Role of Leader’s Emotional Intelligence in Organizational Learning: A Quantitative Analysis

Although most researchers have argued that a leader’s Emotional Intelligence (EI) capability positively influences Organizational Learning (OL), this relationship has only been studied at surface level. Consequently, there is no clear mechanism explaining how leaders facilitate various sub-processes of learning at the individual, team, and organizational levels. In this study, we operationalize Goleman’s (1998) mixed model of EI and 4I framework of learning proposed by Crossan et al. (1999) to shed further light on this connection. Our study follows a deductive approach, where a conceptual model is first developed through a conceptual literature review and then empirically tested using correlation analysis. Short versions of the Emotional Competency Inventory (ECI V.2) and Strategic Learning Assessment Map (SLAM) survey tool have been utilized to measure leader’s EI and OL, respectively. This study makes significant contributions to scholarly research surrounding EI and OL as well as practice based application of leadership development and employee learning interventions, with a special relevance for learning organizations

An Analytical Survey on Vein Pattern Recognition

Biometric is term of science to identify a person identity using their physiological features. Currently, vein pattern recognition has attracted the attention of the technology and industry all over the world. A vein is network of blood vessels under the skin of an individual. The vascular pattern is different for every person in the same part or region of the body. It is stable till very long age. As the veins are underneath the skin it is very difficult for intruder or forger to copy the feature. This uniqueness and strong immunity from intruders make it more potent biometric system which avails us secure features for individual identity verification. This paper involves the description of vein pattern recognition, its requirement and its importance in biometric system. Different feature extraction algorithms are reviewed as independent component analysis, principal component analysis method. For classification in vein pattern recognition we have reviewed support vector machine and neural network techniques. Parameters are described based on which results are computed like true positive, false positive, true negative, false negative, accuracy and precision

Finger Vein Recognition Based on PCA Feature using Artificial Neural Network

Personal recognition technology is developing rapidly as a security system. Traditional methods such as authentication key; password: card is not secure enough, because they could be stolen or easily forget. Biometrics has been applied to a wide range of systems. According to various researchers, vein biometrics was a good technique from other biometric authentication system used, such as fingerprints, hand geometry, voice, etc. of the DNA. Root Authentication systems can be designed in different ways. All methods include the matching stage. A neural network is an effective way of matching Personal identification authentication system. The finger vein pattern is unique biometric identity of the human beings. The finger vein recognition is a popular biometric technique which is used for authentication purposes in various applications. In the propose work an algorithm is proposed to find the accuracy, FRR and FAR of finger vein recognition. The performances of PCA, threshold segmentation, pre-processing and testing & training techniques has been validate and compared with each other in order to determine the most accurate results in terms of finger vein recognition

Development and sensory evaluation of gluten free bakery products using quinoa (Chenopodium Quinoa) flour

Quinoa based gluten free bakery products were prepared by supplementing roasted quinoa flour in oats and rice flour at different substitution levels and were organoleptically evaluated using eight point hedonic rating scale for sensory attributes by a semi – trained (including Professors and Assistant Professors not a professionally sensory panel) panel of 10 judges. Substitution of roasted quinoa flour at 5, 10 and 15 percent levels showed significant difference (p? 0.05) at 10 percent levels for all the products namely cookies, cakes, muffins, pies and tarts for overall acceptability. The products with 10 percent level of supplementation of roasted quinoa flour (10%) with rice (45%) and oats flour (45%) were found to be highly acceptable and the scores for overall acceptability for cakes (7.54), cookies (7.46), muffins (7.32), pies (7.78) and tarts (7.56) were achieved. The pies with 10 percent level of supplementation of roasted quinoa flour were considered as best product by the judges in terms of all the sensory attributes such as appearance, colour, texture, flavour, taste and overall acceptability. It may be concluded that roasted quinoa flour can be utilized successfully up to 10 percent level to prepare gluten free bakery products with high nutritional value without imposing negative impact on sensory attributes which may prove a boon to celiac patients

Root Rot Pathogens of Wheat in South Dakota and Their Affect on Seed Germination and Seedling Blight in Spring Wheat Cultivars

