In order to grow and sustain in the globalized economy, organizations need to maximize the performance of their employees. Performance appraisal is a universal human resource management practice. Educational institutions are not in the exception. In an educational institution, teacher’s performance has a strategic role and they influence the performance of students and the reputation of the university. But, in our country the practice of performance appraisal system is not very familiar with the educational institutions. Only a few leading private universities of Bangladesh are observed to use the tool of performance appraisal, but here the evaluation is conducted mostly by the students. The management and the higher authority of the Universities are not conscious about accurate application of Performance appraisal tools and techniques. The aim of this study is to evaluate the importance and effectiveness of the Performance Appraisal system to increase performance and motivation of the academics in the Universities. A sample of hundred (100) respondents was drawn from both the public and private universities and cluster, stratified and convenient sampling techniques were used to collect data by using a structured questionnaire from various levels of respondents. Teachers have shown a mixed feeling about student evaluations. Data analysis showed that the university teachers don’t see their performance appraisal system accurate and fair because the outcomes are not being used for making decisions on promotion, training and development of the employees. So, the management should review the appraisal system of the Universities and outcomes, so that all the components of their job are evaluated and rewarded.

Innovation in business and economical research is a vital factor that ensures the optimal long term business growth and financial security. The dynamicity in current business scenario has ignited numerous analytical paradigms driving the innovation in product and service quality, business processes and systems. This paper emphasizes over the requirement of innovation policy optimization for higher economical growth and financial security in Omanis multidisciplinary businesses. The prime limitations of present innovation policies have been studied andhypotheses have been defined for existing policies and scopes of policy optimization. A semi-structured interview has been conducted with 89 questionnaires reflecting current economical policies, needs and scopes for policy optimization in Omanis economy. The respondents from varied multidisciplinary businesses like manufacturing, SMEs, education, skill development, ICT services, corporate consultants and local research establishments have provided their views, which have been processed for data analysis and evaluation using multivariate analysis paradigm with IBM-SPSS statistical analysis tool. The statistical analysis has been performed using descriptive statistics, one-sample t-test, Pearson Correlation, and Chi-Square test to evaluate relevancy of the data and hypothesis justification. The study concluded that innovation policy optimization in Omanis economy can be a catalyst for competitive quality production and service generation for its higher economical growth and financial security. The study has suggested some policy optimization schemes by incorporating regulated information exchange, resource transfer and mobility, skills development, open innovation supports for local research establishments, financial assistance to institutions and SMEs, public-private collaboration, demand generation and penetration across global market opportunities.

Improving organizational performance is one of the most important goals that all kind of organizations try to achieve it in terms of growth, profitability, increasing market share, productivity and other criteria. The purpose of this paper is to examine the interactional relationship among organizational communication, organizational conflict, and performance. To do so, the research institutions (under supervision of ministry of science, research and technology) were selected as statistical population. The descriptive research method was used for conducting this research. For gathering required data, two questionnaires were designed and distributed among sample institutions (using convenient sampling). The information of 22 institutions (188 questionnaires) was gathered and used for analyzing. The results show that there is a significant relationship among organizational communication, organizational conflict, and performance.

This paper examines the January effect on stock market returns by using the unconditional method and the conditional method. This paper uses daily closing prices of 12 firms listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange by using LQ-45 Index from January 2006 to December 2013. Independent sample t-test is applied to examine the significance of the January effect. Results don’t support the January effect by using the unconditional method and the conditional method. Otherwise, returns on December are significant higher than returns on January by using the unconditional method and the conditional method (down market). But when using the conditional method (up market), returns on January are higher than returns on December, but not significant. This is the first comprehensive study of January effect, which provides the unconditional method and the conditional method on Indonesian data. The findings give important insights into market anomaly, especially the January effect, which help investors to develop a good investment strategy. Investors could buy stocks on January by using the unconditional method or the conditional method in down market, with abnormally low returns and sell stocks on December with abnormally high returns by using the unconditional method.

The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is an integration effort that if realized will create a single borderless market ensuring free movement of goods and services, labor and capital encompassing nearly 600 million people. One of the bigger issues facing this effort of creating a borderless market is the integration of the newest members- CLMV economies into the ASEAN Economic Community. Several regional cooperation programs like the Greater Mekong Sub-region program by Asian Development Bank and Mekong-Japan cooperation were initiated to address the development gap. However, the weak institutional framework, rising inequality, uneven spatial development, rampant corruption, backward agriculture but a slowed steady progress are some of the major challenges ahead of their integration into the Southeast Asian Nations with which they not only need to collaborate but also compete. This puts forward an interesting argument that challenge for inclusive integration is broader than stimulating catch-up growth because CLMV has different economic and political history than pre-1995 ASEAN members. This paper evaluates this integration borrowing heavily from Economic Literature as well experience of other such regional integration.

