The impact of work environment, individual characteristics, training design and motivation on training transfer to the work: the case of Saudi Arabian Public Security Organisation

The aim of this empirical study was to find out the impact of work environment, individual characteristics, training design and motivation on training transfer to the work in the context of public security. Methodology included a cross sectional questionnaire survey administered to a stratified convenience sample of 500 officers of Public Security Organisation in Saudi Arabia. The effective response rate was 70.2% (351 useable surveys returned out of 500 surveys administered). Data were analysed by running frequencies, descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. Results showed that participants’ learning motivation was statistically significantly determined by peer support (β = .311, p = .000), training retention (β = .197, p = .027), goal orientation (β = .163, p = .036) and self-efficacy (β = .158, p = .047). Statistically significant predictors of transfer motivation were learning motivation (β = .401, p = .000), peer support (β = .224, p = .003), training retention (β = .176, p = .021) and self-efficacy (β = .152, p = .028), feedback (β = -.159, p = .014) and openness to change (β = -.147, p = .020). Statistically significant determinants of training transfer were training design (β = .318, p = .000), training retention (β = .313, p = .000), transfer motivation (β = .177, p = .008) and supervisor support (β = .146, p = .018). Training transfer to the work in the context of public security is positively affected by work environment, individual characteristics, training design and motivation factors but a negative association between transfer motivation and performance feedback and openness to change suggest a review of these factors in the context of public security organisations

Garbage collection optimization for non uniform memory access architectures

Cache-coherent non uniform memory access (ccNUMA) architecture is a standard design pattern for contemporary multicore processors, and future generations of architectures are likely to be NUMA. NUMA architectures create new challenges for managed runtime systems. Memory-intensive applications use the system’s distributed memory banks to allocate data, and the automatic memory manager collects garbage left in these memory banks. The garbage collector may need to access remote memory banks, which entails access latency overhead and potential bandwidth saturation for the interconnection between memory banks. This dissertation makes five significant contributions to garbage collection on NUMA systems, with a case study implementation using the Hotspot Java Virtual Machine. It empirically studies data locality for a Stop-The-World garbage collector when tracing connected objects in NUMA heaps. First, it identifies a locality richness which exists naturally in connected objects that contain a root object and its reachable set— ‘rooted sub-graphs’. Second, this dissertation leverages the locality characteristic of rooted sub-graphs to develop a new NUMA-aware garbage collection mechanism. A garbage collector thread processes a local root and its reachable set, which is likely to have a large number of objects in the same NUMA node. Third, a garbage collector thread steals references from sibling threads that run on the same NUMA node to improve data locality. This research evaluates the new NUMA-aware garbage collector using seven benchmarks of an established real-world DaCapo benchmark suite. In addition, evaluation involves a widely used SPECjbb benchmark and Neo4J graph database Java benchmark, as well as an artificial benchmark. The results of the NUMA-aware garbage collector on a multi-hop NUMA architecture show an average of 15% performance improvement. Furthermore, this performance gain is shown to be as a result of an improved NUMA memory access in a ccNUMA system. Fourth, the existing Hotspot JVM adaptive policy for configuring the number of garbage collection threads is shown to be suboptimal for current NUMA machines. The policy uses outdated assumptions and it generates a constant thread count. In fact, the Hotspot JVM still uses this policy in the production version. This research shows that the optimal number of garbage collection threads is application-specific and configuring the optimal number of garbage collection threads yields better collection throughput than the default policy. Fifth, this dissertation designs and implements a runtime technique, which involves heuristics from dynamic collection behavior to calculate an optimal number of garbage collector threads for each collection cycle. The results show an average of 21% improvements to the garbage collection performance for DaCapo benchmarks

Designing An Art Virtual Exhibition Through Applying Design Thinking Strategy

The idea of this research came in association with the establishment of an art exhibition in the depths of the global pandemic (COVIED-19) to review the learning outcomes of the courses that rely on computers by teaching some of the graphic design topics in the Department of Art Education at King Saud University. This research aims to identify a virtual exhibition (VE) through the application of design thinking (DT) in designing a virtual graphic art exhibition. This research deals with the nature and characteristics of (VE). In addition, it reviews the concept of the emergence of (DT) and its stages of development. It examines the practical experience of creating an exhibition by implementing the stages of (DT) based on the Stanford D.School model. Accordingly, (DT) explains obstacles that can be studied to find creative and obvious alternative solutions. This research derives its importance from the lack of research in the art field that applies (DT). It will support the method of implementing it in educational or artistic situations in the future. The results showed that the (DT) and its methods accommodated in choosing the appropriate model and reviewing creative solutions to the problems that users may face in creating or viewing (VE) through interactive display platforms. Technology and social media have supported prompt access and sharing of opinions and reactions to (VE). Hence, (VE) supports easy access, interaction about art and its techniques of (VE). Finally, designing a virtual art exhibition is more inexpensive than making an actual art exhibition

Clinical Anxiety among Saudi Postgraduate Pediatric Dentistry Students in Jeddah City

