Multi-dimensional sustainability framework for service organisations in the GCC countries

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonSustainability in the business context seeks to create long-term value by seizing the opportunities and overcoming the challenges of simultaneously addressing the organization’s economic, environmental and social responsibilities. Several sustainability models and frameworks have been put forward over the past three decades, aiming at helping organizations embed sustainability at the core of their businesses. Their relevancy and applicability are significant, particularly for the manufacturing sector and the overall value chain, even though service organizations are equally important stakeholders in this process. The raising interest to promote sustainability-focused practices, processes and policies in organizations in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) region, particularly across the service sector, have contributed to define the goal of this research, namely: to establish the main drivers and challenges faced by local service organizations to embed sustainability at the core of their business strategy and practice, in order to develop an innovative multi-dimensional sustainability framework specifically adapted to the service sector in the GCC countries’ socio-cultural and economic environment. For this purpose, a research path was followed which included: comparative critical analysis of the leading organizational sustainability frameworks and maturity models; an empirical evaluation of their relevancy in the particular context of GCC countries; and primary research to confirm the perceived applied research gap and to evaluate the feasibility and relevancy of putting forward a sector specific framework. The outcome of this research is an innovative multi-dimensional sustainability framework for service sector organizations in the GCC region, which will provide stronger guidance on how to select and implement the most relevant sustainability aspects within the local service sector businesses, thus allowing them to develop better sustainability-focused policies and practices in the workplace. This framework will also contribute to academic community by opening new views on how sustainability is perceived and what adjustments are needed for it to work in the service sector in the context of GCC countries. This framework can later on be extended to other countries of the MENA region, where existing sustainability models and frameworks would not be fit for purpose. The framework hereby proposed was validated by combining the quantitative research and qualitative data collection and analysis using a combined positivist and interpretive case study strategy based on carefully selected cases across the service sector in the GCC countries. The measurable success of this framework will be the time it will take to reach a significant number of service sector organizations in the GCC countries that achieve the ideal balance between their social, economic and environmental dimensions with few constraints, thus becoming potential leaders of change for a more sustainable and inclusive successful future

The Principal As an Instructional Leader in Al Ain Schools In the United Arab Emirates: A Case Study.

This study aimed at identifying the extent of instructional leadership practices inn Al Ain government schools as perceived by teachers. The practices that this study investigated are related to five domains: school goals, supervision, curriculum, student performance, and professional development. This study was guided by three research questions and used both quantitative and qualitative analysis in identifying the extent of instructional leadership. Data for this study were collected through a survey using a likert scale. It was sent to 644 teachers in Al Ain public schools who taught in different grade levels. Teachers selected were males and females, from different age group, years of experience and qualifications; and they were UAE national and foreign teachers. Statistical tests include means, percentages and standard deviations. One-way ANOVA test was used to analyze the quantitative part of the questionnaire. The answers to the open-ended questions in the last part of the questionnaire was analyzed qualitatively. Only four principals of different genders, ages, years of experience, and educational backgrounds were interviewed. The aim of interviews was to know their perceptions about the extent of instructional leadership according to five domains. The results of this study showed opposite views from both sides. Teachers in Al Ain schools perceive their principal instructional leadership as highly existent whereas the views of the teachers in the interviews as positive. Further, the results also revealed that female principals tend to manage schools far better than the male principals do. Finally, what the school principals need was motivation to adopt leadership practices, training by professionals who can understand their situation better, colleagues who can share experiences and follow up with them and show them how and when to apply the leadership practices effectively

The Principal Al- Ain as an instructional Leader in Al - Ain School in the United Arab Emirates: A Case Study

