Impact of the HeartMath Self-Management Skills Program on Physiological and Psychological Stress in Police Officers

This study explored the impact on a group of police officers from Santa Clara County, California of the HeartMath stress and emotional self-management training, which provides practical techniques designed to reduce stress in the moment, improve physiological and emotional balance, increase mental clarity and enhance performance and quality of life.This study provides evidence that practical stress and emotional self-management techniques can reduce damaging physiological and psychological responses to both acute and chronic stress in police, and positively impact a variety of major life areas in a relatively short period of time. In particular, results show that application of these interventions can produce notable improvements in communication difficulties at work and in strained family relationships, two areas that are well recognized to be major sources of stress for police

Performance of Trichoderma Harzianum Rifai as a Biological Control Agent for Basal Stem Rot of Oil Palm (Elaeis Guineensis Jacq.) Caused by Ganoderma Boninense Pat

Basal stem rot (BSR) is a major threat to the oil palm industry. The disease is caused by Ganoderma boninense, which rots the internal tissues at the trunk base resulting in stem fracture and death of palm. The present study investigated the efficacy of two isolates of Trichoderma harzianum (BIO T32 and BIO T66) as potential biological control agents against BSR based on in vitro and in vivo trials. The study revealed that treatment applied as a soil drench using conidial suspension (mean of 1.61 x lo8 sporeslml) of BIO T32 in addition to a Trichoderma-incorporated palm press fibre (ppf) surface mulch, performed better with a significant difference compared to the use of BIO T66. The disease severity index (DSI) of the former was 28.35 compared to 76.67 of the latter. BIO T32 was also a competent biological control agent in the delayed treatment given to pre-infected seedlings at 6 weeks before treatment with BIO T32, giving a DSI of 45, which was statistically significant compared to the infected and untreated control seedlings with a DSI of 86.67. In testing the synergistic effect by combining the 2 isolates, a poorer performance was observed based on the DSI and plant biomass compared to single application of BIO T32. Isolate BIO T66 which showed good antagonistic properties in the in vitro assessment was not found to display similar results in the in vivo trials. A series of treatments were evaluated for their potential as a BIO T32 carrier. Out of the 3 studies, only ppf and compost exhibited promising results in their capacity as surface 4 mulches, where treatments with either one gave a DSI of 30. Both are food base carriers for they increased the growth of oil palm seedlings significantly, with compost displaying better results. Treatment with compost in terms of vegetative growth gave the highest plant biomass, leaf area measurement, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) content in the seedlings compared to the other 2 treatments of ppf and the untreated control seedlings. 1 In total, the experiment revealed that the application of BIO T32 as a single inoculum was the best treatment, giving a DSI of 28.35. Trials using a single application of BIO T66 and BIO T66 mixed with BIO T32 performed poorly, giving a DSI of 76.67 each and were not significantly different from the infected non-treated control plants. An appropriate interval of conidial suspension's application played a pertinent role in the inhibition of disease as demonstrated in the delayed treatment. The application of compost was found to be an interesting alternative to ppf as surface mulch, which functions also as a Trichoderma carrier. Finally, in terms of vegetative growth both ppf and compost as food base carriers significantly increased plant biomass, total leaf area measurement and N uptake compared to the untreated control

A cfd simulation study on the effect of volume ratio on pressure piling

This paper presents the CFD simulation study on the effect of volume ratio on pressure piling. The explosion of flammable mixtures in interconnected compartments is commonly defined as “pressure piling” and its occurrence is a relevant issue of industrial safety. Pressure piling is a situation where peak pressures much higher than the expected values predicted by thermodynamic are generated in the geometry. The geometric characteristics of the vessels such as the tube area and ratio of volumes of the interconnected vessels play important role in the intensity of the pressure piling. Moreover, pre-compression and violence of explosion are the two main mechanisms affecting pressure piling. A CFD-Ansys and RANS model were used in this paper. The models duplicated experimental explosion behaviours and the results were compared with experimental. Propane-air mixture was used to study pressure piling. In the end it was found that pre-compression and violence of explosion are the two main mechanisms affecting pressure piling, which in turns affect the ratio between reaction and venting time in the second vessel (Brt). Higher the Brt number in the second vessel, lower the occurrence of pressure piling. Lower the volume ratio, higher the violence of explosion. Increasing the volume ratio results in a more intense pre-compression (pressure in the secondary vessel at ignition time increases) thus suggesting that ignition in the second vessel occurs starting from a higher value of pressure. Therefore, low pre-compression and high Brt number can prevent the occurrence of pressure pilin

