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We are very happy to announce that from 9th June 2018, Dr. Hasan Köten has joined the team of Elixir Editorial Advisory Board. He/She will carry a special responsibility for dealing with manuscripts based on Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Hasan Köten working as Head, Mechanical Engineering Department, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Turkey. The appointment of Dr. Hasan Köten 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 elixirpublishers@gmail.com.

Leadership is the ability through which people follow a leader at their own will. Leaders do not exert any influence upon others; instead they give a vision and have a clear picture and prerequisite skills of how to achieve it. Educational leadership is the process of directing the potentialities and energies of teachers, students, parents and all the stakeholders towards the achievement of shared educational goals. It has become evident through researches that leadership is that ability which is genderless. Comparative studies related to gender in school administration has proved that under female leadership the performance level and learning achievement of students was higher. The prime responsibility of educational leaders is to convert teaching institutions into learning institutions. The gender differences in leadership styles are observable but it is not proved that men are better leaders as compared to women. Both of them can excel in effective educational leadership if they show the prerequisite qualities.

In the present study fourty five years instrumental record (1970-2015) of four meteorological stations (Srinagar, Pahalgam, Qazigund and Gulmarg) located in different physiographic divisions in the valley of Kashmir was analysed.GCM data was also employed to project future temperature and rainfall of the Kashmir valley upto 21st century. It was observed that temperature shows an increasing trend at all the four stations while as precipitation shows a decreasing trend over the coming century.

This study was performed to evaluation of inoculated sulfur with Thiobacillus sp on some growth traits of marigold under salinity condition. Experimental design was split split plot with 3 replications. First factor was sulfur (200 and 400 kg/ha) also second and third factor included bacteria (inoculated and no inoculated) and salinity stress (0, 15, 35 and 55 mm/L), respectively. After the experiment, some morphological characters and morphological of marigold were evaluated such as height, yield of fresh and dried flowers, number of flowers per plant, grain yield, petals, seed weight. Totally, result showed that 400kg/ha had best effect on studied characteristics, It was also found that with increased stress levels from 0 to 16 dS, the height, fresh yield of flowers, yield of flower dry weight, number of flowers per plant, grain yield, petals and seed weight, showed 45, 65, 64, 20, 78, 17 and 39 percent of reduction, respectively. On the other hand, it was determined that the use of bacteria and sulfur can reduce the effects of stress.

This paper investigates the effects of extra-terrestrial impact cratering of Silali Basin on the environment of the area. The Silali Basin is located in Turkana East /Pokot East regions of Kenya. The basin is a depression suspected to be an extra-terrestrial impact crater (ETIC). The objective of the study was to document the effect that the cratering of Silali had on the environment of the area. To answer the study research question, remote sensing was utilized to map the Silali basin. Satellite images were used to identify the nature of the crater and characterize it, since most large terrestrial impact craters are not identifiable from the surface of the earth. The study established that the effects of Silali’s impact cratering on the environment of the area include formation of physical features and minerals. The crater’s potential economic and social significance has also been cited and include tourism, paragliding, quarrying of breccias and geothermal power harvesting. Being a pioneer study in the investigation of ETICs in Kenya, the study may form a basis for further research on ETICs in the country, besides enhancing knowledge on Extra-terrestrial impact cratering in Kenya and its environmental significance. It is also hoped that the study will enhance the economic utilization of Silali basin.

In the present study oral administration of ethanol extract of Syzygium cumini seed from fruit to Alloxan monohydroxide induced diabetic rats secluded the rats from the changes induced in carbohydrate and enzymatic studies were seen. The selected Syzygium cumini (L) plant seed extract (100 and 200 mg/kg bw) seems to be more efficient in the control of type II diabetes. Oral administration of ethanol S.cumini extract able to control the diabetes induced alterations in enzymes related to carbohydrate metabolism. Non enzymatic antioxidant enzymes like ascorbate, Vitamin C, Vitamin E and TTH and antioxidant defense enzymes like SOD, CAT and GPx levels also regulated by the supplementation of S. cumini seed extract to the alloxan induced rats. The reduction in carbohydrate and enzymatic levels in diabetic rats can be used as a marker in the evaluating the severity of diabetes.

