The RTC at Prince Sultan University (PSU) is eager to go for the establishment of a research culture and infrastructure at PSU which enables a tangible output for the commercialization of research. Research outcome empowers the state of the art of technology which contributes in the development of countries. It is also a powerful tool for realizing national and international needs for the welfare of the humanity. The role of RTC is to create PSU own “know how” in research, in one or more research areas, which is the most important way to be recognized among nations and to raise the impact of the nation contribution in the development process.

Editor-in-Chief:Dr. Tarek D. Elsarnagawy

Senior EditorDr. Hadeer Abou El Nagah

Editorial TeamDr. Basel Sultan Dr. Ihab KatarDr. Yahya MelhemDr. Mohammad Al-Hattab

Co-Editorial TeamDr. Khaled M. AlmustafaDr. Irfan Manarvi

Magazine Design & Format:Mr. Ahmed Zidan

Issued by: The Research & Translation Center “RTC” – Prince Sultan University – Riyadh – Saudi Arabia

R T CResearch & Translat ion Center

RTC

COVER3D Capabilityfor Nano-Positioning & Nano-Metrology

10RTC is eager to go for the establishment of a research culture and infrastructure at PSU which enables a tangible output for the commercialization of research.

This article presents smart clothes based on optical fibers sensors that can be worn at any time, any place and while performing different tasks to monitor the vital signs of a person and sending the findings immediately and wirelessly for monitoring and evaluation means

15The HM-Shirt

17Academic Career Enhancement Strategies

when scholars alter and craft their jobs in these ways, the jobs become more meaningful to them.

Prototyping Massive

37 Massive MIMO, a candidate for 5G technology, promises significant gains in wireless data rates and link reliability by using large numbers of antennas (more than 64) at the base transceiver station (BTS)

40Thermal comfort A STEP TO ZERO

BUILDING WASTE INITIATIVE

“MISSION 2030”

57The purpose of this article is to share my research aims to identify the most important sources of waste generation in construction industry of Pakistan

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Opening words

Introduction to RTC

Research Articles

PSU Consultancy Services to Industry Market

Research Funding Opportunities at PSU

Interviews With Management & Researchers

Book published by PSU Faculty Members

Resourses and Useful Information For Researcher

Completed Research Projects Funded by PSU2012- 2013

Ongoing Funded Research Projects 2013 / 2014

Selected Research Abstracts Published By PSU Researcher

Events, Announcements & News

n the first issue of Prince Sultan University Research magazine «The Beacon», and for all coming issues, we hope to achieve some essential goals towards research excellence. This magazine is prepared for the sake of strengthening the communication

between academia, industrial market and other research bodies nationally and internationally. It will also make the works of PSU researchers visible to the public for the sake of opening channels of collaboration and consultation services.

My personal belief is that the impact of high quality research, whether it is basic or applied, cannot contribute to the development of any country unless it outreaches to the industrial market, peer researchers and institutions. This, in turn, enhances the communication, disclosure of knowledge and enables the bridging between entities of a nation that are concerned with and responsible for technological development. Translating knowledge materials into different languages has always been one of the most powerful transfer tools for knowledge exchange between countries and civilizations. To this end, this magazine reveals research related activities that take place at PSU in addition to other useful information for researchers as well. We hope, with this magazine, to increase the awareness of the community and to disclose information and facts related to existing and new emerging technologies and innovations from a professional point of view. My everlasting plea herewith is “let us come together and work in teams to improve our knowledge infrastructure and share our know-how for the welfare of humanity which is our utmost obligation”.

t gives me great pleasure to write an opening word to the first issue of the Research & Translation Center (RTC) Magazine. The Center has taken huge strides towards excellence in a relatively short time. With its diversified distinguished activities

and outstanding events, it has left a memorable imprint in Prince Sultan University’s long record of supporting research and translation. The Center has served and will continue to serve a large population of PSU faculty members and students in addition to the community at large including all those interested in research or translation from different fields of specialization. This magazine «The Beacon» is another important contribution of the Centre as it allows documentation and dissemination of its accomplishments and successes. It creates a connection with its beneficiaries and audience at large. Additionally it provides an excellent opportunity for researchers to share experience, opinions, thoughts and observations. Hence, I congratulate the editorial board on publishing the first issue, and I wish them success in future issues as well.

Our Dear readers, enjoy the journey!!

Dr. Tarek Elsarnagawy Dr. Abdulhafeez Feda

Dr. Dina El-Dakhs Director, PSRTC PSCW

Office & PSRTC Magazine Co-Editor-In-Chief

I IFrom theFrom the

The Editor in Chief& Director of RTC

Vice-Rector for Academic Affair-PSU

t is indeed my pleasure to welcome you to read through our first Scientific Research magazine «The Beacon».A large part of any academic instructor’s responsibilities falls on his/her ability to develop

and progress academically and to gain as much knowledge as possible not only to benefit himself/herself but also to disseminate knowledge to those around him. Basic research, also known as pure research, is conducted with no particular goal in mind besides discovery, and discovery ultimately brings about progress. New information can lead to the rejection of ideas previously believed to be true; therefore, we never know what is going to turn out to be important and that is what education is all about. It is the ability to contribute new information and to stimulate minds with unthought-of theories for the sake of developing and understanding the world around us. In a nutshell, scientific research is basically considered an investment. The benefit may not be obvious, it may not be reliable, and it may not be immediate, but without that investment, there won’t be a benefit at all.

he advent of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-18th century catapulted scientific research into the forefront of modern economy. Before that, research was primarily a continuation of philosophers’ pursuit to increase man’s corpus of knowledge about the natural world. Even after the introduction

of the scientific method to harness curiosity, research was still seen primarily as abstract inquisitive luxury reserved for academicians and explorers.

But as towering, narrow-necked industrial chimneys started spewing grey smoke and ashes into Earth’s hitherto pristine atmosphere ushering in the age of industry, people who were interested in wealth became equally interested in research as a way to garner more wealth. This correlation seems to grow tighter as science advances and industrial output becomes more attached to it. It is no wonder then that the top four countries in terms of R&D expenditure also occupy the top four spots in terms of GDP.

With this reality in mind, Prince Sultan University is embarking on an ambitious endeavour to become a major player in fostering research capabilities in Saudi Arabia. We have launched initiatives to secure funding for research projects through PSU’s own means and/or external sources. We also intend to bring research into direct application through our soon-to-be-announced Reach-Out Initiative (ROI). We hope that these efforts will transform PSU into a regional centre for applied research in the near future.

Dr. Dina El-Dakhs Director, PSRTC PSCW

Office & PSRTC Magazine Co-Editor-In-Chief

I TFrom the From the

Dean, PSU College for Women

Dean of Graduate Studies and Research

Dr. Rimah Al-Yahya

Musaed Bin Muqbil

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ne of the most important goals of RTC is to push forward towards having PSU’s own research, fa-

cilities and to encourage and empow-er qualified researchers as well with the intention to produce PSU own in house research “made by PSU” to commercialize it hand in hand with the government and industry market and in line with the national priorities. It opens the horizon for efficient col-laborations and joint research with national and international research institutions and industry. RTC also fosters, parallel to the research ac-tivities many translation related ac-tivities in terms of seminars, funding of translation projects, inter-universi-ty competitions, student translation club and translation/editing services.

The (TRC) aspires to be a leading research and translation Centre in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the region.

(RTC) supports individual and col-laborative research and translation activities that address the current and future needs of the Kingdom and the region. The Center facilitates high quality research and translation activities across all sectors of the Prince Sultan University. It organizes seminars, workshops, symposia and conferences, encourages collabo-ration and partnerships, and offers

consultation services. The Center is committed to international values of research and translation ethics and human rights.

•RTC encourages research efforts by faculty members/ students, and coordinates activities to establish strong links with society organiza-tions, and gradually build a strong resource base. •RTC fosters professional consul-tation , development studies , and professional / technical training in collaboration with local and interna-tional organizations. •RTC is extensively active in build-ing relationships with the private and government sectors to provide con-sultation and related research activi-ties in order to participate in resolv-ing world problems.

• RTC provides financial funding to high-impact research projects through a highly competitive review-ing process.

• RTC provides financial support to high-quality book translation projects through a highly competitive funding process. • RTC offers a multitude of profes-sional development opportunities for professional translators, translation professors and student translators. • RTC recognizes excellence in translation through organizing com-petitions and offering awards of translation excellence. • RTC supports collaboration among translators and translation profes-sors and offers excellent platforms for networking, sharing translation interests and initiating collaborative projects.

Introduction Introduction

Our MissionRTC is eager to go for the establishment

of a research culture and infrastructure at PSU which enables a tangible output for the commercialization of research. Research outcome empowers the state of the art of technology which contributes in the development of countries. It is also a powerful tool for realizing national and international needs for the welfare of the humanity. The role of RTC is to create PSU own “know how” in research, in one or more research areas, which is the most important way to be recognized among nations and to raise the impact of the nation contribution in the development process.

,,

,,RTCIntroduction to

We have a Vision

Research activities of RTC RTC

Translation activities of

RTC RTC

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he incorporation of di-lute Nitrogen concentra-tion III-V semiconductors

(e.g. GaAs) results in a large band-gap reduction, which makes these alloys prom-ising for a wide range of applications, such as in-frared laser diodes and photovoltaic multi-junc-tion solar cells.A specific challenge for GaAsN alloys is the extremely low thermodynamic equilibrium solu-bility of N in bulk GaAs. Howev-er, it has been suggested

that the thermodynamic solubility lim-it of N can be increased by up to five orders of magnitude by kinetically freezing-in the N atoms incorporated at subsurface layers.In order to demonstrate that interplay between thermodynamics and kinet-ics, a schematic drawing of the N in-corporation mechanisms in GaAs is shown in the figure below. Here, the energy of the N atom as a function of its depth in the surface is shown. The lowest energy position for a N atom is at the subsurface layer, while the other layers exhibit higher energies. The interlayer mobility of the N atom is determined in terms of its threshold thermal energy Eth, which is defined as the maximum energy barrier that the atom can overcome with an av-erage jump rate that is substantially larger than the growth rate of a mono-layer. Hence, if the energy barrier in a certain direction is higher than the threshold thermal energy the atom can be considered to be immobile in that direction, and vice versa. As an example, the figure shows three hori-zontal lines corresponding to three threshold thermal energies Eth1, Eth2, and E_th3 for growth temperatures T1>T2>T3. First, at the higher growth temperature T1 the threshold energy Eth1 indicates that all layers are ac-cessible by the N atom, and hence a full equilibration between all layers is achieved. As a result, the N atoms in the bulk tend to segregate to the sur-face during the growth. Hence, the solubility is determined by the forma-tion energy of the N atom substitu-tion in the bulk, and therefore only a very low solubility can be achieved. At the intermediate temperature T2 both the topmost and subsurface

layers are accessible to the N atom. Thus, an equilibration with the bulk is prevented. Hence, the solubility is determined by the formation energy of a N atom substituted in the subsur-face layer. At the lowest temperature T3 only the uppermost surface layer is accessible by the N atom, and the solubility is determined by the for-mation energy of incorporating a N atom in the topmost surface layer. Thus, the highest N solubility can be achieved by freezing-in the subsur-face solubility during growth inside the bulk: in this case the incorpora-tion mechanism of N in the subsur-face layer is active while the equili-bration with the bulk is prohibited.In order to identify the optimal growth conditions that allow achieving the highest N concentrations in GaAs it is essential to determine the ther-modynamic solubility for the differ-ent incorporation mechanisms (bulk, surface, subsurface) as a function of the growth conditions. In addition, the determination of the kinetic barriers is essential to identify the incorpora-tion mechanism that is operational and dominant for a given growth environment (fluxes, temperature). By employing a comprehensive set of first-principles calculations and combining them with surface thermo-dynamics and incorporation kinetic mechanisms, we were able to ac-complish a complete understanding of the factors that control the incor-poration of N in dilute nitride alloys [1, 2].

References:1. H. Abu-Farsakh and J. Neugebauer, Phys.

Rev. B 79, 155311 (2009).2. M. Albrecht, H. Abu-Farsakh, T. Remmele,

L. Geelhaar, H. Riechert, and J. Neuge-bauer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 206103 (2007).

First-Principles Simulations of the Growth of

Dilute Nitride

Semiconductors

,,

,,he fabrication of semiconductor materials for modern applications requires a delicate control over the composition and the configuration

of the constituting atoms during growth. The key idea of surface engineering is to activate kinetic pathways that allow to grow thermodynamically unfavorable structures. First-principles computer simulations offer a valuable tool for surface engineering by providing a detailed understanding of surface thermodynamics and the kinetic processes that occur during the growth. The growth of dilute nitride alloys provides a good example.

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Articles Articles SemiconductorsSemiconductors

By:Dr. Hazem Abu-Farsakh Department of Mathematics and

General Sciences

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mart textiles which contain sensors play a growing role in the development in this field. They are appropriate and comfortable for users. Although most of these developments focus on the

integration of electric and electronic sensors in the smart textiles, a joint research project that has started in 2011 between Prince Sultan University PSU and the Technical University Ilmenau in Germany TUI, to use optical fibers based sensors which are integrated into textiles to monitor and measure human vital signs. Some of these vital signs are heartbeat rate, respiration rate and body temperature and body movements as well. The aim of the project is to

increase the capabilities and flexibility of wearable smart medical textiles to monitor the people’s health.

The aimed product (HM-Shirt) of this research work will facilitate the monitoring of body movement and vital signs that are also important for sedated or anesthetized patients. Additionally, it will be useful in monitoring the patients who are subject to the magnetic resonance imaging where it is highly needed to monitor the condition of the patient during the imaging procedure where it is difficult to use electric and electronic sensors because of the existing strong magnetic field. This technology is also helpful in monitoring

Articles Articles The HM-Shirt The HM-Shirt

This work presents smart clothes based on optical fibers sensors that can be worn at any time, any place and while performing different tasks to monitor the vital signs of a person and sending the findings immediately and wirelessly for monitoring and evaluation means

The HM-Shirt

Smart Textiles Based On Optical Fibers Sensors for Health Monitoring Applications

Smart Clothes to Monitor Your Health

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WHAT YOU WEAR SENSES HOW YOU FEEL

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By

Dr. Tarek ElsarnagawyDirector of Research &

Translation Center, PSU

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and analyzing the progress of rehabilitation processes and physical therapy of athletes and people with disabilities. It is also ideal for use in manufacturing shoes which are individually customized for the feet of diabetic patients to locate and avoid

pressure areas in the shoes which may cause injuries. Furthermore, it can be used for smart mattresses and wheel chairs as well.In order to give more flexibility in movement while wearing smart textiles that are based on optical

fibers sensors, it has been achieved to make the sensor system portable and operate wirelessly as well. This means that the person who wears the smart textiles can move freely whether he is inpatient at some health facility, at work, or doing exercises outside like jogging or walking. His vital signs will be

registered and sent immediately to the doctor or hospital in order to be added to his medical record. If the monitored vital signs exceed certain predefined values warnings alerts are generated. The initial results (see Figures) of this project were published in in scientific journals (see references) and

presented in the first engineering forum that was organized by the Research & Translation Center RTC at PSU in February, 2014 and in the ICENS 22015 conference in Bangkok in January 2015.

References1. T. Elsarnagawy, A Simultaneous and

Validated Wearable FBG Heartbeat and Respiration Rate Monitoring System, Sensor Lett., 13, pp. 48 -51 (2015)

2. Tarek Elsarnagawy, Manal Farrag, Jens Haueisen, Magdy Abulaal, Khalid Mahmoud, H. Fouad, and S. G. Ansari, A Wearable Wireless Respiration Rate Monitoring System Based on Fiber Optic Sensors, Sensor Lett. 12, 1331 1336 ( 2014). Volume 12, Number 9 (September 2014) pp.1331- 1450

3. T. Elsarnagawy, J. Haueisen, M. Farrag, S. G. Ansari, and H. Fouad, Embedded Fiber Bragg Grating Based Strain Sensor as Smart Costume for Vital Signal Sensing, Embedded Fiber Bragg Grating Based Strain Sensor as Smart Costume for Vital Signal Sensing, Sensor Lett., Vol. 12, No. 11, pp. 1669–1674, 2014

4. Tarek Dief Elsarnagawy, A Portable and Wearable Fiber-optic-based Garment for Healthcare Monitoring, The 2015 International Conference on Engineering and Natural Science ICENS, 21 - 23 January 2015 in Bangkok, Thailand, Paper #: 2171, Speaker & Session

Articles The HM-Shirt

TowardsAcademic Career Enhancement Strategies:

Crafting Theory

Integrated System

By: Dr. Yahya Melhem

College of Business Administration, PSU

Articles An Integrated System

Fig.:System components (210g, 3.5 x 5x 1.5 inch)

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Articles

he most important enquiry about academic career is questioning the extent to

which scholars’ efforts progress in advancing knowledge (Hambrick, 2007), improving the world of prac-tice (Ghoshal, 2005), or influencing students and colleagues in advanc-ing their research and academic per-formance and make a difference in their lives or perhaps leaving a dent on the community or lives of others outside the academic arena. These aspects of one’s academic career are vital to one’s self vitality, self-worth, and self-actualization, and therefore experiencing meaningful academic career (Wrzesniewski and Dutton, 2001). In their Incubator, Wellman and Spreitzer (2010) used Job Crafting theory to demonstrate how academics can enhance the meaning of their tasks by changing the way they work. Their underly-ing assumption is that increasing the personal meaning of academic jobs is valuable and desirable (Wrz-

esniewski and Dutton, 2001). Job crafting is a proactive change to the content and context of that job (Wrz-esniewski and Dutton, 2001). It en-compasses three dimensions: men-tal model crafting, which involves mind-set context; Job Transforma-tion related to the nature of the task or job, and interactional or relational crafting related to the quality and

levels of interaction with colleagues and others.

According to Wellman and Spreitzer (2010) when scholars alter and craft their jobs in these ways, the jobs become more meaningful to them. Many scholars (Wellman and Spre-itzer, 2010; Mohammed, Klimoski, and Rentsch, 2000 ; Cameron, Dut-

ton, and Quinn, 2003; Katz & Kahn, 1978; and Kozlowski et al., 1999) theorize about academic crafting and academics’ initiatives in devel-oping and enhancing their academic careers for meaning, vitality, and impact. However, such transforma-tion is hard to sustain without con-textual and environmental factors to support and incubate such transfor-

mation. This paper proposes three building blocks for further investiga-tion of their significance and role in enhancing this job crafting theory to-ward an integrated system for craft-ing and enhancing academic jobs. Furthermore, this paper will tackle and further this job crafting theory, and add perspective from different cultural context. Further empirical investigation is also proposed to validate the assumed propositions in this paper. Next, we begin by in-troducing the three job crafting di-mensions; mental model crafting, task crafting, and then interactional or relational crafting. Then, the three building blocks are discussed and presented to augment the job craft-ing theory with new theory called System Crafting Theory.

Towards an Integrated System Crafting Theory The three types of job crafting; men-tal Model Crafting, Job Transfor-

T

mation, and Relational Crafting are very important strategies for effec-tive academic career enhancement. However, to create a sustainable effectiveness and continuity using this approach, academic institu-tions need more than the basic job crafting strategies. Nevertheless, Job crafting strategies, discussed in this paper, should be reinforced and supported by other similar and in-tegrative strategies. Hence, any cli-mate conducive for change requires certain building blocks for change. Here, the Organizational Learning literature is an important knowledge source. To make the three crafting methods work to the advantage of the individual scholar, the system must support this change. In this re-gard we may borrow from the learn-ing organization conception some drivers for change (Garvin, et al 2008). As illustrated in figure (1) be-low a significant contribution in this paper is the proposal for a system crafting theory integrating the follow-ing three building blocks (Melhem, 2011)

1- Leadership support for

learningLeaders may provide time, re-sources, engagement, and in-centives to support change and transformation in a more system-atic way in the jobs of academ-ics and scholars, and may on the other hand stand against such change and development by re-stricting resources and limiting support (Garvin et al, 2008, Mel-hem, 2011).Assumptions (1): Leadership support has a significant impact on the three job crafting condi-tions: Mental Model Crafting, Job Transformation, and Interactional Crafting.

