Development of a Critical Factors Model for the Knowledge Economy in Saudi Arabia

If knowledge-based economic systems are to be adopted, succeed and be disseminated, many significant barriers must be overcome regardless of how advanced a country is in terms of its infrastructure and domestic production. This paper describes an investigation of the critical factors associated with the adoption and dissemination of a knowledge economy initiative. The focus of the research is on knowledge management, national culture and other country-specific factors and how they are influencing Saudi Arabia’s efforts to develop a knowledge economy

Improving the recovery of monthly regional water storage using one year simulated observations of two pairs of GRACE-type satellite gravimetry constellation

Increasing the spatial sampling isotropy is a major issue in designing future missions dedicated to continue the task of the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission. From various possible future satellite gravimetry scenarios, the two-pair multi-orbit satellite configuration (Bender-type in the sequence), consisting of a coupled semi-polar pair (the same as GRACE) and an inclined pair of satellites seems to be an optimal mission choice. This contribution examines the performance of a Bender-type scenario at altitudes of 335 km and 352 km and inclinations of 89° and 63°, respectively, for improving the regional recovery of hydrological signals. To this end, we created one full year of simulated observations of the GRACE and Bender-type configurations. Our investigations include: 1) evaluating the feasible spatial resolution for the recovery of terrestrial water storage (TWS) changes in the presence of realistic instrumental noise and errors in the background models; 2) assessing the influence of aliasing errors in the TWS recovery and its separation from instrumental noise and introduced hydrological signals; and 3) analyzing the regional quality of the gravity-derived TWS results by assessing water storage changes over the 33 world major river basins. From our simulations, the Bender-derived spectral error curves indicate that, in spite of the instrumental noise, aliasing errors still contaminate the gravity fields above geopotential spherical harmonic coefficient (SHC) degree and order (d/o) 80 till 100. Regarding to the TWS recovery, we found notable improvements for the Bender-type configuration results in medium and small-scale basins, such as the Brahmaputra, Euphrates, Ganges, Indus, Mekong basins in Asia and the Yellow and Orange basins in South Africa. These results were achieved without applying post-processing, which was unachievable using simulations of one pair of GRACE-like configuration. Comparing the magnitudes of errors in the Bender-derived solutions with those of GRACE indicate that the accuracy derived from the Bender-type fields is about two times better than that of GRACE, specifically at medium spatial resolutions of 250 km (SHC d/o 80). We truncated the TWS recovery up to SHC d/o 80 in the spectral domain, whereas all comparisons are demonstrated in the spatial domain after a truncation of the solutions and WGHM field at d/o 60, since beyond this range; a relatively strong instrumental and aliasing errors contaminate the solutions. Our numerical results indicate that the spatial resolution of the Bender-type TWS recovery can be even higher for the basins with strong temporal water storage variations such as the Amazon basin. Short wavelength mass variations in basins with relatively weaker temporal TWS magnitude, such as the Murray basin, might still need the application of a filter with small averaging kernel

Analytical techniques in pharmaceutical analysis: A review

AbstractThe development of the pharmaceuticals brought a revolution in human health. These pharmaceuticals would serve their intent only if they are free from impurities and are administered in an appropriate amount. To make drugs serve their purpose various chemical and instrumental methods were developed at regular intervals which are involved in the estimation of drugs. These pharmaceuticals may develop impurities at various stages of their development, transportation and storage which makes the pharmaceutical risky to be administered thus they must be detected and quantitated. For this analytical instrumentation and methods play an important role. This review highlights the role of the analytical instrumentation and the analytical methods in assessing the quality of the drugs. The review highlights a variety of analytical techniques such as titrimetric, chromatographic, spectroscopic, electrophoretic, and electrochemical and their corresponding methods that have been applied in the analysis of pharmaceuticals

Examining the Impact of Job Satisfaction and Employee Engagement as Mediators between Job Crafting and Turnover Intention in Saudi Companies

This study aims to investigate the impact of Job Satisfaction and Employee Engagement as Mediators between Job Crafting and Turnover Intention. By Examining 190 private sector employees in Saudi Arabia and using linear regressions Analysis and validated questionnaire, the results of the study show that (1) There is a positive relationship between job crafting and job satisfaction, (2) Job crafting is a positively related to employee engagement.  Also (3) There is a positive relationship between job satisfaction and employee engagement. Whereas (4) Job satisfaction and turnover intention is negatively related to each other. Finally, it has been found that (5) There is a negative relationship between employee engagement and turnover intention. These findings suggest that the turnover intention of employees could be reduced through empowering employees by generating job-crafting behaviors. Thus, will lead eventually to job satisfaction and employee engagement. Keywords: job satisfaction, employee engagement, job crafting, turnover intention DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/13-7-09 Publication date: April 30th 202

Heterogeneous Catalysis to Drive the Waste-to-Pharma Concept: From Furanics to Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients

A perspective on the use of heterogeneous catalysis to drive the waste-to-pharma concept is provided in this contribution based on the conversion of furanics to active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The provided overview of the concept in this perspective article has been exemplified for two key molecule examples: Ancarolol and Furosemide

High interfacial charge separation in visible-light active Z- scheme g-C3N4/MoS2 heterojunction: Mechanism and degradation of sulfasalazine

