Evaluating The Effective Teaching Characteristic of Saudi Arabian Preceptors in Clinical Education

BACKGROUND: Preceptors play an important role in clinical education for the next generation of respiratory therapy students. To improve respiratory therapy clinical educations, clinical instructors\u27 behavioral characteristics that affect students\u27 performance must be thoroughly evaluated. Therefore, there is a growing need to better address what students consider the most and least important effectiveness characteristics of clinical instructors in respiratory therapy clinical education. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluated and perceived the effectiveness of behavioral teaching characteristics of clinical instructors by interns and undergraduate respiratory therapy students. METHODS: The study utilized a descriptive cross-sectional survey. The survey was distributed to interns and undergraduate students enrolled in an accredited respiratory therapy program at urban universities and hospitals located in Saudi Arabia. The survey consisted of 35 teaching behaviors presented on a five-point Likert scale according to importance. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS: Thirty-six students responded with a response rate of 63%. Interns were 50% of the total sample, with females and males equally split at 50%. Fifty percent of respondents studied were undergraduate, of which females accounted for 36.2% and males 13.8%. The study findings indicate that the evaluation of interns and undergraduate students of the most and least important behavioral characteristics are similar, but both grasp the ordered rank of importance differently. Intern students ranked “Facilitate student’s awareness of their Professional responsibility” as the most effectiveness characteristic with a mean score value M = 4.92 and standard deviation (S.D ±.39). While undergraduate students ranked the behavioral characteristic “Encourage students to feel free to ask questions or ask for help” as the most effectiveness with a mean score value M = 4.72 and standard deviation (S.D ± .49). Additionally, intern students rank the characteristic “Demonstrate engaging style of bedside teaching” as the least effectiveness with a mean score value M = 3.14 and standard deviation (S.D ± 1.0). While undergraduate students ranked the behavioral characteristic “Be realistic in expectations of students’ performance” as the least effectiveness with a mean score value M = 3.56 and standard deviation (S.D ± .93). CONCLUSION: Although the ratings of interns and undergraduate students were similar, mean scores revealed a change in the ranking of effectiveness teaching characteristic evaluation. This could be due to the fact that students\u27 evaluations vary as they progress through clinical training or educational experience. In the end, the findings of this study will enable respiratory therapy clinical instructors to evaluate themselves based on the evaluations of interns and undergraduate students

Risk factors of neurosensory disturbance following orthognathic surgery

OBJECTIVES: To report the incidence of objective and subjective neurosensory disturbance (NSD) after orthognathic surgery in a major orthognathic centre in Hong Kong, and to investigate the risk factors that contributed to the incidence of NSD after orthognathic surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional study on NSD after orthognathic surgery in a local major orthognathic centre. Patients who had bimaxillary orthognathic surgery reviewed at post-operative 6 months, 12 months or 24 months were recruited to undergo neurosensory tests with subjective and 3 objective assessments. Possible risk factors of NSD including subjects' age and gender, surgical procedures and surgeons' experience were analyzed. RESULTS: 238 patients with 476 sides were recruited. The incidences of subjective NSD after maxillary procedures were 16.2%, 13% and 9.8% at post-operative 6 months, 12 months and 24 months, respectively; the incidences of subjective NSD after mandibular procedures were 35.4%, 36.6% and 34.6% at post-operative 6 months, 12 months and 24 months, respectively. Increased age was found to be a significant risk factor of NSD after orthognathic surgery at short term (at 6 months and 12 months) but not at 24 months. SSO has a significantly higher risk of NSD when compared to VSSO. SSO in combination with anterior mandibular surgery has a higher risk of NSD when compared to VSSO in combination with anterior mandibular surgery or anterior mandibular surgery alone. Gender of patients and surgeons' experience were not found to be risk factors of NSD after orthognathic surgery. CONCLUSION: The incidence of NSD after maxillary and mandibular orthognathic procedures at post-operative 6 months, 12 months and 24 months was reported. Increased age was identified as a risk factor of short term post-operative NSD but not in long term (24 months or more). Specific mandibular procedures were related to higher incidence of NSD after orthognathic surgery.published_or_final_versio

Risk Management Governance in Applications

This paper is an overview of risk management governance in applications, a detailed discussion has been provided regarding the importance of developing and implementing a well-organized risk management governance that will enhance the trust of the users when it comes to using an application and at the same time will also provide them with a safety net which will be designed to protect them from any type of security breach. The paper will also stress on the necessity of the application developers to remain proactive to identify future potential threats that may overpower the existing security system and prepare them accordingly. In case a data leakage is in place, there should be a proper mechanism to identify the leakage and amend it within a short period of time which will work as a damage control initiative. This paper will also discuss certain aspects that are closely related to gaining the trust of the users which may include a proper safety rating system that can be interpreted by the users. Secondly, there is a need to ensure that the apps are demanding for less permission which may assist with reducing the possibility of serious privacy violation in times of data breach. DOI: 10.7176/IKM/10-2-07 Publication date: February 29th 202

