Blockchain Values Realisation Assessment in the Oil & Gas Industry

The proliferation of Blockchain technology across various industries has garnered significant attention from both academia and industry practitioners. While advocates highlight potential benefits such as cost reduction, time savings, transparency, and security, many Blockchain projects have encountered significant challenges and have yet to materialise, sparking increased interest in understanding this phenomenon. This study seeks to explore the realisation of Blockchain values, beginning with the initial perception-forming phase. It identifies key factors influencing value realisation and provides insights into the potential impact of Blockchain in the oil and gas industry. This empirical study proposes an integrated framework based on ICT adoption theories to assess the holistic realisation of value from Blockchain implementations. A case study approach was employed to collect data from Blockchain projects within the oil and gas sector, followed by an online survey targeting 37 oil and gas firms across various geographical regions. Findings from the interviews and surveys indicate that most Blockchain projects continue to face various challenges and obstacles. The anticipated values, initially based on perceptions, were often not realised in practice. Overly optimistic perceptions, commonly seen as indicators of ICT adoption, were found to be misleading or insufficient in achieving the expected outcomes. Additionally, this study identifies significant factors affecting value realisation, assigning a weight to each and highlighting social factors as the most influential, alongside legal and technological uncertainties. The study also incorporates predictions from subject matter experts in technology and the oil and gas industry based on their experiences and involvement in Blockchain project implementation

Training Teachers to Implement Evidence-Based Practices Specifically Designed for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Special education teachers are usually subjected to in-service training on Evidence-Based Practices especially those who work with students Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Increasing teacher’s capability of using EBPs identified by the National Professional Development Center (NPDC) on ASD has become the most prominent need to serve students with autism. The purpose of this study was to investigate to what extent teachers’ performance is related to EBPs when they after they start their career. A mixed methods research design used in this study to explore the most prevalent practices, the common type of training on these practices, and teachers' knowledge and perceptions of using these practices. The undergraduate preparation programs and modality of training and time consuming to achieve mastery level of implementation among teachers will be discussed. Ten teachers have participated in this study. Results indicated that most of the training programs left beginner teachers underprepared to implement EPBs for teaching students with autism. Keywords: Evidence-based practice, Implementation, Teachers, Preparation, Training. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-17-02 Publication date:June 30th 202

Reading Instructional Strategies and Student Achievement: An Analysis of Saudi PIRLS-2016 Data

This study explores the relationship between reading instructional strategies and student achievement scores. Specifically, the study investigates the impact of 1) reading aloud to students, 2) asking students to read aloud, 3) asking students to read silently on their own, 4) teaching students strategies for decoding sounds and words, 5) teaching students new vocabulary systematically, 6) teaching students how to summarize the main idea, and 7) teaching or modeling skimming or scanning strategies for Saudi fourth grade students’ reading achievement. Data were obtained from PIRLS-2016 of Saudi 4th-grade students and their teachers. Applying multiple linear regressions, the study found that only two of these seven strategies were statistically significant; reading aloud to students and teaching students new vocabulary systematically. Interestingly, reading aloud to students was negatively and significantly associated with their reading achievement scores. Several implications for policymakers and practitioners as well as future research were discussed

Translating Religious Terms and Culture in ‘The Sealed Nectar’: A model for quality assessment

This is an applied study that critically analyzes the Arabic-English translation of a key cultural text: the biography of the Prophet Muhammad entitled The Sealed Nectar. It aims at assessing the translation to see how successful the translator was in composing an equivalent text to such a culture-specific one. The study adopts Juliane House's (1997) translation quality assessment model which is based on Systemic Functional Linguistic theory and relates texts to their situational and cultural contexts. In order to introduce a qualitative judgement of the work, the study enhances House’s model to make it applicable to culture-bound texts that call for overt translation. It introduces a consilience of: 1) Nord’s notion of culturemes; 2) Nida’s categorization of cultural features to help in analyzing religious terms and culture; 3) Dickins et al.’s compensation strategies that show the translator’s endeavor to balance the translation loss while dealing with such sensitive terms; 4) Martin and White’s appraisal theory which explores attitudinal meaning and, hence, helps in investigating the translator’s evaluation of these terms; and 5) Katan’s model that helps in highlighting the correlation between levels of cultures and discourse variables (field, mode and tenor). Application of the enhanced model reveals mismatches on all the discourse variables which indicate the application of a cultural filter that adopts the norms of English academic discourse, in addition to overt errors that distort the message of this sensitive text. The study thus complements House’s framework of translation quality assessment and introduces a model that can be further applied to assess overt translations