2- Learning process and prac-ticesScholars need support in tools, technology LMS, laboratory re-sources, curriculum, data bases, conferences, workshops, and experimentation in order to keep transforming their jobs and ad-

vancing their research capabili-ties. Hence scholars will not be able to effectively perform their job crafting conditions without the right resources for research and for impact. This leads to the second assumption.Assumption (2): Learning pro-cesses and practices have a sig-nificant impact on the three job crafting conditions: Mental Model Crafting, Job Transformation, and Interactional Crafting.

3- Supportive learning envi-ronment

According to Garvin et al, (2008) learning organizations require sup-portive learning environment by hav-ing a safe environment for people to be free of sanctions and boundaries, to have a psychological safety ap-preciation for differences, time to re-flect and think freely and openness to new ideas and new approaches. As such the third assumption proposes:

Leadership Support

Mental model crafting

Learning process & practice

Job Crafting

Enhanced Scholarly

Career

System crafting conditions Job Crafting Conditions

Supportive learning

environment Interactional

crafting

Fig.: (1) System Crafting Theory

Leaders may provide time, resources, engagement, and incentives to support change and transformation in a more systematic way

When scholars alter and craft their jobs in these ways, the jobs become more meaningful to them.

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An Integrated System Articles An Integrated System

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Assumption (3): supportive learning environment has a significant impact on the three job crafting conditions: Mental Model Crafting, Job Transfor-mation, and Interactional Crafting.This paper suggests that these three building blocks are very important preconditions for the model of en-hancing scholars’ careers. This is the first time such integration is pro-posed for future research efforts to investigate the potential relationships between the three building blocks and the three crafting approaches discussed in this paper.SummaryScholars’ careers are more signifi-cant and meaningful when they en-gage themselves more in the mission of their career and the core of their field; that is research. Academics bear two task responsibilities; teach-ing and research, and whereas the research component is more critical and important driver for knowledge creation and knowledge renewal. Nevertheless research efforts and re-search findings also feed the teach-

ing process and enhance it. In some college environments one might observe a complete engage-ment in the real research and schol-arly work, and in other environments we may observe different story where scholars are fully engaged and consumed in the teaching pro-cess away from the research effort and when they engage in any re-search effort it can be described as a lonely task with just an individual concern. This paper however, is rec-ommending ways that researchers can engage themselves collectively in cognitive, task, and relational job rethinking and reshaping in order to enhance the feelings of meaningful-ness and vitality in one’s job (Berg, Wrzesniewski, & Dutton, 2010).In conclusion, the three crafting ap-proaches to academic career en-hancement may work in harmony to produce more significant and mean-ingful career for researchers. How-ever, there are few challenges that might stand in the way beyond indi-vidual ability to change and to craft

the career. These challenges are built-in sometimes, in the university culture, direction, resources and per-haps intention for change. Three supportive and integrative fac-tors are significant contextual factors to reinforce the three main factors discussed in this study (Wellman and Spreitzer, 2010) as illustrated in figure (1) and briefly explained in assumptions or propositions. At this moment, this paper is a call for a crafting system integrating three im-portant building blocks with three job crafting conditions toward academic career enhancement, vitality and im-pact.These assumptions call for further empirical investigation to arrive at the degrees of impact and statisti-cal significance between the building blocks and the job crafting conditions illustrated in figure (1).

Selected References1. Berg, J. M., Wrzesniewski, A., & Dutton,

J. E. (2010). Perceiving and reacting to challenges in job crafting at different ranks: When proactivity requires adaptiv-ity. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31, 158–186.

2. Boyer, E. L. (1990). Scholarship reconsid-ered: The priorities of the professoriate. Princeton, NJ: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

3. Cameron, K. S., Dutton, J. E., & Quinn, R. E. (Eds.), (2003). An introduction to posi-tive organizational scholarship. In Positive Organizational Scholarship: Foundations of a new discipline. San Francisco: Ber-rett-Koehler, 3–13.

4. Dutton, J. E., & Heaphy, E. D. (2003). The power of high-quality connections. In K. S. Cameron, J. E. Dutton, & R. E. Quinn (Eds.), Positive Organizational Scholar-ship: Foundations of a new discipline. (pp. 263–278).

Articles An Integrated System

OptimalMicrosecond

ControlBy

Dr. Ali AlmatouqCollege of Engineering,

Department of Communication &

Networks

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Articles Articles Microsecond Real time optimizationMicrosecond Real time optimization

ith the advancement of computational algo-rithms paralleled with the advancement in computational hard-

ware technology, it is now possible to conduct complex optimization routines involving large models and large sets of data in fractions of a second on a small portable device. This will open new areas of optimal process control applications in non-traditional fields like nano-technolo-gy and microfluidics and may have a big impact on the efficiency of many energy devices we use today. This article will introduce some basic in-formation about mathematical opti-mization, optimal feedback process control and will give a glimpse on the future of this technology. Optimization is the process of searching for the best decisions that make something perfect as much as possible. More specifically, op-timization is a systematic decision making process that looks for the best decision available among a set of all possible decisions for solving a particular problem with a specific objective in mind. Human beings often solve optimization problems in day to day activities using their intel-lectual capabilities. For example, we often think about ways for mini-mizing the time it takes for a journey while we are driving our cars by se-lecting the less congested road to the desired destination. Students often think about the optimal ways they can study to maximize their grades. Investors think about the optimal ways they can spend their money to maximize their profits and

so on. In other words, optimization is a decision making process that seeks perfection. More formally, op-timization refers to the applied math-ematics field that is concerned about systematically choosing input values from within an allowed set that will maximize or minimize some real function1. In any mathematical optimization problem there are usually three el-ements that define the problem: the objective that we seek to minimize or maximize; the decision variables that we seek to find in order to meet the specified objective and the con-straints that we must respect which also define all possible decisions

available. For example, the objec-tive of an investor is often to maxi-mize revenue while minimizing risk. The decision variables could be the buying or selling of shares and the constraints could be the amount of cash money or shares available.Mathematical optimization is widely used today in solving many engi-neering design and decision mak-ing problems and is very common in areas like mechanical and chemical engineering, civil and construction engineering, operation research, machine learning, signal and image processing, management science and in many other scientific and en-gineering disciplines. For example,

designing cars that consume mini-mum amount of fuel; designing a catalyst that maximize a yield of a certain product; designing a facility layout to minimize safety risks and designing buildings that consume minimum amount of energy are just a few examples of design optimiza-tion problems. Optimization in de-sign is increasingly becoming a ne-cessity rather than a scientific luxury that seeks idealism with the increas-

ing demand for systems that are more efficient and less expensive.

Optimization and Feedback Con-trol:On the other hand, there are other sets of optimization problems that are concerned about how we oper-ate (or control) these systems and makes use of feedback control. Be-fore we explain how optimization is used in feedback control, we will

give a brief explanation of what is feedback control. Figure 2 explains the concept of feedback control for a furnace. In this example, it is desired to main-tain the temperature of the furnace at a specified constant value. An operator is continuously examining the temperature gauge of a furnace using his naked eye to monitor any temperature excursions from the desired temperature target, or set-point (SP). At the same time, the operator is adjusting the amount of fuel entering the furnace using the hand-wheel of a valve to counter effect the changes in temperature observed so that the temperature always remains constant at the de-sired target set-point. In figure 3, the operator is replaced by a com-puter that autonomously reads the temperature value (also called pro-cess value PV) while adjusting the control valve via a control output signal (CO) based on the deviation between the process value and the desired target set-point.

Optimal Control:However, in conventional feedback control, decision is made solely based on the deviation between the measured process value (PV) and the desired target set-point (SP) and the objective is only to control the process. However, in modern control systems often there are ad-ditional objectives and it is desired to optimally control a process. We call such controllers optimal control-lers and they are considered as the next generation of feedback control technology.

Fig. 1 : Optimization is increasigly becoming a necessity http://kottakkalfarookcollege.org/2015/basics-optimization.html

Fig. 2 : Manual Feedback Control of a furnace (Source: http://blog.opticontrols.com/archives/344 )

Fig. 3 : Automatic Feedback Control of a furnace (Source: http://blog.opticontrols.com/archives/344 2 )

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_optimization#Mechanics_and_engineering 2 Smuts, Jacques . Control Notes: Reflections of a Process Control Practitioner. www.opticontrols.com.

Optimization is the process of searching for the best decisions that make something perfect as much as possible.

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microprocessors and is capable of solving relatively medium size prob-lems 3.

As an application, they have demon-strated optimization of a home refrig-erator. The speed of the refrigerator compressor was continuously ad-justed every second to minimize en-ergy consumption. The group was able to reduce the energy bill of the refrigerator by 30% using this new technology. For large scale prob-lems, the same group also demon-strated solving a convex optimiza-tion problem involving 30 Gigabytes of data within only 6 minutes4.

Another similar recent implemen-tation was made by the Automatic Control Lab of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and has demonstrated the possibility of implementing model predictive con-

trol at the rate of 1 million optimiza-tion calculation per second 5.

Such new discoveries have remark-able ramifications for new engineer-ing studies. First, these implementations prove the possibility of applying real time optimization to non-conventional problems using relatively inexpen-sive technology. In other words, real time optimization can now be imple-mented in our homes, offices, cars, classrooms etc. cheaply and reliably which opens tremendous opportuni-ties for improvement of our systems and of our daily life activities.

Second, it opens the door also for high frequency real time optimization applications which may enable us to optimally control physical phenome-na that change within microseconds like vibrations, chemical reactions,

electromagnetic interferences etc.

New manufacturing technologies

like microfluidics and nanotechnol-

ogy fabrication may also be subject

to optimal control engineering in

the micro-second range. The chal-

lenge is for scientist and engineers

to recognize these opportunities for

improvement and to rephrase these

candidate problems into optimal

control problems.

In optimal control we seek to op-timally operate systems to meet certain objectives continuously and sustainably. For example, minimiz-ing traffic congestion in large cit-ies by autonomous manipulation of traffic light signals; minimizing energy consumption in buildings by autonomous control of air condi-tioning and lighting system param-eters and minimizing blood glucose excursions in diabetes patients by autonomous injection of insulin are just a few examples of contemporary optimal control problems. In these examples, a minimization problem is solved repeatedly in time while the system is running (operated) and optimal changes (or decisions) are made continuously to the system to meet a particular objective. In optimal control (or normal feed-back control) problems, autonomous optimal manipulation of decisions is done continuously to reject the effect of unmeasured disturbances that may affect the operation of a sys-tem. For example, car traffic con-gestion is influenced by disturbanc-es like car accidents; air conditioning in buildings is influenced by distur-bances like room occupancy and blood glucose levels in a diabetes patient is influenced by disturbances like meals, emotions, exercise and so on.

Figure 4 shows a block diagram for a typical optimal controller that portrays the required system com-

ponents and interconnections. The real time optimizer is usually a com-puter or a small microprocessor that is fed with the optimization targets and any measurements coming from the system. The optimizer minimiz-es/maximizes the control objective function repeatedly through numeri-cal optimization routines. The opti-mal decision variables that are re-peatedly calculated (which are also called manipulating variables) are the knobs (or handles) that allow us to manipulate the system optimally. Microsecond Optimal Control:All the examples that were mentioned so far were for relatively slow appli-

cations; i.e. the dynamics of the sys-tem/problem are relatively slow. For example, traffic congestion; build-ing occupancy and blood glucose levels do not change in seconds, rather in minutes or even hours. In other words, the time scales of the system dynamics are in the order of seconds to minutes. With the cur-rent numerical optimization technol-ogy, normal desktop computers can

be used to solve these optimization problems every second or minute as required. Optimal control applica-tions in these time scales are very common today in many systems and are widely used for example in modern industrial automatic control. Less commonly, however, are appli-cations that involve very fast dynam-ics; i.e. in the order of milliseconds or even microseconds.

Recently, the group of Prof. Stephen Boyd of the Electrical Engineering department of Stanford University developed numerical optimization routines that can solve a particular optimization problem within micro-seconds using small standalone

Human beings solve optimization problems in day to day activities using their intellectual capabilities without noticing

Articles Articles Microsecond Real time optimizationMicrosecond Real time optimization

Fig. 4 : A typical real time optimizer

Fig. 5 : Example of a convex objective function

3 Mattingley, Jacob and Stephen Boyd. “Real-time convex optimization in signal processing”, Signal

Processing Magazine, IEEE, Vol. 27, 3, p.p. 50 - 61, 2010.

4 Stephen Boyd et.al., Distributed optimization and statistical learning via the alternating direction

method of multipliers, Foundations and Trends in Machine Learning, Vol. 3, 1, p.p. 1- 122, 2011.

5 Jerez, Juan L and et.al. “Embedded online optimization for model predictive control at megahertz

rates”, arXiv preprint arXiv:1303.1090, 2013.

Large manufacturing facilities that traditionally required 10s of operators to operate are nowadays safely maintained with a handful number of operators using feedback control

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Articles Articles Creating Positive Birthing ExperiencesCreating Positive Birthing Experiences

Creating

The basics of the childbirth process have not changed since the beginning of human existence; however, the environment in which women today give birth has changed significantly. One study found that 94% of women thought that the physical environment affected how easy or difficult giving birth was. However, the literature on the impact of interior/architectural design on women›s birth experience is limited. Incorporating design elements and strategies that calm and reduce negative emotions may create positive experiences for women in labor. The focus in healthcare facility design is changing from functional delivery of care towards a greater emphasis on psychologically supportive healing environments. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of one such strategy, namely the presentation of images of nature,

on the labor and delivery experience.

ByDr. Rehab AburasTheories suggest that there is a healing power

of nature, which lies in the unconscious response to elements from nature

Interior Design & Architecture Department,

PSU

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was conducted to examine the effect of self-hypnosis training sessions on a woman’s labor experience. The study findings suggested that the use of self- hypnosis may have benefits for both mothers and infants. Infants in the hypnosis condition had significantly better 1-minute Apgar scores than those in the control condition. Higher Apgar scores for the experimental condition can be associated with having a better labor experience for this group of participants. Access to nature images can help the mothers to cope with pain without the side effects and the additional costs of using medical methods to sooth pain. In addition, this study found that adding the nature images to the LDR increases mother satisfaction by 3.5%. Healthcare organizations should create environments to achieve higher patient satisfaction and encourage repeat visits, which increases profit. If the mother and her family received the level of care they hope for, that will encourage them to considering this facility for any future care. That stressed the importance of administrators, policymakers and providers understanding that women’s satisfaction with their childbirth experience is an indicator of maternity care quality. This study suggested incorporating nature imagery into the patient’s environment to achieve the previous goals: higher patient satisfaction, lower side effects, and lower financial costs (figures 5,6 and 7). Theories suggest that there is a

healing power of nature, which lies in the unconscious response to elements from nature. Certain natural places may be viewed by the unconscious mind as safe places in which human beings used to have greater rates of survival. Such theories support the idea that incorporating nature images

into the healthcare environments can be beneficial for most health populations, despite cultural or spiritual differences. This idea becomes more important in LDR settings since most of those women are not suffering from diseases that could affect their

responses toward nature. If the brain or unconscious responses cause the positive response to being exposed to nature, then the nature theme in designing LDR would significantly help mothers achieve a positive childbirth experience. Selected References1. Newburn, M., Singh, D. (2003).Creating a

better birth environment: Women›s views about the design and facilities in maternity units: a national survey.London, UK. National Childbirth Trust.

2. Rubeozer, C. J. (2008). A Comprehensive Literature Review on Childbirth: A Time of Options.

3. Ulrich, R. S. (1991). Effects of interior design on wellness: theory and recent scientific research. In S. O. Marberry (Eds), Innovations in healthcare design.pp. 88 - 104.Van Nostrand Reinhold. New York.

4. Casey, B. M., McIntire, D. D., & Leveno, K. J. (2001). The continuing value of the Apgar score for the assessment of newborn infants. New England Journal of Medicine, 344(7), 467 - 471.

5. Wilde, B., Starrin, B., Larsson, G., & Larsson, M. (1993). Quality of care from a patient perspective. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 7 (2), 113 -120.

omen take a longer time to give birth today than they did 50 years ago. The first stage of labor

has increased by 2.6 hours for first-time mothers. In addition, women delay their motherhood owing to their education and career plans; childbirth and the birthing experience have assumed more importance in contemporary families. Delayed childbearing could increase the risk of low birth weight, preterm delivery, miscarriage, and Down›s syndrome. These factors increased the importance of creating a positive labor environment that includes accessibility to calming and relaxing techniques. Access to nature or to nature imagery was recommended to help women cope with the pain during labor. It was suggested adding imagination to breath awareness techniques, for example, imagining a flower opening slowly. That will keep the brain busy focusing on slow breathing and on imagining the flower image, which leaves a limited amount of concentration on the pain (figure 1 and 2).

The study compared two groups: group A was the control group and group B was the experimental one. Women in Group A were able to watch regular TV at their discretion, but there were no nature images displayed. For Group B, in

addition to the regular TV, another TV displayed nature images. The images were chosen according to recommendations in the literature; namely, that the images represent trees, flowers, water and other nature content, that suggests positive subjects (figure 3 and 4).

The results show that introducing nature imagery to the LDR had positive impacts on women during

labor, including lower heart rates, higher APGAR scores, and higher satisfaction in the evaluation of their labor experiences. Previous studies documented a decrease in the systolic blood pressure because of the calming nature effect. Lower

heart rates in the experimental condition support the findings from literature that nature imagery can reduce heart rate and autonomic arousal. When blood pressure or heart rates decrease but are still in the normal level, it means the person is less stressed and calm. Relaxation

techniques can reduce stress symptoms by slowing the heart rate and reducing blood pressure. Incorporating representative types of nature into the LDR can cause this calming effect, which is shown in the slight decrease of the vital signs level. In addition, the study results showed a higher average Apgar score for the experimental group. The Apgar score is associated with several factors including high-risk pregnancy, C-section, and whether the mother had a good labor or complicated one. Studies also showed that psychological stresses during pregnancy may cause complications which directly affect both the mother and the newborn, including the APGAR score. For instance a study

Fig.1 & 2: Samples of the nature images that were used in the study.

Fig. 6, 7: Comparison between the control and the experimental condition heart rate.

Fig. 8 : Satisfaction with the labor experience mean scores and the recorded watching time.

Fig. 3 & 4: The experimental TV setup in the labor and delivery room.

Articles Articles Creating Positive Birthing ExperiencesCreating Positive Birthing Experiences

Women take a longer time to give birth today than did women 50 years ago

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Articles Building Mosques and Islamic Centres in Australia Building Mosques and Islamic Centres in Australia Articles

Architecture, Culture and Needs

Building Mosques and

Islamic Centres

Although Muslims have lived in the West for many decades, they still face many challenges and exclusion from socio-cultural and recreational activities in facilities that sometimes do not cater to the needs of people from different cultural backgrounds. In addition, Muslims’ cultural and religious obligations may limit their participation at a range of public venues

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in Australia

ByDr. Mona Omar

Assistant Professor, Interior Design & Architecture

Department, PSU

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hese kinds of limitations and exclusions highlight the need for commu-nity centres that cater

for Muslims’ special requirements whilst providing for a healthy inter-action with non-Muslims.In order to define the main architec-tural concepts and design criteria required to develop functional so-cio-cultural Islamic centres and rec-ognise their role in developing and integrating Muslims in non-Muslim countries, this article presents the history of Islamic centres in Austra-lia and the West, and highlights their role in helping Muslim migrants to

settle, develop and integrate in their new countries, whilst preserving their identity (Figures 1 & 2). Further-more, this article identifies the chal-lenges that contemporary Australian

Muslims face today so that one can understand their main socio-cultural needs and requirementsTo achieve the aims set forth above, this article reviews the literature con-cerning “Islamic centres” in Australia and the West, explores briefly their

history, their roles and their neces-sity to the Muslim communities. This article also studies the socio-cultural needs and requirements of the Mus-lim communities according to their Islamic teachings. Furthermore, this article explores the opportunities for social inclusion and cross-cultural participation through built environ-ment development and socio-cultur-al Islamic centres. History of Islamic Centres in the WestScholars define the congregation or urban mosque as an important insti-tution for the Muslim community. A mosque is not only a place of wor-

ship, but also a communal place. This double purpose space found its genesis in Prophet Muhammad’s house and mosque constructed in the city of Madinah, in Saudi Arabia,

some fourteen hundred years ago.Islamic centres in non-Muslim coun-tries are a relatively new phenom-enon and a modern name for build-ings of spiritual character and Islamic cultural multi-function places. The Islamic cultural centre usually con-

tains a mosque or a prayer hall as a core for its activities and some at-tached complementary spaces that form its uniqueness. Such spaces are necessary for its functions and progressive development that fulfil Muslims needs in this modern life.Urban mosques architecture in the Muslim countries has witnessed a great development, expressed through functions, programs and services that have been provided since the 1950s. This development was then followed by establishing Islamic centres outside the Muslim world, which coincided with the es-tablishment of mainstream cultural centres in the West to fulfil the need for society evolution. This was in line with global demands to estab-lish cultural centres post World War II. Moreover, the development of the functionalist movement in architec-ture favoured multi-functional build-ings.

