The Teaching and Classroom Problems Facing Student-Teachers of the College of Education at Kuwait University during Field Training

The study aimed to identify field problems encountered by student-teachers during instruction and classroom management. A randomized sample of 90 male and female participants, specialized in social studies and mathematics, was selected from the College of Education at Kuwait University. This mixed research method employs a questionnaire that was forused on 53 key areas of teaching and classroom problems. After testing the research methods for validity and reliability, a thorough analysis was conducted to derive main averages, standard deviations, and t-test values for the challenges’ degrees of impact. Data results reflected a consensus amongst participants that the teaching profession was challenging due to the lack of quality in field training received. The first greatest challenge was  classroom management problems with a slight degree of severity (M=3.04). Instructional problems were the second greatest challenge with a slight degree of severity (M=2.48). Moreover, there were statistically significant differences between male and female student-teachers in the field of teaching problems, in favor of male student teachers. There were also statistically significant differences among student teachers based on their respective area of specialization (social studies and mathematics), in favor of mathematics. The research ended with a set of recommendations for enhancing the performance of student-teachers in dealing with teaching and classroom problems during field training

Using What We Have: How Existing Legal Authorities Can Help Fix America\u27s Nursing Home Crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed systemic quality-of-care problems in American nursing homes as well as the deadly consequences of a regulatory system that has enabled nursing homes to divert funds needed for care to profit. Policy experts have responded by urging regulators to improve nursing-home oversight practices and by calling for new regulatory and statutory authority to increase accountability. These calls, however, have been met with sharp political headwinds. This Article suggests a path around the political impasse. Specifically, it identifies and explores four opportunities to leverage existing statutory schemes to create stronger incentives for nursing homes to provide high-quality care. It then explores how politics, administrative complexity, and ageism have come together to prevent this existing authority from being used to its full potential. It concludes by situating the current regulatory failure to hold nursing homes accountable in the context of a larger discussion about the costs of federalism in the health care arena

Professionalism in Sports Administration: a Literature Review

Purpose: The professionalism in sports administration and management is one of the most important areas that relate to all aspects of the nature and life of individuals as it is considered a successful method in setting the objectives of individuals in a scientific way. Professionalization of sport has a prominent and enduring history in the field of sports management.   Theoretical Framework: The study adopts the theory of professionalism in sports administration as the theoretical framework of the study.   Design/Methodology/Approach: This study has systematically reviewed the notion of professionalism in the studies related to sports administration. The choice of research paradigms, methods, interests, perspective, and operational definitions have been reviewed from the past literature. Furthermore, this study has attempted to identify potential research gaps and future avenues of inquiry within the port management discipline.   Findings: The findings reveal that current success is based upon effective and efficient management of the bilateral association of sport management and professionalism. Reflecting on the historical and future drivers of the incident industry.   Research practical Implication: The study implicates that educator’s one may not fully control the professional position of the sport management ‘profession’, but one may perform a significant role.   Originality/Value: The value of the study lies in the fact that a better understanding of professionals is fundamental to ensuring a successful and productive implementation of the concept in any field particular sports management and administration

Forward Simulation of Multi-Frequency Microwave Brightness Temperature over Desert Soils in Kuwait and Comparison with Satellite Observations

In this study, we address the variations of bare soil surface microwave brightness temperatures and evaluate the performance of a dielectric mixing model over the desert of Kuwait. We use data collected in a field survey and data obtained from NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), European Space Agency Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS), Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2), and Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I). In situ measurements are collected during two intensive field campaigns over bare, flat, and homogeneous soil terrains in the desert of Kuwait. Despite the prevailing dry desert environment, a large range of soil moisture values was monitored, due to precedent rain events and subsequent dry down. The mean relative difference (MRD) is within the range of ±0.005 m3·m−3 during the two sampling days. This reflects consistency of soil moisture in space and time. As predicted by the model, the higher frequency channels (18 to 19 GHz) demonstrate reduced sensitivity to surface soil moisture even in the absence of vegetation, topography and heterogeneity. In the 6.9 to 10.7 GHz range, only the horizontal polarization is sensitive to surface soil moisture. Instead, at the frequency of 1.4 GHz, both polarizations are sensitive to soil moisture and span a large dynamic range as predicted by the model. The error statistics of the difference between observed satellite brightness temperature (Tb) (excluding SMOS data due to radio frequency interference, RFI) and simulated brightness temperatures (Tbs) show values of Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD) of 5.05 K at vertical polarization and 4.88 K at horizontal polarization. Such error could be due to the performance of the dielectric mixing model, soil moisture sampling depth and the impact of parametrization of effective temperature and roughness

