Challenges for Women in the Islamic World

Fifth Annual Jacoby-Lunin Humanitarian Lectureship present Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Former Prime Minister of Pakistan. [Subtitle] University College Open VISIONS Forum \u27Voices of Conscience*…Global perspectives on the moral and spiritual issues facing the human family.https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/bennettcenter-posters/1215/thumbnail.jp

FRP-strengthening of webs of steel plate-girders

Fibre-reinforced polymer, FRP, composites have been used successfully for the strengthening and repair of steel beams in order to increase the flexural strength of the beams by up to 40%. However, little attention has been given to the use of FRP composites to increase the ultimate strength of steel plate-girders where failure is initiated by shear buckling of the slender webs. This thesis presents the details and results of an experimental and numerical investigation in which the web panels of the steel plate-girders were strengthened either by bonding GFRP pultruded section stiffeners or layers of carbon or glass FRP composite fabrics. The objective of the strengthening was to obtain an increase of a minimum of 20% in the ultimate load of the steel plate-girders by increasing the out-of-plane stiffness of the web in the web panels. The tests of one un-strengthened control specimen and seven FRP-strengthened specimens were carried out. The test results showed an increase up to 54% in the ultimate load of the FRP-strengthened specimens, compared to that of the unstrengthened control specimen. In the tests there was no breakdown of the steel-GFRP bond, at the ultimate load, in the specimens strengthened using the GFRP pultruded sections, whilst a breakdown of the steel-fabric bond occurred in the specimens strengthened using FRP fabrics. Before testing, nonlinear finite-element analyses, FEA, of the specimens were carried out using shell elements and the LUSAS FE program. Both material and geometrical nonlinearities were modelled. The test results and the FEA predictions for the un-strengthened and GFRP pultruded section strengthened specimens were in good agreement. For the FRP fabric-strengthened specimens, there was agreement between the test results and FEA predictions up to the breakdown of the steel-fabric bond. Design procedures for FRP-strengthened plate-girders have been developed based on those in Eurocode 3. The design procedures can be used to estimate the ultimate loads of the FRP-strengthened plate-girders and to determine suitable cross-sections of GFRP pultruded sections as intermediate, load-bearing and diagonal web stiffeners. The procedures have been validated using the results of the tests and FE analyses of nine FRP-strengthened plate-girder specimens and those of the FE analyses of thirty-five models of the plate-girders. The design procedures for the FRP-strengthened plategirders can therefore be used in practice

Fabrication of ZnO based type-II core/shell nanowires for photovoltaic applications

近来，由于持续增长的能源危机和环境保护意识，光伏器件已成为一个热门的课题。许多研究都集中在如何提升这类使用氧化物半导体，如ZnO，TiO2，的太阳能电池和光电化学电池（PEC）的效率上。这些氧化物半导体有这大且固定的带隙，使得它们都不能有效地吸收太阳光的可见光区域，从而导致电池效率低下。一个可选的策略是在纳米线外包裹一层窄带隙半导体，例如ZnSe，CdSe，CdS，PbSe和ZnCdSe，应用这个方法已经把材料的吸收拓展至可见光区域。由于光俘获范围有限以及光激发电子注入效率低等原因，大部分的这种核壳结构的光电转化效率（PCE）都较低。相比起二元材料，通过控制组分，三元合金ZnCdSe具有带隙可...Recently, photovoltaic devices have been a subject of great interest due to the growing awareness of energy crisis and environmental protection. Many studies have been focused on increasing the efficiency of solar cells or photo-electrochemical (PEC) cells using oxide semiconductors, such as ZnO, TiO2. These oxide semiconductors have large and fixed bandgaps, which individually can’t efficiently a...学位：理学博士院系专业：物理与机电工程学院_凝聚态物理学号：1982011015419

Miscibility of polymer blends

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.In this work an attempt is made to correlate polymer miscibility with diffusion and with molecular interactions. A system with lower critical solubility temperature has been selected, namely polystyrene (PS) and polyvinyl methyl ether (PVME). Most of the published work has been done on polymers in solutions or on solvent cast specimens and therefore on ternary systems. The role of solvent has not yet been fully evaluated and it was of interest to compare the results on solvent cast samples with those prepared by mechanical blending and by diffusion. Molecular interaction is dependent on functional groups present and for this reason experiments have been performed on PVME blends with PS of different levels of sulfonation (SPS). Selective deuteration (d-PS) was used to identify and assign some absorption peaks in the infrared spectra. DSC measurements have shown that only one Tg is present for all blends prepared by solvent casting. It was necessary to use an extreme quenching rate down to liquid nitrogen in order to preserve the high temperature (above 150°C) phase separated structure, represented by two Tg of homopolymers. The mechanically blended system, on the other hand, did not show a single T g of the blend, unless annealed for one day at 110°C. This confirms the results obtained by diffusion studies using light microscopy and neutron reflectivity, that the diffusion rates are extremely slow and therefore do not control the phase formation and separation processes. These experiments also indicate that the microstructures of solvent cast samples and samples prepared by mechanical blending are different. The Tg of mechanical blended polymers indicate, that the composition of diffusion swollen PS does not correspond to the phase diagram measured in solutions, confirming thus the above result. The FTIR studies at different temperatures have shown that changes in spectra of polymer blends, as reported in the literature can be explained by temperature changes in pure homopolymers. This indicates that molecular interactions, which are responsible for miscibility, are not detectable by infrared absorptions and are therefore of unspecified strength and location. The FTIR of SPSIPVME blends show that sulfonate groups on PS affect polymer miscibility through changes in configuration of molecules, rather than through direct interaction with the PVME, as suggested in the literature. An attempt has been made to study diffusion of SPS and polycarbonate (PC) system by neutron reflectivity. Preliminary results indicate that surface relaxation effects make the data interpretation difficult.This study is funded by the Government of Pakistan