This paper reports the findings of a choice experiment designed to explore local population preferences toward wetland ecosystem restoration of Bung Khong Long wetland in Thailand. By addressing ecological, socioeconomic and cultural dimensions of ecosystem services, the findings provide policy-makers with a richer insight into the interconnections among ecological, socioeconomic and cultural systems in explaining the value of ecosystem services. Gaining an understanding of the trade-offs associated with different interests in ecosystem uses in this community has the capacity to promote wetland management and enhance land use planning. The choice experiment application entails selecting attributes and their levels, and developing an experimental design to create the choice sets or hypothetical scenarios for welfare assessment via the questionnaire. The study is based on household level data collected from 780 randomly drawn respondents living around the lake and the data are analysed using the Random Parameter Logit model with interactions. The findings indicate that the local population derives positive and significant values from the restoration of wetland ecosystem services, indicating caution is needed in the decision-making processes involving sensitive environments faced with competing uses. Socioeconomic and attitudinal characteristics of respondents are important factors influencing willingness to pay, implying community preferences are important in the effectiveness of environmental conservation efforts in this community. The cultural values associated with the wetland are significant suggesting that incorporating culture preferences may be a key factor in supporting wetland conservation.

The purpose of this research is to explain the role of streaming in maintaining the music industry. The researcher aims to identify the effects of mediation on the music industry. The research will examine the changing and evolving role of media in relation to the people who create, consume and sell music, in order to explain how the music industry functions today. The research does not address the technical aspects of media, but rather how media fosters relationships between people and music and how these relationships effectively created, what was once a confined local practice, into a sprawling global industry that is rapidly changing in a streaming environment.

Digital corporate communication and data sets assume the online identification of company, brand, owner, stakeholder network, investor, supplier, partner, employee, customer, media connection, product and service in a local-global context. In an optimal case these all together generate a consistent picture and, at the same time, the picture also marks which features are not consistent with it. Reputation management, engagement process, security design, surveillance solutions and communication crises define a real-time corporate digital identity with ir/relevant, non/distinctive, un/suitable, professional/amateurish solutions. Results depend on prevention, digital skills and strategic thinking – and, also, on circumstances. Thickening or crisis for companies becomes normal besides ―peacetime‖: the online visible corporate digital footprints keep vulnerability live. Companies need strategy to manage its digital data body to reduce risks and vulnerability.The models and practices of digital identity constitute one of the highlighted fields in management and marketing studies/practice based on a multidisciplinary background connecting to social science and to the humanities (among others, Li &Bernoff 2008, Howe 2008, Oravecz 2012, Vlasyuk 2013).In my presentation I will provide a short summary of trends in this field and I will present an overview of digital identity management based on a work-in-progress insight research. Our goal was to collect and to cluster relevant questions, dilemmas, decision points and solutions of digital identity strategy by corporate decision makers. The research assumptions focused on comparable strategies and parameters for digital identity in network impact. According to research findings most of the cases can be classified into three groups: online communication/reputation, data security and blended identity phenomena.

This paper compared strategies of two Thai companies overseas in the ready-to-eat market that were different in sizes, one was SMEs, another was a large company. The target market of the one company was Japan and another company was Singapore. This study used critical incident to analyze the cases. Key success factors included management commitment, research and development, differential advantage, teamwork with customers and local teams. Both companies were similar in terms of strategies, but different in details: level of management involved, market research conduction, research and development, and local teams. Implications of this study will be useful for companies that are interested in doing business overseas to learn how these two companies became successful in foreign markets.

This paper examines the zombie theory which claims the survival of low-productivity firms in Japan has prevented economic recovery since the bursting of the financial bubble in the late 1980s. The existence of so-called “zombie firms” is one reason for the stagnation of the Japanese economy, because they prevent more productive companies from gaining market share and thus reduce productivity gains for the overall economy. This theory easily results in the neoclassical policy statement, that is, the government should not intervene the natural process of firms‟ metabolism. So, “doing nothing” is the best way to improve macroeconomic performance. However, if the bankruptcy of one firm affects others through its network, this argument does not hold because networked firms can become embroiled in a bankruptcy chain. This paper assesses the validity of zombie theory using computer simulations within a network economy setting. It finds that governmental policies to save bankruptcy candidates can improve macroeconomic performance in a network economy. In other words, governmental intervention can be effective in this kind of economy by preventing the propagation of a bankruptcy chain that may embroil high-performing firms

This paper empirically analyzes the factors that determine India‟s services exports for the period 1995-2011 using quarterly data. Using ARDL approach to cointegration, a long-run export demand function is estimated and the empirical results suggest that the partner country‟s income, foreign direct investment, financial sector development and goods exports are the major determining factors of India‟s services exports. Further our empirical results suggest that the exchange rate does not play any major role in determining services exports.

