Archives-May 2016

In recent times, many organizations in the Kenyan EPZ industry, have recorded cases of immoral and unethical practices, gratifications, high labour turnover, inability to meet basic required obligations, and incessant financial distress syndrome, which has led to many entities being merged and acquired or closing down. This may be as a result of lack of effective leadership. It is on this premise that this research work set out to examine the effects of leadership styles on employee performance in Export Processing Zones in Kenya. This was guided by the following specific objectives; determining the effect of transactional leadership style on employee performance, ascertaining the effect of transformational leadership style on employee performance and evaluating the effect of authoritarian leadership style on employee performance in Mombasa in Apparel EPZ Ltd. The study adopted a descriptive research design on a population of 676 which was further sampled to 43 through stratified sampling. The study findings indicated that transactional and transformational leadership style, in which employees are allowed to have sense of belonging, carry out higher responsibility with little supervision, and followers are helped to achieve their visions and needs enhance organizational efficiency. It is concluded that transactional and transformational leadership styles are the best for the management of Export Processing Zones in Kenya to be adopted in order for them to wax stronger in a global competitive environment. It was recommended that managers use a composition of transactional leadership and transformational leadership as a core managerial strategy in the organization. It was also suggested that managers to be trained to use both styles of leadership and along with the increasing need for new skills and competencies of leadership as a result of changes in community, leadership training program is more important whenever.

The performance of any organization in the competitive economy is highly dependent upon the quality of its management as well as proper implementation of strategic management. Employing a proactive management culture within an organization can enable it to take advantage of opportunities that exist in any business environment. Strategic management is an important tool for any business organization to thrive and prosper. The study aimed at identifying the effects of strategic management practices, specifically planning in the performance of an organization by looking at what planned strategies are currently used by law firms in Mombasa to sustaining growth, effects of innovation and learning on performance of law firms in Mombasa, effects of goal setting as a strategy in the growth of law firms in Mombasa and also identify the effects of implementation strategy on the growth of law firms in Mombasa County. The researcher selected 20 respondents from each law firm making a total of 200 respondents. The study used cross-sectional survey as the design. Questionnaires were the major tools for primary data collection. Data collected was sampled, coded and analyzed with the help of a statistical tool (SPSS v 22).The study findings indicated that strategic planning has a positive correlation with performance. It was clear from the findings that coefficient of determination is 32.4% and that 32.4% of organization performance is attributed and determined by a combination of the four independent factors investigated in this study. The study used the Karl Pearson’s coefficient of correlation (R). and showed a positive correlation between performance and planned strategies giving a correlation figure of 0.253, performance, innovation and learning giving a correlation figure of 0.321, performance and goal setting with a correlation figure of 0.041, and a positive correlation between performance and strategy implementation with a correlation figure of 0170.

The Universe is globally hyperbolic as we did prove mathematically [S. A. Mabkhout, Phys. Essays 25, 112 (2012)]. The solution predicts the equation of state of cosmology ( P = -???? ). Penrose said if the curvature is not equal to zero, then inflation is out. The hyperbolic universe inflates exponentially produces an accelerated expansion of the universe without cosmological constant or scalar field, as we have shown [S. A. Mabkhout, Phys. Essays 26,422 (2013)]. “In testing the validity of any scientific paradigm, the key criterion is whether measurements agree with what is expected given the paradigm”1. The hyperbolic time evolution equation of the universe (the hyperbolic scale factor) fits the observed data and successfully predicts the Planck length (10-33 cm) at micro-cosmos scale as well as it predicts the current observed large structure (1028 cm) at macro-cosmos scale, thus connecting both General Relativity and Quantum Theory. The distance horizon in the flat universe is 14 Gpc. We found the distance horizon in the hyperbolic universe to be infinitely, thus solves the horizon problem. Although the perspective for nearby objects in hyperbolic space is very nearly identical to Euclidean space (i.e., the universe locally is approximately flat consistent with local observations, the apparent angular size of distant objects falls off much more rapidly, in fact exponentially. The universe is globally hyperbolic. Locally the spacetime is approximately flat, by means of the hyperbolic inflation. . Locally any deviations from flatness will be hyperbolically suppressed by the hyperbolic expansion of the scale factor, and the flatness problem is solved.

Since the evolution of mankind on this earth, water bodies act as a source of attraction for human settlement due to diverse facilities provided by it. The facilities like habitat, food, connectivity, strategic importance etc. provided by water bodies attracted human being in the past to settle near it. The wetlands in India play an important role in human life due to their scenic beauty and ecological importance. The Mansar wetland in Jammu and Kashmir has its own importance in terms of livelihood and sustainability for the inhabitants residing nearby. Despite being a source of pilgrimage as well as other type of tourism due to its religious and scenic beauty, this wetland also has its ecological importance due to its diverse flora and fauna. The influx of tourist for different purposes makes it a good source of income for many local inhabitants. The economic importance of wetland attracts many people from nearby to settle near the wetland. Looking at the multifarious benefits and importance of the wetland, the present study has been done to find out the dependence of local for their livelihood; efforts of various agencies to develop the tourism structure, and the present problems prevailing there. The present study is primarily based on primary sources of data and collected data was assessed to draw the conclusion based on identified objectives.

