A study of employees' attitudes towards organisational information security policies in the UK and Oman

There is a need to understand what makes information security successful in an organization. What are the threats that the organization must deal with and what are the criteria of a beneficial information security policy? Policies are in place, but why employees are not complying? This study is the first step in trying to highlight effective approaches and strategies that might help organizations to achieve good information security through looking at success factors for the implementation. This dissertation will focus on human factors by looking at what concerns employees about information security. It will explore the importance of information security policy in organizations, and employee’s attitudes to compliance with organizations' policies. This research has been divided into four stages. Each stage was developed in light of the results from the previous stage. The first two stages were conducted in the Sultanate of Oman in order to use a population just starting out in the information security area. Stage one started with a qualitative semi-structured interview to explore and identify factors contributing towards successful implementation of information security in an organization. The results suggested a number of factors organizations needed to consider to implement information security successfully. The second stage of the research was based on the first stage’s results. After analysing the outcomes from the semi-structured interviews a quantitative questionnaire was developed to explore for information security policy. The findings did suggest that the more issues the organization covers in their security policy the more effective their policy is likely to be. The more an organization reports adoption of such criteria in their security policy, the more they report a highly effective security policy. The more the organization implements the ‘success factors’ the more effective they feel their security policy will be. The third stage was conducted in the UK at Glasgow University because employees are somewhat familiar with the idea of information security. It was based on the findings derived from the analysis of the quantitative questionnaire at stage two. The findings revealed different reasons for employee’s non-compliance to organization security policy as well as the impact of non-compliance. The fourth stage consolidates the findings of the three studies and brings them together to give recommendations about how to formulate a security policy to encourage compliance and therefore reduce security threats

Gene Expression and Methylation Levels of PCSK9 Gene in Iraqi Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

يرتبط التعبير الجيني لجين  PCSK9ارتباطًا وثيقًا بمستويات الدهون وخطر الإصابة بمرض تصلب الشرايين التاجية. تهدف الدراسة الحالية إلى قياس كمية التعبير الجيني للجين PCSK9 وتأثير المثيلة على مستوى تعبيره الذي يساهم في التسبب في اضطراب الشريان التاجي الحاد. تضمنت الدراسة الحالية 150 شخصًا من المجتمع العراقي ، 100 مريض بمرض الشريان التاجي و 50 من الأصحاء. تم تحديد تركيز PCSK9 في كل عينات المصل المدروسة بواسطة تقنية ELISA ، وتم تقدير مستويات التعبير عن جين PCSK9 في الدم الكامل بطريقة qRT-PCR ، واكتشاف مستوى مثيلة الحمض النووي في جين PCSK9 باستخدام تقنية HRM-PCR. كان التعبير عن جين ب مستوى اعلى  PCSK9 6.06 ± 1.84 في مجموعة مرضى ASCAD مقارنة بمجموعة التحكم 1.00 ± 0.19. أيضا كان تركيز بروتين PCSK9 عالياً في مجموعة المرضى مقارنة بمجموعة الاصحاء P = <0.01. فضلا عن ان مستويات مثيلة PCSK9 ، اظهرت فرقاً معنوياً بين مجموعتي الدراسة بمستوى 0.002P=. في الختام ، ترتبط مستويات بروتين PCSK9 في المصل بمرض الشريان التاجي كما موضح في receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis ، مما يؤدي إلى اعتبار أن تركيز بروتين PCSK9  قد يكون مؤشرًا جيدًا لتطور مرض الشريان التاجي.The expression of the Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin Type 9 gene (PCSK9) is inextricably related to lipid levels and a risk of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (ASCAD). The present study aims to measure the quantity of PCSK9 gene expression and the effect of methylation on its expression level taking part in the pathogenesis of acute coronary artery disorder. A current study included 150 subjects from the Iraqi population, 100 ASCAD patients and 50 healthy controls. The concentration of PCSK9 in each serum sample was determined by the ELISA technique, the expression levels of the PCSK9 gene in whole blood were estimated by RT-qPCR – Quantitative Reverse Transcription PCR method, and DNA methylation level detection in PCSK9 gene by using High Resolution Melting Analysis (HRM) technique. The expression level of the PCSK9 gene was 6.06 ± 1.84 in ASCAD patients group compared with a control group 1.00 ±0.19. That indicates the up-regulation of the PCSK9 gene in patient with atherosclerosis. In addition, the PCSK9 concentration was higher in patient group in comparison to the healthy controls group P= < 0.01. However, PCSK9 methylation levels, a highly significant distinction between the two study groups p=0.002. In conclusion, serum PCSK9 levels are associated with coronary artery lesions as shown in receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Suggests that, serum PCSK9 might be a good indicator of coronary artery disease development

Management of Dairy Farm Wastewater – A Case Study

There are several dairy farms and milk processing plants in U.A.E. which contribute to the problem of industrial wastewater discharges in the country. This study emphasized the waste management aspects of dairy farms and examined the wastewater characteristics, wastewater treatment and effluent reuse in Al-Rawabi Dairy Plant in Dubai as a case study. An extensive sampling and analysis program was conducted over a period of one year to determine wastewater characteristics at Al-Rawabi Dairy Plant. It has been found that the wastewater COD, BOD, Solids, Nitrogen and Phosphorus content is relatively high but daily variations in pollution loads were not considerably high. Existing treatment facilities are limited to primary settling tanks which are not capable of producing good quality effluent to satisfy the guidelines set by the Dubai Municipality. Treatability tests which included biological and/or chemical treatments indicated that the waste is amenable for treatment and its pollutants could be effectively reduced in order to obtain a good quality effluent for reuse in irrigation. A wastewater management scheme has been proposed based on the results of the industrial waste survey, evaluation of the existing treatment, and analysis of the treatability tests on alternative processes. The proposed scheme can be implemented to produce a good quality effluent for beneficial reuse in irrigation at Al-Rawabi plant as a model for similar industrial plants in United Arab Emirates

