Archives-September 2012

Even though we have advanced tremendously in technology in the 21st century, we still have not been able to contact with any extraterrestrial civilizations. There have been many research and hypothesis on extraterrestrial civilizations such as The Drake Equation, The Fermi Paradox, Rare Earth Hypothesis. With the help of previous research and hypothesis on this subject by others, I have here tried to find out the possible reasons of not been able to contact with any extraterrestrial civilizations till now.

Despite the increasing attention of organizational commitment in the management literature, most studies predominantly focus on full-time workers in traditional work settings. The results of this study highlight important directions for implementing strategies to increase casual academic’s organizational commitment. Organization commitment is important because it is known association with other important organizational variables such as turnover, absenteeism and work effort. This study provides the first step in better understanding the factors that affect the organization commitment

Let L be a finite lattice. A sublattice K of a lattice L is said to be convex if a,b K; c L, a c b imply that c K. Let CS(L) be the set of convex sublattices of L including the empty set. Then CS(L) partially ordered by inclusion relation, forms an atomic algebric lattice. Let P be a finite graded poset. A finite graded poset P is said to be Eulerian if its M bius function assumes the value (x; y) = (-1)l(x;y) for all x y in P, where l(x, y) = (y)- (x) and is the rank function on P. In this paper, we prove that the lattice of convex sublattices of a Boolean algebra Bn, of rank n, CS(Bn) with respect to the set inclusion relation is a dual simplicial Eulerian lattice. But the structure of the lattice of convex sublattices of a non- Boolean Eulerian lattice with respect to the set inclusion relation is not yet clear.

Team-based learning (TBL) is an effective way of incorporating interactive small group peer teaching and enthusiasm for learning. The objective of this study is to evaluated student perceptions of team based learning by using a survey that elicited perceptions of different modes of learning between UK and Pakistani students. Overall 733 students were selected on the basis of quota sampling between two countries. Student preferences of teamwork were measured with 15 items scale. These were self administered questionnaire asking for responses on a five point Likert scale. Structural equation model (SEM) was applied on the obtained data set to find the difference between the preferences of English and Pakistani students regarding teamwork. Both groups had a common definition of teams and agreed on the value of teams with regard to satisfaction and productivity. The result shows that there exists difference in student preferences of teamwork. Students of both the cultures show positive response that teams are effective way to learn the management courses and increase their productivity and working in a team improve their ability to learn new things. However, Pakistani students showed more preference for teamwork as compared to UK students. Their attitudes diverged, however, with regard to the presence of slackers on the team. Possible reasons for the similarities and divergence are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to compare various teaching methods used by university level teachers in public sector universities in Pakistan, study the common influences on choice of teaching method, and use this knowledge to enhance the quality of Instruction and therefore education in general. To encourage the student participation in the teaching learning process, their preferences of the teaching methods were also studied. The researcher used descriptive research to fulfill the requirements of the objective of the study. Major objective of the study was to compare the teaching methods favored by the teachers of various disciplines Social Sciences, Management Sciences, International Relations and Information Technology. Another objective was to study the student awareness of the methodologies used by their teachers. The sample of the study comprised of 38 teachers and 97 students from the above-mentioned departments. The instruments used by the researcher in the study were self-developed questionnaires. The questionnaires consisted of 26 items using five-point scale. The collected data was tabulated, analyzed, and interpreted in the light of the objectives of the study. From the finding of the study it was revealed that the most commonly practiced method of teaching is Lecture followed by project method. The least used method was Reflective Inquiry. There were some discrepancies among the teachers and student opinions of what teaching methods are most commonly used in the classrooms. When the teachers were asked to rank teaching methods according to the effectiveness of the method, the variables like ‘gender’ and ‘department’ did not have significant differences whereas ‘qualification’ of the teachers did. The teachers with PhD ranked Reflective Inquiry as the most effective and preferred method. The teachers with M. Phil and M.A degrees ranked Lecture method at the top.

