Accounting systems and recording procedures in the early Islamic state

Despite advances in historical knowledge the precise origins of accounting systems and recording procedures remain uncertain. Recently discovered writings suggest that accounting has played a very important role in various sections of Muslim society since 624 A.D. This paper argues that the accounting systems and recording procedures practiced in Muslim society commenced before the invention of the Arabic numerals in response to religious requirements, especially zakat, a mandatory religious levy imposed on Muslims in the year 2 H

Were Islamic records precursors to accounting books based on the Italian method?

The precise origin of the accounting records and reports outlined by Pacioli in 1494 and used in the Italian Republics is presently unknown. Historical evidence preserved in Turkey and Egypt indicates that accounting records and reports developed in the early Islamic State were similar to those used in the Italian Republics as outlined by Pacioli in 1494. Furthermore, some of the records and reports used in different parts of the Islamic State are comparable to modern-day books and reports. The religious requirement of Zakat (religious levy) and the increasing responsibilities of the Islamic State were the force behind the development of accounting records and reports by Muslims. The Islamic State was established in 622, and Zakat was imposed on Muslims in the year 2 Hijri\u27iah (H) (623). The enactment of Zakat necessitated the establishment of the Diwan (office where accounts are held) and the initial development of accounting records and reports. These records were further developed in Addawlatul Abbasi\u27iah (Abbaside Caliphate) between 132-232 H (750-847) whereby seven accounting specializations were known and practiced. Auditing played a very important role in the Islamic State and was designated as one of the accounting specializations. This paper argues that it is most likely that the commercial links between Muslim traders and their Italian counterparts influenced the development of accounting books in the Italian Republics

Signal processing algorithms for enhanced image fusion performance and assessment

The dissertation presents several signal processing algorithms for image fusion in noisy multimodal conditions. It introduces a novel image fusion method which performs well for image sets heavily corrupted by noise. As opposed to current image fusion schemes, the method has no requirements for a priori knowledge of the noise component. The image is decomposed with Chebyshev polynomials (CP) being used as basis functions to perform fusion at feature level. The properties of CP, namely fast convergence and smooth approximation, renders it ideal for heuristic and indiscriminate denoising fusion tasks. Quantitative evaluation using objective fusion assessment methods show favourable performance of the proposed scheme compared to previous efforts on image fusion, notably in heavily corrupted images. The approach is further improved by incorporating the advantages of CP with a state-of-the-art fusion technique named independent component analysis (ICA), for joint-fusion processing based on region saliency. Whilst CP fusion is robust under severe noise conditions, it is prone to eliminating high frequency information of the images involved, thereby limiting image sharpness. Fusion using ICA, on the other hand, performs well in transferring edges and other salient features of the input images into the composite output. The combination of both methods, coupled with several mathematical morphological operations in an algorithm fusion framework, is considered a viable solution. Again, according to the quantitative metrics the results of our proposed approach are very encouraging as far as joint fusion and denoising are concerned. Another focus of this dissertation is on a novel metric for image fusion evaluation that is based on texture. The conservation of background textural details is considered important in many fusion applications as they help define the image depth and structure, which may prove crucial in many surveillance and remote sensing applications. Our work aims to evaluate the performance of image fusion algorithms based on their ability to retain textural details from the fusion process. This is done by utilising the gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) model to extract second-order statistical features for the derivation of an image textural measure, which is then used to replace the edge-based calculations in an objective-based fusion metric. Performance evaluation on established fusion methods verifies that the proposed metric is viable, especially for multimodal scenarios

Were Islamic records precursors to accounting books based on the Italian method? A response

Offers a response to Nobes\u27 comment on Zaid [2000]. Fo­cuses on Nobes\u27 interpretation of the arguments presented by Zaid, his contentions about pious inscriptions\u27 and the use of the term journal\u27. Calls for broader thinking on the history of double entry bookkeeping and for more research on possible antecedents in the Islamic state

Pembangunan tanah & halangannya

Pembangunan tanah merupakan penggerak utama pembangunan negara. Namun, pembangunan tanah melibatkan proses yang rumit. Antara puncanya adalah terdapat pelbagai halangan yang boleh menyebabkan pembangunan tanah tidak dapat dijalankan. Secara umum, halangan pembangunan tanah boleh dikategorikan mengikut faktor sosial, ekonomi, dan perundangan. Halangan pembangunan boleh juga dikategorikan secara faktor luaran dan dalaman. Kajian literatur menunjukkan secara amnya halangan pembangunan tanah boleh dibahagikan kepada halangan luaran dan halangan dalaman. Kajian literatur tentang faktor dalaman menumpu pada sikap pemilik dan pihak yang berkepentingan. Faktor luaran pula termasuklah undang-undang pembangunan tanah yang berkaitan. Selain faktor luaran dan dalaman, kehendak dan keperluan penduduk dalam memajukan tanah mereka perlu diberi perhatian. Kajian empirik yang dijalankan di Pulau Duyong, Kuala Terengganu menunjukkan matlamat kerajaan untuk melihat pembangunan tanah yang diberi milik tidak kesampaian kerana halangan luaran dan sikap pemilik serta penduduk setempat yang dipengaruhi oleh persepsi, motif, dan strategi mereka. Penduduk juga ingin mengekalkan persekitaran sedia ada sebagai keperluan penduduk setempat. Buku ini sesuai sebagai rujukan kepada pelajar di institusi pengajian tinggi terutamanya dalam bidang alam bina, pembinaan, bangunan, seni bina, ukur tanah, ukur bahan, penilaian harta, pentadbiran dan pembangunan tanah, perancangan bandar, dan perumahan serta pembaca umum yang berminat untuk meningkatkan pengetahuan dalam bidang pembangunan tanah