Simulation of LTE-TDD in the HAPS channel

LTE stands for Long Term Evolution. This technology enhances the data rate and capacity using a new radio interface and an optimized core network. This progress was done to satisfy standards defined for the fourth generation of cellular communications in ITU. LTE has two types of transmission: Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD). Nowadays, LTE-TDD rapidly Grows and takes place of old fixed cellular communications, like WiMAX. Another upcoming technology in the communication industry is High Amplitude Platform Stations (HAPS). Studying the capability of HAPS as a base station for LTE-TDD is the main purpose of this paper. Simulations have done using HAPS channel and compared to Stanford University Interim (SUI) standard channels for different scenarios. Results were compared to achieve a conclusion on HAPS implementation for LTE-TDD based on BER and data throughput

Chirplet signal design by FPGA

The ever-expanding growth of the electronics and communications industries present new challenges for researchers. One of these challenges is the generation of the required bandwidth signal over a specific time frame that is used in a variety of contexts, particularly radar systems. To improve the range resolution in the radar along with better SNR, it is necessary to reduce the signal bandwidth and increase the peak power. There are some restrictions for narrowband signals like power limitation, pulse shaping, and the production of unwanted harmonics. So as a solution pulse compression techniques are suggested. Pulse compression is a process that modulating the transmitted pulse to achieve a wideband signal and then at the receiver, the received signal correlates with the transmitted pulse to achieve narrowband representations of data. Chirp is the most common signal used in pulse compression. The chirp signal is produced using linear frequency modulation. In this study, we attempted to add an amplitude modulation to the chirp signal and evaluate its performance by implementation on FPGA. The outcome signal is called chirplet and simulation will show that it enhance target detection and image quality in imaging radars like SAR

Road Networks Management in the Federal Cities (Entrance and Exits in Ajman)

The aim of this thesis is to discuss the management of infrastructure in the federal union specially the road entrances between neighboring states. To understand how important is it on the social and economic development, to measure how easy to reach the deferent part of city within reasonable period. The hierarchy of the road networks in the city. Second chapter describe the Arab Emirates before the union and the different scenarios till it\u27s become United Arab Emirates, the relations between different emirates within union, political systems within emirate itself and In the federal level, social and economic systems. The care was taken in deferent level to build best road network ever cause the governor know very well the benefit of having modern roads, the federal authorities responsible for highways and the border roads between emirates while the local authorities responsible for internal roads within emirate border. Third chapter compare the road network management in two of the best federal countries in this field. United State of America had one of the tallest road network in the world which managed by local and federal authorities in harmony. Federal Republic of Germany is one of the greatest industrial countries in Europe that is gives the road network high importance to link factories with ports easily. Both of Germany and USA have a great experience in road network management, which should be understood from United Arab Emirates road authorities to solve the current problems and to avoid any future miss coordination. Forth chapter is about field study of the entrances to roads border between two neighboring through personal interviews with specialists and officials from relevant departments and a questionnaire contains several questions was distributed to the residents of those areas on both sides of the entrance under consideration and passing specializes in problems affecting the border crossing in terms of traffic congestion and the interest of the party responsible for maintenance and increase efficiency and what about managing such crossing by central department under federal umbrella

The effect of dispersing agent on the dyeing of polyester fabrics with disperse dyes derived from 1,4-diethyl-2,6-dioxo-1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridine-3-carbonitrile

1,4-Diethyl-2,6-dioxo-1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridine-3-carbonitrile (8), is synthesized by reacting ethyl cyanoacetate with ethyl amine to produce the amide 4, which when reacted with methyl propionylacetate, afforded compound 8. Compound 8 is then coupled with aromatic diazonium salts to give the corresponding arylhydrazono-1,4-diethyl-2,6-dioxo-1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridine-3-carbonitrile disperse dyes, 11a-d, whose structures were elucidated by using X-ray crystal structure determinations. A high temperature dyeing method was employed to apply these dyes for polyester fabrics. The relationship between dyeing properties and the concentration of dispersing agent present in a dye bath is evaluated

Synthesis, characterization and antimicrobial activity, and applications of new azo pyridone disperse dyes on polyester fabric

Three components; ethyl cyanoacetate, ethyl amines, and methyl propionylacetate were condensed using solid supports in microwave to give 1,4-diethyl-2,6-dioxo-1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridine-3-carbonitrile (9) that was then coupled with aromatic diazonium salts to give the corresponding arylhydrazono-1,4-diethyl-2,6-dioxo-1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridine-3-carbonitrile disperse dyes, 10a-g. Structures of the afforded compounds were confirmed by (IR, NMR, EI/MS) and one of them was further confirmed by X-ray crystallography (10g). Fastness properties of the reported dyes were intensively examined against light, perspiration and washing fastness, exhibiting moderate, very good and excellent fastness levels, respectively. The antimicrobial activity of the dyes were tested against different bacterial strains of Gram positive and Gram negative characteristics, and yeast, at where most of them showed promising activities against such test organisms