Determining the basic principles in managing project schedule for construction.

The application of the scheduling software has been quite popular in Malaysia recently. Planning software like Microsoft Project and Primavera had been used to develop the schedule for construction project for the purpose or project monitoring and control. Many clients organization have made the task to submit computer generated schedule as mandatory. However in real practice the schedule submitted has not been very useful for the client. In some instances the schedule has been ignored once submitted to the client. There are many problems associated to this situation. Among them is due to the absent of the standard guideline that can be used to manage the schedule itself. The contractor. Contractor has been prepared the schedule based on their own assumption and without much consideration for actual application for the project later. Therefore this short term research has been conducted with the main aim to develop such guideline. The methodology adopted for the study includes the interviews with panel of professional in construction and questionnaire survey. The development of the guideline is based on the feedback by the respondents of the questionnaires survey conducted. Prior to that, the research has also investigated the current state of arts of the scheduling practice in Malaysia and its limitation. The major finding of the research is the development of the guideline for managing the scheduling process. This guideline can be used by the major client to regulate the process of preparing, submission and updating the project progress. It is expected that this schedule can be improve further by improving its level of comprehensiveness

Isotopic studies on urea-urease system

Imperial Users onl

MSSM4G: Reviving Bino Dark Matter with Vector-like 4th Generation Particles

We supplement the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) with vector-like copies of standard model particles. Such 4th generation particles can raise the Higgs boson mass to the observed value without requiring very heavy superpartners, improving naturalness and the prospects for discovering supersymmetry at the LHC. Here we show that these new particles are also motivated cosmologically: in the MSSM, pure Bino dark matter typically overcloses the Universe, but 4th generation particles open up new annihilation channels, allowing Binos to have the correct thermal relic density without resonances or co-annihilation. We show that this can be done in a sizable region of parameter space while preserving gauge coupling unification and satisfying constraints from collider, Higgs, precision electroweak, and flavor physics.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figure

Performance and Detection of M-ary Frequency Shift Keying in Triple Layer Wireless Sensor Network

This paper proposes an innovative triple layer Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) system, which monitors M-ary events like temperature, pressure, humidity, etc. with the help of geographically distributed sensors. The sensors convey signals to the fusion centre using M-ary Frequency Shift Keying (MFSK)modulation scheme over independent Rayleigh fading channels. At the fusion centre, detection takes place with the help of Selection Combining (SC) diversity scheme, which assures a simple and economical receiver circuitry. With the aid of various simulations, the performance and efficacy of the system has been analyzed by varying modulation levels, number of local sensors and probability of correct detection by the sensors. The study endeavors to prove that triple layer WSN system is an economical and dependable system capable of correct detection of M-ary events by integrating frequency diversity together with antenna diversity.Comment: 13 pages; International Journal of Computer Networks & Communications (IJCNC) Vol.4, No.4, July 201

An investigation of the regulatory mechanisms of cellular homeostasis and haemostasis initiated by tissue factor

