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Purpose - The current paper is intended to introduce knowledge workers and managers to a unique paradigm on virtue epistemology, that is, reflective knowledge, based on the doctrines of Islamic philosophy as 'Ilm.' The study proposed a holistic framework to acquire reflective knowledge, the epistemic attributes of knowledge workers, and the significance of reflective knowledge in the dynamic knowledge economy. Methodology – Theoretical framework proposed in the current paper is based on the theories proposed by Muslim philosophers. Books on the epistemological aspect of Islamic philosophy and web-based articles on Ilm as reflective knowledge were taken as references. Findings - Islamic philosophy helps to put forth a holistic paradigm on the virtues of knowledge workers and the attributes that help learning organizations acquire reflective knowledge. Practical Implications - The propositions made in this paper may be tested for empirical evidence in future research. Moreover, the framework to acquire reflective knowledge and instilling epistemic virtues in knowledge workers may be a powerful tool for knowledge managers. Originality/Value - Islamic philosophy is based on theological grounds; however, this paper intends to introduce the doctrines based on logic and rationale, proposed by noted scholars. The current study is also unique in constructing a holistic framework that may assist organizations to acquire reflective knowledge and train knowledge workers to acquire prescribed epistemic attributes.

This study was carried out to evaluation the effect of slaughter weights on carcass characteristics and meat sensory evaluation of Karadi male lambs. A total 20 male Karadi lambs, with an average initial body live weight of 23.27 ± 0.28 kg and 3 to 4 months old were used in this experiment. Lambs were randomly allocated to 4 groups (5 lambs for each group). The experimental diet was consisting of concentrate feed 75% and 25% of wheat straw and prepared based on Cornell net carbohydrate and protein system software for growing lambs. Lambs were slaughtered according to Islamic way when each lamb has reached its target slaughter weights of 28, 33, 38 and 43 kg for treatments (T1, T2, T3 and T4), respectively, following fasting for 12 h, with free access to water. The slaughter weight (SW), empty body, hot and cold carcass weights were all significantly different (p≤0.05) among all treatments. The foreshank was significantly (p≤0.05) difference between T1 and T3, while T2 and T4 were not significant. The physical dissection of shoulder for (fat and bone) and foreshank for (meat, fat and bone) were significantly differences (p≤0.05) among treatments. The percentage of meat in neck were significantly differences (p≤0.05) among treatments. Fat thickness and sensory evaluation for (tenderness and juiciness) were significant differences (p≤0.05) among treatments. It was concluded that the Karadi male lambs slaughtered at weights between 38-43 kg improved carcass characteristics, physical dissection, carcass cuts and some sensory evaluation of their meat.

Additional file 1: Figure S1. SEM images of (a) CEA, (b) AETAC and (c) MAETAC polymers together with their pore size distribution (d).

