124 research outputs found
The Loss in Meaning: Influence of Strategy Language’s and Modern Financial Discourse on the Working Concepts in Islamic Banking and Finance
No full textThis paper employs Wittgenstein language-games to analyze strategy language used by leaders of Islamic finance industry to envision its future. The analysis infers that the explicit market orientation of strategy language and modern knowledge of finance has redefined various concepts related of Islamic finance at the cost of its original spirit. This may also have adverse effects on developing ethical and spiritual orientation of Islamic banks. The concerned academia and scholarship therefore need to review such trends and work to prevent the subsequent degradation in the public image of IFIs to avoid disappointments of religiously inspired customers.
The invisible artist: Arrangers in popular music (1950-2000): Their contribution and techniques
Full text linkThis thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University.This thesis is based on the research conducted by the author for the series,
Richard Niles' History of Pop Arranging, seven thirty-minute documentary
programmes for BBC Radio 2, researched, written and presented by the author and
broadcast in 2003. It also draws on interviews conducted by the author (and other
research) between 2002 and 2007 both for the radio series and for this thesis and on
the author's experience as a professional arranger in popular music working with
many of the genre's significant recording artists including Paul McCartney, Ray
Charles, Cher, Tina Turner, Westlife, Tears For Fears, Dusty Springfield, James
Brown, Pet Shop Boys, Kylie Minogue and producers including Trevor Hom, Steve
Lipson, Steve Mac and Steve Anderson.
It will be argued that the role of the arranger in popular music has often been
undervalued and that during a critical period of popular music history (1950-2000)
arrangers played a significant part in the evolution of musical content. This thesis is,
to the best of the author's knowledge, the first time (apart from the above mentioned
documentary) the subject has ever been examined. The arranger is "invisible" because musical arrangers are often un-credited on
record liner notes or in books or articles concerning popular music. A considerable
amount of research has been necessary to determine who wrote many of the
arrangements considered herein. Motown's Berry Gordy purposely kept the names of
musicians and arrangers off the records because he feared others might 'poach' the
trademark 'Motown Sound'. Other record labels considered the job of the arranger to
be reminiscent of an earlier era, diluting the Rock 'n' Roll image of emotion and
spontanaeity they wished to promote. Some producers and recording artists disliked
sharing credit for their work. Motown arranger David Van dePitte told the author that
arranging was "thankless and anonymous - a very service-oriented profession where
others often take credit for what you've done." Arranging has therefore remained an
intrinsically unseen art created by 'invisible' artists. By analyzing many recordings,
revealing the techniques and concepts they have used in their work to create popular
records, arrangers and their art will be made more 'visible'
Community Influences on Schooling and Work Activity of Youth in Pakistan
Full text linkThe schooling and work activities of youth remain fundamental to their human capital development. Yet we have limited understanding of factors influencing these activities in Pakistan and elsewhere. The bulk of research on children’s work and schooling looks primarily to household-level factors to explain current rates. As such, activities’ of youth are viewed as a product of family strategies for confronting poverty. On the other hand, the influences at the community level on work and schooling of youth have received relatively little attention and remain largely undeveloped in the literature. Further, work and schooling activities remain are usually investigated separately in the analyses. Most studies focus on either the work activities or schooling of youth, despite recent appeals to examine these activities simultaneously [DeGraff, Bilsborrow and Herrin (1993); Mahmood, Javaid and Baig (1994) and Weiner and Noman (1997)]. The purpose of this paper is to assess the participation of youth in work and schooling activities and the way household and community factors shape these activities. I address two central research questions in this paper. First, what is the distribution of Pakistani youth in work and schooling activities? Second, what factors influence the likelihood that youth engage in work and/or schooling? Particularly, what is the influence of community-level factors (specifically, availability of schools, wage returns to education, and infrastructure development) on the activities of youth?
