The role of knowledge and institutional challenges to the adoption of sustainable urban drainage in Saudi Arabia: implications for sustainable environmental development

Urban drainage in Saudi Arabia is an increasingly challenging issue due to factors such as climate change and rapid urban expansion. The existing infrastructure, based on traditional drainage systems, is not always able to cope with the increased precipitation, sometimes leading to rainwater runoff and floods causing disturbances and damage to property. Therefore, there is a need to find new ways of managing drainage, such as Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS). This thesis places knowledge as a central issue in the adoption of Sustainable Urban Drainage approaches, as revealed through qualitative research with representative officials and professionals from key government departments and organisations in Riyadh. Twenty-six semi-structured interviews were conducted during fieldwork in 2013 and 2014, which explored the challenges in adopting sustainable drainage approaches, and through a Grounded Theory analysis, the key role of knowledge was revealed. This research identifies barriers to change in favour of the adoption of sustainable drainage approaches, such as the marginal status of sustainable development in drainage decisions; lack of technical standards for other unconventional drainage solutions; and lack of consideration by decision makers in other disciplines such as contributions from environmental and geographical studies. Due to the form of centralisation revealed, decision-making processes are complex and time-consuming; resulting in the discouragement of the adoption of new knowledge and approaches. Stakeholders with knowledge of sustainable approaches are often excluded from the hierarchical system of urban planning and drainage management. In addition, the multiplicity of actors involved in drainage implementation and the different technical standards cause problems around coordination and cooperation. Three types of knowledge of sustainable approaches and unconventional experiences were revealed across government departments and institutions. From those participants who have procedural and explicit knowledge, a range of opportunities (e.g. significant increase in government support) and obstacles (e.g. the deficit in specialists on sustainable approaches) were revealed regarding adopting new approaches. The thesis presents recommendations for overcoming some of the challenges revealed in the context of Saudi Arabia; such as enhancing the decision-making process through applying decentralisation, and promoting awareness of sustainability and sustainable development through establishing educational and outreach programmes. This would enhance knowledge and facilitate the adoption of sustainable drainage approaches to promote sustainable development

E-Government evaluation factors: Citizen’s perspective

The e-government field is growing to a considerable size, both in its contents and position with respect to other research fields. The government to citizen segment of egovernment is taking the lead in terms of its importance and size. Like the evaluation of all other information systems initiatives, the evaluation of egovernments in both theory and practice has proved to be important but complex. The complexity of evaluation is mostly due to the multiple perspectives involved, the difficulties of quantifying benefits, and the social and technical context of use. The importance of e-government evaluation is due to the enormous investment of governments on delivering e-government services, and to the considerable pace of growing in the e-government field. However, despite the importance of the evaluation of e-government services, literature shows that e-government evaluation is still an immature area in terms of development and management. This work is part of a research effort that aims to develop a holistic evaluation framework for e-government systems. The main aim of this paper is to investigate the citizen’ perspective in evaluating e-government services, and present a set of evaluating factors that influence citizens’ utilization of e-government services. These evaluation factors can serve as part of an e-government evaluation framework. Moreover, the evaluation factors can also be used as means of providing valuable feedback for the planning of future egovernment initiatives

Tracking battery state-of-charge in a continuous use off-grid electricity system

The growing importance of batteries in the delivery of primary energy, for example in electric vehicles and isolated off-grid electricity systems, has added weight to the demand for simple and reliable measures of a battery’s remaining stored energy at any time. Many approaches to estimating this battery state-of-charge exist, ranging from those based on a full appreciation of the chemistry and physics of the storage and delivery mechanisms used, and requiring extensive data on which to base an estimate, to the naïve and simple, based only, for example, on the terminal voltage of the battery. None, however, is perfect, and able to deliver a simple percentage-full figure, as in a fuel gauge. The shortcomings are due to a range of complicating factors, including the impact of rate of charge, rate of discharge, battery aging, and temperature, to name just some of these. This paper presents a simple yet effective method for tracking state-of-charge in an off-grid electricity system, where batteries are in continuous use, preventing static parameter measurements, and where charge/discharge cycles do not necessarily follow an orderly sequence or pattern. A reliable indication of state-of-charge is, however, highly desirable, but need be only of fuel gauge precision, say to the nearest 12-20%. The algorithm described utilises knowledge of the past, and constantly adapts parameters such as charge efficiency and total charge capacity based on this knowledge, and on the occurrence of specific identifiable events such as zero or full charge

When Nutrition Kills You: Malnutrition for Children in Saudi Arabia

In this thesis, the issues of Saudi children and their sick and malnourished are shown. Many Saudi\u27s children suffer from anemia. Usually Saudi\u27s children suffer from malnutrition because their parents do not instill healthy food habits. Saudi\u27s children also, suffered due to nutritional inequality consequential from the appearance of poverty, and parent illiteracy. The purpose of this study was to determine most significant factors that result in malnutrition of children in Saudi Arabia. The study was a quantitative, non-experimental design. It was a survey and correlational study. The hypotheses results were not significant. The researcher observed in particular results, which was about patients who have malnutrition were significant consequences including questions asked about the poor eating habits, which found the p value signifcant 0.027. the second question which asked about the family if thy suffer from poverty or not which was the p value significant 0.000. The third question asked if the family limit the amount of junk food to their child eats at home or not which found the p value signifcant 0.013. the final question asked if there child feel sad or depressed or not which was the p value signifIcant 0.001. The result of the study did not support the hypotheses in order that the data for fivty is not enough to show the real relations between the hypothesis and the reality of the community. The researcher also recommends having the sample from severle countries to disclose the true nature of the link between the hypotheses and the population. Moreover, the researcher advise conducting another study with a larger sample size and controlling other factors that could influence the result of the study