This paper proposes and develops a cascaded deep neural network (CDNN) to analyze data, collected using the sensors of smart-phones, to accurately localize an object in an indoor environment. The indoor localization of an object (living or non-living) is important now a days, especially for those living alone or for securing valuable things. There are many existing studies that have attempted to identify the location of an inhabitant in a room through the analysis of the radio signal strength (RSS), with varying success. The strength of the RSS varies with distance and the presence of obstacles within the line of sight. As a result, an automated system using RSS signal in one environment might not work in another one. In this paper therefore, we propose and develop a different localization method based on data collected from different sensors embedded in a smart-phone. To analyze and predict the exact location within a very short distance (say a 1 to 1.5 m radius), we develop a novel CDNN. In this model, several deep neural networks (DNNs) are used in a tree structure where each node of the tree is an independent DNN. The output of any parent DNN at a specific node is used to decide which child node will be used to localize the position of an object. The combination of smart phone sensor data and the CDNN is applied in an academic building with an area of 175 m 2 . The experimental results show that the proposed method can localize the subject/IoT object with a 74.17% accuracy within a 1.5 m radius and a 53% (approx.) accuracy within a 1 m radius. These performances are higher than those reported in many recent studies.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between subjective norms (SNs), attitude (ATT) and perceived behavioral control (PBC) in predicting intention to choose halal-labeled products. Additionally, this research is an attempt to address the moderating influence of religiosity (RG) on relationship between theory of planned behavior constructs and halal purchase intention. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected through a survey. To find the factors that affect purchase intentions of Pakistani consumers regarding halal purchase intention partial least squares (PLS) path modeling has been used in the study. Findings The results state that TBP constructs, i.e. (ATT and PBC) have significant and positive and influence over halal purchase intentions. However, SN did not have positive and significant influence over halal purchase intention. Furthermore, no moderation effect of RG could be found in this study. Findings suggest that RG has not moderated the relationship between TBP constructs and halal purchase intention. Research limitations/implications This study has incorporated three antecedents of TBP. However, extended theory of planned behavior can also be tested to predict influence on consumer halal purchase intentions in Pakistan. Moreover, other variables, e.g. country of origin can also be added to examine the moderation effect on TBP constructs and halal purchase intention. Originality/value This research identifies the rationale behind internally perceived factors that influence purchasing halal product, it further adds to an understanding of content specific (halal products) purchase intention. The practical implications include the possible approaches that managers need to address while promoting Halal labels and this will influence marketing strategies in general and communications specifically.

Experimentally, it is well known that the overpotentials for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on RuO2 and IrO2 are similar and rather low. The question is whether widespread computational electrochemistry models based on adsorption thermodynamics are capable of reproducing such observations. Making use of DFT results of RPBE and PBE functionals from six different codes and various types of pseudopotentials, we show that while IrO2 is consistently predicted to have low overpotentials, RuO2 is predicted to have large overpotentials. A new methodology based on adsorption-energy scaling relations shows that the inaccurate prediction for RuO2 stems from its anomalous adsorption energies of oxygen/oxygenates. Including explicit water solvation and using functionals that account for van der Waals interactions such as vdW-DF, vdW-DF2 and optPBE-vdW modifies appropriately the adsorption energies so that both oxides are predicted to be highly active.

Sweet pepper is a high nutrient demanding vegetable crop. Fertilizer use and management is therefore of highly important to sustain growth and high yield. However, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of using different types of organic fertilizer on germination and vegetative growth of sweet pepper plant, that have bell-shaped (Capsicum annum L), grown in pots culture under greenhouse condition. The study was conducted at the College of Agriculture, Duhok Governorate, Kurdistan region, Iraq during March 15th, 2015, to June 25th, 2015. The treatments that have been compared in this study were: T1 (Control 100% soil); T2 Municipal Solid Waste compost taken from Kashe factory (1:1 V/V); T3 Sheep manure (1:1 V/V); and T4Peat moss (1:1 V/V).The experiment was randomized complete design with three replicate. The parameters that have been measured were: germination percentage, plant height; number of leave per plant; leaf area and plant fresh and dry weight per pot. In most cases all the studied growth parameters were significantly higher in pot treated by peatmoss and sheep manure compared to control and Municipal Solid Waste compost. Germination percentage was also significantly enhanced in treatment amended by peatmoss and sheep manure. Municipal waste compost was significantly reduced the all the plant growth parameter and germination percentage as well. Depending on these results it can be suggested that organic fertilizers particularly peatmoss and sheep manure can be used to enhance growth and productivity in plant pepper. It was also claimed that the amount of municipal waste compost that was used in this experiment might be too high so further study should be conducted with different ratio on the quality of this type of organic fertilizer.

Dynamic branch prediction is a hardware technique used to speculate the direction of control branches. Inaccurate prediction will make all speculative works useless while accurate prediction will significantly improve microprocessors performance. In this work, we have shown that Genetic Algorithm (GA) can be used to select (near) optimal parameters for branch predictors in most cases. The GA-enhanced predictors take time to find suitable parameters, but once the values of these parameters are determined, the GA-enhanced predictors take the same time to execute as the basic predictors with increased accuracy.