Effects of Green Human Resources Management on Firm Performance: An Empirical Study on Pakistani Firms

The present study aims to investigate the impact of Green Human Resource like green recruitment, green training and development and green learning on the Firm Performance in Pakistan. Responses are gathered from 376 Pakistani firms. The HR Managers provided the information regarding green HRM in their firms. All the responses were collected on five point likert scale using a close ended questionnaire. The data was analyzed using SPSS. Multiple regression analysis is applied to test the effect of green HRM variables; green recruitment, green training and development and green learning on firm performance. The result indicates that all variables significantly affect the performance of the firm. The results are very useful for HR department and top management to develop their policies of green HRM. Future research can be conducted on other functions of HRM and its relation with employees and firm performance. Keywords: green human resource mangement, firm perfromance, green recruitment, green tranining & development, green learnin

Towards Understanding Psychological Contract Breach from Employees’ Perspective in Pakistan (A Sense Making Model Approach)

This research aims to study psychological contract breach using sense making from the employees’ perspective.  In the subject of human resources management, the term ‘Psychological Contract' refers to the actual but unwritten expectancy of an employee toward their employer (Shruthi, & Hemanth, 2012). This study involves the data collection from twelve interviews following critical incident technique. The findings support the survey on psychological contract breach that how employees feel when their promises breach and feel betray and revealing both the prevalence and the negative consequences of contract breach. This study focuses on the important but neglected issue of when perceptions of psychological contract breach and feelings of violation are likely to arise. The results provide insight into when psychological contract breach and violation are most likely to be experienced. How people get neglected by management and no interest to work anymore. The results are useful for the employers to prepare the Human Resource policy for their organizations. Keywords: psychological contracts, breach of contract, critical incident technique, interviews, employees, Pakista

Work-Life Balance and Job Satisfaction: An Assessment of Pakistan’s Banking Sector

The intense competition in Pakistani industries and rapid changes in work environment has been a cause of several compromises on other important fronts like cutting off from family and friends. Assuming work/life imbalance prevails more in developing countries like Pakistan along with high level of work pressures. This study examines and tests the impact of work life balance and job satisfaction on person’s social life as well as personal life. The results indicate that most of the employees are not satisfied their work-life balance as more time is spent at work with is much more than the official duty timings. The main reason of the time which employees want is to have their Work Life Balance. The study further illustrates that work life balance varies as the change of gender as well as marital status and it differs from person to person. Keywords: Work life balance, work life conflict, Pakistani commercial banks

Influence of Talent Management in Enhancing Organization Performance (Evidence from Service Sector Companies in Pakistan)

Talent management (TM) a new concept in Human resource management, yet it is difficult to measure.  The role of TM in enhancing organizational performance is a critical challenge in where the strategic staff is considered as a talent of the organization.  The present study aims to measure the influence of TM on organizational performance particularly in service sector companies in Pakistan.  The study uses survey method to collect the data from the organization. Descriptive and inferential tests are performed.  The results reveal the significant effect of talent management on organizational overall performance.  The findings recommend the HR directors to design TM scheme for all levels of employees within organization.  The results are useful for preparing strategies for employee attraction, retention, learning & development and career development. Keywords: Talent management, Human Resource management, organizational performance, service sector

Determining the Antecedents of Organizational Commitment: Public vs. Private Organization

This study was aimed to examine the antecedents of organizational commitment in public andprivate organizations of Pakistan. Organizational commitment is a behavior that extends beyondthe functions and conduct formally required of workers in an organization. Such behavior iscritical because of its role in better organizational performance. This present study is quantitativein nature and aimed at evaluating antecedents of organizational commitment. A questionnairewas designed and data was collected from a sample of 350 people within public and private sector organizations. We used nine hypothesis to test the relationship and used descriptive analysis, correlation analysis and reliability test. We found a strong relationship between organizational commitment and employee retention. We found interesting comparison and results for public and private organizations. The result of the study suggest different strategies that can be implemented to increase employees’ commitment and performance. Keywords: Organizational commitment, determinants, public and private organizations