This study aimed at identifying the extent of instructional leadership practices in Al-Ain government schools as perceived by teachers, the practices that this study investigated are related to five domains: schools goals, supervision ,curriculum, student performance and professional development. This study was guided by three research questions and used both quantitative and quantitative analysis in identifying the extent of instructional leadership Data for this study were collected through a survey using a Likert scale. It was sent to 644 teachers in Al - Ain public schools who taught in different grade levels, Teachers selected were males and females from different age group. Years of experience and qualification; and they were UAE nationals and foreign teachers Statistical tests included means, Percentages and standard deviations. One-way ANOVA test was used to analyze the quantitative part of the questionnaire. The answers to the open-ended questions in the last part of the questionnaire were analyzed qualitatively only four principals of different genders, ages, and years of experience. And educational backgrounds were interviewed. The aim of interviews was to know their perceptions about the extent of instructional leadership according to five domains. The results of this study showed opposite views from both sides. Teachers in Al- Ain schools perceive their principal’s instructional leadership behaviors as highly existent whereas the views of teachers in the interviews as positive. Further, the results also revealed that female principals tend to manage schools far better than the male principals do. Finally, what the school principals need was motivation to adopt leadership practices,Training by professional s who can understand their situation better, colleague who can share Experience and follow up with them and show them how and when to apply the leadership Practices effectively

Exploring teachers’ experiences within the teacher evaluation process: A qualitative multi-case study

This multi-case study explores teachers’ experiences of the teacher evaluation process implemented in schools across the UAE. Data were collected using interviews and document analysis and covered the seven emirates using the same evaluation process; seventeen teachers—15 female and 2 male teachers––participated in online and face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Our objective was to examine teachers’ experiences in the yearly evaluation cycle enacted in public schools during the 2021–2022 academic year, from the formative evaluation process to the summative evaluation review. It uncovers the overall quality of the evaluation cycle, role of administrators, how the formative evaluation process promotes professional growth, and challenges and outcomes of summative evaluation. An analysis of the collected findings reveals four themes related to teachers’ experiences as recipients of the evaluation process: (1) unreliable indicators to judge teacher quality, (2) lack of motive to provide evidence of performance, (3) episodic superficial feedback, and (4) compliance versus the satisficing mindset of teachers and evaluators. These findings have implications for practice and further research to inform stakeholders of teachers’ raw experiences within the evaluation process and promote positive communication channels with teachers to improve the cyclical education process

Towards a Smart Electric Grid in Abu Dhabi: Models\u27 analysis and an Infrastructure and Architecture Proposition

A smart grid is an intelligent electrical grid that includes technological and technical components and operations to measure and distribute energy resources effectively and efficiently among beneficiaries in a smart city. Those components, including advanced metering system, load controllers and balancers, and other network components (infrastructure) are designed to present the structure of a smart grid and how those components are interconnected through rules to describe the functionality and management of that grid. Thus, and in order to build a a smart grid to a city (Abu Dhabi in this case), popular smart grid models are reviewed and compared from the US, Australia and China. Afterwards, the infrastructure and the architecture of Abu Dhabi\u27s smart grid are proposed to fit the current and visioned Abu Dhabi\u27s technological domain, based on the requirements (needs analysis) and available resources. In addition, the cyber security measures are also assessed to identify security grid threats and countermeasures. Finally, limitations are determined and future work are suggested

Pulmonary Annulus Growth Pattern in Patients with Tetralogy of Fallot Prior to Surgical Repair

Objectives: The size of the pulmonary valve annulus often determines the feasibility of pulmonary valve preservation at the time of intracardiac repair of Tetralogy of Fallot. Currently, there is limited available data regarding the growth pattern and the determining factors that contribute towards pulmonary valve annulus growth. Methods: This retrospective study included patients who underwent surgical repair of Tetralogy of Fallot with or without prior palliation. These patients had an echocardiogram at the time of initial diagnosis and a second echocardiogram prior to intracardiac repair. The sizes of the pulmonary annulus, the right and left pulmonary arteries with z-scores were recorded. Patients with improvement in the pulmonary annulus z-scores between the 2 echocardiographic examinations were allocated in Group I (n = 46) and Group II (n = 68) were those with no improvement. Results: A total of 114 patients were included in the study. The right and left pulmonary arteries size and z scores improved significantly between the 2 echocardiograms. Although the median size of the pulmonary annulus increased between the 2 echocardiograms (6 and 7.9 mm; P<0.001), there was no significant change in the z-score (-2.2, -2.34; P = 0.185). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that gender, blood group, presence of collaterals, and palliation with Blalock-Taussig shunt had no impact on the improvement in pulmonary annulus z-score. Conclusion: In Tetralogy of Fallot, the pulmonary valve annulus z-score may not change significantly prior to the intracardiac repair. Although in certain subgroups there may be an improvement, there was no specific factor that could be identified and had an influence on this improvement. Keywords: Tetralogy of Fallot; Pulmonary Valve; Pulmonary Artery; Modified Blalock-Taussig Shunt; Oman