The Role and Importance of Com-munity CentresThis section discusses both the

meaning and sense of a com-munity, with an attempt to ex-plain the relationship between the sense of community, place and socio-cultural participation. It also highlights the role and im-portance of community centres.

Muslims In The West And The Need For Islamic CentresHuman Needs and the Built Envi-ronmentIn regard to design and associated human needs, all humans have the same basic needs; psychologist Abraham Maslow developed a con-

cept known as ‘Hierarchy of Human Needs’. Maslow’s hierarchy or pyra-mid categorises the most fundamen-tal human needs that must be satis-fied before a person can focus and pay attention on the context level.Maslow classifies the most basic set of needs as physiological, which are necessary for the proper function-ing of the body and mind. His theory suggests that human beings start to be concerned about the next level of needs after the essential ones are satisfied. Then people will turn their attention to those needs that are not strictly essential to body function. The same transition is theorized at each level of Maslow’s hierarchy; accord-ingly, they will be concerned with se-curity needs after physiological needs have been satisfied.We can identify the general types of physical, psychological and social needs, according to Maslow’s hier-archy. On the left of the diagram is the hierarchy of six levels of human needs whilst on the right and centre are the ways these needs are ex-pressed and manifested in the built environment.It is noticed that many of the examples extend to more than one category; if security is guaranteed, then human beings turn their attention to higher needs, such as belonging to a group or a community; these are referred to as psychological needs (Figure 3) .The Need for Socio-cultural Islamic

Centres in AustraliaSome social and recreational activi-ties in Australia are not always en-tirely inclusive, particularly for people from culturally and linguistically di-verse groups such as Muslims. Phys-ical, cultural, social, economic and religious barriers may limit Muslims, especially women, participating in so-cial and recreational activities. These kinds of limitations or exclusion for Muslims’ participation highlight the need for Muslim community centres that cater for their socio-cultural and recreational needs, taking into con-sideration Muslims religious obliga-tions.Therefore, mosque projects in the West tend to be more than just places of worship, but rather extend to cater

to a broader community need. Such needs can be formulated in the proj-ect’s design program to include spac-es for prayer, meditation, counselling, learning, social functions, bazaars, recreational and funeral activities; we can refer to this kind of mosques as community centres.An Islamic centre’s design tends to create an innovative social environ-ment appropriate to the size of the community, while also reflecting the character of the locale. In addition, it would provide a variety of uses and flexibility, allowing for future ex-pansion to accommodate the rapid growth of the Muslim communities in

the West.

Relationship between Socio-cul-tural Needs and Islamic CentresIn order to derive an architectural program of a building, it is important to understand the needs of its users. The Islamic socio-cultural centre is designed mainly to serve the Mus-lim community; thus, it is important to know what their needs and require-ments are. Muslims socio-cultural needs can be translated into architec-tural zones, spaces and forms and de-veloped into design programs, which can accordingly be built as functional community cultural centres.The idea that an architectural func-tion is to construct and reproduce so-cial structures has deep implications,

not only for architectural practice but also on architectural research. Social knowledge is most often tacit and incorporated in the accepted behav-iours and norms of a society.

T

Islamic centres in non-Muslim countries are a relatively new phenomenon

Fig.: 1 & 2

Figure: 3

Fig.: 4 , 5

An Islamic centre’s de-sign tends to create an innovative social envi-ronment appropriate to the size of the commu-nity.

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Background Of The Muslims’ Built Forms In AustraliaEarly Mosques and Signs of Islamic Built Forms in AustraliaEarly Australian Muslims felt an over-whelming need to build their own mosques to fulfil their Islamic obli-gations. At first, a special room set aside in someone’s house served as a place of prayer. In the more remote areas like Maree and Coolgardie, simple mud and tin-roofed mosques were initially constructed by the Af-ghan cameleers (Figures 4 & 5).Few of these remote mosques still exist today, but archive photographs of archetypal buildings in the Ghan-towns such as Farina and Marree indicate a considerable and practi-cal use of corrugated iron sheeting and other industrial building materi-als that the cameleers were regu-larly transporting into the outback in combination with more conventional techniques of clay, wood and stone construction.In addition to their humble and prac-tical houses, each of the Ghantowns had some form of mosque. These were often quite temporary struc-tures of sun-dried mud construc-tion, typical of self-built vernacular buildings in Northern India, but cor-rugated iron was also used in some of these structures. These mosques provided a centre for the social life of these settlements, meeting points in the cultural landscape of the cam-eleers as they travelled from one re-mote Ghantown to the next. Fig. 6: Adelaide Mosque, (built 1888 - 89) Fig. 7: Perth Mosque, Western Australia’s first mosque 1906In the late 19th and early 20th centu-ries, community leaders in Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane made great ef-forts to secure land and raise funds

for the purpose of building perma-nent mosques (Figures 6 & 7).A relatively large masonry mosque was built in Adelaide collectively by the Muslim cameleers’ community with their combined life savings. The mosque is located in a distant and unfamiliar urban locale of the capital city, on the edge of the sea. It was maintained in its early years by an infrequent mosque leader (Imam), from the Australian Afghan commu-nity.The Adelaide Mosque functioned as a common point of gathering and connecting the geographically iso-lated members of the Afghan com-munity operating throughout the central and eastern interior of the continent. The Afghan cameleers visited the urban mosque occasion-ally due to the distance, usually as

a place of rest and retreat from their routine journeys, particularly during the holy month of Ramadan when the camel transport business closes down.The Adelaide Mosque was built just two generations after the founda-tion of the South Australian Colony within the limited sacred places of the inner Adelaide city in 1888-89. The Adelaide Mosque is considered as one of the remarkable icons of di-

versity of the urban fabric of colonial Adelaide. In 1895, Perth Muslim leaders lob-bied the state government for a land grant in line with the grants given to churches and synagogues. When this approach failed, they looked to their own resources, in-spired by the construction of the Adelaide Mosque. Muslim leaders started planning the Perth Mosque in William Street in Northbridge. Its foundation stone was laid and the mosque was opened in 1906.Building Mosques and Islamic Cen-tres in Contemporary Australia Most published literature about con-temporary Australian Muslims and their built forms such as mosques, Islamic centres and schools, are concerned with historical, political, social, cultural and economic as-

pects plus the issues of racism and terrorism. Academic research and other literature tackling Australian Islamic architecture are extremely rare or virtually non-existent. Some researchers argue that there have been problems for mosque organizations in Australia to get building approvals; they claim that academic studies on the building or architecture of mosques and Is-lamic centres in Australia could not

be found. Other researchers point out that approval for mosques building has not always been easy to obtain, be-cause of local residents objections and complaints to local authorities.An in-depth research, about mosques and Muslims settlement in Australia, studies Australian Muslim groups from the perspective of being “religious settlements”. It suggests two main aspects for investigation concerning such settlement; firstly, how a religious group must build a new identity that is compatible with the new society in which it lives while still maintaining traditions; secondly,

how a religious organization estab-lishes places of worship, such as mosques and Islamic centres, with-out any pre-established assistance

from the new society (Figures 8 & 9). The research also claims that the presence of a mosque becomes both the symbolic and the functional focus of a given sub-culture of Mus-lim communities. Fig. 8: Auburn Gallipoli Mosque – Sydney, NSW Fig. 9: Sunshine Mosque, Victoria, AustraliaAs architectural concepts and in-novative perceptions for contempo-rary Islamic centres, Australian and Western architects need to design their Islamic centre projects as open and welcoming plans and to address the role of Muslim minorities in a post-9/11 world.

Islamic centres should not be limited to facilitating prayer, nor should they be monumental edifices erected to compensate for a perceived inferi-

ority. They should be opportunities for engagement and for respectful discourse that leads to deeper un-derstanding of mankind and the uni-verse”.

The Importance Of Socio-Cultural Islamic CentresThe Role of Islamic Centres in Com-munity DevelopmentThe Muslim Community Refer-ence Group (MCRG) was formed and funded by the Australian Fed-eral Government in 2005. MCRG’s report (2006) recommends that a greater engagement between Mus-lim and non-Muslim communities will help strengthen interaction, fos-ter understanding and promote bet-ter relationships. The group believes in the importance of projects and initiatives flowing from the ‘National Action Plan’ and suggests that, in order to ‘build on social cohesion, harmony and security, the following action plan is needed (as a part of many other proposals): - Organising open days and other activities at “Islamic Centres”,- Promoting the process of under-standing and integration between all Australians,- Encouraging Muslims participation

Fig.: 6 , 7

Fig.: 8 , 9

Articles Building Mosques and Islamic Centres in Australia Building Mosques and Islamic Centres in Australia Articles

Fig. 10

Some social and recreational activities in Australia are not always inclusive for people from culturally and linguistically diverse groups such as Muslims.

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in organised sports, with a particular emphasis on women,- Establishing emphasis on connect-edness, interdependence, regard, commitment, love and empathy be-tween all society groups,- Encouraging community develop-ment workers to support Muslim communities,- Learning from other communities (Interaction and Cross-cultural Ac-tivities). Fig. 10 : Mirrabooka Mosque - Perth, Western AustraliaFig. 11 : Mosque in Melbourne, Vic-toria

An Islamic socio-cultural centre can play an important role in building and maintaining a cohesive, toler-ant, religious, social, cultural and educational institution that serves the Muslims needs, as well as the

broader Australian community. For example, Canberra Islamic Centre facilitates religious, social and mul-ticultural events that promote unity and harmony. In addition, the centre provides social gathering, Islamic culture seminars, youth forums, la-dies social events, art and cultural exhibitions, sports and recreational events. Moreover, the centre orga-nises open days with non-Muslims to encourage and promote interfaith dialogue.The socio-cultural activities of an Islamic centre include a range of services that enable Muslims, es-

pecially young peo-ple and women, to actively engage in programs of learn-ing and recreation in a positive and safe environment that provide choices and opportunities to sec-tions of the Muslim community who may feel isolated from mainstream services.Contemporary Mus-lim societies would

be better served if their mosques are designed (or redesigned) as community development centres that include (beside the main prayer hall) classes, libraries, multipurpose halls, lecture rooms, restaurants, kitchens, gymnasiums, childcare/

crèche, guest-rooms, clinics/first aid, mini-markets and workshops.The abovementioned examples demonstrate the importance of the Islamic centres and their role as com-munity centres that help promote and develop Muslim communities in all aspects of life. In this sense, the Islamic centre model tends to pro-vide the necessary programs and activities that help facilitate a variety of educational, socio-cultural, eco-nomic and spiritual programs, which would fulfil Muslims’ needs and build on social cohesion, harmony and security with the broader Australian community.

Selected References:1. Aazam, Z. 2007. The Social Logic of the

Mosque: a study in building typology.

Istanbul: Proceedings, 6th International

Space Syntax Symposium.

2. Azar, L. 1999. The Mosque Design in the

West. Proceedings of the Symposium on

Mosque Architecture, January 30-Febru-

ary 3, ed. M. Saleh and A. Alkokani, 3 (B):

71-85. Riyadh: King Saud University, Col-

lege of Architecture and Bayudi, R. and

I. Nabulsi. 2010. Reviving magnanimity:

A Proposal for Canberra Islamic Centre,

Australia. In Eid Magazine 2010: 34-36.

London: UK.

3. Bouma, G. 1994. Mosques and Muslims

Settlement in Australia. Canberra: Aus-

tralian Government Publishing Service.

4. Deen, H. 2007. Muslim Journeys. In Un-

common Lives. Sherrat, T. and Kate

Bagnall (eds.). The National Archives of

Australia Website. http://uncommonlives.

naa.gov.au/muslim-journeys/records.

aspx (accessed March 15, 2010).

Contemporary Muslim societies would be better served if their mosques are designed as community development centres.

Building Mosques and Islamic Centres in Australia Articles

Prototyping Massive

Massive MIMO, a candidate for 5G technology, promises significant gains in wireless data rates and link reliability by using large numbers of antennas (more than 64) at the base transceiver station (BTS). This approach radically departs from the BTS architecture of current standards, which uses up to eight antennas in a sectorized topology. With hundreds of antenna elements, massive MIMO reduces the radiated power by focusing the energy to targeted mobile users using precoding techniques. ,,

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Exponential growth in the number of mobile devices and the amount of wireless data they consume is

driving researchers to investigate new technologies and approaches to address the mounting demand. The next generation of wireless data networks, called the fifth generation or 5G , must address not only capacity constraints but also existing challenges—such as network reliability, coverage, energy efficiency, and latency—with current communication systems.

Massive MIMO, a candidate for 5G technology, promises significant gains in wireless data rates and link reliability by using large numbers of antennas (more than 64) at the base transceiver station (BTS). This approach radically departs from the BTS architecture of current standards, which uses up to eight antennas in a sectorized topology. With hundreds of antenna elements, massive MIMO reduces the radiated power by focusing the energy to targeted mobile users using precoding techniques. By directing the wireless energy to specific users, radiated power is reduced and, at the same time, interference to other users is decreased. This is particularly attractive in today’s interference-limited cellular networks. If the promise of massive MIMO holds true, 5G networks of the future will be faster and

accommodate more users with better reliability and increased energy efficiency.With so many antenna elements, massive MIMO has several system challenges not encountered in today’s networks. For example, today’s advanced data networks based on LTE or LTE-Advanced require pilot overhead proportional to the number of antennas. Massive MIMO manages overhead for a large number of antennas using time division duplexing (TDD) between uplink and downlink assuming

channel reciprocity. Channel reciprocity allows channel state information obtained from uplink pilots to be used in the downlink precoder. Additional challenges in realizing massive MIMO include scaling data buses and interfaces by an order of magnitude or more and distributed synchronization amongst

a large number of independent RF transceivers. These timing, processing, and data collection challenges make prototyping vital. For researchers to validate theory, this means moving from theoretical work to test beds. Using real-world waveforms in real-world scenarios, researchers can develop prototypes to determine the feasibility and commercial viability of massive MIMO. As with any new wireless standard or technology, the transition from concept to prototype impacts the time to actual deployment and commercialization. And the faster researchers can build prototypes, the sooner society can benefit from the innovations.

Prototyping a Massive MIMO SystemDesigning a massive MIMO system requires four key attributes:

1- Flexible Software Defined Radios (USRP RIO) that can acquire and transmit RF signals.

2- Accurate time and frequency synchronization among the radio heads.

3- A high-throughput deterministic bus for moving and aggregating

Articles Prototyping Massive MIMOPrototyping Massive MIMOArticles

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Fig.1

large amounts of data. (PXIe)4- High-performance processing

for PHY and media access control (MAC) execution to meet the real-time performance requirements.

Ideally, these key attributes can also be rapidly customized for a wide variety of research needs. The NI-based Massive MIMO Application Framework combines Software Defined Radios, clock distribution modules, high-throughput PXI systems, and LabVIEW to provide a robust, deterministic prototyping platform for research. This section details the various hardware and software elements used in both the NI-based massive MIMO base station and UE terminals. The hardware and software platform elements above combine to form a testbed that scales from a few antennas to more than 128 synchronized antennas. The

128-antenna system includes 64 dual-channel USRP RIO devices tethered to four PXI chassis configured in a star architecture. The master chassis aggregates data for centralized processing with both FPGA processors and a PXI controller based on quad-core Intel i7. In Figure 1, the master uses the PXIe-1085 chassis as the main data aggregation node and real-time signal processing engine. The PXI chassis provides 17 slots open for input/output devices, timing and synchronization, FlexRIO FPGA boards for real-time signal processing, and extension modules to connect to the “sub” chassis. A 128-antenna massive MIMO BTS requires very high data throughput to aggregate and process I and Q samples for both transmit and receive on 128 channels in real time for which the PXIe-1085 is well

suited, supporting PCI Generation 2 x8 data paths capable of up to 3.2 GB/s throughput.

ConclusionNI technology is revolutionizing the prototyping of high-end research systems with LabVIEW system design software coupled with the USRP RIO and PXI platforms. This white paper demonstrates one viable option for building a massive MIMO system in an effort to further 5G research. The unique combination of NI technology used in the application framework enables the synchronization of time and frequency for a large number of radios and the PCI Express infrastructure addresses throughput requirements necessary to transfer and aggregate I and Q samples at a rate over 15.7 GB/s on the uplink and downlink. Design flows for the FPGA simplify high-performance processing on the PHY and MAC layers to meet real-time timing requirements.To ensure that these products meet the specific needs of wireless researchers, NI is actively collaborating with leading researchers and thought leaders such as Lund University. These collaborations advance exciting fields of study and facilitate the sharing of approaches, IP, and best practices among those needing and using tools like the Massive MIMO Application Framework.

Reference:5G Massive MIMO Testbed: From

Theory to Reality http://www.ni.com/

white-paper/52382/en/

Massive MIMO, a candidate for 5G technology, promises significant gains in wireless data rates and link reliability by using large numbers of antennas (more than 64) at the base transceiver station (BTS)

5G Technology: Massive MIMO promises significant gains in wireless data rates and link reliability by using large numbers of antennas at the base transceiver station (BTS).

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Articles Articles

Thermal comfort

the importance of occupant adaptation in buildings

and

ByDr. Ar. Madhavi Indraganti

Assistant Professor, Interior Design & Architecture

Department, PSU

ByProf. Ryozo OOKA The University of Tokyo,

Japan

ByDr. Er. Hom B. RIJAL

Tokyo City University, Yokohama, Japan

Thermal comfort Thermal comfort

Lowering indoor temperatures does not improve thermal satisfaction in buildings, but increases the energy expenditure tremendously, along with green house gas emissions. With occupant adaptation in buildings, comfort can be achieved at a higher temperature with limited AC usage. In the context of power paucity this becomes vital.

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he Raison dݐtre of building design is provision of occupant thermal comfort, which is essential for user satisfaction. Usually

the desired indoor temperatures in a building decide the energy bills, as uncomfortable buildings become unhealthy and most often force the occupants to seek high-energy solutions.

Thermal comfortAmerican Society for Heating Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 55 defines thermal comfort as “a condition of mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment.” Thermal comfort is not a temperature set point of 23 ºC or 27 ºC as most of us presume it to be. But it is a condition of mind: a feeling of being neither cold nor hot.

As a result, the judgment of comfort is a cognitive process, influenced by many thermal and non-thermal factors.Thermal comfort depends on six important variables: ambient room temperature, radiant temperature, humidity, air movement, clothing and activity level. The first four variables pertain to the room environment while the last two relate to the person (Figure 1).

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Adaptive comfort research in Ja-pan and IndiaPost Fukushima Diichi nuclear di-saster, the energy perspective in Japan underwent a paradigm shift.

Japan now uses ‘setsuden’ (energy saving) norms as heating (20 °C) and cooling setting limits (28 °C) for winter and summer. With these in place, Japan has achieved 1.4% re-duction in Building energy per year. However, these temperature set-tings have no empirical basis.India is a vast nation with diverse climatic and geographical variability. India’s building energy consumption increased by 3% per year and has 5.1% energy deficit (year 2014- 15), with South India facing maximum peak load deficit of 22.2% (year 2014- 15). Power outages across South India are a daily feature. Indian thermal comfort standards specify two temperature ranges (21°C - 23 °C – 26 °C) for winter and summer for all the climate zones and building types. The PMV model and ASHRAE Std-55 (1996) formed the basis for these. This uniform com-

fort standard is quite unsustainable, given the serious energy deficit and climatic diversity.More importantly, both India and Ja-pan do not have adaptive comfort

standards. It is necessary to under-stand the environmental conditions in offices and people’s comfort per-ceptions so that the comfort stan-dard is designed to reflect the real conditions.

