Search results

This paper aims to propose a comprehensive methodology for setting up rural electrifications for indigenous villages with minimum budgets and the lowest possible cost of electricity (COE). The electricity accessibility of rural area in Malaysia is not fully covered and the cost of extending the grid to these areas can be high as RM 2.7m per km. Lack of vigorous policies and economic attraction of the rural areas are also the main barriers to rural electrification. Electricity is an essential element of economic activities and the lack of electricity exacerbates poverty and contributes to its perpetuation. Therefore, a hybrid standalone power system can be an alternative solution for the rural electrification. A hybrid standalone power system is studied to investigate the potential of the implementation and the budget required.

A site survey has been carried out in a village in Peninsular Malaysia, namely, Kampung Ulu Lawin Selatan. A standalone hybrid system is modeled in HOMER Pro software and the data collected from the selected site are used to obtain the system configuration with the lowest COE. The load following and cycle charging energy dispatch methods are compared to identify the optimal system configuration that yields the lowest COE. The diesel generator-only system is chosen as a benchmark for comparisons.

The results show that the hybrid system constituted from the diesel generator, photovoltaic (PV), micro-hydro and energy storage using the load following energy dispatch method yields the lowest COE of RM 0.519 per kWh. The COE of the hybrid system is 378 per cent lower than that of the diesel generator-only system. The lead-acid energy storage system (ESS) is able to reduce 40 per cent of COE as compared to the system without ESS.

The results indicate that the COE of the diesel-micro hydro-PV-ESS system with load following dispatch strategy is RM 0.519 per kWh, and this value is 35 per cent higher than the average electricity price in Malaysia. However, it is important to note that the costs of extending the grid to the rural area are not taken into account. If this cost is considered into the electricity price, then the standalone hybrid power system proposed by this study is still a competitive alternative for rural electrification.

The main purpose of this study is to provide an effective sizing method and an optimal peak shaving strategy for an energy storage system to reduce the electrical peak demand of the customers. A cost-savings analytical tool is developed to provide a quick rule-of-thumb for customers to choose an appropriate size of energy storage for various tariff schemes.

A novel sizing method is proposed to obtain the optimum size of energy storage for commercial and industrial customers based on their historical load profile. An algorithm is developed to determine the threshold level for peak shaving. One of the buildings at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Malaysia, is chosen for this study. A three-phase energy storage system rated at 15 kVA is developed and connected to the low-voltage electrical network in the building. An adaptive control algorithm is developed and implemented to optimize the peak shaving.

The sizing analysis shows that the customer under the C2 tariff rate yields the highest saving, followed by E2, C1 and E1. The experimental results presented indicate that the proposed adaptive control algorithm has effectively optimized the peak demand to be shaved.

This study demonstrates the potential of energy storage in reducing the peak demand and cost of electricity. One of the main challenges of real-time peak shaving is to determine an appropriate threshold level such that the energy stored in the energy storage system is sufficient during the peak shaving process.

The originality of the paper is the optimal sizing method of the energy storage system based on the historical load profile and adaptive control algorithm to optimize the peak demand deduction.

Biomass waste can be used as fuel in biomass power plants to generate electricity. It is a type of renewable energy widely available in Malaysia because 12 million tons of the biomass waste is produced every year. At present, only 5 per cent of the total biomass waste in Sabah, one of the states in Malaysia, is used to generate electricity for on-site consumption. The remaining 95 per cent of the biomass waste has not been utilized because the transportation cost for shifting the waste from the plantations to the power plants is substantial, hence making the cost of the biomass generated electricity to be high. Therefore, a methodology is developed and presented in this paper to determine the optimum geographic distribution and capacities of the biomass power plants around a region so that the cost of biomass generated electricity can be minimized. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The methodology is able to identify the potential locations of biomass power plants on any locations on a region taking into account the operation and capital costs of the power plants as well as the cost of connecting the power plants to the national grid. The methodology is programmed using Fortran.

This methodology is applied to Sabah using the real data. The results generated from the methodology show the best locations and capacities of biomass power plants in Sabah. There are 20 locations suitable for biomass power plants. The total capacity of these biomass power plants is 4,996 MW with an annual generation of 35,013 GWh. This is sufficient to meet all the electricity demand in Sabah up to 2030.

The methodology is an effective tool to determine the best geographic locations and sizes of the biomass power plants around a region.

The purpose of this study is to interrogate the meaning and the prospect of consuming sports as Korean popular media entertainment contents from the sociological perspective. Now, the Korean media are flooded with variety TV shows using sports as their contents. Not only terrestrial broadcasts but also over-the-top (OTT) such as Netflix and Disney Plus telecast a total of 36 sports entertainment programs using various sports including golf, football, fitness, and so on as the contents. In particular, it is interesting that sports-contented variety shows which combine nonsport persons with sports as the contents attract wide popularity. Moreover, it can be observed that athletes, who had made their names in their own sports when they were active ones and honorably retired, appeared as entertainers in sport-contented variety shows and enjoyed their second life as entertainers, not athletes. As such, various kinds of sports have continuously attracted popularity as core contents for variety shows in the Korean media market. On the basis of the background, this study attempts to seek out the answers to the following questions. First, what are the highlight and challenges of the popularity of entertainment programs using sports as their contents in the Korean society? Second, can it be possible to continuously consume sports as popular contents for the Korean media industry? Finally, how can the consumption of sports as the media entertainment contents influence on the topography of the discourse (males- and popular sport-centered) dominating the sports culture in the Korean society?

A new business model online to offline (O2O) has emerged in recent years. Similar to many new models at an early stage, O2O has inconsistent definitions which not only inhibit its adoption but also poorly differentiate O2O from other existing business models. To resolve the two issues, the authors propose an approach of definition development.

