A Risk management framework for the BYOD environment

Computer networks in organisations today have different layers of connections, which are either domain connections or external connections. The hybrid network contains the standard domain connections, cloud base connections, “bring your own device” (BYOD) connections, together with the devices and network connections of the Internet of Things (IoT). All these technologies will need to be incorporated in the Oman Vision 2040 strategy, which will involve changing several cities to smart cities. To implement this strategy artificial intelligence, cloud computing, BYOD and IoT will be adopted. This research will focus on the adoption of BYOD in the Oman context. It will have advantages for organisations, such as increasing productivity and reducing costs. However, these benefits come with security risks and privacy concerns, the users being the main contributors of these risks. The aim of this research is to develop a risk management and security framework for the BYOD environment to minimise these risks. The proposed framework is designed to detect and predict the risks by the use of MDM event logs and function logs. The chosen methodology is a combination of both qualitative and quantitative approaches, known as a mixed-methods approach. The approach adopted in this research will identify the latest threats and risks experienced in BYOD environments. This research also investigates the level of user-awareness of BYOD security methods. The proposed framework will enhance the current techniques for risk management by improving risk detection and prediction of threats, as well as, enabling BYOD risk management systems to generate notifications and recommendations of possible preventive/mitigation actions to deal with them

Challenges of strategy implementation in the Saudi non-oil and gas industry: a qualitative investigation

The expanding pace of economic turbulence and increasing complexity of managing large organisations present challenges for business leaders in both developed and developing countries’ economies. This is particularly so for those that have been significantly dependant on oil and gas such as Saudi Arabia (KSA) where there is now a pressing need to diversify due to price volatility and the increased adoption of renewable sources of energy. Given the need for oil-dependent economies to diversify, greater attention needs to be focused on the performance of their non-oil and gas sectors. Using KSA as a case study, this research aims to develop a framework to facilitate effective strategy implementation through an exploration of aspects that improve strategy execution in the non-oil and gas sector. After exploring the process of strategy implementation through use of the grounded theory method, data was collected from semi-structured interviews and focus groups with senior management. The result of strategy formulation and implementation analysis identified 26 factors that affect strategy implementation in the Saudi non-oil and gas industry. The most obvious factors are: effective leadership style, a unified view of benefits realisation management, prioritising work activities, employee involvement and ownership (especially talent), efficiency in the allocation of resources, transparency and traceability of monitoring and control, the Saudi macro and micro environment, and the degree of communicational formality and frequency. This research makes an important contribution through the creation of a new theoretical framework titled ‘SIMPLE’, which functions as a pre-strategy execution checklist tool to achieve implementation success. Implementation success has a greater chance of being achieved if organisations are considered holistically and that there is sufficient appreciation of the social and human aspects, the need for communication, the environmental and cultural setting, as well as the organisation’s readiness for strategy implementation

Effects of benzo[a]pyrene and CYP19a1b knockdown on zebrafish development

Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) is a ubiquitous environmental contaminant that is both an endocrine disruptor and a carcinogen. Aromatase (CYP19) is a key enzyme in steroidogenesis playing a key role in the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad feedback loop. We hypothesized that BaP would negatively impact cyp19a1b expression in zebrafish, in turn, adversely affecting development and physiology. Here, we consider whether the toxicities observed following BaP exposure are comparable to those following a transient morpholino (MO)-mediated CYP19a1b knockdown or exposure to an aromatase inhibitor (fadrozole) during early development. One-cell zebrafish embryos were injected with a CYP19a1b-MO or control-MO. Other non-injected embryos were exposed to nominal waterborne concentrations of BaP (0, 10 or 50 ?g/L) and fadrozole (0, 10 or 50 ?g/L) for 96 hours post-fertilization (hpf). Real-time PCR shoboth BaP concentrations significantly decreased cyp19a1b expression in 96 hpf zebrafish larvae homogenates. Likewise, concentrations of E2 in 48 hpf whole body larval homogenates were significantly decreased by BaP, fadrozole and CYP19a1b-MO. Cumulative mortality of zebrafish larvae was significantly increased following BaP and fadrozole exposure and CYP19a1b knockdown compared to controls. Estradiol (E2, 10 nM) co-treatment rescued mortality mediated by 10 μg/L BaP, 10 μg/L fadrozole, and CYP19a1b-MO. In a treatment-blinded morphological assessment of larvae at 96 hpf, several phenotypes were negatively impacted by BaP, fadrozole, and CYP19a1b knockdown including body length, optic vesicle size, swim bladder inflation, pericardial and abdominal edema, and incidence of normal larval tail shape and these effects were reversed by exogenous E2-cotreatment. Decreased incidence of normal pectoral fins was only impacted by BaP exposure. In conclusion, certain adverse developmental outcomes caused by BaP exposure are at least in part related to BaP-mediated CYP19a1b inhibition