The differences between operational excellence and business excellence are seldom bridged with productivity benefits and yearly targets by organizations in current scenarios, but they have not significantly touched or made a positive impact bringing delightful and easy customer experience. In recent time’s public forum reviews touches upon movies, restaurants and also books, as people today critique their experiences in whatever things and events they interact with in their daily life. A place that deals with people’s health care systems definitely need a model to gauge their experience with patients, that helps them in their recovery process and hospitals to provide a better Quality of treatment and care.In India, Lean Six Sigma as a methodology, has been commonly used to solve simple to complex challenging scenarios predominantly in manufacturing industry, and is not used frequently as a practice evidenced in the hospital industry. The aim of this exploratory research was to assess the status of Lean Six Sigma implementation in hospital (services) industry specifically for India, thereby developing a practical model to facilitate successful implementation of Lean Six Sigma. A mixed method approach of survey and multiple case studies during phases of research was adopted to achieve the aim of the research by answering the following key research questions (RQs): RQ1: What are the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for implementation of Lean Six Sigma in the hospital industry in India?RQ2: What would be the appropriate model that would assess the readiness to embark the continual improvement and provide a platform for continual improvement journey for the hospital industry in India? The adoption of a mixed method approach not only facilitated in answering the RQs, but also addressed the quality research criteria of reliability and validity for this research. This exploratory research had made some significant contributions to the theory and practice of Lean Six Sigma research in hospitals.

Ambulance management system is a key challenge and a priority issue for the healthcare industry. An emergency is any event that cannot be tackled with regular routine service arrangements. This study aims to develop an AMS architecture that will enable us to deal effectively with the possibility of new risks and threats. The main goal was to understand and improve the functioning of AMS. In this study, lean six sigma framework had been adopted to address waste reduction and cost optimization in ambulance management lifecycle. A customized continual improvement framework using lean six sigma methodology was adopted which led to the development of Connect-Analyze-Respond-Execute-Stabilize (CARES) as a framework to build the ambulance management system model. The robust CARES framework was lauded by the management and encouraged for the horizontal deployment of this framework. Some of the key factors that led to the successful implementation of ambulance management system were Top management commitment, Total employee engagement, Change leadership and Leadership engagement. Rewards and recognition, cadence management system and several educational initiatives not only improved the overall quality of service rendered but also indirectly increased the number of reference able customers. This framework helped to increase the number of patient services by 25% and overall cycle time was reduced by 30% and facilitated in achieving value to various stakeholders in the AMS by reduction of failure modes thereby reducing the cost.

For decades, researchers have tried to discover methods that deliver successful service recovery results. Service recovery paradox is the situation that overall satisfaction level of consumer after service failure is even higher than when things had gone well at the first place, this could be happened only when firms can achieve successful service recovery results. The concept of customer satisfaction evaluation in service recovery is closely related to consumers’ behavioral response; which are needed to consider both cognition and affection. Without the affection, consumers’ response to service recovery cannot be fully understood. Mood and emotion have been considered in consumer research as the affective part that plays an important role in customers’ evaluation. However, these affective variables seem to get less attention than they should be in the service recovery paradox literature. This article explores the negligence and proposes a conceptual model which comprehensively integrates the cognitive and the affective parts of consumer to better explain the occurrence of the service recovery paradox. Using the proposed model as a guide line, the service managers can deliver service recovery to their customers more effectively than ever before, and the possibility of the service recovery paradox to occur might be increased. Finally, theoretical contributions, suggestions for future research, and managerial implications also discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of and relationship between the use of Social Networking sites (SNS) by Omani high school students in terms of time self-management and the following variables: Gender, study achievement, information technology skills, education level of parents. Two high schools (one for boys and one for girls) in the District of Muscat, Oman, were selected in accordance with the Ministry of Education preference as being highly evaluated public schools.. A survey was conducted among 237 Omani high school students (118 males, 119 females), using a questionnaire, which was developed based on the literature. Findings revealed that there were no significant differences between male and female students in using Social Networks in terms of their self-management. Results also exposed that there were no significant differences between students’ scholastic achievement levels in using SNS related to self-management. However, the respondents’ level of IT skills had an effect on their self-management while using the SNS applications. On the other hand, respondents’ parent educational level had no effect on their self-management while using the SNS applications. The generalization of the study results would require a larger population and the replication of the study in different cultures. Additional research could help to provide a deeper explanation of some of the research findings. Based on the results of this study, future research in this area could be conducted to answer other questions such as those related to the symptoms of SNS addiction among high school students. Moreover, as the findings of the study reached to a conclusion that there is a problem of misusing the social network sites by students, realizing the problem, then, will help finding the solutions.

Manufacturing is one of the main sectors that contribute significantly to the development of national economy and hence the efficiency of manufacturing companies gains significance. From an economics perspective, efficiency is used to measure a company’s performance. In this research work, effort has been made to measure the technical efficiency of the listed manufacturing companies in Nairobi stock market using DEA technique as it takes into account the multiple inputs and outputs. Data of listed manufacturing companies were gathered from their annual reports and financial statements. DEA model is applied using both the Constant Returns to Scale (CCR) and Variable Returns to Scale (BCC) models. The correlation between inputs and efficiency performance was assessed by regression analysis. The results under CRS technology show that only two manufacturing companies namely Vipigo and Williamson were considered technically efficient while the overall average technical efficiency varies from 0.6916 to 0.92. The inputs have a significant and positive relationship with companies’ technical efficiency in Kenya.

