Archives-March 2013

There are many studies on the relationship between geographical features and the design of houses but few studies have investigated the role of culture and social factors in people’s decisions on how to build their houses. This paper investigates the cultural, political, and social factors affecting the structures of traditional houses of Isfahan, Iran. First, a short introduction to Isfahan is presented, then the structure of traditional houses is analyzed, and finally the environmental and humanistic factors affecting the design of Isfahan traditional houses are discussed.

Blood group typing is being considered vital and has always been the primary procedure to be followed in the study of forensic serology. Using this method the same fiber/cloth piece can be used several times to obtain the similar results. This technique now reduces the time cost and effort that was put into it earlier. With “ABO blood stain typing by Forwarding and Reversing Method of Absorption-Elution Technique” different concentrations of blood, packed cells obtained from different people and different batches of anti-sera to can be used to draw to concrete results. Blood stained cloth/fiber samples obtained from 18 different cases were used for ABO typing and the procedure was repeated 7-10 times for same sample with Forwarding and Reversing Absorption-Elution technique. All cloth/fiber samples yielded the consistent results even after several repeated trials.

Land is critical to the economic, social and cultural development of Kenya. It is crucial to the attainment of economic growth, poverty reduction and gender equity. Its importance is recognized by various Government initiatives including the initial Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), political party manifestoes and the Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation (2003-2007). Land was a key reason for the struggle for independence and Land issues remain politically sensitive and culturally complex. The Republic of Kenya has an area - approximately 582,646 sq.km comprising of 97.8% land and 2.2% water surface. Only 20% of the land area can be classified as medium to high potential agricultural land and the rest of the land is mainly arid or semiarid. Forests, woodlands and national reserves and game parks account for ten percent (10%) of the land area, i.e. 58,264 sq. km. Approximately seventy five per cent (75%) of the country’s population lives within the medium to high potential (20% of land area) and the rest in the vast Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs). One consequence of this is that size and distribution of land varies quite widely just as population density which ranges from as low as 2 persons per sq. km. in the ASALs to a high of over 2000 in high potential areas. This leads uncontrolled subdivision of agricultural land, leading to reduced productivity and hence a likelihood of food insecurity. As the old saying goes, ‘the devil is in the detail’ - in our case FRAGMENTATION.

The objective of this paper is to investigate the relationship between individual’s absorptive capacity and innovative behavior among engineers in the electrical and electronic (E&E) sector in Malaysia. The study utilized survey method to collect the data. There were 305 responses for the survey. Partial least square (PLS) properties of structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to measure the relationships between the variables. The study found only partial support in absorptive capacity ability to influence innovative behavior.

Software reliability quantification plays a very significant role for software consistency and excellence. However, the conventional software quantification method mostly focuses on evaluation by use of failure data which is gained only after testing or usage in the late phase of the software life cycle. Therefore, to obtain and quantify the software reliability with the help of architecture style may be introduced. Ontology allows developers and users to better understand software architecture and reliability terminologies, assess software reliability, and communicate effectively with the software reliability engineers. Therefore, an Ontological Reliability Quantification Method (ORQM) is instigated in this paper, which focuses on various project categories correlative with architecture style and concerned project parameters. Finally, some case studies are presented to demonstrate the viability of this method.

Uniform sizedTiO₂ nanoparticleswere synthesized using the sol-gel method, and the resultant powdered TiO₂ samples was heated at 500^oC air atmosphere.  Samples characterized by the XRD, FTIR, TGA and SEM and the photocatalytic degradation of Rose bengal using TiO₂ nanoparticles havebeen tested under UV light irradiation at 352nm (Long Wavelength). The rate of degradation of Rose bengalwas monitored by measuring the decrease in the absorbance value. Experimental parameters, such as the amount of catalyst loading, dye and H₂O₂ concentrations and Fenton’s reagent was tested against the degradation rate. The degradation efficiency of the synthesized nanoparticles was tested against commercially available TiO₂ (Degussa P-25).

Cases of examination cheating have been reported in Masaba South District and its environs over the years. This study purposed to establish the reasons why students cheat in secondary school examinations in Masaba South District of Kisii County. The study sought to determine whether competition, poor preparation, poor invigilation, inadequate facilities, ineffective teaching and anxiety had any influence on student cheating in secondary school examinations. The study too investigated the methods used by students to cheat in school examinations and how the vice could be curbed. The research adopted an explanatory approach of descriptive survey research design. The sample size consisted of 449 students, and head teachers from 6 purposively selected schools of Masaba South District. The Head teachers’ and students’ questionnaires were used to collect data in the study. The items in the questionnaires were tested for content validity and reliability by means of a pilot study in one of the schools that was not included in the sample. The data was analyzed using statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The results of the study revealed that the major factors influencing examination cheating include: examination anxiety, lack of facilities, stiff competition, poor preparations, and inadequate invigilation of the examinations. The study recommended that there is need for thorough guidance and counselling and adequate preparation of students for examinations.

This paper summarizes the introduction and importance of hidden markov model (HMM) as a classifier, learning and classification. A Markov process is a particular case of stochastic process, where the state at every time belongs to a finite set, the evolution occurs in a discrete time and the probability distribution of a state at a given time is explicitly dependent only on the last states and not on all the others. In this survey we present details of hmm, its mathematical foundations, advantages and applications in the field recognition.

The main objective of this study is to find out if there is any relationship between Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and organizational performance in Nigerian banks. Relevant literature was reviewed and a model consisting of twenty six variables was conceptualized and tested by means of empirical data collected through a questionnaire survey. A total of two hundred and twenty four (224) copies of a questionnaire were administered, two hundred and eleven (211) copies were duly completed and returned. The result of the descriptive statistics shows that Customer Focused Services, Information and Communication Technology, Complaints Management, High Quality Service, Timeliness in Service Delivery, Security of Money, Friendliness of Employees, Ease of Opening Account, Competitive Charges on Services, Availability of Credit are CRM strategies used in Nigerian banks. It also reveals a difference in the perception of staff and customers. The result of the spearman rank correlation, Mann- Whitney U test and partial correlations provided support for these findings and confirm that there is a positive relationship between customer relationship management and organizational performance (as conceptualized by customer satisfaction, customer retention, increase in number of customers and increased net profit. It was also found that companies image and branch network intervene in the relationship between CRM and organizational performance.

One of the main challenges that the Government of Kenya faces in an effort to achieve Education For All (EFA) is poor girls’ participation in education. In spite of the government’s as well as its partners’ efforts and achievements in ensuring that girls participate in education, the prevailing disparities in the primary, secondary, and university levels in favour of boys are clear indications that there are still gaps to be filled and challenges to be met. There is clearly a need for concerted efforts to achieve higher participation of girls in education at all levels. This study visualized that a formal mentoring program can be a suitable intervention and further found it interesting to establish and report the girls’ perceptions on the suitability of formal mentoring in the enhancement of qualities that are linked to academic success. These girls had participated in a formal mentoring programme prior to this study.