Convergence of Corporate Governance and Islamic Financial Services Industry: Toward Islamic Financial Services Securities Market

This paper briefly discusses the significance of corporate governance for the Islamic financial services industry. Furthermore, it predicts that the Islamic financial services industry is likely to converge to modern governance practices. The paper also argues that the industry needs to have a homogenous and specialized regional securities market to realize its true potential

Inequality and the Dynamics of Poverty and Growth

This paper models the dynamic interactions between growth and distribution in the analysis of the behavior of poverty over time. The model permits formal analysis of the factors that led to the growth collapse as well as the rise in poverty in Africa and other developing regions, except Asia, during 1975-96 period. Using indicators of average country performance during this period-- in terms of the rate of acceleration of growth, changes in poverty and extent of inequality—the model suggests tentative strategies for dealing with poverty. The main policy recommendation of this analysis is that, for the majority of countries—36 out of 47—any serious strategy for poverty reduction must include both policies for accelerating growth as well as measures for effecting more equitable income distribution. Moreover, the latter must be sufficiently deep either to shake-off the "transitional", though lingering, "low equilibrium trap" that characterizes some economies; or to more others from the "bad" equilibrium of stationary, but high, poverty.

Long-range structural regularities and collectivity of folded proteins

Coarse-grained network models of proteins successfully predict equilibrium properties related to collective modes of motion. In this study, the network construction strategies and their systematic application to proteins are used to explain the role of network models in defining the collective properties of the system. The analysis is based on the radial distribution function, a newly defined angular distribution function and the spectral dimensions of a large set of globular proteins. Our analysis shows that after reaching a certain threshold for cut-off distance, network construction has negligible effect on the collective motions and the fluctuation patterns of the residues

Effect of van der Waals interaction strength and nanocluster size on the dynamical and mechanical properties of 1,4-cis-polybutadiene melts

Using molecular dynamics simulations, we have investigated the effect of embedding nanoclusters of radius 3-7 Å on the dynamical and mechanical properties of 1,4-cispolybutadiene melts. To see the effect of polymer-nanocluster interaction strength on the bulk modulus, the van der Waals interactions (vdW) between the polymer chain and nanocluster have been varied from weak to very stong while keeping polymer-polymer and nanocluster-nanocluster interactions constant. The modulus depends on the interaction strength, but not on nanocluster size. Residence time of chains on the surface of the nanocluster (τr) has an increasing trend that reaches to a plateau as the vdW strength is increased. τr also doubles from 100 ps to 200 ps as the nanocluster size is increased from 3 to 7 Å. Our findings give clues on how the properties of polymeric materials may be controlled by nanoparticles of different chemistry and size

Time-Frequency Warped Waveforms

The forthcoming communication systems are advancing towards improved flexibility in various aspects. Improved flexibility is crucial to cater diverse service requirements. This letter proposes a novel waveform design scheme that exploits axis warping to enable peaceful coexistence of different pulse shapes. A warping transform manipulates the lattice samples non-uniformly and provides flexibility to handle the time-frequency occupancy of a signal. The proposed approach enables the utilization of flexible pulse shapes in a quasi-orthogonal manner and increases the spectral efficiency. In addition, the rectangular resource block structure, which assists an efficient resource allocation, is preserved with the warped waveform design as well.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures; accepted version (The URL for the final version: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=8540914&isnumber=8605392

FACTORS INFLUENCING PROJECT TEAM EFFECTIVENESS AS PERCEIVED BY PROJECT MANAGERS IN MALAYSIA – A PILOT STUDY

As more project teams are formed to help Malaysian organizations in achieving their objectives that individual efforts cannot achieve, there is a compelling reason to understand the critical factors that can influence project team effectiveness, because the effectiveness outcome can yield benefits to organizations. This study developed a research model underpinned on Cohen & Bailey’s (1997) Team Effectiveness Framework to empirically analyze some critical factors that influence project team effectiveness. Results show that project manager’s leadership roles are not directly influencing project team effectiveness, but they are directly influencing both team building & participation, and team shared mental models in which these two factors are directly and positively influencing project team effectivenessProject Team Effectiveness, Leadership Roles, Team Building & Participation, Team Shared Mental Models, Project Manager

Relationship between participation in in-service training program and academic competencies among sports science university lecturers / Ali Ibrahim Ali Dawo

In-service training programs have emerged as an ideal training platform for lecturers in various universities to enhance their professional competencies. This becomes a necessity owing to the rapid advances that prompt the acquisition of knowledge to improve the lecturers’ competencies especially in sports science. The purpose of this study lies in investigating the relationship between participation in in-service training programs and academic competencies among Sport Science Lecturers in Libya and Malaysia. The need for in-service training among lecturers based on their participation in in-service activities was based on participation in planning (PPL), participation in implementation (PIM) and participation in evaluation (PEV). The competencies of Lecturers place focus on the competencies in planning instruction (CPI), competencies in conducting instruction (CCI), competencies evaluating instruction (CEI) and competencies in facilitating student’s growth (CFS). Previous studies were reviewed to support the arguments presented in this study using prominent theories such as the Perceptual Psychology Theory, Innovation Theory of planned behaviour (ITPB) and Contingency Theory. To achieve the objectives of this study, a quantitative study based on the survey questionnaire was used to collect primary data from 320 sports science lecturers within 11 Universities in Libya and Malaysia

Development and application of an optogenetic platform for controlling and imaging a large number of individual neurons

The understanding and treatment of brain disorders as well as the development of intelligent machines is hampered by the lack of knowledge of how the brain fundamentally functions. Over the past century, we have learned much about how individual neurons and neural networks behave, however new tools are critically needed to interrogate how neural networks give rise to complex brain processes and disease conditions. Recent innovations in molecular techniques, such as optogenetics, have enabled neuroscientists unprecedented precision to excite, inhibit and record defined neurons. The impressive sensitivity of currently available optogenetic sensors and actuators has now enabled the possibility of analyzing a large number of individual neurons in the brains of behaving animals. To promote the use of these optogenetic tools, this thesis integrates cutting edge optogenetic molecular sensors which is ultrasensitive for imaging neuronal activity with custom wide field optical microscope to analyze a large number of individual neurons in living brains. Wide-field microscopy provides a large field of view and better spatial resolution approaching the Abbe diffraction limit of fluorescent microscope. To demonstrate the advantages of this optical platform, we imaged a deep brain structure, the Hippocampus, and tracked hundreds of neurons over time while mouse was performing a memory task to investigate how those individual neurons related to behavior. In addition, we tested our optical platform in investigating transient neural network changes upon mechanical perturbation related to blast injuries. In this experiment, all blasted mice show a consistent change in neural network. A small portion of neurons showed a sustained calcium increase for an extended period of time, whereas the majority lost their activities. Finally, using optogenetic silencer to control selective motor cortex neurons, we examined their contributions to the network pathology of basal ganglia related to Parkinson’s disease. We found that inhibition of motor cortex does not alter exaggerated beta oscillations in the striatum that are associated with parkinsonianism. Together, these results demonstrate the potential of developing integrated optogenetic system to advance our understanding of the principles underlying neural network computation, which would have broad applications from advancing artificial intelligence to disease diagnosis and treatment