The purpose of this paper is to identify the key dimensions of service quality of an Islamic bank. A modified SERVQUAL scale based on five dimensional approach is administered to determine the perception of Islamic banks customers towards service quality. The basic purpose of the study is to develop a scale for this purpose. A mail survey with the help of online questionnaire is carried out. Non probability sampling especially snowball and judgmental sampling techniques for sample size 185 has been used. The responses were collected from the 7 Islamic banks located in the Gulf countries mainly the U.A.E. and the K.S.A. Data analysis is done in the form principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to validate the scale. Independent sample T test and One Way ANOVA are used to validate the hypotheses. Results from structural equation modeling (SEM) of relationship between multidimensional service quality scale and one-dimensional customer satisfaction are validated. By the ANOVA results, the differences in the service quality dimensions of the banks with respect to demographic variables, has also been ascertained.

The premier credit rating agencies, most notably, Standard and Poor’s (S & P), Moody’s and Fitch, have embarked on an unsolicited ratings downgrade of the European continent. Recently, Greece, Portugal and Ireland have been assigned an unprecedented “junk status” ratings beginning in 2010. (Alessi, Wolverson & Sergie, 2013). In 2012, S&P continued with the downgrade, including such premier euro zone members as France and Austria in their financial analysis aimed at redeeming their credibility issues caused by the 2007 financial debacle. The “Big Three” credit rating agencies have been accused of inflating ratings on questionable debt securities that ultimately led to the subprime prime mortgage crisis. The question being asked by many in the international community, is whether the “Big Three” are being too conservative in their ratings of sovereign nations by ignoring cultural value in an attempt to correct their past mistakes? Can we teach business students effectively if the ratings process is viewed as a failure?

In this paper of Collimator control system we discuss the beam shaping device namely secondary collimator which creates field intensity. Due to different arrangement of jaws different field size can be created. The hardware design for control of collimator for treatment of cancerous tissue leads towards the conformal treatment and thereby sparing good tissue which leads toward the increase in quality of treatment. Cadence FPGA System planner is used to generate the schematic for the hardware of collimator. VHDL code is written in XILINX ISE 13.9 and it is implemented on SPARTAN 6LX9TQG 144. VHDL code is tested on design PCB.

This study describes an effort to estimate amount of forest degradation and carbon sequestration for Effan Forest Reserve using remote sensing/GIS techniques. The study adopted 14 sampled plots-simple randomly based method, Remote Sensing –Land Use/Land Cover based method for change detection, Vegetation Difference Normalized Index (NDVI) to determine vegetation reflectance, field data and use of allometric model equation for biomass and carbon sink estimation. The Results revealed that there was decrease in the Gmelina arborea plantation in which so many trees were harvested thereby converting part of the reserve to Sapling/Shrubs (i.e. re-generating part). Despite the fast regenerating capacity of Gmelina arborea, there is increase in the number of Sapling/Shrubs size in the Reserve which is an evidence of forest degradation between 2001 and 2006. The vegetation reflectance also revealed that vegetation reflectance is high in 2001and is low in 2006 which also confirms an evidence of forest degradation. The total aboveground biomass and carbon sink of the Reserve estimated shows that Standard trees class triples that of Sapling size class. The carbon sequestration capacity is expressed in the following order of magnitude: Standard > Pole >Sapling sized trees. Standard – sized trees have better CO2 sequestration potential than the Sapling and Pole – sized. However, both had high carbon sequestration potential in the future due to presence of large number of trees belonging to small DBH size classes. Moreover, the forest stand of Effan Reserve has a total sequestration capacity of 40,294.8metric tons of CO2.

Urban areas in many countries of the world in both developed and developing nations have today realized the relevance of achieving effective vegetation cover towards improving the built environment. This paper focuses on one of the urban areas in northern Nigeria located at the fringes of the Sahara desert. Data for the study were generated through field visits to the different areas and interview with the relevant officials. The results identified seven major forms of vegetation in the urban area many of which are not in good condition. This area due to some factors hindering achieving effective vegetation cover in the urban area. These factors include high demand for fuel wood, poorly enforced laws, the semi-arid climate of Katsina, uncontrolled urbanization, lack of awareness and misguided government action. It therefore recommended adequate measures should be adopted towards achieving effective vegetation cover in the urban area.