Measurement of thermal comfort – redundancy of strict tempera-ture controlThermal comfort is a sociologi-cal construct and is measured on ASHRAE’s seven-point continuous scale (Figure 3). It is generally assumed that people feeing comfortable in a given envi-ronment vote within the central three categories of the scale. An environ-ment is said to be acceptable if 80% of its occupants vote within this. And designers usually strive hard to achieve 80% acceptability in their buildings by maintaining a narrow range of indoor temperatures. However, field study research from across the globe has shown that thermal satisfaction in “ASHRAE’s Class- A” buildings with very strict temperature control is not more than “Class-B or C” buildings, where in-door temperatures fluctuate a lot more. Therefore aiming for strict temperature control is costly and futile target. What is important is

Importantly thermal comfort is not a static target, but a dynamic condition with complex multiple equilibria. It means that comfort can be achieved at various combinations of these in-fluencing variables. It involves many inputs from physical, physiological and psychological domains and oc-cupant’s ability to control the condi-tions in his/ her immediate environ-ment.

Approaches to thermal comfort designDesign of indoor environments for thermal comfort has two important approaches: Fanger’s predicted mean vote (PMV) model and the adaptive model. Fanger’s model combines the classical heat trans-fer theory and laboratory studies while the adaptive model is based on actual field studies in real build-ings. PMV model treats people as passive recipients of thermal stimuli; where as thermal comfort in real en-

vironment is a dynamic equilib-rium and not a steady state heat balance of that of PMV model. Through field studies, research-ers noted systematic discrep-ancies between actual thermal perceptions of people from those expected under the predicted de-sign conditions.Applying the PMV model in de-

sign results in near constant in-door temperatures, possible only through excessive air-conditioning. Maintaining such narrow ranges of temperatures, irrespective of the outdoor climate is highly energy intensive and unsustainable. PMV model essentially delinks the indoor environments with the outdoors. A thermal comfort standard based on the PMV model leads to energy wastage, thermal monotony and boredom (Figure 2, left).

Thermal adaptation and the adap-tive model of thermal comfort (ATC)Thermal adaptation relies on the fundamental principle that “If a change occurs such as to produce discomfort, people react in ways, which tend to restore their comfort.” In real environments human beings adapt in many possible ways, when challenged by shifting comfort con-ditions. The PMV model does not address these. On the other hand, ATC relates the design indoor tem-peratures to the outdoors and allows them to fluctuate more. Therefore, it is a practical first step to sustainable indoors.

Adaptive thermal comfort stan-dard - a field study based ap-proachAdaptive comfort model centers on people. Through field studies, we study the occupants undertaking myriad possible adaptations and their environments from real-life buildings. Therefore, adaptive com-fort standards hinge heavily on the field studies. They take into consid-eration regional variations in cus-toms, clothing and climate (Figure 2 Right).

Fig. 1: Thermal comfort parameters

Fig. 2: Thermal comfort approaches:

PMV based approach

Figure 2: Thermal comfort approaches:

people at the center linking the indoors

without doors

Fig. 3 : ASHRAE’s seven-point thermal comfort

scale with neutral vote at the center

Fig. 4: (1) The instrument set up, (A) Thermo-hygro-CO2

meter, (B) hot-wire anemometer (C) globe thermometer, field

survey in progress in (2 and 3) Japan and (4) India.

Lowering indoor temperatures does not make people more comfortable

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Barriers to thermal adaptation in officesMany design, non-thermal and cultur-al and behavioral factors prevented thermal adaptation and the operation of controls in buildings. Some of the design factors are shown in (Figure 6). Figure 6: Barriers to the use of con-trols and occupant adaptation in buildings. (1) Some office buildings in India had curtain glazing fixed over the existing operable windows leav-ing a small gap in between. This pre-vented windows from operation and attracted birds. (2). Thermostats in some offices in India were fixed to the ceiling leaving them out of reach of occupants. (3) Venetian blinds fixed to the inside wall prevented the verti-

cally pivoted window operation during the over heated period in Japan.For example, many buildings were fit-ted with curtain glazing over the exist-ing operable windows, blocking their use completely. Proper consideration of these factors early on in design, promotes thermal adaptation and comfort at much higher temperatures without resorting to excessive use of AC systems.

SummaryThermal adaptation encouraged oc-cupants in real buildings to express comfort at higher temperatures. Bar-riers to adaptation led to discomfort and dissatisfaction. Designing build-ings focusing on user adaptation is vital for sustainable future.

Selected References 1. ASHRAE. ANSI/ ASHRAE Standard 55-

2010, Thermal environmental conditions for human occupancy. Standard. Atlanta: American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc; 2010

2. CIBSE, (The Chartered Institution of Build-ing Services Engineers). Environmental Design Guide, Vol.A. London 2006

3. BIS. National Building Code. Bureau of In-dian Standards; 2005

4. Arens E, Humphreys MA, de Dear R, and Zhang H, «Are ‘class A’ temperature re-quirements realistic or desirable?,» Build-ing and Environment, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 4-10, Jan. 2010.

5. Indraganti M, Ooka R, Rijal HB, Brager GS. Adaptive model of thermal comfort for offices in hot and humid climates of In-dia. Building and Environment. 2014 April; 74(4) :39 - 53.

providing building users with oppor-tunities to adapt as the indoor tem-peratures fluctuate.

Field studies – the backbone of the adaptive modelThe adaptive model relies on the comfort perceptions and adapta-

tion of building occupants in their everyday environments, quite in contrast to the laboratory settings. Field studies record these through thermal measurements and ques-tionnaire surveys while the subjects are engaged in their routine activi-ties (Figure 4). To achieve reliable results, we col-lected a large body of data in India (Chennai and Hyderabad) and Ja-pan (Tokyo) for over a year from several buildings and respondents, following international protocols. The buildings were surveyed when they were run in both air-condi-tioned (AC) and naturally ventilated (NV) modes. Chennai experiences a warm-humid coastal climate, and Hyderabad composite climate. To-kyo has warm-humid summer simi-lar to that of Chennai.

Indoor comfort temperature and evidence of adaptationIndoor comfort temperature, where subjects expressed neither warm nor cold sensations varied with the outdoor conditions, supporting oc-cupant adaptation in both NV and AC modes (Figure 5). For example, comfort temperature in NV mode in India was 28.0 °C, and 27.0 °C in Tokyo. Similarly, in AC environments, we found the comfort temperature in Tokyo, Chennai, and Hyderabad to be 27.4 °C, 27.0 °C and 25.7 °C respectively. The occu-pants expressed comfort at a wider range of temperatures than sug-gested in the standards. Subjects in office environments used many en-vironmental controls like fans, win-dows, doors, thermostats and other clothing adaptations to remain com-fortable at warmer temperatures.

When thermal adaptation was re-strained, subjects expressed dis-satisfaction and discomfort.For example, comfort temperature in NV mode in India was 28.0 °C, and 27.0 °C in Tokyo. Similarly, in AC environments, we found the comfort temperature in To-kyo, Chennai, and Hyderabad to be 27.4 °C, 27.0 °C and 25.7 °C respectively. The occupants ex-pressed comfort at a wider range of temperatures than suggested in the standards. Subjects in of-fice environments used many environmental controls like fans, windows, doors, thermostats and other clothing adaptations to remain comfortable at warmer temperatures. When thermal ad-aptation was restrained, subjects expressed dissatisfaction and dis-comfort.

Articles Articles Thermal comfort Thermal comfort

Figure 5: Evidence of adaptation in AC buildings in India and Japan. Change in

indoor comfort temperature with outdoor temperature in Japan (red line and dots),

India (yellow line and orange dots) based of the field studies. Due to adaptation,

Indian and Japanese subjects expressed comfort at temperature beyond those

specified in standards. Also shown are the European (SCATs) standard (white

dashed line). Indian standards (NBC) (white dotted line)

Fig.6 : Barriers to the use

of controls and occupant

adaptation in buildings.

(1) Some office buildings in

India had curtain glazing fixed

over the existing operable

windows leaving a small gap

in between. This prevented

windows from operation and

attracted birds.

(2) Thermostats in some

offices in India were fixed to

the ceiling leaving them out of

reach of occupants.

(3) Venetian blinds fixed to

the inside wall prevented

the vertically pivoted window

operation during the over

heated period in Japan.

With occupant adaptation in buildings, comfort can be achieved at a higher temperature with limited AC usage. In the context of power paucity this becomes vital.»

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Articles Articles legal education Legal Education

IMPORTANCE OF TECHNOLOGY

IN LEGAL EDUCATION

By

Dr.Rehana ParveenLaw department, PSU

As we approach a new millennium, the internet is revolutionizing our society, our economy and our educational system. No one knows for certain how far, or in what direction, the internet will evolve. But, no one should underestimate its importance. In the new information age, we are learning to magnify brainpower by putting the power of computation wherever our resources are infinitely flexible tools; networked together, allow us to generate exchange, share and manipulate information in an uncountable number of ways.

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dent’s knowledge in sync with their level of study, by including content from both current and past courses. The app would offer an easy way to implement an interactive, problem-based learning approach. It could provide additional content, quizzes, exercises, social media functions etc. complementing the education and enabling a holistic perspective.

Role of Internet in Legal Education

The search engines that are avail-able online are, fast and powerful. The Internet is easy to use students can become researchers because of easier access to data, Students are motivated to share their work online with the world, unlike paper the web can present dynamic data sources which change over time, Students can access librar-ies around the world .The Internet is a very big storeroom of learning

legal material. As a result, it signifi-cantly expands the legal resources available to students beyond the standard print materials found in colleges/ universities students can access the latest reports on govern-ment bare acts statutes, gazettes, notifications, latest case laws legal articles and non- government web-sites [5].

Role of Internet in Legal Research Legal research is the process of identifying and retrieving informa-tion necessary to support to legal decision making. In its broadest sense, legal research includes each steps of a course of action that be-gins with an analysis of the facts of a problem and concludes with the application and communication of the results of the investigation. The process of legal research varies ac-cording to the country and the legal system involved. However, legal research generally involves tasks such as: finding primary source of law, or primary authority, in a given jurisdiction, searching secondary authority for background informa-tion about a legal topic and search-ing non legal sources for investiga-tive or supporting information.

Online Legal Information ResourcesNew means of electronic delivery have resulted in a revolutionary change in the way. Library patrons now enjoy convenient and rapid ac-cess to large amount of full text re-sources, being delivered via a com-mon transmission vehicle and user interface, thanks to the widespread use of the World Wide Web (www). Improvements in remote access and authentication features have made distributed access possible to those new Databases outside the walls of the library, day and night.

In the globalized digital age of today where press of button adjusted to codes can alter the course of action, legal education has to address the multifaceted growth of law. It is the legal education and legal research that plays an important role in pro-viding social justice[1]. The future age is an electronic era and law has to be updated to handle the chal-lenges as well as new laws have to be drafted to find procedural and in-vestigative tools to educate them to find solution in the jurisprudence sea of legal education. A lawyer with a multi- disciplined, multi process edu-cation would be able to contribution to national development and social change in a constructive way [2].

Technological Innovation in Legal Education In the last few years, however, le-gal services delivered via technol-ogy have increased and opened up a new market for lawyers and legal professionals. While the idea is not to replace lawyers with apps or soft-ware, an app or another technology could either help lawyers in their working tasks or deliver law as a valuable service for consumers, citi-

zens, companies or organizations. In the exercise, students would look at law from a different perspective, i.e. how legal regulations affect the individual or organization. Going away from a linear text ap-proach, students would have to translate law into a format that us-ers or apps can read. In other words, law would have to suit the user/app, and not the other way around. Stu-dents would, therefore, have to go beyond text and translate rules into flowcharts, diagrams, mind maps and other visual tools in order for the app to be able to follow the law’s in-structions. Implementing legal rules into technology, therefore, not only encourages students to think proac-tively but it also motivates them to identify solutions for the application of the law. From a pedagogical point of view the exercise would allow the students to think about different as-pects of law beyond the traditional case or contract. It would also en-courage a wider viewpoint of law as a tool in society [3].

Different Methodologies to Teach Law Students

Most law schools share common philosophies about how to educate law students and prepare them for work in the legal industry. For ex-ample; • Many law schools base their teach-ing style on the “Socratic method” which emphasizes critical thinking and generating new ideas for spir-ited discussion.• Yet another long held practice is to use ‘clinics’ to provide experiential learning opportunities and allow stu-dents to work with clients with legal problems in the context of the par-ticular type of clinic under the super-vision of a licensed attorney. • Another common practice among law schools is to teach students how to conduct legal research using LexisNexis and Thompson Reuters Westlaw databases. All of these methodologies • All of these methodologies are de-signed to teach students analytic, research and writing skills which are all a core part of working in the legal industry. And yet while these time-tested philosophies have been suc-cessfully training law students for decades, advances in technology are causing legal educators to ques-tion how they prepare their students to join the workforce [4].

Legal Education as an App A legal education app could provide the key in aiding students to make connections between their study areas; it could be made to fit along-side a law degree, assuming a stu-

In the last few years legal services delivered via technology have increased and opened up a new market for lawyers and legal professionals

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E- Books & E-Journals

An electronic book is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both readable on computers or other electronic devic-es. Although sometimes de-fined as «an electronic version of a printed book», many e-books ex-ist without any printed equivalent. Commercially produced and sold e-books are usually intended to be read on dedicated e-book readers, however, almost any sophisticated electronic device that features a controllable viewing screen, includ-ing computers, tablet computers, and Smartphone can also be used to read e-books.Any journal, magazine or other pub-lication produced online. Full text ar-ticles are available in PDF or HTML format. For example The Journal of Information Law and Technology (JILT), the journal of Law and so-cial justice and global development (LGT), are the examples of electron-ic law journals available free in the Internet.

Global Legal Information NetworkGlobal Legal Information Network (GLIN) is a public database of offi-cial texts of laws, regulations, judicial decisions, and other complementary legal sources contributed by govern-mental agencies and international organizations.

Westlaw Westlaw is one of the primary online legal research services for lawyers and legal professionals in the United States and is a part of West. In addi-tion, it provides proprietary database services. Information resources on Westlaw include more than 40,000 databases of law, state and fed-eral statutes, administrative codes, newspapers and magazine articles, public records, law journals, law re-views, legal forms and other infor-mation resources.

Lexis & Nexis

Lexis & Nexis is one of the leading providers of comprehensive infor-mation and business solutions to professionals in a variety of areas legal, risk management, corporate, government, law enforcement, ac-counting and academic. The da-tabase provides access to 5 billion searchable documents from more than 32,000 legal, news and busi-ness sources. LexisNexis Group is a corporation providing computer-assisted legal research as well as business research and risk solution services. During the 1970s, Lexis-Nexis pioneered the electronic ac-cessibility of legal and journalistic documents.

Bloomberg Law

Bloomberg Law is a legal and busi-ness intelligence, news and re-

search system designed for leading legal professionals who are focused on delivering superior client service. Bloomberg Law delivers an advan-tage to legal professionals who han-dle the most complex legal matters. Presented in a sophisticated yet easy-to-use interface, Bloomberg Law allows subscribers unlimited desktop and mobile access to all the information in the system — as of-ten as they want and whenever they want.

WorldCat WorldCat: connects you to the col-lections and services of more than 10,000 libraries worldwide. We can search for popular books, Music, CDs and videos—all of the physical items you›re used to get-ting from libraries. You can also discover many new kinds of digi-tal content, such as downloadable audio books. You may also find ar-ticle citations with links to their full text; authoritative research materi-als, such as documents and pho-tos of local or historic significance;

and digital versions of rare items that aren›t available to the public. Because WorldCat libraries serve diverse communities in dozens of countries, resources are available in many languages.

Conclusion

Technology is growing so fast, it has changed many aspects of people’s lives. Legal education happens to be one of the main aspects affect-ed by the expansion of technology throughout the world. There is great shift from the manual mode to technology to the electronic mode of communication. The impact of elec-tronic information revolution can be seen in many places of the world. Law and technology is an area that is ripe for expansionin our teaching, with the possibility of satisfying all of these criteria. It also provides ample room for schol-arly examination. Creating opportu-nities for learning how technology is shaping legal practice should be a priority for any school looking to pro-

vide a useful education for the law-yers of the new Generation. In sum, students who graduate with these new skills can offer traditional em-ployers a “two for one”—traditional legal skills plus training and insights into how to deliver legal services more effectively and efficiently, and in a manner that clients increasingly demand.

Selected References:1. Krishna Pal Malik, Computer and Infor-

mation Technology law, Allahabad Law Agency, first ed., Faridabad, 2010.

2. http://www.abhinavjournal.com/images/Arts_&_Education/May13/4.pdf

3. Rupam Jagota and Abroa Karishma (2012) Legal Education in Digital Age: An Analysis, international conference on access to legal information and research in digital age at National Law University Delhi (29-02-2012 to 02 -03 -2012

4. http://blog.law.cornell.edu/voxpop/cat-egory/innovation-in-legal-technology/

5. A Tidebreak Case Study: University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law COLLABORATIVE LEARNING PRE-PARES LAW STUDENTS FOR THEIR PROFESSIONAL FUTURE http://tide-break.com/download/tidebreak-umkc-casestudy.pdf

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Articles Articles

Nanopositioning

Nanometrology

Nanopositioning and Nanometrology Nanopositioning and Nanometrology

3D Capability for

Angular sensor

Object

probe sensor

y-Interferometer

z-Interferometer

x-Interferometer

Virtual Intersection

X

Z

y

ByDr.-Eng. Walter Schott

Dr.-Eng. Denys DontsovDr.-Eng. Enrico Langlotz

Many branches of industry and fields of research require tactile 3D coordinate measurement systems with sub-nanometer resolution for proofing high-precision, fine-mechanical and optical components as well as for manufactured elements, such as drilled holes, channels and microdrives, or for tooling usedIn order to meet these requirements, nanopositioning and nanomeasuring machines have been upgraded by incorporating 3D functionality and tactile 3D microprobes.

Angular sensor

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he ability to perform nanometer-precision metrology is becoming increasingly influential

throughout all phases of product development and manufacture, from engineering development, through prototyping and manufacturing, to quality control, process analysis and final inspection of components and workpieces. In particular, advances in the miniaturization of components, such as microdrives or injection nozzles and extrusion dies, all having extremely small dimensions and subject to stringent tolerances, has driven the need to measure three-dimensional shapes with nanometer precision. Exact machining of pressing tools, molding dies and optical components with nanometer precision and optical finish has also led to demands for high-precision metrological systems, as accurate information on the dimensions and shape of processing tools, components, and workpieces is needed in those areas as well.

The (NMM-1) nanomeasuring machine, developed at the Technical University of Ilmenau’s Institute for Process Measurement and Sensor Technology and produced by Sios Messtechnik, provides the opportunity for conducting many different types of measurements

(Fig. 1 and 2). The NNM-1 exhibits 0.1nm resolution in a measurement volume of 25x25x5mm3 and can be equipped with various types of tactile microprobes. Engineering design features The NMM-1 is composed of xyz guidance and drive systems, upon which a corner mirror is mounted that serves as the reflector for three fiberoptic-coupled laser interferometers. The laser interferometers are mounted on a thermally stable, metrology frame. The basis for its high precision is the arrangement of the three laser interferometers used for positional measurements. Their three measurement beams intersect at a single point that coincides with the probe system’s contact point. The object being measured is attached to the corner mirror and moves with it – compliance with the principle that forms the basis for the operation of an Abbe comparator will be maintained on all three axes at all times, as the object being measured and the component utilized for determining its dimensions are colinearly arranged, thus minimizing the effects of systematic errors in the guidance system and any resulting misalignment of the corner mirror. In order to provide for ultraprecise measurements, tilting of the corner mirror is measured by a pair of angle sensors and corrected for by the z-axis drive via a closed-loop regulation circuit. This approach avoids any remaining residual errors (Fig. 3). Within the NMM-1, the probe system acts as a zero-point indicator. Widely varying types of sensors and processing systems may be readily incorporated, thanks to the open interface. Non-contacting metrological systems, such as focus sensors or white light interferometers, as well as scanning

T

Fig.1: The nanopositioning and nanomeasuring machine NMM-1

Fig. 2: Comparison of the measurement ranges for the NMM-

1 with alternative methods

force microscopes or tactile 3D microprobes exerting low tactile forces, are currently being employed (Fig. 4).4 Probe sensors for the NMM-1 The NMM-1 thus has various application areas, such as positioning, manipulation, processing and measurement of microelectronic, micromechanical, optical and microsystem objects (such as microlenses or membranes) as well as the high-precision calibration of ring gauges, lateral displacement standards and step-height standards. Measurement precision in the subnanometer range is attainable, although the measurable range can be vastly expanded when used in combination with a scanning probe microscope. The employment of laser interferometers for the positional measurements also allows tracing measurements back to reference objects for calibration purposes. Extended 3D functionality The concept on which the NMM-1 is currently based allows using just the z-axis as the tactile-probing direction, which means that precisely one height measurement will be correlated to every data point on the xy-plane. Such measurements are termed ›2.5D‹ surface measurements. The NMM-1’s excellent metrological characteristics are being exploited for calibrating transfer standards, such as step-height standards, one-dimensional and two-dimensional lateral-displacement standards, planarity standards and roughness standards, at several government institutions around the world. Several round-robin comparative measurements have demonstrated its potential. However, vertical surfaces can be neither detected nor analyzed

using 2.5D profile measurements. Problems can also arise at steep surface gradients exceeding a certain angle, for example as present on the curved surfaces of lenses or press tools. In order to meet all demands imposed on high-precision measurements of microcomponents, the NMM-1 was upgraded by adding 3D functionality. In large part, this means essential modifications to the firmware (also developed by the Technical University of Ilmenau) by incorporating many commands from the I++/DME specification (a non-proprietary interface between metrological software and metrological instrumentation). Open-loop scan commands allow driving the probe sensor to approach and contact the surface of the object being measured and subsequently translating the table along a defined trajectory. The probe system will then be deflected by surface irregularities. Closed-loop scan commands allow translating the

table along a straight line in space, or around a circular path in a predefined direction, where the probe sensor’s scanning force will be held constant at all times during scanning. Various options for conducting free-form measurements utilizing probe sensors that have responsivities on all three spatial axes have been incorporated, where the scanning direction will be computed based on the signals received from the sensor. Commands for making single point measurements have also been incorporated. Additional commands (that are not part of the I++/DME specification) have also been incorporated in order to allow employment of probe systems, such as white light interferometers and other types of surface sensors that provide no feedback signal for regulating positioning. Probe systems having responsivities on all three spatial axes are essential to making measurements on three-dimensional objects.

