The Benefits and Importance of Commercial Real Estate

The economic climate of late has battered investment classes across the board, including commercial real estate. Aside from the usual arguments about including real estate in a well-diversified portfolio, there are compelling reasons to invest in commercial real estate in the current environment. Though the risks are real, income and return characteristics of commercial real estate investment provide a buffer through annuitized cash flow, and savvy investors who “dollar cost average” into the real estate cycle maybe able to acquire assets at prices that will deliver attractive returns over the long time. The Islamic dictum stands side by side on this notion and with the Shariah compliant version in form of „i-REITS‟, it has indeed made its presence felt, but still it leaves a lot to be explored in this sector which mars an ideal potential for a new found.Commercial Real Estate, I-REITs

Cubism in Pakistan: "An evolutionary glance"

This paper reviews the cubist movement and its impact on the young artists in Pakistan. This practice-led research project investigates from an evolutionary perspective, how the Pakistani art scenario started to take a leap forward after the independence. Starting from Abdul Rahman Chughtai, Allah Bux and Sheikh Shujaullah’s conventional style, the modernism of Shakir Ali was soon found dominating the art scene. No wonder Shakir Ali is regarded as the first daring artist, responsible for introducing cubism into Pakistan. This study thus proves that it was cubism, which proved a vital source of art propagation and acted as a pillar for initiating new trends in the art genre of Pakistan. In conclusion, cubism also served as a platform for those artists who were striving to get new vistas for self-expression

DATA MIGRATION FROM STANDARD SQL TO NoSQL

Currently two major database management systems are in use for dealing with data, the Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) also knows as standard SQL databases and the NoSQL databases. The RDBMS databases deal with structured data and the NoSQL databases with unstructured or semi-structured data. The RDBMS databases have been popular for many years but the NoSQL type is gaining popularity with the introduction of the internet and social media. Data flow from SQL to NoSQL or vice versa is very much possible in the near future due to the growing popularity of the NoSQL databases. The goal of this thesis is to analyze the data structures of the RDBMS and the NoSQL databases and to suggest a Graphical User Interface (GUI) tool that migrates the data from SQL to NoSQL databases. The relational databases have been in use and have dominated the industry for many years. In contrast, the NoSQL databases were introduced with the increased usage of the internet, social media, and cloud computing. The traditional relational databases guarantee data integrity whereas high availability and scalability are the main advantages of the NoSQL databases. This thesis presents a comparison of these two technologies. It compares the data structure and data storing techniques of the two technologies. The SQL databases store data differently as compared to the NoSQL databases due to their specific demands. The data stored in the relational databases is highly structured and normalized in most environments whereas the data in the NoSQL databases are mostly unstructured. This difference of the data structure helps in meeting the specific demands of these two systems. The NoSQL DBs are scalable with high availability due to the simpler data model but does not guarantee data consistency at all times. On the other hand the RDBMS systems are not easily scalable and available at the same time due to the complex data model but guarantees data consistency. This thesis uses CouchDB and MySQL to represent the NoSQL and standard SQL databases respectively. The aim of the iii research in this document is to suggest a methodology for data migration from the RDBMS databases to the document-based NoSQL databases. Data migration between the RDBMS and the NoSQL systems is anticipated because both systems are currently in use by many industry leaders. This thesis presents a Graphical User Interface as a starting point that enables the data migration from the RDBMS to the NoSQL databases. MySQL and CouchDB are used as the test databases for the relational and NoSQL systems respectively. This thesis presents an architecture and methodology to achieve this objective

Development of Lean Approaching Sustainability Tools (LAST) Matrix for Achieving Integrated Lean and Sustainable Construction

Challenges exist across the three dimensions of construction sustainability (economic; social and environmental) due to low productivity, waste, safety, and environmental hazards attributed to existing construction management practices.  Lean construction (LC) has been widely accepted as a robust philosophy to enable sustainable construction (SC) practices. However, the existing literature is more inclined toward defining the integration between LC and sustainability through LC practices and techniques. Little research tackles the challenges of achieving sustainable goals within the current practices. Therefore, this paper aims to present a strategy that can help the construction industry overcome the challenges of SC in the traditional construction management practice by using LC. The challenges of SC are identified through a systematic literature review approach with metadata analysis. Compared with LC principles, tools and techniques, the strategy focused on identifying (1) the power and potential of LC principles and (2) the best LC practices/techniques that help in overcoming these SC challenges. The study results showed 20 out of 32 challenges identified can be overcome by using LC integrated with SC. Finally, a Lean Approaching Sustainability Tools (LAST) matrix is developed to provide guidelines to the construction stakeholders for the selection of LC practices/tools/techniques in overcoming the top 15 most important challenges

The Benefits and Importance of Commercial Real Estate

The economic climate of late has battered investment classes across the board, including commercial real estate. Aside from the usual arguments about including real estate in a well-diversified portfolio, there are compelling reasons to invest in commercial real estate in the current environment. Though the risks are real, income and return characteristics of commercial real estate investment provide a buffer through annuitized cash flow, and savvy investors who “dollar cost average” into the real estate cycle maybe able to acquire assets at prices that will deliver attractive returns over the long time. The Islamic dictum stands side by side on this notion and with the Shariah compliant version in form of „i-REITS‟, it has indeed made its presence felt, but still it leaves a lot to be explored in this sector which mars an ideal potential for a new found

The Benefits and Importance of Commercial Real Estate

The economic climate of late has battered investment classes across the board, including commercial real estate. Aside from the usual arguments about including real estate in a well-diversified portfolio, there are compelling reasons to invest in commercial real estate in the current environment. Though the risks are real, income and return characteristics of commercial real estate investment provide a buffer through annuitized cash flow, and savvy investors who “dollar cost average” into the real estate cycle maybe able to acquire assets at prices that will deliver attractive returns over the long time. The Islamic dictum stands side by side on this notion and with the Shariah compliant version in form of „i-REITS‟, it has indeed made its presence felt, but still it leaves a lot to be explored in this sector which mars an ideal potential for a new found