Archives-December 

Materials management is a tool to optimize performance in meeting customer service requirements at the same time adding to profitability by minimizing costs and making the best use of available resources. The main objective of the study was to assess the role of materials management on organizational performance. Specifically, the study intended to assess how inventory control systems and lead time affect organizational performance. The empirical analysis of the study focused mainly on the New Kenya Cooperative Creameries, Eldoret, Kenya, being one of the largest and the oldestdairy company in East and Central Africa. The target population of the study was 56 employees of New KCC Ltd. Eldoret. A sample of 49 respondents was selected from this population using the stratified random sampling technique, where 7 departments, which directly deal with materials, were selected which include: production, Purchasing, quality Control, Warehouse/store, Human Resource Development, Finance and audit and physical Distribution departments. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire, consisting mainly of closed ended and open-ended questions. The data was analyzed through descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, median and percentages. Results showed that there was significant increase in organizational performance as a result of inventory control system involvement. Further, results showed that lead time was highly significant to organizational performance through acquiring and delivering the needed materials within the shortest time possible. The study advocated that a lot of emphasis need to be directed to materials management in dairy companies in order to achieve significant cost savings, reduction in wastes and production costs and to achieve increase in profitability and product quality, consequently improving the organizational performance. The study recommended that dairy companies adopt the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT), use of proper codes in all materials, and the employees be trained on the use of inventory control systems.

This research about the use of integration and minimization of supply chain and logistic total expected cost model in Sanaye Feleziye Iran Co. In previous research that be done in this company, focus only on supply, production and distribution models or the combination of two models from these models, but there is no review the relationship between these three models. This issue is very importance because integration of total expected costs in terms of supply, production and distribution is the main reason for reduce of total expected costs. This research includes of the use of supply, production and distribution models and an integration model that is integrated supply, production and distribution systems.

The design and optimization of broadband, beam steering and high gain traveling wave slotted waveguide array antenna using substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) is discussed in this paper. The antenna has been designed on Rogers 5880 with a dielectric constant of 2.2 and height of 0.762 mm. The functional frequency range is from 13.5 - 15.5 GHz and the gain is about 14 dB at 15.5 GHz. The proposed antenna radiation beam steers from -330 at 13.5 GHz to 50 at 15.5 GHz in elevation plane. This antenna possesses the benefits of low profile, low weight, low cost and it can be used for Ku band applications.

Soret and Dufour effects on unsteady heat and mass transfer of an incompressible chemically reacting, electrically conducting memory fluid over a continuously moving horizontal non-conducting surface embedded in a porous medium in the presence of transverse magnetic field and volumetric rate of heat generation/ absorption are investigated. The governing non linear partial differential equations are transformed into coupled non dimensional non linear ordinary differential equations by using separation of variables and series expansion methods and are solved numerically by using MATLAB’s built in solver bvp4c. The influence of the Dufour number, Soret number, porosity parameter, heat source parameter and dimensionless chemical reaction parameter on temperature and concentration profiles as well as on local Nusselt number and Sherwood number are illustrated graphically. It is concluded that the Soret number, Dufour number and the chemical reaction parameter play a crucial role on the heat and mass transfer.

We report the case of an 18-month-old girl who presented a complex spinal dysraphism combining an intra dural lipoma and myelomemingocel. The coexistence of inradural lipoma and myelomeningocele is very rare. We will focus on the contribution of imaging to the diagnosis and follow-up of spinal dysraphim.

This article concerned with the importance of theatrical technique in literature class for the enhancement of communication skills. The investigative study was conducted on M.A English students divided into controlled and experimental groups, 50 each, by giving them role play/drama/performance (theatrical technique) of different situations taken from G.B. Shaw’s ‘Arms and the Man’ that followed written test/assignment on the presented situations. The results reflected the importance of theatrical technique in the teaching of literature to enhance communications skills as experimental group performed and showed, in written form, better understanding of the text as well as was more communicative, seemed encouraged and motivated during role play. Role play/drama brings life not only to the classroom environment but furthered the learning and use of English language both in social and academic situations as the results manifest. The study suggests that teachers should use role play/theatrical technique of teaching to generate friendly environment, deep understanding of literature and enhancement of language skills in literature classes at tertiary level.

