Research Plus Journals (RPJ)
Not a member yet
364 research outputs found
Sort by
The Impact of Micro Finance on Rural Households
Get PDFMicro Finance has become one of the most effective instruments for economic development of the poor. Expansion of rural credit delivery system since 1947 has not changed the dependence of the poor on money lenders ad commission agents. The dependence of the rural poor on non-institutional sources of credit is one of the causes that perpetuate their poverty. The poverty alleviation and government sponsored schemes in banks have problems in implementation, with more Non Performing Assets than of other schemes and therefore failed to deliver the expected results. Thus the rural banking institutions are out of step with changing rural credit. The situation necessitated the formation Self Help Groups for enabling the poor to participate in the process of development. Micro Finance or Micro credit for the poor and women has received extensive recognition as a strategy for poverty reduction and for economic development. Micro finance aims at organizing people particularly around credit and building capacities to manage money. The focus is on getting the poor to mobilize their own funds, building their capacities and empowering them to leverage external credit
How do Human Capital Planning and Employee Development Relate with Employee Retention in High Educational Institutions in Sokoto State?
Get PDFHuman capital planning is one area that has witnessed spurred development lately. Organizations regardless of motive are getting more flat and relaxed by moving far away from the known hierarchical systems. The central theme of human capital planning (HCP) is to work out modalities that will favor both the employer and employee. This paper used academic staff in higher educational institutions (HEI's) and examined the relationship among HCP, employee development and employee retention. The views of 416 respondents were analyzed using SmartPLS 2.0. It was revealed that two out of the three hypotheses were proven and there were no enough evidence to support one. The paper recommends that employee development should be revisited and accorded a requisite modification that will serve as a morale booster and more or less a retention strategy in HEI's in Sokoto State, Nigeria
Comprehensive Validation of the Regeneration Workload Forecast for Complex Capital Goods Using Data Mining
Get PDFCapacity planning in the regeneration of complex capital goods faces major challenges because it is affected by a high level of uncertain workload information. A methodology is developed here to predict the regeneration workload on the basis of the CRISP-DM model using Bayesian networks. The forecasts are validated for the different capacity planning levels. The results support the conclusion that capacity planning can gain permanent benefits from the methodology developed
MRI Protocols Comparison of In-Vivo Spinal Cord Imaging Of the Rats for Segmentation Purposes
Get PDFWe are developing a three-dimensional (3D) model of the rat spinal cord to act as a reliable tool for investigating mechanisms of spinal injury. Segmentation and meshing, by which the spinal geometry is extracted into a model, requires both considerably clear boundaries and high-contrast representation of the cord components: white matter, grey matter, meninges, CSF and IVD. Unfortunately, despite the advancement of MRI technology, obtaining high-resolution and high-contrast spinal cord of the rat is not an easy task; tedious protocols set up are required. This work comparedtwoprotocols that are commonly used for in-vivo MRI acquisitions; FLASH (T1 weighted) and TurboRare(T2 weighted). The software packages MicroDICOM and Mimics were used to assess the outcome of each protocol. As further comparison, we also examined ex-vivo datasets obtaining with MSME (T2 and proton density weighted) acquisition. The assessment was made based on the clarity of canny edgecontrast detection and the amount of unintended objects adjacent to the spinal cord components on the 3D model. We found that compared to TurboRare (T2 weighted), FLASH (T1 weighted) visually produced higher contrast between white and grey matter. This visual assessment was confirmed by the canny edge boundary detection on MicroDICOM. On Mimics, this difference was not detectable. Although the amount of unintended structures of the 3D modelof FLASH (T1 weighted) acquisitions less than that of the TurboRare (T2 weighted), it was more likely due to the signal uniformity rather than the effect of acquisition selection. Additionally, since this work only involved 3 datasets, whereby the statistical validation is not sufficient, we could not suggesta conclusive finding. However, this work is important as the basis further MRI protocol comparison studies
Numerical Analysis of Transient Response in a Single-Pass Cross flow Heat Exchanger
Get PDFCrossflow heat exchangers are commonly employed in process critical applications in industries. A heat exchanger can be subjected to flow or temperature perturbation during its regular operation. It should be noted that a heat exchanger would require a finite time to overcome such perturbations. In this study, the transient response of a single-pass crossflow heat exchanger with variable inlet temperatures and mass flow rates was determined. Herein, the analysis of the transient performance of cross flow heat exchangers is conducted on a dimensionless basis. In every instance, the energy balance equations were solved using an explicit finite difference method. Numerical predictions were obtained for cases where both the fluids were subjected to step changes in inlet temperature, coupled with step mass flow rate change of the fluids. The analysis can be readily extended to study different flow circuiting and inlet conditions
