Archives-December 

An efficient one-pot protocol to generate 4-arylmethyleneisoxazol-5-one derivatives from ethyl acetoacetate, hydroxylamine hydrochloride, and various aromatic aldehydes using sodium azide catalyst in water as environmentally benign solvent has been developed.

This study was conducted to check the random walk behavior in the Karachi Stock Exchange. Daily, weekly and monthly stock returns of KSE 100 index for the period from 1st Jan. 1998 to 29th Feb. 2012 was tested by using descriptive statistics, VAR test, RUN test, KS test and unit root tests (ADF test and PP). Results of all the tests indicate that the KSE don’t follow random walk behavior and thus not weak form efficient, and there are chances of abnormal profit for the technical investors.

The process of international integration arising from the interchange of world views, products, ideas and other aspects of culture is the currency of the day. This has many aspects and expatriates play several crucial roles in this process of change. There are a number of vital determinants that affect this change. This study examines some of the determinants of expatriate performance in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach: The extant literature has been studied to explore the theoretical base for the research. And on the basis of the previous research theoretical scope was designed. To analyze the determinants, views of 109 expatriates from four different sectors; education, construction, telecommunication, and press and media were collected through a survey. Multiple regression analysis was employed. Findings: The empirical evidence revealed that 67.3% variation in performance is explained by factors like expatriate selection, cross-culture training, language skills, family related issues, personality characteristics, expatriate motivations. However, the role of personality characteristics is very significant compared to the rest. The results of the correlation and regression analysis supported the hypothesis is supported by the empirical data. Research limitations/implications: The study has some limitations like comparatively small sample size and limited number (sectors) of international organizations in Pakistan. Apart from such limitations the study has all the positives of expatriate research. One notable aspect of the study is that it is one of the first to study expatriation in Pakistan. Practical implications: The research has practical implications for international organizations in providing in-depth understanding regarding the role of these factors in affecting the behavior of their employees and thereby the performance of the organizations and would help them in taking into account these determinants while making reasoned decisions about expatriation in Pakistan. Originality/value: Though the amount of research on expatriation is abundant, contextual studies in Pakistan are in the nascent stages. Such studies (new and replications both) will be of greater value in advancing the cause of good HR practices and encouraging future research in this field.

In today's dynamic environment, proper strategies are not enough for companies and they should also be able to work in harmony with their environment. Innovation is one of the factors that allow companies to achieve sustainable competitive advantage through appropriate leadership style and knowledge absorptive capacity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the intermediary role of knowledge absorptive capacity between transactional leadership style and innovation. The population of the study included medium and large-scale manufacturing companies in the industrial estates of Mashhad County. The data were collected by means of a questionnaire. Structural equation modeling and partial least squares were used for data analysis. The results of the analyzing the questionnaires distributed among the sample population - 82 senior managers of companies - showed that there was a significant and positive relationship between transactional leadership and knowledge absorptive capacity as well as knowledge absorptive capacity and organizational innovation. Therefore, the significance of the intermediary role of knowledge absorptive capacity was confirmed.

According to effects of globalization on changing attitudes, values and beliefs of particular communities in Eastern societies, education is impressed. The purpose of this study is investigating the process of globalization on the education of Islamic communities. Is it possible to cancel or reduce the effects of globalization? (In some cases, this effects appear inappropriate.) Some subjects as changing attitudes, persuasion and advertising people, are closely related to the globalization issue. Among the notable ideas in this area, "inoculated" by Mac Guar and Papajurjys (1961) has been proposed. It explains a method that can be protected in beliefs, opinions and views of the conflict. It protects people against the brainwashing through a gradual understanding of the beliefs about the correct reasons. After rejection of hypothesis, it is confirmed with medical vaccination approach. It means ideas and attitudes are also immunization against pests and damage. According to assumption of this study, globalization in the age of communication and information is the best way. This paper proposes two solutions. First, Educational system and families can protect children with inoculation against undesirable and unexpected some changes, attitudes and values. Second, promotion of critical thinking is against real accepting or ignoring in process of globalization. Critical thinking is one of the most important life skill in dealing with phenomena that are not really well-known.

The Quest for Truth: History and Narration in Julian Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending

This study examines the relationship between job stress and mental health in governmental agencies of Sarpol-e-Zahab city. This research method is descriptive-correlation. Statically population is all staffs of governmental agencies. Statically sample is 160 people from governmental staffs. Samples were tested by Job stress questionnaire (IVJSI) and public health (28- GHQ). Results indicate that the positive relationship between job stress and mental health is significant. There was a significant and positive correlation between job stress and physical symptoms of anxiety and depression, but between job stress and social function symptoms is significant negative correlation; thus attention to work environment and agencies work condition cause to enhance the quality of work, employee mental health and efficiency.

The impact of code switching on the speaking of EFL students’ learning ability, the significance of code switching in classrooms where medium of instruction is second or foreign language is approved reality. Observation of bilingual or multilingual classrooms show that teachers use code switching in different situations for different purposes. In speaking classes using code switching in Iranian school classes reduced the scores of the students and it has negative effect on the students. The researcher used code- switching in two groups of students in six grade of primary school. In the speaking class by the two groups of 40 students, using code switch of the 20 of the student and not using code switching of 20 of the other students. Teaching them for about ten sessions the result has been shown that by those students that using code switching the score of them is low and those who haven’t used code switching was wonderful. Key words: Bilingual, Multilingual, Code-switching

The harmonic wave numbers of allopurinol were calculated by using of density functional theory with B3LYP/6-311++ G(d,p) level. The molecular electrostatic potentials (MEP) of allopurinol isomers were calculated with help of Spartan 10 software at the B3LYP/6-31++ (d,p) level , and the molecular surface was taken to be the 0.002 au contour of the electron density. These MEP map surfaces show that different colors, the red color shows positive potentials and blue color shows negative potentials. From the MEP results, the positive potentials sites are located an electronegative nitrogen and oxygen atoms and the negative potentials sites are located around the hydrogen atoms in the isomers. These potentials sites are mainly give the information about intermolecular interactions possible in the molecule.

The aim of this paper is to present a modern model for optimization of relative efficiency of congeneric units benefiting from Imperialist competitive algorithm. The Imperialist competitive algorithm, which is regarded as a method in the realm of evolutionary calculations, dealing with finding an optimized reply to various problems of optimization, presents a social-political algorithmic evolution process for solving mathematical problems of optimization through mathematical modeling. Through accompany of data envelopment analysis method with this algorithm, herein this paper, a model has been proposed for optimization of relative efficiency of congeneric units. Experimental results obtained from execution of the proposed algorithm reveal that the said model has succeeded and also showed that the proposed algorithm has most convergence speed, compared to primary Imperialist algorithm.