Fig.3: Schematic of the NMM-1

Angular sensor

Object

probe sensor

y-Interferometer

z-Interferometer

x-Interferometer

Virtual Intersection

X

Z

yprobe sensor

Articles Articles Nanopositioning and Nanometrology Nanopositioning and Nanometrology

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The Gannen XP microtactile-probe system supplied by Express Engineering has been incorporated into the NMM-1. The basis for this system is a silicon membrane incorporating twelve piezoresistive elements, arranged in groups of four with the equally spaced (every 120°) around the probe tip. Each group is connected to a Wheatstone bridge and provides a measurement signal. The probe tip is attached directly to the membrane so that this assembly can be replaced as a unit (the manufacturer offers a choice of various probe tip diameters

and membrane stiffnesses). However, the three signals from the membrane vary with the probe’s orientation within the NMM-1,

which is why probe signals must be recalibrated whenever a membrane is replaced. A small cube is usually employed for that purpose, the probe tip being scanned over the cube in both directions along all three spatial axes and the resultant signals recorded. Calibration factors obtained in this manner may be used to compute a coefficient matrix that, together with the specific springiness of any one membrane, may be used to compute the probe’s force vector. High-precision, free-form surface measurements and three-dimensional scanning

and tactile measurements on microcomponents are thus possible. Summary The NMM-1’s extended 3D

functionality represents an effective tool for research, development, manufacturing and quality assurance, and permits ultraprecise, quantitative, dimensional measurements over a 25x25x5mm3 workspace with a resolution 0.1 nm. When equipped with various probe sensors, it is capable of handling various 2D and 3D metrological tasks.

Authors Dipl.-Ing. Enrico Langlotz is a development engineer in the field of nanometrology and nanopositioning at Sios Messtechnik. Dr.-Ing. Denis Dontsov is head of R&D and Dr.-Ing. Walter Schott is the Managing Director at Sios Messtechnik.

Selected References:1. G. Jäger et al: “Nanomeasuring and

nanopositioning engineering”, XVII. IME-

KO World Congress, Sept. 17- 22, 2006,

Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, Book of Summer-

ies, p.148

2. G. Jäger et al: “Precision mechatron-

ics based on high precision measuring

and positioning systems and machines”,

SPIE International Symposium Optical

Metrology, June 18 - 22 , 2007, Munich,

Proceedings Vol. 6616, S. 661 621 - 1 bis

661621 - 10

3. G. Jäger et al: „”High precision metrologi-

cal nano measuring machine“, mst news

01/09, 2009

4. D. Dontsov, E. Langlotz: “Dem Nanometer

auf der Spur”, QZ 10/09, 2009

5. T. Hausotte; B. Percle; G. Jäger: “Ad-

vanced three-dimensional scan methods

in the nanopositioning and nanomeasur-

ing machine”, 2009 Meas. Sci. Technol.

20 084004

Articles Articles Nanopositioning and Nanometrology ZERO BUILDING WASTE INITIATIVE

Fig. 4: Probe sensors for the NMM-1

Fig. 5: Measurement of a spherical surface

A STEP TO ZERO BUILDING WASTE INITIATIVE

“MISSION 2030”

ByShabir Hussain Khahro

Lecturer, College of Engineering Management, PSU

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Articles Articles ZERO BUILDING WASTE INITIATIVE ZERO BUILDING WASTE INITIATIVE

onstruction industry plays an essential role in meeting the needs of society in development sector and

enhancing the quality of life. It imparts a key role in the socio economic development for any country. It contributes significantly in GDP and accommodates a huge number of workers (skilled, semi skilled and non skilled) every year throughout the globe. Construction projects are becoming progressively larger and more complex in terms of physical size and cost. A best fit construction project requires the effective

management of resources including time, manpower, materials, money, machines and waste, which has be managed throughout life cycle of the project.Construction and Demolition waste (C&D waste) is a worldwide issue that is of concern not only for government but also for the stakeholders involved in construction projects. Rising level of waste is generated due to rapid growth of towns and cities. With the increase in construction activities and shortage of suitable landfill sites, lack of material resources and limited funds, construction waste

is becoming a serious problem in developing countries. Construction Resources Initiative Council (CRI Council) hosted an International Waste Summit on 7th November, 2014 in Ottawa as part of a global initiative to reduce waste in the construction sector. Globally, the construction and operation of buildings consumes 40% of all resources, 25% of water, is responsible for one third of all greenhouse gas emissions and generates billions of tons of waste annually, much of which ends up in landfills. This industry is one of the largest solid waste generator in various countries. Construction material waste has proved to have negative effect on the national environment and economy. Thus, decision makers are working to minimize the construction waste.The purpose of this article is to share my research aims to identify the most important sources of waste generation in construction industry of Pakistan. It was further extended to the possible measures towards waste minimization. Using excessive quantities of materials, Inappropriate storage leading to damage or deterioration, Over ordering or under ordering due to lack of coordination between warehouse and construction crews, Effects of sub surface conditions, Rework due to various reasons, Lack of strategy to waste minimization, Poor site layout and Slow response from the consultant engineer to contractor inquiries are the reasons to waste at site.The application of methods of waste identification is required in this industry to assist construction mangers to identify waste and

eliminate it within construction process. It is clear that the responsibility of the elimination of waste depends on client, consultants, contractor, construction managers, suppliers, foremen and workers. By identifying the incidence of waste during a project, contractors, clients and consultant are able to identify easily the preventions for reducing the waste, leading to increase project profit. 1) Identify the types, composition and

quantities of waste in construction projects.

2) Keep on investigate the causes of construction waste.

3) Develop prevention methods to eliminate the construction waste

4) Educate and inform personnel about the reasons of waste minimization in general and provide training practices that support this.

5) Provide the concerned parties with guidelines for preparing waste management plans for construction industry.

6) Waste management history of the contractors as a criterion in awarding contracts.

7) Regulating visits of the client and consultant to construction site at all critical stages during the project

period.8) Optimize design and Careful

dimensioning of materials by the designer.

9) Attention at design and planning stages to avoid errors.

10) Stock the materials in suitable places and good conditions.

This is an attempt towards waste generation issues. The study helps in identification for different factors, which are leading to waste generation at construction site. It also suggests few remedial measures to cope up with such problems in this sector. This knowledge would guide waste minimization attempts at both the design and construction stages. It will also help in taking some proactive measures for the reduction of waste at building projects sites. This will help in the improvement of overall performance and competitiveness of this sector.

Selected References:1. W. Lu and V. W. Y. Tam, “Construction

waste management policies and their effectiveness in Hong Kong: A longitudinal review,” Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., vol. 23, pp. 214 –223, Jul. 2013.

2. B. Kenney, R. Development, O. Nova, S. Environment, and R. Owen, “Construction and Demolition Waste Recycling A

Literature Review,” pp. 1–35, 2011.

3. Nafees Ahmed Memon, Fareed

Ahmed Memon, Shabir Hussain

Khahro, “Prefebrication in Building

Construction: A Perspective of Pakistan

Construction Industry”, Mehran University

ResearchJournal of Engineering &

Technology, Volume 33, Issue 3, 2014.

4. A. Azis, A. H. Memon, I. A. Rahman, S.

Nagapan, and Q. B. A. I. Latif, “Challenges

faced by construction industry in

accomplishing sustainablity goals,” 2012

IEEE Symp. Business, Eng. Ind. Appl., pp.

630–634, Sep. 2012.

Selected Websites:www.climatecolab.org

www.cricouncil.com

www.becgreen.ca

www.canadianstewardship.com

The purpose of this article is to share my research aims to identify the most important sources of waste generation in construction industry of Pakistan

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High Performance CompositesBuilding Solutions

n new construction projects and work of renovation, professional design-ers are discovering the advantages of

composite products for build-ings, including high strength, light weight, corrosion re-sistance, durability, and low maintenance needs. These materials obtain their variety as a result of been designed to provide specific character-istics for their performance. They are known technically as fiber-reinforced polymers or fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP), the composites gener-ally include two components: a polymer binder, added to rein-forcement fiber (matrix). The size, shape, and the ma-terial of reinforcing fibers de-termine the mechanical prop-erties of composite, such as strength and stiffness. On the other hand, the proportion and

type of the plastic resin matrix provide the finished composite its physical characteristics, like resistance to im-pact. The plastic composite is engineered to provide a variety of properties that are seemed to be superior to the ingredi-ent as individual. Additives or fillers can be used also to give the compos-ite attributes such as ultraviolet (UV) rays or resistance to fire. Advances in manufacturing technology and plastic composite formulations offer valuable opportunities to custom high perfor-mance properties for design into a wide diversity of commercial and residential building applications for both the new designs, and renovation projects.

Composites as materials forbuildingsFor the new construction projects and replacement/ renovation work, corro-sion-resistant and lightweight compos-ite materials compete with convention-

al materials in industrial, residential, and commercial construction applica-tions, including piling of sheet for re-taining walls, concrete reinforcements, and shingles. When a structural ele-ment, like a beam or wall, can make use of additional support, composites could be a solution. The same proj-ects dedicating themselves to the ad-vantages of composites include roofs, decks, and walls. Composites are used in portable, pre-fabricated, and modular buildings, as the same for exterior claddings, which can simulate stone or masonry. In in-

terior applications, composites are applicable in trays and shower enclo-sures, troughs, baths, sinks, and spas. Vanity units, basins, bench tops, can be manufactured from cast composite products. Each composite type has its own performance characteristics.

WallsAnother type of sandwich is finding its way into commercial and residential construction. Structural insulated pan-

as

ByDr. Ihab KatarAssistant Professor

College of EngineeringDepartment of Engineering

Management

Articles Articles High Performance CompositesHigh Performance Composites

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CITATIONS PROJECTS

CITATIONS

PROJECTS

CITATIONS

PROJECTS

CITATIONS

PROJECTS

In June 2015, RTC awarded certificates of recognition to distinguished PSU faculty members for their valuable re-search achievements during the period from 2013 to 2015

The awarded researchers

BOOKS & BOOK

CHAPTERS

INDEXED JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS

INDEXED JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS

CONFERENCE PUBLICATION

CONFERENCE PUBLICATION

els (SIPs) offer a core of expanded polystyrene (or in some instances, or polyisocyanurate [polyiso], or ex-truded polystyrene [XPS]) insulation been sandwiched between a cou-ple of thin slices of OSB. Resulting roof/floor/wall panel is lightweight, strong, and can be engineered to have different insulation properties. Moreover, since these components are manufactured, SIPs may be delivered to the work site sized for a particular application, with provi-sions and wiring chases for plumb-ing rough-in modeled or machined into the OSB outer panel and the foam core.Also, composite materials are being used in applications of renovation

to help strengthen walls, col-umns, chimneys, beams, slabs and any structural elements endangered to deterioration, additional service loads, or un-necessary deflection caused by construction or design defects, change in use, seismic retrofit, and code changes.

RoofsMany producers offer roofing shingles made of postconsum-er and post-industrial recycled plastic, recycled rubber, and cellulose fiber. These shingles can be manufactured and bound together with polymer adhesives to look like slate tiles or cedar shakes, as well as typi-cal asphalt shingles. They could help to decrees building energy consumption, while providing long, essentially maintenance-free service over life.

Kitchens and baths Cast plastic polymers, which incorporate cultured granite, cultured marble, refined onyx, and solid-surface products, are mineral-filled materials

and chemically bonded used in a widespread range of commercial and household applications. Some of these applications include vani-ties, shower receptors, countertops, bathtubs, enclosure sets, fireplace surrounds, windowsills, floor tiles, wall panels, molding accents, and whirlpool baths. Materials of solid surface based on thermoset are used in bathrooms and kitchen countertops products are manufactured with high perfor-mance plastic resin systems, such as unsaturated polyester and acrylic, formulated with a excessive content of fillers, catalysts, and pigments. This mixture is cast into molds, then

forming the matrix into either cus-tomized shapes or flat panels. The finished composite product can be machined like wood, routed to cre-ate decorative edging, afterward precisely cut and bonded to fit nearly any surface style or shape.

ConclusionIncreasing the interest in building high-performance solutions should continue to drive the progress of these composite hybrid materials in new construction and renovation work, especially residential applica-tions. Composites, in overall, differ from conventional materials in that the combination of their noticeably different components can make new lightweight, high-strength, materials with long-term durability, corrosion resistance, and low maintenance needs. Plastic composites also can offer good vibrational damping, de-sign flexibility, and resistance to both fatigue and temperature extremes. Professional designers and fabri-cators understand composites’ ex-clusive properties and performance potentials and are able to develop custom-designed plastic products for prime material performance. The distinctive blend of properties pro-posed into the final product allows design professionals and manufac-turers to alternate high-performance composites for traditional materials.

Selected References:1. www.greenbuildingsolutions.com

2. www.plastemart.com

Anis Koubaa Nor Shahriza Tanzila Saba Muhammad Asif Madhavi Indraganti Mohamed Marey Mohammad Nurunnabi Tarek Elsarnagawy Yasser Mansour Hadeer Abouelnagah Irfan Manarvi Khaled Almustafa Abdelhakim Abdelhadi Thavavel Vaiyapuri Mohamed Zaarour Abdul Rahim Abu Bakar Ali Maatooq Arlene Campel Asif Zaidi Basel Sultan Alan Pan Dina Howeidy Manal Farrag Maria Zaheer Misbah Saboohi Evangelos Moustakas Samer AlRajoob Sharifah Fatimah Mohamed Zaarour Yasir Javed Farah Obaid

Articles High Performance Composites

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PSU Consultancy Services to Industry MarketResearch/Professional Consultation & Training/Studies/Development

Collaboration isP O W E R

s part of the distinguished services that Prince Sul-tan University provides to

the community in Saudi Arabia, the Research and Translation Centre (RTC) of PSU is cur-rently collaborating with indus-try establishments, government agencies, research institutions and interested parties in areas related to consultancy, profes-sional training and applied re-search. One strong motive be-hind introducing these services to the industry market is to capi-talize on the strong expertise and exceptional professionalism of the faculty members affiliated with PSU. One of our features we are renowned for in this re-gard is the diverse and applied background of our faculty mem-bers whose combined expertise covers all continents, with expo-sure to significant undertakings in consultancy and professional training. Our consultancy services cover a wide range of specialties, in-cluding engineering and archi-tecture/interior design, man-

agement, business, aviation, marketing, law, computer sci-ence, English and translation, and accounting, among many others. In these areas, we pro-vide state-of-the art and world best practice and advice that match international standards and cutting edge research and software tools. In our collabo-ration with the industry, we em-brace the theme of value addi-tion, optimization and efficiency.We always extend our clientele base by conducting workshops and meetings with industry rep-resentatives to present our ser-vices and explore their needs. In addition, we have promotional brochures and a comprehensive booklet covering our capabilities and list of services. Information on our services and faculty un-dertaking consultancy are also available on PSU and RTC web-pages. Moreover, special visits to interested clients are ongo-ing. Contact RTC for more in-formation

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Articles

Dr. Tarek ElsarnagawyDirector of Research & Translation Center, PSU

Dr Mostafa IsmailAssistant Professor,

College of Engineering, PSU

PSU’ s Consultation Services

By By

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Research Funding Opportunities at PSU

Research Research Funding Opportunities at PSU

he promotion of academic research in the applied, technical, theoreti-cal and humanities domains is one

of the major goals of Prince Sultan University. To that end, and in the spirit of fostering intellectual and academic scholarship, the RTC encourages fac-ulty members, lecturers, teaching as-sistants and students to use its facili-ties of laboratories and libraries to do research in their respective areas of interest. However, to encourage es-tablishing specialized research work to be conducted by a group of research-ers or individuals from PSU or from

outside the campus, RTC annually an-nounces for the opening of research proposals submissions, book transla-tions and book authoring which can be funded by PSU.

Types of proposals:• Group projects (GP)

- Include group research projects, book translations and book au-thoring

- Fund amount: up to SAR 300,000 for applied research projects and 150,000 for humanities projects

- Duration: maximum two years- Expected outcome: infrastructure

of research facilities, journal and conference publication(s), con-ference publication(s)

• Small scale projects (SP)- Description: all types of small proj-

ects- Total funding amount:up to SAR

20,000.- Duration: 1 year or shorter- Expected outcome: infrastructure

of research facilities, journal and conference publication(s), con-ference publication(s)

For more information and downloading the required application forms and bylaws please visit the RTC’s website: http://info.psu.edu.sa/RTC/fund/index.html, RTC_info@psu.edu.sa

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We can never say that we have “enough” research output

Interview Interview

Dr. Abdelhafeez Feda

Dr. Abdelhafeez Feda Dr. Abdelhafeez Feda

What is your vision for the fu-ture of research at PSU?We look at PSU as a future incuba-tor for research—particularly ap-plied research—in various fields. We have a good number of prolific researchers and we have been working diligently to establish a research-friendly environment at PSU. One can already see the dif-ference in research output. There remain a few more initiatives in the pipeline dedicated to the promo-tion and commercialization of re-search here. I believe that in the medium term, PSU will be a well-know regional research hub in cer-tain fields.

What makes PSU different from other institutes in promoting and commercializing research?Among local private universities, PSU places probably the greatest premium on research. We do not view ourselves as merely a teach-ing institution. Our mission and vision statements contain a clear focus on teaching and research. And while we try to increase PSU production of all types of research, or focus is geared more heav-ily towards applied research. We are currently devising ways to le-verage our research capabilities in order to establish ourselves as a major player regionally in the commercialization of research. I should note, however, that we try not to think of local public and pri-vate universities as competitors, but rather as current or potential partners.

How does PSU support research work and researchers?Our mainstay initiative in this re-

gard is the research funding ini-tiative. For the past few years, PSU has embarked on an ambi-tious plan to fund quality seed and group projects. The initiative has gained great popularity among our faculty. Each year we receive doz-ens of funding applications. These go through a rigorous vetting pro-cess, and proposals that prove their viability and quality receive adequate funding. Furthermore, PSU is in constant contact with lo-cal institutions who are interested in establishing research partner-ships. We have struck cooperation agreements with some esteemed local centers that would enable PSU faculty to cooperate with re-searchers from other institutions. This also enables our faculty to tap into the material capabilities of those institution.

Are you satisfied with the cur-rent level of research at PSU?We have several highly productive researchers at PSU. We are work-ing to get everyone actively in-volved. We can never say that we have “enough” research output. However, I am satisfied with the direction we are heading towards and our current pace of growth.

Do you think PSU faculty mem-bers get enough support for their research?Research infrastructure and ex-

penditure in Saudi Arabia is still not well proportioned to other types of expenditures. This is partially un-derstandable given that other fac-ets of the society are bigger priori-ties at the moment. PSU is doing its best to provide its researchers with an appropriate research eco-system. Even with our lack of ad-equate space and resources, we still think that we can always do better. We are currently focused on achieving sustained improve-ment in overall research support.

