Archives-December 

Over time, the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained popularity, with people accepting the fact that companies have a responsibility to help the community in which they do business. Gone are the days when the sole objective of business was profit maximization. Companies are said to possess stakeholders whose interests they have to understand and try to satisfy. Stakeholder theory is thus closely linked with CSR. An interesting question is how companies are supposed to satisfy these needs. This paper attempted to evaluate the CSR best practices of America’s richest companies of 2010 as determined by Fortune Magazine: Wal-Mart, Chevron and Bank of America. This evaluation was done using a CSR best practices guide obtained from the CSR activities of the top 3 most socially responsible companies of 2010. Content analysis was utilized to explore the CSR reports of these companies, focusing on activities related to 4 key stakeholders, 1) Employees, 2) Customers, 3) Community and 4) Environment. Results of the analysis revealed that Wal-Mart, Chevron and Bank of America performed very well in discharging their responsibilities towards the community and the environment, but did quite poorly towards employees in particular. These companies were advised to focus more on the welfare of their employees, given their vital importance to the success of each company. Companies were also advised to provide customers with forums and mechanisms for feedback and comments. These would provide valuable information to the companies on how to improve their services so as to maintain existing customers and garner new ones.

Porter's five forces framework of strategic management is one of the most influential. Due to the increasing need for organizations to define, evaluate the strategies before deciding, in this study we decided to go to these forces. The purpose of this study using the analytic network process for applying Porter's five forces model. Overcome the limitations of the model through improvements to the analysis of the conditions and requirements for Effective prioritization of the five forces and forces them to create a competitive situation with regard to the dependence of industrial or competitive conditions in the industry It may be better to use force and effect and the degree and severity of dependence are associated with the identified sub-force And to create an overall competitive position of the industry (SICI) adopted strategic decisions with greater confidence. The objective of this study will be needed on how to obtain the data, descriptive (non-beta) and its correlation. The study population includes managers and experts Pegah products which may ultimately total of 85 people. Given the above, the results of analytic network process (ANP) and SICI in question show that, in industry and studied the bargaining power of suppliers of utmost importance and organizations to deal with this threat to the integration strategy return them.

Production of date syrup as use for sweeteners in food has become very essential in view of the high consumption of table sugar which is high in calories and has been a precursor to certain ailment such as increased risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes. This work was designed to produce sweetener from date fruits and to determine the chemical properties, microbial and sensory attributes of the sweetener. Date fruits were sorted washed and wet milled. Slurry obtained was screened and filtrate was poured into an evaporator. Sweetener was analysed for pH, brix, proximate, vitamins B1 and C acceptability of the product was determined.The syrup obtained was a brown coloured viscous liquid of 5.71 Pa s at 25oC. pH of date syrup was 4.95. The moisture content was 23.75%. The results for protein, ash, crude fiber and fat were 2.41, 1.81, 0.14 and 1.21% respectively. Significant values of vitamins B1 and C were observed. The date sweetener had a brix of 71.5 which indicate high sweetening value. The product compared favourably with honey in terms of sensory attributes. Application of sweetener produced from date syrup will serve as a means of increasing the nutritional value of food, when added.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of nitrite in urine, protein concentration and nitrite level in the microsomal plus soluble fraction of liver in wistar rats administered with sodium nitrite and dimethylamine hydrochloride. Wistar rats were divided into three groups, the first group was given a single concurrent dose of 50mg/kg of dimethylamine hydrochloride and 62.05mg/kg of sodium nitrite, the second group was given 62.05mg/kg of sodium nitrite and control group was given water and food only ad libitum. The methods used were cell fractionation, homogenization, centrifugation and spectrophotometry. There was a significant increase (P < 0.05) in the concentration of nitrite in urine of rat, in the protein concentration and nitrite level in the microsomal plus soluble fraction of liver in all the experimental groups compared to the control. After exposure to UV-light there was a decrease in the level of nitrite in all the groups, which indicates that nitrite may form nitroso compounds by reacting with a nitrosatable compound. This study shows the level of nitrite in urine of wistar rat, the level of protein and nitrite in microsomal plus soluble fraction of rats and the UV degradation of precursors of N-nitrosamine.