Proposed Composite Location ID Code Needed for Asset management of Electric Distribution Networks
Get PDFThe absence of as built GIS map for lowvoltage ( LV ) electric network due to a very limited freezeperiod compared with the case of medium voltage (MV)electric network ,accordingly the location ID needed forasset management cannot be expressed purely spatial butthe LV network topology should be incorporated with thespatial location ID of the related topologically MVnetwork. As the LV network topology has a standarddata model and generic naming conventions , accordinglythe needed topological code can be created directly foreach LV network elements and then the composite locationID can be identified simply for each element of electricnetwork . The proposed approach is illustrated via selectedcase study
Cancer Magnitude in West Libya and Study the Effect of Dietary Habits in Cancer Incidence and Cancer Treatment Using Nanotechnology
Get PDFThis study provides an overview of magnitude of cancer incidence in West Libya form 2009 to 2013, to identify the role of bad meal in developing cancer, and to suggest further nano-technology research for treating cancer. Among 1851 cancer cases, 1472 cases (79.5%) occur in people aged above 40 years old. The most affected age by cancers was in males aged 61-70 years and in females aged 41-50 years. Lung cancer is the principal cancer in men accounting for 21% of cases, while breast cancer is the leading malignancy in women accounting for 35% of cases. Among 100 interviewed males and females with colon, stomach and liver cancers, 50% of them were eating a lot of red meat, canned and fast foods, whereas 20% of all cases were eating a little of fruits and vegetables. 22% of all cases were more likely to have a positive family history of cancer and 8% of all cases had chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, urinary tract infection and gastritis. Good efforts have been made to improve the treatment of cancer by using nanomedicines in order to enhance the performance of chemotherapy and reduce systemic side effects
Histological Effects of Smokeless Tobacco on the Endometrial Glands of the Orally Treated Female Swiss Albino Rats
Get PDFTobacco use is the leading cause of mortality all over the world. Smokeless tobacco contains higher quantities of nicotine than most cigarettes. Over the past few decades the use of tobacco among women of reproductive ages has increased. Exposure to the toxins present in the tobacco interferes with the endometrial receptivity, endometrial angiogenesis and uterine blood flow.Material and Methods: 30 adult female Swiss albino rats were randomly selected. They were divided into three groups (n=10 each). Group A was kept as control. Experimental groups B and C consisted of rats which were given 5 % and 10% of smokeless tobacco in their feed respectively. Feed and water were given ad libitum. On 31stday the animals were sacrificed. Uterus of all the animals were removed and weighed. The tissues were processed for histological examination under light microscopy using H and E and Trichrome stains.Results: A significant decrease in the weight of the uterus was observed (P value <= 0.001). The histological changes in the uterus of experimental groups revealed severe cystically dilated sub mucosal glands. Endometrial glands also showed marked atrophy (P value <= 0.001).Conclusion: From this study it can be concluded that the smokeless form of tobacco causes adverse effects on the endometrium of the female Swiss albino rats. Long term use of this form of tobacco may lead to adverse reproductive outcomes or other pathological conditions of uterus
The Mediating Role of Absorptive Capacity on Its Relation Between Entrepreneurial Orientation and Technological Innovation Capabilities
Get PDFThe present study purposes to examine themediating role of absorptive capacity in its nexus betweenentrepreneurial orientation and technological innovationcapabilities among industrial SMEs in Kurdistan region of Iraq.To validate the proposed model,self-administered questionnairewasconducted to gathering data from SMEs owners in Kurdistanregion of Iraq, 432 questionnaires returned and used forstatistical analysis out of 676 distributed. The outcomes ofpresent research reflect that both of entrepreneurial orientationand absorptive capacity have significant effect on technologicalinnovation capabilities. Furthermore, the outcomes assert thatthe absorptive capacity has a mediation role in the nexus betweenentrepreneurial orientation and technological innovationcapabilities
Cryptosystem for Providing Secured Application based on Genetic Algorithm
Get PDFIn this study, has shown how to design asymmetric encryption algorithm based on using two pseudorandom number generators and the features of crossover and mutation operations of Genetic algorithm (GA).the roles of pseudorandom number generators, in the proposed algorithm, help to generate dynamic representation for each character and define where to apply the crossover and mutation operations in deterministic way to produce the ciphertext; The proposed encryption algorithm solves the problem of exchange and distribution of private keys over the networks by using crossover operator; The various examples and implementation of the algorithm proves that it exchanges the keys and encrypts successfully all the characters, and serves the goals of cryptography