Do you think undergraduate stu-dents should be involved in re-search? How? What should be done to promote their involve-ment?Research is an integral part of the academic process. College gradu-ates should possess the ability to inquire, hypothesize, observe, and draw rational conclusions. This can only be instilled through train-ing in research. All undergraduate programs should account for this. They should contain research and thinking skills courses. Advanced coursework should require stu-dents to conduct supervised re-search projects. There should also be a major research undertaking towards the final stages of the degrees. At PSU, we believe that a college degree should help the student get a good job as well as sh

We have several highly productive researchers at PSU. We are working to get everyone actively involved

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Interview Interview

Dr. Rimah Alyahya was raised in the United States of America and completed her elementary, intermediate and secondary education with honors in Monroeville, Pennsylvania. She then procured her higher education in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia completing her Bachelors and Masters degree in English Literature from King Saud University, Riyadh Saudi Arabia. She then went on to complete her Ph.D in English Literature from Princess Nora University with high honors and was one of the first Saudi women to have her Ph.D thesis recommended for public publishing. Immediately following her graduation in 2005, Dr. Rimah was appointed Chairperson of the English Department in PNU for three consecutive years. She has also taught English Literature Courses in Prince Sultan University and The Open Arabic University for several years. The Ministry of Higher Education has asked Dr. Rimah to research several issues concerning the level of educational aptitude in Saudi Arabia which have had excellent results. She has published much research in English Literature in renowned journals with high impact factors. Dr. Rimah became the Vice-dean of Administrative and Financial Affairs in Prince Sultan University 2012 and then Dean of Prince Sultan University in 2013 as well as Acting Vice-dean of Academic Affairs and Scientific Research. She is currently the Dean of Dean of PSU-CW as well as Acting Vice-Dean of Administrative and Financial Affairs.

What makes PSU different from other institutes?PSU is the first and only private uni-versity to receive full, unconditional accreditation from NCAAA. PSU welcomes diversity as we have multi-cultured faculty and staff, as well as students. Our faculty is encouraged to explore innovative teaching meth-ods and the university continuously gives lectures, workshops, and seminars to improve faculty perfor-mance.

How does PSU support research work and researchers?PSU supports research in different forms: (1) Funding fully or partially faculty

members’ participation in confer-ences.

(2) Offering funds to(1) research, (2) book-authoring and (3) book-translation proj-ects through the PSU Research Funding Bylaws.

(3) Disseminating opportunities for external research grants and supporting the implementation of some projects (e.g., KACST).

(4) Providing research training ses-sions to faculty members at differ-ent levels of research expertise.

(5) Providing research resources requested by Departments, in-cluding a research lab, certain software, etc.

Are you satisfied with the current level of research at PSU?Overall, PSU is taking major strides towards enhancing its research pro-

file. So, I am satisfied with the change of focus over the last two years from mere teaching to research and the steps taken in this direction. Howev-er, much more developments/ initia-tives are expected and needed.

Do you think PSU Faculty mem-bers get enough support for their research?Faculty members are receiving a lot of support for their research as indi-cated in Question (4). However, this is not sufficient. The following steps are still needed:

(1) Encouraging the formation of research groups to create clear research directions (a proposal is currently prepared by PSRTC)

(2) Disseminating information on external research grants more systematically (perhaps a soft-ware can be purchased to this end).

(3) Recognizing research excel-lence through awards (the Uni-versity Council has approved the awards – PSRTC is in the pro-cess of finalizing the procedure)

(4) Offering incentives for outstand-ing publications.

(5) Providing well-trained admin staff at PSRTC or the Deanship for Research to manage the compilation and measurement of relevant KPIs and research impact.

(6) Establishing a research-support unit for faculty members as well as students to support their ef-forts in terms of statistics, advice on research methods, etc.

(7) Offering mentorship to BA and MA holders to pursue their stud-ies.

Do you think undergraduate stu-dents should be involved in re-search? How? What should be done to promote their involve-ment?Undergraduate students must be in-volved in research. This is part of the requirements for completing their college-level education. In addition, it opens the doors for them to confi-dently pursue their graduate studies if interested and enhances key skills for them including critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making, etc. Currently, undergraduate students at PSU are provided with diverse plat-forms to engage in research;(1) the 6th Scientific Conference by

MOHE,(2) the PSU Undergraduate Re-

search Forum, (3) the Research Excellence Awards

for undergraduate students (in addition to other different pro-grams).

PSU is also supporting students to attend and participate in various conferences, locally and internation-ally. However, for these platforms to really pay off, research must be properly integrated in the curriculum. Training must be systematically and consistently be included in every program, not left to faculty members’ individual initiatives.

Tell me about your journey at PSU, how do you reach your position?My name is Dr. Rimah Alyahya and I started my aca-demic journey in Princess Nora University. I started as a Lecturer and then became a Professor of English Lit-erature. I was Chairperson of the English Department for three years as well as holding various administra-tive responsibilities in the Higher Studies Deanship. I am now seconding in Prince Sultan University, first as the Vice-Dean of Administrative and Financial Affairs and now as Dean of the Women’s Campus.

What is your vision about the future of PSU?My vision for PSU is to see this institution as the most sought-after and renowned institution in the Western and Arab world providing optimum education and di-versity. It is a place that will shape well-educated, well-informed students who are able to face the world with confidence and professionalism . I see it as an institu-tion that will make a difference in the lives of all those who become a part of it. This vision is already taking its path towards reality.

Dr. Rimah Alyahya

Dr. Rimah Alyahya Dr. Rimah Alyahya

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Interview Interview Dr. Nor Abdul Karim Dr. Nor Abdul Karim

Dr. Nor Abdul Karim

Could you tell us about your re-search interests?I am currently looking into the area of Information System focusing on knowledge management and busi-ness process management. It turned out these are interesting areas where trends in information system research is looking into strategic area, which covers effective decision making and business process redesign. We need effective information technology and knowledge to drive us through the competition with a set of strategies that embed both the importance of technology use and innovation, as well as business strategies.

What led you to become a re-searcher?I started when I was little. My dream was to become a university profes-sor. Then as I developed myself through education ladder, the higher you go the more you have to be in-volved in research. At the master level, you have to conduct a small scale research and a thesis. Then you proceed with your PhD thesis. I thought PhD is the end of everything. But it turned out it is just the begin-ning. Once you become a univer-sity professor, you are just a junior member. Then you have to do 10 to 20 times more research to come this level. The research grant that I have secured for my research had reached RM2.3 million, which was equivalent to SAR2.5 million. There have been many reports and publications with values that could be more than just a PhD thesis alone. We had to do it for the sake of self development and as part of the fulfillment of the university KPI.

How would you explain the broad-er significance of your research to an educated layperson?There were many researches done, which span many different areas in Information System and Technology

as well as business strategies. Many of them were conducted based on re-search problems that are significant either to expanding an existing body of knowledge or improving current practices. Research contributions are important to the real world as it adds to a bigger body of knowledge and practice where everyone from around the world can continue to add more knowledge based on what you have worked on. I have done research that has contributed to our country’s Ma-laysian national policy as well as re-search published in high impact jour-nals that was cited by people from all over the world. So far I have a total of 447 citations in refereed and non refereed journals since 2007. These aren’t much. Still, this is an indicator of how much implication my research has given to the world.

Describe your current research.My current research is more focused on my work with students and junior colleagues. I have been doing men-toring more than producing my own. Areas of research that I am engaged in are knowledge management, data mining, and information technology acceptance. I may look into more re-search in the area of business and IT strategies, as well business process management.

Where do your research strengths lie? Why?I am very much expert in research methodology and data analysis. I have been coaching and teaching methodology in the area of informa-tion system and computer science for more than 10 years. I have su-pervised Ph.D. research and become examiner for more than 20 theses both at masters and PhDs from uni-versities in Malaysia and Australia. I can coach people how to do research in many areas, sometimes even in areas where I am not even familiar with. The field of information system

and computer science is very broad and highly dynamic. At this stage you need to be agile in adapting to the trends.

How would you balance your teaching duties and your own re-search plans?Here at PSU, I am still struggling to get adjusted, as you are more en-gaged in teaching and administrative work. But I hope I can commence with a more productive mode soon. I like to sponsor my own research and en-gage my classroom for this purpose. Soon I hope I am more stable to en-gage with large grant research. This, of course, will require huge commit-ment on my time, especially during weekend and night time.

What are your research plans for the next five years?As usual, I am trying to produce at least 4 publications per year. I hope to be consistent and able to engage more people in my team of research-ers as well providing more guidance and mentorship. I am also aiming at producing some publication work at many more high impact journals.

How will you involve students in your research? Students are the key to develop-ing yourself through research. If you don’t engage student, you will not be able to advance yourself. Most of my past publications and research works were done through engagement with students. Though I would admit, hav-ing a post graduate program will give more added value. It is hard to pro-duce high quality research with the undergraduate program. Until now, my research and publication works continue to increase through contri-butions from previous students who had completed their PhD with me. They become my colleagues and we continue working together.

Nor Shahriza Abdul Karim is a full professor at the Department of Infor-mation System, College of Computer and Information Science (CCIS) at Prince Sultan University. She graduated with Ph.D. degree from Syra-cuse University, New York in Information Science and Technology. She was also a Head of Department at the Faculty of ICT in International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Deputy Dean at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Business School, as well of a member of Harvard Busi-ness School Club for attending intending intensive training in HBS case study. She has been teaching various area of Computer and information sciences for 22 years. Among the subjects taught was in the area of Knowledge Management, Information Management, Information Tech-nology Strategic Management, Information Technology Project Manage-ment, Research Methodology in Computer and Information Sciences, and most recently Business Process Management (BPM). Nor Shahriza has been engaged in various research and consultancy projects with her main focus in the area of Information System and Organization, Enter-prise Computing and technology, Information and Knowledge Manage-ment, information technology and Government, and Health Informatics. She published more than 100 research papers in highly reputable jour-nals and conferences and supervised more than 20 student research at both Masters and PhDs.

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Interview Interview Dr. Anis Koubaa Dr. Anis Koubaa

I am optimistic towards the future of research in PSU

Dr. Anis Koubaa:What is your current research proj-ect?I am currently finishing a research proj-ect funded by National Program of Sci-ence and Technology and Innovation about design of intelligent algorithms for mobile robots problems and applica-tions after more than 2 years of research work. In this research project, In particu-lar, we designed two innovative algo-rithms the RA* and RD that have linear complexities, provide near optimal solu-tions with less than 2% error in 95% con-fidence, and with an extremely reduced execution time as compared to A* reach-ing 1/10 of existing algorithms. We have also developed several open source tools that we shared with the research community and contributed to develop-ing real-world robotics application using Robot Operating System (ROS). At this time, I am focused on designing an assistant robot that helps human be-ing in executing their daily activities. One use case that we are implementing is to make the robot deliver internal courier between office at PSU and inchaAllah a first prototype will be operating and working before summer vacation. The robot will also interact with people it will encounter in its operational environment like make greeting to people it knows and suggest them to propose assis-tance. In addition, I am a member in an internal research project chaired by Dr. Zarrad about design of 3D virtual environment for disaster management. In this project, we aim at developing a disaster man-agement application using cooperative wireless sensor networks and mobile robots that will help rescuers to find and execution an effective rescue plan.

What is the significant of your re-search?Praize to Allah, my research have gained some impact in the research community. My current H-Index is 25 and I have more than 2500 citations according to Google Scholar statistics. I also won some awards including best research papers awards in 2010 from Al-Imam University and 2 times my Master students won the prestigious

European CONET best Master awards in 2009 and 2011.I have also release several open source software being used by the research community both in the area of wireless sensor networks and mobile robots, in-cluding the Z-Monitor tool that monitor and analyze the IEEE 802.15.4 wireless networks, the iPath library that provides a C++ implementation of several grid map path planners integrated with ROS, open-LQE, which is an experimental framework for link quality estimation in wireless sensor networks, in addition others.

How do you evaluate PSU as a re-search environmentPSU is promoting a lot its research po-tential and the last few years there has been a significant improvement in re-search activities, in particular by funding internal research projects and also brin-ing external funds for research project, namely from KACST. I am optimistic to-wards the future of research in PSU.

Do you involve your students in your research at PSU?Yes, students’ research is an important issue for me. I have been involving un-dergraduate students in several of my research works, in particular the Z-Moni-tor open source tool we have developed started as a undergraduate graduation projects, then we get research funds to continue work on this tool. Now, the tool becomes a widely used in the research community. I have also some volunteer students that I have taught earlier that joined my research group and have been doing great jobs in the last two years resulting in publications in interna-tional journals and conferences.

Tell me about an achievement you are proud ofI am particularly proud with the set of useful tools that we provide to the re-search community as open source soft-ware. The most important tools are the Z-Monitor network monitoring tool that started initially as a very simple gradu-ation project and we promoted it over 4 years to become a widely useful tool

being utilized by several researchers abroad and was one of tool heavily used in the European network of excellence CONET and the EMMON project also. We have recently released a C++ library for path planning algorithms in grid maps and the COROS framework for the de-velopment of distributed robots applica-tions. At an earlier time, we also released the open-LQE which is a comprehensive framework to link quality assessment in wireless sensor networks in the context of the work of my PhD student.

What is your future research plan?Basically, I am planning to work on the integration of mobile robots and sensor networks with cloud computing infra-structure to take benefit of its process-ing and storage capabilities to boost their performance. My vision is to con-tribute to the future Internet of Things by integrating several technologies to-gether and put them available to public as services that can be accessed eas-ily through common interfaces such as mobile phone and Web browsers.

How do you balance between teach-ing duties and research?In spite of being having a great inter-est to research, teaching remains my primary duty. Indeed, much of the re-search I do, have promoted my teach-ing in several areas, and vice versa, as several courses I taught gave me addi-tional expertise and background needed for research. In particular, courses like Programming, Simulation and Modeling, SOA and Web Services, and Mobile ro-botics have provided me with excellent background in several research areas. In fact, I particular like teaching topics related to my research interest because it will help to transfer my expertise to my students and get them involved in re-search at some level.

Tell me about yourself and your education backgroundI am Anis Koubaa, born in Sfax – Tunisia, and got my PhD in CS from National Institute of Polytechnic of Lorraine in 2004 (France), Master in CS in 2001 in University Henri Poincare (France) and engineering degree in Telecommunications from Higher Institute of Telecommunication in Tunisia. I joined PSU in 2012, and I have been eaching at Al-Imam Uni-versity from 2006-2012 and in IUT Nancy Brabois in 2005. I have been also a research associate of CISTER research group in Portugal, with which I still maintain research collaboration.

What are your research interestsI am basically interesting in building innovative applications us-ing mobile robots and wireless sensor networks. I have been working on quality of service in wireless sensor networks and more recently on developing intelligent applications and mecha-nisms for mobile robots. My personal vision is to integrate different systems together in a unified ecosystem using multiple technologies namely the cloud computing paradigm, mobile computing, Internet of Things, co-operating objects (e.g. mobile robots and sensor networks), Web Services, to enable new type of smart applications that assist human in their daily activities.

BOOK PUBLISHEDBy PSU Faculty Members

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Published Books Published Books

Simulation Modeling and Analysis Using FlexSim

Islam and The West: in the Views of Muhammad Assad

About the book About the book

About the Author

About the Author

Dr. Allen G Greenwood, P.E. Translated by Dr. Hadeer Abo El Nagah

• Language: English• ISBN: 978- 0 - 9832319 - 4 - 3• Publisher: FlexSim Software Products• Year: 2014 (4th Edition)

• Author: Dr. Savet Halilovitch• Language: Arabic• ISBN- 977342562x • Publisher: Dar Al Salam• Year : 2007

Simulation is an applied technology that is especially useful for analyzing and solving problems. The intent of this book is to blend and balance an understanding of fundamental principles and concepts with the practical side of building and analyzing simulations. The opening chapters provide a base for all user levels. They establish the professional practice of applied simulation and demonstrate how simulation is used to understand and resolve practical problems.The next section in the book deals with building

and analyzing simulations. These chapters focus on the basics of simulation software, statistics, equipment reliability, designing experiments, and model development. The remaining chapters introduce more advanced topics such as custom logic, production schedules, continuous simulation and fluid flow, simulation software architecture, and provide examples of more advanced applications.Appendices cover FlexSim software details, application notes for each exercise, and specialized topics.

The Translated version of the book introduces the Arabic reader to one of the most momentous European thinkers of the Twentieth century, namely Leopold Weiss who is generally known as Mohamed Assad as he converted to Islam and changed his name. Besides being a theologist, philosopher and a diplomat, Assad was an orientalist who professionally speaks and reads Arabic. Such skills enabled him to examine the Islamic philosophy and closely compare it to the Western philosophy and line of thought. Particularly known for his masterpiece The Road to Mecca 1954, Assad’s writings are considered serious attempts to bridge the gap between Islam and the West especially during the post-colonial years where the roots of misunderstanding and stereotyping between the two were beginning to grow. As a Western who belonged to both worlds he was able to pinpoint the defects of the Western theology and offers at the same time an objective outlook to Islam. The life and scholarship of Muhammad Assad attracted many researchers and writers however this book is a significant addition to the wealth of documentaries and publications about him for its cross sectional and interdisciplinary approach. The

Author Dr. Safvet Halilović who is a professor of Tafseer (Quranic exegesis) and of a dual Islamic and European belonging himself examines the relation between the two as it appears in the life and thoughts of Muhammad Assad from different angles. It clearly presents Assad›s passionate search for the truth and the right path and his life-long dedication to discover the meaning behind the creation of man. It also shed lights about his other valuable books such as to name only a few; Islam at the Crossroads 1936, The Principles of State in Islam 1947, This is Our Law 1949 and the most impressive The Homecoming of the Heart 1953. In addition to the detailed account of Assad’s life and philosophy the book intensely discusses the views of other European philosophers and thinkers who greatly affected the formation of the general opposition between Islam and the West. The Arabic translation of this book may not be the only nor is the first about this particular subject, but surely it’s a remarkable addition to the dialogue between the two cultures.

Allen Greenwood is Chair and Professor of Engineering Management at PSU. He has also been a member of the faculty at Mississippi State University, Northeastern University, Virginia Tech, and the American University of Armenia. His teaching and research interests/expertise include simulation modeling, analysis, and optimization, as well as the design and analysis of production and project systems. His professional

experience spans a wide variety of domains -- engineering design and development (military aircraft and aerospace), manufacturing and production systems (military aircraft, shipbuilding, automotive, textile fibers, healthcare, and electrical systems), and project management. He has authored or co-authored over 150 creative works, including journal and conference papers, technical reports, software programs, etc.

Associate professor of English at PSU English Department, earned her Masters and PhD from the prestigious Al Azhar University in Cairo, she is a Fulbright scholar and an affiliated researcher and former faculty member at both the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, Canada. Taught at the State University of New York, Taibah University

at Al Medinah and Misr international University in Cairo. A frequent guest speaker at conferences in Arab countries and USA. She authored a series of 9 English books and translated a large numbers of books. She blogs to New York Times and other newspapers in North America.

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Published Books Published Books

Radiation and Scattering from Bodies Coated with Metamaterials by GPU: Electromagnetic Forward and Inverse Scattering Problems by Graphical Processing Unit

Functional Analysis with Some Fixed Point Theories’ Approaches

About the book About the book

About the Author

About the Author

Dr. Mourad Said

Dr. Sahar Ali

• Language: English• ISBN: 384849258X• Publisher: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing• Year: 2012

• Publisher: LAP LAMBERT Academic • Publishing (December 6, 2013)• Language: English• ISBN-10: 3659464708• ISBN-13: 978 - 3659464706

The electromagnetic scattering from bodies coated with metamaterials by using Finite Difference Frequency-Domain (FDFD). A formulation for the FDFD method is presented. A hybrid technique from FDFD and Particle Swarm Optimization technique (PSO) is used to reconstruct both the shape and the relative permittivity of a homogenous dielectric cylinder. The dielectric constants of materials in solid, liquid, or paste forms are considered. The thesis presents a graphics processing based implementation of FDFD method. The FDFD code has been implemented for CPU calculations and

the same code is implemented for the Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) calculations using the Brook+ developed by AMD. The solution obtained by using the GPU based-code showed more than 40 times speed over the CPU based- code. Metamaterial superstrates used for directivity enhancement of cylindrical Dielectric Resonator Antenna (DRA) mounted on both circular and curved ground planes. Mutual coupling reduction between two cylindrical DRAs over infinite size ground plane or mounted on hollow circular cylindrical ground plane by using metamaterials are also investigated.

