Relationship between Decision-Making and Professional Experiences of a Pakistani Female Head Teacher in Initial Years of Headship

This study investigated how a head teacher’s decisions were informed by her prior professional experiences in coping with the challenges in the initial years of headship in Government Secondary School in Pakistan. It is a qualitative case study of a newly promoted female head teacher with twenty-nine years of teaching experience, posted in the same school. Multiple data collection tools (interviews, observations, document analysis and field notes) were used to collect data about the inquiry. The study found that decision-making processes and professional experiences were co-related in teaching and learning, managing the staff, efficient and effective placement of the staff, strategic planning and development of the school, and resource management and accountability. Other factors, which influenced the head teacher’s decisions were: pressure from high management and the community, accountability, personal values and priorities, and relationships with stakeholders. The study recommended that policy makers provide support and professional development opportunities for novice and aspiring head teachers and has raised questions for further exploration

Assessment of Geotechnical Properties of Laki Limestone for Coarse Aggregate, Nooriabad, Jamshoro Sindh, Pakistan

Present study is aimed at assessment of geotechnical properties of Laki limestone as coarse aggregate which is being quarried in Nooriabad area, Sindh, Pakistan. Coarse aggregate samples (n=20) of limestone were collected for the evaluation of physico-mechanical properties of the aggregate. Petrographic analysis revealed that the aggregate comprises of hard, compact, massive, crystalline and fossiliferous limestone. It is devoid of any reactive silica (chert, chalcedony) and other harmful constituents like clays or organic matter. Average values of specific gravity, absorption,bulk density, void content and combined index (EI + FI) of collected samples are 2.5, 2.1%, 1.54 g/cc, 38.55% and 13.04% respectively. The values of specific gravity (2.3-2.9), absorption (0-8%), bulk density (1.28 g/cc-1.92 g/cc) and void content (30%-45%) are varying within the range of normal weight aggregate as per American concrete institute (ACI)specifications. On the other hand, absorption values of aggregate samples are slightly higher (2.1%) than the reference range (2%) but meet other requirements. Mechanical properties including aggregate impact value (8.58%), aggregate crushing value (26.66%), Loss Angeles abrasion value (24.77%), sodium sulfate soundness (4.72%), water soluble sulfate (0.006%) and water soluble chloride (0.005%) are found to be within corresponding guidelines set by ASTM. On the other hand, average carbonate content is found to be 89.64% indicating that Laki limestone is of slightly low purity. Except absorption, all physical and mechanical properties lie within specified ranges. It is concluded that Laki limestone is suitable for use as road aggregate and concrete mix design

Assessment of Bholari River Sand for its Geotechnical Characterization as Fine Aggregate

Present study is aimed at assessment of Bholari river sand for its geotechnical characterization and suitability as fine aggregate which is being quarried in Jamshoro district, Sindh, Pakistan. For this purpose, sand samples (n=11) were collected from quarry sites and main river channel. Physical properties reveal that Bholari sand is mainly coarse to fine in size (0.2 mm-5 mm). Average values of fineness modulus, specific gravity, bulk density and void content of collected samples are 2.58, 2.56, 1659.90 kg/m3 and 35.12% respectively which varied within the corresponding permissible ranges of ACI (American Concrete Institute). Carbonate content of about 57.59% is also in agreement with corresponding range for fine aggregate. Petrographic examination revealed that Bholari River sand mainly comprises of quartz and rock fragments with subordinate limestone fragments. As per classification of Dott (1964), Bholari sand is lithic arenite where quartz (50%) occurs as main mineral followed by rock fragments (30%), feldspars (15%) and other opaque minerals (5%). Texturally, the sediments are angular (77%) to sub-round (33%). All these physical properties lie within the range set by National Highway Authority (NHA) and American Standard of Testing Material (ASTM). It is concluded that Bholari River sand is suitable for use in concrete mixed with cement and asphalt

Impact of Overall injustice on Employee Performance: Moderating Effect of Supportive Leadership Style

The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of overall injustice on the performance of employees working in the Private sectors and to investigate how supportive leadership style in supervisors can increase employee performance when they are under high stress due to injustice perceptions. Data was collected through questionnaires that were designed and distributed to the employees working in private sectors. Sample size of 250 was equally distributed in the two sectors. This measured the perceived level of injustice related stress and its possible effect on employee performance. Supportive leadership style has a significant effect on performance of employee and increases the performance but injustice may or may not affect employee performance. Injustice is sometimes not given much importance due to low magnitude or external causes of injustice, so it is not always negatively related to employee performance. The research expands our knowledge of supportive leadership and tended to focus that how supportive leadership style in supervisors can increase employee performance working in private sectors. Public sector organizations should also be studied and sample size should be increased to cover large number of organizations. By expanding the range of organizations in the study would add credibility to the findings. Supportive leadership style plays an important role in the overall performance of an employee. Organizations need to improve leadership skills in supervisors to achieve positive outcomes and increased productivity

Impact of Overall injustice on Employee Performance: Moderating Effect of Supportive Leadership Style

The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of overall injustice on the performance of employees working in the Private sectors and to investigate how supportive leadership style in supervisors can increase employee performance when they are under high stress due to injustice perceptions. Data was collected through questionnaires that were designed and distributed to the employees working in private sectors. Sample size of 250 was equally distributed in the two sectors. This measured the perceived level of injustice related stress and its possible effect on employee performance. Supportive leadership style has a significant effect on performance of employee and increases the performance but injustice may or may not affect employee performance. Injustice is sometimes not given much importance due to low magnitude or external causes of injustice, so it is not always negatively related to employee performance. The research expands our knowledge of supportive leadership and tended to focus that how supportive leadership style in supervisors can increase employee performance working in private sectors. Public sector organizations should also be studied and sample size should be increased to cover large number of organizations. By expanding the range of organizations in the study would add credibility to the findings. Supportive leadership style plays an important role in the overall performance of an employee. Organizations need to improve leadership skills in supervisors to achieve positive outcomes and increased productivity