Field Evaluation to the attraction efficiency for the different sources of the red palm weevil aggregation pheromone

Field experiments were conducted during the periods from June, 2014 to March, 2015, in three date palm orchards located in Al Ain city, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in order to evaluate the attraction efficacy for five different sources from the red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorous ferrugineus Oliver (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), aggregation pheromone by using the standard four window black bucket trap.  The three orchards are characterized by having different levels of infestation incidence by red palm weevil. The Randomize Complete Block Design (RCBD) with five treatment and three replicates was used in each of the three orchards. The aggregation pheromone sources used in this experiment were: Rhyfer 700, Pherocon RDPW Lure, Ferrugitom 700, Weevil lure, and Ferrulure +. Collectively in the three farms as well as per each farm, Weevillure aggregation pheromone trap capture significantly lower average numbers of RPW adults than Rhyfer, Pherocon, Ferrulure, and Ferrugitom pheromone sources. Rhyfer pheromone is about 1.12, 1.18, 1.56 & 1.16 % more efficient than Pherocon, Ferrugitom, Weevillure & Ferrulure, respectively

American standard code for information interchange mapping technique for text hiding in the RGB and gray images

One of the significant techniques for hiding important information (such as text, image, and audio) is steganography. Steganography is used to keep this information as secret as possible, especially the sensitive ones after the massive expansion of data transmission through the Internet inside a conventional, non-secret, file, or message. This paper uses the American standard code for information interchange (ASCII) mapping technique (AMT) to hide the data in the color and grey image by converting it in a binary form, also convert the three levels of the red, green, and blue (RGB) image and grey image in the binary form, and then hide the data through hiding every two bits of the text in the two bits of one of the levels from the RGB image and grey image that means the text will be distributed throughout the images and allows hiding large amounts of data. That will send the information in a good securing way

Clinical Phenotypes of PCOS: a Cross-Sectional Study

This cross-sectional study examines the Doi-Alshoumer PCOS clinical phenotype classification in relation to measured clinical and biochemical characteristics of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Two cohorts of women (Kuwait and Rotterdam) diagnosed with PCOS (FAI > 4.5%) were examined. These phenotypes were created using neuroendocrine dysfunction (IRMA LH/FSH ratio > 1 or LH > 6 IU/L) and menstrual cycle status (oligo/amenorrhea) to create three phenotypes: (A) neuroendocrine dysfunction and oligo/amenorrhea, (B) without neuroendocrine dysfunction but with oligo/amenorrhea, and (C) without neuroendocrine dysfunction and with regular cycles. These phenotypes were compared in terms of hormonal, biochemical, and anthropometric measures. The three suggested phenotypes (A, B, and C) were shown to be sufficiently distinct in terms of hormonal, biochemical, and anthropometric measures. Patients who were classified as phenotype A had neuroendocrine dysfunction, excess LH (and LH/FSH ratio), irregular cycles, excess A4, infertility, excess T, highest FAI and E2, and excess 17αOHPG when compared to the other phenotypes. Patients classified as phenotype B had irregular cycles, no neuroendocrine dysfunction, obesity, acanthosis nigricans, and insulin resistance. Lastly, patients classified as phenotype C had regular cycles, acne, hirsutism, excess P4, and the highest P4 to E2 molar ratio. The differences across phenotypes suggested distinct phenotypic expression of this syndrome, and the biochemical and clinical correlates of each phenotype are likely to be useful in the management of women with PCOS. These phenotypic criteria are distinct from criteria used for diagnosis