Distributive and Procedural Justice as Predictors of Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment: A Case Study of Banking Sector of Balochistan

The basic purpose of the study was to determine the relationship and impact of the employees distributive and procedural justice perception on the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of the banking sector employees in Balochistan. The sample size for the study was 125 and data was collected through questionnaires. The trustworthiness of the questionnaire was checked through cronbach alpha test. Correlation and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The outcome of the study indicated that the distributive and procedural justice have significant positive influence on the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of the banking sector employees. The study has both managerial and academic implication in the literature of organizational behavior and human resource management. Keywords: Distributive, procedural justice, job satisfaction and organizational commitment

Board Attributes and Corporate Social Responsibility Performance of Listed Cement Companies in Nigeria

This study examines the impact of board attributes on corporate social responsibility performance of Listed Cement Companies in Nigeria. The data were collected from annual reports and accounts of the sampled companies for the period of twelve years from 2004 to 2014. Data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics to provide summary statistics for the variables. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and Generalized Least Square (GLS) regression were used in testing the study hypotheses using STATA software version 12.00. A panel data regression technique is employed since the data has both time series and cross sectional attributes. The study finds that board attributes have significant impact on corporate social responsibility performance in the listed cement companies in Nigeria. Thus, Board size has significant positive impact and managerial ownership has significant negative impact, and board composition have insignificant positive impact on the corporate social responsibility performance. The study concludes that board attributes have a very strong explanatory power on the variations of corporate social responsibility performance in the Nigerian listed cement companies. The study recommends that to promote good relationship with host communities through CSR and its related disclosure, the Nigerian listed cement companies’ owners should ensure competent board sizes are put in place. Any increase in the board size should constitute the increase in the number of non-executive directors. Keyword: Corporate Social Responsibility Performance, board attributes, Nigeria

An overview of hazardous waste management in Nigeria

Hazardous wastes are substances that are no longer needed and have no current or perceived value at a given time or place. Many of the materials used or produced in chemical processes possess hazardous properties. The key hazardous wastes sources include industrial, medical, and household wastes, and occur in solid, liquid, or gaseous states. These are wastes that are classified and/or have intrinsic or inbuilt chemical and physical distinctiveness of toxicity, ignitability, corrosivity, and reactivity. Managing hazardous wastes is of immense significance to human, economic, social and environmental health conditions. Hazardous wastes management practice in Nigeria is not in consonance with the best global practices. Many hazardous wastes are dumped indiscriminately, which constitutes hazard to the environment and posed public health concerns. This study analysed the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of hazardous wastes management in Nigeria. There are various environmental regulations on hazardous wastes in the country, but implementation remains a challenge, as such there is need for more proactive measures to be taken towards sustainable solutions to the problems

The power of the business media: Evidence from firm-level productivity

We examine the impact of media coverage on firm-level productivity and find that firms with higher media coverage are associated with higher productivity. Using the launch of Barron\u27s Online as a quasi-shock to media coverage, we document that this relationship is causal. Further exploration shows that the positive media–productivity relationship is stronger for firms with weaker governance mechanisms and for those with higher levels of information asymmetry. We also identify an increase in reputational and career concerns and a reduction in managerial shirking as channels through which media coverage affects firm-level productivity. The results are robust to alternative explanations and endogeneity concerns. Overall, our findings suggest that media coverage reduces managerial opportunism, and thus enhances resource deployment decisions

Occupational exposure to metals among blacksmiths in Kano Metropolis, Nigeria

mining activities are excessively exposed to many toxic metals, which affect them. This study was conducted to determine the metal concentrations in body fluids of blacksmiths exposed to metals. Methods: The present study was conducted on a total of 140 male blacksmiths and 120 male controls in Kano Metropolis, Nigeria. All information related to working conditions such as duration of engagement and use of personal protective equipment (PPE), health history, life style, etc. were obtained using an interview questionnaire. Blood samples were also collected, digested, and subsequently, subjected to flame atomic absorption spectrometric (FAAS) analysis to determine the heavy metals concentration in the samples. Results: Exposure to heavy metals led to various degrees of health complications including headache (68%), fever (52%), chest pain (44%), itching (43%), irritation (35%), shortness of breath (31%), and coughing (27%). Meanwhile, the concentration of blood heavy metals of Pb, Cd, Cr, and Zn was 0.17, 0.076, 0.24, 4.50 μg/mL, respectively. The values were above the permissible limits of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) and significantly differ from those in controls (P<0.05), which was directly proportional to age and exposure rates. Conclusion: According to the results, blacksmithing is an occupation with health hazards, which affect blood metals levels, and subsequently, lead to serious health complications. Keywords: Humans, Heavy metals, Occupation, Questionnaire

Determinants of Post Harvest Losses among Tomato Farmers in The Navrongo Municipality in The Upper East Region

