cometadata/datacite-titles-descriptions-related-identifiers huggingface dataset:
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2009.1638
title: Risk Management for Prefabricated Classical Thai House Construction Project

description: The purpose of this research is to study the risks from the prefabricated Thai classical house construction project. The extended research on its characteristics will be necessary. The objectives of this research are to minimize and prevent the risks of a prefabricated construction project taken place in Phang-nga (Southern Thailand) in terms of time and quality. Preventive methods will also be created. Risk management team will be selected to arrange meetings. The team will evaluate the risks from the prefabricated house construction. The process of construction will be broken down into 7 processes. FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) will be used to assess the risk sensitivity from 83 risks identified. Pareto analysis is also applied. The assessment of the RPN (Risk Priority Number) using Pareto Analysis shows that there are in total of 17 critical risks. The analysis of critical risks is done by using Fish bone analysis and Fault tree analysis to find the root cause if each of the risks. The preventive actions can be organized, using linkage between each critical risk and its root cause. Six preventive actions would resolve the intensity of these risks to lower the RPN value of the critical risks. The results show that the RPN after applying preventive actions has reduced by 70-90%. After implementation of some of the critical risks, there were improvements in the delaying schedule. The last phase of construction project finished 2 weeks before the dead line, showing a big improvement compared with to the last two phases. It is proven that risk management for the prefabricated house construction project has improved the result of the project in terms of time and quality.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2009.1639
title: Irregular Burmese migrants in Malaysia : A case study of Chin people

description: Burmese people have been migrating to Malaysia since early 1990s. Socio-political-economic pressure pulls the Chin migrant workers from Burma to come into Malaysia rather than India and Thailand for better network in Malaysia as well as to shun from direct deportation to home country. Amidst Malaysia government’s violation of migration rights, resettlement from Malaysia to third countries plays critical role in migration to Malaysia. The largest irregular migrant populations from Burma, besides economic factors, ethnic and religious discrimination are the main factors that push Chin people to migrate out of Chin State. Low income, dependency on other migrants, assistance from community based groups, and support from friends in third countries help Chin people to survive amidst destitution in Malaysia. Being only a State Party to only two of international human rights instruments: the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and has not ratified the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICPMW), and has not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, both refugees and irregular migrants are illegal. This research has tried to classify and enrich understanding about the authentic situation of irregular Chin migrants from Burma, their experiences and working conditions in Malaysia and related consequences. It has exposed the push and pull factors of Chin people’s migration to Malaysia irregularly, and has identified working environments, economic situation and social welfare conditions of irregular Chin migrants in Malaysia too understand irregular Chin migrants’ survival strategies. The research unveils that no policy protects Chin irregular migrants in Malaysia that they are in a risk situation.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2009.1640
title: Fuel products from pyrolysis of physic nut Jatropha Curcas L. waste

description: This research investigated the effects of different operating conditions, such as sample size, final temperature and hold times, on properties of solid chars, liquid bio-oil and gas prepared by vertical fixed bed pyrolysis of extracted Physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.) waste. The size fraction of Physic nut residue was varied from 0.43-0.50, 0.50-0.85, 0.85-1.80 and 1.80-3.60 mm. The variable studied was final temperature (400, 500, 600, 700 and 800℃) and retention time (0.25, 2 and 4 hours) in isothermal and dynamic pyrolysis. The results showed that suitable pyrolysis condition was 800℃ for 15 minutes with 90.01% fixed carbon, 24.23% yield, 4.34% volatile matter and 4.87% ash. Physic nut waste char was activated by physical and chemical means using carbondioxide gas and by alkaline solution such as KOH and NaOH, respectively. Investigating parameters were activation temperature, activation time particle size of Physic nut residue char, and ratio of char per alkaline solution. The experimental results revealed that the suitable condition for physical activation was at 600℃ for 1 hour using char with the size of 0.43-0.50 mm; whereas the appropriate condition for chemical activation using either KOH or NaOH as an activating agents was at 700℃ for 1 hour using char with same size. Activated carbon prepared from KOH however gave higher quality than that from NaOH owing to stronger alkaline of KOH solution. The maximum liquid product of 21.35% was observed at the pyrolysis temperature of 900℃ for 1 hour under dynamic heating and 61.54% under isothermal heating at 500℃. The bio-oil product mainly consisted of several fatty acids such as oleic acid, palmitic acid, and lignoleic acid in the range of 15-19%, 40-45%, and 25-34%, respectively. Liquid tar from pyrolysis are complex mixture of condensable hydr℃arbons which include single ring to five ring aromatic compounds along with other oxygen containing hydr℃arbons. Tar can be eliminated by thermal cracking or by the use of catalysts. The catalytic gasification pr℃ess is an attractive technological alternative to deal with tar and to produce high yield of syn-gas. This research has proved the usefulness and effectiveness of calcined olivine and nickel based steam reforming catalysts on decreasing tar yield and achieve high conversion. Olivine and Ni/Olivine were chosen as a catalyst because of their activity in tar cracking. Phosphor olivine (LiFePO4) support was synthesized by co-precipitation method. The Ni/Olivine was carried out by wet impregnation of synthesized olivine supports with Ni(NO3)2 solution. Olivine and 5%Ni/Olivine displayed excellent reforming capability when applied to in-situ gasification/reforming of glycerol waste. Complete conversion of carbon and hydrogen in materials to product gas as well as superior selectivity of preferred gas species may be achieved with catalyst at 600℃
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2009.1641
title: Effects of plasticizers on physical and mechanical properties of modified cellulose films from waste cotton fabrics

