Archives-February 2015

In the light of globalization and internationalization of world markets, foreign exchange risk has become one of the most difficult and persistent problems with which financial executives must cope. This risk cannot be avoided, but can be managed by hedging instruments. The need and approach for managing it depends on the size of exposure and fluctuations in exchange rate. Indian IT sector is known for development of software and it mainly depends on exports. They are required to measure and manage exchange rate risk. The survey study on IT firma attitude towards foreign exchange esposure management is virtually non-existent. Hence, an attempt is made in this paper to fill this gap, by documenting the Indian IT firms attitude towards forex exposure management practice.

These studies focus on firing temperature and mineralogical analysis of the ancient pottery sample collected from the recently excavated site Pilaiyarpalaiyam in Tamilnadu, India. Clay was prepared which consists of quartz, kaolinite, illite, chlorite, feldspars and iron oxides. The samples were subjected analysis as in the received state. The characterization studies for the analysis of the composition of the pottery using FT-IR and XRD analysis reveals the skill and style of the artisan lived in the ancient civilization. The firing temperature and the firing conditions adopted at the time of manufacturing of the pottery also determined. The Pilaiyarpalaiyam samples might have been fired in the range of 800 °C.

This research study investigated the effects of captioned and non-captioned movies on learning vocabulary of Iranian English learners. Sixty pre-intermediate Iranian male and female students aged between15-18 took part in this research study. They were divided into two groups: control and experimental group. The control group was exposed to non-captioned movie and the experimental group was exposed to captioned movie. The video clip was called “Victorious” which was created by Dan Schneider in 2010. The students were shown one part of this clip and asked to focus on sentences and vocabularies. Before watching the movies, they were given a standard test of proficiency, Oxford Placement Test (OPT). After determining their level and before watching the film, the students were given a test on the vocabularies based on captions as a pre-test to make sure they didn't know the words. After watching the movie, they were given a 80 target vocabulary items. Based on inferential statistics, the findings showed that the experimental group who was exposed to captioned movie outperformed the non-captioned group.

Fusariumoxysporum f. sp. lycopersici is important tomato pathogen throughout the world, causing severe economic losses. The lower leaves of the potato plant usually turn yellow and die. One or more branches may exhibit such symptoms. The fungus can survive in the soil indefinitely even when no tomatoes are grown. In the experimental study, isolation, radial growth and sporulation of pathogen taken into consideration on different culture, temperature and pH ranges. The result shown that Potato dextrose agar medium was found to be most suitable medium for the growth and sporulation of Fusariumoxysporum f. sp. lycopersici and showed an average of 72.00mm of growth after 7 days of incubation at 28 ± 320C, closely followed by Czapek’s (dox) agar medium, Corn meal agar medium and Richard’s agar medium showed 69.34mm, 63.00mm and 61.34mm of growth respectively. It is observed that 300C was the optimum temperature for the maximum growth and sporulation of the pathogen followed by 250C respectively. Pathogen grew over a wide range of pH from 2.5 to 6.5 but the maximum growth and excellent sporulation was recorded at pH 5.5 followed by 6.5.

A simple, accurate, rapid and precise isocratic reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed and validated for simultaneous determination of Amlodipine, Atenolol and Hydrochlorothiazide in capsules. The chromatographic separation was carried out on an cosmosil packed column 5C18-MS-I I analytical column (250×4.6 mm; 5 ?m) with a mixture of Phosphate buffer:Acetonitrile:Methanol pH 6 adjusted with Ortho phosphoric acid (30:20:50, v/v) as mobile phase; at a flow rate of 1 ml/min. UV detection was performed at 240nm. The retention times were 2.637, 3.148 and 8.492min. for Hydrochlorothiazide, Atenolol and Amlodipine respectively. Calibration plots e linear (r2>0.998) over the concentration range 2-12µg/ml for Amlodipine , 10-60?g/ml Atenolol and 2-12µg/ml for Hydrochlorothiazide. The method was validated for accuracy, precision, specificity, linearity, and sensitivity. The proposed method was successfully used for quantitative analysis of capsules. No interference from any component of pharmaceutical dosage form was observed. Validation studies revealed that method is specific, rapid, reliable, and reproducible. The high recovery and low relative standard deviation confirm the suitability of the method for routine determination of Hydrochlorothiazide, Amlodipine and Atenolol in bulk drug and capsule dosage form.