A Model-Driven Architecture Approach to the Efficient Identification of Services on Service-oriented Enterprise Architecture

Service-Oriented Enterprise Architecture requires the efficient development of loosely-coupled and interoperable sets of services. Existing design approaches do not always take full advantage of the value and importance of the engineering invested in existing legacy systems. This paper proposes an approach to define the key services from such legacy systems effectively. The approach focuses on identifying these services based on a Model-Driven Architecture approach supported by guidelines over a wide range of possible service types

Enhancing Knowledge Sharing in Information Security by Transactive Memory System

No abstract available

Students’ Awareness of Augmented Reality Adoption in Saudi Arabia Universities

Technology has introduced new tools, such as Augmented Reality, in the education realm to improve learning outcomes. Augmented Reality incorporates digital information within the user’s real environment. This will result in new educational opportunities by enhancing the learning experience. This paper is a preliminary study to assess students’ awareness of Augmented Reality adoption in the universities of Saudi Arabia. The data collection for this survey was conducted by means of a quantitative survey using a questionnaire. The study was conducted with a sample of 501 students. Exploratory factor analysis was applied to determine factors related to students’ awareness of adopting Augmented Reality in higher education. Two factors were retrieved: perceived usefulness and perceived pedagogical value. These findings will assist in identifying factors that will encourage the adoption of AR in Saudi Arabian universities. This study is limited to AR awareness. In future, further studies will address other themes that emerged from the survey

Enhancing Knowledge Sharing in Information Security by Transactive Memory System

No abstract available

A Mixed Methods Study Of The Implementation Of Collaborative Technology Tools For Enhancing Collaboration And Student Engagement In Online Learning: Faculty Experiences And Student Perspectives

The appropriate implementation of collaborative technology tools in online courses leads to a culture of social learning where technology empowers students to take central roles in their learning. Yet, critical questions still exist about how faculty design, develop, implement collaborative eLearning activities using technology tools that support collaboration and student engagement in online courses, and what perspectives students have toward their experiences while participating in these activities. The purpose of the study is to explore the experiences of faculty members implementing collaborative technology tools in online courses to support collaboration and student engagement, in addition, to obtain the perspectives of students toward their experiences while participating in these activities. The study attempts to better understand the potential and use of technology for enhancing collaboration and student engagement in online settings and the factors that influence the selection of collaborative technology tools for incorporating collaborative eLearning activities in online courses. An explanatory sequential mixed methods approach was utilized to collect data from a total of 210 faculty and student participants who met the participation criteria and volunteered to participate in the study at a large Midwestern state university. Out of the 210 participants, 29 faculty members and 181 students were surveyed, and after a review of the results, follow-up interviews were conducted with four faculty members and two students. The findings of this study confirmed that collaborative technology tools have the potential to create a virtual collaborative environment that enables instructors to establish a learning community within online courses where students can synchronously or asynchronously work together toward a common task, in which each student adds to an emerging pool of knowledge of the group. This study provides evidence that the use of collaborative technology tools positively affects students’ experiences with collaborative eLearning activities in online learning. The instructor\u27s ability to successfully select and implement collaborative technology tools that effectively support collaborative eLearning and student engagement in online courses is a primary concern. This concern raises the demand for online instructors who are well-prepared and fully-supported to integrate collaborative technology tools into online settings and design eLearning activities that engage students and foster interaction and collaboration. Possible implications of the study and practical recommendations drawn from the findings of the study for professional and meaningful practice are discussed

Personal Semantic Timeframe

Human memories are often not grouped around objective times and places but rather guided by subjective perception of these dimensions. Various techniques are used to recall personal information such as remembering names, conferences and numbers, but how different experiences or events or the event that has taken place two years earlier raises a question. Occasionally, having experienced an event, one may be asked about its absolute time in autobiographical memory. It is surprisingly difficult to predict the time when this date needs to be remembered. There is a tendency to use partial temporal information such as birthdays, parties or seasons to remember, rather than a specific date e.g. 21 September 1996. People need appropriate facts or personal semantics of their time to access to their past experiences while remembering. A user study was conducted to explore the use of past personal temporal information and capture this information to be used as personal time search features in an augmented memory system called Digital Parrot. These features aim to make temporal dates more easily accessible while remembering. A proposed design was made according to requirements that are derived from findings of psychology perspective, an exploration of the use of time study, and the visualizing time study. To evaluate how effective these features in locating and recalling past experiences, a user study was conducted with post questionnaires. The result of this study indicated that the most beneficial personal time search features are personal timespans, personal and public landmarks, and personal images. The findings from all studies of the thesis were used to provide recommendations for future work to develop and implement personal time search in Digital Parrot system