An investigation into the rise of Globacom Telecommunications Nigeria as an international company and its emergence as a market multinational

Masteroppgave i bedriftsøkonomi - Universitetet i Nordland, 2011The motivation for this research work was driven by the fact that although telecommunications is regarded as the primary sector which drives general infrastructural development in emerging economies, it is acknowledged that the area of research in telecommunications internationalization is still a recent phenomenon. Globacom Nigeria’s internationalization on the African continent was utilized as the object of study. Shortcomings of traditional theories were investigated in terms of fast paced internationalization. A conceptual framework was created from loosely held concepts extracted from the literature review. Qualitative data analysis of the in-depth interviews conducted with 15 respondents in executive and managerial roles, discloses a validation of the constructs in the conceptual framework as factors impacting on Globacom’s internationalization strategy. The conceptual framework which materialized from the findings was found to represent a combined view of the dynamism in which micro(entry mode, entry timing, firm size and entrepreneurial proclivity) and macro(institutional development, culture and country of origin effects) level constructs concurrently influenced Globacom’s fast internationalization on the African continent

Discipline Concerns among Preservice Teachers

This paper was prompted by conversations with preservice teachers concerning the concept of discipline. The paper explored some background theory of discipline, leading to maintenance of desired behavior in the classroom. It addressed dimensions of discipline touching on the locus of control of discipline, purposes of discipline, and factors that affect discipline. Finally, the paper dealt with the preventive aspect of discipline. Though instigated by preservice teachers in mind, the issue is of significance to all practitioners. This paper is more informational than prescriptive

Morphological changes of thyroid gland in conditions of extracellular dehydration of organism

A thyroid gland has a high ability to morphofunctional reformation under the impact of exo- and endogenous factors. Presently, the most studied are: the influence on the thyroid of ionizing radiation, temperature rate, physical activity, traumatic stress, tobacco smoke, various hormones, xenobiotics, drugs. However, in the modern scientific literature, the morphological changes in conditions of water-salt metabolism dysfunction is highlighted insufficiently

Morphological changes of thyroid gland in conditions of extracellular dehydration of organism

A thyroid gland has a high ability to morphofunctional reformation under the impact of exo- and endogenous factors. Presently, the most studied are: the influence on the thyroid of ionizing radiation, temperature rate, physical activity, traumatic stress, tobacco smoke, various hormones, xenobiotics, drugs. However, in the modern scientific literature, the morphological changes in conditions of water-salt metabolism dysfunction is highlighted insufficiently

EXTENT PARENTAL AND STUDENT-RELATED FACTORS AFFECT STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN BUSINESS SUBJECTS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN AWKA EDUCATION ZONE

Poor students’ results in business subjects in Awka Education Zone in internal and external examinations informed the need for this on parental and student-related factors that affect students’ academic performance in secondary schools in the area. Two research questions guided the study with two hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. Survey research design was adopted. The population was 316 principals and business teachers from the 61 secondary schools in the zone. A structured questionnaire comprising 18 items with 5-response options which was face-validated by experts in the field was used to collect data. The reliability coefficient of 0.81 and 0.77 were obtained for the 2 clusters of the instrument after it was administered to 10 principals and teachers from Otoucha Education zone and analyzing the data collected with Cronbach Alpha. The application of Cronbach Alpha on the obtained data yielded an overall reliability coefficient of 0.92. Mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the data in respect of the research questions while ANOVA and z-test were used in testing the null hypotheses. Findings revealed among others that parental factors affect secondary school students’ academic performance in business subjects at a moderate extent while student-related factors affect their performance to a high extent. Based on these findings, it was concluded that parental and student-related factors all contribute to determine students’ academic performance in business subjects. It was recommended among others, that school authorities should encourage parents to be involved in their children’s academic activities by supporting them financially and morally to enhance their academic performance and that business students should be encouraged to adopt effective study habits to improve their academic performance.  Article visualizations

A Model for Predicting Rate and Volume of Oil Spill in Horizontal and Vertical Pipelines

Accurate prediction of total quantity of oil spilled has become essential in designing bioremediation projects for effective remediation, cleanup and for proper assessment of oil polluted environments. The principle of conservation of energy was used to derive a simple analytical model to predict the rate and total volume of oil spills from both horizontal and vertical pipelines. The model was validated by comparing with laboratory measured results at various leakages, pressure and leakages radii. The results indicate that the model values match with the experimental values. The average standard deviation of the model from experimental values is 8.35x10-5 bbl while the absolute error ranges from 1.11x10-3 to 3.08x10-1, and the correlation coefficient value is 0.978. This fact suggests that the model should be utilized with a high degree of confidence to determine the rate of oil spills and total quantity of oil spill in both horizontal and vertical pipelines. The model would help in determining the corresponding quantity of microorganism required to design an effective bioremediation project, and to carry out proper assessment and evaluation of environmental impacts of oil spill in offshore, onshore, or shallow water environments. Key words: Bioremediation, oil spill, environmental pollutants, flow rat