Crown rot and common root rot are the important root diseases in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and other cereals causing significant germination and yield losses in the Northern Great Plains and other parts of the world. Bipolaris sorokiniana (Bs) and Fusarium graminearum (Fg) cause common root rot and crown rot respectively, are the important wheat root pathogens that can affect seed germination, seedling establishment and impact crop productivity. A survey was conducted in the year 2014 and 2015 to study the distribution and the prevalence of root rot pathogens in South Dakota. Out of 31 and eight roots samples collected in 2014 and 2015, respectively, F. graminearum was the major pathogen recovered in both years. All the collected samples harbored F. graminearium, and 50% of the samples produced B. sorokiniana. In 2014, 125 isolates of F. graminearum and 62 isolates of B. sorokiniana were recovered from 31 root samples and in 2015, 38 isolates of F. graminearum and eight isolates of B. sorokiniana were recovered from eight root samples. The fungus Gaeumannomyces graminis tritici associated with Take-all was not recovered from the collected samples in both years. Further, we studied the effect of B. sorokiniana and F. graminearum infested seed on germination and seedling establishment (blight) of 11 HRSW wheat cultivars under greenhouse and field conditions (Brookings and Volga). Seeds of 11 hard red spring wheat cultivars HRSW cultivars, Advance, Brick, Briggs, Forefront, Oxen, Prevail, Russ, Select, SD4189, SD4215, and Traverse were infested individually with B. sorokiniana and F. graminearum by spraying with their respected spore suspension. Infested seed from all 11 cultivars were planted in paper cups (10 seeds/cup) filled with sterile vermiculite, using a complete randomized design. Seed germination and seedling blight data was recorded 10 and 20 days’ post planting. The percent germination losses when the seed was infested with F. graminearum ranged from 4 to 33% while the seedling survival rate of the cultivars varied from 48 to 87% and the seedling blight ranged from 7-27% but when seed was infested with B. sorokiniana, percent germination varied from 2-17% with 58 to 96% seedling survival rate and 0-16% seedling blight. We further, planted 100 seeds of seven (2015) and 11 (2016) HRSW cultivars with six different treatments in a split plot design experiment in three replications at two field locations, Brookings and Volga. The treatments included were uninfested seed + untreated (T1), unifested + treated with fungicide (T2), infested (B. sorokiniana) + treated (T3), infested (B. sorokiniana) + untreated (T4), infested (F. graminearum) + treated (T5), infested (F. graminearum) + untreated (T6). Seed germination and seedling blight data were recorded after the germination for three consecutive weeks. Wheat cultivars varied in seed germination and seedling blight to both the pathogens; however, low seed germination was observed in F. graminearum infested seed as compared to B. sorokiniana infested seed at both locations in both years. Cultivars Russ (72%) and Oxen (80%) were highly affected for seed germination and seedling blight to both pathogens whereas Forefront (92%), Select (95%) and Briggs (88%) had the highest germination and the higher seedling survival rate as compared to the other cultivars both under greenhouse and field conditions. The percent germination losses when the seed was infested with F. graminearum ranged from 17-35% while the seedling survival rate of the cultivars varied from 92-99%. In case of the seed infested with B. sorokiniana, germination losses ranged from 2-15% with the only highest germination loss observed in Russ cultivar (32%) with the survival rate of all the cultivars ranged from 91-97%. Fungicide treatment (T3 and T5) significantly increased the seed germination from 14-37% and the seedling blight was also reduced in almost all the cultivars. In another experiment, where oat kernels were used as a source of inoculum, reduction in percent seed germination was observed however, it was not significant

Software Metrics and Metric Tools- A Review

Object-Oriented design is turn out to be more significant in software development environment as stated by the IEEE standard thesaurus of software engineering. It also conclude that software metrics are much more vital in software engineering for determining the software quality characteristics. There are many approaches by virtue of which we can measure the software cost estimation plus predicates on numerous types of deliverable items. Metric tools are used to estimate the measures like lines of code object point, function points etc. This paper highlights mostly the classification of software quality metrics like size metrics, complexity metrics etc. and different metrics tools. DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.16046

The Information Content of Directors’ Trades: Empirical Analysis of the Australian Market

We examine the trading activities of directors in shares of their own companies on the Australian Stock Exchange during the July-December 2005 period. We find that directors of small companies in particular earn abnormal return after both their ‘Purchase’ and as well as their ‘Sale’ trade. Directors of these companies have an uncanny ability to time the market by trading when mispricing is greatest, and are able to predict the future performance of their firms in short run. For directors of medium and large companies, we find evidence that ‘Sale’ trades are the ones which work as loss avoiders. Outsiders recognise to some extent that directors’ trades are informative, however they are slow to incorporate the new information into prices, refuting much of the market efficiency literature.