Based on the extent of control and internal external tendencies of the organisation, various values are created. The highlighted value become dominant in the whole organisation and it can be combined with management activities in knowledge chin model and reinforce them. Despite the importance of values, there is no theoretical model that can expound their critical role on the management activities of the organisation. The main purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual model that can use the dominant organizational values status and its contributing or facilitating factors of management activities of knowledge chain. This model has been developed based on the content analysis literature review and integrates management activities of knowledge chain and competing value models. This model will enrich the knowledge chain activities literature, especially on KM activities, while being the basis for other researchers and authors to develop the organizational values as well as knowledge management activities.

A conventional spouted bed dryer and a spouted bed dryer fitted with a non porous draft tube were used to analyze the drying kinetics of black pepper. Minimum air velocities required for black pepper spouting were determined for both bed configurations and drying experiments were conducted at minimum spouting conditions. The minimum air flow rate required for spouting of non porous draft tube fitted spouted bed is 45% lower than that of the conventional bed. The highest drying rate was achieved when black pepper was dried without draft tube at highest drying temperature. A new thin layer drying model is proposed and experimentally determined drying kinetic data were fitted to the proposed model and compared with five commonly used models. Goodness of fit was evaluated using statistical parameters reduced chi square, root mean square error and coefficient of determination. Statistical analysis showed that drying behavior of black pepper in spouted bed dryer is best fitted to the Verma et al. model and the proposed model. Model parameters were calculated and presented.

The Internet or most commonly referred net is one of the most amazing invention of human race. The Internet can be known as a kind of global meeting place where people from all parts of the world can come together & share information. Castells define network as “Network is a set of inter connected nodes. Nodes may be relevance to the network”. (Castells, 2009, p.19). The benefits people can reap by using the Internet is massive.
Due to the rapid expansion of the Internet common mass get the assistance of Internet more and more in to their day to day life Another significant feature of the internet is not only it has abundant of rewards; it also consists of plentiful of disadvantages also. Advent of the internet crate a new path to the criminals to commit crimes. Traditional laws were not adequate to curb these complicated crimes. Hacking, virus, Identification theft, unauthorized aces to the restricted information, Trojan, are some of so called sophisticated cyber felonies. The internet is a global network, so its regulation could not be left to the one country or a institute, collaborative effort is a must for prevent the internet crime. . US department of Commerce. (Castells, 2009, p113).This research studied the Sri Lankan Cyber laws and international laws about cyber space and cybercrimes. Further it proposed a mechanism on curbing the internet crimes. Major limitation identified on this research was lack of effective law to protect Human rights in the cyber space in Sri Lanka. Objectives are refer cyber laws in Sri Lanka and studied selected cases related to cyber crime in Sri Lanka. Further it Suggest new solution to protect the human rights through the malicious usage of the Internet.

What is the point of analyzing poetry? One simple answer is that the more we know about anything the more interesting it becomes: the thought of the poet is different from that of the ordinary man of action, and is closely related to the dreamer’s associative thought and voluntary or purposive thought. The poetic vision, like the ordinary dream, is concrete, while at the same time it derives its material only indirectly from the senses; this vision is the source of true poetry. The poets are in general excellent psychologists, and where the question concerns the working of their own minds they are the best. Psychology must obtain most of its facts ultimately from introspection. This paper presents psychological analysis of m.makhataуev‘s poetry, the process of poetic creation, in the poet’s personality; his ability to work plays an important role. In our study, we try to analyze the poet – m.makhataуev and his poetry. General methods of description, analysis, classification, generalization, and systematic-structural and historical-comparative methods are used in the article.

This paper aims to study the perceptions of respondents from educational institutions and private organizations on the presence of or lack of transferable skills among students. It also aims to analyse the perceptions of respondents towards gap in skills and the impact of transferable skills on Oman‘s economy. The data was collected through questionnaires from a sample of 85 respondents. Results were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and cross tabulation and One – way Anova tests to arrive at inferences. The findings reveal the need to enhance and promote transferable skills through competency based assessment strategy when designing curriculum thereby discussing the implications of the principles of Curriculum Theory and Practice. A model is suggested to intensify the inclusion of transferable skills in the curriculum towards developing a more competent graduate.

This paper will discuss the interdisciplinary practices in the field of performing arts and focusing on theatre in Malaysia as a viable career prospect. The emergence of new entertainment media has created interest in the area and consequently great competition for graduates and arts professionals. Displacement and transformation of the career path in this field should be examined with regard to the opportunities in interdisciplinary field via such areas as film, theatre, music, visual arts, animation, broadcasting, and creative writing apart to strengthen its scope of conventional work of performing arts that has existed since 240 BC in Rome. Academicians, artists and especially arts graduates have a big role in their education and training, theoretical and practical (interdisciplinary skills) in order to maximize the career opportunities that available not only in the field of theatre but also in related and non-related fields. In a world without borders, it is the responsibility to the avant garde artists to share hybrid characteristics of diversity and cultural fields to ensure the values and the local artistic traditions can be sustained. This discussion will provide overview for those involved in the performing arts and suggest ways for them to meet the needs of competitive arts industries and related fields.

