Archives-December 2015

Henri Fayol (1841-1925), French pioneer of management history, was among the first to recognize and document the universal organizational need for succession planning. However, effective leaders down through the centuries have developed and implemented succession plans for their organizations. There are many leaders today who give little or no “thought to the conclusion of their leadership and so they do little to prepare for it. However, when suddenly faced with leaving their office, they realize that much of their work will have been in vain unless there is a capable successor”.

Writer identification is the process of identifying the writer of the document based on their handwriting. Recent advances in computational engineering, artificial intelligence, data mining, image processing, pattern recognition and machine learning have shown that it is possible to automate writer identification. This paper proposes a model for text-dependent writer identification based on English handwriting. Features are extracted from scanned images of handwritten words and trained using pattern classification algorithm namely support vector machine. It is observed that accuracy of proposed writer identification model with Polynomial kernel show 94.27% accuracy.

By adopting a language-oriented, problem-solving perspective, the present paper investigated the effect of grammatical proficiency on translation quality when translating English indirect speeches into Persian and the methods Iranian translators use to translate such a structure. A null hypothesis was formulated and 30 MA translation studies students were randomly chosen to take part in two tests: advanced grammar and translation test. A correlation test was used to determine the degree of go-togetherness between the two sets of scores. The result (rXY=0.824) rejected the null hypothesis, indicating a strong positive relationship between the two variables. Also, by analyzing translations, translated indirect speeches were categorized into five classes: Censorship, Lexical Translation, Free Translation, Direct Translation and Correct Translation. Finally, a simple model for translating English indirect speeches was proposed. The result indicates a gap in participants’ English knowledge which requires further studies to investigate the reason behind this shortcoming in Iranian context. The proposed model can be used in forming problem-solving curriculums for translation courses and further research is needed to cover other aspects in this respect.

This study focuses on the drug usage of drugs among the youth. Drug usage has become a major issue in the world as well as in Pakistan and needs to be controlled. Its consumption has become a trend among the youth, which is now more so than before. A systematic study was conducted, in which questions were devised according to the research project title. The results of this survey elaborate the effects of drugs on the youth, specifically in Pakistan. These questions are very integrated in support of each other. Every question opens a new window of findings to the research. All questions have been analyzed separately and in relation to one another in order to give a complete view of the data collected.

The interaction of transition metal complexes with DNA has long been a subject of intensive investigation with the perspective of development of newer materials for application in biotechnology and medicine. These investigations have resulted in the synthesis of many new metal complexes, which bind to DNA by non-covalent interactions such as electrostatic binding, groove binding and intercalative binding [1,2]. Hence, the current growing interest in small molecules that are capable of binding and cleaving DNA is related to their utility in the design and development of synthetic restriction enzymes, new drugs, DNA foot-printing agents, etc., and also to their ability to probe the structure of DNA itself [3].

This paper proposes Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model for the required DC-DC Converter Duty Cycle feeding Maximum Power to resistive load to be used for distributed generation (DG) applications. It proposes a PV module when coupled to a load through DC-DC Converter to supply this resistive load with the maximum power from the PV module. Some of DC-DC converters topologies are discussed in brief with concentration on Cúk and SEPIC Converters operations. The mechanism of load matching is described to give the required converter duty cycle at maximum power point (MPP). Relations in 3D figures are introduced for the most probable situations for irradiance and temperature with the corresponding PV voltage and current. Also, 3D figures for the desired duty cycle, output voltage and current of DC-DC converter to gain the maximum power to the resistive load at various irradiance and temperature values. Moreover; Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is used to implement a neural model with its algebraic function to take the probable system situations and outs the proposed converter duty cycle to give maximum power for the load. All the neural model are done with their hidden and output layers’ suitable neurons numbers and suitable performance goals depending on the 3D simulation figures shown in the paper.