Organizational performance in the motor industry has become a major focus of managers due to the stiff competition witnessed in the industry and technology which is changing so rapidly. With this in mind, the issue of competitive strategies of the motor industry has become paramount and organisations are preparing for stiff competition from existing competitors as well as new entrants within the industry. To achieve this objective, these organisations need strategies that are competitive, sound and outstanding to gain a competitive edge and enhance their organisational performance. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of competitive strategies on organizational performance at Scania East Africa Limited which is in the motor industry, specifically retail and distribution of the heavy commercial vehicles. Four specific objectives formed the basis of study and these were: to examine the effect of differentiation strategy, pricing strategy, focus strategy and innovation strategy on the organizational performance at Scania East Africa Limited. The theoretical framework included theories such as, stakeholder theory, Resource based view theory and competitive advantage theory. The target population consisted of 144 employees of Scania East Africa Limited. However, the respondents were sampled. Quantitative research design was adopted for the study. The sample size of the study was 43 which was calculated by using 30% of the total population. A modified Likert scale questionnaire was developed and divided into four parts. A pilot study was carried out to refine the instrument. The quality and consistency of the study was further assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Data analysis was performed on a PC computer using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS Version 23) for Windows 10 computer. Analysis was done using frequency counts, percentages, means and standard deviation, regression, correlation and the information generated was presented in form of tables. The stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that the competitive strategies namely; differentiation strategy, pricing strategy, focus strategy and innovation strategy explained statistically significant portion of the variance associated with the extent of organizational performance. The stepwise multiple regressions indicated that among the factors influencing organizational performance at Scania East Africa Limited, the variables had more effects on improving organizational performance. This result was an emphasis on the role of differentiation strategy, pricing strategy, focus strategy and innovation strategy and explained statistically significant portion of the variance associated with the extent of organizational performance of Scania East Africa Limited. The study recommended the following: That differentiation should be derived from customer experience in other words the customer’s suggestions should be central in designing products that meets the customer’s needs; that the company should continuously use cheaper quality raw materials and skilled labour to create value for the shareholders; that the company should continuously focus on its core business activities: that innovation should be at the centre of all operational activities. Pricing strategy, Innovation strategy and focus strategy also had statistically significant effect on organisational performance at Scania East Africa Limited therefore contributing positively to organisational performance of the company

Celecoxib, a selective COX-2 inhibitor, exhibits poor water solubility, dissolution and flow properties. Thus, the aim of the present study was to improve the solubility and dissolution rate of Celecoxib by preparing microparticle by Freeze drying technique. Celecoxib microparticle containing different ratio of drug and ?-cyclodextrin were manufactured by Freeze drying using Isopropyl alcohol as solvent to enhance solubility and dissolution rate. The prepared microparticle containing different ratio of drug and polymer were evaluated for in vitro dissolution and solubility. The prepared formulations were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimeter, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Dissolution profile of the Freeze dried microparticle was compared with its physical mixture and pure sample. Freeze dried microparticle exhibited decreased crystallinity. The solubility and dissolution of the microparticle containing different ratio of drug and ?-cyclodextrin were significantly improved compared with its physical mixture and pure sample of Celecoxib. Dissolution of microparticle containing 3:1 w/w (FD 3) showed higher % release i.e. 98.6 % in 30 min compared to other ratio of microparticle. Consequently, hence, from the above result it can be concluded that Freeze dried microparticle of Celecoxib is a useful technique to improve the solubility and dissolution of poorly water soluble drug like Celecoxib.

Information assurance (IA) projects serve as critical elements of the information technology industry, yet enjoy limited success since these pursuits are often plagued by classical project management failures stemming improperly managing budgets, cost overruns, and missing projected timelines, commonly attributed to performance of the project teams. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the leadership and other strategies necessary to enhance IA project performance achievement and success. The Lewin (1939) situational leadership theory underpinned the study and served as a theoretical reference source for deeper interpretations of the study data, against these propositions. Interviews were conducted with 20 IA professionals located in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area of the United States. The data were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using a process of thematic analysis using the Moustakas’ modified van Kaam analysis method. The major themes from the analysis of the interviews of IA professionals denoted the importance of leveraging the technical knowledge of these resources, with a balanced mix of technical and subject matter experts in make-up of project teams. Training in increasing the success of these teams indicated that this must commence at the leadership level. The study results may contribute to existing knowledge in improving project success and in the development and growth of the IA industry.

This investigation deals with finite population loss and delay multi server queue with no passing, discouragement and additional servers. The concept of no passing has its own consideration as the customers are permitted to leave the system in the same chronological order in which they join the system. Due to no-passing restrictions, the customers can be categorized into two types (i) those who do not need service even waiting in the queue and (ii) the customers having exponentially distributed service time. Also customer is assumed to be discouraged on seeing long queue at the service station. This discouraging behaviour of the customer puts the system to loss and the customer decides not to join the queue. To overcome such situations the system organigers may facilitate the additional removable server to provide faster service. Keeping this in view the above-mentioned factors have been included in this study. By using birth death rate and product type solution, queue size distribution is established, which is further employed to derive various performance indices namely expected waiting time, average number of customers in the system and the difference between the expected waiting time of both types of customers in the system.