A Simple Parameterization to Enhance the Computational Time in the Three Layer Dry Deposition Model for Smooth Surfaces

Optimization of dry deposition velocity calculation has been of great interest. Every time, determining the value of the concentration boundary layer (CBL) thickness led to a waste of numerical calculation time, which appears as a huge time in large-scale climate models. The goal of this study is to optimize the numerical calculation time in the three-layer deposition model for smooth surfaces through the development of a MATLAB code that can parameterize the appropriate concentration boundary layer height (y+cbl) and internal integral calculation intervals for each particle diameter Dp (0.01–100 µm) and friction velocity u* (0.01–100 m/s). The particle concentration, as a solution to the particle flux equation, is obtained and modeled numerically by performing the left Riemann sum using MATLAB software. On the other hand, the number of subdivisions N of the Riemann sum was also parameterized for each Dp and u* in order to lessen the numerical calculation time. From a numerical point of view, the new parameterizations were tested by several computers; about 78% on the average of the computation time was saved when compared with the original algorithm. In other words, on average, about 1.2 s/calculation was gained, which is valuable in climate models simulations when millions of dry deposition calculations are needed

A Simple Parameterization to Enhance the Computational Time in the Three Layer Dry Deposition Model for Smooth Surfaces

Optimization of dry deposition velocity calculation has been of great interest. Every time, determining the value of the concentration boundary layer (CBL) thickness led to a waste of numerical calculation time, which appears as a huge time in large-scale climate models. The goal of this study is to optimize the numerical calculation time in the three-layer deposition model for smooth surfaces through the development of a MATLAB code that can parameterize the appropriate concentration boundary layer height (y+cbl) and internal integral calculation intervals for each particle diameter Dp (0.01–100 µm) and friction velocity u* (0.01–100 m/s). The particle concentration, as a solution to the particle flux equation, is obtained and modeled numerically by performing the left Riemann sum using MATLAB software. On the other hand, the number of subdivisions N of the Riemann sum was also parameterized for each Dp and u* in order to lessen the numerical calculation time. From a numerical point of view, the new parameterizations were tested by several computers; about 78% on the average of the computation time was saved when compared with the original algorithm. In other words, on average, about 1.2 s/calculation was gained, which is valuable in climate models simulations when millions of dry deposition calculations are needed

The distribution and abundance of the exotic and native urban avifauna in Miami-Dade County Florida

Southern Florida is experiencing an unprecedented population expansion of several exotic avian species. To understand the impact of introduced species on the native bird community, I censused two transects that spanned older, urban, closed canopy (ca. 60 yr.- old) to more recent (\u3c 20 yr-old) suburban, open canopy habitats in Miami-Dade County, Florida for a 12-mo period. The recently introduced Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) was the most abundant species (92.7 birds/km2), but density varied across transects with lowest density (2.87 birds/km2) in older-growth habitat compared to the maximum density (210 birds/km2) in young habitat. The European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) was second in abundance at 79.1 birds/km2. The Boat-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus major) was the third most abundant species (67.5 birds/km2). The Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura), considered to be threatened by the Collared Dove (Simberloff et al. 1997, Schmitz and Brown 1994), was the next most abundant at (66.1 birds/km2). The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) was evenly distributed and consistently averaged 52.5 birds/km 2. The Rock Dove (Columba livia) averaged 39.7 birds/km2 and was absent from older areas with high canopy cover. The Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) averaged 34.5 birds/km2 and was the most evenly distributed species in the study area. The Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) was also evenly distributed and averaged 16.9 birds/km 2. The introduced Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus), considered an agricultural pest, averaged 9.70 birds/km 2, with peak abundance in recently developed habitats (22.8 birds/km2) and none observed in older urban areas. The Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) was consistently observed at 6.07 birds/km2. Introduced species are a numerically dominant component of the urban avifauna in Miami, composing over 53% of the resident bird population

Evaluation of Internal Control Units for the Effectiveness of Financial Control in Administrative Government Units: A Field Study in Jordan

The aim of this study is to state the assessment of internal control units for the effectiveness of financial control in administrative government units. Also, it aims at identifying the obstacles that limits the evaluation of internal control units for the effectiveness of financial control in administrative government units. In order to achieve the objectives of the study and the testing of hypotheses, the researcher designed a questionnaire. This questionnaire was distributed to managers and employees in the internal control of the administrative government units. Out of the 125 questionnaires distributed, 96 were recovered with an adoption rate of 77%. The results showed that the assessment of internal control units for the effectiveness of financial control in administrative government units typically became high with an arithmetic mean (4.099) and standard deviation (0.511). The researcher attributed this result to the data analysis, verification, and validation of the financial transactions. Also, accounting entries which is related to income and expenditure were in accordance with laws, financial regulations, and the prescribed accounting for financial controls. Hence, this is the constraints that limit the effectiveness of the auditors of the Audit Bureau when they conducted financial and managerial control and evaluation in administrative government units. Generally, it became high with an arithmetic mean (3.551) and a standard deviation (0.610). Thus, the researcher attributed this result to the existence of certain obstacles, the most important routine work, lack of incentives and benefits, and others as indicated in the results of the study. Based on the results of the study, the researcher recommended the need for attention to the human element as one of the main components of internal control system. This is in terms of training and development to keep pace with scientific progress and the practical need to emphasize the reformulation of some legislation. Also, it helps with some of the aspects due to the need for harmonization between legislation. In addition, it helps with professional international standards, especially supreme control standards which give importance and effectiveness to financial control and other recommendations