This book is developed and written for undergraduate and postgraduate students who are studying functional analysis. It gives answers for many important questions, supplies students with adequate studies required for their future academic needs? On the other side, it introduces some recent results for researchers. It is readable, available and flexible in use because it introduces the basics of linear algebra, linear spaces, basis

and dimension supported with many examples,

basic concepts of functional analysis especially;

the normed, the metric, and inner product spaces›

concepts and the relation between those spaces,

sequences, some types of convergence, linear,

bounded, continuous, uniformly continuous

operators between normed spaces, dual spaces,

and functional representations.

He received the B.Sc and M.Sc degrees

from Helwan University in 2002 and 2006

respectively, and the Ph.D degree in antennas

from Cairo University, Egypt in 2011. He is

currently a lecturer in the faculty of engineering,

MUST University, Egypt. His research interests

at present include Metamaterials, DRA,

optimization techniques, FDFD, and GPU.

Associate Professor of pure Mathematics, she is teaching pure mathematical courses for both under-graduate and post-graduate students, supervising projects, M. Sc and Ph. D thesis,

presented, published many research papers, and

responsible for many mathematical courses, like

Topology, Functional & Real analysis, extra.

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Nanofabrication towards Biomedical Applications Techniques, Tools, Applications, and Impact

Machine Learning and Script Recognition

About the book About the book

About the Author

About the Author

Translated by :Dr. Naser Omar,Dr. Tarek Elsarnagawy• ISBN: 978 - 603 - 507 - 182 - 6 2013, two volumes

Author: Tanzila Saba, Amjad Rehman

• Language: English• ISBN-10: 3659111708• ISBN-13: 978 -3659111709• Publisher: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing (November 4, 2012)

This book is considered one of the most important books on the Nano technology. This books summarizes the

current influence of the Nano technology on Biology and medical sciences and manufacturing

This book presents a detailed progress in the domain of forms analysis, information retrieval and their classification into relevant databases for further usage. So forth reported techniques in the state of the art are elaborated and compared on benchmark databases with those proposed by the authors. However, character segmentation is the focus of this research book as poor segmentation is the main bottleneck in the information classification process. Several segmentation approaches are critically evaluated and compared with published techniques of the authors. Finally for classification of customer’s information hybrid statistical feature-based scheme is proposed and implemented. To

conclude all techniques are integrated into script recognition system using two main approaches. The first is a fast lexicon-based string matching and the second is based on linear searching. Real-world benchmark databases from Institute of Informatics and Applied Mathematics, National Institute of Science and Technology and Cursive Character Challenges are used to test all system components. An average accuracy of 84.37% and 91.38% is achieved for script segmentation and script classification on benchmark databases respectively. Finally, remaining problems are also highlighted along with suggestions and recommendations.

Tarek Elsarnagawy was born in Egypt. He earned his Bachelor degree in Electronics and Telecommunication from the faculty of Engineering – Helwan University in Cairo in 1989. In 1990 he joined the Technical University Braunschweig in Germany where he got his Master degree in Electrical Measurement Technology in 1996. In 2000 he earned his Ph.D. degree at the TU-Braunschweig – Germany in Fiber Optic Sensors for High Precision Measurements. Currently he is the Director of Research at the

Research and Translation Center “RTC” at Prince Sultan University and faculty member at the Engineering College at PSU. In addition to this he is an adjunct Professor at TUI University in Germany and Research fellow at King Saud University KSU. He founded and headed the Applied Medical Sciences Department at KSU. He has published more than 30 publications in the field of fiber-optic sensors and quality assurance as well as many translated books into Arabic.

Dr. Tanzila Saba earned PhD in document information security from faculty of Computing University Teknologi Malaysia. Her specialization is information management and business

intelligence. Currently, she is serving as Assistant prof. in CIS P.S University KSA. Her more than ten papers are ISI indexed & she is included in Marquis Who is Who 2012.

Published Books Published Books

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Published Books Published Books

The Construction Industry in Yemen and Economic Sustainability

About the book

About the Author

Dr. Basel Sultan (Author) Dr. Yahya Melhem

• Language: English• ISBN-10: 3639085116• ISBN-13: 978 - 3639085112

The construction industry is one of most important components in the economic development of a developing country, being a major contributor to the national economy and responsible for the provision of housing, infrastructure projects and employment. The construction industry of Yemen is plagued by difficult economic and technical problems. This industry faces many barriers, in addition, the inefficient construction practices and procedures consume excessive capital,

time and resources that have a direct flow-on effect for the national economy and the nation›s socio-economic development. The recent global shift to sustainable development requires that the construction industry in Yemen initiate essential premeditated developmental policies and strategies in order to meet future demand for economic and sustainable development, moreover, in accord with the local needs, capabilities, available resources and culture.

University Assistant Professor &, A qualified Civil Structural Engineer gained his BEng and MPhil degrees from UK & a Doctorate from QUT Australia.Participated in major infrastructure & Asset Management projects. Provides consulting

engineering services, as well as, estimating, planning and putting forward the commercial & technical proposals to major EPC. Conducts management training courses. Has knowledge on SD and sustainable construction

Dr Yahya Melhem is Associate Professor and MBA Director at Prince Sultan Uni-versity. He was the chairman of the Busi-ness Administration Department at Yar-mouk University in Jordan between 2008 and 2010. He finished his Master and Bachelor Degrees in the United States and his PhD from Nottingham University in the UK in 2003.Based on his PhD thesis he authored

«Empowerment as a Modern Approach to Management» and was granted Al Share-ja Award for the Best PhD Thesis in the Arab World on 2004. Dr. Yahya Melhem has participated in various workshops, conferences, and seminars in areas of Leadership, Organizational change and Empowerment. He has more than 15 publications and 3 books in such areas of interest.

Empowerment as a Contemporary Approach to Management

About the book

About the Author

• Language: Arabic• ISBN: 977 - 5673 - 56 - 9• Publisher: : ARADO (Arab Administrative Development) Organization. • Year: 2009

Empowerment is a contemporary management concept which focuses on providing people with freedom, discretion, and independence in doing their tasks at work or at any job they do. It entails human participation and engagement in decision making that contributes in creating innovative and creative performance for employees and people in general. Empowerment leads into human development in addition to effective human productivity and economic prosperity. Employee Empowerment is highly significant to enable people for different and out of the box thinking, away from traditional mind set in solving work

related problems. The book “Empowerment as a Modern approach” offers its readers a different flavor in providing a new theme that is in line with different and recent management developments. Hence, the book will try to propose four important antecedents for empowering people asserting for leaders and managers that no empowerment would work at all without these significant conditions. The first and most important one is the knowledge and skill that employees must own followed by trust, communication and incentives.

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RESOURCES AND

USEFUL INFORMATIONThe Journal Quality Factor is considered to assess standard of individual journals, their quality or status are known to the professors, scholars and researchers. The Journal Quality factor is used as standard dimension and the relative

importance of a scientific journal within its field. Where the Impact Factor is measured by reflecting the average number of citations to recent articles published in the journal, the Quality Factor is used to evaluate the journals through the credit

system evaluation. Journal with ISSN and Government registration are eligible for Journal Quality Factor analysis. While calculating the Journal Quality Factor following factors are considered for standards Certification.

Journal Quality Factor Grade PointsA systematic analysis of the journal will be awarded as per the range of total marks (out of 100) obtained by each journal in each factor as shown below:

Factor Code Factors No. of Credits

JQF01 Journal Quality 06

JQF02 Author’s Contribution 04

JQF03 Publisher quality 03

JQF04 Technical Quality 03

JQF05 Manuscript Quality 03

JQF06 Standard quality 03

Grade Grade Points Marks Range

A 10 91–100B 9 81–90C 8 71–80D 7 61–70E 6 51–60F 5 <50

RESOURCES RESOURCES

Glimpse on Journal’s Quality factor and Impact factorJournal Quality Factor vs. Impact Factor

For RESEARCHERS

Evaluators ReviewThe evaluators have to review the journal based on the below crite-ria.

• Journal Quality: To check the Im-pact Factor (10 point=≥3 impact factor, 9 points=2 to 2.9 impact factor, 8 points=1 to 1.9 impact

factor, 7 point=0.0 to 0.9 impact factor).• Author’s Contribution: To check whether the submissions are

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strictly refereed and only papers of high quality are accepted for publi-cation. And the originality of the pa-pers.• Publisher quality: To check website, Speedy of publication, subscription, library exchange, Publication fee, online publication, articles are able to be accessed without subscription, e.g. via the Directory of Open Ac-cess Journals, Directory of Journal

Quality factor).• Technical Quality: Editorial board, DOI number, Abstracting and Index-ing, ISSN, Publisher Registration and the correspondence.• Manuscript Quality: To check the Plagiarism.• Standard Quality: To check the Re-viewing details, Check reviewing de-tails (double-peer reviews, unnamed peer reviews, open reviews) etc..

JQF CalculationThe 2013 Journal Quality Factor will be calculated as follows: JQF = ∑ C GP/∑ Cwhere • C : is the number of Credits as-signed to the factor.• GP : is the point corresponding to the grade obtained for each factor.Reference: http://www.qualityfactor.org/jqfprocess.html

Some UsefulLinks for Researchers

1.http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/ dblp: Computer science bibliography;

Statistics:• Distribution of publication types• Publications per year• Number of authors per publication• Number of publications per author• Number of coauthors per author• Records in DBLP (grouped by year)• Records in DBLP (grouped by date of last change)• Number of edits per publication• New records per year• New records per month• New records in year 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002

2. http://arnetminer.orgComprehensive search and mining services for research-er social networksThe site provides comprehensive search and mining services for researcher social networks. In this sys-tem, the site focuses on:

a. Creating a semantic-based profile for each

researcher by extracting information from the distrib-uted Web; b. Integrating academic data (e.g., the bibliographic data and the researcher profiles) from multiple sourc-es; c. Accurately searching the heterogeneous network; d. Analyzing and discovering interesting patterns from

the built researcher social net-work.

3. http://www.pubzone.orgScientific publication discussion fo-rumThis site provides a discussion fo-rum for publications in the database community. The idea is to provide an open platform in order to discuss pub-lications, upload extra material (e.g., experimental results, PowerPoint pre-sentations) and rate publications and comments about publications.

4. http://dl.acm.orgAssociation for Computing Machinery – Digital Library

ACM, the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society, de-livers resources that advance com-puting as a science and a profession. ACM provides the computing field›s premier Digital Library and serves its members and the computing profes-sion with leading-edge publications, conferences, and career resources.

5. www.zotero.org Easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your re-search sources.The name ‹Zotero› is loosely derived from an Albanian verb meaning «to master». Zotero is free and open-source reference management soft-

ware to manage bibliographic data

and related research materials (such

as PDF files). Notable features in-

clude web browser integration, online

syncing, generation of in-text cita-

tions, footnotes and bibliographies, as

well as integration with the word pro-

cessors Microsoft Word, LibreOffice,

OpenOffice.org Writer and NeoOffice.

Zotero users can generate citations

and bibliographies through word pro-

cessor plugins, or directly in Zotero,

using Citation Style Language styles.

Zotero allows users to create their

own customized citation style.

RESOURCES RESOURCES

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Projects Funded by PSU2012- 2013

1. Development of Methodologies for Electro-thermal Analysis of Electronic CircuitsPI: Magdy AbdelaalCo-I: Farah Mohammadi

The goal of this research work is develop the capability using advanced numerical simulation methods for assessment of performance and reliability of electronic products. In order to accurately predict the thermal behavior of an electronic component, it is necessary to have a realistic and accurate model of the component. The thermal analysis of electronic components is divided into three levels of macroscopic thermal analysis, 1. Component Level of Thermal Analysis; 2. Package Level of Thermal Analysis; 3. System Level of Thermal Analysis.Budget: 254,800 SR

2. Fiber-Optic-Based Smart Wear (FOSW) for Health Monitoring: Simulation and OptimizationPI: Tarek ElsarnagawyCo-Is: Jens Haueisen, Manal Farrag

A device based study is carried out using an embedded Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) strain sensor to simultaneously measure vital signal such as respiration, heartbeat and body motion in the form of a smart costume. The experimental results are modeled and simulated using a specially designed algorithm. The designed system consisted of FBG strain sensor, interrogator, signal interface/ processing unit and optical fiber. When the FBG sensor is used as an embedded sensor, a correction of strain sensitivity due to the influence of the embedding material was applied. The displacement of the reflected

wavelength is measured, depending on the intended strain value as a function of heartbeat, body motion and respiration. The achieved results show that the presented FBG vital sign monitor is ideal for embedded and portable mobile technology measurement systems, because of its small size and light weight. Budget: 174 000 SR.

3. Innovative Approch in Broadband Access NetworksPI: Khaled AlmustafaCo-I: Abdallah Shami

In our research work, we will concentrate on the convergence of optical and wireless networks for the deployment of access networks to exploit the opportunities of both technologies. We will focus on network dimensioning and placement of equipment in hybrid Optical-Wireless Access Networks. An integrated optical/ wireless architecture will be investigated for the greenfield deployment of future access networks. To implement a hybrid optical wireless

1. Development of Methodologies for Electro-thermal Analysis of Electronic Circuits

2. Fiber-Optic-Based Smart Wear (FOSW) for Health Monitoring: Simulation and Optimization

3. Innovative Approch in Broadband Access Networks

4. Introductory Medical Imaging, Book Translation Project

5. Automatic Localization of Saudi License Plate

Research Projects Research Projects Completed Research Projects Funded by PSU 2012- 2013 Completed Research Projects Funded by PSU 2012- 2013

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access network, a hybrid network infrastructure can be proposed where fiber will be deployed as deeply as adorable/practical and then, wireless systems will be used to extend this connectivity to

a large number of locations and ultimately connect the wireless end users.Budget: 96,000 SR

4. Introductory Medical Imaging, Book Translation ProjectPI: Magdy AbdelaalCo.Is: Tarek Elsarnagawy, Hassan Foad, Manal Farrag

This book is a lecture notes on the subject of «Introductory Medical imaging». This book provides an introduction to the principles of several of the more widely used methods in medical imaging. Intended for engineering students, it provides a final-year undergraduate- or graduate-level introduction to several imaging modalities, including MRI, ultrasound and X-Ray CT. The emphasis of the text is on mathematical models for imaging and image reconstruction physics. Emphasis is also given to sources of imaging artifacts. Such topics are usually not addressed across the different imaging modalities in one book, and this is a notable strength of the treatment given here. This book includes levels of detail that are beyond what would constitute an introductory course; they are also, however, somewhat below the level of what would be considered a specialist course in any particular modality.Budget: 55000 SR.

5. Some dual identities in fractional difference calculus into Riemann and CaputoPI: Thabet Abdeljawad

We investigate two types of dual identities for Riemann and Caputo fractional sums and differences. The first type relates nabla and delta type fractional sums and differences. The second type represented by the Q-operator relates left and right fractional sums and differences. These dual identities insists that in the definition of right fractional differences we have to mix both the nabla and delta operators. Budget: 20000 SR.

6. Automatic Localization of Saudi License PlatePI: Kaheld AlmustafaCo-I: Rached Zantout

In this paper, localizing Saudi license plates in images using the “character recognition” method is described. In this method, all possible objects from the license plate image are filtered to keep only objects which may belong to a Saudi license plate. Filtering is done by checking each object to see whether it is a possible letter or number (in Arabic or English) that could be part of a Saudi license plate. If there exist both Arabic and English patterns that agree, the license plate is recognized. The method correctly localized and recognized Saudi license plates in 83.9% of the times. The cases where the method did not work were for noisy images of license plates.Budget: 20,000 SR.

No. Project Title Principle Investigator

13D Virtual Environment for Disaster Management using Cooperative Autonomous Agents and Sensor Networks

Dr. Anis Zarrad

2Animal and Human bones and teeth analysis with respect to age using Finite Element Analysis, experimental methods and Mathematical Modeling

Dr. Irfan Anjum Manarvi

3Development of an efficient and Intelligent Wireless Sensor Network Routing Protocol

Dr. Mohamed Tounsi

4 Competitive Brand Evaluation by Consumers across Cultures Dr. David W. Pan

5Anthropometric, Physical and Physiological performance characteristics for the students of PSU

Dr. Mehdi ben brahim

6Exploring Mobile Software Engineering Approaches to Developing Applications in Hybrid Cloud Computing Environments

Dr. Basit Qureshi

7 Underwater Communications (Book Translation) Dr. Mourad Rizk

8Prince Sultan University Preference in Physical Activity: A Basis in Programming Health-Related Fitness Activity for PSU Community

Dr. Oleksii Borodai

9 A subclass of separately superharmonic functions in a product network Dr. Kamaleldin Abodayeh

10Permanence and Extinction of Discrete Nicholson›s Blowflies System with Patch Structure

Dr. Jehad Alzabut

11Service Quality Measurement of Information Technology Enabled Services in Higher Education Industry of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Dr. Romana Aziz

12Development of novel approach for automatic Multilingual Script Extraction (English/Arabic) from Flexible Data Entry Forms in Enterprises

Dr. Tanzila Saba

13Testing Benjamin Graham Net Current Asset Value: The case of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Malaysia

Dr.Nadisah Zakaria

14What is a better predictor of students’ success at mathematics courses in higher education institutions?

Dr. Heba Bakr Khoshaim

15Permanence and Extinction of Discrete Nicholson›s Blowflies System with Patch Structure and Nonlinear Density Dependent Mortality Term

Dr. Jehad Alzabut

Research Ongoing Funded Research Projects

Ongoing Funded Research Projects 2013 / 2014

Total Funding Amount 2013 / 2014 :1.208.440 SR

Research Projects Completed Research Projects Funded by PSU 2012- 2013

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events, announCements & news

Events, Announcements & News Events, Announcements & News

Annual Research Forums’ SeriesPrince Sultan University is pleased to inform researchers and academi-cians about the “Annual Research Forums” which are organized by The Research & Translation Center and address diverse fields in applied sci-ences and humanities. Colleagues in related specializations and from the industry are cordially invited to attend or present their papers and share their experience in the follow-ing tracks:

• Engineering (Communication & Networks, Engineering man-agement, Civil Engineering)

• Computer Science and Infor-mation Systems

• Interior Design & Architecture • Business Administration • Scientific fields (Math, Physics,

Chemistry & Physical Educa-

tion)• English Language Studies• Law • Arab and Islamic studies

The call for papers and the schedule of the forum series are announced at the beginning of each academic year and can be viewed on PSU’s website and at the Research & Translation Center as well. The aim of this scientific event is to bring sci-entists and researchers together for the sake of knowledge transfer, the exploration of research based col-laboration and joint research work.

For more information:Prince Sultan University, Re-search & Translation Center, Ra-faa Street, Salaheddin quarter, Riyadh, KSA, +966 11 494 7849, Psrtc_info@psu.edu.sa, yassin@psu.edu.sa, psu.edu.sa, http://info.psu.edu.sa/psrtc/

Annual Undergraduates’ Re-search ForumPrince Sultan University is pleased to inform undergraduate university students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia about the annual “Under-graduates Research Forum” which is organized by the Research & Translation Center and addresses diverse fields in applied sciences and humanities. Students in related specializations are cordially invited to attend or submit their research papers in the following tracks:

• Engineering (Communication & Networks, Engineering man-agement, Civil Engineering)• Computer Science and Information Systems • Interior Design and Architec-ture

• Annual Research Forums’ Series at PSU• Annual Undergraduates Research Forum at PSU

• RTC’s Annual Research Excellence Award for PSU’ians• Research Capacity Building Seminars for Faculty Members

• Research Groups at PSU• Bi-Annual Research Competitions for Young Researchers

• Student Research Club Activities:Seminars & Research Activities,Bi-Annual Research Competitions for Young Researchers

• Business Administration • Scientific fields (Math, Physics, Chemistry & Physical Educa-tion)• English Language Studies• Law • Arab and Islamic studies

The call for papers is issued at the beginning of each academic year and announced on the websites of PSU and the Research & Translation Cen-ter. The aim of this scientific event for undergraduate students is to bring students together for the sake of knowledge dissemination and experi-ence sharing.