E-training and its impact on the development of human capacity King Abdul Aziz University

This study aims to identify electronic training in different dimensions including individual interaction, social interaction, and quality of training.  It was focused on the development of the human staff at King Abdulaziz University. A random sample of (103) researchers from the staff of King Abdulaziz University was approved, and the study was conducted in the following way of the descriptive method of analysis. The study reached several results, the most important of which: there is a statistically significant effect at the moral level (α = 0.05) for electronic training in its dimensions (individual interaction, social interaction, quality of training) on the development of the human staff at King Abdulaziz University. This means that the electronic training program has an effective impact in the development of the human staff. The study recommended that the needs to spread the culture and importance of e-training and how to benefit from it for large number of staff. Thus, it recommends gradually shifting from traditional training to e-training. Also, it recommended setting electronic training policies to ensure the quality of training. We also benefit from global experiences, whether in terms of planning, management, or implementation of e-training

Study of Various Chemically and Structurally Diverse Currently Clinically Used and Recently Developed Antimycobacterial Drugs

Infectious diseases originate from pathogens and increased severely in current years. Despite numerous important advances in antimicrobial therapy, the extensive use and misuse of these antimicrobial drugs have caused the emergence of microbial resistance, which is a serious risk to public health. In particular, the emergence of multidrug-resistant pathogens has become a serious difficulty in the therapy of pathogenic diseases. Therefore, the progress of novel drugs to deal with resistant pathogens has become one of the most essential areas of antimicrobial research today. In addition to the development of novel and efficient antimicrobial agents against multidrug-resistant pathogens, recent attention has focused on the treatment of tuberculosis. Therefore, recent developments have been directed towards examining currently used and newly developed antimycobacterial drugs and their toxicities and mechanism of action

Liver Transplantation and HCV Genotype 4

End-stage liver disease secondary to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major indication for liver transplantation (LT) worldwide. Previous studies have shown a negative impact of HCV on patient and graft survival leading to an inferior transplant outcome when compared to other liver transplant indications. The percentage of HCV patients infected with genotype 4 (G4) among recipients of OLT varies depending on geographic location. In the Middle East HCV-G4 infection is the most common genotype among transplant recipients. Direct antiviral agents (DAAs) have revolutionized the management of HCV infection in the pre- and post-transplant setting. Recent clinical trials have shown high sustained virologic response rates, shorter durations of treatment, and decreased adverse events when compared with the previous treatment of pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN)-based therapy. However, most of these studies were performed in HCV-G1-infected patients. Due to the low prevalence of HCV-G4 in Europe and the USA, this genotype has not been adequately studied in prospective trials evaluating treatment outcomes. The aim of this chapter is to summarize the natural history and treatment outcome of HCV-G4 in the liver transplant setting, with particular attention to new HCV therapies

Antiviral Drugs and Their Roles in the Treatment of Coronavirus Infection

Viruses are the major pathogenic agents that cause various diseases. Antiviral drugs are used for the treatment of viral infections. Emergent advances of antiviral drugs are focused on two different approaches: targeting the host cell factors or the viruses themselves. Antiviral drugs that directly target the viruses include virus entry inhibitors, virus attachment inhibitors, uncoating inhibitors, protease inhibitors, polymerase inhibitors, nucleoside inhibitors, integrase inhibitors, and nucleotide reverse transcriptase. The protease inhibitors, viral DNA polymerase, and integrase inhibitors are the most commonly used antiviral drugs. Still, there are no effective antiviral drugs existing for several viral infections. Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) or SARS-CoV-2 is the newest member of the coronavirus family. No specific drugs particularly antiviral drugs have been approved for the treatment of COVID-19. Thus, it is extremely crucial to identify new drugs for the treatment of the COVID-19 outbreak. Various antiviral drugs are used for COVID-19 treatment. Currently, various drugs are under investigation to treat COVID-19 patients. Promising clinical outcomes for COVID-19 can be obtained by using alpha-interferon, remdesivir, lopinavir-ritonavir, favipiravir, ribavirin, umifenovir, oseltamivir, etc. Here, we reviewed anti-COVID-19 potencies of currently available antiviral drugs, and some antiviral drugs have been effective or prevent the spread of coronavirus