The Relationship Between Ideology and Communicational Process

Ideology in its simplest meanings is the system of thoughts and higher forms, especially those which form the basis of the political and economic theories. And some see that ideology is the group of opinions or beliefs of a group or an individual, as the ideology in a lot of times points out to a group of political beliefs or a group of thoughts which distinguish a certain culture such as capitalism, communism, socialism, and Marxism which are considered ideologies. and therefore, it is opinions and beliefs, and when the media involved the meaning in communication, it was essential to connect to the opinion and belief then the ideology.That interactive process between who is known by the communicator and what is known as a recipient to the communicational message takes from the language element a basic in the formations of mutual understanding, interaction, and meanings between them from a side, or the meanings which the communicator desires to deliver to the recipient from their point of view from another side.  And the ideology here lies within the privacy of the meaning which that communicator tries to deliver to the audience of their message content, since people form meanings about the surrounding environment whether it was personalities, issues, events, or actions throughout the language means which the others convey to them via several communication media.Who contemplates these definitions infers that the ideology is a mental reference consists of a group of thoughts and concepts which the individual believes and translates in the reality to actions and social behavior change from to mental perceptions influence the nature of their behavior during their movement inside the society. Also, these definitions of the ideology clears an important matter that the individuals' ideology consists of a number of variables or value determinants such as thoughts, beliefs, language, concepts, and perceptions, etc. and Lilker considers that the major element influencing the ideology is the element of thoughts. Keywords: Ideology, media systems, communicational process

The Impact of Applying Quality Standards on the Internal Operations in the Public Sector in the Sultanate of Oman

Purpose:  The aim of this study is to identify the impact of applying quality standards on the internal operations efficiency in public sector institutions in the Sultanate of Oman along with measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of operations after applying quality standards.   Theoretical framework: This study focuses on the definition of quality and its history, quality standards, its types, rational behind their application, continuous improvement methodology which is Deming cycle (plan, Do, check, Act), and defining internal processes and their dimensions.   Design/Methodology/Approach: To achieve the objective of this study , the questionnaire was used as a main tool for data collection. Questionnaires were distributed to a simple random sample of 115; 107, questionnaires were retrieved and (102) were suitable for analysis. The data was then analyzed using a variety of statistical techniques (arithmetic means and standard deviations, multiple linear regression analysis using the stepwise method, and Cronbach alpha for stability).   Findings: The main findings in this study was identifies that prove there is a gap between quality standereds applications in planning of operations, readiness, and outputs.   Research /Practical /Social Implications: This study is significant since it focuses on the influence of applying quality standards in terms of results and effect, specifically on processes and whether there is continuous process improvement. In social indicator it is impacting individuals satisfactions specially when speaking about the customers experience. Moreover, in enconmoical indocators it is indicates improvement of the institutional performance.   Originality/ Value: This study is distinguished from previous studies in that it focuses on the impact of applying quality standards in terms of results and effect, specifically on processes. Moreover, this study specially build based on Oman experience.