The signalling arising from tissue factor (TF) has been associated with cellular homeostasis as well as haemostasis and, is particularly pertinent in carcinogenesis and cancer progression. The formation of the TF-FVIIa complex is known to activate protease activated receptor 2 (PAR2) and initiates multiple signalling pathways which can determine the fate of the cell. Among these mechanisms PI3K-Akt is known as a major promoter of cell survival and proliferation. The regulation of Akt is mediated by PTEN, a tumour suppressor that negatively regulates the PI3K-Akt pathway resulting in the loss of downstream proliferative and pro-survival signalling. In this study, seven tumour cell lines from different tissues were activated with PAR 2-activating peptide (SLIGKV), or incubated with a range of concentrations of rec-TF (65- 1300 pg/ml). The outcome on the phosphorylation state and the lipid-phosphatase activity of PTEN, and also Akt activity was assessed. Incubation of cells with rec-TF (65 pg/ml) resulted in de-phosphorylation of PTEN in all the cell lines tested which was concurrent with increased PTEN activity and reduced Akt activity. Moreover, activation of PAR2 reduced PTEN phosphorylation and Akt activity in the majority, but not all of the cell lines tested. However, prolonged exposure of cells to rec-TF over 5 days, resulted in decreased PTEN antigen levels together with enhanced Akt activity and increased cell proliferation in the cell lines tested. To explore the mechanism of regulation of PTEN by PAR2, the association of membrane- associated guanylate kinase-with inverted configuration (MAGI)1-3 proteins with PTEN was assessed by the proximity ligation assay (PLA) and co-IP. The interaction of PTEN with all three MAGI proteins was reduced following PAR2 activation and explains the alterations in PTEN activity and stability. The structure of MAGI proteins contains a guanylate kinase-like (GK) domain, two WW domains and six PDZ domains. This structure allows MAGI to restrain proteins at the cell junction, regulating the activity of the proteins and stabilising cell-cell contacts. In the second part of the study, analysis of a motif within the cytoplasmic domain of TF (ENSPL) indicated the possible interaction with MAGI proteins. PLA and co-IP studies showed that TF may be restrained at the tight junctions through interaction with MAGI-1. Interestingly the activation of PAR2 transiently dissociated TF from MAGI-1. By expressing the individual PDZ domains as tagged-hybrid proteins, the first PDZ domain was identified to be capable of binding TF and competing with MAGI-1. The expression of this hybrid protein also resulted in augmented TF activity, similar to that following PAR2 activation. Analysis of the interactions of the N-terminal region of MAGI-1 with or without PDZ1 further confirmed the role of PDZ1 in the constrainment of TF and regulation of its procoagulant activity. In conclusion, this study has demonstrated that PAR2 activation promotes increased PTEN activity in the short term, allowing for the elimination of severely injured cells. However, prolonged exposure TF reduces the cellular PTEN antigen levels allowing aberrant cell survival and proliferation, through increased Akt activity. This study also demonstrated the interaction of TF with the PDZ1 domain of MAGI-1, suggesting a mechanism for restraining cell-surface TF from contact with the surrounding fluid, and may explain the regulation of both coagulation and signalling mechanisms

Readers reading practices of EFL Yemeni students: recommendations for the 21st century

This paper investigates the reading practices of forty-five second year EFL Yemeni undergraduate students using the Four Resources Model of multiliteracy practices. The Four Resources Model of multiliteracy practices organizes reading practices into four key practices: code breaking, text participating, text uses and text analysing levels. Quantitative and qualitative methods, designed based on the Four Resources Model constructs, were used to collect data from a sample of students studying English as a Foreign Language at a university in Yemen. Quantitative data was collected through a questionnaire, while qualitative data was gathered using semi-structured interviews guided by the research objectives. The findings reveal that Yemeni students were medium users of the code breaker and text user practices whereas the meaning making and text analysis practices were reported to be used in low usage. On the whole, these early findings suggest that the reading practices and reading abilities of the Yemeni students are still limited even at the tertiary level and have not developed fully with regard to reading in English. This paper reports in detail, the use of the Four Resources Model as a tool to determine reading efficacy while examining the aforementioned findings. Discussion is put forward on the implications for teaching of reading and its approaches in a Yemeni context, especially in view of the students‟ reading needs at the tertiary level in Yemen

Behavioural Effects of Temperature on Insects

Author Institution: Department of Entomology, University of Illinoi

Islamic endowment (Waqf) in India: Towards poverty reduction of Muslims in the country