Nowadays energy security of a state has become essential for sustainable economic development and political stability. Rapid growth of energy consumption, high sharply fluctuating prices of crude oil and petroleum products in the market, growing dependence of energy-consuming regions on energy imports are at the focus of attention of all countries in the world. In today’s globalized world a simple increase of oil production cannot meet the increasing demand for energy. High-capacity refinery has become one of the most important conditions of the global energy security. This article analyzes the causes of the growing interest to energy security as a political issue in the context of globalization. It reviews some aspects of the influence of the oil and gas industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the country’s energy security.

Ground water is the major source of drinking water in rural communities of Khordha district of Odisha. It contains 0.5 – 12.6 mg/l Fe (II). A study has been carried out at the pilot scale in the field aiming at designing, constructing and evaluating efficiency of a cost effective modified bios and filter. The biosand filter was modified by the addition of a mixture of charcoal (bamboo, coconut and wood) and black carbon mat (thickness -2″). The filter has seven layers containing gravel, sand, black carbon mat and charcoal mixture which played a key role during the filtration process. The efficiency of bios and filter was evaluated to remove iron, turbidity, chloride, calcium, magnesium and coliform bacteria from iron rich ground water and highly turbid river water. The filter in which bamboo, coconut and wood charcoal mixture acted as filter media showed 100% removal of turbidity after filtration. The filter in which bamboo and coconut used as filter media, bamboo filter showed better removal efficiency of turbidity compared to coconut filter. The values of turbidity in filtered water of both the filter were below less than 5 NTU which is the permissible limit of drinking water according to World Health Organization. The flow rate was maintained in the range of 0.9 to 1.2 L/min (lower turbidity, 10-100 NTU), 0.7 to 1.0 L/min (medium turbidity, 100-150 NTU) and 0.5 to 0.8 L/min (higher turbidity, 150-200 NTU). The flow rate was higher in the beginning first hour and slowly decreased with time. Filtration of high turbidity water resulted in a significant decrease in the flow rate of the biosand filter as the filter is continuously used.. The highest iron reduction efficiency achieved by bamboo, coconut and wood mixture charcoal as filter media is 98% followed by bamboo charcoal at 96% and coconut charcoal at 94% respectively. The modified biosand filter showed removal efficiency of turbidity (96-99%) and coliform bacteria (95-98%). Filter needs careful washing after two months of continuous usage.

Milk is a high nutrient food source. Its major composition includes water, fat, protein, sugar, vitamin and minerals. In Thailand, milk consumption has been promoted through school dairy projects. There are dairy farms throughout Thailand, however, most are small-sized farms. This leads to an uneven nutrient composition due to different agricultural practices, feed, and environments. Thus, the study of factors that affect the nutrient composition in raw milk should be completed. The Royal Thai government should encourage farmers to Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) so that the nutrients in raw milk are compliant with national standards. The collecting centre must inspect the nutrient composition to ensure that it meets specifications before it is delivered to milk plants. In addition, the raw milk price depends on the fat content. The collecting centre will collect raw milk from farmers twice a day. The results of a survey show that raw milk collected in the morning and afternoon has different nutrient compositions; raw milk in the morning has less fat than milk in the afternoon. After raw milk is delivered to the collecting centre, it is cooled and kept in a storage tank. Then, it must be delivered to the milk plants on a daily basis. Hence, our objective is to formulate the mathematical model to determine how to blend raw milk collected in the morning and afternoon so that the total cost of raw milk is minimised while the nutrient composition specification is satisfied. Then, the model is solved using Microsoft Excel, and a decision support system is proposed so that the quality control supervisor can determine how to blend raw milk daily.

Organic chemical fertilizer has been shown to have more benefits than pure chemical or organic fertilizer. In addition, an organic chemical fertilizer owner in the Kalasin province in Northeastern Thailand said that the need for organic chemical fertilizers is increasing. Thus, the distribution network has become a strategic decision for the organic chemical fertilizer supply chain. This research focused on creating an efficient distribution network for an organic chemical fertilizer supply chain in Kalasin province in order to reduce the logistics cost while fulfilling future demand. First, we collected the related data from a factory, retailers and the Department of Lands, which included distances, transportation, land and factory establishment costs, and land usage. Second, we estimated the demand for fertilizers in Kalasin by using ArcGIS for Desktop 9.3. Third, we formulated an integer programme called the two echelon capacitated plant location problem (2E-CPLP) consisting of a set of capacitated fertilizer plants and retailers. Then, we determined the best locations for establishing organic chemical fertilizer manufacturers in order to minimise the total cost (composed of the fixed cost of founding a plant, land cost, and transportation cost from a plant to retailers). Then, we solved the problem by using IBM ILOG CPLEX. After that, we solved the routing problem of each established location by formulating the vehicle routing problem (VRP) and solving this with IBM ILOG CPLEX. Finally, we compared the distribution strategies between the current and proposed model in terms of cost, distances and service coverage. The results showed that the proposed strategies could satisfy the future demand, and the transportation cost was reduced by 60.54%.

