IMPACT OF PERSONALITY TRAITS AND CONTEXT ON EMPLOYEES’ JOB OUTCOMES

The research focuses to investigate the various unique aspects that may have impact on job outcomes during change implementation in a public sector organization. The study has two prime objectives.  First objective is to study the association between employees’ withdrawal behavior and personality traits. Second objective is to find factors of organizational context that may have impact on employees’ job outcomes. Data have obtained from 345 employees of State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC). These selected employees are working in top business zones. Data collected by using simple random sampling technique and self-administered questionnaire. The result revealed a positive association between employees’ withdrawal behavior and personality traits. Another significant connection has also found in between employees job outcomes and organizational contextual factors. The paper contributes in existing literature of organizational change implementation, personality traits, employees’ job outcomes, and organizational contextual factors in the perspective of a developing country

SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS AND ITS IMPACT ON CUSTOMER’S BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS

The market of life Insurance has obtained considerabledevelopment with respect to awareness about insurance, terrorism,target killing, and uncertainty in world. In 2014-15, the growth ratewas 29% that showed life Insurance market has a key contribution inPakistan’s economy. The core rationale of this research is toinvestigate the services quality aspects and its influence on corporatecustomer’s behavioral intentions. This research has two objectivesfirst; determine the perceptions of corporate customers concerningthe quality service of group life insurance. Second, is to examine thebehavioral intentions of corporate customers with respect to numerousaspects of service quality. About 218 responses from corporatecustomers are gathered with the help of structured questionnairesand by using simple random sampling method. The major antecedents’of behavioral intentions are personalized competence and planning.Conversely, in this study, assurance is not found as a predictor ofbehavioral intention of corporate customers. This is first study in theperspective of group life insurance in Asia as well as in the context ofdeveloping country

Dynamic priority based reliable real-time communications for infrastructure-less networks

This paper proposes a dynamic priority system at medium access control (MAC) layer to schedule time sensitive and critical communications in infrastructure-less wireless networks. Two schemes, priority enabled MAC (PE-MAC) and optimized PE-MAC are proposed to ensure real-time and reliable data delivery in emergency and feedback systems. These schemes use a dynamic priority mechanism to offer improved network reliability and timely communication for critical nodes. Both schemes offer a notable improvement in comparison to the IEEE 802.15.4e low-latency deterministic networks. To ensure more predictable communication reliability, two reliability centric schemes, quality-ensured scheme (QES) and priority integrated QES, are also proposed. These schemes maintain a pre-specified successful packet delivery rate, hence improving the overall network reliability and guaranteed channel access

Vitamin D Deficiency in HCV Antiviral Treatment Responders versus Non-Responders

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of chronic liver disease (CLD). Pakistan has a high burden of infectious diseases, including HCV. Its prevalence varies according to geographic regions in the country from about 2·4% to 6·5%. The objective of the study was to compare the frequency of vitamin D deficiency in responders and non-responders of antiviral treatment for chronic hepatitis C.Material and Methods: This comparative cross-sectional study was conducted in Hepatitis Clinic, Jinnah hospital, Lahore from 20th May to 20th November 2013. After ethical approval, participants were selected by using purposive non-probability sampling, 52 responder patients i.e. who were labeled negative for HCV RNA by PCR after 12 weeks of antiviral treatment and 52 non-responder patients were included in this study. Data was collected by using pretested structured questionnaire. Vitamin D3 levels were measured by ELISA and a cut-off value of below 30ng/ml was labeled as Vitamin D deficiency. SPSS version 21 was used to analyze data with p value less than 0.05 taken as statistically significant.Results: Out of 104 patients (mean age 35±8.1 years), 61.5% were males and 38.5 % were females. There was a significant difference in frequency of vitamin D deficiency in treatment responder group when compared to non-responders (p = 0.016). Mean level of vitamin D was 21.8±10.8ng/ml in responders whereas it was 15.6±7.5 in non-responders with a statistically significant difference (p = 0.001).Conclusion: This study concludes that there is a significant vitamin D deficiency among treatment non-responders as compared to treatment responders in patients with chronic hepatitis C

Macroscopic Traffic Flow Characterization for Stimuli Based on Driver Reaction

The design and management of infrastructure is a significant challenge for traffic engineers and planners. Accurate traffic characterization is necessary for effective infrastructure utilization. Thus, models are required that can characterize a variety of conditions and can be employed for homogeneous, heterogeneous, equilibrium and non-equilibrium traffic. The Lighthill-Whitham-Richards (LWR) model is widely used because of its simplicity. This model characterizes traffic behavior with small changes over a long idealized road and so is inadequate for typical traffic conditions. The extended LWR model considers driver types based on velocity to characterize traffic behavior in non lane discipline traffic but it ignores the stimuli for changes in velocity. In this paper, an improved model is presented which is based on driver reaction to forward traffic stimuli. This reaction occurs over the forward distance headway during which traffic aligns to the current conditions. The performance of the proposed, LWR and extended LWR models is evaluated using the first order upwind scheme (FOUS). The numerical stability of this scheme is guaranteed by employing the Courant, Friedrich and Lewy (CFL) condition. Results are presented which show that the proposed model can characterize both small and large changes in traffic more realistically. Doi: 10.28991/cej-2021-03091632 Full Text: PD

Large scale production of novel g-C3N4 micro strings with high surface area and versatile photodegradation ability