description: The aim of this research was to study the effects of type and concentration of plasticizer on the properties of cellulose laurate films. Firstly, cellulose from waste cotton fabric was modified with lauroyl chloride under esterification reaction by conventional and microwave heating methods. Then, the optimum condition for esterification reaction under both heating methods was investigated in terms of temperature, microwave power, and time. In addition, the chemical structure of the obtained product was characterized by FTIR and 1H-NMR. The results showed that the maximum degree of substitution value and %weight increase (WI) for conventional and microwave heating were at 60 °C for 12 hours and at 240 watt 90 second, respectively. Cellulose laurate showed the existence of the ester carbonyl group stretching at 1746cm-1(C=O) and the increase in the intensity of two peak at 2853 and 2924 cm-1,attributed to the methyl band (C-H stretching) associated with the lauroyl substituent. Furthermore, the morphology of esterified cellulose revealed aggregation of acyl group on surface of cellulose. Then, the cellulose laurate powder from both heating methods was converted into plastic film by casting method using triethyl citrate (TEC), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), and epoxidized soy bean oil (ESO) as the plasticizers. The content of their plasticizers was varied from 3%, 5%, 7% and 9% (w/w) of dry cellulose laurate. It was found that the films from cellulose laurate prepared under conventional heating showed better mechanical properties than the films from cellulose laurate prepared under microwave heating. However, the film from cellulose laurate prepared under microwave heating exhibited higher water absorption and biodegradability than that from conventional heating. In the case of plasticizer, it was found that type and content of plasticizer had effects on the tensile properties and significant effects on the water absorption and biodegradability of cellulose laurate films. The effect of plasticizer on properties of the films from cellulose laurate prepared under both heating sources showed a similar trend. The films plasticized with TEC was found to be a more efficient plasticizer than DBP and ESO, respectively. The suitable concentration of TEC was 5 %( w/w).
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2009.1642
title: Potential of cellulases from Thai isolated fungi for ethanol production from bagasse

description: Sugarcane bagasse is one of the most promising agricultural by-products for conversion to biofuels. Here, ethanol fermentation from bagasse has been achieved using an integrated process combining mechanical pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation. Pretreatment by ball milling for 2 h was sufficient for nearly complete cellulose structural transformation to an accessible amorphous form. The pretreated cellulosic residues were hydrolyzed by a crude enzyme preparation from Penicillium chrysogenum BCC 4504 containing cellulase activity combined with Aspergillus flavus BCC 7179 preparation containing complementary β-glucosidase activity. Saccharification yields of 84.0% and 70.4% for glucose and xylose, respectively, were obtained after hydrolysis at 45oC, pH 5 for 72 h, which were significantly greater than those obtained with a commercial enzyme mixture containing Acremonium cellulase and Optimash BG. A high conversion yield of undetoxified pretreated bagasse (5%, w/v) hydrolysate to ethanol was attained on separate hydrolysis and fermentation process using Pichia stipitis BCC 15191, at pH 5.5, 30oC for 96 h resulting in an ethanol concentration of 10.7 g/L, corresponding to a conversion yield of 0.36 g ethanol/g available fermentable sugars. Comparable ethanol conversion efficiency was obtained by a simultaneous saccharification and fermentation process which led to production of 10.1 g/L ethanol after 72 h fermentation under the same conditions. This study thus demonstrated the potential use of a simple integrated process with minimal environmental impact with the use of promising alternative on-site enzymes and yeast for the production of ethanol from this potent lignocellulosic biomass.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2009.1643
title: Deposition and characterisation of sulphur doped diamond-like carbon films using pulsed laser deposition method