The objective of current study was to determine the effect of different ratios of pomegranate peel in diets of Karadi lambs (0%, 1%, 2% or 4% as control, T1, T2 and T3, respectively) on body weight, total body gain, average daily gain, daily feed intake and apparent digestibility of nutrients. Sixteen Karadi male lambs weighing 23.29 ± 0.42 kg and 4.5-5 months old randomly divided into equally four treatment groups and individually penned for the period of 63 days. Results indicated that final body weight was significantly (P < 0.05) higher in lambs fed 1% or 2% pomegranate peel (PP) as compared to lambs fed 4% PP. The best improvements in total feed intake, total gain, average daily gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR) in lambs fed 1% PP. The total dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), ash, nitrogen free extract (NFE) and metabolizable energy (ME) intake per (body weight0.75) increased (P < 0.05) significantly in lambs fed 1% pomegranate peel (PP); however, the crude fiber (CF) intake decreased in lambs fed 1% PP as compared to other treatments. While, the dry matter digestibility (DMD), crude protein digestibility (CPD), crude fiber digestibility (CFD) and nitrogen free extract digestibility (NFED) were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in lambs fed 1% PP as compared to T2, T3 and control groups. In addition, EED increased significantly in T3 compared to other treatments. In conclusion, it was indicated that addition of pomegranate peel in diet at the rate of 1% or 2% had significant effect on Karadi lambs performance and digestibility.

This study was conducted at the college of Agriculture/ Duhok University during August-November 2009, to study the effect of magnetic water treatment and phosphorus fertilizer rates (P0= 0, P1= 90, P2 = 180, P3 = 270) kg P2O5 ha-1 and their interactions on some nutrient uptake by summer squash plant in addition to their effect on some chemical properties soil at (0-15 and 15-30 cm) depth. Mulla-Ahmed seeds were sown in ridges 0.5 m apart. Half of the treatments were irrigated with well water and the other half with the same water after magnetization. The results indicated that magnetic water significantly increased dry weight of plants and also had significant effect on uptake of nutrients by plant and soil nutrients and they were significantly higher at 0-15 cm. An interaction of P3 x MW gave best uptake values by plant for most nutrients, higher concentration of calcium, magnesium, total nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil.

It is well known that breast density in mammograms may hinder the accuracy of diagnosis of breast cancer. Although the dense breasts should be processed in a special manner, most of the research has treated dense breast almost the same as fatty. Consequently, the dense tissues in the breast are diagnosed as a developed cancer. In contrast, dense-fatty should be clearly distinguished before the diagnosis of cancerous or not cancerous breast. In this paper, we develop such a system that will automatically analyze mammograms and identify significant features. For feature extraction, we develop a novel system by combining a two-dimensional discrete cosine transform (2D-DCT) and a principal component analysis (PCA) to extract a minimal feature set of mammograms to differentiate breast density. These features are fed to three classifiers: Backpropagation Multilayer Perceptron (MLP), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and K Nearest Neighbour (KNN). A majority voting on the outputs of different machine learning tools is also investigated to enhance the classification performance. The results show that features extracted using a combination of DCT-PCA provide a very high classification performance while using a majority voting of classifiers outputs from MLP, SVM, and KNN.

Black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) has gained a global consideration because of its volume in the spice industry. This plant has shown great potential for having medical applications and novel biologically active compounds. In black pepper, natural lipophilic amide piperine was isolated. Piperine was isolated from the fruit using glacial acetic acid as solvent. After isolation and characterization of piperine were done, then it is used to prepare new and novel derivatives of piperine through the experimental procedure. The derivatives of piperine were synthesized by condensation of piperic acid with different substituted aromatic amines, to make a new derivative of piperine, such as ((2E, 4E)-5-(1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl)-N-(1,3-benzothiazol-2-yl)penta-2,4-dienamide) and a novel derivative ((2E, 4E)-5-(1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl)-N-(1,3-benzothiazol-2-yl)penta-2,4-dienehydrazide). The structure of piperine and the derivatives were elucidated through a combination of spectrometric techniques, including ultraviolet spectrophotometer, Mass spectrometry Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, proton nuclear magnetic resonance.

