2,002 research outputs found
Pioneers of Library Movement in Pakistan
No full textThe paper aims to describe in brief the contribution of seven leaders of Pakistan librarianship, viz. K.B. Khalifa M. Asadullah, Prof. Dr. Abdul Moid, Dr. Abdus Subuh Qasimi, Muhammad Shafi, Fazal Elahi, Khawaja Nur Elahi and S. V. Hussain. The early library developments are given for better understanding of the role of these leaders
Investigating topics and style in Vuta N`Kuvute by Shafi Adam Shafi
No full textIn the last decades many literary critics have appraised the works of Zanzibarian writers; referring to the prose of Mohamed Suleiman Mohamed, Said Ahmed Mohamed and Shafi Adam Shafi, M M. Mulokozi wrote in 1985: \"The most significant, and certainly most spectacular, development in the Swahili fiction of the Seventies and Eighties has been the emergence of Zanzibar as the producer of the best Swahili fiction to date, and the apparent torch bearer for the Kiswahili novel of the near future\" (Arnold 1985: 174). The same enthusiasm was shared by R. Ohly who, confronting the novels written by Zanzibarian writers and those by Tanzanian and Kenyan writers in a time span going from 1975 to 1981, has defined the Zanzibarian prose a challenge to the artistic competence of other Swahili writers (cf. Ohly 1990).
Although I found the comparative pattern used by Ohly debatable, having concentrated for the up-country literary production only on popular short novels - to be better evaluated not following negative, contrastive cliches but within the context of that particular trend -, obscuring moreover other talented writers like Euphrase Kezilahabi or Claude Mung`ong`o, his criticism has nevertheless the merit of having highlighted the main qualities of Zanzibarian novels, namely a deep interest for historical and social matters, along with an extremely rich and colourful language and a serious concern for stylistic features. These attributes of Zanzibarian literary style fit very well to the last novel by Shafi Adam Shafi, Vuta n`kuvute, published in 1999; in the following pages my aim is to explore the way the author of this work artistically manipulates themes, literary suggestions and stylistic devices, re-elaborating thus the experience of Kiswahili and Zanzibarian prose in a creative way
The relationship between ilm and khabar in the work of al-Shafii
No full textThis study examines in detail the basis of al-Shafi`i's arguments for the
supremacy of oral tradition over communal legal practice. It concentrates on one
broad issue, the definition of `ilm (knowledge) and one technical issue, the problem
of authenticating a particular khabar (oral tradition or report, plural akhbar, ) and its
binding nature, especially a report of the category known as the specialists' report
(khabar al-khassa). On the first issue, this study examines the concept of knowledge
based on reports (`ilm al-khabar) because it had an important influence on al-Shafi`i.
This is followed by a detailed account of al-Shafi`i's own discussion of `ilm. It brings
out clearly that al-Shafi`i means religious law when discussing `ilm. It also shows
how knowledge of religious law can be obtained. Al-Shafi`i's approach is to restrict
the argument to knowledge of specialised and debatable points, rather than what is
generally accepted. He seeks to prove the indispensability in this area of specialists'
knowledge of reliable documentation external to the law itself. The following chapter
deals with the question of authenticating a khabar from the Prophet (a hadith), not as
purely technical question but within a polemical context in which the practical
difficulty of authenticating a khabar was used by those opposed to the intellectual
dominance of oral tradition as a reason not to use the khabar. In the final chapter al-
Shaf i's arguments with two identifiable schools of opposing thought, ahl al-kaläm
and ahl al-figh, are examined in detail. The thesis as a whole gives a significant
insight into the efficacy and durability of al-Shafi`i's arguments, not so much by
defeating his opponents' arguments but by buttressing those of the defenders and
advocates of oral tradition
Factors affecting e-government adoption in the state of Qatar
