Schools as social organization, hold lot of untapped positive core in the form of knowledge, best practices, success stories, skills and positive experiences of the stakeholders which can serve as a basis for inquiry, learning, inspiration, interpretation and possibility for improvement. This study explores how Appreciative Inquiry (AI) as a contemporary approach for organizational development, helped the key stakeholders of a public sector school to discover the positive core of their school and generated possibilities for improvement. AI was used both as a research perspective and a strategy for school improvement because of its positive approach for key stakeholders to interact with each other. Purposeful sampling strategy was adopted to get the representation of various key stakeholders in the study. Altogether eleven research participants were engaged in the process of data generation through semi-structured individual interviews, pair interviews, positive conversation sessions and observation of school’s artifacts and displays. Data was analyzed using content analysis, thematic coding and pattern matching techniques. Findings of the study suggest that AI process provided the space for candid dialogue by involving the voices of a diverse group of key stakeholders to think deeply about the positive aspects of the school. It was evident that the AI process enabled the participants to recognize themselves as worthwhile individuals possessing unique strengths by sharing stories of most delightful experiences and energized them to move from mere participation to real engagement. The study found that AI has the potential to engage the key stakeholders within the school to collectively imagine their preferred future. It also helped them to realize the critical role of school principal in creating a positive work environment. The AI process has the capacity to enhance meaningful relationship among school community, gain broad participation of key stakeholders and initiate collaborative actions for improved teaching leaning processes in schools.
Islamic state is responsible to provide the means of protection for its inhabitants. It is the religious and spiritual duty of Islamic state to protect the Islamic culture and civilization as well so that the Muslims could perform their religious and social duties freely. Likewise, an Islamic state is supposed to ensure justice into the society. It indicates that establishing an Islamic state is core responsibility of Muslims so that they could practice their religion in free atmosphere and religious leadership. In this connection, the purpose of this research paper was to explore the principles of leadership in an Islamic state. The qualitative and descriptive research methodology was employed for the collection and analysis of data. The review of literature revealed that Muslim scholars have given particular emphasized on establishing the Islamic state. Moreover the jurists have counted the essential qualities in Islamic leadership. In this context, this article has dealt with the ideal principles which are necessary for the Islamic leadership. These principles are extracted from Qur’ān, Sunnat and. (صلى الله عليه وسلم) Prophet Holy of life
The consumption of probiotic bacteria is continuously growing due to the numerous health benefits. Encapsulation is an effective approach for ensuring the target delivery of these probiotics. The present study was conducted in three phases. In first phase, encapsulation of probiotic bacteria (L. acidophilus) was done by encapsulator using sodium alginate and carrageenan as coating biomaterial. Obtained beads were characterized by optical, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and FTIR. In second phase in vitro assay was carried out for selected functional properties. In third phase, a comparative study between free and encapsulated probiotics was done for accessing their viability and stability in carrier foods (yogurt and ice Cream). The products containing free and encapsulated probiotics were also subjected to physicochemical, microbiological and sensory characteristics. Microbeads, obtained from encapsulator were, smaller, predominantly spherical with smooth and rough surface and uniform in size. Additionally, FTIR analysis indicated an interaction between cell components and coating materials. The encapsulation yield for sodium alginate and carrageenan was 98 and 96 % respectively. Free/un-encapsulated cells exhibited poor survival under the simulated gastrointestinal conditions during their exposure to simulated gastric and intestinal juice as compared to encapsulated cells the viable count of encapsulated probiotic bacteria decreased from 9.92 log10 cfu to 8.75 log10 cfu and for free cells decreased from 9.94 log10 cfu to 5.46 log10 cfu in ice-cream over 120 days of storage. While for yogurt it decreased from 8.94 log10 cfu to 7.17 log10 cfu and for free cells decreased from 8.86 log10 cfu to 5.84 log10 cfu in yogurt over 28 days of storage. The results of the viable count in case of encapsulated cells were still above accepted level (106 cfu/g) that required for therapeutic benefits. The bacterial cells encapsulated in sodium alginate showed the highest survival rate in yogurt and ice cream after the storage period. Supplementation of free and Encapsulated probiotic bacteria in yogurt and ice cream significantly affected some of the physicochemical and sensorial parameters of both carrier foods. Yogurt supported considerably greater viability of probiotic as a food vehicle compared with ice cream. The results of present study demonstrated that encapsulation can significantly increase the survival rate of probiotic bacteria under simulated gastrointestinal conditions and in carrier foods (Ice cream and yogurt) over an extended period of shelf-life. This investigation indicated that encapsulation should be used as a potential delivery system for probiotics in food industry which is paving a new way for the development of functional foods.