Association Mapping Study of Various Desirable Traits of Rice

Background: This study was performed to evaluate the diversity of various morphological characters and their relationship with yield in rice.  The goal of this work was to find quantitative trait loci (QTL) for yield, yield components, and other agronomic variables in 100 different rice germplasm samples, as well as to assess the genetic structure and degree of linkage disequilibrium in the rice germplasm diversity panel.  To establish Linkage Disequilibrium (LD) between markers and causative mutations, marker density is essential. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) patterns of various SNP markers on all chromosomes. If markers are sufficiently dense to have good coverage of LD, the LD decay with distance can be compared to the marker density.Methods: Different traits were measured and recorded under Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) experiment. DNA extraction and PCR analysis was done to measure the genotypic characteristics of rice. Genotypic and phenotypic variability was measured by using ANOVA and GWAS.Results: For pair-wise markers, linkage disequilibrium is calculated as R square and plotted versus the distance between the markers. In this study, the overall phenotypic variability among the examined traits was represented by R2 and ranged from 11.47% to 25.44%. The genetic architecture of these traits may be implied by the recently identified genomic regions (loci). An influential replacement for bi-parental gene maps, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) use data from genome-wide markers in large amounts of easily obtained germplasm.Conclusion: The linkage disequilibrium, which is the non-random link between an allele at two or more loci, is used in this mapping method to infer the innate relationships between phenotypic variations and marker polymorphisms. Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) of genotypes provides the information about for the selection of genotypes and determination of new marker trait association.Keywords: Oryza sativa L; Rice; DNA; Association mapping; Traits   

A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF “THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINERâ€

If a specimen of literary art is seen as a fine tapestry of words made by the skilled seamstress—the poet, then the lexis and structure of a language are the raw materials—the fabric and the thread—by weaving which into specific patterns the finished product is achieved. The choice of materials and their arrangement into unique patterns always bear an image of their creator, or the artist; thus, a close view of them reveals the artist’s identity and brings out the meaningful message that underlies the ornate running threads. Mostly, the students of literary studies cannot appreciate the beauty of the literary classics on their own. Consequently, they simply mimic the ideas, and sometimes even the words, of famous professional critics when asked to give their own critical judgment on the aesthetic merit or the thematic quality of a literary work in the shape of a home assignment, classroom presentation or an annual assessment test. Now, the researcher has got the inspiration for carrying out this study from an idea expounded in Widdowson (1975) that this mimicry can be replaced by genuine individual opinion if the students, or even those people who have non-academic concerns with literature, are brought to a standpoint from where they can have a closer view of the raw materials, the language resources, which are involved in the making of a literary product. And, if the product in its finished form cannot elicit a desired response from them then making them sensitive to the process of its making can be quite effective in this regard. Through the present study, an attempt has been made to show an easy access to the outlandish world of verse by means of the linguistic route which is laid with the familiar flagstones of grammar and vocabulary. Meaning thereby that in this study the elusiveness of poetry will be dealt with the precision of a social scientist, the linguist. The approach which serves as the basis of this study is not an invention of the researcher; rather, it is a well-known twentieth century approach known as stylistics (Jeffries McIntyre, 2010, p. 30). Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s famous ballad, “The Rime of the Ancient Marinerâ€, being a widely read poem and bearing various stylistics features, offered itself as an ideal object for this study. The poet’s aesthetic message is explored by analyzing the finest details of his linguistic expression. And, careful considerations have been made throughout the study to prevent the overlooking of any instance of deviant linguistic units or recurring patterns for interpretation because such elements contribute largely to the meaning of any literary product. The study is descriptive in its nature therefore qualitative data has been integrated with and substantiated by the quantitative one.  Keywords: stylistics, literature, lexical, semantic and graphological deviation

Brain antioxidant markers, cognitive performance and acetylcholinesterase activity of rats: efficiency of Sonchus asper

Abstract Background Sonchus asper (SA) is traditionally used as a folk medicine to treat mental disorders in Pakistan. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of polyphenolic rich methanolic fraction of SA on cognitive performance, brain antioxidant activities and acetylcholinesterase activity in male rats. Methods 30 male Sprague–Dawley rats were equally divided into three groups in this study. Animals of group I (control) received saline (vehicle), group II received SA (50 mg/kg) body weight (b.w.), and group III treated with SA (100 mg/kg b.w.,) orally in dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) for 7 days. The effect of SA was checked on rat cognitive performance, brain antioxidatant and acetylcholinesterase activities. Evaluation of learning and memory was assessed by a step-through a passive avoidance test on day 6 after two habituation trials and an initial acquisition trial on day 5. Antioxidant potential was determined by measuring activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), contents of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and reduced glutathione (GSH) in whole-brain homogenates. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity was determined by the colorimetric method. Results Results showed that 100 mg/kg b.w., SA treated rats exhibited a significant improvement in learning and memory (step-through latency time). SA administration reduced lipid peroxidation products and elevated glutathione levels in the SA100-treated group. Furthermore, salt and detergent soluble AChE activity was significantly decreased in both SA-treated groups. Short-term orally supplementation of SA showed significant cognitive enhancement as well as elevated brain antioxidant enzymes and inhibited AChE activity. Conclusion These findings stress the critical impact of Sonchus asper bioactive components on brain function.</p