Archives-January 2016

This study aims to examine the relationship of school environment with the participation of students in extra-curricular activities in schools in the State of Johor. This quantitative research using survey method through a questionnaire. A total of 225 teachers Advisor co-curricular activities were randomly selected from 21 schools. Survey instruments used in this study may be modified based on the "School-Level Environment Questionnaire" to assess the school environment and the "National Survey of Student Engagement 2011" to measure student involvement in extra-curricular activities. Correlation analysis shows there is a significant relationship (r = 0.294, p = 0.00) between the school environment with the participation of students in extra-curricular activities. The findings indicate that the school environment is a significant factor in improving student involvement in extra-curricular activities.

A simple, reliable and selective square wave cathodic Adsorptive stripping (SWCAS) voltammetric method at modified carbon paste electrode (CPE) for determination of Cobalt(II) has been developed and evaluated. Square wave Cathodic Adsorptive Stripping Voltammetric (SWCASV) mechanism is proposed to interpret the amplified sensitivity. The procedure is based on the interfacial preconcentration of Cobalt (II) ion on magneson through a surface coordination effect. Different parameters such as medium, pH, accumulation potential, scan rate, accumulation time and ionic strength were tested to optimize the conditions for the determination of Cobalt(II) ion. The adsorbed form is reduced irreversible at optimal conditions viz; 0.15M Britton–Robinson universal buffer (pH~9.5). Linear concentration range 2×10-12 - 6×10-11 M (0.00012 – 0.00354 ng/mL (at 60s, can be determined successfully. The interferences of some common interfering species and some metal ions were studied. The application of the procedure in Lab tap water sample demonstrates that it is possible to determine Co(II) ion at a level as low as 5.13×10-10 mol/L (0.03 ng/mL) in real sample with a recovery of 103%, a standard deviation (triplicate measurements) of 3.08%, and a confidence level of 95%. The concentration of Co(II) in lab tap water sample was confirmed by analysis the sample by using Inductively Coupled Plasma Emission Spectrometer.

Abstract The recent past ongoing string of financial crisis across the globe resulted in rising inflation, slowdown in industrial productivity, layoff of industrial units and job cuttings leading to being shaken the financial markets; both equity and debt markets. The prevailing volatility in different financial markets all over the world lead to dent in the capital market performance, challenging mutual fund industries to show consistent performance against the prevailing adverse situation. Mutual Fund Industry was able to go ahead of the market trend. The increasing trend of Indian Mutual Fund Industry bears witness to the fact that it is attracting more and more investors and winning the confidence of the investors. The fund houses are coming with innovative and low-cost products to attract the common masses, so as to contribute towards financial inclusion. The present paper is divided into three parts; the first part highlights the financial inclusion in India, second parts explains the role of mutual funds towards achieving the financial inclusion and third part contains the challenges faced by mutual funds and the action plan necessary to be taken by mutual fund industry to bring financial inclusiveness. Keywords: Financial Crisis, Mutual Fund, Financial Inclusion, Layoff, Volatility.

The QRS complex is the most striking waveform within the electrocardiogram (ECG). QRS provides the fundamentals for almost all automated ECG analysis algorithms. We proposed a novel method for classification of ECG beats using shared counters. We first developed a real-time QRS detection technique using two-phase hashing to extract precise QRS points. Then we implement a novel ECG beat classifier to profile each patient’s normal cardiac behavior. Our technique relies more on the data stream corresponding to ECG beats than any particular feature. We use the concept of shared counters to minimize the memory requirement. The algorithm automatically adjusts parameters periodically to adapt to ECG changes as QRS morphology and heart rate. Having such profile is essential for various diagnosis (e.g., arrhythmia) purposes. One application of such profiling scheme is to automatically raise an early warning flag for the abnormal cardiac behavior of any individual.

A diabetic foot ulcer is one of the leading causes of the hospitalization among diabetic patients. This study was conducted to know the clinical and sensitivity profile of diabetic foot ulcer patients. Total 134 pus samples were collected from patients having diabetic foot ulcer. Samples were processed as per standard guidelines. All the pus samples yielded growth of organisms making total of 148 isolates. Out of 148 bacterial isolates, 85 were gram negative bacilli and 58 were gram positive cocci. In gram positive organism Staphylococcus aureus (17%) was the predominant isolate followed by CONS (12%), while Escherichia coli (20%) was the predominant isolate followed by Pseudomonas spp., (18%) in gram negative organism. The Gram negative bacteria showed good activity against amikacin, cefotaxime, ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, gentamicin and imipenem. E. coli, Klebsiella spp., and Proteus spp., showed 55.5% to 100% resistance to amoxyclav and ampicillin. Pseudomonas spp., showed 100% resistance to ampicillin and 96.2% to amoxyclav. All the Gram-positive bacteria showed good sensitivity to most of the antibiotics. It showed good sensitivity for amikacin, gentamycin, amoxyclav, ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin and vancomycin. E. coli, Pseudomonas spp., and Staphylococcus aureus were the most common cause of infections. Most isolates were multi-drug resistance.