This study examines the human resource (HR) Professionals' Effectiveness through the lens of HR Professionals' Competencies and HR Professionals' Willingness. The Human Resource Competency Study model is used in this research, which is modified to include 'Willingness' as an important competency. Impact of HR Professionals' Social (HRSC), HR Professionals' Technical Competencies (HRTC) and HR Professionals' Willingness (HRPW) on HR Professionals' Effectiveness is measured. The study is undertaken using data drawn from the line managers of the largest bank among the privatized banks of Pakistan. It is hypothesized that all HR Professionals' Competencies are equally and strongly related to HR Professionals' Effectiveness which is theoretically associated with organizational performance. The analysis reveals that the HR Professionals' Competencies have a significant high correlation with HR Professionals' Effectiveness. However, this relationship is stronger for HRSC than HRTC or HRPW and within the sub constructs 'Credible Activist' has the stronger relationship contrary to our expectations. It is also concluded that the HR professionals' of the bank are lacking the competencies and hence have a negative impact on their effectiveness in the banking sector of Pakistan. Keeping in mind the relationship between HR Professionals' Effectiveness and organizational performance, the need to enhance HR Professionals' Competencies is highlighted.Keywords: HR Professionals' Competencies; HR Professionals' Effectiveness; Willingness; Bank.1. INTRODUCTIONAs economies shift from agriculture, to industrial to service and now to knowledge base, there is also a desirable need to shift the human resource management (HRM) functions to keep pace with the changes taking place. The shift in HRM functions intuitively argues for a shift in the managerial roles and competencies of the human resource (HR) Professionals' (Lemmergaard, 2009). In the past, HRM function were more oriented to operational aspects of managing the employees, thus necessitating to follow and implement rules and regulation governing employee and organization relationships (Beatty, Huselid, & Schneier, 2003; Bal, 2011). But now the primary role for HR Professionals' is debatably focused on strategically managing the human resources. Wright and McMahan (1992, pp, 298) define strategic HRM as "the pattern of planned resource deployment and activities intended to enable an organization to achieve its goals". The requirement presented by these authors has extended this statement to include 'influencing the, mind set' as prior to deploying the resources. Therefore, we propose that "strategic human resource management (SHRM) is a planned deployment of human resources and activities by influencing the mindset of the workforce to facilitate the efficient and effective achievement of organizational goals". This role of the HRM of the organization extends to cover the alignment of the HR skill set and behaviors with the strategic needs of the organization, thus making the role of HR professionals central to the organizational competitiveness. In line with this argument, a number of authors have posited that the HR, which an organization possesses, is a key source of the organization (Inyang, 2010). This new view implies a paradigm shift from the HR being an expense to a profit generating resource (Oxman, 2002) especially in a fast changing environment. Ulrich, Allen, Brockbank, Younger, & Nyman (2009) for example have posited that there is a growing demand for highly skilled and adaptable workforce in the organization. This demand is predicated on the changing business environment with threats of higher levels of competitive rivalry centered on changes in information and communication technology, which has caused an unfavorable dynamics shift in the industry environment (Porter, 2008). This dynamism is occurring in an environment where products, markets and services are highly globalized (Ulrich, Allen, Brockbank, Younger & Nyman, 2009) therefore, giving a major impetus to the need to bring about changes in the required skill and capabilities set of the organization's HR. …