description: Ablation of a sulphur-graphite target was carried out by ArF excimer laser deposition at a laser wavelength of 193 nm and fluence of 10 and 20 J/cm² in vacuum to produce sulphur-doped diamond-like carbon (S-DLC) films. The sulphur graphite target was made from sulphur and graphite powder mixed at different sulfur molar percentages, e.g. 0%, 1%, 5%, 10% and 25%. S DLC films were deposited on silicon and quartz substrates at different substrate temperatures, e.g. room temperature, 150oC and 250℃. The effects of substrate temperature, laser fluence and sulphur molar percentage on the electrical, optical, mechanical and structural properties of the resulting films were studied. The S-DLC films in this work showed resistivity values in the range of 10³-10⁶ Ω⋅cm, corresponding to a band gap in the range of 0.25 2.00 eV. The carrier concentration was found to be in the range of 10¹⁴ -10¹⁸ cm⁻³. The effect of doping the DLC films with sulphur was found to convert the films into an n-type semiconductor. The Hall mobility was in the range of 10⁻⁵-1 cm²⋅V⁻¹⋅s⁻¹. The thickness of the films was in the hundred nanometers range, while the hardness of the films was in the range of 10-30 GPa. The surface morphology showed the presence of micron-sized particulates on the surface. Elemental composition analysis confirmed the presence of sulphur in the films.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2009.1644
title: Synthesis and characterization of polyimide particles

description: The PI particles were synthesis by colloid method, which use good solvent and poor solvent. The polyimide precursor was prepared from reaction between dianhydride, 4,4´- oxydianiline (ODA) in NMP (good solvent), which obtain Polyamic acid (PAA) precursor solution. The PAA was injected to poor solvent of hexane and suitable amount of surfactants to mix with rigorous agitation and/or sonication to break the droplet of PAA. Then, PAA colloids were obtained and the colloid was further changed to PI particle by the in-situ chemical imidization of PAA colloids in the solution. The PI particle was separated from solution by centrifuge and dried under vacuum. In this study, various types of poor solvents, various types of surfactant and reactor and propeller blade in the reaction were investigated to verify the suitable conditions for the reactions. The best condition that produced the smallest size particulate polyimide, that have the average diameters of 1 to 10
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2009.1645
title: Influence of degree of substitution on physical properties and biodegradability of modified cellulose films from pineapple leaf, corn husk, and waste cotton fabrics under microwave energy

description: This research investigated the effects of degree of substitution (DS) on physical properties and biodegradability (i.e., real composting condition, waste water treatment system condition, and enzymatic degradation) of modified cellulose films from pineapple leaf, corn husk, and waste cotton fabric. The modified cellulose was prepared in homogeneous LiCl/DMAc solvent system by esterification reaction under microwave energy at various microwave power and time using lauroyl chloride as an esterifying agent. After that, the chemical structure of the modified cellulose was characterized by FTIR and 1H-NMR. The results showed that modified cellulose from all cellulose sources exhibited evidence of esterification by showing the increasing in the ester bands at 1750 cm-1 (carbonyl C=O stretching of ester) and the decreasing in the intensity of O-H band at 3300 cm-1. In addition, all modified celluloses revealed an aggregation of fatty acid side chain groups on the surface thus resulted in rough surface and larger dimension. The optimum conditions for modification of pineapple leaf, corn husk, and waste cotton fabric that yield low, medium, and high degree of substitution (DS) values with reasonable %weight increase under microwave heating were 30 second 240 watt (DS 1.93), 60 second 240 watt (DS 2.23), and 90 second 160 watt (DS 2.46) for pineapple leaf, 90 second 320 watt (DS 1.99), 150 second 160 watt (DS 2.44), and 60 second 240 watt (DS 2.73) for corn husk, and 30 second 240 watt (DS 1.95), 90 second 160 watt (DS 2.27), and 90 second 240 watt (DS 2.48) for waste cotton fabrics. Then, modified cellulose films with different DS values were prepared by casting method with chloroform. It was found that the degree of substitution (DS) affected the physical and mechanical properties of esterified cellulose films that the gloss value and tensile properties increased with increasing of DS value while the wettability and water absorption decreased with increasing of DS value. In addition, biodegradability of esterified cellulose films was also dependent upon DS value where biodegradation rate increased with decreasing of DS value. Considering biodegradation condition, it was found that pineapple leaf and corn husk films had the highest biodegradability in real composting condition; while cotton films had the highest biodegradation rate in waste water treatment system condition.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2009.1646
title: The operation process reengineering for retailer