Objective. To determine anxiety in relation to gender, Grade Point Average (GPA), level of education and academic and clinical situations in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Also, to identify academic and clinical anxiety levels among postgraduate pediatric dentistry students. Methods. A cross-sectional study at governmental training hospitals was conducted. All registered postgraduate students in pediatric dental programs during the year 2015-2016 were included in the study. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed electronically to 60 postgraduate pediatric dentistry students aged between 25 and 45 years old. The questionnaire is composed of 55 questions that investigated demographic data, academic and clinical related situations including investigations, diagnosis, treatment, and complications in treatment. Results. The study showed a higher anxiety level in younger age dental students (76.7% compared to 23.3%) and Saudi board residents (60%). Comparing gender differences in anxiety revealed that a significant difference (P≤0.05) was found and anxiety seems to be more among female dental students (2% very anxious, 64% slightly anxious, and 34% not anxious) as compared to male dental students (8% very anxious, 69% slightly anxious, and 23% not anxious). Conclusions. There was increased awareness, detailed understanding, and handling of the patients by senior postgraduate pediatric dentistry students compared to junior students

Awareness of dental fluorosis among undergraduate dental students in Riyadh region: a survey based study

Background: Fluoride protects the teeth from dental caries using the needed amount of fluoride products.Methods: A Modified structured questionnaire has been validated through a pilot trial (20 responses) prior to administration that contains16 questions was distributed. Other than the demographics, the data were collected from 500 participants including undergraduate male and female dental students.Results: The majority described the mild fluorosis appearance in the teeth according to Dean’s index appropriately as white opacity of the enamel (64%, n=320). On the other hand, only 31.1% (n=155) and 46% (n=229) described the moderate and severe fluorosis appearance in the teeth according to Dean’s index appropriately.Conclusions: The dissemination and education about dental fluorosis is urgently needed and should be tailored to reach this population. The knowledge about causes of fluoride and the effect on dental fluorosis should be presented in the education

Two-Dimensional N=(2,2) Dilaton Supergravity from Graded Poisson-Sigma Models II: Analytic Solution and BPS States

The integrability of N=(2,2) dilaton supergravity in two dimensions is studied by the use of the graded Poisson Sigma model approach. Though important differences compared to the purely bosonic models are found, the general analytic solutions are obtained. The latter include minimally gauged models as well as an ungauged version. BPS solutions are an especially interesting subclass.Comment: 23 p LaTe

Two-Dimensional N=(2,2) Dilaton Supergravity from Graded Poisson-Sigma Models I: Complete Actions and Their Symmetries

The formalism of graded Poisson-sigma models allows the construction of N=(2,2) dilaton supergravity in terms of a minimal number of fields. For the gauged chiral U(1) symmetry the full action, involving all fermionic contributions, is derived. The twisted chiral case follows by simple redefinition of fields. The equivalence of our approach to the standard second order one in terms of superfields is presented, although for the latter so far only the bosonic part of the action seems to have been available in the literature. It is shown how ungauged models can be obtained in a systematic way and some relations to relevant literature in superstring theory are discussed.Comment: 26 p., LaTeX. v3: extended version, new title, new section on ungauged model

Two Two-Dimensional Supergravity Theories from Calabi-Yau Four-Folds

We consider two-dimensional supergravity theories with four supercharges constructed from compactification of Type II string theory on a generic Calabi-Yau four-fold. In Type IIA and Type IIB cases, respectively, new superspace formulations of N=(2,2) and N=(0,4) dilaton supergravities are found and their coupling to matter multiplets is discussed.Comment: 47 pages, harvma

The relationship between lifestyle and the frequency of polycystic ovary syndrome in Saudi female residing in Riyadh

Background: Polycystic Ovary Disorder (PCOS) is perceived as the most widely recognized endocrinopathy in reproductive women. This study aimed to assess the relationship between the lifestyle and frequency of polycystic ovary syndrome in Saudi Arabia.Methods: This is a case-control study conducted on females at princess Nourah University (PNU), King Fahad Medical City (KFMC) and malls in Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia. The study included females in the reproductive age including 401 controls and 122 PCOS cases.Results: History of pregnancy related disorders was higher among the PCOS women in comparison to controls, while abortion represented the highest percentage in both cases and controls. Family history of polycystic ovary syndrome was doubled in cases than controls. There was significant increase in the percentage of hypothyroidism and hyperlipidemia in polycystic ovary syndrome patients (P <0.001). Snoring, use of oral contraceptives, high prolactin level, incidence of menorrhagia and urinary tract infection were significantly higher in cases than controls (P <0.001). In addition, there was no difference between controls and polycystic ovary syndrome cases regarding their dietary intake. On the other hand, physical activity was significantly higher in controls compared to polycystic ovary syndrome group.Conclusions: This study supports previous studies that revealed a relation between polycystic ovary syndrome and endocrinological disorders such as hypothyroidism, hyperprolactinemia, and obesity. On the other hand, there is no relation between dietary intake and PCOS, however exercising regularly can decrease the possibility of having the disease

(4,4) superfield supergravity

We present the N=4 superspace constraints for the two-dimensional (2d) off-shell (4,4) supergravity with the superfield strengths expressed in terms of a (4,4) twisted (scalar) multiplet TM-I, as well as the corresponding component results, in a form suitable for applications. The constraints are shown to be invariant under the N=4 super-Weyl transformations, whose N=4 superfield parameters form another twisted (scalar) multiplet TM-II. To solve the constraints, we propose the Ansatz which makes the N=4 superconformal flatness of the N=4 supergravity curved superspace manifest. The locally (4,4) supersymmetric TM-I matter couplings, with the potential terms resulting from spontaneous supersymmetry breaking, are constructed. We also find the full (4,4) superconformally invariant (improved) TM-II matter action. The latter can be extended to the (4,4) locally supersymmetric Liouville action which is suitable for describing (4,4) supersymmetric non-critical strings.Comment: 32 pages, LaTeX, revised version (one reference added, and one Appendix is reduced