In our country most of the population has agriculture as a primary source of income. Agricultural output consist of 16% of India GDP but in most parts of our country there is scarcity of water. To give boost to agriculture the earliest leaders of the country had given primary importance to irrigation projects. But day by day it’s becoming need of the hour to utilize micro irrigation techniques like drip and sprinkler irrigation. In our country most of the farmers utilize conventional process of pipe collection. But it effects the life of pipes, while collecting the pipes it forms scratches, minute holes, bends and while utilizing next time its efficiency has been decreased so these paper deals with the application of a simple mechanism to coil the pipes and collect it without bending or forming twist and increasing its efficiency and long life. It deals with very basic but un-noticed problem related to drip irrigation pipes.

This paper reports the design, implementation and testing of an indirect solar potato dryer. Indirect solar drying is the new technique of product drying. It is very efficient method than the direct type of solar drying. In this method the atmospheric air is heated in flat plate collector. This hot air then flow in the drying cabinet or drying chamber where potatoes slides are stored. Therefore moisture from the potatoes slides may lost by convection and diffusion. This method of drying is used to avoid direct exposing to the solar radiation. This method mainly reduces the disadvantages of direct solar drying. The experimental set up used for testing the performance of an indirect solar food dryer and determining the influence of various drying methods on the drying behavior of fresh potatoes slides. Evaluation of the dryer was centered on the moisture content reduction and temperature variations. 2 kg of fresh potatoes slides was used for evaluation. Temperatures of the drying chamber (drying cabinet), solar collector and ambient air were taken daily using digital sensors on an hourly basis from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Moisture content was taken at the beginning and at the end of each drying day. The test results gave temperature above 65 oC in the flat plate collector (solar collector), 50 oC in the drying cabinet, and the moisture content of 2 kg of fresh potatoes slides reduced to about 66.1 % in five days of drying.

Electro polishing is defined as anodic corrosion. The issue of the effects of corrosion on structural integrity of metal surfaces has been a question of concern for some time. The uses of chemical corrosion inhibitors are common in production and processing operations. Nevertheless, the challenge is to develop a new class of corrosion inhibitors to protect the materials, due to the economic importance of copper there are several researches deals with acceleration and inhibition of this process. In this paper the electropolishing process inhibited with different ratio by the addition of some organic alcohols (methanol, ethanol,propanol, and isopropanol) by addition with concentration (2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 %) .The results reveal that these organic alcohols have a strongest inhibitive effect ranging from8. 7 – 53.8 % and the thermodynamic parameters were present.

Practices of knowledge management are context-specific and they can influence organizational effectiveness. This study examines the possible mediating role of knowledge management in the relationship between organizational Structure and organizational effectiveness. A survey was conducted of 131 organizations. The results suggest that knowledge management fully mediates the impact of organizational Structure on organizational effectiveness. The findings carry theoretical implications for knowledge management literature as they extend the scope of research on knowledge management from examining a set of independent management practices to examining a system-wide mechanism that connects internal resources and competitive advantage.

Gross demotic product known as GDP are affected by multi factors. Some factors affect it positive and some hold a negative relation with GDP. Each variable has its own importance and our study will discuss the effect of inflation and interest rate on GDP. Some theorists have found that these variables are inversely proportional to growth of an economy while other researchers have found a direct association among them. In Pakistan these studies are very critical, because economic growth in Pakistan has not been up to the mark for last few years. A continuous increase in the Interest rates and inflation has been observed. Godwin (2007) defines real gross domestic product (GDP) increases when economic growth increases. Gyimah-Brempong (1989) found that the military expenses adversely affect the growth of economy. Sub-Saharan African countries using a simultaneous-equations model for the military expenditure effect the economic growth. Khilji and Mahmood (1997) proposed that the GDP growth has negative relation with defence expenses.