The Open University Library in your pocket

The Open University library is working to support mobile learners through provision of mobile access to information management skills tutorials, the library website, and the library helpdesk. In 2007, we joined hands with the Athabasca University library team to develop the first mobile-friendly version of our library website. Since then, we have been actively researching and developing around other mobile library services, and more recently have consulted users to identify their requirements and what services they–d prefer to access through mobile phones. Recommendations from this user consultation (and from other sources, including regular users' feedback and by tracking user behavior through Google Analytics) include revamping the mobile version of the Library website to offer only the most used services on the home page, implementing SMS (Short Messaging Service) such as loan reminders or library reference service, and developing a consolidated search to offer results from various sources including the library catalogue and e-journals collection

Matrix Inflation and the Landscape of its Potential

Recently we introduced an inflationary setup in which the inflaton fields are matrix valued scalar fields with a generic quartic potential, M-flation. In this work we study the landscape of various inflationary models arising from M-flation. The landscape of the inflationary potential arises from the dynamics of concentric multiple branes in appropriate flux compactifications of string theory. After discussing the classical landscape of the theory we study the possibility of transition among various inflationary models appearing at different points on the landscape, mapping the quantum landscape of M-flation. As specific examples, we study some two-field inflationary models arising from this theory in the landscape.Comment: v1: 34 pages, 5 figures; v2: To be published in JCAP; v3: JCAP versio

Islamic Law in Malaysia: how far does it extend? / Sheikh Mohd Tawfeek Badjenid Sheikh Hassan

Islamic Law should not and should never be made a 'sacred subject in silken covers' where only certain group of people are entitle to touch upon it or to discuss over it. Nor should Islamic Law regarded as an “ancient system” where its applicability is only relevant in ancient times with different situations and circumstances. Islamic Law should not be taken “lightly" and should never be practiced or enforced "partly" (for example only Islamic Family Law is Applied in Malaysia). Instead in upholding, applying and following the Islamic Law, it should be in the light of the true Islamic principles. The Quran provides; “If any do fail to judge by what Allah has revealed, they are unbelievers". "If any fail to judge by what Allah has revealed, they are wrongdoers”. "If any fail to judge by what Allah revealed, they are those who rebel". "It is not befitting for a believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His messenger to have any option about their decision. If anymore disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he is indeed clearly on a wrong path". Then is it only a part of the Book that you believe in and do you reject the rest? But what is the reward for those among you who behave like this but disgrace in this life? And on the day of judgement they shall be consigned to the most grievous penalty. For God is not unmindful of what you do"

CONCEPTS OF ISLAMIC KNOWLEDGE AND THE ENGLISH LEXICON THE SCIENCE OF ISLAMIC TERMS AND THE QUESTION OF EQUIVALENCE WITH ENGLISH WORDS

This study is a qualitative research on the concepts of Islamic knowledge and how they relate to the English lexicon. The locus of the research paper is the epistemic context of the concepts of Islamic knowledge and linguistic context of the English lexicon. The specific themes at the centre of the study are Islamic terms and English words. The Islamic epistemological context overarches the theme of Islamic terms and the linguistic context overarches the theme of English words. The paper elucidates the sources of the concepts of Islamic knowledge that provide the crucial context of discussing the Islamic terms. The study discusses the Islamic terms that symbolize and convey the concepts of Islamic knowledge and their meanings within the context of the Islamic epistemological tradition. The paper proceeds from there to delineate the conceptual variable formulated in the research that explains the question of the equivalence of these Islamic terms with English words. This conceptual variable makes a significant distinction by clarifying that the translation is from Islamic terms into English words; not between two languages. Having defined and explained the corpus of Islamic terms, the selected Islamic terms are then juxtaposed with the definitions of the English words that are regarded and usually used as their equivalents. The research examines the meanings of the English words comparing them with meanings of Islamic terms. The study shows that the meanings expressed by the Islamic terms, because they symbolize and convey the concepts of Islamic spiritual knowledge, are not captured by the English words. The conceptual system of the meanings of the Islamic terms come from the spiritual knowledge of Islam whilst the English words, though having concise and precise definitions and meanings in their linguistic context, indicate a temporal axiological orientation

