Mixed-method approach on motivational orientations of learning Arabic as a Foreign Language in Malaysia

Arabic is always perceived as a language for Muslims specifically Malays in Malaysia because it is a multi-cultural, multi-racial and multi-religion country. The main purpose of this study is to examine the non-Muslim Malaysian learners’ motivational orientations towards learning Arabic as a foreign language in the Malaysian context. A mixed method research approach was adopted in order to answer the research questions in which the instruments of the questionnaire for quantitative data and semi-structured interview were selected for qualitative data collection. The questionnaire was administered to 207 non-Muslim Malaysian learners of Arabic (NMMLAs), while the semi-structured interviews involved 20 respondents. Data from the semi-structured interviews were used to further reinforce the quantitative data collected from the questionnaires, thus providing a deeper understanding and richer representation of the NMMLAs’ orientations for learning Arabic as a foreign language. In determining the underlying orientations toward learning Arabic, the NMMLAs show three types of orientations namely instrumental, intrinsic and integrative. It appears that instrumental orientation is the strongest reason for learning Arabic as the need to fulfil the university requirement. Encouragingly, the NMMLAs show moderate motivation toward both the intrinsic and integrative orientation in learning Arabic. It is hoped that this study provides new insights and perspectives into teaching and learning of the Arabic language to non-Muslim learners in the Malaysian context as well as to offer the teaching of Arabic in a wider context

Effectiveness in the Realisation of Speaker Authentication

© 2019 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.An important consideration for the deployment of speaker recognition in authentication applications is the approach to the formation of training and testing utterances . Whilst defining this for a specific scenario is influenced by the associated requirements and conditions, the process can be further guided through the establishment of the relative usefulness of alternative frameworks for composing the training and testing material. In this regard, the present paper provides an analysis of the effects, on the speaker recognition accuracy, of various bases for the formation of the training and testing data. The experimental investigations are conducted based on the use of digit utterances taken from the XM2VTS database. The paper presents a detailed description of the individual approaches considered and discusses the experimental results obtained in different cases

Molecular Regulators Of Post-golgi Vldl Transport Vesicle (pg-vtv) Biogenesis

Amongst its numerous functions, the liver is responsible for the synthesis and secretion of very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL). VLDL particles play the important role of facilitating the transport of lipids within the aqueous environment of the plasma; yet high plasma concentrations of these particles result in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, while low VLDL secretion from the liver results in hepatic steatosis. VLDL synthesis in the hepatocyte is completed in the Golgi apparatus, which serves as the final site of VLDL maturation prior to its secretion to the bloodstream. The mechanism by which VLDL’s targeted transport to the plasma membrane is facilitated has yet to be identified. Our lab has identified this entity. Our findings suggest that upon maturation, VLDL is directed to the plasma membrane through a novel trafficking vesicle, the Post-Golgi VLDL Transport Vesicle (PG-VTV). PG-VTVs containing [3H] radiolabeled VLDL were generated in a cell-free in vitro budding assay for study. First, the fusogenic capabilities of PG-VTVs were established. Vesicles were capable of fusing with the plasma membrane and delivering the VLDL cargo for secretion in a vectorial manner. The next goal of our study is to characterize key regulatory molecular entities necessary for PG-VTV biosynthesis. A detailed analysis was undertaken to determine the PG-VTV proteome via western blot and two-dimensional difference in gel electrophoresis. The identification of key molecular regulators will potentially offer therapeutic targets to control VLDL secretion to the bloodstream

The Impact of Audit Committee Characteristics on Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure

[ES] A través de cuatro trabajos interrelacionados, esta tesis llena el vacío existente en la literatura al examinar el efecto del Comité de Auditoría (CA) y las características del Consejo de Administración en la divulgación de información RSC. El primer artículo presenta una imagen completa del campo de estudio utilizando dos metodologías: el análisis bibliométrico y el de redes sociales, mapeando el conocimiento de trabajos anteriores y sugiriendo nuevas vías para futuras investigaciones. Este trabajo analizó 242 artículos publicados en revistas indexadas en la Web of Science (1992-2019). El segundo papel revisó la literatura previa sobre RSC y los consejos de administración mediante el análisis de contenido, ofreciendo una imagen novedosa de los impulsores más críticos de su desempeño y divulgación, y proporcionando sugerencias constructivas para guiar la investigación futura. El tercer artículo examina el efecto de las características del Comité de Auditoría y del Consejo de Administración sobre la divulgación de la RSC mediante la aplicación de una metodología de investigación novedosa: el análisis comparativo cualitativo difuso (fsQCA). Esta investigación utilizó una muestra de las 69 principales empresas europeas no financieras en el periodo 2016-2018. Los resultados principales de este trabajo muestran como las estrategias RSC se están formando a partir de determinadas configuraciones de las características del Consejo de Administración y señala como una única dimensión es insuficiente para generar una estrategia eficaz. En este contexto, se debe indicar que existen diversas configuraciones de características óptimas para lograr niveles más altos de divulgación de la RSC. Además, respondiendo a las recomendaciones del segundo trabajo para examinar más a fondo el vínculo entre las características del Consejo de Administración y la verificación del informe de Responsabilidad Social Corporativa, el cuarto trabajo prueba el efecto de los atributos de Comité de Auditoría en la adopción de la verificación. Esta investigación utilizó una muestra de empresas europeas que cotizaron en el índice STOXX Europe 600 entre 2011 y 2018. Los dos primeros trabajos han mostrado como las características del Consejo de Administración tienen un impacto significativo y creciente en la literatura sobre RSC, y como sus prácticas juegan un papel crucial en la gestión del desempeño y la divulgación de la RSC. Los hallazgos también identifican el efecto y los patrones que vinculan las características críticas del Consejo sobre el desempeño de la RSC, así como sobre la cantidad y calidad de la información divulgada. En consecuencia, los hallazgos también trazan posibles vías futuras de investigación en el campo con respecto a los vacíos de investigación. El tercer trabajo sugiere que la divulgación de información sobre RSC se basa en una configuración compleja de algunos atributos del Comité de Auditoría y del Consejo de Administración. Estas características juegan un papel fundamental y, en una combinación adecuada, promueven el logro de altos niveles de divulgación. Los resultados empíricos ofrecen una información valiosa para los profesionales y los gobernantes a la hora de establecer y revisar las directrices sobre la composición del Comité Ejecutivo y del Consejo de Administración. Por último, en línea con la literatura anterior, el cuarto de los trabajos desarrollados encuentra que los atributos del Comité de Auditoría relacionados con su independencia, su tamaño, la existencia de un experto financiero y de un comité de RSC están positivamente vinculados con la verificación de la memoria RSC.[CA] A través de quatre treballs interrelacionats, aquesta tesi ompli el buit existent en la literatura en examinar l'efecte del Comitè d'Auditoria (CA) i les característiques del Consell d'Administració en la divulgació d'informació RSC. El primer article presenta una imatge completa del camp d'estudi utilitzant dues metodologies: l'anàlisi bibliomètrica i el de xarxes socials, traçant el mapa del coneixement dels treballs ja publicats i suggerint noves vies per a futures investigacions. Aquest treball va analitzar 242 articles publicats en revistes indexades en la Web of Science (1992-2019). El segon paper va revisar la literatura prèvia sobre RSC i els consells d'administració mitjançant l'anàlisi de contingut, oferint una imatge nova dels impulsors més crítics del seu acompliment i divulgació, i proporcionant suggeriments constructius per a guiar la investigació futura. El tercer article examina l'efecte de les característiques del Comitè d'Auditoria i del Consell d'Administració sobre la divulgació de la RSC mitjançant l'aplicació d'una metodologia d'investigació novedosa: l'anàlisi comparativa qualitativa difusa (fsQCA). Aquesta investigació va utilitzar una mostra de les 69 principals empreses europees no financeres en el període 2016-2018. Els resultats principals d'aquest treball mostren com les estratègies RSC s'estan formant a partir de determinades configuracions de les característiques del Consell d'Administració i assenyala com una única dimensió és insuficient per a generar una estratègia eficaç. En aquest context, s'ha d'indicar que existeixen diverses configuracions de característiques òptimes per a aconseguir nivells més alts de divulgació de la RSC. A més, responent a les recomanacions del segon treball per a examinar més a fons el vincle entre les característiques del Consell d'Administració i la verificació de l'informe de Responsabilitat Social Corporativa, el quart treball prova l'efecte dels atributs de Comité