Ngari is a non-salted fermented fish product of Manipur. Sundried Puntius sophore (Ham.) are fermented anaerobically with no intentional addition of starter culture for 4 to 12 months. LAB, Bacillus and yeast were involved in its fermentation. They are prepared at household level and marketed locally. Ngari are good source of protein, amino acids and minerals. The product has potential probiotic properties, antioxidant and antihypertensive characteristics. However, the fermented product if not processed hygienically can pose threat to food borne illness due to cross contamination. This review study is to know the processing technique and potential health benefits of Ngari.

Exchange rate exposure of UK listed oil and gas companies was examined against four major currencies; Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, Euro and US dollar by applying Adler and Dumas (1984) estimation model. The final sample of the study consists of (17) firms. (100%) of the sample firms exhibit significant negative exposure to US dollar indicating a decrease in stock returns of these firms, all the companies’ exhibit significant positive exposure to Australian dollar, 88% of the sample firms exhibits significant positive exposure to Canadian dollar. Major findings from the study reveals that oil and gas sector in UK is highly vulnerable to exchange rate risk particularly against US, Australian and Canadian dollar.

India has an age old unbroken history of welcoming and providing warm hospitality to an endless inundation of men and women of diverse creeds, cultures and races. However, when it comes to its own citizens who are displaced due to conflicts, the situation is entirely different and awfully pathetic. The IDPs of Bodoland are facing the same. They are devoid of basic rights and amenities. In the absence of a comprehensive law pertaining to protection and rehabilitation of conflict induced IDPs, their problems have been aggravated. In view of the forgoing a study of the genesis of Bodoland, history of ethnic conflicts in Bodoland, condition of the IDPs created by these conflicts and legal response to the needs of these IDPs has assumed paramount importance. This paper aims to shed light on these not so talked about problems of the people of Bodoland and also makes a humble attempt advancing a few suggestions towards remedying the same.

The present study was undertaken to examine the influence of School related Hardiness and Achievement Motivation on Academic Achievement of Secondary School students. Descriptive survey method was employed to conduct it. Statistical techniques of product moment method of correlation and analysis of variance were employed to analyse data. There was no significant relationship found between Academic Achievement and school related Hardiness but a significant relationship was found between Academic Achievement and Achievement Motivation. Significant main effect of Achievement Motivation was revealed on the Academic Achievement of students at .05 level but there was no significant main effect of school related Hardiness on Academic Achievement. Results also indicated statistically significant interaction at .05 level between school related Hardiness and Achievement Motivation with regard to Academic Achievement. Overall, these findings provide new insights about a comprehensive understanding of School related Hardiness and Achievement Motivation as correlates of Academic Achievement.

In today’s era, majority of the residential construction involves masonry. Despite its wide use in structural engineering, masonry is still the least understood especially seismic behavior building material in terms of strength and deformation characteristics due to its heterogeneity. The general behavior of unreinforced masonry under lateral is brittle and thus has high seismic hazard. Confining masonry is found to enhance the seismic behavior of masonry. In this project simple masonry (unreinforced masonry) and confined masonry walls of size 1.25mx1.25mx.1m were tested and compared for their behavior under in plane lateral loads. Confinement to the masonry was provided in the form of reinforced vertical columns and horizontal beam called as tie columns and tie beam respectively. The reinforcement in confinement was provided as per the guidelines issued by Euro code 8 for confined masonry. Their ultimate load strength, deformation capacity (ductility) and initial stiffness are the parameters studied in comparison. Confined masonry showed excellent behavior under lateral loads both in terms of ultimate load capacity and ductility than the simple masonry.

About 1% of the total storage capacity in the world’s reservoirs is lost annually due to sedimentation. Sediments can also block intakes in reservoirs and damage tunnels or turbines. One of the most effective techniques to remove these sediments is flushing, whereby water level is lowered sufficiently to re-erode deposits and flush them through the intakes. Outflow sediment discharge may well be related to the parameters such as the sediment characteristics in the reservoir, sediment discharge and hydrological conditions. In this paper, investigation and evaluation of sedimentation and flushing in Dez1 stream dam are considered. Sensitivity analysis of the mathematical model is evaluated for input parameters variation on sedimentation and flushing in reservoirs. Results shows that the rate of sediment flushing is strongly associate with grain size of sediment. This paper shows that flushing can retrieve about 50% of beneficial storage of reservoirs.