Immune response in Rhodococcus equi infected foals

Rhodococcus equi (R. equi) is an intracellular, gram-positive coccobacillus that causes pneumonia in foals aged 2 to 4 months. Neonatal foals are susceptible to R. equi infection probably due to inefficient Toll-like receptor (TLR)-2 signaling and inability to produce interferon gamma. One of the reasons for inefficient receptor signaling and recognition of R. equi by the foal’s immune system may be the inefficient sequestration of TLRs in lipid rafts, which act as signaling platforms. However, there are no protocols to isolate lipid rafts from equine cells and, therefore, no data on the association of TLRs with the lipid rafts in the lung cells of normal and infected foals. Because of the clinical importance of the disease, there is considerable interest in developing effective prophylactic methods, which in turn requires a better understanding of fundamental immunology of the foals. In this study, I have examined the effect of R. equi vaccination on the lung inflammation induced following challenge with R. equi. I also developed a protocol to isolate lipid rafts from broncho-alveolar lavage (BAL) cells and investigated the association of lipid rafts with TLRs. In the first study, 15 mixed breed draft-type foals up to 7 weeks of age were studied. The foals were divided into control (n=7) and a vaccinated (n=8). The control foals were given 10 mL phosphate buffered saline intramuscularly while the vaccinated group was vaccinated on day 0 of the study followed by a booster on day 14. All the foals were challenged with R. equi (5x106 cells/mL into the dorso-caudal region of the right lung lobe). BAL was performed on day 14, 28 and 35 and all the foals were euthanized on day 49 of the study. The study design did not leave any non-infected foal at the end of the experiment. Therefore, lung samples were obtained from two untreated control (non-vaccinated non-infected) foals from the Department of Veterinary Pathology, University of Saskatchewan were used. The data showed similar levels of lung inflammation in both the control and vaccinated foal groups based on BAL cytology, gross pathology and histopathology. Gross and histopathological studies indicated that both control and vaccinated foals developed granulomatous lesions. Immunohistology showed increased expression of TLR4, TLR2 and TNF alpha in alveolar septa and in some cases in the vascular endothelium and airway epithelium in the lungs of both groups compared to the untreated control foals. Western blots showed increased expression of TLR2 but not TLR4 in the lung extracts from both the vaccinated and the control foals. Vaccinated foals showed higher concentrations of TNF alpha(p=0.0219) in their BAL on day 28 but lower concentrations of IL-10 (p=0.0172) in their lung extracts collected on day 49 compared to the controls. There were no differences in IFN gamma and protein concentrations between the two groups. To understand the role of lipid rafts in TLR4 and TLR2 signaling, I developed an efficient and simpler protocol to isolate lipid rafts from BAL cells of foals and confirmed their identity by localizing Flotillin-1 and GM-1 (fractions 6-9), which are lipid raft markers, and transferrin receptor (fractions 1-4) which is present in non-lipid raft fractions. Lung macrophages from naïve foals lacked sequestration of Flotillin-1 and GM-1 in the higher fractions compared to the vaccinated foals. Further, the data showed that while TLR4 and TLR2 were localized in most of the fractions (1-9) in control foal BAL collected on day 14 and 28, the TLR4 and TLR2 association was restricted to fractions 6-9 in the lipid rafts isolated from BAL cells of vaccinated foals. These data suggest that BAL cells of neonatal foals may not have effective signaling machinery because of lack of association of TLR2 and TLR4 with lipid rafts. Taken together, the data show similar levels of lung inflammation in the control and vaccinated foals upon infection with R. equi. The vaccination, however, appeared to have some effect on the immunohistologic expression of TLR2, TLR4 and TNFalpha in the lung tissues, and increased association of TLR2 and TLR4 with the lipid raft fractions. Based on the higher expression of TNF alpha and lower expression of IL-10, the vaccinated foals may be more competent to mount an immune response against R. equi