Masdar Constructions in Southern Saudi Arabic: a Concise Reference

This thesis provides for the first time a detailed description and analysis of masdar constructions within the framework of LFG (Lexical Functional Grammar) in an unstudied vernacular dialect of Arabic, Saudi Southern Arabic (SA) as spoken in Bisha. The current thesis discusses the masdar nominalisations in usual normal constructions, and in complex constructions. Building on previous syntactic accounts of mixed category constructions and masdar constructions in LFG, I argue that the first of those masdar constructions (MC A) includes nominal elements and verbal elements at the same time. Additionally, there is a mismatch between the external syntax (nominal) and the internal syntax (mixed) of the masdar nominalisation in this construction. Therefore, following Lowe (2016), I argue that MC A is a truly mixed construction. On the other hand, I argue that the second masdar construction (MC B) is fully nominal in SA as it shows purely nominal characteristics. The masdar nominalisation in this construction shows a uniform external and internal syntax. Therefore, I treat the masdar in this construction as a non-mixed category, and argue that the masdar in MC B does not entail a mixed heading sharing analysis. In this study, similar to B ̈orjars et al. (2015), I propose a uniform analysis for both bare object masdar construction (MC A) and PP-object masdar construction (MC B). Such an analysis avoids us the long list of problems of the head-sharing approach, and allows us to analyse the controversial masdar constructions smoothly within the normal usual rules of LFG. SA facts appear to be similar to MSA data, especially MC A. However, MC B was found to be different from its counterpart in MSA. This thesis is a contribution to the long-standing debate in the literature on mixed category constructions, and how to analyse them in LFG, as well as to the syntax of neglected vernacular Arabic dialects

Aspergilli and their aflatoxins contamination of poultry and animal feedstuff samples in western region of Saudi Arabia

Aspergillus and their aflatoxins contaminations were studied in sixty poultry and animal feedstuff samples collected from the western region (Jeddah, Makkah and Taif cities) from Saudi Arabia. Fourteen species of Aspergillus were isolated and identified in the present investigation using Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) at 27ºC. The identification of isolated Aspergillus was confirmed by using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region sequencing for representative species (194 species) of the collected Aspergillus sp. were sequenced and the obtained sequence results were deposited in Gene Bank under accession numbers. The sequence results indicated to the full correspondence between the molecular identification of the isolated fungi and the morphological identification. Moisture content was considered indicator for the number of Aspergillus isolated, therefore, Aspergillus and their aflatoxins were isolated in high counts from Jeddah and Taif according to the moisture content. Therefore, A. flavus was the most common species (59.78%), followed by A. niger (21.59%). The co-occurrence of Aspergillus species ranged from one species to 6 species per sample. The frequencies of occurrence for most afltoxigenic species isolated from studied samples ranged from 2 to 56%. Aspergillus flavus contaminated the majority of investigated feedstuff samples and the co-occurrence of more than one aflatoxigenic species was reported in many samples

Identification of strategy implementation influencing factors and their effects on the performance

This paper investigates the factors that influence strategy execution in service organisations within both public and private sectors. The successful execution of the strategy is the key survival asset of the organisation. Many organisations could not maintain their competitive advantages, in spite of the existing process of drafting a strong strategy, due to lack of achievement in the strategy implementation stage. Leaders and top management of organisations must pay more attention to strategy implementation due to the higher failure rates that occur at this stage. For that, successful strategy implementation requires a better understanding of the relevant influencing factors that dictate that implementation’s outcomes. The existing literature does not provide a rigorous and structured conceptualisation of these factors, or their influence on strategy implementation. Accordingly, we precisely explored the mechanisms and interdependent abilities of such factors and their impact to address the gap. In addition, this paper presents many factors, which usually are neglected and cause failure or effect on the efficiency severity industry. This article also shows how some factors are more important in certain industry and l ess important in other industry in the Middle East

Experimental Investigations on Temperature Gradient in Massive Raft Foundation

Thermal cracks are the major problem as temperature increases in massive concrete structures. It is imperative to investigate the temperature rise and to find effective techniques to control the heat of hydration of massive concrete. In this research, based on a segmental model test of high rise building raft, the temperature field for the bottom, middle and top surface concrete of the raft caused by the heat of hydration were measured. Blast furnace slag cement (CEM III/A 42.5N) was used due to its lower percentage of C3A and C3S and lower surface area. The tested temperature rise curves indicated that the temperature increases quickly but diminishes gradually. The maximum temperature rise at the middle surface of the concrete reached 56oC, and the maximum temperature difference between the middle and the top surface was 15.80oC. The most extreme temperature difference between the top surface and the surrounding environmental temperature was 26.5oC. So, using slag cement controlled the heat of hydration of concrete leading to environmentally friendly concrete mixes