Integrative Evaluation of the Ecological Hazards by Microplastics and Heavy Metals in Wetland Ecosystem
No full textThis study was performed to evaluate the impact of microplastics and heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cr, Cu, Zn, Ni) on sediments, water, aquatic plants (Pistia stratiotes, Alternanthera philoxeroides, and Ipomoea carnea), and fish (Labeo rohita) samples collected from five different sites in the Bajwat wetlands in Sialkot, Pakistan. The concentrations of Pb, Cd, and Cr were above the permissible limits devised by WHO in all the ecosystem components (i.e. sediments, water, plants, and fish) at all sites. The maximum amount of microplastic particles (2317 microplastic particles per kg of sediments) was recorded at Site 1. The filaments were the most commonly found type of microplastics. Plants and fish samples also showed considerable concentration of metals. The multivariate statistical analysis revealed anthropogenic sources of elevated concentrations of metal elements which could cause adverse biological effects in the ecosystem.No Full Tex
Evaluation of CRISPR-Cas9 approaches to investigate microRNA targeting in human chondrocytes
Full text linkMicro RNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding, negative regulators of genes that play a major role in a wide variety of biological and pathological processes. The chondrocyte-selective miR-140 is required for normal cartilage development, as demonstrated by the developmental defects in miR-140 knockout (KO) mice. However, only a few studies have been conducted to explore the mechanism of action of miR-140 at the cellular level.
In the present study, we describe a CRISPR-Cas9 system to identify functional miR-140 targets in isolated primary human osteoarthritic articular chondrocytes. CRISPR-Cas9 editing offers a highly target-specific and stable method for exploring functional miRNA targets, without perturbing other miRNA levels. Developing a systematic approach of double transfection using CRISPR-Cas9, we produced rapid, efficient, and reproduceable genetically engineered populations of primary human articular chondrocytes, without prior need for clonal selection.
Stable knockdown of miR-140 (> 90 %), with no detectable off-target activity, identified several miR-140 regulated targets, of which Septin 2 (SEPT2), bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2), and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) had previously been reported. The major aggrecanase ADAMTS-5 was not a miR-140 target in our study, even though this had been reported previously. A number of novel targets were identified including Agrin (AGRN), a gene encoding for a heparan sulfate proteoglycan with chondrogenic potential, two regulators of the retinoic acid pathway, retinoic acid receptor gamma
(RARG) and cytochrome P450 26B1 (CYP26B1), and two molecules critical for primary cilium function, intraflagellar transport 88 (IFT88) and Tau Tubulin Kinase 2 (TTBK2).
In order to attempt to differentiate between direct and indirect effects of the miRNA, I adopted a novel CRISPR-Ca9 based technology, in which the miRNA response element (MRE) of the target gene, rather than the miRNA itself, was targeted. I report the challenges associated with this approach in primary human chondrocytes.
Taken together, I describe a highly efficient and reproduceable CRISPR-Cas9-mediated protocol, in which I identified novel miR-140 targets of disease relevance using primary OA chondrocytes
Community Influences on Schooling and Work Activity of Youth in Pakistan
Full text linkThe schooling and work activities of youth remain fundamental
to their human capital development. Yet we have limited understanding of
factors influencing these activities in Pakistan and elsewhere. The bulk
of research on children’s work and schooling looks primarily to
household-level factors to explain current rates. As such, activities’
of youth are viewed as a product of family strategies for confronting
poverty. On the other hand, the influences at the community level on
work and schooling of youth have received relatively little attention
and remain largely undeveloped in the literature. Further, work and
schooling activities remain are usually investigated separately in the
analyses. Most studies focus on either the work activities or schooling
of youth, despite recent appeals to examine these activities
simultaneously [DeGraff, Bilsborrow and Herrin (1993); Mahmood, Javaid
and Baig (1994) and Weiner and Noman (1997)]
Estimating Passenger Car Equivalent Factors for Heterogeneous Traffic Using Occupancy-Density Linear Regression Model
No full textA variety of methods have been proposed in the existing literature for the estimation of passenger car equivalent (PCE) factors. These methods are based on the comparison of selected attributes of different vehicles. This research, for the first time, utilizes the basic notion of the linear relationship between road area occupancy and density for the estimation of PCE factors for different vehicle types in heterogeneous traffic. Aerial photographs obtained from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) were analyzed to estimate the road area occupancy and the number of vehicles classified in seven selected groups. A linear least-squares regression model was developed between road area occupancy and classified vehicle count. The coefficients of the occupancy-density linear regression model were used to estimate PCE and motorcycle equivalent (MCE) factors. The comparison of the estimated set of PCE values with the values reported in the literature shows that PCE factors estimated using the proposed method are reasonable and produce a better occupancy-density relationship than the other studies. In comparison with the existing methods that rely on lane-based measurements, the proposed method is well suited for traffic with weak/no lane discipline, as it considers the entire road width and the dynamics of lateral movement of different types of vehicles. The proposed method does not need extensive traffic data of speeds, headways, flow rates, and so forth, and is applicable on aerial photographs obtained from other sources, such as satellites.Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported with funding from Exascale Open Data Analytics Lab, National Center for Big Data and Cloud Computing (NCBC) and the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.
Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to research students Syed Hassan Ali, Haseeb Ahmed, Zohaib Ahmed, Aqib Abbasi, Asad Rehan, Mirza Ali Haider, Syed Abbas Hasan Zaidi, and Omema for their help in this research
Biography of Dr Ishrat Hussain: IBA organises book launch ceremony
No full textThis article is about the book look launch ceremony that was held for Dr. Ishrat Husain for his biography authored by Dr. Sibtain Naqvi, Unravelling Gordian Knots – The Work and Worlds of Dr Ishrat Hussain, at The IBA City Campus. Esteemed speakers including, Dr Hussain, Dr S Akbar Zaidi, Executive Director, IBA, Dr Syed Noman ul Haq, Dean, UMT, Lahore and Sibtain Naqvi, book author, were invited to the stage
Planning for People OR Planning with People
No full textConventional urban plans and professionals engaged in making these plans usually operate under the mindset that; We Are Planning FOR PEOPLE. This attitude is rooted in a lack of on ground research, combined with un-informed policies, financially and politically disengaged governments, disinterested professional institutions and an absence of general public awareness resulting in inappropriate and substandard urban plans and designs. This situation often costs the city governments and concerned communities additional resources to adjust rectify and or replace these projects.
The need is for recognizing the parallel informal processes of development in all cities, of which communities are an integral part. Over time, there has been a raised awareness regarding the notions of community participation, partnerships and empowerment. However, these planning models often are not successful as the communities in question lack an awareness of their own potentials and if they do, do not have the appropriate technical expertise and tools to express it.
Therefore, even if at times the local governments and or the involved professionals may want to include the communities as partners in development work, they have no documentation of their financial, human, administrative and managerial capacities to participate in the development of their areas. This lack of historical, ecological, technical and socio-cultural data and knowledge incapacitates them to negotiate appropriate sustainable solutions, resulting in lost opportunities and defunct public realm.
To make sure that urban planning and development are a two way engaged process requires Planning WITH PEOPLE. This situation requires a new role and form of architectural and urban design practice(s) and practitioner(s). The conventional client or planner centered practice has to be redefined to that, of the designer/facilitator engaging with a multitude of stakeholders, working pro-actively with communities sharing technical expertise for supporting or initiating projects which make sustainable city processes accessible, adaptable and affordable for all citizens.
One such approach was developed within the practice of the author (with partner Christophe Polack) as a response to the situation explained above. The applicant’s practice consciously tried to highlight new relationships and their reconciliation in a transforming context by linking; research, academics and professional projects using research by design as a tool. Although, an unconventional and not often applied design practice model for the Pakistani context, it has resulted in bringing forth sustainable concepts and projects which can serve as a guideline for future practices of Planning with People for Sustainable Cities.status: Accepte
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