Food supply can be induced either by increase in production or reduction in loss. Many postharvest losses are direct result of factors such as higher temperatures on crops before harvesting, pests and diseases attack etc, hence increase in postharvest losses. The study analysed the determinants of postharvest losses among tomato farmers in the Navrongo Municipal in the Upper East region. The specific objectives were to: investigate the factors that influence the losses of tomato in the study area, determine the effects of the losses on the revenue of the tomato farmer in the study area and examine the preservative methods adopted by tomato farmers in the study area. Multiple stage sampling technique was used. Purposive sampling was employed in selecting five (5) tomato farming communities in the study area. Simple random sampling was used to select twenty (20) respondents from each of the five communities, making a total of hundred (100) respondents. Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires. Results on socio-demographic characteristics revealed that, majority of the tomato farmers were males and 50% of the respondent fell between the age ranges of 20-39 years. Majority of the farmers had household size ranging between 1 – 5 persons and that gave a percentage of 50. The multiple linear regression model result showed that 76% in the variation in the quantity of fruit loss from harvesting to marketing stages were explained by the specified variables. The double log analysis showed that 64.8% of the variation in farmers’ revenue from sales of tomato was explained by its association with the independent variables. Only eight (8) out of hundred (100) respondents adopted drying as a preservative method as at the time of study. The regression showed that losses had a significant effect on the revenue of farmers. In order for postharvest losses to be reduced, Pwalugu tomato factory needs to be re-established, Extension services should be rendered to educate tomato farmers on various ways to preserve the produce after harvest and roads linking farms to markets should be improved to reduce transit losses. Keywords: Post-harvest losses, tomato, preservative method, adoption, farmer revenu

CO2-brine-rock interactions: The effect of impurities on grain size distribution and reservoir permeability

The Bunter Sandstone formation in the UK’s southern North Sea has been identified as having the potential to store large volumes of CO2. Prior to injection, CO2 is captured with certain amounts of impurities, usually less than 5%vol. The dissolution of these impurities in formation water can cause chemical reactions between CO2, brine, and rock, which can affect the reservoir quality by altering properties such as permeability. In this study, we explored the effect of CO2 and impurities (NO2, SO2, H2S) on reservoir permeability by measuring changes in grain size distributions after a prolonged period of 9 months, simulating in situ experimental conditions. It was found that the effects of pure CO2 and CO2-H2S are relatively small, i.e., CO2 increased permeability by 5.5% and CO2-H2S decreased it by 5.5%. Also, CO2-SO2 slightly decreased permeability by 6.25%, while CO2-NO2 showed the most pronounced effect, reducing permeability by 41.6%. The decrease in permeability showed a correlation with decreasing pH of the formation water and this equally correlates with a decrease in geometric mean of the grain diameter. The findings from this study are aimed to be used in future modelling studies on reservoir performance during injection and storage, which also should account for the shifts in boundaries in the CO2 phase diagram, altering the reservoir properties and affecting the cost of storage

Modeling the effects of agricultural innovation and biocapacity on carbon dioxide emissions in an agrarian-based economy : evidence from the dynamic ARDL simulations

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Potential Phytochemicals for Cancer Treatment: A Review

Today, cancer had been described as one of the deadliest diseases worldwide. It has been estimated that cancer causes about 9.9 million deaths in the year 2020. The conventional treatment for the disease involves single chemotherapy or a combination of mono-chemotherapy and or a combination of mono-chemotherapy and radiotherapy. However, there are negative sides to these approaches which have prompted the search for new therapeutic drugs. In view of this, scientific communities have started looking for innovative sources of anticancer compound of natural origin which include traditional plants. Nowadays, several studies have evaluated the anticancer properties of bioactive components (phytochemicals) derived from the plants both in vivo and in vitro. The phytochemicals are secondary metabolites or chemical compound produced during metabolic process in plants which are useful in the protection of plants. Most of these phytochemicals such as alkaloid, flavonoids, phenolic compounds, cyanidin, fisetin, genistein, gingerol kaempferol, quercetin, resveratrol possessed certain medicinal properties and found to have numerous applications in pharmaceutical industries for treatment of cancer. The paper was aimed to review some plants bioactive components (phytochemicals) used in cancer treatment

A review of developments in carbon dioxide storage

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has been identified as an urgent, strategic and essential approach to reduce anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and mitigate the severe consequences of climate change. CO2 storage is the last step in the CCS chain and can be implemented mainly through oceanic and underground geological sequestration, and mineral carbonation. This review paper aims to provide state-of-the-art developments in CO2 storage. The review initially discussed the potential options for CO2 storage by highlighting the present status, current challenges and uncertainties associated with further deployment of established approaches (such as storage in saline aquifers and depleted oil and gas reservoirs) and feasibility demonstration of relatively newer storage concepts (such as hydrate storage and CO2-based enhanced geothermal systems). The second part of the review outlined the critical criteria that are necessary for storage site selection, including geological, geothermal, geohazards, hydrodynamic, basin maturity, and economic, societal and environmental factors. In the third section, the focus was on identification of CO2 behaviour within the reservoir during and after injection, namely injection-induced seismicity, potential leakage pathways, and long-term containment complexities associated with CO2-brine-rock interaction. In addition, a detailed review on storage capacity estimation methods based on different geological media and trapping mechanisms was provided. Finally, an overview of major CO2 storage projects, including their overall outcomes, were outlined. This review indicates that although CO2 storage is a technically proven strategy, the discussed challenges need to be addressed in order to accelerate the deployment of the technology. In addition, beside the necessity of techno-economic aspects, public acceptance of CO2 storage plays a central role in technology deployment, and the current ethical mechanisms need to be further improved