Role of Employee Training in Enhancing Perceived Performance through competencies in Services Industry- A Study of Pakistani Banking Sector

Background: Employee Training is one of the leading contemporary human resource aspects, it is perfect approach leading towards effective employee development and is used as renowned technique for creating new leaders and enriching employee’s skills. Training is nowadays a no-way-option for almost all organizations. Training acts crucially at dual dimensions; it enhances employee performance and works on organizational development. This study plans to evaluate the role of training and training design and delivery towards the employee competencies leading to employee’s perceived performance in banking sector. Methodology: It is quantitative research with post-positivist approach. Data was collected from 152 bankers from different banks in Karachi through a survey questionnaire. Data was analyzed by applying descriptive analysis and statistical tests. Results: Results revealed that there exists substantial relationship between (IV-1) On-Job-Training, (IV-2) Training Design and Delivery and (DV) Perceived Performance, although (IV-3) Off-Job-Training proved as weak predictor. The study produced useful information for future researches

CONSUMER INNOVATIVENESS LEADING TO INNOVATION ADOPTION

Innovation is the key to success, therefore innovators need to be influenced for innovation adoption; through market analysis for consumers possess the necessary traits to understand the value of innovation in their lifestyles. This research study has analyzed the mobile phone consumer market empirically for the traits that are necessary for the adoption of innovation and has identified the market segments that are more motivated to embrace innovativeness. A consumer survey is conducted by using an adopted scale from 404 respondents. The data is analyzed by factor analysis, and 2 SLS regression method. The results reveal that consumer innovativeness is strongly influenced by personality traits such as intelligence, rationality, self-efficacy, interconnectedness, cosmopolites, and subjective norm. The study further provides the insight that consumers are ready to adopt the innovation and possess the necessary innovativeness trait to intellectually and rationally evaluate the innovative offering available in the marke

Environment Friendly Practices Adopted in Hotels and their Impact on Customer Satisfaction: A Critical Review of the Literature and Research Implications for the Hospitality Industry

The purpose of the study is to investigate various environment-friendly practices implemented by the hospitality industry while assessing their impact on customer satisfaction. Thirty-one papers were downloaded with keywords such as “environment friendly,” "customer satisfaction," "customer loyalty," and "sustainability" from various online research databases like Google Scholar, Science Direct, ResearchGate, and Emerald Insights from 2000 to 2020. These papers were critically analysed in terms of the different variables associated with the environmentally friendly measures used in hotels. The study will assist hospitality industry managers in developing appropriate marketing strategies that include green measures in order to achieve guest retention, which will result in increased profits and goodwill for the hotels. In addition, the study sheds light on different variables such as demographics, willingness to pay, and visit intention in relation to green practices and guest satisfaction. The findings reveal that the environment-friendly green initiatives adopted in hotels have a positive effect on customer satisfaction. Moreover, the study emphasises how green practices play a key role in achieving customer loyalty through the mediating effect of customer satisfaction. A model of the positive effects of hotel employee training on environment-friendly practices has also been proposed. The willingness to pay for the environment-friendly initiatives reflect a rather contradictory result since a majority of the guests expect hotels to bear the cost of the green initiatives implemented

Consumer Innovativeness Leading to Innovation Adoption

With the changing trends in this world, innovative economy is the emerging idea that is vital for the economies, countries and organizations to grow and sustain. Innovation is the key to success and the innovators need to be influenced for adoption. For that reason, there is need of market analysis if consumers are ready for adopting the innovations that are offered to them, do they possess the necessary traits to understand the benefits of innovation in their lifestyles. This insight has given an opportunity to this research for analyzing the consumer market empirically for the traits that are necessary for the adoption of innovation. This study it further identify the market segment that are inclined possess the trait of innovativeness higher than the others. A survey questionnaire was adopted from literature; data was collected from almost 481 consumers belonging to Karachi from the age bracket of 15 to 54. The factor analysis, correlation, regression and 2SLS method was applied; results showed that consumer innovativeness is strongly influenced by personality traits such as intelligence, rationality and self-efficacy and socialization by interconnectedness, cosmopoliteness and subjective norm. The study reveals the insight that consumers are ready to adopt the innovation and possess the trait of innovativeness that has the capabilities to intellectually and rationally evaluate the innovative offering. Keywords: Consumer innovativeness, Innovation adoption, smart phone

Negative predictive value of ultrasound in predicting tumor-free margins in specimen sonography

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the success of ultrasound in post-excision specimen visualization, and negative predictive value of ultrasound for estimation of tumor-free margins using histopathology as the gold standard. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional analytical study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan, from May 2010 till January 2013. METHODOLOGY: Sonography of all breast nodules was done before and after exicision by two female radiologists with at least five years clinical experience. All surgeries were performed by the same referring breast surgeons. All nodules were non-palpable and had histopathology as well as specimen sonography performed at AKUH. Subjects were excluded, if histopathology was not available, post-procedure sonogram not done or done in another hospital and nodules that were not seen on ultrasound. After needle localization in 47 patients using ultrasound and in 7 patients using mammogram was done, sonogram was conducted in all 54 lesions. These were then assessed by ultrasound for detection of lesion and tumor-free margins in malignant lesion. Post-excision ultrasound was performed for the evaluation of lesion whether visualized or absent with localizing needle in situ, lesion dimensions, depth measurement between the superior margin of the lesion and its edge. RESULTS: All 54 lesions were present on post-exicison scan, out of which 28 were documented as malignant and 26 as benign. Ultrasound declared all specimens as tumor-free. On histopathology, two lesions were documented as having tumor-positive margins and were proven to be invasive lobular carcinoma. Therefore, the negative predictive value of the specimen sonography for margin detection was 26/28 (92.8%). CONCLUSION: Ultrasound of the excised breast tumor specimen is a simple and reliable technique for confirmation of the tumor-free margins in non-palpable breast lesions