This paper explores the role of infrastructure availability, particularly with respect to telecommunication in stimulating Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Pakistan. Mobile cellular subscription is taken as a proxy variable for infrastructure along with market size, labor force and trade openness as explanatory variables. The study covers the time period from 1990 to 2012 based on the fact that mobile cellular service introduced in 1990s in Pakistan for the first time. Johansen test of Co-integration has been used to check the long run relationship between the variables and then ordinary least square technique has been applied to estimate the coefficients of all the variables. The results of empirical analysis indicate the positive significant effect of infrastructure in attracting FDI to Pakistan.

Composites are becoming increasingly important in the aerospace industry. At least 30-40 per cent of modern airframes are now made of composites, and this percentage is increasing rapidly due to technological advances in the field. The use of composites for primary structures such as fuselages and wings has grown significantly in transport aircraft. Apart from increased strength at lower weights, composites also meet fatigue and damage tolerance, gust alleviation, and low noise foot print requirements. This paper examines the challenges and advantages of using composites in airframe manufacture, as opposed to other alloys. It also looks at the ways and means to ensure that safety and durability are not compromised by the use of composites. The prime objective of this paper is to highlight the use of advanced composite materials in the field of aerospace and to encourage readers to understand and to write papers on such topics.

Greenhouse environment is unpredictable, irregular, nonlinear, multi-parameter and volatile structure. To gain high and quality yield it is necessary to control the greenhouse environment according to crop requirement and for that design and analyze the embedded sensor system with wireless communication for greenhouse is prerequisite. The blueprint of system is such that it is compatible to technically less proficient farmer of developing countries. The system is designed with DAQ card for data acquisition and analysis that is compatible with Graphical User Interface LabVIEW which helps the user to easily monitor and analyze the state of greenhouse environment. Based on the data analysis any farmer can take decisions like, when to irrigate the crops and when to enable the cooling system. Actions based on the data analysis from the system may lead to better crop yield and less wastage of the resources. To make the system energy efficient a data averaging energy efficient algorithm is used in software. By analyzing the recorded data received from sensor node, an efficient strategy for node placement is designed to cover maximum area of greenhouse.

In today’s world, project management is a rapidly developing area. The various models and frameworks available to implement a project vary according to the nature of the project. However, not all of them are applicable to all types of projects. This paper describes a project management framework, PRICM, which is a combination of CMMI, PRINCE2 and PMBOK. The framework integrates these three technologies. Key process areas of CMMI are aligned with PRINCE2 while tools and techniques are taken from PMBOK. The already available framework of PRINCE2 was used as a guide in developing a new one. Research was done to make a new framework for project management that can be used to handle projects of various nature and sizes.

We reported a case of anterior inferior cerbellar artery infarction initially manifesting with positional vertigo ensuing from abrupt onset of hearing loss. A 56-year-old Taiwanese man suffering from controlled hypertension visited a local hospital because of a “rocking sensation.” He was referred to the ear, nose, and throat (ENT) department for evaluation and was diagnosed with peripheral vertigo associated with positional change. Symptomatic treatment was administered, but produced a limited effect. He was then transferred to our hospital and was admitted to ENT services. The symptom was aggravated when the patient turned his head to either side or bent his neck forward. Two days after admission, he suffered from abrupt onset of hearing loss in the left ear. A neurologist was consulted. Neurological and physical examinations revealed unremarkable findings, except for sensorineural type hearing impairment in the left ear. Cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) disclosed left-side anterior inferior cerbellar artery territory infarction. Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) indicated stenosis in the midportion of the basilar artery and poor visualization of the left anterior inferior cerebellar artery. Auditory brain stem evoked potential testing indicated severe peripheral-type auditory pathway disorder in the left ear. Our patient was treated with 100 mg of lose dose Aspirin once daily for one month during hospitalization. Hearing loss was partially improved, whereas positional vertigo remained refractory. The patient was still undergoing regular follow-ups at neurological clinics up to date. This case indicated the urgency of neurological consultation when first-line clinicians encounter prolonged positional vertigo accompanied by sudden hearing loss. A high index of suspected ischemic anterior inferior cerebellar artery infarction should be considered and be placed into differential diagnosis. We recommend that neuroimaging studies be ordered in any case