Time-Modulated Array Co-Simulation with the Aid of Commercial Software

This thesis report exhibits an integrated Electromagnetic/Circuit level technique to analyze the time modulated arrays. I restate this work in commercial software which was already developed in CAD domain i.e. combining the exact harmonic balanced based analysis of non-linear switches with the electromagnetic characterization of the radiating elements. In this commercial software I try to perform a full-wave co-simulation to compute the radiated far-field envelope to show the array behavior. Simulation in this new software allows a precise evaluation of several non-linear performance aspects of the radiating system, such as power usage capabilities and the switch modulation frequency boundary. Secondly I also discuss a TMA wireless power transfer technique which is based on two step procedure. In this case I carry out the full wave co-simulation in this new commercial software to analyze the antenna array with modulated non-linear feeding network. Schottky-diode based network provide proper modulated RF excitations of the array elements. Therefore, the array architecture is extremely simple, if compared to phased arrays, only simple control circuit board

Physician migration at its roots: a study on the factors contributing towards a career choice abroad among students at a medical school in Pakistan

BACKGROUND: Physician migration, also known as “brain drain,” results from a combination of a gap in the supply and demand in developed countries and a lack of job satisfaction in developing countries. Many push and pull factors are responsible for this effect, with media and internet playing their parts. Large-scale physician migration can pose problems for both the donor and the recipient countries, with a resulting reinforcement in the economic divide between developed and developing countries. The main objectives of our study were to determine the prevalence of migration intentions in medical undergraduates, to elucidate the factors responsible and to analyze the attitudes and practices related to these intentions. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional, observational, questionnaire-based study, conducted at Dow Medical College of Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, between January, 2012 and May, 2012. A total of 323 students responded completely. The questionnaire consisted of 3 sections, and was aimed at collecting demographic details, determining students’ migratory intentions, evaluating reasons for and against migration and assessing attitudes and practices of students related to these intentions. RESULTS: Out of 323 respondents, 195 wanted to pursue their careers abroad, giving a prevalence rate of 60.4% in our sample. United States was the most frequently reported recipient country. The most common reasons given by students who wished to migrate, in descending order, were: lucrative salary abroad followed by quality of training, job satisfaction, better way of life, relatives, more opportunities, better working environment, terrorism in Pakistan, harassment of doctors in Pakistan, desire to settle abroad, more competition in Pakistan, better management, peer pressure, longer working hours in Pakistan, religious reasons, parent pressure, political reasons and favoritism in Pakistan. A considerable number of respondents had already started studying for licensing examinations, and were also planning of gaining clinical experience in their desired country of interest. CONCLUSION: Physician migration is a serious condition that requires timely intervention from the concerned authorities. If considerable measures are not taken, serious consequences may follow, which may pose a threat to the healthcare system of the country

On Some Properties of Quasi-Negative-Binomial Distribution and Its Applications

The quasi-negative-binomial distribution was applied to queuing theory for determining the distribution of total number of customers served before the queue vanishes under certain assumptions. Some structural properties (probability generating function, convolution, mode and recurrence relation) for the moments of quasi-negative-binomial distribution are discussed. The distribution’s characterization and its relation with other distributions were investigated. A computer program was developed using R to obtain ML estimates and the distribution was fitted to some observed sets of data to test its goodness of fit

On Some Negative Integer Moments of Quasi-Negative-Binomial Distribution

Negative integer moments of the quasi-negative-binomial distribution (QNBD) are investigated. This distribution includes recurrence relations which are helpful in the solution of many applied statistical problems, particularly in life testing and survey sampling, where ratio estimators are useful. Results study show the negative-binomial distribution when the parameter θ2 is zero and also indicate the mean of the QNBD model when its parameters are changed