No full textElectronic government (e-government) initiatives are in their early stages in many developing countries and faced with various issues pertaining to their implementation, adoption and diffusion. Although e-government has increased transparency and improved communication and access to information for citizens, digital diffusion of information is often achieved at high cost to government agencies. Conversely, citizens’ adoption of e-government services has been less than satisfactory in most countries. While studies by researchers continue to outline the most salient adoption constructs, as well as various frameworks and models for understanding adoption, research by independent consultancy/research organisations has produced a host of statistics and league tables of good and bad practices of service delivery. Like many other developing countries, the e-government initiative in the state of Qatar has faced a number of challenges since its inception in 2000. This study utilises the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) to explore the adoption of e-government services in the state of Qatar. 1179 citizens were surveyed to collect primary data. A regression analysis was conducted to examine the influence of the factors adapted from the UTAUT on e-government adoption. Reliability test reported values of the various constructs vary between (0.74) and (0.91). The findings reveal that effort expectancy and social influences determine citizens’ behavioural intention towards e-government. Additionally, facilitating conditions and behavioural intention were found to determine citizens’ use of e-government services in Qatar. Implications for practice and research are discussed
Receiving external equity following successfully crowdfunded technological projects: an informational mechanism
No full textReward-based crowdfunding not only provides finance to entrepreneurs but also generates valuable information on their products’ potential demand, their feasibility, and customers’ satisfaction. This study investigates how information from the campaigns, relating to the funding amount raised in excess of target capital, delays (if any) in product delivery, and crowd sentiment, influences the chances that a venture receives equity capital from professional investors in the aftermath of a campaign. To build a sample of ventures at risk of obtaining equity capital from professional investors, we focus on 300 successful hardware campaigns that have raised $100,000 or more on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Our results indicate that the information provided by crowdfunding campaigns influences the odds of receiving external equity in the aftermath of the campaign; however, this relationship depends on whether the ventures have already backing from professional investors or not. Our study offers insights into what information professional investors use to assess crowdfunded ventures
Dancing with Strangers? Initial Trust and the Formation of Initial Ties Between New Ventures and Corporate Venture Capitalists
No full textThis study proposes a hybrid model of initial trust formation that highlights the role of social categorization and its interplay with both institutional trust and the individuating information about the party. Using data on 1,474 corporate venture capital (CVC) investments in European ventures and a case-control research design, we find that ventures more likely form initial CVC ties with investors whose parent companies are located in countries considered more trustworthy. This effect is weaker but does not disappear when social defenses safeguard ventures from misplacing trust and when there are social ties between CVC investors and ventures' independent VC investors
Supersymmetric hybrid inflation with non-minimal Kähler potential
No full textMinimal supersymmetric hybrid inflation based on a minimal Kähler potential predicts a spectral index ns0.98. On the other hand, WMAP three year data prefers a central value ns?0.95. We propose a class of supersymmetric hybrid inflation models based on the same minimal superpotential but with a non-minimal Kähler potential. Including radiative corrections using the one-loop effective potential, we show that the prediction for the spectral index is sensitive to the small non-minimal corrections, and can lead to a significantly red-tilted spectrum, in agreement with WMAP
Novel compositional engineering for ~26% efficient CZTS-perovskite tandem solar cell
No full text[EN] The production and commercialization of solar cells should meet such social criteria as price affordability, environment friendly, stability, and high efficiency of established materials.Various solar cells have been suggested and investigated in the past; but in this work, CZTS-Pemvskite tandem solar cell having a model "CZTS/PSC/CZTS/ZnO/FTO" was taken from the reported work as a reference. Furthermore, inserting the CdS as a buffer layer with the new model, "CZTS/ PSC/CZTS/CdS/ZnO/FTO" was simulated with SCAPS-1D software. Moreover, it was observed that the effect of CdS enhanced the tandem device efficiency from the base case of 22.57% without the CdS buffer layer to 25.95% with CdS and carried out further optimizations. This improvement is beneficial for CZTS-Perovskite tandem solar cells. The J-V