This study investigated the effect of the integrating currents issues of interest into class materials on the students’ achievement in learning grammar. The following question was proposed. Is relating current issues of interest to class materials useful on students grammar learning? It was hypothesized that integrating current issues of interest with class materials in teaching grammar has a positive effect on learning grammar. The study was performed at Islamic Azad University in Hidaj with 60 participants--male and female-- who were majoring in ‘mechanical’ and ‘electrical’ engineering. Since the researcher did not have the possibility of randomizing the subjects, 60 students of two classes who were taking their first semester at university were used for this study; one of the classes as the control group and the other as the experimental group. As Farhady (1995, p. 146) contends: “In classroom research it is unreasonable to expect the director of the courses to randomly assign students to classes for the sake of experimentation.” The subjects were taught for five weeks and finally took an achievement test. After analyzing the results of the test, and by comparing the means of the scores using t-test, it was found that integrating current issues of interest with class materials in teaching grammar lessons did not significantly improve students achievement in learning grammar.

Group-B Streptococcus agalactiae is a significant cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality for over last two decades. It causes two types of GBS infection in early neonates onset disease and late onset disease, characterized by pneumonia, Septicaemia and meningitis and among adults it causes UTI, wound infections, endocarditis and intra- uterine asphyxia. This study was done to determine the prevalence of vaginal colonization of Group-B Streptococcus agalactiae, its risk factor and antibiotic susceptibility patterns among the isolates. Four hundred and twenty two samples were collected from antenatal mothers, between 7th week to 40th week of gestation were screened for Group-B Streptococci colonization from 1st Jan 2010 to 25th Dec 2013. The subjects selected were between 17 to 38 years of age group. Group-B Streptococci were isolated only 136 cases from pregnant women which is about 8.5%. Among the risk factor, low maternal age, no good nutrition, unhygienic condition and those who have animal, in their house is the major factor for Streptococcus colonization among the mothers with positive culture. Neonatal infection was only present in 33 cases of neonates born from culture positive mothers. All isolates were sensitive to Ampicillin, Erythromycin and Vancomycin but moderately sensitive to Chloramphenical and Clindamycin. All isolates were resistant to Gentamycin and Tetracycline. Study done in Central Nepal showed low colonization rate of GBS in the vagina of antenatal mothers so neonatal infection was not evident. This finding is also supported by the fact that the fatal neonates colonization with GBS only 1-2% develops clinically apparent disease. Intrapartum antibiotic therapy of women colonized with Group-B Streptococcus can decrease neonatal infection. Effective strategies to detect maternal colonization with GBS infection needs to be studied properly in different populations of the world.

The vibrational properties of 2–methyl-6-nitroquinoline have been investigated by FTIR and FT–Raman spectroscopies were performed according to the SQM force field method based on DFT calculation at the B3LYP/6-311+G(d,p) level. The assignments of the most of the fundamentals of the title compound provided in this work are quite comparable and unambiguous. The results confirm the ability of the methodology applied for interpretation of the vibrational spectra of the title compound in the solid phase.

Spiritual training is one of the fundamental roles in the religions of the world. The concept of spiritual training is in most of the religions. Sufism is a school of thought for spiritual training in Islam and Sufi is the spiritual trainer and has a significant role for the spiritual healing of the people. Mystical Islamic School of Thought has performed a vital role in spiritual training of the people in the Indo-Pak subcontinent. The purpose of the study was to analyze the vision and mechanism of spiritual training in Islamic Sufism. The study was helpful for religious scholars and researchers in order to understand the vision and mechanism of spiritual training in Islamic Sufism. The study was of great importance for curriculum developers. The study was historical and documentary analysis in nature. The relevant material was analyzed to meet the objectives of the study.