Disentangling Work-Family Conflict, Support, and Turnover Intentions – Quanti-Quali Mixed Method Approach

The turnover rate of Omani women in the private sector is high and employers face difficulties in retaining women productively in jobs. By assessing work–family conflict (WFC), this study probes the challenges and associated issues facing women in private-sector jobs in Oman. This research took a mixed form of exploratory and descriptive research techniques. A structured questionnaire was administered face to face to secure direct responses from the 466 Omani women in the private sector organizations using quota sampling. The study found that time-based and strain-based work conditions affect the families of women significantly. Married women, particularly those having infants or school-age children, face significantly higher work–family conflict in the private sector, exhibiting, in certain cases, high turnover intentions. Almost half of the women workers lack organizational support, whilst the vast majority of female employees receive assistance from their families. Almost half of them either think about quitting or switching to a better job. The research suggests organizations and the government make appropriate policies to address WFC spillover and the workforce\u27s unfavorable perception of organizational support. The study reveals how Oman\u27s social structure aids in extending familial support to female employees and how Oman has overcome some of the primary sociocultural barriers that are faced by women in the rest of the Islamic world

Synthesis, characterization and prediction of anticancer potentiality of some novel green nanoparticles by molecular docking and ADMET techniques

ABSTRACT. Anticancer potentiality of some newly synthesized Nano-Biginelli compounds with the help of enzyme extracted naturally from plants is reported. The biological synthesis of nanoparticles via nano biotechnology processes have a significant potential to enhance the production without the use of harsh, toxic, and expensive chemicals commonly used in conventional physical and chemical processes. The compounds have been characterized on the basis of UV, FTIR, XRD and SEM studies in order to depict the formation of nanoparticles. Using the combination of docking and ADMET techniques, we have tried to predict the anti-cancer potentiality as well as its area of target, i.e. cancer cell to trigger the anti-cancer reaction. Results indicate that the compound 1 (ethyl-6-methyl-2-oxo-4-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrimidin-5-carboxylate) has possible virtual leads to design novel human Aurora B kinase inhibitor.               KEY WORDS: Nano biotechnology, Green chemistry, Enzymes, Drug research Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2019, 33(3), 493-504.DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v33i3.1

Asymmetric Substrate Integrated Waveguide Leaky Wave Antenna with Open Stop Band Suppression and Radiation Efficiency Equalization through Broadside

A planar asymmetric substrate integrated wave¬guide leaky wave antenna is proposed with open stop band suppression and radiation efficiency equalization through broadside for the Ku-band. The stop-band behavior exhib¬ited at broadside in the 1-D periodic structure is signifi¬cantly reduced using reflection cancellation technique by placing the two slots at a quarter distance within the unit cell. Furthermore, asymmetric technique is applied. The asymmetry is introduced with respect to both axial and transversal axis of the structure so as to match the at-broadside Bloch impedance and off-broadside Bloch im¬pedance. This provides total open stop band suppression and radiation efficiency improvement as well as equaliza-tion through broadside. The problem is analyzed with the help of Bloch impedance behavior. For illustration of the above techniques; single slot, double slot and asymmetric designs are developed for the proposed leaky wave an¬tenna. The final asymmetric design after optimization is fabricated. Measured results are almost consistent with the simulation results with complete suppression of open stop band, efficiency improvement and equalization through broadside providing continuous beam scanning from –32° to +27° with constant gain of ~12.5 dBi

Genetic divergence evaluation of apple germplasm by D2 multivariate analysis

Genetic divergence was worked out in the new germplasm of apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.) including 42 genotypes. Mahalanobis's D2 statistics was applied for identifying the potential parents to be involved in the hybridization programme for trait specific improvement or selecting better segregants. On the basis of performance for various traits, genotypes were grouped into three clusters and maximum numbers of genotypes i.e. 28 were accommodated in cluster I , while 10 and 4 genotypes were arranged in cluster II and III respectively. The average intra cluster distance was maximum in cluster II (2.214) and minimum in cluster III (1.212). Inter cluster distance was maximum between cluster II and III (5.077) indicating that hybridization between genotypes from cluster II and III can be utilized for getting the superior recombinants in segregating generations. On the basis of cluster means for various characters , cluster II was found superior for shoot thickness (0.34cm), inter - nodal length (2.38cm), number of lenticels (62.10) and leaf blade length (8.79cm) whereas cluster III was found superior for leaf blade width (5.10cm), petiole length (2.64cm) and leaf blade ratio (3.62). Hence, hybridization between parents from cluster II and cluster III for these characters can produce better recombinants in segregating generations

Exploring NGC 2345: A Comprehensive Study of a Young Open Cluster through Photometric and Kinematic Analysis

We conducted a photometric and kinematic analysis of the young open cluster NGC 2345 using CCD \emph{UBV} data from 2-m Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT), \emph{Gaia} Data Release 3 (DR3), 2MASS, and the APASS datasets. We found 1732 most probable cluster members with membership probability higher than 70$\%$. The fundamental and structural parameters of the cluster are determined based on the cluster members. The mean proper motion of the cluster is estimated to be $\mu_{\alpha}cos\delta$ = ${-1.34}\pm0.20$ and $\mu_{\delta}$= $1.35\pm 0.21$ mas $yr^{-1}$. Based on the radial density profile, the estimated radius is $\sim$ 12.8 arcmin (10.37 pc). Using color-color and color-magnitude diagrams, we estimate the reddening, age, and distance to be $0.63\pm0.04$ mag, 63 $\pm$ 8 Myr, and 2.78 $\pm$ 0.78 kpc, respectively. The mass function slope for main-sequence stars is determined as $1.2\pm 0.1$. The mass function slope in the core, halo, and overall region indicates a possible hint of mass segregation. The cluster's dynamical relaxation time is 177.6 Myr, meaning ongoing mass segregation, with complete equilibrium expected in 100-110 Myr. Apex coordinates are determined as $-40^{\circ}.89 \pm 0.12, -44^{\circ}.99 \pm 0.15$. The cluster's orbit in the Galaxy suggests early dissociation in field stars due to its close proximity to the Galactic disk.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A and 21 pages, 22 Figure

Crowdfunding in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges

publishedVersio

Inclusion, measurement and relevance… and Covid-19

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Springer in Postdigital Science and Education on 17/08/2020, available online: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-020-00182-9 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.This paper addresses the theme of ‘widening student access, participation and lifelong learning’ within the wider issue of ‘measuring excellence’ in the UK higher education and finds them both to be problematic. An earlier paper entitled ‘Inclusion in an age of mobility’ (Traxler 2016) written over 4 years ago made the case that the inclusion agenda of the UK higher education of 1990s was largely a failure in its own terms but had in any case been made irrelevant by the subsequent onset of pervasive and ubiquitous connectivity and mobility, profoundly transforming the production, ownership, distribution and nature of learning and knowing and problematising the role and status of universities and lecturers.Published onlin