Push-to-Talk (PTT) is a useful capability for rapidly deployable wireless mesh networks used by first responders. PTT allows several users to speak with each other while using a single, half-duplex, communication channel, such that only one user speaks at a time while all other users listen. This paper presents the architecture and protocol of a fault tolerant PTT service for PTT in all IP Networks.

This paper examines the causal relationship between energy consumption, economic growth and prices evidence from Pakistan by using the annual time series data from 1980 to 2011. Co-integration, Engle Granger test and Error correction techniques are used to achieve the objective. The empirical results of co-integration test shows that energy consumption and economic growth are cointegrated. In addition, causality test results reveal that there is a short-run and long-run Granger causality running from economic growth to energy consumption for Pakistan. The empirical results of this study provide policy makers a better understanding of energy consumption-economic growth relationship to formulate energy policies in Pakistan. In this study, economic growth cause energy consumption, it suggests that the implementation of energy conservation policies may be implemented with little or no adverse effect on economic growth. Therefore, there is relatively more scope for energy conservation measures as a feasible policy in Pakistan.

Hepatitis b surveillance among butchers was undertaken in Port Harcourt metropolis. The study population comprised 700 apparently healthy butchers, selling within the selected slaughter houses. The survey covered a period of 1year, from February, 2010 to January 2011.The exclusion criteria used included history of Hepatitis B immunization and professional duration less than one year. HBV infection was detected by assay of Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), using Pitis immunochromatographic and Clinotech Diagnostic Immunochromatographic Strips. HBV Seroprevalence was 13.71% (butchers). In the sections, cattle butchers scored the highest seroprevalence (18%). In the categories, slab butchers had the highest seroprevalence (26.79%). The age brackets with the highest HBV seroprevalence (28.4%) and (22.32%) were respectively 42-52yrs (biological) and 22-28yrs (professional). and although these were significantly (p<0.05) higher than those of their controls, there was no linear relationship between ages and seroprevalence. Seroprevalence significantly (p<0.05) associated with risk factors in connection with butchery than social and medico-activities among butchers while reverse was the case with non-butchers and more butchers.

Nigeria accounts for about 16% of the Shell’s global oil business ventures, and about 7% of total profits. Shell has come across a wide range of sustainable development issues throughout its operations. Against this background, this study examines the performance (environmental and social) and efforts by Shell Nigeria in moving their operations in the way that promotes sustainability; and also looks into the hindrances to implementation of the practice of sustainability. The operational data and the company statements were used to access and explain the company’s approach to sustainability. Shell’s progress in this approach was evaluated and its performance were analysed from data on its social and environmental reports for seven years (2005 to 2011). The general approach of Shell indicates that it understands sustainability issues fronting it and the actions required to improve sustainable performance. Despite Shell’s good progress in social and environmental performance over the years, as expressed in their annual sustainability reports, there still exist some challenges and worries particularly in the areas of oil spills, gas flaring and security in the Niger Delta. Among other obstacles, the operational spills in Nigeria have no significant environmental improvement over the years, and have contributed to the volume of global operational spills in Shell. It claims that 72% volume of the spills is from sabotage and theft, and the remaining percentage is due to its own operational failures and ageing facilities; but its 2011 report shows an outrageous oil spill due to its operations over the sabotage spill. Shell is encouraged to target long-term performance in sustainable development that is robust across economic, social, environmental and political spheres in Nigeria.

A simple, accurate, rapid and precise isocratic reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed and validated for simultaneous determination of Metformin and Gliclazide in tablets. The chromatographic separation was carried out on an Cosmosil ODS analytical column (250×4.6 mm; 5?m) with a mixture of Methanol: Hplc grade water pH 6 adjusted with Orthophosphoric acid(70:30, v/v) as mobile phase; at a flow rate of 1 ml/min. UV detection was performed at 235 nm. The retention times were 2.50 and 6.02 min. for Metformin and Gliclazide, respectively. Calibration plots were linear (r2>0.998) over the concentration range 5-30?g/ml for Metformin and 1-6?g/ml Gliclazide. The method was validated for accuracy, precision, specificity, linearity, and sensitivity. The proposed method was successfully used for quantitative analysis of tablets. No interference from any component of pharmaceutical dosage form was observed. Validation studies revealed that method is specific, rapid, reliable, and reproducible. The high recovery and low relative standard deviation confirm the suitability of the method for routine determination of Metformin and Gliclazide in bulk drug and tablets dosage form.