Concern for project failures and successes have posed a controversial and much debated topic amongst scholars and practitioners alike. IT projects are no exceptions and they too suffer from a high rate of failure. This research aims to explore the reasons why certain IT projects succeed). Besides its academic importance, the research intends to assess the implications for successful implementation of current and future IT projects. The review of the extant literature reveals the enormity of the challenges involved in minimising or avoiding project failures. Present work is contextualizing these issues in a large national organisation with branches throughout the KSA. The Saudi Arabia constitutes the case study for this research. Qualitative methodology was adopted to generate and collect adequate and relevant data. Main instruments were; Semi-structured interviews involving senior managers in five geographical areas who were involved in the management of the IT projects and selected project documents. Thematic analysis was used and led to emergence of seven main ‘themes’, 19 major ‘issues’, and the construction of the first time generic model for success of IT projects. The core issues identified in the model are: Quality, Time and Cost at three levels; individual, organisation and environment with specific order of importance. The implications of the findings for the theory and practice have been identified. It is also recommended that there is a need for further research into individual and contextual factors that influence both managers as well as the circumstances under which IT projects are implemented. / Ministry of Education, KSA

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), also known as the Pasdaran, is a unique military institution created to secure the ideals of Iran's revolution as well its territory. Since the end of the Iran-Iraq War, however, the IRGC's role in Iran's political economy has increased significantly beyond that mandate. Unfortunately, the leadership in the United States has demonstrated neither the aptitude nor the desire to understand Iran. Given the IRGC's command of Iran's nuclear development program and encroachment into its foreign policy, it is more important than ever to understand Iran's leadership structure. This study attempts to explain an important part of that structure by considering the influence of the leadership dynamics of Iran along with its economic and religious/social conditions on the IRGC's position within the state, using an historical analysis consisting of secondary sources. Accordingly, the IRGC's rise to power can be traced back to the dual sovereignty written into the constitution of the Islamic Republic. Though the divine sovereignty, embodied by the velayat-e faqih (Supreme Leader), is supposed to take precedence over popular sovereignty, embodied by the directly elected President, when the two conflict, Khomeini's successor, Khamenei, a junior cleric, was unable to manage then President Hashemi Rafsanjani. So he empowered the IRGC to compensate, but that choice set into motion a sequence of events that has enabled it to become powerful enough to be a threat to the velayat-e faqih himself.

In 1979, Iran underwent the Islamic Revolution, which radically changed society. The Iranian Revolution Guard (IRGC) was born from the revolution and has witnessed its role in society changed over time. Many have said the IRGC has reached the apex of its power and is one of if not the dominating force in Iranian society. The most recent extension of the IRGC's control is in the economic realm. The purpose of this research is to explain the reasoning and mechanism behind this recent gain in power. The literature review demonstrates flaws by previous studies of Iran. Most used a singular focus on explaining the IRGC's influence on Iran's economy by only focusing on political or economic aspects. This study will show how explaining the political economy of Iran best explains the role of the IRGC in Iran. The research uses event-data analysis to synthesize previous research performed on Iran. The researcher used various sources to explain the recent rise in the IRGC's power. Focus was placed on explaining three aspects of Iran's political economy, elected institutions, accountable businesses, and unaccountable businesses. Elected institutions included the majlis (the Iranian parliament) and the presidency. Accountable businesses included businesses which reported information to the Iranian central government while unaccountable businesses reported no information to the Iranian central government. Although presence in all three increased, elected institutions and accountable businesses witnessed a greater amount of presence than unaccountable institutions.

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This paper addresses the necessity of a correct hydraulic accumulator pre-charge pressure for the optimum performance and in some cases even the essential function of the corresponding hydraulic application. In this context HYDAC has developed a smart product for predictive monitoring of the pre-charge pressure without any need to do a measurement on the gas side of the accumulator – the p0-Guard. The paper gives an overview on the conventional way of checking the pre-charge pressure, the function of the monitoring device and points out the benefits of a predictive monitoring of the accumulator precharge pressure. The benefits are clearly depicted by an analytical view as well as on practical example.