Models for Interpreting the Development of Medieval Arabic Grammatical Theory

مرّ النحو العربي بعدّة منحنيات وتحديات وأنماط؛ حتى بلغ مرحلة التقعيد والكمال الوضوح في دراسته مع بداية القرن الرابع الهجري. وقد حاول البروفيسور أوينز دراسة التفكير النحوي العربي في مرحلة مبكرة، متشاكسة أو غير مستقرة من تاريخ النحو العربي قبل أن تهمين عليه مدرستا البصرة والكوفة. وتكمن أهمية هذا البحث في الكشف العلمي والتتبع الدقيق لهذه الفترة الزمنية المبكرة، مما كشف أنها كانت فترة تحمل عدم تجانس لغوي؛ حيث كان النحْويون متحررين نسبيًا في مزج الأفكار والمصطلحات من مصادر مختلفة، ثم مهدت هذه الفترة الزمنية الطريق إلى فترة شهدت تجانسًا واتحادًا أكبر، فبلغت ذروتها في كتاب ابن السراج "الأصول في النحو"، الذي استطاع خلال هذا العمل تقعيد النحو العربي بشكل فعال، مما يدعم الرأي القائل إن المدارس اللغوية كالبصرة والكوفة لم تكن موجودة في الفترة المبكرة، وإن فكرة ظهورها ككيان علمي كامل مستقل في أواخر القرن الثالث الهجري كان انعكاسًا لهذا التقعيد؛ لمعرفة تنوع الأفكار والمصطلحات والمعايير التي شهدتها الفترة المبكرة، ولم يتضمنها هذا التقعيد كما كان عند مدرسة الكوفة.The most fundamental concept in the conceptualization of early Arabic grammatical theory (c. 175-320/790-920) is that of the Basra and Kufa linguistic schools, constructs that go back at least to the 4th/10th century. Weil (1913) and Carter (1973) have called into question the historical validity of the schools. However, what is the historical reality of early Arabic grammatical thinking was, if it was not dominated by the two schools. It is argued that the earliest period was one of linguistic heterogeneity, where linguists were relatively free to mix ideas and terminology from different sources. This period gave way to one of greater homogeneity, culminating in al-Sarraj al-Usul fi al-Nahw, a work, which effectively standardized Arabic grammar. The Emergence of the linguistic schools in the late 3rd/9th and early 4th/10th centuries can be understood as a reflex of this standardization, allowing linguistcs to recognize the diversity of the earlier period by assigning ideas and terminology, which did not become standard to a subordinate Kufa position

GP-Based Knowledge Acquisition and Integration Mechanisms in Knowledge Management Processes

在目前的企業環境中，很多企業致力於管理和應用組織知識，來維持他們的核心能力和創造競爭優勢。有效率的管理組織知識，能減少解決問題的時間和成本，並增加組織學習和創新能力。並且，由於累積知識資源的需求，很多企業開始發展知識庫，以儲存組織及個人的知識，用來增加組織整體的效率、支援日常的運作以及企業策略的操作。 知識管理是現代的典範，可用來有效管理組織知識，進而改善組織績效。知識管理的目的是強調管理知識的流動及流程。在知識管理流程方面，主要區分為知識擷取、整合、儲存/歸類、散播和應用知識等程序。另外，資訊技術可用來協助知識管理，並能使知識管理更有效率。知識管理的主要議題之ㄧ是知識的擷取，由於目前知識來源的提供，主要是透過知識工作者，可是它對於知識工作者而言，是一種額外的負擔。因此，設計一個有效的方法來自動產生組織知識，以減輕他們的額外負擔，將是一個很重要的課題。第二個相當重要的議題是知識整合，由於不同來源的知識，可能造成組織知識的衝突，因此設計一個知識整合方法，把不同來源的知識整合成一個完整的知識，組織將會逐漸增加這方面的需求。 分類在很多應用中是常遭遇的問題，例如財務預測、疾病診斷等。在過去，分類規則常藉由決策樹的方法所產生，並用於解決分類的問題。在本論文中，提出兩個以遺傳規劃為基礎的知識擷取方法和兩個以遺傳規劃為基礎的知識整合方法，分別支援知識管理流程中的知識擷取和知識整合。 在兩個所提的知識擷取方法中，第一個方法是著重在快速和容易地找到想要的分類樹，但是，此方法可能會產生結構較複雜的分類樹。第二個方法是修正第一個方法，產生一個較精簡和應用性高的分類樹。這些所獲得的分類樹，能被轉換成規則集合，並匯入知識庫中，幫助企業決策的制定和日常的運作。 此外，在兩個所提的知識整合方法中，第一個方法，能自動結合多重的知識來源成為一個整合的知識，並可匯入知識庫中，但是此方法只考慮到單一時間點的整合。第二個方法則是可以解決不同時間點的知識整合問題。另外，本論文提出三個新的遺傳運算子，在演化過程中，可用來解決規則集合中有重複、包含和衝突等常見的問題，因而可以產生較精簡及一致性高的分類規則。最後，本論文採用信用卡資料及乳癌資料來驗證所提方法的可行性，實驗結果皆獲得良好的成效。In today’s business environment, many enterprises make efforts in managing and applying organizational knowledge to sustain their core competence and create competitive advantage. The effective management of organizational knowledge can reduce the time and cost of solving problems, improve organizational performance, and increase organizational learning as well as innovative competence. Moreover, due to the need to accumulate knowledge resources, many enterprises have devoted to developing their knowledge repositories. These repositories store organizational and individual knowledge that are used to increase overall organization efficiency, support daily operations, and implement business strategies. Knowledge management (KM) is the modern paradigm for effective management of organizational knowledge to improve organizational performance. The intent of KM is to emphasize knowledge flows and the main process of acquisition, integration, storage/categorization, dissemination, and application. Furthermore, extant information technologies can provide a way of enabling more effective knowledge management. One of the important issues in knowledge management is knowledge acquisition. It is an extra burden for knowledge workers to contribute their knowledge into repositories, such that designing an effective method for abating an extra burden to automatically generate organizational knowledge will play a critical role in knowledge management. A second rather important issue in knowledge management is knowledge integration from different knowledge sources. Designing a knowledge-integration method to combine multiple knowledge sources will gradually become a necessity for enterprises. Classification problems, such as financial prediction and disease diagnosis, are often encountered in many applications. In the past, classification trees were often generated by decision-tree methods and commonly used to solve classification problems. In this dissertation, we propose two GP-based knowledge-acquisition methods and two GP-based knowledge-integration methods to support knowledge acquisition and knowledge integration respectively in the knowledge management processes for classification tasks. In the two proposed knowledge-acquisition methods, the first one is fast and easy to find the desired classification tree. It may, however, generate a complicated classification tree. The second method then further modifies the first method and produces a more concise and applicatory classification tree than the first one. The classification tree obtained can be transferred into a rule set, which can then be fed into a knowledge base to support decision making and facilitate daily operations. Furthermore, in the two proposed knowledge-integration methods, the former method can automatically combine multiple knowledge sources into one integrated knowledge base; nevertheless, it focuses on a single time point to deal with such knowledge-integration problems. The latter method then extends the former one to handle integrating situations properly with different time points. Additionally, three new genetic operators are designed in the evolving process to remove redundancy, subsumption and contradiction, thus producing more concise and consistent classification rules than those without using them. Finally, the proposed methods are applied to credit card data and breast cancer data for evaluating their effectiveness. They are also compared with several well-known classification methods. The experimental results show the good performance and feasibility of the proposed approaches