In this thesis, I examine the implementation of the upgrading policy for informal settlements effective in Karachi from 1987. According to the policy there are two possible outcomes for the allocation of leases according to the status of the applicant: legal settlements and illegal settlements. However, these distinctions are not respected in practice. This gap has been frequently overlooked in current literature, which analyses policy formulation and outcomes while ignoring the implementation stage. I focus on a single site case study of the implementing agency's Karachi Field Office to examine in depth the processes that contributed to differential outcomes in upgrading in Karachi. I draw on the concept of neopatrimonialism to capture the contradictory conduct in the public agency of KFO that leads to inconsistent patterns in outcomes. Analysis of ethnographic and qualitative data, collected over six months of fieldwork, suggests that in the case of Karachi, the use of bureaucratic discretion by a senior level bureaucrat has explained periods of implementation where lease allocation has been close to the formulated intent of the upgrading policy. In times when such discretion has not been used, lease allocation has been selective and occurred at the behest of patrimonial imperatives exercised by provincial level politicians. The significance of bureaucratic discretion in implementation has implications for policy practice and the reform and improvement of public welfare programmes to ensure continuity between policy and outcome. On a larger scale my research contributes to the study of public agencies in Pakistan and, more broadly, to social policy literature, particularly as regards policy implementation in developing countries. Significantly the nuanced effect of neopatrimonialism on the work of public agencies shows that institutions continue to matter in the delivery of welfare programmes.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In the phase III clinical trial, RELAX-AHF, serelaxin caused rapid and long-lasting haemodynamic changes. However, the cellular mechanisms involved are unclear in humans. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH This study examined the effects of serelaxin in co-cultures of human primary endothelial cells (ECs) and smooth muscle cells (SMCs) on cAMP and cGMP signalling. KEY RESULTS Stimulation of HUVECs or human coronary artery endothelial cells (HCAECs) with serelaxin, concentration-dependently increased cGMP accumulation in co-cultured SMCs to a greater extent than in monocultures of either cell type. This was not observed in human umbilical artery endothelial cells (HUAECs) that do not express the relaxin receptor, RXFP1. Treatment of ECs with L-NGnitro arginine (NOARG; 30 μM, 30 min) inhibited serelaxin-mediated (30 nM) cGMP accumulation in HUVECs, HCAECs and cocultured SMCs. In HCAECs, but not HUVECs, pre-incubation with indomethacin (30 μM, 30 min) also inhibited cGMP accumulation in SMCs. Pre-incubation of SMCs with the guanylate cyclase inhibitor ODQ (1 μM, 30 min) had no effect on serelaxinmediated (30 nM) cGMP accumulation in HUVECs and HCAECs but inhibited cGMP accumulation in SMCs. Serelaxin stimulation of HCAECs, but not HUVECs, increased cAMP accumulation concentration-dependently in SMCs. Pre-incubation of HCAECs with indomethacin, but not L-NOARG, abolished cAMP accumulation in co-cultured SMCs, suggesting involvement of prostanoids. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS In co-cultures, treatment of ECs with serelaxin caused marked cGMP accumulation in SMCs and with HCAEC also cAMP accumulation. Responses involved EC-derived NO and with HCAEC prostanoid production. Thus, serelaxin differentially modulates vascular tone in different vascular beds.