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海巡署機動查緝隊為編配於各縣市行政轄區之偵防查緝單位，相當各縣市政府警察局之刑事警察大隊或分局偵查隊，各機動查緝隊亦為該署查緝主力並創造顯著績效，惟機動查緝隊偵防業務項目冗雜，事繁責重，並需隨時掌握轄區治安狀況，且工作時間長、壓力大，其工作的滿足感受，對治安工作的推動成效實具有很大的影響。 惟海巡署成立之初因納編多重身份人員，所以在組織編裝、人事任用、管理待遇、福利陞遷等管考問題，未有良善妥適整體規劃，尤其在人事制度適用上各有不同，遂有產生同工不同酬之疑義，影響內部團結，成為機關組織運作上之難處。 為提升查緝單位之組織士氣，兼顧各類人員特性與人才羅致的需要，以提升人力素質、發揮激勵作用，本研究乃就海巡署機動查緝隊人員有關工作滿足之主要面向探討，以期強化人員素質降低人員之離職率，俾利組織長期發展之需求。 本研究區分工作特性、薪資福利、升遷機會及離職傾向等四分析面向，藉由文獻探討、參與觀察及深度訪談方式，邀請11名現任、曾任或離職之查緝人員受訪，找出其促進工作滿足之顯著因素，並窺探其內心真實感受以及是否產生離職傾向。依據研究發現結果，提出下列建議：一、調整人員薪資待遇。二、訂定合理升遷管道。三、建立良善組織文化。四、有效改善工作環境。伍、激勵提振工作士氣。陸、落實基層裝備採購。七、積極招募偵緝新血。八、法制人事任用條例。九、形塑組織共同願景。 / The CGA reconnaissance brigades are investigation units assigned to the administrative jurisdiction of every county and city, which have the same duties as the Criminal Investigation Division of the Police Department or the Criminal Investigation Brigade at each precinct. Each of the reconnaissance brigades is also the major force of each unit and the contributor to the unit’s performance. However, the reconnaissance brigades’ operations and services are miscellaneous and of heavy duty. They should keep abreast of the security situation of their jurisdiction with an excess of pressure and working hours. Thus, their job satisfaction is a big influence on the execution of law and order in the area. The early establishment of the Coast Guard was quite hastily, which resulted in an improper overall planning of work inspection and evaluation such as organizational manning and equipping, personnel appointment, remuneration management, welfare and promotion. It is particularly noticeable in the personnel system as there is a suspicion of unequal payment for equal work. This may influence the internal unity of the team and become an obstacle in the organizational operation. In order to boost the morale of the investigation unit, the characteristics and talents of the personnel are taken into consideration as to enhance the human resource quality, to give them further incentives, and to look for the demand of talents needed in the unit. This study explores the major aspects of job satisfaction of the Reconnaissance Brigade of Coast Guard Administration in the interest of strengthening the human resource quality and reducing the turnover rate, which shall be beneficial for the organization to serve for the needs of long-term development. This study is divided into four different aspects of analysis – jobs characteristics, wages and employee benefits, opportunities of promotion, and turnover intentions. Through literature review, observation on the site and in-depth interviews with eleven current/retired/resigned personnel of the investigation unit, the major contributive factors of the job satisfaction are detected as well as the true inner feelings of the personnel and their turnover intentions. In accordance to our discovery, the following is a list of recommendations for this situation: 1) to adjust the salaries of the personnel; 2) to regulate proper promotion channels; 3) to establish a comprehensive institutional culture; 4) to improve the working environment effectively; 5) to cheer the personnel’s working morale; 6) to enforce the equipment procurement for the first-line employees; 7) to recruit further new personnel in an active way; 8) to stick to the rules of recruitment; 9) to shape a shared vision among the institution.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / The Seamless Maritime Concept is the need to treat awareness, security, defense in a comprehensive, cohesive manner. Continuing discussion of maritime homeland security and defense capability requirements and resources allocation fails to recognize the unique requirements of the maritime domain. Enormous thought and resources have been put towards enhancing maritime homeland security and maritime homeland defense readiness. Unfortunately, the efforts to date treat "defense" and "security" disparately, ignoring the necessity to include all maritime domain partners. The Seamless Maritime Concept suggests that incremental changes to processes, boundaries, and markets have little chance to dramatically improve performance. The Seamless Maritime Concept suggests a new way of addressing the problem. The Coast Guard's motto is "Semper Paratus" or "Always Ready." It reflects the quality of the people; the people will not let any obstacle prevent them from accomplishing the mission. Admiral Loy's "dull knife" declares the desperate need to re-capitalize the Coast Guard cutter and air craft fleets. And the Coast Guard's long standing record of success all combine to demonstrate that given some resource support that the Coast Guard can get it (maritime security) done. Conversely, failure to recapitalize will drive the Coast Guard toward obsolescence and preclude an opportunity to enhance the security and defense readiness of the maritime domain. / Commander, United States Coast Guard

Chez les végétaux supérieurs, la régulation des mouvements stomatiques permet de contrôler les échanges de CO2 et la montée de la sève brute tout en limitant les pertes excessives d'eau par transpiration. Ce contrôle est assuré par des variations rapides de la turgescence des deux cellules de garde formant le stomate dues à l'activité de nombreux canaux et transporteurs ioniques. Nous avons identifié un nouveau membre de la famille des CLC chez A. thaliana, AtCLC-c exprimé dans la cellule de garde. L'étude de l'expression d'AtCLC-c et du phénotype de mutants invalidés ont permis de démontrer son rôle dans l'ouverture stomatique à la lumière et la fermeture en réponse à l'ABA. Les mutants clcc accumulent moins d'ions Cl- dans leurs cellules de garde par rapport aux plantes sauvages et sont hypersensibles à un stress salin. Enfin, nous avons confirmé par des études d'électrophysiologie la sélectivité d'AtCLC-c aux ions Cl-. L'ensemble de ce travail montre l'importance du transporteur vacuolaire d'ions Cl- AtCLC-c dans les mouvements stomatiques et la tolérance au stress salin. / In plants, the high turgor is assured by ion transport and involves the creation and maintenance of a large vacuolar volume. In recent years, various chloride channels and transporters have been identified to be involved in specific functions such as plant nutrition, stomatal movements or metal tolerance. We have characterized a new member of the CLC family in A. thaliana, AtCLC-c, highly expressed in guard cell and up-regulated by ABA and salt treatment in the whole plant. Knock-out mutants in AtCLC-c are impaired in light-induced stomatal opening and ABA-induced stomatal closing correlated to a large decrease in guard cell Cl- content. Furthermore, clcc mutants are hypersensitive to salt stress compared to wild-type. Finally, using electrophysiological studies, we demonstrated that AtCLC-c is selective to Cl-. Altogether, this work shows that AtCLC-c is a tonoplastic Cl- transporter involved in stomatal movements and salt tolerance.