Archives-January 2012

The present paper addresses the differential effect on students’ general comprehension taught through modular and traditional teaching approaches at secondary school level. The study was conducted in one male and one female secondary school. Sample for conducting experiment was selected randomly from population of grade 9 students. Data was obtained through administration of general comprehension based teacher-made test. The data was analyzed by applying statistical package for social science through independent sample t test. Conclusions showed that there were significant differences between modular and traditional in general comprehension of students’. Findings depicted that students taught through modular approach gained higher mean score in teacher made general comprehension-based test than students taught through traditional approach. Findings reported significant gender difference in general comprehension of male and female students where male students performed significantly better than female students on general comprehension based test.

We have reformulated equations of state (EOS) for superconductors based on Lagrangian and Eulerian strains following the method developed by Stacey. The expressions thus obtained are used conveniently to assess the validity of various EOS for different types of superconductors. The logarithmic EOS based on the Hencky measure of finite-strain is also modified by including the higher terms arising from the fourth-order contribution in the Taylor series expansion of the free energy. In the present work, pressure of five different superconductors viz. YBa2Cu3O6.6, YBa2Cu3O6.93, YBa2Cu3O7, Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 and Nd1.32Sr0.41Ce0.27CuO3.96 has been computed at different compression ranges using five different EOS based on finite strain theory viz. Third order Eulerian EOS, Third order Lagrangian EOS, Second order Born-Mie EOS, Third order Born-Mie EOS and Bardeen EOS. the obtained results are compared with available experimental data to test the validity and success of these equation of states.

Developing real time multimedia applications for best effort networks such as the Internet requires prohibitions against jitter delay and frame loss. This problem is further complicated in wireless networks as the rate of frame corruption or loss is higher in wireless networks while they generally have lower data rates compared to wired networks. On the other hand, variations of the bandwidth and the receiving device characteristics require data rate adaptation capability of the coding method. Multiple description Scalable Coding (MDS) methods are used to solve the jitter delay and frame loss problems by making the transmitted data more error resilient, however, this results in reduced data rate because of the added overhead. MDS methods do not address the bandwidth variation and receiver characteristics differences. In this paper a new method based on integrating MDS and the scalable coding extension of H.264 standard is proposed. Our method can handle both jitter delay and frame loss, and data rate adaptation problems. Our method utilizes motion compensating scheme and, therefore, is compatible with the current video coding standards such as MPEG-4 and H.264. Based on the simulated network conditions, our method shows promising results and we have achieved up to 38.3607dB for average Y-PSNR.

Biological activity of extract of Cissus quadrangularis against IV instar larvae and pupae of Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes aegypti were studied. The effect of the Petroleum ether, Benzene and Methanol extracts of C. quadrangularis are tested against IV instar larvae and pupae of Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes aegypti. All kinds extracts showed moderate larvicidal and pupicidal effects at 24h. When the IV instar larvae of Cx quinquefasciatus were exposed to the doses of 12.56, 13.83 and 32.91 ppm respectively of petroleum ether, benzene and methanol extracts of 50% mortality was recorded. After 24h of exposure, the same extracts of C. quadrangularis at 15.84, 17.50 and 38.94ppm concentrations gave 50% pupal mortality. The LC 50 values for IV instar larvae of Ae. aegypti are 15.73, 17.16 and 33.37ppm and the LC50 values of pupae are 22.13, 25.73 and 48.76ppm respectively for Petroleum ether, Benzene and Methanol extracts. The larvicidal and pupicidal effects of plant extracts indicate that Cx quinquefasciatus is highly susceptible to the extracts of C quadrangularis. The larvae were more susceptible to plant extracts than pupae of both Cx quinquefasciatus and Ae aegypti. Among the various organic solvent extracts of C. quadrangularis, petroleum ether was found to be the most effective larvicidal and pupicidal agent. The efficacy of Cissus quadrangularis was in the order of Petroleum ether > Benzene > Methanol

Today, the wide variety of devices in the digital world ranges from desktops to mobile phones. Within the currently available interactive multimedia applications, which are very demanding in terms of video quality and coding efficiency, the cost as well as the limited performances of scalability obtained in the current standards remains unacceptable. That is why; there is a need for intrinsically scalable video coding schemes providing fully progressive bit streams. Scalable Video Coding targets on seamless delivery of digital content and access to the same, enabling optimal user centered multi-channel and cross-platform media services, providing a straightforward solution for universal video delivery to a broad range of applications. Scalable video coding gives a nice way to perform rate shaping for video streams adapting to the available transmission resource. The work in this paper deals with a rate distortion approach in Scalable Video Coding in order to achieve a performance that is comparable to a non-scalable system. The rate distortion curves of the scaled video streams are employed to adapt to both static and dynamic channels. We consider a multiuser scenario which re?ects network heterogeneity and propose to perform a joint optimization between these multiple streams which have different performance curves.

Chalcone derivatives were synthesized by reaction of some benzaldehyde derivatives with acetophenone , then the products obtained were allowed to react with urea, thiourea and hydroxylamine, to give the heterocyclic derivatives of oxazine, thiazine and isoxazole respectively. The final products have been characterized by elemental analysis, IR and proton NMR spectra. These compounds were also screened for their antibacterial activities.

The present study aims to determine the relationships between fathers’ parenting styles and locus of control, and the role of number of children in the family as a moderator. Sample consisted of 382 school-going adolescents with an average age of 14 years. A self-administered questionnaire was prepared for the participants at their selected schools. Results demonstrated that adolescents with higher internal locus of control perceived their fathers at higher levels of authoritative parenting. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the influence of the fathers’ parenting style on the adolescents’ locus of control was stable across number of children. Regardless of family size, fathers’ contribution in child development is fundamental. Findings from the study call attention to policy makers to take into consideration the ‘father factor’ in formulating policies related to child and family well-being.

This paper presents a microcontroller based series parallel resonant converter suitable for the single stage single phase power factor correction circuits. The performance of the proposed converter is improved from no-load up to full-load. The steady state characteristics of the proposed converter are developed and a design example is given in detail. The proposed converter allows zero voltage switching at any loading condition with a reasonable power factor and with a promising efficiency. Simulation and experimental results verify the analysis made and the design specifications.

An efficient, convenient and cost-effective method to synthesize 3,5-bis-(arylmethylidene)-tetrahydropyran-4-one derivatives using alum (KAl(SO4)2.12H2O) as catalyst was performed in aqueous media. This method has several advantages such as environmental friendliness, high yields and simple workup procedure.

This study aimed to examine the impacts of employee’s rewards and employee’s motivation on employee’s job satisfaction between public and private sectors in Malaysia. A total of 689 employees from both sectors participated in this study. While hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to test the relationship between employee’s rewards, employee’s motivation and employee’s job satisfaction, gap analysis was utilized to determine the significant differences on the levels of employee’s rewards, employee’s motivation and employee’s job satisfaction between both sectors. The result revealed that (1) employee’s reward is positively related to motivation; and (2) both employee’s rewards and employee’s motivation are found to have positive significant influences on employees’ job satisfaction. The t-test result revealed that employees in public sector scored significantly higher on the levels of employee’s rewards, motivation and job satisfaction.