Archives-January 2013

As mobile technology continues to diffuse, the numbers of mobile subscribers continue to grow, so as the numbers of complaints toward telecommunication operators in Malaysia (Celcom, Maxis and DiGi). Based on National Consumer Complaint Centre (NCCC) annual report, there is an increase in number of complaints by 30 per cent in year 2007 as compared to previous year. This indicates that consumer are aware more of their rights or the telecommunication operators perform worse in 2007. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to ascertain the relationship between students’ complaint behaviour and defection in Malaysian telecommunication industry. A convenience sampling technique and self administered questionnaires were used to collect data. A total of 366 university students from 18 Malaysian public higher learning instituition were recruited to participate in this study. The regression analysis were employed to explore the relationship between the two variables. The study demonstrated that there is a strong positive linear relationship between students’ complaint behavior and defection.The study also found that the influence of private complaint on the defection is much stronger than public complaint which corroborates with the previous study.

The purpose of this paper is to review the empirical study of the long-run relationship between unemployment rates and labor force participation rates in the Sweden, United State and urban China. In Sweden, Osterholm (2010) investigated whether unemployment and labor force participation is an issue that has important implications for theory, empirical modeling & policy in labour and macroeconomics. On the other hand Liu (2011) analyzed pattern and trends in labor force participation rate & employment in urban for the past few decade in China. Emerson (2011) did the study for United States on unemployment and labour force participation. While Emerson (2011) and Osterholm (2010) results leads us to question the empirical relevance of the unemployment invariance hypothesis for the United States and Sweden, Liu (2011) provided comprehensive and more up-to-date study on topic with extension in examining employment, type of decomposition to shed light on the source of gender difference.

This paper presents power flow analysis of radial and meshed distribution systems taking into consideration of uncertain variations in load and line parameters. Interval arithmetic technique is used to model the power flow equations of distribution system to obtain the bus voltages and line active and reactive power flows. INTLAB Toolbox [14] is used to obtain the Hull of voltage profiles, line active and reactive power flows and line losses. Here we have studied the case of voltage profile, which is the key factor in deciding the active and reactive power flows in each line. The developed algorithm has been studied by considering Radial Distribution test systems of 15-Bus, 30-Bus, 33-Bus and 69-Bus available in the literature. The authors have verified the results obtained by the respective test systems with the developed algorithm for base case load and line data. The developed algorithm is easily modifiable to study the weakly meshed distribution system and this has been demonstrated for 33-Bus and 69-Bus test systems for which the Hull voltage profiles have been presented.

The furthermost impact of the climate change would be displacement of people, leading mass migration at a large scale. The affected communities would be largely from climate vulnerable island nations and also from developing countries which will not have the infrastructure to cope with the climate change induced natural disasters. The main issue here would be the cross-border migration leading to refugee status claims. But the present international refugee law framework governed by the Refugee Convention, 1951 is in no way equipped in dealing with climate refugees. This clearly calls for international co-operation and consensus building for dealing with the climate refugees as a part of the climate change adaptation mechanism. An effective and binding provision in the climate change agreements for tackling climate change induced migration through co-operation is crucial. This paper points out the lacunae in the present international refugee law framework and discusses regarding mitigating this gap and provides pointers regarding the way forward.

This study investigated the main effects of leadership styles on organizational performance at state-owned corporations in Kenya. It specifically sought to determine the impact of laissez-faire, transactional and transformational leadership styles on organizational performance at state-owned corporations in Kenya. A descriptive survey research based on the perceptions of middle and senior managers in thirty (30) state-owned corporations based in Mombasa, Kenya was undertaken. A structured self-completed research questionnaire was thereafter distributed and collected after one week. The completed questionnaires were checked for plausibility, integrity and completeness resulting in 72 usable cases. Three independent variables with various factors were identified and measured using a five-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). These were laissez-faire; transactional; and transformational leadership styles. The dependent factor was represented by the degree to which the organization has achieved its business objectives in the previous financial year. To discover the leadership styles that influence organizational performance, correlation analysis was employed. Correlations between the transformational-leadership factors and organizational performance ratings were high (0.518 to 0.696, P < .05), whereas correlations between the transactional-leadership behaviors and organizational performance were relatively low (0.219 to 0.375, P < .05). As expected, laissez-faire leadership style is not significantly correlated to organizational performance. Based on the findings, the following recommendations are given: managers should discard laissez-faire leadership style by becoming more involved in guiding their subordinates; public managers should formulate and implement effective reward & recognition systems. It was further recommended that managers should: strive to become role models to their subordinates; inspire subordinates by providing meaning and challenge to work; stimulate subordinate efforts to become more innovative & creative; and lastly, pay greater attention to each individual’s need for achievement and growth.

The present study deals with impact of physical factors on extracellular cellulase activity of some dominant post-harvest fungi. Post-harvest fungi were isolated from different varieties of papaya fruits by agar plate method. Out of 20 species 10 species of fungi were selected to study their cellulase enzyme activity. Different physical parameters such as light, incubation period, temperature and pH were studied in order to determine the optimum conditions for cellulase production of ten dominant fungi. The cellulase present in the broth was assayed by cup-plate method. It is observed that cellulase activity of post-harvest fungi was found to be optimum at temperature 200C, pH 6.0-6.5, incubation period of 20 days and continuous light

4-oxo-thiazolidine have been synthesized by cyclisation of acyclic compounds and thioglycolic acid on Schiff ’s bases. All the products have been evaluated for their in vitro antimicrobial activity against various strains of bacteria.

4- Oxo- thiazolidines substituted in 2 and 3 positions exhibit a wide range of biological activities. A series of 4-oxo-thiazolidine (4 a-o) have been obtained by cyclisation of various Schiff’s base (3) with thiomalic acid. The Schiff’s bases (3) are obtained by the reaction of 4 – Methyl cinnamoyl hydrazine with appropriate benzaldehyde. The product is characterized by spectral and analytical data. Most of the tested compounds show promising antibacterial activity.

To understand complexation behavior of antibiotics, such streptomycin, tetracycline and oxime with studied oxovanadium coordination to novel ligands by various spectroscopic techniques. The crystal system, lattice parameters, unit cell, particle size and volume have been determined by X-ray powder diffraction data. The geometries of the complexes have been optimized on the basis of molecular modeling. Spectroscopic data indicates deprotonation & coordination of the secondary alcoholic OH and NH₂groups with oxovanadium. Mass spectrum explains the successive degradation of the molecular species in solution and justifies ML complexes. The crystal data: complex I is monoclinic crystal system space group P_21/M, a =14.4998(A),b =5.9531(A),c=4.4909(A),? =90.00°,? =96.29°,? = 90.00° , V = 385.44A³; complex II is tetragonal crystal system, space group P_4/mm, a=12.6313(A),b =12.6313(A),c=6.3494(A)? = 90.00° ?=90.00 °  ?=90.00° V =1013.06 A³. Molecular structures of the complexes have been optimized by MM2 calculations and supported octahedral arrangements in both complexes.

There is lack of shared vision among the employee and employed. By referring to the Ministry of Education of Malaysia, there is mismatch between keeping the quality management techniques and education process. Current realities on education in Malaysian education is those who control (Education Ministry), there is a crisis of confidence in the ability for institution as school, college and University.