d'Auditoria en l'adopció de la verificació. Aquesta investigació va utilitzar una mostra d'empreses europees que van cotitzar en l'índex STOXX Europe 600 entre 2011 i 2018. Els dos primers treballs han mostrat com les característiques del Consell d'Administració tenen un impacte significatiu i creixent en la literatura sobre RSC, i com les seues pràctiques juguen un paper crucial en la gestió de l'acompliment i la divulgació de la RSC. Les troballes també identifiquen l'efecte i els patrons que vinculen les característiques crítiques del Consell sobre l'acompliment de la RSC, així com sobre la quantitat i qualitat de la informació divulgada. En conseqüència, les resultats obtinguts també tracen possibles vies futures d'investigació en el camp respecte als buits d'investigació. El tercer treball suggereix que la divulgació d'informació sobre RSC es basa en una configuració complexa d'alguns atributs del Comitè d'Auditoria i del Consell d'Administració. Aquestes característiques juguen un paper fonamental i, en una combinació adequada, promouen l'assoliment d'alts nivells de divulgació. Els resultats empírics ofereixen una informació valuosa per als professionals i els governants a l'hora d'establir i revisar les directrius sobre la composició del Comitè Executiu i del Consell d'Administració. Finalment, en línia amb la literatura anterior, el quart dels treballs desenvolupats troba que els atributs del Comitè d'Auditoria relacionats amb la seua independència, la seua grandària, l'existència d'un expert financer i d'un comitè de RSC estan positivament vinculats amb la verificació de la memòria RSC.[EN] This thesis fills the literature gap by examining the effect of Audit Committee (AC) and board characteristics on Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure (CSRD) in four interrelated articles. The first article presents a full picture of the board-CSR field using two methodologies: bibliometric and social network analysis. Thus, it maps the knowledge of preceding works and suggests new avenues for future investigations to connect board characteristics, Corporate Social Responsibility Performance (CSRP), and CSRD. This article analysed 242 articles published on Web of Science database (WoS) journals (1992- 2019). The second article reviewed the previous board-CSR literature by applying a content analysis method. By doing so, this article offers a novel picture of the most critical drivers of CSRP/CSRD and provide constructive suggestions to guide future research. The first and second articles' main results suggest that little research on the board and CSR field have studied other board variables such as AC characteristics. In addition to that, CSR strategies are forming from several combinations of the board attributes and consider one dimension to be insufficient to generate an effective strategy. In this context, it must be pointed out that there is more than one best possible characteristics combination to achieve higher levels of CSRD. Therefore, building on the first and second articles, the third article examines the effect of AC and board characteristics on CSRD by applying a novel research methodology (fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis). Furthermore, responding to the second article recommendations to further examine the link between board characteristics and the decisions to obtain Corporate Social Responsibility Assurance (CSRA) report, the fourth article test the effect of AC attributes on the adoption of CSRA. The third article used a sample of the top 69 non-financial European companies for 2016-2018. In comparison, the fourth article used a sample of European companies listed on STOXX Europe 600 over 2011-2018. Our first and second articles indicate that board characteristics have a significant and increasing impact on CSR literature. The results also revealed that the board practices play a crucial role in managing CSRP/CSRD-related issues. The findings also identify the effect of the critical board characteristics on CSRP, CSRD quantity, and CSRD quality. Furthermore, our outcomes provide an overarching picture of the patterns and trends of the systematic nexus between board characteristics and CSRP/CSRD quality and quantity. The findings also draw potential future avenues for research in the field regarding research gaps. Furthermore, our results suggest some potential areas of interest for future political reforms of board of directors' guidelines. The third article suggests that CSRD relies on a complex configuration of some AC attributes, for example, independence, financial expert member, chair independence, size and activity, and other board characteristics. These characteristics play a leading part as a recipe ingredient and, in an appropriate combination, promote achieving high CSRD levels. Our empirical results offer multidimensional and valuable insights for professionals, regulators, and policymakers in establishing and revising the guidelines regarding the AC and board of directors' composition. In line with the complementary role of CG and AC mechanisms suggested by prior literature, our fourth article finds that AC attributes related to AC financial expert, AC independence and size of AC, and the existence of CSR committee are positively linked with the adoption of CSRA. However, our empirical analysis further indicates that AC with a higher percentage of financial expert members tends to choose higher assurance scopes.Dwekat, A. (2021). The Impact of Audit Committee Characteristics on Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/172178TESI