E-commerce on the move - Malaysian scenario

One of the fastest growing areas of E-Commerce today is mobile commerce. There are more users of mobile devices such as laptops, palm PCs, cellular phones and personal digital/data assistants (PDAs).A mobile device is a personal unit that is within reach and provides anywhere and anytime access to the user.The penetration rate of cellular phones in most developed and developing countries is much larger than that of personal computers.Recent roll-outs of public wireless broadband infrastructure of 2.5G and 3G networks have made opportunities for mobile commerce become a reality and will affect our daily lives in work, leisure and recreation.This analytical paper attempts to study the development of E-commerce in Malaysia.A part from this, the paper will also construct SWOT analysis and identify the impact of M-commerce on the political, economic, social and technological environment.Finally, recommendation will be given of the best alternate strategies for the promotion and development of M-commerce in the nation

Abridgment of traditional procurement and e-procurement: definitions, tools and benefits / Noraizah Abu Bakar ...[at al]

The main aim of this paper is to contribute to our understanding of traditional procurement and electronic procurement process. Through the study of the literature, this paper concentrates on the traditional procurement and e-procurement from the perspectives of its definitions, tools and benefits. Considering the apparent shift from traditional procurement to an electronic procurement environment, public and private sector agencies worldwide can improve their procurement process, with the use of Internet-based technologies to procure goods and service. As stated by Neef (2001), if there is one sector in the economy where e-procurement can and will have an enormous effect, it is in the government. Thus, this paper makes a significant contribution to e-procurement field in rural areas development studies and research

Differences in white matter connectivity between treatment-resistant and treatment-responsive subtypes of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous disorder exhibiting variable responsiveness to treatment between individuals. Previous work demonstrated that white matter abnormalities may relate to antipsychotic response but no study to date has examined differences between first-line treatment responders (FLR) and clozapine-eligible individuals receiving first-line antipsychotics. The current study aimed to establish whether differences in white matter structure exist between these two cohorts. Diffusion-weighted images were acquired for 15 clozapine-eligible and 10 FLR participants. Measures of fractional anisotropy (FA), radial diffusivity (RD) and axial diffusivity (AD) were obtained and between-group t-tests interrogating differences in FA were conducted. To investigate the neural basis of a decrease in FA, the significant cluster from FA analysis was masked and used to obtain mean RD and AD measures for that region. Those who were clozapine-eligible had significantly lower FA in the body of the corpus callosum (p < 0.05), associated with a significant increase in mean RD compared with FLR (p < 0.001). No difference in mean AD was observed for this region. These data reveal differences in diffusion measures between FLR and those eligible for clozapine and suggest that lower FA and greater RD in the corpus callosum could exist as a biomarker of treatment resistance in people with schizophrenia

Expatriate job performance and adjustment: Role of individual and organizational factors

The expatriate literature has highlighted many individual and organizational factors which effect expatriate job performance and adjustment but the role of some individual and organizational factors is still not clear and/or has been ignored by past researchers. For example, the role of direct and indirect support has not been well conceptualized in past studies. In addition, only a few studies have explained the importance of self-efficacy, cultural sensitivity and social networking in the related expatriate literature.Furthermore,the role of previous international experience has conflicting results in past research.The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical grounding and highlight the importance of those individual and organizational factors which have been ignored by past researchers.In this regard, researchers have reviewed journals/articles from different databases, books, and magazines.This paper proposes a comprehensive framework based on the gaps in the literature and suggests propositions.The proposed conceptual framework provides a theoretical grounding for individual and organizational factors that includes individual factors (self efficacy,previous international experience, cultural sensitivity, and social network) and organizational factors (direct and indirect support). This paper suggests that expatriate adjustment (work, general,and interaction adjustment) mediates the relationship between individual factors (self-efficacy, previous international experience, cultural sensitivity, and social network), organizational factors (direct and indirect support),and expatriate job performance (rated by peer and supervisor). The proposed framework is developed based on past theoretical and empirical studies in order to cover the gap and contribute to the body of knowledge in the field of the literature. Based on the proposed framework, this paper invites researchers to empirically test the suggested propositions in order to further strengthen and develop understanding about individual and organizational factors as predictors of expatriate adjustment and job performance