Archives-June... 

The authors examined computer-mediated-communication technologies, perceived social support, perceived cultural distance, and socio-cultural adjustment in 80 international undergraduate students. Findings revealed that computer-mediated-communication technologies not elated to socio-cultural adjustment. Perceived social support and perceived cultural distance were positively related to socio-cultural adjustment in international students.

Evaluation of 20 min. shot peening surface treatment on fatigue strength of 6063-T6 Al allay is presented under 3.5% NaCl solution from one day, one week and one month under room temperature and stress ratio R= -1. The results show that the shot peening has strong effect on the fatigue strength at 107 cycles for corroded specimens. In case of shot peening ,only 17.5% loss in fatigue strength even after submerging for one week compared with 60% of the fatigue strength was reduced in case of un shotted specimen . But for one month pre – corroded specimens, the fatigue strength was reduced by 64% in corrosion environment while shot peening improved the above reduction to be about 44%.

Innovations are increasing being looked upon to solve many an organizational problems, be it product development, service delivery ormanaging human resource. The importance is the third aspect is felt more strongly due to the fact that talented manpower which fits the organizational culture and value system is hard to find and retain. The HR professionals are adopting innovative HR practices apart from an attractive and competitive salarypackage to attract and retain talent. But one major grey area that is ignored is the image the employer is conveying to attract the desired pool and the image the present employees foster. With the serious talent crunch faced by India Inc innovative HR practices has to be adopted to create a favorable Employer brand. This paper focuses on the innovative HR practice which can be adopted to overshadow the grey areas .We, authors have coined the term ,”Crunch branding” which will be a effective tool to be used for employee retention.

The last 15 years of post-conflict activities in Liberia had witnessed series of struggles for sustainable peace and democratic system due to mis-conduct in governance that has become barrier to the peace and security of Liberians. This study examines and analyses issues on post-conflict peacebuilding and democratic governance from1997 to 2012 in Liberia. Internet explorations, magazines, newspaper cut-out, books and journals were the instruments of data collection. Improperly disarmed, demobilised, rehabilitated and reintegrated of the ex-combatants and displaced populations coupled with different scales of human suffering and rights violation, corrupt practices, absence of true democratic governance, sustainable economy plans, etc. were identified as factors that proliferated insecurity across the country. Failure of government to impact democratically on social system metamorphosed into different agitations and protests. Poor visionary and committed leaders were attributed to the parlous state of post-conflict situations to the extent that citizens found it difficult to vote for any candidates due to lack of trust and confidence building. Suggestions for sustainable peace and true democratic practices were proffered.

Public concern for ecological issues has shown an increase over the past three decades. In this modern era of social marketing, ethics in business have become strategic decisions in marketing. Marketers have started responding to consumers’ growing ecological consciousness by developing environment friendly products. Consumers have positive attitudes towards green buzz but this positive attitude in environment issues is not translated fully into the interest consumer show in their scrutiny behaviours. This study determines to find the impact of demographic factors upon green perception. A survey was conducted to gather responses from respondents of Amritsar and Jalandhar region (Indian cities). A total of 119 respondents, responded to a 10 questions questionnaire. The result indicated that Gender plays a significant role in formation of green perception.

Environmenatal factors such as climate change, gradual decrease in water resources and threatened habitants prompted the need to monitor our environment and implement better policies to protect it, thus monitoring soil pF (potential factor) values become increasingly important for environmental monitoring. The commonly available instrument(tensiometer) do not measure the range of available moisture in all soil types rather measures soil water suction. The need to measure the range of available moisture in all soil types with accuracy led to the modification of tensiometer for satisfactory laboratory results. Due to the shortcomings associated with tensiometer readings, the pressure membrane apparatus is an important instrument for optimizing irrigation and erosion prediction models.This pressure membrane with extractor has two main components:a porous plate with air entry pressure and a sealed pressure cell. The soil from which pF value was to be determined was placed in a chamber in which the pressure increased above atmospheric pressure. The side of the chamber which supports the soil consists of a pressure relief valve supported on a pressure hose. This is to ensure that the extractor chamber was not over-pressurized. The soil water potential with the corresponding mositure contents of four soil samples: A (clay soil), B(loamy soil), C (sandy soil) and D (silt) obtained from different locations were determined using pressure membrane apparatus. At a potential of 104hPa, samples A,B,C,D showed moisture content of 0.05,0.25,0.30, and 0.45cm3/cm3respectively. From the obtained results, at potentail close to zero, sandy soil is close to saturation and moisture held in the soil, primarily by capillary forces. From the laboratory analysis, moisture content decreases with high moisture cohesion.

In this study the determinants of share price movements of sugar sector of Pakistan are determined. Data is taken from 2005-2010 of each company of sugar sector. Data is analyzed using three methods as by descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis. As in this study ROA (return on assets), ROCE (return on capital employed), EPS (earning per share) and dividend are used as an independent variables and share prices as dependent variable. Relationship between variables is determined through correlation and how much change in dependent variable due to independent variables is determined by regression analysis. Result show that 13.25%variation in dependent variable is explained by ROA, ROCE, EPS and dividend.

Wetlands are the sites of natural succession and therefore contain all the groups of plant kingdom in a single place. The present paper encompasses the floristic account of Pteridophytes occur in wetland of Gorakhpur and adjacent districts of Uttar Pradesh. In this region, varies wetlands like Ramgarh Tal, Tura Nala, Salona Tal, Narya Tal, and Ratoi Tal and varies small water bodies. A total of 20 Pteridophytes species were recorded from the wetland.

Engineering industry, mostly steel are heats treated under controlled sequence of heating and cooling to alter their physical and mechanical properties to meet desired engineering applications. In this study, the effect of heat treatment (Isothermal annealing process, full annealing and normalizing) on the microstructure, fracture section and some selected mechanical properties of ingot 30CrMoV9 steel such as ultimate tensile strength, tensile yield strength, percentage reduction, percentage elongation, toughness and hardness. Sample of steel was purchased from local market and the spectrometry analysis was carried out. The steel samples were heat treated in an electric furnace at different temperature levels, holding times and then cooled in different media. The mechanical properties of the treated and untreated ingot samples were determined using standard methods. Results showed that the mechanical properties of ingot 30CrMoV9 steel can be changed and improved by various heat treatments for a particular application. It was also found that the full annealed samples with mainly ferrite structure gave the lowest tensile strength and hardness value and highest ductility and toughness value. While normalizing sample which comprise martensite gave the highest tensile strength and hardness value and lowest ductility and toughness value.

Healthy and comfortable indoor air climates are essential for any type of building environment. Particularly, classroom air environment and thermal comfort has an important role in the teaching and learning process as it could be engaging students in activities that promote their performances, such as understanding of concepts, abilities of problem solving, and attitudes towards learning, and etc. In order to achieve such better indoor air environment and thermal comfort in classrooms, school buildings usually have been required to HVAC system operate with design norms.