Assessing Skills and Knowledge of IT Professionals in Saudi Arabia

This research paper assesses current and future skills and knowledge of IT professionals working in selected Saudi Organizations through ranking the importance of selected IT, management, database, and programming skills and knowledge gained by IT university graduates. The study depicted moderate dynamism and change in the importance of several IT skills and knowledge after 3 years compared with the present time. It was concluded that IT curricula, especially MIS, have to be alter to the changes in the demand for knowledge and skills in computer programming languages, database systems, IT and management knowledge/skills and reflect that in their educational programs. The study provided several recommendations for corporate executives who oversee the organizational strategy, the human resource managers who are involved with hiring and maintaining IT personnel, the developers of academic programs who are eager to provide better education in this highly demanded field of education, as well as government strategy makers who formulate IT national plans and would like to see maximum levels of synergy between the various stakeholders

Synthesis of some novel α-cyanoketene-n, s-acetals derived from secondary aliphatic amines and their use in pyrazole synthesis

New α-cyanoketene-N,S-acetals 2(a–g) and β-dialkylamine-α-cyanoacrylates 3(g–i) were synthesized in good to excellent yields by the reaction of ethyl 2-cyano-3,3-bis(methylthio)acrylate 1 with secondary aliphatic amines (i.e., N-methylalkyl- and N-ethylalkylamines), and pyrrolidine, in the presence of triethylamine, under reflux in ethanol, for 1–16 h, depending on the amine used. Five N-methylalkyl amines and pyrrolidine yielded exclusively mono-substituted N,S-acetals 2(a–f) in good yields. On the other hand, N-ethylbenzylamine gave a mixture of monosubstituted products including N,S-acetal 2g in 35% yield and the unexpected product ethyl 3-[benzyl(ethyl)amino]-2-cyanoacrylate 3g in 50% yield. N-Ethylcyclohexylamine and N-ethylbutylamine did not produce N,S-acetals and gave only the unexpected products ethyl 2-cyano-3-[cyclohexyl(ethyl)amino]acrylate 3h and ethyl 3-[butyl(ethyl)amino]-2-cyanoacrylate 3i in good yields. The α-cyanoketene-N,S-acetals 2(a–f), 2j, and 2k underwent cyclization with the binucleophile hydrazine in ethanol under reflux to afford substituted pyrazoles 4(a–f), 4j, and 4k in good yields

Modified EDF Goodness of Fit Tests for Logistic Distribution under SRS and RSS

Modified forms of goodness of fit tests are presented for the logistic distribution using statistics based on the empirical distribution function (EDF). A method to improve the power of the modified EDF goodness of fit tests is introduced based on Ranked Set sampling (RSS). Data are collected via the Ranked Set Sampling (RSS) technique (McIntyre, 1952). Critical values for the logistic distribution with unknown parameters are provided and the powers of the tests are given for a number of alternative distributions. A simulation study is presented to illustrate the power of the new method

Electro-generated Chemiluminescent Determination of Methotrexate in Pharmaceutical Preparations by Tris (2,2-bipyridine)ruthenium(II) Using Flow Injection

A novel electro-generated chemiluminescence method for the determination of methotrexate (2,4-diamino-N10-methyl pteroyl glutamic acid) in pharmaceutical formulations is proposed. The method was based on the chemiluminescence (CL) emission intensity produced as a result of the electrochemical oxidation of the nbspinto the active nbspform, which then reacts with the methotrexate and produces light.nbspReaction variables were thoroughly investigated. The optimum conditions were incorporated in the procedure. Linear calibration curve were obtained for signal in mV versus concentration in mol L1 in the range 0-21times107 M with percentage relative standard deviation of less than 2% (n = 6) and correlation coefficient of r = 0.99986. The method described here proved to be very convenient and easy to use for the assay of methotrexate in drug formulations. This method was tested by the determination of methotrexate in different drugs containing known concentration

Characterization of beach sedimentary environments in the Batinah Region, Oman.

In this study, 252 surface sediment samples were collected for sand properties from three sites on the North Batinah coast: Harmul, North of Sohar industrial area, Majees South of Sohar industrial area and Zafaran 9 km South of Majees. Sampling was conducted in four occasions: November 2005, February 2006, June 2006 and November 2006. Almost, 52% of all samples were unimodal, 32% were bimodal and 16% were polymodal. June 2006 samples had a higher particle density than November 2006 samples. This is most probably due to rework and suspension, which lead to removal of light particles from the upper layer of the beach and high density particles to be concentrated in the bottom layer in June 2006 and deposition of light fraction of lower density in November 2006. Only Harmul samples had a significant difference between June 2006 samples and November 2006 samples in bulk density. The difference between the two sets in percentage water by volume was significant in Harmul and Zafaran but not in Majees. All sites showed significant difference between the two sets in percentage of air filled porosity and percentage of saturation. However, the sand pattern was the same in the three sites

Pyrolysis of azetidinone derivatives: a versatile route towards electron-rich alkenes, C-1 allylation and/or homologation of aldehydes