characteristics curve and energy band diagram was generated using this model. Later on, with this new model, the effect of the thickness of CZTS layer on the solar cell's performance was investigated. So, the thickness also significantly affected the characteristic parameters of the solar cell as well as the J-V characteristics curve. Hence, a photo-conversion efficiency of 25.95% with Voc 1.18 V, Jsc 24.79 mA/cm(2) and FF 88.36%, the obtained results demonstrating that the proposed CZTS-perovskite tandem solar cell may concrete the way for the production of low-cost and more efficient photovoltaic applications.The work was supported by Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, International Research Support Initiative Program (IRSIP) under grant No: 1-8/HEC/HRD/2020/10744 PIN: IRSIP 45 Engg 17. Author Amal Bouich acknowledged the Post-doctoral contract supported by the, RRHH, Postdoctoral contract the Margarita Salas financed with union European Next Generation EU. Author Shafi Ullah acknowledged the post-doctoral contract supported by the, RRHH, postdoctoral contract (PAID-10-20) , and Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (Grant Number PID2019-107137RB-C21) , Universitat Politecnica de Vale`ncia (UPV) Spain.Aamir Shafi, M.; Khan, L.; Ullah, S.; Shafi, MY.; Bouich, A.; Ullah, H.; Marí, B. (2022). Novel compositional engineering for ~26% efficient CZTS-perovskite tandem solar cell. Optik - International Journal for Light and Electron Optics. 253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijleo.2022.168568S25
An investigation of silicon heterojunction bipolar transistors
No full textAn important means of improving the high-speed performance of silicon bipolar circuits, is to scale the transistor dimensions in the vertical direction. For conventional silicon bipolar transistor technology, the extent by which vertical scaling can be practically achieved is limited by high base resistance, high emitter/base capacitance, forward biased tunnelling, and punch-through. A novel transistor structure which features a thin, high doped base, and a low doped emitter, is proposed to overcome the vertical scaling limitations of conventional transistors. The novel structure is termed the pseudo-heterojunction bipolar transistor. In addition, a true heterojunction bipolar transistor implemented in silicon is identified as a means for further improving the performance of high-speed silicon circuits. In this work, both transistor structures are theoretically and experimentally investigated. An investigation of the expected high-speed performance of ECL circuits incorporating pseudo-heterojunction and Si/Si1-xGex heterojunction bipolar transistors is undertaken, and considerably improved performance predicted for both, compared with circuits incorporating conventional bipolar transistor structures. ECL propagation delays of 11.6, 7.2, and 6.1 ps, using 1.0, 0.5 and 0.2 μm line-width geometries respectively, are predicted for circuits incorporating Si/Si_1-xGe_x heterojunction bipolar transistors which have 0.02 μm wide bases doped to 1020 cm-3, and emitters doped to 1018 cm-3. These figures represent at least a factor of two improvement over predictions for conventional silicon homojunction technology. The predicted results for the pseudo-heterojunction circuits lie between those predicted for Si/Si1-xGex heterojunction, and conventional homojunction circuits. A process is developed to fabricate pseudo-heterojunction bipolar transistors. The completed devices exhibit ideal collector and base current characteristics over five orders of magnitude. Detailed electrical measurement and device modelling results are presented to determine the accuracy of the most widely accepted heavy doping models, particularly applied to heavily doped p-type silicon, with concentrations in excess of 1019 cm-3. A process is developed to fabricate Si/Si1-xGex heterojunction bipolar transistors. The completed devices exhibit ideal collector current characteristics over five orders of magnitude. Collector current enhancement equal to that predicted theoretically is demonstrated. However, the current gain is compromised by an increase in base current. Detailed electrical measurements, device modelling, and material analysis demonstrate that the dominant base current mechanisms are recombination in the emitter/base depletion region for devices which have strain relaxed, meta-stable Si1-xGex base layers. In contrast, recombination in the neutral base is shown to be the dominant base current mechanism for devices with strained, stable Si1-xGex base layers. An electron lifetime of 63 ps is fitted for the strained Si1-x base, which is a factor of 15x lower than for bulk silicon.</p
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