Archives-March 2014

The rationale of study is to investigate the effects of employee empowerment on achievement motivation and contextual performance of employees. Responses of employees in Public and private banks have been analyzed by using regressions analysis. The results of study show the positive impact of employee empowerment of achievement motivation and contextual performance of employees. It implies that employee empowerment is important for achievement motivation and ultimate performance for employees working in dynamic corporate environment.

Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. It is caused primarily by human activities and climatic variations, It occurs because dry land ecosystems are extremely vulnerable to over exploitation and inappropriate use. Land degradation is a major obstacle militating sustainable use of land resources for agriculture. The relative role of climate, drought and human impact was discussed. This menace which manifested in the forms of soil erosion, desertification, salting of river and ponds, acidification and Stalinization, loss of soil fauna and flora e.t.c. is seriously militating productive parts of the soil, Poverty, political instability, deforestation over grazing and bad irrigation practices also undermine the land's fertility, thus, resulted in a negative effect on the socio-economic status of the inhabitants. These consequences can be properly addressed through the establishment of shelterbelts and woodlots, improvement of agricultural productivity, creation of awareness of the drought-hazard through provision of necessary resources for meteorological services in the area as well as legislation against indiscriminate felling of trees.

Ferroresonance is a nonlinear oscillatory phenomenon that occurs under certain conditions. This investigation use an indicator of ferroresonance based on voltage for damping of dangerous overvoltages in coupling capacitor voltage transformers (CCVT). This paper investigates ferroresonance voltage for determination technical requirements of the ferroresonance suppression circuit (FSC) for detection and suppression of ferroresonance. In this technique, by using a back-to-back gated thyristor circuit, a damping resistance is switched to secondary side of the system transformer during dangerous oscillations. The control technique proposed in this paper is a “novel but classic” technique. The prediction of ferroresonance is achieved by detailed modeling using a digital computer transient analysis program such as the EMTP.

This paper presents the seismic behavior of beam-column joints with special confinement in the joint region along with different reinforcement detailing for anchorage of beam bars, confinement in joint and additional reinforcement in beam and column. External confinement is carried out by glass fiber reinforced polymer(GFRP).The performance of the specimens are compared in terms of lateral load- versus displacement curves. The dimensions of the specimens were fixed to be 0.2m x 0.2m cross section and the height of the column was fixed as 1m and the cantilever length of the beam was fixed as 0.6m to carry out the experimental work. Five numbers of exterior beam-column joints were designed according to Bureau of Indian Standards were cast and tested under lateral loading. The specimen was designed as per IS 456:2000 and IS 13920-1993 and reinforced accordingly with that. Out of five specimens three specimens were designed with special confinement one was control specimen and the final one was control + GFRP. Results by experimental and analytical shows that special confinement specimen carries more load carrying capacity than the control specimen and almost close to control + GFRP.

This study investigates the impact of brand attributes on consumer. The objective of the study were to determine whether brand loyalty, perceived quality and brand awareness will jointly and independently predict purchase intention. The study employed survey research. Primary data was used for the study and questionnaire as research instrument. The sample surveys were 550 students of Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo. The 5 hypotheses formulated for the study were tested with Pearson’s regression, multiple regression and analysis of variance (ANOVA) with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings from the study showed that independent variables i.e. Brand loyalty, perceived quality and brand awareness are significant and will jointly and independently predict purchase intention. The findings indicated significant relationship between brand loyalty and purchase intention. The study also reveals that there is main and interactive effect of brand loyalty and perceived quality on purchase intention.

The study investigated the effect of workplace deviance on employee performance with reference to Unilever Manufacturing. Nigeria Plc. Lagos, Nigeria. The objective of the study is to determine whether organizational deviance and interpersonal deviance jointly affect employee performance and also to ascertain the association between workplace deviance behavior variable and employee performance. The study employed survey research. Primary data was used for the study with questionnaire as research instrument. The subjects were two hundred and twenty employees of Unilever Manufacturing, Nigeria Plc. The six hypotheses formulated for this study were tested using multiple regression and Pearson’s Correlation. The finding revealed that organizational deviance and interpersonal deviance jointly and individually predict employee performance, the result also indicated association between workplace deviance behavior variables adopted and business performance.

An experimental study has been carried out on axially loaded short and slender high strength concrete columns confined with glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) sheets. A total of 10 specimens were loaded to failure in axial. The column specimens are square in shape with 150 mm length,150 mm width and 1000 mm height. Concrete compressive strength was 58 MPa. All columns were reinforced with steel and wrapped with different layers of GFRP. Results of testing was increasing the compressive strength of concrete column with GFRP wrapping, the columns wrapping with glass FRP is most effective in control column. Four layers of FRP wrapping of column was gave the highest result of compressive strength test. A modified analytical model was presented to predict the strength of FRP-confined square column.

A major part of the civil engineering infrastructure will need significant repairs. The innovative rehabilitation and strengthening methods for reinforced concrete structures, especially with composite materials, has taken a large portion of the research work in the field of repair and restoration of structural elements. Also, some of these techniques were used to strengthen columns by confinement with composite enclosure. This paper investigates the strengthening of High Strength Concrete short circular columns using Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer [GFRP] sheets. The main variables of the work are the slenderness ratio of the columns and the number of layers of GFRP wrapping. Column specimens of three different slenderness ratios [3, 6 and 9] each wrapped with 3 and 4 layers of GFRP fabric was considered for the study. Another set of unwrapped columns serves as the reference. The diameter of the columns is 150 mm. The columns were tested under uni-axial compressive loading until failure. The test results show that the load carrying capacity as well as the ductility capacity of the columns improved with the increasing slenderness ratio and number of layers of GFRP wrapping.

In this paper we introduce the new type of transportation problem called South east corner rule . We solve the transportation problem using OR approach in analysis ,design phases and we use the java programming language to model the problem . The results obtain from both solutions are compared to make analysis & prove the object oriented model correctness . We proved that the both results are identical & have the same results when solving the problem using the south east corner rule .

Malaysia Education Development Plan from 2013 to 2025 is an educational transformation plan towards providing a 21st century education. Education is the spark of creativity and innovation generators that act as enablers to intellectual progress and humanity in tandem towards placing Malaysia row of other developed countries in the 21st century. In vibrant transformation Ministry of Education, the important thing to note is the extent to which awareness of school leaders in providing a 21st century education to transform the national education can be achieved successfully. The leadership style of some lecturers also affect the success of the educational preparation of the 21st century. The main focus of this study was to examine the awareness and knowledge of lecturers Living Skills Department, Institute of Teacher Education Campus Tun Hussein Onn, Batu Pahat, Johor as change agents in providing 21st century education. Conceptual framework is based on instructional leadership style. The study used qualitative interviews and observations involving respondents from lecturers of Life Skills at the Institute Teacher Education Campus Tun Hussein Onn.