Pyrolysis of beta-lactams and beta-thiolactams led essentially to stereoselective synthesis of the high energy electron-rich Z-alkenes. Extension of this methodology to the pyrolysis of 3-allyloxy derivatives gave a simple direct route to the synthetically important 4-pentenal. These pyrolytic transformations convert aldehydes to aryloxyalkenes (a protected homologation) and 4-pentenal (a C-1 allylation and homologation). The starting 3-aryloxy and 3-allyloxy-beta-lactams were synthesized by the standard Staudinger ketene-imine [2 + 2] cycloaddition. The corresponding beta-thiolactams have readily been obtained in good yields by thiation of beta-lactams with Lawesson's reagent.University of Kuwait/SC 02/11GF-S/GS01/01, GS02/01, GS01/03, GS01/0

A system in balance? ? Implications of deep vertical mixing for the nitrogen budget in the northern Red Sea, including the Gulf of Aqaba (Eilat)

International audienceWe investigated the implications of deep winter mixing for the nitrogen budget in two adjacent systems, the northern Red Sea proper, and the Gulf of Aqaba. Both are subtropical oligotrophic water bodies. The main difference is that in the gulf deep winter mixing takes place regularly, whereas the northern Red Sea proper is permanently stratified. In the Gulf of Aqaba, we observed significantly lower nitrate deficits, i.e. deviations from the Redfield ratio, than in the northern Red Sea proper. Assuming that other external inputs and losses in N or P are very similar in both systems, the higher nitrate deficit can be explained by either lower nitrogen fixation in the (stratified) northern Red Sea, which seems unlikely. An alternative explanation would be higher rates of benthic denitrification than in the gulf. By comparing the two systems we have indirect evidence that benthic denitrification was much lower in the Gulf of Aqaba due to higher oxygen concentrations. This we attributed to the occurrence of deep winter mixing, and as a consequence, the nitrate deficit was close to zero (i.e. N:P ratio close to "Redfield"). If both nitrogen fixation and benthic denitrification take place, as in the northern Red Sea proper, the result was a positive nitrate deficit (i.e. a deficit in nitrate) in the ambient water. The nitrate deficit in the northern Red Sea was observed in spite of high iron deposition from the surrounding desert. Our results strongly support the concept of nitrogen as the proximate, and phosphate as the ultimate limiting nutrient for primary production in the sea. This must not be neglected in efforts for protecting the adjacent reefs against eutrophication

Optimal synthesis of energy efficiency improvement for NGLS indirect sequence fractionation unit

Once natural gas liquids (NGLs) have been separated from natural gas stream, they are further separated into their component parts, or fractions, using a distillation process known as fractionation. Distillation is the primary separation process widely used in the natural gas processing. Although it has many advantages, the main drawback is its large energy requirement, which can significantly influence the overall plant profitability. Another question that needs to be answered here is there any systematic study and analysis to improve energy saving for the NGLs fractionation plant without having major modifications to the separation units, which is more practical to implement. The large energy requirement of these processes can be systematically reduced by determining the optimal sequence using driving force method. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to present the study and analysis of the energy saving improvement for the NGLs fractionation plant by using driving force method which will require only minor or less modifications to the separation units. Generally, the concept of driving force was applied in designing an energy efficient distillation column [Gani and Bek-Pedersen, 2004]. However, the concept has been extended its application in designing energy efficient distillation columns sequence [Mustafa et. al., 2014]. To perform the studies and analysis, the energy efficient NGLs fractionation plant methodology is developed. Basically, the methodology consists of four hierarchical steps. In the first step, the energy that is obtained from the base NGLs sequence will be used as guidance for the next step where the base NGLs sequence is developed from a simple and reliable short-cut method. In the second step, the energy efficiency in distillation column will be improved through driving force method where the optimum sequence will be determined in this step. In the third step, the optimum sequence was analyzed in term of energy analysis by using a simple and reliable shortcut method distillation column in Aspen HYSYS environment. In the final step, the comparison between the existing sequence and the optimum sequence by using driving force method will be done and at the same time the economic performance for the optimum sequence is also evaluated in this step. Then, the return of investment (ROI) will be calculated to make sure that the proposed modification to improve energy saving is practical. The capability of this methodology is tested in designing an optimal energy efficient distillation columns sequence of NGLs fractionation unit. The existing NGLs fractionation unit consists of nine compounds (methane, ethane, propane, i-butane, nbutane, i-pentane, n-pentane, n-hexane, n-heptane) with direct-splitter-direct sequence was simulated using a simple and reliable short-cut method within Aspen HYSYS environment. A total of 519.68 MW energy used to achieve 99.9% of product recovery. A new optimal sequence determined by driving force method was simulated using a short-cut method within Aspen HYSYS environment where a total of 376.60 MW of energy was used of the same product recovery. The results show that the maximum of 27.53 % energy reduction was able to achieve by changing the sequence suggested by the driving force method. It can be concluded that, the sequence determined by the driving force method is able to reduce energy used for NGLs fractionation. All of this findings show that the methodology is able to design energy efficient distillation columns for NGLs fractionation sequence in an easy, practical and systematic manner