User-Centric AI Analytics for Chronic Health Conditions Management

The use of AI analytics in health informatics has seen a rapid growth in recent years. In this talk, we look at AI analytics use in managing chronic health conditions such as diabetes, obesity, etc. We focus on the challenges in managing these conditions especially with drug-free approaches due to the variations in individual circumstances. These variations directed the research into user-centric approach leading to variety of research questions. In this short paper, we give examples from recent and current research work and conclude with what, in our opinion, to be the next steps and some remaining open research questions.Comment: Keynote talk at IEEE Conference on Intelligent Methods, Systems, and Applications (IMSA), Cairo, Egypt, July 202

An holistic approach to architectural theory and structuralism

The author's interest in this subject emerges from seeing the environment as a whole, consisting of entities which are systems for transformation and which are responsible for the evolution of society.The approach comes from the mutual interaction of man and the environment. This interaction is expressed in many cases by building concepts, rules and theories. Architecture is considered one of the obvious means of this type of interaction by which man, over time, tried to clarify this interaction by building his shelter to accommodate his different life activities. This led to the creation and establishment of rules, constraints, and then theories in architecture that control this interaction.Architecture cannot be seen as a synchronic phenomenon but it is diachronic and in a continous evolution and development. There is a distinction between what one can see in the environment as surface structure and the embedded meaning and symbolism of deep structure. In order to analyse this distinction, the research adopts structuralism as an holistic tool to address this relationship within the environment.For this reason, architectural theories and structuralism are the two pillars to build and test the statement of the study that leads to the provision of an holistic approach to architectural theory based on structuralism.The study takes an empirical approach to test and confirm the holistic approach, hence, it adopts a methodology to analyse and interpret the case study entities. This methodology follows two main approaches to fulfil these objectives:Deductive: A theoretical investigation of the ideas of the interaction between man and the environment which leads to emphasising environmental entities as systems for transformation. This premise leads to the ji adoption of structuralism as an holistic method and as a tool for the better understanding and analysis of these entities.nductive: An empirical approach takes Salt city in Jordan as a case study area. This part represents a real field of information and application. The empirical work supports the propositions that architectural phenomena are an embodiment of cultural values and the social structure. The empirical work collected and elicited people's opinions and preferences through an open -ended questionnaire and drawings of cognitive maps.This study helps architects and designers to understand and then analyse the deep structure of the society as a base to design, after taking into consideration the mechanism that connects the surface structure to the underlying cultural values and meanings that are responding to people's needs and requirements. This may be achieved in architecture and urban planning through holistic thinking that is based on structuralism

Sequence-Based Simulation-Optimization Framework With Application to Port Operations at Multimodal Container Terminals

It is evident in previous works that operations research and mathematical algorithms can provide optimal or near-optimal solutions, whereas simulation models can aid in predicting and studying the behavior of systems over time and monitor performance under stochastic and uncertain circumstances. Given the intensive computational effort that simulation optimization methods impose, especially for large and complex systems like container terminals, a favorable approach is to reduce the search space to decrease the amount of computation. A maritime port can consist of multiple terminals with specific functionalities and specialized equipment. A container terminal is one of several facilities in a port that involves numerous resources and entities. It is also where containers are stored and transported, making the container terminal a complex system. Problems such as berth allocation, quay and yard crane scheduling and assignment, storage yard layout configuration, container re-handling, customs and security, and risk analysis become particularly challenging. Discrete-event simulation (DES) models are typically developed for complex and stochastic systems such as container terminals to study their behavior under different scenarios and circumstances. Simulation-optimization methods have emerged as an approach to find optimal values for input variables that maximize certain output metric(s) of the simulation. Various traditional and nontraditional approaches of simulation-optimization continue to be used to aid in decision making. In this dissertation, a novel framework for simulation-optimization is developed, implemented, and validated to study the influence of using a sequence (ordering) of decision variables (resource levels) for simulation-based optimization in resource allocation problems. This approach aims to reduce the computational effort of optimizing large simulations by breaking the simulation-optimization problem into stages. Since container terminals are complex stochastic systems consisting of different areas with detailed and critical functions that may affect the output, a platform that accurately simulates such a system can be of significant analytical benefit. To implement and validate the developed framework, a large-scale complex container terminal discrete-event simulation model was developed and validated based on a real system and then used as a testing platform for various hypothesized algorithms studied in this work

Privacy Protection Performance of De-identified Face Images with and without Background

Li Meng, 'Privacy Protection Performance of De-identified Face Images with and without Background', paper presented at the 39th International Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Convention. Grand Hotel Adriatic Congress Centre and Admiral Hotel, Opatija, Croatia, May 30 - June 3, 2016.This paper presents an approach to blending a de-identified face region with its original background, for the purpose of completing the process of face de-identification. The re-identification risk of the de-identified FERET face images has been evaluated for the k-Diff-furthest face de-identification method, using several face recognition benchmark methods including PCA, LBP, HOG and LPQ. The experimental results show that the k-Diff-furthest face de-identification delivers high privacy protection within the face region while blending the de-identified face region with its original background may significantly increases the re-identification risk, indicating that de-identification must also be applied to image areas beyond the face region