SOI RF-MEMS Based Variable Attenuator for Millimeter-Wave Applications

The most-attractive feature of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology is that it enables the integration of a whole system on a single chip, leading to positive effects on the performance, reliability and cost. MEMS has made it possible to design IC-compatible radio frequency (RF) devices for wireless and satellite communication systems. Recently, with the advent of 5G, there is a huge market pull towards millimeter-wave devices. Variable attenuators are widely employed for adjusting signal levels in high frequency equipment. RF circuits such as automatic gain control amplifiers, broadband vector modulators, full duplex wireless systems, and radar systems are some of the primary applications of variable attenuators. This thesis describes the development of a millimeter-wave RF MEMS-based variable attenuator implemented by monolithically integrating Coplanar Waveguide (CPW) based hybrid couplers with lateral MEMS varactors on a Silicon–on–Insulator (SOI) substrate. The MEMS varactor features a Chevron type electrothermal actuator that controls the lateral movement of a thick plate, allowing precise change in the capacitive loading on a CPW line leading to a change in isolation between input and output. Electrothermal actuators have been employed in the design instead of electrostatic ones because they can generate relatively larger in-line deflection and force within a small footprint. They also provide the advantage of easy integration with other electrical micro-systems on the same chip, since their fabrication process is compatible with general IC fabrication processes. The development of an efficient and reliable actuator has played an important role in the performance of the proposed design of MEMS variable attenuator. A Thermoreflectance (TR) imaging system is used to acquire the surface temperature profiles of the electrothermal actuator employed in the design, so as to study the temperature distribution, displacement and failure analysis of the Chevron actuator. The 60 GHz variable attenuator was developed using a custom fabrication process on an SOI substrate with a device footprint of 3.8 mm x 3.1 mm. The fabrication process has a high yield due to the high-aspect-ratio single-crystal-silicon structures, which are free from warping, pre-deformation and sticking during the wet etching process. The SOI wafer used has a high resistivity (HR) silicon (Si) handle layer that provides an excellent substrate material for RF communication devices at microwave and millimeter wave frequencies. This low-cost fabrication process provides the flexibility to extend this module and implement more complex RF signal conditioning functions. It is thus an appealing candidate for realizing a wide range of reconfigurable RF devices. The measured RF performance of the 60 GHz variable attenuator shows that the device exhibits attenuation levels (|S21|) ranging from 10 dB to 25 dB over a bandwidth of 4 GHz and a return loss of better than 20 dB. The thesis also presents the design and implementation of a MEMS-based impedance tuner on a Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) substrate. The tuner is comprised of four varactors monolithically integrated with CPW lines. Chevron actuators control the lateral motion of capacitive thick plates used as contactless lateral MEMS varactors, achieving a capacitance range of 0.19 pF to 0.8 pF. The improvement of the Smith chart coverage is achieved by proper choice of the electrical lengths of the CPW lines and precise control of the lateral motion of the capacitive plates. The measured results demonstrate good impedance matching coverage, with an insertion loss of 2.9 dB. The devices presented in this thesis provide repeatable and reliable operation due to their robust, thick-silicon structures. Therefore, they exhibit relatively low residual stress and are free from stiction and micro-welding problems

A service-oriented approach to embedded component-based manufacturing automation

This thesis is focused on the application of Component-Based (CB) technology to shop oor devices using a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Web Services (WS) for the purpose of realising future generation agile manufacturing systems. The environment of manufacturing enterprises is now characterised by frequently changing market demands, time-to-market pressure, continuously emerging new technologies and global competition. Under these circumstances, manufacturing systems need to be agile and automation systems need to support this agility. More speci cally, an open, exible automation environment with plug and play connectivity is needed. Technically, this requires the easy connectivity of hardware devices and software components from di erent vendors. Functionally, there is a need of interoperability and integration of control functions on di erent hierarchical levels ranging from eld level to various higher level applications such as process control and operations management services. [Continues.