One mechanism of resistance of prostate cancer (PCa) to enzalutamide (MDV3100) treatment is the increased expression of AR variants lacking the ligand binding-domain, the best characterized of which is AR-V7. We have previously reported that Phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate 5-kinase alpha (PIP5Ka), is a lipid kinase that links to CDK1 and AR pathways. The discovery of PIP5Ka inhibitor highlight the potential of PIP5K1α as a drug target in PCa. In this study, we show that AR-V7 expression positively correlates with PIP5K1α in tumor specimens from PCa patients. Overexpression of AR-V7 increases PIP5K1α, promotes rapid growth of PCa in xenograft mice, whereas inhibition of PIP5K1α by its inhibitor ISA-2011B suppresses the growth and invasiveness of xenograft tumors overexpressing AR-V7. PIP5K1α is a key co-factor for both AR-V7 and AR, which are present as protein-protein complexes predominantly in the nucleus of PCa cells. In addition, PIP5K1α and CDK1 influence AR-V7 expression also through AKT-associated mechanism dependent on PTEN-status. ISA-2011B disrupts protein stabilization of AR-V7 which is dependent on PIP5K1α, leading to suppression of invasive growth of AR-V7-high tumors in xenograft mice. Our study suggests that combination of enzalutamide and PIP5K1α may have a significant impact on refining therapeutic strategies to circumvent resistance to antiandrogen therapies.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to verify the consumer preference and choice behavior; also determine the speculative low loyalty behavior of consumers belonging to generation Y sub segment – adults (age 19‐28) and their perceptions regarding various brands.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 100 university students in Pakistan belonging to the age group 19‐28 years old. The research was concentrated in the mobile phone service sector. Data analysis was conducted using statistical analysis software SPSS.FindingsThe results indicate that stated preference set and actual choice behavior are dissimilar. The generation Y adults sub group contra‐indicates loyalty characteristics as high in a developing market context against the established wisdom of low loyalty found in developed countries. The perceptual maps of brands indicate no distinct personality characteristics necessitating marketers to rethink their strategies in this service industry. Finally, this research reconciles the gap between loyalty, stated preference and distinctiveness of brand personalities.Research limitations/implicationsOne limitation pertains to the target segment of 19‐28 years old. Future research could be expanded to other demographic segments and use other products and brands.Originality/valueThe major contribution of this paper is that it will advance theory regarding generation‐based characteristics to a less developed economy context by verifying theoretical proposition with regard to brand preferences and revealed brand choices. Second, marketers would be able to focus their promotions keeping in mind the perception and loyalty factors.

Guilandina bonduc Linn. (Fabaceae), a prickly shrub that grows abundantly in tropical and subtropical regions of Southeast Asia, possesses an extensive medicinal value. The present communication reports ethanolic extract of G. bonduc fruit pods to possess potent antioxidant activity and significantly protect against Ferric Nitrilotriacetate (Fe-NTA)-induced renal oxi-dative stress, nephrotoxicity, and tumor promotion response. Intraperitoneal administration of Fe-NTA (9 mg Fe/Kg body weight) to Swiss albino mice depleted renal antioxidant armory (glutathione content and activities of antioxidant enzymes), and caused oxidative stress, induced inflammation (inducing the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 and increasing the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines). It also induced hyperproliferation in kidney-enhancing ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity and [3H]-thymidine incorporation into DNA. Histopathological changes and levels of serum creatinine (SCr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) suggested Fe-NTA to afflict substantial damage to the kidney. Prophylactic treatment of mice with G. bonduc extract (100-200 mg /Kg body weight) for seven days not only restored renal antioxidant armory close to normal, but also significantly precluded Fe-NTA associated inflammation and hyperproliferation. Furthermore, pretreatment with extract markedly prevented renal oxidative damage and histopathological alterations, and restored the levels of renal damage markers close to control values. The data obtained in the present study indicate G. bonduc fruit pods to possess a potent antioxidant activity and avert chemically inflicted renal oxidative damage and tumor promotion response.

Ion exchange membranes were prepared by radiation induced graft polymerization of acrylic acid on FEP films using preirradiation method. The influence of the ferrous sulfate and monomer concentration on the degree of grafting was investigated. Divinylbenzene, tetraethyleneglycol dimethacrylate and methylene bisacrylamide were used as crosslinkers. The membranes were characterized by FTIR, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray diffraction analysis. The swelling bahavior and specific resistivity of membranes as function of the degree of grafting and crosslink nature were evaluated. These crosslinkers had influence on the swelling and the specific resistivity of membranes depending on their chemical nature.