This work examined the influence of school farm on the learning of Agricultural Science in senior secondary schools in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State. The study utilized a descriptive survey research design with random sampling techniques. Six public senior secondary schools were randomly selected from the twelve schools in Ikwuano and then one hundred and twenty (120) agricultural science students were randomly selected from the six schools sampled. (20 agricultural science students from each school sampled). Two research questions and one null hypothesis guided the study. Instrument for data collection was a 10-item structured questions. The method for data analysis were descriptive statistics (mean, pool mean and standard deviation) for answering the two research questions. z-test was used to analyze the formulated null hypothesis. The findings of the study are that school farm has a positive influence on the learning of Agricultural science in senior secondary schools in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State. Based on these findings, it was recommended among others that government and even the school management should always ensure the establishment of a functional school farm in schools and both the agricultural science teachers and the students on their own should always ensure proper management and utilization of the school farm. More so, prices and awards should always be given to the best agricultural science students yearly in order to encourage and motivate others.

Objective: To determine superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione dismutase (GPX) malondialdehyde (MDA), uric acid, zinc, ascorbic acid, albumin, blood lipids and glycated hemoglobin A1 (HbA1c) in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients. Study Design: Case control study Place & Duration: Department of Medicine -Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences Hospital from December 2014- August 2015. Subjects & Methods: 95 newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics and 55 controls selected through non-probability purposive sampling according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. 8-12 hour fasting was ensured for blood samples. BUN, serum creatinine, albumin, bilirubin, uric acid, blood glucose, HbA1c, blood lipids, triglycerides, cholesterol, glucose, MDA, SOD, GPX, zinc and Ascorbic acid were determined by standard methods. Data was entered in Statistix 8.1. (USA) Continuous and categorical data was analyzed by student’s t test and Chi square test respectively. Microsoft excel was used for graphing. Data was analyzed at 95% confidence interval (p- ? 0.05). Results: Blood pressure, obesity, blood glucose, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine showed statistically significant differences (p<0.05). VLDL, triglycerides, LDLc were elevated in diabetics, while HDLc was reduced. MDA, SOD, GPX, zinc, ascorbic acid, uric acid and bilirubin showed significant differences (p<0.05). MDA in diabetics and controls was noted as 5.17±0.81 vs. 2.15±0.62 µmol/ml respectively (p=0.0001). SOD, GPX, AA, Zn++, UA, serum albumin and serum bilirubin were decreased in diabetics. Conclusion: The superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), uric acid, bilirubin and zinc were reduced and malondialdehyde (MDA), altered blood lipids and glycated HbA1 were increased in diabetics in present study.

A left alternative ring R satisfying (x,y,z) + (y,z,x) +(z,x,y) = 0 is (1,0) ring. Where as if R satisfies (R,(R,R))=0 then R is called a strongly (1,0) ring. All (1,0) rings are not strongly (1,0) rings. But strongly (1,0) rings are (1,0) . In this paper, it will be proved that a prime (1,0) ring of characteristic 2,3 is either associative or strongly (1,0) ring.

In this paper, we have studied some of the properties of multi fuzzy rw-continuous mappings and multi fuzzy rw-irresolute mappings in multi fuzzy topological spaces and have proved some results on these. 2000 AMS SUBJECT CLASSIFICATION: 03F55, 08A72, 20N25.

Fruits and vegetables are high value commercial crops grown in an area of about 16.19 million hectares with a production of 243.47 million tones in India in 2012-13. Over the years (2001-02 to 2013-14), there is an increase in area, production and productivity of fruits with compound growth rate of 5.71, 6.31 and 1.08 percent respectively. In addition, there is an increase in area, production as well as productivity of vegetables with compound growth rate of 3.99, 6.20 and 2.13 percent respectively. Seasonal variability in fruits and vegetables has shown inverse relationship between arrivals and prices. At the time of harvesting, there is glut in market that adversely affects the prices because of which seasonal indices for arrivals are maximum and corresponding prices are relatively low. Pre-harvest losses occur due to attack of insect- pest, rodents, birds and infestation of weeds and diseases. Post harvest losses for fruits and vegetables occur in different stages of marketing viz. picking/ plucking, assembling, grading, packing, storage, loading/ unloading, transport etc. In India, the scientific storage capacity is only 30 percent of the required capacity. Cold storage facility is available for only 10 percent of fruits and vegetables. Only 2-3 per cent of the produce is processed in India. Due to lack of proper handling (cleaning, sorting, grading and packaging) facilities at the village level with about 30 percent of fruits and vegetables and 10 percent of spices are lost before reaching the market. There is a wide scope of increase in processing capacity for fruit and vegetable industry.

There are several factors which play an important role in the occurrence of a disease in an individual as well as in determining the result of a treatment procedure. Variable gingival dimensions is one such factor which has been highlighted in the recent ongoing researches. It is now believed that the assessment of gingival parameters; width, thickness, papilla height, must be done on a routine basis as determining these various components play an important role in the treatment planning for orthodontics, root coverage, extractions, implant placement and other restorative and periodontal procedures. Therefore, it is important to take into consideration the differences in dimensions and forms of gingival tissues during treatment planning. Keywords: gingival dimensions, periodontal procedures, assessment