Small Scale Enterprises have been recognized to be the main engine of economic growth and a major factor in promoting private sector development and partnership in the developing economies of the world. The enterprises in this category have not only brought about substantial local capital formation, it has really increased the level of productivity and capabilities of the dwellers of the rural commodities thereby redistributing the nations income and curbing rural-urban drift of citizens. However, despite the benefit accruable from the development of Small Scale Industries (SSI), little attention has been paid to its improvement by various tiers of government because of the distance between the government and the local dwellers. Also, lack of infrastructural facilities like power supply, provision of water, accessible roads to link the rural communities to the commercial centers, and non – availability of formal financial institutions have negatively affected the optimum performance of the various Small Scale Enterprises in Nigeria. Therefore the thrust of this paper is to assess how far the Small Scale Industries have been thriving in the face of various problems ranging from infrastructural to financial, confronting the entrepreneurs in the local communities and the effects of such constraints and problems on their business and how the problems can be ameliorated in order to improve the welfare and enhance the social economic development of the citizens at the grassroots. The population for the study comprises the small scale entrepreneur in Osun State of Nigeria. The sample consists of Iwo Local Government Area and Ola Oluwa Local Government Area. The two local councils are predominantly of villages and towns which can be regarded as real grass root communities and the major enterprises being practiced is the small scale type. Out of this population, 200 respondents randomly chosen were served questionnaires, in which 153 respondents returned their questionnaire filled. The researcher also made use of oral interview with the officials of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Iwo Zonal office serving the two local councils as well as using some relevant data from the internal Revenue Board of Osun State. For the analysis of the data, simple percentages were used to classify the responses of the respondents and Chi-square (x2) was used to test the various hypotheses proposed. The findings of the study indicate that Small Scale business entrepreneurs have no access to funds from the formal financial institutions (Banks) due to non-availability of banks in these rural areas and where there are few of the banks, the formality of processing loans and the interest on such loans have been very discouraging. Due to this, majority of the respondents make use of non-bank financial institution like thrift and cooperative societies, and also get financial assistance through Revolving Loan Scheme (ESUSU) and Daily Contributions Arrangement (AJO). However, in spite of all these challenges, it was found out by the researcher that investing in small scale business in these areas has great prospect and thus profitable to the owners. Small scale businesses have really served as a very charitable linkage between the source of raw materials and the usage of such materials by the large scale counterparts in the state. Also, of small scale business have thrived greatly by helping the rural dwellers to have access to the finished products of large corporations through buying and selling.

Adolescence is one of the most crucial periods in the life of an individual, because between the ages of 10-19years, many key biological, social, economical, demographic and cultural events occur that set the stage for adult life. During this phase of growth the girls first experience menstruation and related problems which is marked by feelings of anxiety and eagerness to know about this natural phenomenon. However, they do not get the appropriate knowledge due to lack of a proper health education programme in schools. Moreover, the traditional Indian society regards talks on such topics as taboo and discourages open discussion on these issues. Moreover, the routine health services do not have provisions for adequate care of adolescent health problems. This further exaggerates the problems manifold. Although menstruation is a natural process, it is linked with several misconceptions and practices, which sometimes result into adverse health outcomes. Majority of adolescents still does not have access to information and education on sexuality, reproduction and sexual and reproductive health and rights, nor do they have access to preventive and curative service. Providing adolescents with access to seek information education and services is thus the main challenge for future programmes. In this regard an attempt has been made to measure the level of knowledge and attitude towards reproductive health, b) to study the reproductive health practices among adolescent girls and c) to study the attitude of adolescent girls towards sex education. The study was conducted among 60 school going adolescent girls of Sullia Taluq. The findings not only prove and confirm their view, but also reveal the fact that the adolescent girl’s family members restrict their daughters during menstruation and majority of the respondents stated they need sex related education in the curriculum. The study also recommends that health workers should concentration more on imparting reproductive health among rural adolescent girls. Community groups, peer groups school curriculum and other such channels are likely to be more effective means of transmitting important health messages and advice to young women entering puberty.

In this world all human beings are equal in the view of god, but society separated them into groups through caste. There are nations which are characterized through social inequality, perhaps the Indian institution of caste is more elaborately constructed through inequality than in other nations. The existence of caste system in India in the modern period has been severely criticized by both Indian and foreign observers. Even though some educated Indians tell the foreigners that caste has been erased or that "none of the Indians pays attention to caste anymore," such statements do not reflect reality. Many people fought for the equality of society in many ways. Anand knows that the pen is the only source which can change anything in this world.

Burnout a multidimensional construct consisting of emotional exhaustion, physical fatigue and depersonalization was shown destructive to personal health. Job design feature of demand and control model cause burnout because of high demands of work (namely production responsibility, problem solving demand and monitoring demand) and lack of control (timing control and method control) over work. There is also evidence concerning The association between burnout and risk of cardiovascular disease. The aim of the current research was to verify these relations. The participants were 128 personnel of Isfahan Gas Company. job design inventory was used to form two groups. In two groups of inappropriate job design (low control and high demand) and appropriate job design group. Instruments were Burnout Questionnaire of Maslach. Lipid serum was measures as dependent (criterion) variables. Relations between burnout and dependent variables in two group was determined and transfer to Z-fisher to compare stronger relationship in poor job design group. It is concluded that burnout is dependent on the quality of social environment especially job design and burnout bring cardiovascular disease more in poor job design group so we advice managers enrich job design characteristics to ensure you have healthy workers.

This paper focuses attention on specific aspects of entrepreneurial decisions relating to investment, both in the total fixed investments and plant & machinery (separately). Demand and financial factors, internal and external, are considered in the investment analysis. Finally the influence of determinants of fixed investment and investment plans are examined in General Engineering industry in India.