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We are very happy to announce that from 8th April 2011, Prof. Mandeep Singh has joined the team of Elixir Editorial Advisory Board. He will carry a special responsibility for dealing with manuscripts based on the Economics. Prof. Mandeep Singh is currently an Associate professor at Department of Economics, Guru Nanak Post Graduate Khalsa College, Yamuna Nagar, India. The appointment of Prof. Mandeep Singh as member Editorial Advisory Board strengthens the links and will make it easier for prospective authors to establish contact with the journal. Please send any expressions of interest to chiefeditor@elixirjournal.org. Sincerely Editor-in-Chief

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.

Radon 222 is a radioactive gas that evolves from the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium in rocks and soils and is dangerous when inhaled indoors. Although some areas in the United Kingdom are at higher risks than the others, the effect on the health of its victims is generally devastating as several studies have linked radon to lung cancer. This research was carried out by administering structured questionnaire to voluntary participants dwelling in Loughborough, Leicestershire. The result showed that one out of every seven survey participants had never heard of radon and the effect on health. In addition to this, majority of the participants do not have an idea of the cost of monitoring radon in the home and therefore have never tested for radon. Also, one out of every eight smokers is not aware of the health effects of radon. This study concluded that there is the need for greater awareness of indoor radon health effect in the home. Further studies may be extended to other parts of the UK. Furthermore, there is also the possibility of wider study of assessing the level of indoor radon awareness amongst smokers in the United Kingdom.

Organizations looking at newer ways to attract employees and once recruitment walks into its portals focus on building loyalty. This whole portfolio of how to attract and retain employees is now called by a body of knowledge "talent management". Employee Retention is costly dilemma for all organizations. In today's taxing business climate, managing company's competent and skilled human capital is vital for success. Faced with a tough proposition in attracting talent, HR heads of companies have started applying the Segmenting-Targeting-Positioning (STP) approach of marketing, better known as 'employer branding Strategies. In the turbulent scenario where talent is continuously depleting, HR managers are facing problem in retaining their knowledgeable resource .Here are discussed some of the latest retaining strategies adopted by companies Another objective of performance appraisal as put by the company is to identify employees with high potential, but there is no section in the form where the level of potential of the employee may be identified as high, low or moderate._ Planning and organizing are two different abilities but are rated in the form as one factor. Modern organizations are operating in an unprecedented, highly competitive and turbulent business environment which is characterized by the globalization of business. Further, today's global workforce is more mobile than ever before. With a dynamically changing and volatile demand-supply equation, especially against erratic attrition trend and cutthroat competition no longer restricted to local or regional boundaries, a need for strategizing & putting in place a robust mechanism for attracting and retaining top talent becomes vital for the company's very survival and growth. The time is tough. There is no denial to the fact that in today's fast pace and knowledge boom, one of the most important factors for today's organization is talent. Its viewed that the availability of suitable and competent talent inside any organization determines the excellence of the same. Most companies today would acknowledge that their human resources are most important asset. But since companies can't own employees the way they own factories or product your success or failure hinges on the quality and duration of the relationship you form with your people. In present scenario people choose companies which have congenial atmosphere and prefer change if they don't get desirable, as it may hinder the growth and success of the company. Hence retention is vital. The study was conducted to test the hypothesis using stratified and simple random sampling, survey with a questionnaire. Retention of Employees in pharmaceutical industries of Bangalore,. The present study reveals the impact of retention strategies on pharmaceutical employees in Bangalore.. On the basis of this scores of hypothesis were made: I. There is no positive relationship between employee retention and productivity. So it will not give any impact on the financial health of the organization. 90% of the employees strongly agree that there is a relationship between employee retention on productivity and continuous performance in the organization. Survey findings made me to accept alternative hypotheses and reject null hypothesis. In this cases calculated values of chi-square is higher than the tabulated values. The study helps to retain employees in the organization and helps to formulate recommendations to improve retention.

Muthupet mangrove ecosystem (Lat.10o15’N; Long.79o30’E) is located at the southern end of the Cauvery delta on the eastcoast of India. Halophilic bacteria play an important role in mangrove ecosystem due to their role in decomposition of mangrove litter. In the mangrove swamp at Muthupet, a total of 32 isolates of bacteria were identified. Of these 32 species of bacteria, characterized by presence of 5 genus namely Bacillus, Carnybacterium, Vibrio, Micrococcus and Pseudomonas. The above five are dominant bacterial groups and were found to be present lagoon of Muthupet mangrove forest. Fluctuation values in bacterial density (39x103 spc.ml-1 to 99x104 spc.ml-1) and (144x103 spc.gm-1 to 175x104 spc.gm-1) in water and sediment at two stations was noticed respectively. Higher values were recorded during the premonsoon season and sudden decrease during the summer season. The bacterial population was found to be higher than that of the water, which may be due to the biodegradation processes of sediment mangrove leaves and vegetation, as well as due to high nutrient accumulation, precipitation of organic compounds and settlement of the dead organic matter in sediment. The paper identifies the seasonal distribution of Halophilic bacteria in few selected species in mangrove area of Muthupet.