To show the usefulness of the approach, the authors demonstrate the differences among O2O and other business models with the use of the distinctive definition and thereby evaluate adoption of O2O from a practical perspective and identify research directions from a theoretical perspective based on the differences.

The authors' proposed approach of definition development integrates the work of Tatarkiewicz (1980) and Nickerson et al. (2013). The approach generates a distinctive definition of O2O with important analytical dimensions which help decision-making of adoption of O2O.

The paper aims to make several contributions. First, on theoretical contribution, the authors confine the scope of O2O studies and facilitate accumulation of more coherent knowledge of O2O. The authors help O2O evolve from a “buzz word” of successful stories in real businesses to a more serious concept from an academic perspective. Second, from a practical perspective, the authors' definition provides business executives with critical evaluative dimensions for gauging the adoption of O2O. Lastly, from a methodological perspective, the proposed approach can be used in future to define an emerging concept in real life businesses.

The current study proposes a moderated mediation model to predict work-from-home engagement during an emergency such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic based on the integration of well-known concepts, including inclusive leadership, organizational support and perceived risk theory.

An online questionnaire on the Google Forms platform was designed and distributed to Vietnamese employees using a convenience sampling method. A total of 794 valid questionnaires were used for data analysis. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to test the proposed model and hypotheses. The instrument's validity and reliability were tested and ensured.

The study found that inclusive leadership has direct and indirect effects on work-from-home engagement through the separate and serial mediating roles of perceived organizational support and employee motivation. The present study also revealed that the effects of perceived organizational support and employee motivation on work-from-home engagement are strengthened by employee risk perception. Moreover, the study showed that perceived organizational support and employee motivation performed the lowest of the four elements that were considered, while the importance of these two factors was the highest.

These findings suggest that in an emergency such as COVID-19, contextual factors should be given more attention. Based on these findings, several theoretical and practical implications for human resource management are highlighted.

By integrating inclusive leadership, organizational support and perceived risk theory to explore employees' engagement in working from home during an emergency, the present study demonstrated that in addition to traditional factors, leadership and contextual factors should be considered for studies on working from home in an emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study established that these factors might encourage employees' work-from-home engagement.

This study aims to examine the role of hunger, environmental, economic, landfill and water shortage concerns as significant dimensions of consumer social awareness marketing in socially responsible plate food consumption.

To carry out their purpose, the authors validate the hypothesized model empirically through data from 1,536 households using structural equation modeling (SEM). In particular, the construct measures of the structural model have been tested by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

The outcome the authors came up with is coherent with the hypothesized model, and it proves a positive relationship of the five dimensions identified on consumer awareness. Moreover, the study results show the crucial role of landfill and water shortage concerns in measuring consumer awareness.

These findings may be of interest to practitioners, academics and policymakers for socially responsible food consumption guidance and training for planning consumer awareness programs. More in detail, this study offers the indication that the dimensions of the social consumer awareness construct are differing from commercial consumer awareness.

Even though several previous studies have addressed the concept of consumer awareness concerning product and service purchase decisions, this is one of the first research studies on consumer awareness as a multidimensional construct in social marketing studies domain.

This study aims to determine barriers to innovation and to develop a quantitative model for the barrier to innovation in Vietnamese construction organizations of different sizes.

A literature review and discussions with experienced practitioners were implemented to determine barriers to innovation in construction organizations. The rank-based non-parametric test analyzed collected data from a questionnaire survey to examine if there were significant differences between the three groups of organizations, including small, medium and large construction organizations. The fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) technique was employed to develop barrier indexes (BIs) for organizations of different sizes in Vietnam.

The findings showed 17 barriers to innovation which were categorized into four groups, including organizational, human resources, economic and market barriers. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences regarding barriers to innovation between small, medium and large construction organizations in Vietnam. The post hoc test highlighted barriers to innovation differently separated into two groups: SMEs and large construction organizations. The FSE analysis integrated the identified barriers into the comprehensive BIs for SMEs and large construction organizations. The FSE analysis illustrated that the organizational barrier is the most critical barrier for SMEs. On the other hand, the market barrier received the most significant attention in large construction organizations.

This research is one of the first integrated barriers to innovation into a comprehensive formulation. The indexes provide the decision-makers with a practical and reliable tool to evaluate barriers to innovation in construction organizations of different sizes.

The main aim of this paper is to demonstrate that “volunteer” employees’ perception of dimensions of intellectual capital (IC) – human, structural and relation capital – creates a motivational environment to enhance knowledge-sharing intention (KSI) and stimulates “volunteer” employee engagement (VEE). The model is applied on the non-profit organizations (NPOs) sector that base their path on sharing values with volunteers and employees in relation to which they have to implement engagement strategies that are beneficial to both developing and deploying individual and organizational human capital.

To verify the existence of relationships between the constructs of IC, KSI and VEE a partial least squares structural equation model on a sample of 300 “volunteer” employees of NPOs was tested to verify the research hypotheses, as this could explain the causal relationships.

The results confirm that KSI is positively and directly influenced by the favourable environment resulting from the motivations below the dimensions of IC. The improvement of KSI, determined by IC, has a positive effect on VEE.

Despite the limitation created by the peculiarities of NPOs and the role of volunteers, this paper suggests a strategic approach that the management could implement to create an environment based on the exchange of knowledge and to increase engagement in the value co-creation process.

The ability of a company to adopt sharing strategies depends on the existence of an environment in which individuals are willing to exchange knowledge realizing mutual benefits. The work broadens this perspective by providing governance with a behavioural model that creates a direct relationship between IC, KSI and VEE.