Pakistan: Ethnic Fragmentation or National Integration?

In light of the current ethnic polarisation, this paper briefly enumerates the elements of ethnic conflict in Pakistan. It, then, discusses the economic, demographic, political, and cultural developments taking place in Pakistan which tend to affect the inter-relationships among ethnic communities and between society as a whole and ethnic communities. Evidence is presented to support the argument that despite surface tensions and confrontations, there is an unmistakable trend of greater inter-dependence which can contribute to national integration. The paper further analyses the relationship between ethnicity, class, and the state. It identifies military, bureaucracy, capitalists, and landlords as the principal elements of the “ruling class”, and shows that the different ethnic groups have different class structures and differential participation in military and bureaucracy. It points out the near absence of “cross cutting cleavages” which tends to turn the class and power conflicts into ethnic conflicts. In conclusion, the paper, while underlining the shifting definitional boundaries and relative demographic and cultural homogenisation of the population, argues against the redrawing of provincial boundaries and constitutional recognition of “nationality rights” of fixed ethnic groups. However, it makes a case for the recognition of ethnic diversity in Pakistan, equal treatment of all ethnic groups, and protection and promotion of the languages and cultures of the different ethnic groups. It argues that national unity, security, and integrity will be achieved if the primary emphasis is placed on promoting equity and harmony rather than on suppression of ethnic differences in the name of unity.

Developing a Computational Framework for a Construction Scheduling Decision Support Web Based Expert System

Decision-making is one of the basic cognitive processes of human behaviors by which a preferred option or a course of action is chosen from among a set of alternatives based on certain criteria. Decision-making is the thought process of selecting a logical choice from the available options. When trying to make a good decision, all the positives and negatives of each option should be evaluated. This decision-making process is particularly challenging during the preparation of a construction schedule, where it is difficult for a human to analyze all possible outcomes of each and every situation because, construction of a project is performed in a real time environment with real time events which are subject to change at any time. The development of a construction schedule requires knowledge of the construction process that takes place to complete a project. Most of this knowledge is acquired through years of work/practical experiences. Currently, working professionals and/or students develop construction schedules without the assistance of a decision support system (that provides work/practical experiences captured in previous jobs or by other people). Therefore, a scheduling decision support expert system will help in decision-making by expediting and automating the situation analysis to discover the best possible solution. However, the algorithm/framework needed to develop such a decision support expert system does not exist so far. Thus, the focus of my research is to develop a computational framework for a web-based expert system that helps the decision-making process during the preparation of a construction schedule. My research to develop a new computational framework for construction scheduling follows an action research methodology. The main foundation components for my research are scheduling techniques (such as: Job Shop Problem), path-finding techniques (such as: travelling salesman problem), and rule-based languages (such as JESS). My computational framework is developed by combining these theories. The main contribution of my dissertation to computational science is the new scheduling framework, which consists of a combination of scheduling algorithms that is tested with construction scenarios. This framework could be useful in more areas where automatic job and/or task scheduling is necessary

Dynamic model update program

This thesis presents a general method to modify the properties of a finite element model of a structure to better correlate analytical (FE) modal data with experimental modal data. A FORTRAN program to correlate finite element and experimental results of a structure by executing a Cross-Orthogonality check was developed. Sensitivity coefficients of a structure were generated to tune the FE model to match the experimental model. These sensitivity coefficients were generated through sensitivity analysis which illustrates the change in response of a structure for known changes in parameters. This thesis covers the theory, procedure, and application of sensitivity analysis. Sensitivity coefficients were generated through MSC/NASTRAN (SOL 63 and SOL 53) and the coefficients were used to tune a finite element model. A method that employs nonlinear coefficients developed by Wada and Kuo was also used to increase the rate of convergence. The application of Wada and Kuo method was simplified and the calculations needed to obtain nonlinear coefficients were significantly reduced. The rate of convergence of linear coefficient model tuning is compared with the rate of convergence of nonlinear coefficient model tuning

Pakistan: Ethnic Fragmentation or National Integration?