Currently, there is no decision tool to determine the right blending formula of organic chemical fertilizer in Thailand, which would ensure that the raw material cost is minimised, and nutrient composition conforms to specifications. After measuring the nutrient composition of a sample of organic chemical fertilizer, we found that most nutrient compositions are more than what is specified on the label by about 1–90%. Our research aimed to reduce the raw materials cost of organic chemical fertilizer while increasing the conformance probability of the nutrient composition. In addition, we determined whether nutrient composition degrades by time. We kept the fertilizers for eight months and measured the nutrient composition every two months with two replications. We performed an ANOVA and determined that the nutrient composition model degraded by time. Then, we formulated the chance-constrained programming (CCP) to determine the optimal organic chemical fertilizer blend: we verified this optimal formula with a Monte Carlo simulation. Finally, we compared the current formula and optimal formula from the CCP in terms of total raw material cost and probability of non-conforming. The result showed that CCP could reduce the cost by 27.60% and reduce the probability of non-conforming to 0.1%. In addition, farmers can reduce the chemical residues in soil while Thailand can reduce the import volume of chemical substances such as Ammonium Sulfate, Di-Ammonium-Phosphate and Potassium Chloride. In summary, the CCP could be a tool for decision support in optimising the blending formula of organic chemical fertilizer. This research can have a great impact on manufacturers, farmers and the Thai economy.

For decades, researchers have tried to discover methods that deliver successful service recovery results. Service recovery paradox is the situation that overall satisfaction level of consumer after service failure is even higher than when things had gone well at the first place, this could be happened only when firms can achieve successful service recovery results. The concept of customer satisfaction evaluation in service recovery is closely related to consumers’ behavioral response; which are needed to consider both cognition and affection. Without the affection, consumers’ response to service recovery cannot be fully understood. Mood and emotion have been considered in consumer research as the affective part that plays an important role in customers’ evaluation. However, these affective variables seem to get less attention than they should be in the service recovery paradox literature. This article explores the negligence and proposes a conceptual model which comprehensively integrates the cognitive and the affective parts of consumer to better explain the occurrence of the service recovery paradox. Using the proposed model as a guide line, the service managers can deliver service recovery to their customers more effectively than ever before, and the possibility of the service recovery paradox to occur might be increased. Finally, theoretical contributions, suggestions for future research, and managerial implications also discussed.

The purpose of this study was to identify the psychometric properties of a Smartphone addiction questionnaire (SPAQ) given to Sultan Qaboos University Undergraduates. This study explored the levels of Smartphone addiction among university students through three parts: the level of Smartphone usage, the level of addiction to different Smartphone activities and applications; and the level of Smartphones’ addiction symptoms’ appearance. The dimensional structure of the questionnaire was investigated with a sample of 140 SQU undergraduates (37.1% males and 62.9% females). Based on factor analysis results, the questionnaire emphasized five factors: disregard of harmful consequences, preoccupation, inability to control craving, productivity loss, and feeling anxious and lost. The internal consistency and concurrent validity of SPAQ were verified (Cronbach‟s alpha= 0.764). SPAQ and its factors were significantly correlated with Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS). The reliability of SPAQ has been tested using Test-Re-Test method and revealed a significant correlation of (0,667) between the two applications. This questionnaire was proved to be relatively reliable and valid.The researchers developed a questionnaire to measure the levels of Smartphone addiction among SQU undergraduate students by assessing: 1) The amount of time they allocate for the use of Smartphones, 2) The amount of money they spend on the performance of a number of activities through the use of Smartphones, 3) The frequency of appearance of Smartphone addiction symptoms. Based on the overall average, the users were classified into three levels (causal, moderate and heavy).This paper tried to provide a comprehensive understanding of Smartphone addiction problems among university undergraduates. Hence, it developed the first questionnaire to measure this addiction among university undergraduates in Oman.

The k-mean algorithm is widely used clustering algorithm for large datasets. But there are limitations when k-mean is used for very large datasets. This study is carried out to enhance the performance of the k-mean data-mining algorithm by using parallel programming methodologies. In this Work, mainly two methods of parallelizing k-mean clustering algorithm were compared. They were, k-mean clustering on parallel and non-parallel execution in WEKA and k-mean clustering on constructed program using message passing interface (MPI) for parallel k-mean algorithm. Firstly the cluster building ability of WEKA Parallel over non-parallel WEKA for very large datasets was investigated. To identify the performance of parallelizing, the number of machines connected to the WEKA Parallel was varied and performances were analyzed for several k values using k-mean algorithm for each setup. The experiment was done on three real electricity consumption data consists of 80000, 50000 and 30000 data entries and with 65 attributes. It was identified that there is a significant improvement in performance of the WEKA Parallel. Further WEKA parallel can be applied to very large datasets which were failed to work with WEKA. Secondly the k-mean algorithm was implemented in C programming language and its performance with non- parallel WEKA was compared. According to that the time taken to build clusters was almost similar for small datasets. Then the above C program for k-mean algorithm was improved to parallel k-mean using Message Passing Interface (MPI) programming for distributed computers. To measure the performance of parallel k-mean over non-parallel k-mean the above datasets were used and above experiment was repeated for the constructed MPI program. Here the dataset was partitioned into several segments and those segments are sent to distributed processors then it applies the k-mean algorithm separately. This process is repeatedly executed until the smooth clusters are formed .Further we compared the performance of the constructed parallel k-mean algorithm and the k-mean in WEKA parallel for very large datasets.