description: The main objective of this study is to improve retailer’s operation process in term of quality, cost and delivery when compare with average. The consequence of those improvements will lead to higher customer satisfaction. The second objective is to demonstrate tools for avoiding pitfalls in retail’s new design process. This research demonstrates the steps of applying consolidated business process reengineering methodology with retailer’s operation reengineering. The redesign team study, measure performance and analyze 8 as-is processes including; Stock Arrangement, Out of Shelf Checking, Price Label Changing, Goods Receive, Replenish from warehouse, Stock Request, Selling Via Sales Order, Selling Via POS, and replenish from DC. The redesign team initiates 7 redesign projects to improve operation process performance including; Overall Business Process Activity Redesign from Replenishment Vendor, Goods Receive, Price Label Changing, Selling Via POS, Selling Via Sales Order, to Out of Stock Checking. The 7 new redesign processes are developed and implemented at Case Study Company. The data from before and after process transition is compared to analyze the new design processes. The action practices are developed to prevent new design processes from pitfalls. The results indicated that operation’s performances have significant positive linear improvement. By eliminating the activity of price change list printing, exist labels checking, and keying price change item, the average claim for incorrect price after process transition in every branch is reduced more than 40%. The calculated activity costs based is reduced more than 28.54%. As a result from the new replenishment and out of shelf checking process, the average out of shelf rate after process transition in every branch is reduced more than 36.93%. The practices to prevent redesign process’s risks, from experiences of first two months after process transition, are suggested. The analysis also reveals some important strategies to improve operation process reengineering such as human errors, hardware failure risk, incorrect program parameter, and unexpected result from SAP.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2009.1647
title: Layout planning for fabrication vessel and tank manufacturing

description: This research aims to study, analyze, and improve the plant layout of the case study factory, i.e. a steel fabrication company, in order to reduce the production time, labour cost, and safety level. This research is also based on industrial engineering and engineering management knowledge such as plant layout, work-study, and work measurement. After studying the existing plant layout, it is found that it is a poor plant with limited space. Because of complicated material flow, limited space, unsuitable location of departments, this result in the bottleneck, excessive use of time in production and transportation, high risk of accident within the factory. All the problems are the bases for analyzing and defining the way of improvement. The method of improvement is to relocate the department, and machine along with the measurement of the production time in the new location area. After improvement, there are 4 alternatives plant layouts, which are process layout design, product layout design, fixed layout design, and combination layout design. After analyzing, the combination layout design gives the best result compared to existing design and other 3 alternatives. The unnecessary activities is eliminated, the material flow is smoothed out. Those reduce the production time to 14%, labour cost to 14% compared to existing plant layout which result in increasing the productivity. Space area increases 26% and all raw materials are in place properly. Moreover, the new design also reduce the risk of having the accident while running the production with currently equal to zero.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2009.1649
title: Sales allocation method improvement: a case study in automobile manufacturing company

description: The aim of the research is to manage the sales allocation of vehicle in distribution function in sales planning department in automobile manufacturing company by improve the allocation method to increase the retail sales ratio. The research started with the study of literatures and the current allocation method in terms of overall process workflow, sales computer system, and data collection of the previous years. Then the current allocation method is examined, analyzed and model implemented. The proposed allocation method is then established with the used of verification system for Back Order data, new booking forecast method by Moving Average methodology with Seasonal index of the past records. The results of the proposed allocation method model will be compared with that of the current allocation method model from the sampling data of actual January 2008 allocation. Sales allocation according to the proposed allocation model is suitable for the current situation of automotive industry which is highly competitive as it responds to the real market demand more accurately, more systematic and effective than the current allocation method model. The proposed allocation method can improve the average matching ratio of all dealers nationwide by 4.07% which gives the direct improvement impact to retail sales ratio of the company by 4.07% and shorten customer delivery lead time by a half month. Moreover, sum of percentage error of matching ratio of all dealers is improved by 15.27% and the significant improvement in reduction of the sum of percentage error of Back order remaining by a hefty 47.5%. It implies the higher sales opportunity and customer satisfaction to the corporate which better overall retail sales and larger market share nationwide can also be expected. The recommendation is to implement the proposed allocation method to the model that is in shortage supply situation since this proposed allocation system is very clear, simple and effective which will help the corporate to allocate the right amount of vehicles to the right location of dealers at the right time.