In light of the current ethnic polarisation, this paper briefly enumerates the elements of ethnic conflict in Pakistan. It, then, discusses the economic, demographic, political, and cultural developments taking place in Pakistan which tend to affect the inter-relationships among ethnic communities and between society as a whole and ethnic communities. Evidence is presented to support the argument that despite surface tensions and confrontations, there is an unmistakable trend of greater inter-dependence which can contribute to national integration. The paper further analyses the relationship between ethnicity, class, and the state. It identifies military, bureaucracy, capitalists, and landlords as the principal elements of the “ruling class”, and shows that the different ethnic groups have different class structures and differential participation in military and bureaucracy. It points out the near absence of “cross cutting cleavages” which tends to turn the class and power conflicts into ethnic conflicts. In conclusion, the paper, while underlining the shifting definitional boundaries and relative demographic and cultural homogenisation of the population, argues against the redrawing of provincial boundaries and constitutional recognition of “nationality rights” of fixed ethnic groups. However, it makes a case for the recognition of ethnic diversity in Pakistan, equal treatment of all ethnic groups, and protection and promotion of the languages and cultures of the different ethnic groups. It argues that national unity, security, and integrity will be achieved if the primary emphasis is placed on promoting equity and harmony rather than on suppression of ethnic differences in the name of unity

Quantification of the Influences of Subsurface Uncertainties on Seismic Behavior of Shallow Foundations

The properties of geomaterials are uncertain. These uncertainties not only affect the dynamic behavior of the geomaterials, but also significantly influence the complex nonlinear dynamics between the soil, foundation, and the structure (dynamic soilfoundation- structure interaction - SFSI). However, current civil engineering approach in incorporating the effects of SFSI on the seismic behavior of structures is still largely deterministic without considering uncertain geomaterial properties. The objectives of this research are to characterize the uncertainties in soil properties m a probabilistic framework and to quantify their effects on dynamic soil-foundation system behavior during seismic loading. The research methodology includes systematic propagation of uncertainties in soil properties through soil-foundation interface to the dynamic behavior of the structure during seismic loading. A recently developed Contact Interface Model (CIM), to model the soil-foundation system behavior during seismic loading, has been used in numerical simulations. To study the sensitivity of the response of the soil-foundation system to the random input parameters, probabilistic analyses have been carried out using Tornado Diagram analysis, Spider Plot analysis, First Order Second Moment (FOSM) analysis, and small scale Monte-Carlo simulations. Results obtained from the probabilistic numerical simulations indicate that ultimate moment capacity of the soil-foundation system during seismic loading is more sensitive to the uncertainty in the applied vertical load on the foundation than the uncertainties in soil properties. Since the uncertainty in applied vertical load is considerably smaller than the uncertainties in soil properties, the ultimate moment capacity of shallow foundation is predictable with reasonable accuracy. Energy dissipation beneath the foundation mainly depends on the applied vertical load and initial vertical stiffness of the foundation, while initial vertical stiffness of the foundation and rebounding ratio were found to contribute the most to the settlement of the foundation. The rotation of the foundation is more sensitive to the shaking intensity than uncertainties in soil properties

Constraints of Manufacture based Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Development in Bangladesh

Small and medium enterprises (henceforth, SMEs) play a key role in economic growth and industrial development of a country. They make vital contributions in improving economic and social sectors of a country through stimulating large scale employment, investment, development of indigenous skill and technology, promotion of entrepreneurship and innovativeness, enhancing exports, and also building an industrial base at different scales. SMEs worldwide have been benefited from the combined interactions of forces of product mix, location factors, and market advantages. However, evidences also suggest that there are cases of SME failures. Growth of SMEs is constrained by many factors. Many SMEs occasionally go on growing into large firms. This paper looks for identifying such constraints of manufacture based SME Development in Bangladesh. From the study, it has been identified that, lack of utility facilities, for example, electricity, gas and water, frequent changes of the prices of raw materials as well as shortage of raw materials, political unrest, high interest rate on borrowings, high transportation cost, lack of financing for ongoing concern, and inadequate infrastructure are the major constraints of manufacture based SMEs Development in Bangladesh. The researchers assume that few initiatives like developing necessary infrastructure, ensuring utility services, reducing bank rate and ensuring consistent supply of raw materials can change the total scenario and thus can help the manufacturing sector which in turn will result the industrial development of the country and thus will be able to contribute to the economic development

An Empirical Study of Factors Affecting Accounting Students' Career Choice in New Zealand

The study examines the influence of intrinsic factors; financial and job-related factors; other factors such as parent and peer influence, and work experience; exposure to high school accounting; and the students' perceived benefit-cost ratio on whether accounting students choose to pursue a chartered accounting (CA) career or not. Based on a survey of 295 students from five universities in New Zealand, the results show that the students who intend to pursue a CA career place significantly greater importance on financial and job-related factors, and perceived benefit-cost ratio than those who choose a non-accounting career. Intrinsic factors, other factors and exposure to high school accounting have no significant influence on the decisions whether to select a career in CA. A discriminant analysis revealed that financial and job-related factors have the highest explanatory power differentiating the two groups, followed by the students' perception of benefits and costs associated with a CA career. The results have important implications for recruitment into the accounting profession