An easy, scalable and environmentally benign chemical method has been developed to synthesize micro strings of graphitic-C3N4 (msg-C3N4) through pre-treatment of melamine with HNO 3 in alkaline solvent at low temperature. This methodology results in a unique string type morphology of msg-C3N4 with higher surface area. These msg-C3N4 micro strings were used as a photocatalyst under visible light for photodegradation of rhodamine B, methyl blue and methyl orange. The msg-C3N4 shows enhanced photodegradation efficiency due to its high surface area and favourable bandgap. The first order rate constant for msg-C3N4 was measured which confirms the higher performance of msg-C3N4 in comparison to other reported materials such as g-C3N4, Fe2O3/g-C3N4 and TiO2 nanotubes. Thus, the method developed here is favourable for the synthesis of materials with higher surface area and unique morphology, which are favourable for high photodegradation activity. The Royal Society of Chemistry

Kaempferol: a key emphasis to its anticancer potential

A marked decrease in human cancers, including breast cancer, bone cancer, and cervical cancer, has been linked to the consumption of vegetable and fruit, and the corresponding chemoprotective e ect has been associated with the presence of several active molecules, such as kaempferol. Kaempferol is a major flavonoid aglycone found in many natural products, such as beans, bee pollen, broccoli, cabbage, capers, cauliflower, chia seeds, chives, cumin, moringa leaves, endive, fennel, and garlic. Kaempferol displays several pharmacological properties, among them antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antitumor, cardioprotective, neuroprotective, and antidiabetic activities, and is being applied in cancer chemotherapy. Specifically, kaempferol-rich food has been linked to a decrease in the risk of developing some types of cancers, including skin, liver, and colon. The mechanisms of action include apoptosis, cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase, downregulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related markers, and phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B signaling pathways. In this sense, this article reviews data from experimental studies that investigated the links between kaempferol and kaempferol-rich food intake and cancer prevention. Even though growing evidence supports the use of kaempferol for cancer prevention, further preclinical and clinical investigations using kaempferol or kaempferol-rich foods are of pivotal importance before any public health recommendation or formulation using kaempferol.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Comparative Study of the Effect of Non-Antibiotic Feed Additives on Experimental Colonization of Salmonella Enterica Serovar Enteridis and Intestinal Pathomorphology in Broiler Chickens

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of eubiotics on the intestinal morphology of broilers. For this purpose, 125 birds were divided into six groups with two replicates each (10 birds in each replicate). Group A was given a Basal diet. All groups except group A were challenged with Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis. Group B was provided the basal diet, group C was fed a Probiotic-added diet; group D was fed a Prebiotics-based diet; group E was given essential oils plus the basal diet; and group F was provided with organic acids plus the basal diet. Two separate experiments were carried out for Salmonella recovery, checking the cecal tonsils and conducting an intestinal pathomorphic evaluation. Villus length, villus width, villus surface area, and crypt depth were measured by micrometry. There was an overall improvement (p<0.05) in intestinal morphometric parameters for all the treatment groups except for the negative control group, which showed the lowest villus height and villus depth values. Maximum villus height (p<0.05) of the duodenum was achieved by group E, which was fed a diet containing essential oils, whereas a maximum villus surface area index (p<0.05) was recorded for the birds of Group D, which were fed a diet containing prebiotics. Maximum villus height (p<0.05) and surface area index in ileum mucosa was recorded (p<0.05) in the birds of group D (treated with prebiotics). It is concluded that there is an overall increase in the gut histology of broilers fed non-antibiotic based feed

Can sulphur improve the nutrient uptake, partitioning, and seed yield of sesame?

Sulphur (S) is considered to improve the nutrient uptake of plants due to its synergistic relationship with other nutrients. This could ultimately enhance the seed yield of oilseed crops. However, there is limited quantitative information on nutrient uptake, distribution, and its associated impacts on seed yield of sesame under the S application. Thus, a two-year field study (2018 and 2019) was conducted to assess the impacts of different S treatments (S-0 = Control, S-20 = 20, S-40 = 40, and S-60 = 60 kg ha(-1)) on total dry matter production, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, S uptake and distribution at the mid-bloom stage and physiological maturity. Furthermore, treatment impacts were studied on the number of capsules per plant, number of seeds per capsule, thousand seed weight, and seed yield at physiological maturity in sesame. Compared to S-0, over the years, treatment S-40 significantly increased the total uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and S (by 13, 22, 11% and 16%, respectively) at physiological maturity, while their distribution by 13, 36, 14, and 24% (in leaves), 12, 15, 11, and 15% (in stems), 15, 42, 18, and 10% (in capsules), and 14, 22, 9, and 15% (in seeds), respectively. Enhanced nutrient uptake and distribution in treatment S-40 improved the total biomass accumulation (by 28%) and distribution in leaves (by 34%), stems (by 27%), capsules (by 26%), and seeds (by 28%), at physiological maturity, as compared to S-0. Treatment S-40 increased the number of capsules per plant (by 13%), number of seeds per capsule (by 11%), and thousand seed weight (by 6%), compared to S-0. Furthermore, over the years, relative to control, sesame under S-40 had a higher seed yield by 28% and enhanced the net economic returns by 44%. Thus, our results suggest that optimum S level at the time of sowing improves the nutrient uptake and distribution during the plant lifecycle, which ultimately enhances total dry matter accumulation, seed yield, and net productivity of sesame