Archives-June... 

Hepatoprotective activity and antioxidant status of ethanolic extracts of 200,400,600 mg/kg of Alpinia purpurata rhizome was evaluated against Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) in rats. Acute and short-term toxicity studies were performed initially in order to ascertain the safety of ethanolic extracts of Alpinia purpurata rhizome. After 48 hrs of CCl4 induced, the extract was administered daily for 15 days. After administration of the last dose followed by 18 h fasting, rats were then sacrificed for observation of hepatoprotective activity. The effect of ethanolic extracts of Alpinia purpurata on the CCl4 treated rats. Ethanolic extract showed significant (p<0.05) hepatoprotective effect by lowering the serum levels of various biochemical parameters such as serum glutamic oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT), serum glutamic pyruvate transaminase (SGPT), alkaline phospatase (ALP), total bilirubin (TBL), total cholesterol (CHL) in the selected model and liver biochemical parameters (lipid peroxidation, antioxidant enzymes) were estimated. These biochemical observations were in turn confirmed by histopathological examinations of liver sections and are comparable with the standard hepatoprotective drug Silymarin (25.0 mg/kg body weight, p.o) which served as a positive control. Treatment with ethanolic extracts of Alpinia purpurata decreased the levels of lipid peroxidation and increased the levels of glutathione, superoxide dismutase and catalase. The ethanolic extracts of Alpinia purpurata rhizome exhibited hepatoprotective effect by modulating lipid peroxidation and augmenting antioxidant defense system in CCl4 treated rats.

This study was undertaken for analyzing the impact of dividend payout on the stock prices, profitability, liquidity and risk of the company. Stock price and dividend payout ratio are the dependent variables of this study. It was qualitative research in which primary data was used. Data was collected with the help of questionnaire from 30 respondents. Several statistical tools and different types of techniques such as regression analysis, T-tests, correlation and covariance were applied for getting accurate and useful results. In this research one framework model was designed, that were tested with the help of five hypotheses. Rejection of null hypothesis revealed the positive impact of profitability, leverage and liquidity on the dividend payout. It was also observed that dividend payout has significant impact on the variation of stock price.

The paper explored indoor play materials available for teaching mathematical concepts and skills in ECD centres in Eldoret West Sub-county. The study was guided by Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development in children. Descriptive survey research design was adopted to assess the use of indoor play in enhancing the acquisition of Mathematical concepts and skills. The study was conducted in Eldoret West Sub-county, Kenya. The target population in this study consisted of 181 public ECDE centers with a total of 181 top class ECD teachers that are qualified to teach mathematic activities and 3620 ECDE pupils. 30% of the total number of ECD schools was sampled thus yielding a sample size of 54; that is, 54 ECDE centers out of 181. The researcher selected 362pupils who represented 10% of the target population. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the sample schools and ECDE pupils. Questionnaires and observation schedule was used to collect data. The data analysis employed the use of both qualitative and quantitative techniques. Majority of the respondents were of the opinion that block play materials are available in this school whereas a significant number of the teachers felt that clay play materials are available in this school and that water and sand play materials are available in this school. The study recommended that the school administration of ECD schools should provide adequate resources and play facilities/materials for the learners to improve on acquisition of mathematical concepts and skills.

Thirty-two male male Large White weanling pigs of 8-9 weeks of age averaging 7.50 + 0.36kg were used to evaluate the effect of dietary copper on fertility of pubertal sows. The animals were randomly assigned in a Completely Randomized Design experiment to 4 diets containing 0, 100, 200 and 300ppm Cu/kg constituting the control(diet 1), diets 2, 3 and 4 respectively, in a 6-month feeding trial such that each treatment had 8 animals. The feeding trial was divided into 3 physiological phases [weanling (starter), pre-pubertal (grower) and pubertal (finisher)]. At the end of the feeding trial, 4 treated boars selected at random from each treatment were mated to 8 gilts (i.e. 1 boar to 2 gilts) following the gilts’ synchronization to determine the fertility rate of the boars. The mated gilts were sacrificed at the end of the 1st trimester and their uteri cut open longitudinally to check for conception, count the number of embryos therein and the embryo survival rate determined. The results showed significant (p<0.05) difference on fertility parameters assessed except foetal crown-rump length and litter weight. The conception rate tended to be constant across the treatment except for treatment 3 with 75%. The study revealed that male weanling pigs for breeding can be fed dietary Cu of between 100-300ppm for optimum reproductive performance.