Rice bran is the thin coating on the rice grain, exists between the rice grain and the rice husk. Rice bran which is a byproduct of the rice milling process is highly nutritious due to the presence of lipids, protein, minerals and vitamins. Rice bran oil has a high medicinal value and hence is used in many pharmaceutical manufacturing processes. Steam stabilized rice bran was pelletized to equivalent volume diameter of 8 mm and rice bran oil was extracted from six rice varieties used in Sri Lanka using Iso propyl alcohol as the solvent. Results show that the rice bran contains 11 to 18 weight % oil for the types of bran tested. Three stage cross flow extraction experiments conducted for the selected types of bran show approximately 50% of the oil is extracted in the first stage, followed by 30% and 20% of the oil extraction in the second and third stages respectively. Extraction kinetic data were fitted to three kinetic models and model parameters were determined. Analysis of the results revealed that data fits to second order model, Weibull’s equation and power law model with correlation coefficients (R2) and root mean square (RMS) values in the range of 0.989 to 0.996 and  0.0132 to  0.05 respectively. Initial extraction rates predicted from the second order model were 0.052 min-1 and 0.063 min-1 and the diffusional exponent (n) in the power law model were 0.267 and 0.213 for bran types BG 352 and AT 307 respectively. Predicted maximum extraction yield from the second order equation and the scale parameter from the Weibull’s equation were in good agreement with the experimental results. Scale parameter () in the Weibull’s equation which represents the time needed to accomplish approximately 63% of the extraction were 54 and 60 mins for the two types of rice bran, BG 352 and AT 307, tested respectively. The kinetic data thus determined enables prediction of time required for extraction and hence the size of the extraction unit.

Laboratory model tests were carried out to study the behaviour of strip footing resting on a geogrids-reinforced dune sand. The tests were performed on a rigid steel tank having glass side with inner dimensions of 1 m by 0.64 m by 0.23 m. The footing was made from a metal plate with dimensions of 75 mm by 230 mm by 180 mm. The footing was placed centrally across the tank. Different instrumentations were installed such as Linear Variable Displacement Transducers (LVDT) to measure the vertical displacement of the footing. The applied load was measured by using a providing ring with strain gages placed at the top of the footing. A hydraulic machine as used to apply the load. Footings were placed at different depths from the surface of sand. Geogrids were placed at different depths below the footing starting at 0.25B to B (where B was the width of the footing). The sand was placed in the tank using raining method. The use of geogrids improved the bearing capacity of strip footings by a factor of up to 3.5 times. The improvement depends on the number of the geogrids layers and the depth of the geogrids below the bottom of the footings. The geogrids modified the load-settlement curve for the footing by increasing the strain at failure.The bearing capacity increases as the depth of the foundation increases. From the tests, the best depth of the geogrids which gives the higher bearing capacity is at 0.75B for one layer. For two layers the optimum locations are one geogrid at 0.25B and the other one at 0.75B.

Breast cancer risk assessment model will tack external risk factors such as family medical history (including gens (BRCA1, BRCA2), number of first degree relative with breast cancer),number of previous breast biopsies, life style, age, personal history, menstrual period, previous chest radiation, birth control used, hormone therapy after menopause, the woman’s age when she had the first child, weight, height, whether she has breast-fed, level of obesity (if any), physical activity and working at night as input. It displayed as a percentage likelihood of developing breast cancer as result. In addition, it will transfer input information to hospital to determent eligibility of clinical treatment and book appointment for breast cancer treatment if the case able to effect by breast cancer. They will categorize to two groups, one of them is women with greater than 40 years old who have not family history of breast cancer and anther is women with greater than 35 years old who have family history of breast cancer. The main purpose of this research is to study and make an analysis of all external risk factors leading to breast cancer and to design a tool for self- detect breast risk factors than can lead to breast cancer, connect system with hospital to be under consultant doctors and enable women to book an appointment through the model for breast cancer treatment, transfer input data to the hospital and measure by doctor, increasing public awareness of breast cancer risk factors in Oman, it will give health care in Oman tool to assist breast cancer risk factors and determine eligibility for clinical treatment, simplify the breast cancer clinical treatment appointment process, computing percentage likelihood of developing breast cancer as result for Omani women, develop an algorithm that will taking external risk factors.