Time Series and Renewable Energy Forecasting

Renewable energy generation has been constantly increasing during recent years. Wind and solar have had the most significant growths among all renewable resources. Wind and solar resources are highly intermittent and dependent on meteorological parameters and climatic conditions. The power output of wind turbines is subject to various meteorological parameters, such as wind speed, wind direction, air temperature, relative humidity, etc., among which the wind speed is the most direct and influential factor in wind power generation. Solar photovoltaic (PV) power is a function of solar radiation. Wind speed and solar radiation time series data exhibit unique features which complicate their prediction. This makes wind and solar power forecasting challenging. Accurate wind and solar forecasting enhances the value of renewable energy by improving the reliability and economic feasibility of these resources. It also supports integrating solar and wind power into electric grids by reducing the integration and operation costs associated with these intermittent generation sources. This chapter provides an overview of the time series methods that can be used for more accurate wind and solar forecasting

THE USE OF READING STRATEGIES IN ARABIC BY NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS

With increasing opportunities to study abroad, learning to read in a foreign language has become increasingly important for countless second language learners. International students in pursuit of higher education degrees are required and expected to read in the target language at the same level of fluency and comprehension as their native-speaking counterparts. The number of international students studying in Arabic higher education institutions has followed the general ascending trend. For these second language speakers of Arabic, good reading skills in Arabic are essential for their academic success. Since the use of reading strategies is an important component of first and second language reading, this study aimed to investigate the use of reading strategies by native and non-native speakers of Arabic when reading academic materials in Arabic. In addition, it aimed to explore possible differences in the use of reading strategies between these two groups. For this purpose, a total of 305 students participated in the study. A survey composed of 30 items was administered to 222 non-native speakers of Arabic, and the same survey with 28 items was administered to 83 native speakers of Arabic. The survey included demographic questions adapted from Mokhtari and Sheorey (2008) and employed the questionnaire SORS used by Mokhtari and Sheorey (2002). These 30 items belonged to three strategy subscales: Global, Problem-solving, and Support strategies. To analyze the collected data, descriptive statistics and multiple independent t-tests were performed. In addition, an analysis was performed to find the most and least used reading strategies by both groups as well as possible differences between them in terms of reading strategy use. Problem-solving strategies were the most frequently used by both groups with a slightly higher use by the non-native speakers. Regarding the other two types, the native and non-native speakers showed different preferences. Specifically, Support strategies were the second most favored type among the non-native speakers, whereas for the native speakers, the second most frequently used type were Global strategies. However, even though Global strategies were the least used among non-native speakers, the non-native speakers\u27 mean score on Global strategies use was higher than the native speaker score of use. Overall, the similarities and differences in the use of reading strategies by native and non-native speakers of Arabic deserve attention because they carry implications for both reading research and pedagogy. These empirical findings can be used by Education policy makers to create training courses and workshops that will help students improve their reading skills in general and reading strategies in particular. This study also suggests that there is a need for further research that will examine how the use of reading strategies is related to the academic performance of native and non-native speakers

An assessment of quality management system indicators for the ISO 9001:2008 certified work organisations in Kuwait

The purpose of this research is to assess the performance of quality management systems in the Kuwaiti work organizations as per ISO 9001:2008 from the customers' perspectives (end users) based on the auditing practices and quality implementations. The research has taken a long path of research methodology starting with the development and customizations of two different survey questionnaires and ending up with a data analysis using several statistical software packages such as SPSS and Minitab. Most of the data analysis has used the method of non-parametric statistical techniques except for the modeling part where advanced statistical techniques have been used. One survey was directed to all business types and the other was only directed to manufacturing organizations. The target respondents for both surveys were provided in the form of listed names of ISO 9001 certified work organizations by a government agency for the state of Kuwait, public authority for industry (PAFI). Reliability and validity of both surveys were statistically justifiable enough to make the author to proceed with: (1) comparison against Swedish certified work organizations, and (2) building up a statistical model from each survey. The comparison between the Kuwaiti and Swedish work organizations has shown many significant differences in the auditing practices and quality implementations. Moreover, the resulted differences between the two culturally work environments (Kuwaiti and Swedish), shed the lights about the existing gaps of ISO implementations and auditing practices in the two countries and help the author analyze these gaps for suggesting any prospect of quality improvements. Aside from descriptive and inferential analysis on the surveyed data, a model building was the final objective of this research. The main model was built up based on 10 interrelated factors, extracted from the survey questionnaire using LISREL software as a structural equation modeling technique. Furthermore, the model has shown the capability of predicting the total and direct effects from one factor to another. From modeling, it was statistically shown that the ISO certified manufacturing organizations outperformed the ISO certified services organizations in Kuwait

CRM and Mobile Applications:An Overview of Mobile CRM Adoption

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to summarize articles on mobile apps and mCRM to identify important factors affecting their adoption.  Research limitations/implications – The relatively small sample size limits the generalization of the results. Keywords - mCRM adoption, Mobile technology, Technology Acceptance Model, CRM system, B2B sales, Employee satisfaction, mCRM, Personal performance, System use, E-satisfaction, E-loyalty, Mobile banking, E-trust, Mobile marketing, Technology implementation. DOI: 10.7176/IKM/10-2-06 Publication date: February 29th 202

Gene Gun Research Project

The motivation behind this project is to design or improve a cheaper gene gun that can help the world. The goal is to design a new low-cost gene delivery system that will allow Dr. Mahajan and University of Akron students conduct new research, with the aim of advancing society in many different fields. A few examples would be improving crops resistances to insects or harsh weather. This could happen by altering their genes to repulse insects or have stronger bases to have better resistance to the wind. In the medical world you could use gene therapy to help fight cancer or other diseases. The approach to this project is research, design and trial and error. The research will mostly be on how the gene delivery system drives DNA into cells using micro needles