepas, Kuala Terengganu, Kota Bharu and Kota Kinabalu stations had two categories. The limiting probabilities obtained at each station showed a similar trend which the highest proportion of daily maximum temperature occurred in the scale of monitoring and followed by the alert level. This trend is apparent when the daily maximum temperature data revealed that Malaysia is experiencing two consecutive days of temperature below 35℃.

Customer Satisfaction with the Goods and Services Offered By MYDIN

Customer Satisfaction can be described as the fulfilment that customers obtain from doing business with a firm. In simpler terms, it’s how pleasant the customers transaction and overall experience with the company was. Customers obtain satisfaction when their needs are met on consuming a product or a service effortlessly, which being more convenient makes them loyal to the firm. Hence, customer loyalty can be easily gained through satisfaction of customers. In our investigation, we focus on the customer satisfaction with the goods and services offered by MYDIN at Bukit Jambul Complex, Bayan Lepas, Pulau Pinang. We have referred to marketing mix such as product, place, promotion and price to measure customer satisfaction. To obtain information and data on customer satisfaction, we conducted a survey to MYDIN and interviewed some of its customers and employees. The result of the study indicate that the methods used are very effective in measuring customer satisfaction.

Mediation of Perceived Organizational Support between Human Resources Practices and Job Performance among Engineers in the Penang Free Trade Zone

The study investigates whether an employee?s assessment of the organization?s HRM practices and employee?s perception of organizational support effect the employee job performance in the E&E manufacturing industry.Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the mediation effects of perceived organizational support between the relationship of human resource practices and job performance among engineers in the electronic and electrical (E&E) manufacturing organizations in the Bayan Lepas Free Trade Zone, Penang, Malaysia. A total of 1,100 self-administered questionnaires are distributed to engineers in the E&E manufacturing organizations that inquire on their perceptions of human resource practices, job performance, and perceived organizational support. Statistical analyses of reliability, correlations, and regression are conducted in this study. In summary, the engineers indicated that hypotheses H1, H2, and H3 were partially supported. On the other hand, the hypothesis H4 had a direct mediation effect of perceived organizational support between human resource practices and job performance.

Modelling and performance analysis of parabolic trough solar concentrator for different heat transfer fluids under Malaysian condition

With the increasing energy demand, depleting fossil fuel, and commitment to the Paris climate agreement, Malaysia should tap into this natural resource and harness its solar energy potential. In this research, a location in Malaysia was chosen based on its yearly direct normal irradiance (DNI) and an optimization strategy for a potential parabolic trough power plant. Besides that, an energetic and exergetic comparison and analysis between 6 HTFs (Pressurized water, Therminol VP-1, Syltherm 800, Solar salt, Hitec XL) on real-world climatic condition (based on Malaysian climatic condition) with varying inlet temperature level (300K–900K), ambient temperature and wind speed was done by using 1-D mathematical model that was coded in MATLAB®. Bayan Lepas received the highest yearly DNI and Sodium liquid outperformed other HTFs at varying DNI and inlet temperature level except at 300K with an advantage ranging between 0.036% and 0.99% in thermal efficiency and 0.438%–0.85% in exergetic efficiency to other HTFs. Sodium liquid at the temperature level of 700K also showed the strongest exergetic gained for any potential implementation of PTSC power plant in Malaysia. For climatic impact on the performance of HTFs, Energetic performance increase with ambient temperature while exergetic performance showed otherwise for all HTFs. Wind speed increment has a negligible impact on PTSC performance for all HTFs with sodium liquid’s performance being the most resistant to any wind increment.

Pay for Performance, Performance Management, and Internal Promotional Opportunities of Human Resource Practices with Job Performance

This study explores the relationship and the impact of pay for performance, performance management, and internal promotional opportunities of human resources practices toward task performance and contextual performance of job performance. The study was conducted on the electrical and electronics (E&amp;amp;E) engineers in the Bayan Lepas Free Trade Zone, Penang. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed through the E&amp;amp;E manufacturing companies&amp;rsquo; human resource managers. A total of 1,100 questionnaires were distributed that adapted and adopted the research tools of Rhoades et al. on pay for performance, Allen et al. on performance management, Wayne et al. on internal promotional opportunities, Williams and Anderson on task performance, and Hochwarter et al. on contextual performance. A total of 181 were returned but 150 questionnaires were useable for this study. The engineers indicated that only the internal promotional opportunities had a relationship with task performance and contextual performance. On the other hand, pay for performance and performance management had a relationship with contextual performance but not with task performance. Moreover, engineers indicated that none of the human resource practices, namely pay for performance, performance management, and internal promotional opportunities, had an impact on both of their job performance, namely task performance and contextual performance.