The effect of the HPV-16 minor capsid protein L2 on the HPV-16 viral transcription regulator E2

The nucleus contains a variety of morphologically distinct substructures called nuclear bodies, which include the promyelocytic leukemia oncogenic domains (PODs) also known as PML-NDIO. PODs are macromolecular multiprotein complexes that are present in all cultured cell lines as well as in vivo. The major component of PODs is the PML protein, which was originally identified as the fusion partner of retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARa) in the chromosomal translocation t(15;17) in patients with acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) (Kakizuka et al, 1991; Lavau et al, 1991; Goddard et al, 1992). The minor capsid proteins L2 of BPV-1, HPV-11 and HPV-33 have been shown to localise to PODs in the absence of other viral components (Day et al., 1998) and coexpression of BPV-1 12 with BPV-1 E2TA recruits E2 to PODs (Lambert et al, 2000). The presence of L2 in PODs also appears to be associated with the recruitment of the major capsid protein LI, the association of PODs with E2 is dependent on L2 but is independent of LI. The effect of HPV-16 L2 on the functions of HPV-16 E2 and the implications of this interaction to the virus life cycle are discussed. This study showed that HPV-16 L2 has a selective effect on the functions of HPV16 E2. L2 was able to down regulate the transcription transactivation function of E2 in HaCaT, U20S and C33a cells. No effect of L2 on E2 mediated DNA replication was observed. L2 was also able to reduce the level of E2 expression in HaCaT and U20S cells but not in C33a cells. The effect of L2 on E2 expression in HaCaT cells was further investigated by examining E2 mRNA levels and protein half-life. No difference in E2 mRNA or protein half-life was detected in the presence of L2. A series of L2 amino and carboxyl terminal deletion mutants were constructed as GST fusion proteins and GST binding assays were performed which showed that the amino terminus ofL2, even just the first 50 amino acids, was capable of binding with E2. GFP fusion forms of each L2 deletion mutant were also constructed and cellular localisation detected by immunofluorescence. GFP-L2 and all C terminal deletion mutants localised and were retained in the nucleus while the N-terminal deletion mutants localised to both the nucleus and the cytoplasm. Investigation of the effect of L2 deletion mutants on the transcription transactivation function of E2 showed that mutants expressing 1-200 and 150-473 amino acids of L2 do not down regulate function in HaCaT and C33a cells. In HaCaT cells, mutants expressing amino acids 1-50 and 1-100 also did not inhibit E2 function indicating that binding to E2 did not correlate with down regulation of transcription transactivation. Furthermore, only full-length L2 was able to reduce the level of E2 expression

Organizational culture as correlate of teachers’ job performance and attitude to work in secondary schools in Anambra State Nigeria

The study investigated organizational culture as correlate of teachers’ job performance and attitude to work in secondary schools in Anambra State, Nigeria. Five research questions guided the study and six null hypotheses were tested. The study adopted correlational survey research design. The population of the study comprised all the 6396 teachers in public secondary schools in the state. Out of the population, a sample size of 1279 teachers was drawn through proportionate stratified random sampling techniques. Data was collected using three different questionnaires developed by the researchers. The questionnaires include school organizational culture questionnaire (SOCQ), Teachers’ job performance questionnaire (TJPQ) and Teachers’ attitude to work questionnaire (TAWQ). The instruments were validated by three experts from Faculty of Education Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka. Cronbach Alpha method was used to determine the reliability of the instruments which yielded a reliability coefficient of .959, .957 and 0.701 respectively. The reliability indices were considered high enough and thus the instruments were deemed reliable. Data collection was done by the researchers with the help of ten research assistants. Aggregate score was used to answer research questions 1 to 3 while Pearson r was used to answer research questions 4 and 5 and critical probability table of Pearson r was used to take decision on the six null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings showed among others that: teachers rated their school organizational culture to be good; teachers’ job performance is good and teachers have positive attitude to their work. Also, it was found that there is no significant relationship between school organization culture and teachers’ job performance; and no significant relationship between school organizational culture and teachers’ attitude to work. Based on the findings it was recommended that: School management and management of Anambra State post primary school service Commission should ensure improvement in secondary school culture in order that all the teachers would rate their school culture to be good without some rating it to be poor. It was also recommended that in- service training be organized for secondary school teachers through seminars, workshops and advance learning in order to ensure that all of the teachers have good job performance and positive attitude to work. Keywords: Correlate, Organizational Culture, Teachers, Job Performance and Attitude to Wor