For more information:Prince Sultan University, Research & Translation Center, Rafaa Street, Salaheddin quarter, Riyadh, KSA, +966 11 494 7849, Psrtc_info@psu.edu.sa, Yassin@psu.edu.sa, psu.edu.sa, http://info.psu.edu.sa/psrtc/

RTC’s Annual Research Excel-lence AwardOut of its firm belief in the importance of recognizing excellence and appre-ciating outstanding researchers and translators, The Research & Trans-lation Center (RTC) offers an annual research excellence award starting from the academic year 2014 – 2015. The Research Excellence Awards appreciate outstanding performance among PSU faculty members and students. Call for Award applications will be issued at the beginning of ev-ery academic year, and the prizes will be distributed to the awardees at a special research appreciation cer-emony at the end of the year. For faculty members, the awards will be granted based on the accu-mulated research output on an an-nual basis. Six positions are avail-able; three for the Women Campus and three for the Men Campus. The financial awards are SR 10,000, SR

7,500 and SR 5,000 for the first, sec-ond and third positions respectively.

For post-graduate students, awards will be granted on the basis of evaluating an applicant’s research paper that has already been accept-ed for publication in a refereed con-ference proceeding or journal. Six positions are again available; three for the Women Campus and three for the Men Campus. The best three research papers will receive financial awards of SR 4,000, SR 3,000 and SR 2,000.

For undergraduate students, the awards cater for two categories; re-search posters and research papers. Six positions will be open for each category across the two campuses. A total of SR 2,000 is dedicated for research posters and a sum of SR 4,500 for winning research papers.

Students’ Research ClubBi-Annual Research Competitions for Young Researchers RTC Student Research Club: Train-ing, Events & Experience SharingThe RTC Students’ Research Club is extremely active throughout the aca-demic year. The Club offers a variety of successful events and activities to students. The Club facilitates re-search for students, motivates them to explore answers to their questions and adds an element of fun to under-graduate research. The RTC Student Research Club organizes an annual small research projects competition as well as re-search poster competition for stu-dents of all specializations. At the end of each semester all appli-cants display their research work and interact with the audience

Research Capacity Building Semi-nars RTC Offers Capacity Building Semi-nars for Faculty MembersAs part of its commitment to support faculty members’ research efforts and provide a platform for research ex-pertise exchange, RTC organizes a series of research training sessions. The Center arranged ten workshops in 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 cover-ing three main tracks, training on re-search skills, research management and administration, and the promo-tion of undergraduate research. All sessions were delivered by PSU fac-ulty members, and attracted around 220 participants:

PSU’s Research Groups InitiativeGetting researchers together & High-lighting PSU’s research tracksThe Center encourages researchers to form research groups in order to en-hance PSU’s research infrastructure, highlight PSU’s research capabilities and determine its research road map, to create links with the industry and to establish connections with other research centers/ institutes.Major goals of the research groups:

• To allow cooperation with special-ized research labs/ centres na-tionally and internationally in ad-dition to the job market

• To recruit full-time researchers to support the research groups and fund research projects

• To attract research grants and consultations from the job market

• To offer research training opportu-nities to undergraduate and post-graduate students

• To provide training opportunities to specialists from the job market on the latest technologies and equip-ment needed at their workplace and for societal development

• To support the integration of re-search in university education

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Home away from Home: reCreating afriCan Literature in tHe DiasporaHadeer Abo El Nagah, PSU

This paper was presented at the Tunisian Association of Comparative Literature at its International Conference celebrating the International Day of Comparative Literature April 2014 and is accepted for publication in the Journal of Comparative Literature in its coming issue 12 / 2014.

Abstract: For centuries Africa, Africans and their literature were regarded and treated as the distant «Other». Shipped to the new land, with their sense of loss, separation and homesickness, the African slaves carried nothing except their songs and stories of the past. The image of Africa, the homeland, remained engraved in their memories and was recreated and retold in their poems and stories to the coming generations of Africans on the American land. With movements like The Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and 1930s, the displaced peoples of African descent developed self-awareness and appreciation and realization of their literature as something unique that derives its aesthetics from its African origins. Some lead Harlem Renaissance poets like Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Sterling Brown and others borrowed their themes and imageries directly from the African literary tradition. Thus, Africa as the homeland was recreated in the diaspora through literature, yet, how much of Africa and African spirit remained in the hybrid African American literature? How original is the African literature in the diaspora? With reference to Veve Clark›s Diaspora literacy and Henry Louis Gates «The Signifying Monkey» this current study examines the African origins of Langston Hughes› early poems. It aims at exploring the uniqueness and aesthetics of the forgotten African literature as it appears in the Diaspora.

researCH titLe: a Design approaCH using Bio-geometry in tHe interior arCHiteCturaL spaCes witH referenCe to HeaL attention DefiCit HyperaCtivity DisorDer (aDHD) Ihab Rashid, Om Al Qora University, KSA

Dina Howeidy, PSU

Journal of Urban Research (issn2090 - 0694) – Cairo University – 2014

Abstract: Since the beginning of the universe, people live in a middle of a huge amount of different types of energies which affect them, include what is useful, and what is harmful. The variation of these effects either direct or indirect was because of the role played by both designers architect and interior architect in the formation of voids. Both were responsible for the interior space design to avoid environmental pollution, and negative impacts to take the advantage of the positive energy in improving people performance in the interior architectural spaces, and the society in general. When we consider that at least 90% of our life is spent indoors, the significance of this sentence becomes apparent1 . Scientists have proved that the interior architectural space contains different types of energy. This energy has a negative and positive impact on human beings, some problems appeared like the absence of the concept «earth energy» and other environmental concepts associated with it, in addition to its impact on human health and performance in the interior architectural spaces, resulting in health problems for people in those spaces, Also the positive impact of bio-geometry on human health, through its application in the interior spaces to

achieve a balance in the internal energy, thus helps in the treatment of many diseases.2 This research Paper focuses on the importance of the science of bio-geometry on human health as one of the application for the new science, the research will be applied on children who suffers from ADHD that considered as one of the new sciences that give more care to human health and performance, all results after testing the bio-geometry will be statically examined by SPAA program and compare them all by the end. The main research aim is to use the principles and theories of Bio-Geometry in the interior architectural spaces, to achieve the best results to maintain human health, the efficiency of performance, and modify human behavior. In addition to formulate a clear framework and methodology as a design approach through which the designer either an architect or interior can deal with the negative energy in the interior architectural spaces using the science of Bio-Geometry.

tHermoforming teCHniques for manufaCturing porous sCaffoLDs for appLiCation in 3D CeLL CuLtivationJ. Tobola, J. Hampl, M. Gebinoga, T. Elsarnagawy, Y. A. Elnakady, H. Fouad, F. Almajhadi, U. Fernekorn, F. Weise, S. Singh, D. Elsarnagawy, A. Shober

J. Materials Science and Engineering C, MSEC, Volume 49, 1 April 2015, Pages 509–516, Elsevier

Abstract: Within the scientific community, there is an increasing demand to apply advanced cell cultivation substrates with increased physiological functionalities for studying spatially defined cellular interactions. Porous polymeric scaffolds are utilized for mimicking an organ-like structure or engineering complex tissues and have become a key element for three-dimensional (3D) cell cultivation in the meantime. As a consequence, efficient 3D scaffold fabrication methods play an important role in modern biotechnology. Here, we present a novel thermoforming procedure for manufacturing porous 3D scaffolds from permeable materials. We address the issue of precise thermoforming of porous polymer foils by using multilayer polymer thermoforming technology. This technology offers a new method for structuring porous polymer foils that are otherwise available for non-porous polymers only. We successfully manufactured

3D scaffolds from solvent casted and phase separated polylactic acid (PLA) foils and investigated their biocompatibility and basic cellular performance. The HepG2 cell culture in PLA scaffold has shown enhanced albumin secretion rate in comparison to a previously reported polycarbonate based scaffold with similar geometry.

a wearaBLe wireLess respiration rate monitoring system BaseD on fiBer optiC sensorsT. Elsarnagawy, M. Farrag, J. Haueisen, M. Abdulaal, K. Mahmoud, H. Fouad, S. Ansari

Sensor Letters, Volume 12, Number 9, September 2014, pp. 1331- 1336(6)

Abstract: In this article a portable and wearable wireless system to measure the respiratory rate and signal using embedded fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based optical sensor into textile (nylon) is realized. The measured data is analyzed and compared with the output data of a commercial wired piezoelectric crystal film respiratory belt from Grass Technology (FBGT-200) as a reference for the sake of validation. The results showed that the resultant average respiratory rate and the signal correlation coefficients between the FBGT-200 and the reference respiratory belt was 0.99 and 0.72 respectively. A variation in correlation coefficient for respiratory signal is found which is related to the variation in volunteer respiration pattern. The developed fiber optic based monitoring system has been tested on ten volunteers of different chest circumferences.

sauDi LiCense pLate LoCaLization using HyBriD metHoDKhaled Almustafa, Rashid Zantout

17th IEEE Mediterranean Electro-technical Conference- MELECON2014, Beirut, Lebanon, 13 - 16 April 2014.

Abstract: In this paper, localizing Saudi license plates in images using the “character recognition” method is described. In this method, all possible objects from the license plate image are filtered to keep only objects which may

Selected Research Abstracts Published By PSU ResearchersTo view the PSU Faculty Research Outcome Booklets please visit the RTC website: http://info.psu.edu.sa/psrtc/report/index.html

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belong to a Saudi license plate. Filtering is done by checking each object to see whether it is a possible letter or number (in Arabic or English) that could be part of a Saudi license plate. If there exist both Arabic and English patterns that agree, the license plate is recognized. The method correctly localized and recognized Saudi license plates in 83.9% of the times. The cases where the method did not work were for noisy images of license plates.

pLasma refLeCtarraysM. S. Rizk, S. H. Zainud-Deen, H. A. Malhat, S. M. Gaber, K. H. Awadalla

Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

This paper investigates the design of four different configurations of plasma reflectarrays. The results provide insight into different radiation characteristics of plasma reflectarrays. The proposed unit cell consists of a cubic glass box filled with argon gas energized with applied AC voltage. The reflectarray reflection coefficient phase variation is achieved by varying the plasma frequency of the energized gas. Four plasma reflectarrays for satellite applications at 12 GHz are proposed (center feed center beam, center feed offset beam, offset feed center beam, and finally, offset feed offset beam). The finite integration technique is used to analyze the plasma reflectarray.

proposeD approaCH for integrating vertiCaL anD HorizontaL HanDoff BaseD moBiLe ipv6 in 4tH generation wireLess networksSherif Kamel

Journal of Al Azhar University[JAUES] ,Engineering sector.January 2013

Abstract: Having a seamless integration between wireless LAN and wireless WAN, needs an adaptation stack model. To provide an integrative layer of Mobile IP on the top of different LAN/WAN networks. As Mobile IP is normally used with Macro mobility [wireless WANs] so it is not known how well it performs under Micro mobility environment [wireless LANs] against native MAC level handoff. Through the analytical studies of different protocols used in both vertical and horizontal

handoffs, an approach has suggested to integrate both handoff Mechanisms and at the same time optimizing the parameters required for each handoff mechanism.

Crossing tHe Division of tHe HypHen; araB anD afriCan ameriCan women memoirs as interraCiaL testimoniaLs Hadeer Abo El Nagah

This paper was written under the auspices of International Fulbright Commission and The State University of New York. It was presented at the biannual conference of The Radius of Arab American Writers Incorporated (RAWI), Arab American Institute, Dearborn, Michigan, USA, May 19th. 2007. The paper was published in the International Journal of Culture and African Women Studies in its 2009 UN sponsored special edition as special tribute to African women.

Abstract: After decades of attempting to fit the qualification of the hyphenated types of literature, many literary voices of women from various ethnic backgrounds are trying to unshackle their writings from the confinement of the hyphen. The interracial reading of African American and Arab American women memoirs suggests a correlation between the two as race and gender testimonials. It also detects parallel attempts of their writers to coexist in a wider literary space that offers tranquility with the past and resists the negative value of the hyphen as a classification. At the time when both African and Arab Americans are describing themselves as being invisible and continually viewed by the main stream American white culture as being inferior “others”, Arab Americans and Arab American women, in particular, are probably the most “othered” and invisible minority. Only recently is their public presence is being counterbalanced by the publication of many memoirs, autobiographies and other nonfiction writing of a very personal nature. Sharing the experience of fragmentation, marginalization and double consciousness the memoirs and life stories of Arab American women, recount re-visitation of multiple layers of memories that are experienced by other ethnic minorities in the United States as well. Though very personal experiences, the disclosed life stories considerably resemble the experiences of other women minorities mainly the African, Latin and Italian Americans. These life stories are far more complicated than being just the life stories of Arab women in America. Memoirs as literary genera of an extremely personal and intimate nature is used by women from different

ethnic groups not only as a delicate recounting of life story but rather, and more significantly, as cultural testimonial of ethnic experience and documentation of the communal and feminine struggle to exist. This paper proposes an interracial reading of Arab American and African American women memoirs and examines the writers’ repositioning of self to transcend racial and gender boundaries through the empowerment of memory. It also examines the trans-racial literary location created by these writers in resistance to the shackles of the classification of the hyphen.

iDentifying tHe CritiCaL faCtors affeCting safety program performanCe for ConstruCtion projeCts witHin pakistan ConstruCtion inDustryZubair A. Memon, K. L. Khatri, A. B. Memon

Mehran University Research Journal of Engineering & Technology, Volume 32, No. 2April, 2013 [ISSN 0254 - 7821]

Abstract: Many studies have shown that the construction industry one of the most hazardous industries with its high rates of fatalities and injuries and high financial losses incurred through work related accident. To reduce or overcome the safety issues on construction sites, different safety programs are introduced by construction firms.A questionnaire survey study was conducted to highlight the influence of the Construction Safety Factors on safety program implementation. The input from the questionnaire survey was analyzed by using AIM (Average Index Method) and rank correlation test was conducted between different groups of respondents to measure the association between two groups of respondent.The finding of this study highlighted that management support is the critical factor for implementing the safety program on projects. From statistical test, it is concluded that all respondent groups were strongly in the favor of management support factor as critical success factor. The findings of this study were validated on selected case studies. Results of the case studies will help to know the effect of the factors on implementing safety programs during the execution stage.

anaLyzing t-53 series engines DefeCt trenDs tHrougH maintenanCe HistoryIrfan Manarvi

IEEE Aerospace Conference, BigSky Montana USA 1- 8th March 2014.

Abstract: T-53 series engines are presently being used all over the world in aerial platforms such as helicopters. These provide highly competitive performance. Maintenance of these engines is therefore considered important for higher reliability during operations, low Mean Time Between Failures and operating cost. As a regular practice, data of defects is continuously gathered by all users as maintenance history. Present research was focused on collection of this data for numerous engines followed by statistical analysis to establish various trends. Outcome of these results could be useful or maintenance crew and operators could devise their preventive maintenance strategies as well as establish inventory levels of critical components, assemblies and system.

HeaLtH information seeking among Low-inCome pregnant women: a stuDy in tHe inDian Context. Ashavaree Das, PSU

International Conference on Research in Marketing (ICRM 2013), New Delhi, India, Convened by IIT Delhi, Curtin University & XLRI Business School21 – 22, December 2013

Abstract: With severe disparities in health care and health outcomes in resource-limited settings, communicative transactions in terms of information exchange is limited; especially in three dimensions a) access to communication sources, b) processing and retention of information, c) and the ability to act on it. Given these deep divides, it is essential that researchers explore the information seeking patterns of low-income and rural pregnant women in an effort to reach them, and

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develop effective strategies for their health concerns. Therefore, it is imperative that women be alert and attentive to the danger signs of potential complications; and develop plans to manage emergencies especially in rural and resource-limited settings. The purpose of the current study was to extend knowledge of information-seeking behavior among pregnant women in a low-income setting. In particular we wanted to know what topics pregnant women considered to be important, who they sought information from, and their experiences during the information-seeking processes. In India, pregnancy is viewed as a normal physiologic phenomenon that does not require any intervention by health care professionals, unless complications occur. During pregnancy, most women reported seeking advice from their husbands, the elder women of their families, and friends. Doctors and para-medical staff were also consulted, but were visited primarily during complications such as high fever, convulsions, or bleeding. Allied health workers were also consulted depending upon their availability, for instance, when a health worker made herself available for a particular area. Pregnant women reported seeking information on various topics. All women stated seeking nutritional information. They wanted advice about food to be consumed or avoided during pregnancy. Information-seeking is a complex process that involves not only the information-seeker but also its surroundings. In spite of certain limitations, this study makes some important contributions in the field of communication and information sciences. Most importantly, this study situates Indian pregnant women from low resource-settings within the literature, using a theoretical framework.

soCiaL Customer reLation management for tourism in sauDi araBia: a Case stuDyTanzila Saba, Fatimah Ayidh Alqahtani, PSU

Life Sci J 2014;11(2):143160-]

Abstract: In spite of the commitment of huge resources and the restructuring of the tourism sector by the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the development

of the sector has remained stunted with little or no growth in its contributions to the country’s GDP over the past decade since the restructuring that culminated into the establishment of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities. This has remained a subject of great concern to the government and investors in the tourism sector as even the citizens of the country has consistently preferred travelling abroad for tourism purposes rather than utilising the avalanche of tourism facilities in the country.Although, the tourism sector of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had received appreciable attention from empirical studies in the past, however, little research has been conducted into exploring the strained relationship between the sector and the tourism population in the country, with a view to assessing the capability of the social CRM as a new strategy and application approach that could revitalise the customer relationship management of the sector.Therefore, this study critically reviewed the degree of relevance of social CRM to the business processes of the SCTA, examined the awareness, attitude and perception of the Saudi public to tourism in the country, assessed the service delivery and customer satisfaction of the SCTA in recent years and proposed solution framework that is aimed to foster better CRM within the tourism sector of the country. The study found that inadequate awareness, alienation, poor enlightenment campaign, inadequate transparency, exorbitant pricing system, ineffective communication flow, misconception of roles and responsibilities and over centralisation of authority are the main challenges facing the growth of the sector in the country. Therefore, the study proposed a solution framework that recommends the introduction of the social CRM strategy and approach in the relationship between the commission and the members of the public which will see to the integration of the Saudi people into the designing, planning, execution and delivery of tourism services in the country. Other recommendations that are expected to evolve far reaching impacts within the tourism sector of the country were also proposed.

weBsites anD LeCtures: HigHer eDuCation at a miDDLe easternwomen’s CoLLegeRoslyn Mohamed, PSU

Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org Vol.4 Nov.19, 2013

Abstract: It is no longer a surprise to find that Higher Education is moving into the era of technology at an increasing rate. It has become vital that university instructors adapt instructional methods to include technology. An inventive way of including technology in the course room is by developing a course webpage. A course webpage will not only allow instructors to be creative and innovative, but will also provide a database which will encourage selflearning, a basic pillar on the path to life-long learning. This small-scale humanities study used a quantitative data collection method in order to answer the research questions involving whether course websites enhanced the instructional learning experience of course participants. The research study took place at a private woman’s college in Riyadh, KSA. The study findings showed that the use of course websites enhanced the instructional experience of the course participants in a positive manner.

inquiry on women’s entrepreneursHip in arar City, sauDi araBiaNajwa A. A. Samak, PSU

International Journal of Management Research and Development (IJMRD), Volume 3, Number 2 April - May (2013), pp. 6282-

Abstract: The high unemployment rate, especially among females, has become a vital problemin the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the intention andmotivations behind women’s entrepreneurship, especially among female students of theNorthern Border University at Arar City. The methodology for this research relied on a field

study using a sample consisting of 400 students (73% female and 27% male). This studyconcluded that women prefer to be employees, rather than to start a business. The malestudents are more intent on entrepreneurship that is motivated by pull factors. The logisticregression results reflect a significant relationship between gender, family work, area ofcollege study and the desire to start a business in the future, all students have someentrepreneurial characteristics, and there are no significant differences due to gender, familywork or college. Important policy changes are recommended.

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The is a publication issued by the Research & Translation Center at Prince Sultan University – Issue no. 1, June 2015. Editor in Chief: Dr. Tarek Elsarnagawy

The Research & Translation Center acknowledges the contributions made in support of publishing this issue, editorial contributions are also welcomed on the following email:delsarnagawy@psu.edu.sa

All rights reserved, no part of this magazine may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any mean without prior written permission from the Research & Translation Center at Prince Sultan University.All statements and opinions herein reflect the points of view of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Research & Translation Center at Prince Sultan University.