Lead graphite-pencils have been associated in our daily life but it could be an easy source for understanding many unexplained properties of graphite based materials. The present work shows that lead pencils belong not only to the class of heterogeneous materials but also exhibited good soft ferromagnetic properties at room temperature. The structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), optical absorption, photoluminescence (PL) were studied. Ohmic nature of the material was confirmed by electric conductivity studies.

In the present work, Y2O3:Eu3+ nanoparticles like-spheres have been synthesized via simple method. Synthesis conditions such as calcination temperature and the additive 2,3-dihyrosybutanedioic acid are played a role for synthesizing Y2O3:Eu3+ nanoparticles with superior optical properties. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies have been carried out to understand surface morphological features and the particle size. The as-obtained nanoparticles have average crystallite size ranging between 25 to 45 nm. Crystal structure of the nanoparticles has been investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. The incorporation of Eu3+ activator in these nanoparticles has been checked by luminescence characteristics, establishing that the main emission peak located at 613 nm corresponds to the hypersensitive forced electric dipole transition between 5D0 and 7F2 level of Eu3+ ions.

In the judiciary, ICT can be adopted to enhance efficiency, access, timeliness, transparency and accountability, and helping the judiciaries to provide adequate services (Sturges, 2008; Yen, 2005). The use of information and communication technology (ICT) is considered one of the key strategic elements to significantly improve the administration of justice in a country since the benefits are enjoyed directly by the citizens. The rapid development of technology opens up new opportunities that were unthinkable only a few years ago (Tseng et al 2008). Specific objectives of the study were: To establish the influence of Skills development on implementation of ICT in the Kenyan judiciary, to determine the influence of strategic leadership on implementation of ICT in the Kenyan judiciary, to establish the extent of which organizational technological preparedness affects ICT adoption in Kenyan judiciary. This study used descriptive design. The population included a sample size of 44 members of staff in Mariakani Law Courts. Judicial officers and staff in the court were chosen as the target population since they interact with majority of the technologies and are aware of all the ICT needs in the court system. Data was collected using structured questionnaires, and findings analyzed using SPSS software. The findings of the study showed that there is a positive relationship between ICT skills development, strategic leadership and organization technological preparedness with implementation of ICT at the Judiciary in Kenya

Writing and reading. Reading and writing. Keeping a journal to capture the moments that surround you, incubating ideas (Bomer & Bomer, 2001), and organizing ideas. All this seems fairly simple, that is unless you are an English Language Learner (ELL) or an English as a Second Language (ESL) student. Foreign languages are immensely difficult for most learners and thus, teachers and students must have an understanding of each other. Tools, strategies, compensations, and acknowledgements of strengths and weakness behoove the instructor and student. Chen (2000) cites Zamel (1976) and Jones (1986) in that . . . “students writing in a second language proceed in similar fashion as native speakers” (p. 14). Chen (2000) continues to explain that ELL or ESL students all engage in the process of discovery, the process of determining meaning around self. Therefore:[C]ulturally relevant teachers understand that learning is facilitated when we capitalize on learners’ prior knowledge. Rather than seeing students’ culture as an impediment to learning, it becomes the vehicle through which they can acquire the official knowledge and skills of the school curriculum. However, in order to capitalize on students’ cultures, teachers have to know the students’ cultures (Ladson-Billings, 2001, p. 99-100).

Whiteflies are very common in study areas and the experiments were conducted to study the feeding pattern of insect vector to develop control of virus transmission by understanding feeding pattern of vector. Optimum acquisition period was found to be 12 hour once the vector has acquired the virus it is able to transmit virus for as long as ten days and optimum infection feeding time is 24 hours, after which it transmit virus to other plants in intermittent manner. Even the post acquisition fasting has little effect on the efficiency of virus transmission although when post acquisition fasting was increased, decrease in efficiency of transmission is seen. Increasing the number of whiteflies per plant decrease the incubation period Virus persist in the vector for longer duration, which indicates it to be 'persistent type', virus acquisition and inoculation increases efficiency with increasing access time.