The objective of this study was to develop an effective method for the removal of inhibitory compounds without decreasing oligosaccharides in spent sulfite liquor (SSL). The oligosaccharide fermentation was subsequently conducted by using Pichia stipitis, which is one of the feasible strains that can produce ethanol from oligosaccharides. The effect of inhibitory compounds on ethanol fermentation from cellobiose by P. stipitis was investigated. No ethanol was produced from cellobiose in the presence of more than 5 g/L of acetic acid. At 1 g/L of acetic acid, 2.6 g/L of ethanol was obtained after 40 h of fermentation. The removal of acetic acid in the SSL by the combined CaO and ion exchange resin treatments was also studied. The acetic acid concentration of softwood SSL was decreased from 5.2 to 0.9 g/L without decreasing oligosaccharides concentration by the combined method. Finally, the improvement of ethanol fermentation from oligosaccharides in the SSL by using the combined CaO and ion exchange resin treatments was studied. 1.3 g/L of ethanol was obtained from the SSL treated by the combined methods, while 6.5 g/L of total oligosaccharides were consumed. No ethanol was obtained from the untreated SSL.

The successes of the firms depend on creating high customer loyalty by adopting appropriate strategies. In response, the industry is shifting its strategic focus away from attracting only new customers by offering competitive prices and packages, towards retaining existing customers through creating customer loyalty. This study aims to investigate the effects of customer satisfaction and switching barriers on customer loyalty. The data is collected by questionnaire based survey using simple convenient sampling technique and the target population includes all the current users of mobile telecommunication services. Multiple regression method is used to test the impact of customer satisfaction determinants and switching barrier on customer loyalty. The result shows that call quality and customer support have significance relationships with customer loyalty. A one way ANOVA test was also used gender differences among customer satisfaction and switching barriers in Pakistani mobile telecommunication services. Findings of the study may be useful for strategists and policy makers in telecom industry and the results can be generalized to the industries.

Although silicon improves the salt tolerance in grasses, the mechanism involved is still ambiguous. Moreover in wheat, classified as Si-accumulator, silicon can alleviate the salt stress. Hence in this study, the effects of silicon using calcium silicate (150 mg/L) on the morphology, physiology and biochemistry of wheat genotypes (salt sensitive; Auqab-2000 and salt tolerant; SARC-5) differing in salt tolerance under saline (12 dS/m) and non-saline soil media (2 dS/m) were investigated. Silicon supplementation into the root medium significantly improved the K + and K + :Na + ratio, leaf water potential and stomatal conductance, but reduced the Na + . Plants harvested at maturity indicated a concomitant increase in number of tillers, number of grains per spike, grain and straw yield with Si application both under optimal and stressful conditions. The results suggest that Si application in soil medium is beneficial in profoundly affecting physiological phenomena and improving wheat growth under salt stress. Keywords: Wheat, salt stress, silicon, wheat growth, K + :Na + , water potential, stomatal conductance.

An in vitro study was undertaken to evaluate the compatibility of indigenous plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) with commonly used inorganic and organic sources of fertilizers in tea plantations. The nitrogenous, phosphatic and potash fertilizers used for this study were urea, rock phosphate and muriate of potash, respectively. The organic sources of fertilizers neem cake, composted coir pith and vermicompost were also used. PGPRs such as nitrogen fixer; Azospirillum lipoferum, Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria (PSB); Pseudomonas putida, Potassium Solubilizing Bacteria (KSB); Burkholderia cepacia and Pseudomonas putida were used for compatibility study. Results were indicated that PGPRs preferred the coir pith and they proved their higher colony establishment in the formulation except Azospirillum spp. that preferred vermicompost for their establishment. The optimum dose of neem cake powder …