This research intends to study on the impact which emotional intelligence may exert on job satisfaction in employees of Behnoush Company. After reviewing the literature pertaining to emotional intelligence and job satisfaction, we created two separate questionnaires in which emotional intelligence and job satisfaction were central. We aimed, by these questionnaires, at ranking job satisfaction elements. After verifying their reliability and validity they were distributed among members of statistical population. Results obtained from application of Pearson correlation as well as regression tests indicate that there is a positive, meaningful relation between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction. It was also found that the relation of social skills and self-regulation with job satisfaction was more than other relations. Also, using one-way variance analysis test, the relation between demographic features of employees and their job satisfaction was considered. The results proved no relations between the said variables.

Today, world is witnessing an economic crisis from many directions. Labor market is one of the main stakeholders of global economic crisis; there is a demand-supply lag that has severe consequences on youth and dependent population of any country all over the world. Entrepreneurship is one way that can settle the market disturbances. As more young people pursue entrepreneurship, employment opportunities are created, and hence economic cycles return to recovery phase at macro level. Youth entrepreneurship is vital for any successful economy or the world at large with effect to globalization. As easy as it may seem, there exist market imperfections, and hence intervention is required in terms of public policies and programs to provide selective initiatives and opportunities to young entrepreneurs help face the significant barriers, especially women- a great potential in the entrepreneurial sector. Present study aims to investigate the passion of entrepreneurship among the Pakistani youth. Data of 400 respondents was collected from internet sources.

Engineering has played a critical role in increasing the health, technology and quality of life of humans in the last 50 years. For efficient and effective practice of engineering, people who aspire to be engineers should be groomed in an environment where quality is assured. In Ghana, the need to train more engineers and governments policy of increasing student’s intake by about 10% each year has raised the number of student’s enrolment in all the engineering disciplines to higher levels. Over the past twenty five years, the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), with its strategic location, industrial environment, good academic facilities and capable staff has been an excellent place for training graduates of proven ability in the engineering disciplines. UMaT has produced a high caliber of engineering graduate in the mining and its allied disciplines. Student enrolment in the University has seen a gradual increase from the early 1990’s to date. With increasing students’ intake and the slow level of infrastructural development, lecture theatres cannot cater for combined classes for courses being undertaken by students. This has resulted in pressure on academic facilities such as lecture rooms, laboratories, libraries and computers. This also implies an additional work for technicians, laboratory assistant and lecturers handling such students. It is important that government and stake holders in the tertiary education restructure and provide more funding for engineering education. The study looks at the challenges of increasing student intake in the engineering discipline and effort to be made in solving these problems. To provide an in-depth analysis to the issue at stake, available literatures were examined, available facilities were assessed and a general interaction with stakeholders including students, laboratory technicians, lecturers and administrators were employed.

Treatment of crop residues with some species of fungi can enhance their digestibility. This study investigated changes in the nutrient composition of Cassava Starch Residue (CSR) biodegraded with two selected fungi: Aspergillus niger and Trichoderma viride. The experimental designed was a 3x4 factorial arrangement. Biodegradation of CSR for 21days at 30⁰C recorded a significant biomass loss of 33.11% (A. niger), followed by 30.01% (combination of A. niger x T. viride) compared to 27.44% (T. viride). The crude protein  increased significantly (P>0.05)  from 4.05% to 7.16%, 6.84% and 6.88% within 14days for A. niger, T. viride and combination of  A. niger x T. viride respectively. Similarly, the fibre in Cassava Starch Residue decreased from 17.07% to 10.31%, 12.83% and 11.89% for the A. niger, T. viride and combination A. niger x T. viride treatments respectively with a corresponding effect of 2897.1%kcal/kgDM, 2719.2kcal/kgDM and 2739.1kcal/kgDM in the level of metabolisable energy. Cellulose was extensively degraded in all the treatments (P>0.05) than the hemicellulose.  Results of this study suggests that fungal biodegradation of whole cassava starch residue is regulated by a complex combination of various factors and consequently enhanced its nutritional profile.