Malaysian construction industry, only a few recorded on construction waste generation. Thus, this paper highlighted the development of a model to estimate the amount of timber waste which generated from a construction site specifically to housing construction project. The adjusted R-square value of 0.851 is indicate for this model. In addition, the performance of the model was evaluated by using Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) which good model shows value less than 20% . As for the model of timber waste, the value of MAPE is 15.478% and this can be considered as good. This model is believed can be used by the construction practitioners mainly the contractors as a tool to assist in estimating the timber waste which may be generated from a housing construction project. This may help them in preparing the proper waste management at the construction site, thus indirectly reduce the cost and achieve the sustainable development.

Malaysian construction industry had shown a robust growth nowadays and it gives positive impact to the nation. However, the negligent of construction waste generation should be overwhelmed since it is not only effecting the environment but also on the profit margin of the company. Among the various types of waste generated from the construction activities, timber had identified as one of the most generated based on the experience of the various person in the construction industry. Hence, this paper is intended to show the effectiveness of the identified factors to the waste generation based on point of view of various key personnel who directly involved in construction industry such as Site Supervisor, Site Engineer, Project Manager, Project Engineer and Quantity Survey. The structured questionnaire surveys were distributed among those respondents which located in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor only. It was found that there are various taught on this matter and it shows that difference key personnels are stressing on different factors in handling their project in order to minimize the waste generation.

Construction and demolition (C&D) waste is a major problem in many countries around the world, especially in developing economies. Thailand is not an exception. To satisfy the needs of the rapid development of economy, a huge amount of money is invested in the construction industry. Thailand is, therefore, seeing the increase trend in a great deal of C&D waste. However, very few construction companies are focusing on C&D waste recycling program implementation owing to the lack of experience in C&D waste management. Therefore, this research tries to improve the current status of recycling by concentrating on economic feasibility. All types of costs are paid by construction companies when applying to a recycling program in Bangkok will be indicated. The result shows that approximately 2.5 billion Baht is needed to invest in the C&D waste recycling program. This paper suggests that the government ought to encourage construction companies to participate in recycling program by reducing tax or subsidizing partially the capital for them because of the large amount of investments at the beginning years.

Chronic kidney disease is a one of worldwide public health problems. Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), also known as chronic renal disease or chronic renal failure, is a degenerative, progressive condition marked by the gradual loss of kidney function. The experience is traumatic not only for the patients but also for their families who are frequently unable to provide the medical services needed due to the high cost of treatment. Optimally, CKD are treated with dialysis or kidney transplant. Chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology has emerged as a major health care problem in the North – Central of Sri Lanka during the last few decades. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of kidney disease and the identifying the responsibity of the government other authorities regarding solving this burning issue. Research problem is “reasons and social impact of CKD patients in North central province?” Survey was conducted to identify the research problem and data were collected using questionnaires, Key Informant interviews and focus group interviews. Research area was Padawiya in Padawiya Divisional secretariat.In developed countries, the most common causes of CKD are obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes. But in Sri Lankan context there is a significant high rate of kidney patients in north central province. Many researches were conducted to identify the causes and effects of the disease. Deferent researchers have identified different causes including insecticides, fluoride water, poisons, arsenic, dehydration, drugs, smoking, affect from hard metals. Research findings including spreading rate, sex ratio, geographical and environmental relations, food patterns, livelihood patterns, water resources are making a path to open a new discussion on these issues.

The hypoglycemic and hypocholesterolemic effects of aqueous extract of avocado seed were investigated on normal and alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Likewise, the effects of the avocado seed extract on the pancreatic Islet cells and liver of rats were also assessed. Diabetes was induced using a single dose (120 mg/kg body wt.) intraperitoneal injection of alloxan monohydrate (1%). The extract was administered to the rats of both normal and hyperglycemic groups at a dose of 1000 and 2000 mg/kbw. Blood samples were collected from the tail of the rats using sterile blade. Blood glucose and total cholesterol were measured using the EasyMate® GCU. A significant decline in the blood glucose level was seen for the diabetic rats treated with 1000 mg/kbw (20% reduction) and 2000mg/kbw (42% reduction). The reduction was comparable to that of the standard drug glibenclamide (p= 0.58> 0.05). Histological studies showed that alloxan caused a degenerative effect on the pancreatic islet cells of diabetic rats. However, after treatment of the rats with avocado extract, an improvement of the histo-morphological structure of the Islet cells of the pancreas was noted, suggesting restorative (protective) effect of the extract on pancreatic islet cells as well as cytoprotective in the development of fat deposition in the liver parenchyma of diabetic rats. These data suggest that administration of aqueous extract of avocado seed may be safely used in the treatment and management of diabetes. The isolation of the active component responsible for the hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effect and its cytoprotective actions, is therefore warranted.

In this paper, a comprehensive performance analysis of the energy detector with selection combining over cascaded Nakagami-m fading channels with antenna diversity reception is developed in which all terminals are considered as vehicles. For the diversity case, with the selection combining, expression for the probability of detection is derived by using probability density function method. The validity of theoretical analyses was shown by comparing numerical results with Monte-Carlo simulations. The results indicate that the detection performance for cascaded Nakagami-m fading is even worse than the conventional Nakagami fading, which can be improved by diversity..