This study aimed to assess how markets affect smallholders’ decision-making about their arecanut, pepper and banana smallholders cropping systems in Sri Lanka. An economic assessment of the markets available for different crops was made using data obtained from a market survey and village study. Study found that farmers selected different crops based on market accessibility. Majority of farmers reluctant to grow banana as smallholdings in Pannila, whilst it was a popular choice on smallholdings in Pallekiruwa . Farmers faced high risk with perishables as their price variation was higher than that of storable crops. Study recommend to improve the market infrastructure for enabling farmers’ income.

Contract farming which was virtually unknown in the poultry sector half a century ago, has proliferated rapidly. The growth of poultry sector in India was also marked by an increase in the size of poultry farm. Like wise, the practice of integration or contract farming caught up the imagination of the people in the rural areas also. A study was conducted to know the reasons for preference towards contract broiler farming among 200 broiler farmers in Coimbatore and Erode districts. Conventional analysis like mean and percentages were used for the study. The results showed that, except for the chick quality the respondents were contented with all the inputs supplied.

The study of this paper is to estimate the impact of specific knowledge management resources (i.e. knowledge management enablers and processes) on organizational performance. The purpose of this study uses survey data from 189 managers and structural equation modelling to assess the links between specific knowledge management resources and organizational performance. The solution show that some knowledge resources (e.g. Organizational structure, knowledge application) are directly related to organizational performance, while others (e.g. technology, knowledge conversion), though important preconditions for knowledge management, are not directly related to organizational performance. The survey findings were based on a single dataset, so the same observations may not apply to other settings. The survey also did not provide in-depth insight into the key capabilities of individual firms and the circumstances under which some resources are directly related to organizational performance. The study provides to testify linking particular knowledge resources to organizational performance. Such insights can help firms’ better objective their investments and enhance the success of their knowledge management initiatives. Prior research often utilizes composite measures when examining the knowledge management-organizational performance link. This bundling of the dimensions of knowledge management allows managers and researchers to focus on main effects but leaves little room for understanding how particular resources relate to organizational performance. This study addresses this gap by assessing the links between specific knowledge management resources and organizational performance. The results show that some resources are directly related to organizational performance, while others are not.

Table of contents for the month of January 2011

Table of contents for the month of January 2019

A numerical study of viscoelastic buoyancy-driven unsteady natural convection boundary layer flow past a vertical cone embedded in a non-Darcian isotropic porous regime with transverse magnetic field applied normal to the surface is considered. The heat and mass flux at the surface of the cone is modeled as a power-law according to and respectively, where x denotes the coordinate along the slant face of the cone. Both Darcian drag and Forchheimer quadratic porous impedance are incorporated into the two-dimensional viscous flow model. The transient boundary layer equations are then non-dimensionalized and solved by the Crank-Nicolson implicit difference method. The velocity, temperature and concentration fields have been studied for the effect of Grashof number, Darcy number, Forchheimer number, Prandtl number, surface heat flux power-law exponent (m), surface mass flux power-law exponent (n), Schmidt number, buoyancy ratio parameter and semi-vertical angle of the cone. Present results for selected variables for the purely fluid regime are compared with the non-porous study by Hossain and Paul [9] and are found to be in excellent agreement. The local skin friction, Nusselt number and Sherwood number are also analyzed graphically. The study finds important applications in geophysical heat transfer, industrial manufacturing processes and hybrid solar energy systems.