The field of strategy and strategic human resource management (SHRM) are combined to unveil the “black box” involved in strategy formulation and effective strategy implementation process. The SHRM new focus considered human capital as strategic resource utilized and deployed to strategic jobs that are designed to broaden its focus from task significance to strategically impact on employment of organizational capabilities or competencies at any level in the firm for the effective strategy implementation. Strategic job-design fit contribute to deploy organizational capabilities and competencies for the approach to effective strategy execution that leads to competitive advantage. The strategic capabilities of human capital exhibit certain behaviors that mediate the process of effective strategy implementation. It is suggested that without involvement of internal organization factors (Social Capital and Inter-functional coordination) behaviors cannot be applied appropriately for the convergence process. It is concluded that right pool of human capital should be strategically aligned with strategic jobs while recognizing and deploying organization capabilities and core competencies, manifested through appropriate behaviors rightly applicable through convergence process to smoothen the execution of the strategy.

The synthesis of appropriate transition-metal complexes to model the structural, spectroscopic, and magnetic properties of a metalloprotein active-site provides an opportunity to consider the function and associated mechanism of that metalloprotein at the molecular level. One nice example is the dinuclear cuprous amine-bis-pyridyl complex, which effects arene hydroxylation (albeit of the ligand m-xylyl spacer) using molecular oxygen (O2).1 This extraordinary reaction involves cleavage of the O-O bond and subsequent insertion of an oxygen atom into an arene C-H bond under essentially ambient conditions, to model the function of copper monooxygenases such as tyrosinase. Another excellent example is the generation of dicupric trans-µ-1,2-peroxo complexes from cuprous precursors and O2, reversibly,2–4 to model the oxygen-transport property of the protein hemocyanin, which subsequently was discovered to bind O2 in η2:η2 fashion, as shown in Figure 1.4 The metalloprotein cytochrome c oxidase,5 however, due to its combination of diverse and unusual active-site metal centers, has eluded a convincing model description. As for its function, it probably binds O2 at a dinuclear site comprising heme-iron and histidyl-copper coordination; it then cleaves the O-O bond, via reduction, (vide infra ).5 The structural changes associated with this dinuclear site during turnover, and the intermediates produced therefrom, are by no means clearly understood. In the resting state, the dinuclear site exhibits strong antiferromagnetic coupling (-J =200 cm-1) suggesting the involvement of a bridging ligand, often postulated as µ-sulfido, µ-chloro, or µ-hydroxo. Thus, we have endeavored to synthesize model complexes of this enigmatic dinuclear site.

This article 'Incidence of Rice Kernel Smut (Ksm) in Pakistan' appeared in the International Rice Research Newsletter series, created by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). The primary objective of this publication was to expedite communication among scientists concerned with the development of improved technology for rice and for rice based cropping systems. This publication will report what scientists are doing to increase the production of rice in as much as this crop feeds the most densely populated and land scarce nations in the world.

α-Amylase was first time isolated and purified from Bacillus subtilis 168 (1A1). Purified α-amylase fraction showed a single protein band with a molecular weight of 55 kD. Chemical characterization of the purified α-amylase revealed optimum amylolytic activity at 37°C and pH 7.0 using starch as substrate. It was stable at pH 5.0 to 9.0 and at temperatures 25–70°C. Culture conditions were optimized by using statistics-based experimental designs to enhanced α-amylase (EC.3.2.1.1) production. A two level fractional factorial Plackett-Burman design was used for the preliminary screening significant media components and conditions. Response surface methodology (RSM) involving a 24 full-factorial central composite design (CCD) and a second-order polynomial equation was then employed to identify the relationship between the α-amylase yield and the four significant variables. Optimal levels of the significant variables for the maximum α-amylase yield were starch 2.55 g/l, yeast extract 8.4 g/l, sodium chloride 8.1% and 48 h of incubation. Mean value of α-amylase yield was 639.7 IU/ml, which was in excellent agreement with the predicted value (633.5 IU/ml).Key words: Bacillus, α-amylase, optimization, Plackett-Burman design, response surface methodology.