Using What We Have: How Existing Legal Authorities Can Help Fix America\u27s Nursing Home Crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed systemic quality-of-care problems in American nursing homes as well as the deadly consequences of a regulatory system that has enabled nursing homes to divert funds needed for care to profit. Policy experts have responded by urging regulators to improve nursing-home oversight practices and by calling for new regulatory and statutory authority to increase accountability. These calls, however, have been met with sharp political headwinds. This Article suggests a path around the political impasse. Specifically, it identifies and explores four opportunities to leverage existing statutory schemes to create stronger incentives for nursing homes to provide high-quality care. It then explores how politics, administrative complexity, and ageism have come together to prevent this existing authority from being used to its full potential. It concludes by situating the current regulatory failure to hold nursing homes accountable in the context of a larger discussion about the costs of federalism in the health care arena

Forward Simulation of Multi-Frequency Microwave Brightness Temperature over Desert Soils in Kuwait and Comparison with Satellite Observations

© 2019 by the authors. In this study, we address the variations of bare soil surface microwave brightness temperatures and evaluate the performance of a dielectric mixing model over the desert of Kuwait. We use data collected in a field survey and data obtained from NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), European Space Agency Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS), Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2), and Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I). In situ measurements are collected during two intensive field campaigns over bare, flat, and homogeneous soil terrains in the desert of Kuwait. Despite the prevailing dry desert environment, a large range of soil moisture values was monitored, due to precedent rain events and subsequent dry down. The mean relative difference (MRD) is within the range of ±0.005 m3·m-3 during the two sampling days. This reflects consistency of soil moisture in space and time. As predicted by the model, the higher frequency channels (18 to 19 GHz) demonstrate reduced sensitivity to surface soil moisture even in the absence of vegetation, topography and heterogeneity. In the 6.9 to 10.7 GHz range, only the horizontal polarization is sensitive to surface soil moisture. Instead, at the frequency of 1.4 GHz, both polarizations are sensitive to soil moisture and span a large dynamic range as predicted by the model. The error statistics of the difference between observed satellite brightness temperature (Tb) (excluding SMOS data due to radio frequency interference, RFI) and simulated brightness temperatures (Tbs) show values of Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD) of 5.05 K at vertical polarization and 4.88 K at horizontal polarization. Such error could be due to the performance of the dielectric mixing model, soil moisture sampling depth and the impact of parametrization of effective temperature and roughness