This paper aims to examine the potential role of Waqf (Islamic endowment or philanthropic institution) in poverty alleviation and socio-economic development of the Indian Muslim community. The paper attempts to critically analyze the structure, mechanism and legal framework of Waqf management in India followed by pinpointing the existing lacuna and insufficiency of the Waqf governance model and practices in the country. The paper finds that the institution of Waqf possesses a mammoth amount of financial and infrastructural resources in India, and the role of this institution can be critically important in reducing the poverty of, particularly, the Muslim community. Muslims in India are trapped in the incidence of poverty more than other communities except for Buddhists. In aggregate terms, one in every three Muslims lives below the poverty line in India. Proper utilization of Waqf institution can be critical in reducing the poverty of the Muslim community in the country. The paper is based on a qualitative research paradigm and it adopts a socio-legal research methodology for the analysis of the available literature. The paper concludes with some critical policy recommendations for enhancing the role of Waqf in reducing the poverty rate among Muslims in the country

Optimization of received power and SNR for an indoor attocells network in visible light communication

White LEDs Visible Light Communication (VLC) is applied in communication and illumination simultaneously. It provides unrestrained frequency spectrum and a large bandwidth that produces a higher transmission rate and speed in short-range communication. Also, VLC was considered as a promising alternative technology to the radio frequency in the next generation of communication systems. In this paper, the optical attocells configuration and LEDs distribution are proposed for optimizing the received power and Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) in the Line of Sight (LOS) propagation link. Besides that, the trade-off between minimum SNR and received power are investigated. The simulation results showed that the proposed model can save 6.25% of the total transmitted power, and the optical received power versus semi-angle and field of view have with about increased 16.5% and 27.54% respectively. Moreover, the SNR also has 7.4% improvement. Hence, the proposed configuration model has improved the performance of VLC systems and has widen the window for future improvement

CEO Emotional Intelligence and Board of Directors Efficiency: A Bangladesh Perspective

Purpose This article deals with the relationship existing between the emotional aspect and decision-making processes. More specifically, it examines the links between emotional intelligence, decision biases and effectiveness of the governance mechanisms. The primary purposes of this article are to: consider emotional intelligence like new research ideas that make important contributions to society; offer suggestions for improving manuscripts submitted to Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations; and discuss methods for enhancing the validity of inferences made from research. Design/methodology/approach The article explain that the main cause of organization's problems is CEO emotional intelligence level. I will use three models (linear regression and logistic binary regression ) to examine this relation: every model treats the relationship between emotional intelligence and one of efficiency criteria of the board. Emotional intelligence has been measured according to the scale of Schutte and al (Shutte Self Report Emotional Intelligence Scale, SSREI, Shuttle and al. 1998) with a high internal validity level. Regarding, The four cognitive biases they have been measured by means of a questionnaire comprising several items. As for the selected sample, it has been composed of some180 Bangladeshi executives (belonging to 60 firms). Findings Our results have revealed that the presence of a high emotional intelligence rate is not always positively correlated with the executives' suggestibility with respect to behavioural biases. They have also affirmed the existence of a complementarily relationship between emotional intelligence and the directors' board. Authors need to consider that emotional witch permit to minimize CEO emotional biases and provide director's board effectiveness. Research limitations/implications This article has implications for the development of  CEO emotional intelligence capacity. Besides, some psychological aspects of theoretical nature could not be wholly approached in a complete empirical way. Practical implications The article push organization to select managers based on their levels of intelligence emotional (apply tests of emotional intelligence in place psychometric tests). Also, it increase the validity of inferences made from research in the field. Social implications This article incite governments to establish a training programs witch aimed the development of learning of emotional intelligence. Thus, it has important implications for enhancing the well being of individuals, organizations, and society as a whole. Originality/value Actually, for the sake improving the explanatory power of legal-financial approach of governance, the behavioural dimension has been integrated for a more thorough analysis of the directors board role. Our goal consists in highlighting the role played by emotional intelligence as a skill or tool available for the manager or controller to minimize the behavioural biases (bias of loss aversion, optimism, over-confidence and lack of cognitive flexibility), and achieves an effective control. Keywords: emotional intelligence; cognitive bias; corporate governance; board of directors