Relationship of Nursing Students Stress and Their Personal Response to Stress in Learning Environment

Stressors are overwhelming and volatile trials that can modify over normal response to everyday events. The stress responses are reaction to the strains and variations of life both optimistic and undesirable. Stress responses may have physical, mental, emotional and behavioral sign. Nursing students have many stressors in their learning environment which effects their performance and quality of care.Methods: A descriptive correlational study was conducted in Government College of Nursing in Lahore. Data was gathered by nursing students of 3rd and 4th year of BSN and diploma nursing. Questionnaire which was used in this study was perceived stress scale and Physio-psycho-socio response scale developed by Sheu et al. Data was analyses by SPSS and using Pearson correlation test to see the relationship between stress and stress responses of nursing students.Results: Results shows significant correlation between the level of stress and stress response in students. Pearson correlation value is .594 and p value is .000 on 0.05 level of confidence interval which shows significance of results.Conclusions: The correlational study was done in Government College of Nursing in Lahore. The study explores the level of stress in nursing students and their personal responses to stress in learning environment. It is concluded that if the stress level in nursing students reduce it can be helpful for the organization to improve the quality care of patient. Keywords: Stress, Nursing students, Stress level, Stress responses DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/62-01 Publication date:May 31st 201

Strong and ∆-Convergence Results for Generalized Multi-valued Non-expansive Maps in CAT (0) Spaces

Abstract In this paper, we establish strong convergence and ∆-convergence theorems for the class of generalized non-expansive multi-valued maps in a CAT(0) space. Our work extends and improves some recent results announced in the current literature

Gestational Weight Gain and Its Relation to Maternal, Fetal and Neonatal Sequelae: A Future Dilemma

OBJECTIVES This study aimed to determine the frequency of women with gestational weight gain (GWG) from recommended values in pregnancy and to establish the association of GWG with the mode of delivery (vaginal delivery (VD), instrumental delivery(ID), cesarean section(CS) and neonatal outcomes( low birth weight (LBW), low APGAR score, macrosomia, stillbirth (SB) and neonatal intensive care unit admissions(NICU). METHODOLOGY The prospective study was done in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology LRH Peshawar. A total of 140 women were included in this study by non-probability consecutive sampling technique. Those with congenital anomalies having known medical disorders were excluded. Ethical approval and Informed consent were obtained before the examination. Data were collected and analysed on SPSS version 22.RESULTSThe mean age was 29.4 ± 5.1 years. The mean first trimester BMI of the study sample was 25.2 ± 3.4kg/m2, while the mean BMI in 3rd trimester was 27.7± 2.3 kg/m2. GWG was recorded in 52 (37.1%) women. The mean GWG was calculated to be 12.9 kg ± 2.5. Mode of delivery was VD in 60(42.9%) women, ID in 50 (35.7%), and CS was done in 30(21.4%0) women. LBW in 15(10.7%), low APGAR score was recorded in 32(22.9%), macrosomia in 14(10%), SB in 12 (8.6%) and NICU admission in 39(27.9%). CONCLUSION GWG is common in pregnant women; however, there was no statistically significant association between GWG and mode of delivery or neonatal outcomes.

Phylogenetic and chronological analysis of proteins causing Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases

It is evident that Neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's) have many similarities at cellular and molecular level as they carry parallel mechanisms including protein aggregation and inclusion body formation caused by protein mis-folding. The main objective of this study was to have detailed insight on variation and resemblance among these proteins. One hundred and four protein sequences, both directly and indirectly involved in disease mechanism to perform phylogenetic analysis revealing insight on evolutionary relationship among these proteins, were selected. The percentage of replicate trees, in which the associated taxa clustered together in the bootstrap test, was 1000 replicates. Various statistical tests were performed for the confirmation of results e.g., Tajma's Neutrality Test showed D gt 6, nucleotide diversity π gt 0.6 and ps value as greater than 1. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the protein sequences of neurodegenerative diseases had high sequence similarity and identity to each other as depicted by the evolutionary tree. It showed the similar mechanism of evolving from each other and had similar mechanism of generating mis-folding leading towards symptoms of disease

Contamination of Water Resources by Food Dyes and Its Removal Technologies

Food dyes comprise different groups which impart color to a wide range of food products. Food products are mainly purchased and consumed by people because they are nutritive and flavorsome and have an attractive color. Food color stimulates appetite and enhances its esthetic appeal of food on table for customer. With sky rocketing industrialization and modernization, the worldwide production of dyes in 2010 was forecasted to be 2.1 metric tons. It has been estimated that 15% of total dyes produced worldwide are discharged to water bodies which adversely affect aquatic ecosystem. Dyes in water reduces its transparency, thereby declining light penetration in the water, hence influencing photosynthesis which consequently reduces dissolved oxygen which is an alarming situation for both aquatic flora and fauna. Dyes wastewater discharged from huge number of industries like textile, leathers, paint, food, pharmaceutical etc. and deteriorating the aquatic environment and pose threat to living organism. The presence of dye molecules in water channels is an emerging alarm to an environmental scientist. An environmental friendly and self-sustainable treatment method should be explored to address this problem. Therefore, this work elaborates the various methods used for removal and degradation of dyes in water, although some processes have a common shortcoming like production of secondary pollution to the environment. This chapter have tried to highlight the important application of food dyes, their contamination and their toxic effect. Herein we also focus on remediation techniques like separation (adsorption, filtration, etc.) and degradation (chemical, biological and electrochemical oxidation) of dyes in aqueous solution. The mechanism and pros and cons of different methods are explored and discussed briefly