Examination of highly proficient photoactive materials for the degradation of antibiotics from the aqueous solution is the need of the hour. In the present study, a 2D/2D binary junction GCM, formed between graphitic-carbon nitride (g-C3N4) and molybdenum disulphide (MoS2), was fabricated using facile hydrothermal method and its photo-efficacy was tested for the degradation of sulfasalazine (SUL) from aqueous solution under visible-light irradiation. Morphological analysis indicated the nanosheets arrangement of MoS2 and g-C3N4. The visible-light driven experiments indicated that 97% antibiotic was degraded by GCM-30% within 90 min which was found to be quite high than pristine g-C3N4 and MoS2 at solution pH of 6, GCM-30% dose of 20 mg, and SUL concentration of 20 mgL-1. The degradation performance of GCM-30% was selectively improved due to enhanced visible-light absorption, high charge carrier separation, and high redox ability of the photogenerated charges which was induced by the effective Z-scheme 2D/2D heterojunction formed between g-C3N4 and MoS2. The reactive radicals as determined by the scavenging study were •O2-, and h+. A detailed degradation mechanism of SUL by GCM-30% was also predicted based on the detailed examination of the band gaps of g-C3N4 and MoS2

Designing an Educational Program Based on (Micro: Bit) and Its Effectiveness in Acquisition of Basic Programming Skills and Computational Thinking Skills for Primary School Students

هدفت الدراسة الحالية إلى تصميم برنامج تعليمي قائم على المايكروبت (Micro: Bit) وقياس فاعليته نحو إكساب المهارات الأساسية للبرمجة ومهارات التفكير الحاسوبي لدى طلاب المرحلة الابتدائية، واستخدمت المنهج شبه التجريبي، وتألفت عينة الدراسة من (22) تلميذًا، وبعد التحقق من ثبات وصدق أدوات الدراسة (بطاقة الملاحظة للمهارات الأساسية للبرمجة، ومقياس التفكير الحاسوبي)، تم تطبيقها على العينة قبليًّا، ثَم نُفِّذَ عدد (15) درسًا بأسلوب التعلم بواسطة المشاريع لمدة شهرين، ثم تم إعادة تطبيق المقاييس البَعدية، وأسفرت النتائج عن وجود فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية عند مستوى الدلالة (0.001) لصالح القياس البعدي لمقياس مهارات التفكير الحاسوبي والمهارات الأساسية للبرمجة للمقياس ككل، وبحجم تأثير عالي مقداره (0.81) لمقياس مهارات التفكير الحاسوبي، وحجم تأثير متوسط مقداره (0.74) للمهارات الأساسية للبرمجة، كما أظهرت تباينًا نسبيًّا في مستويات الدلالة وحجم الأثر في المهارات الفرعية لكلٍّ من المهارات الأساسية للبرمجة، ومهارات التفكير الحاسوبي. وأوصت الدراسة بتضمين دروس تعليم البرمجة باستخدام المايكروبت في مقررات المهارات الرقمية لطلاب المرحلة الابتدائية.The study aimed to design an educational program based on the Micro: Bit and measure its effectiveness in acquisition of basic programming skills and computational thinking skills for primary school students. The quasi-experimental method was used. The sample consisted of (22) students. After verifying the releablity and validity of the study tools (the observation card for basic programming skills, and the computational thinking scale), they were applied as pre-test, then (15) lessons were implemented using project-based learning for a period of two months. After that, the post-test was applied. The results showed that there were statistically significant differences at the significance level (α = 0.001) in favor of the post-test of the computational thinking skills scale and the basic programming skills overall, and a high effectiveness of (0.81) for the computational thinking skills scale, and an effectiveness of (0.74) for basic programming skills. It also showed a relative variation in the levels of significance and impact size in the sub-skills. The study recommended the inclusion of programming lessons using Micro: Bit in the digital skills curricula for primary school student

Stability of Tin- versus Lead-Halide Perovskites: Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Perovskite/Water Interfaces

Tin-halide perovskites (THPs) have emerged as promising lead-free perovskites for photovoltaics and photocatalysis applications but still fall short in terms of stability and efficiency with respect to their lead-based counterpart. A detailed understanding of the degradation mechanism of THPs in a water environment is missing. This Letter presents ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations to unravel atomistic details of THP/water interfaces comparing methylammonium tin iodide, MASnI3, with the lead-based MAPbI3. Our results reveal facile solvation of surface tin-iodine bonds in MASnI3, while MAPbI3remains more robust to degradation despite a larger amount of adsorbed water molecules. Additional AIMD simulations on dimethylammonium tin bromide, DMASnBr3, investigate the origins of their unprecedented water stability. Our results indicate the presence of amorphous surface layers of hydrated zero-dimensional SnBr3complexes which may protect the inner structure from degradation and explain their success as photocatalysts. We believe that the atomistic details of the mechanisms affecting THP (in-)stability may inspire new strategies to stabilize THPs

Motivations and constraints of E-Learning from the Viewpoint of faculty members of the college of Education, King Saud University

Abstract: This study aims to identify the motivations and obstacles to the use of E-Learning systems and techniques available at King Saud university, and they include: (the learning management system - the virtual classroom system – the technical support system – the techniques of smart classrooms), from the viewpoint of faculty members within the College of Education. The sample was selected randomly as the questionnaire was sent electronically to (430) of the faculty members, and (82) returned, (40) of them were from males and (41) were from females. The study used the descriptive analytical approach and the questionnaire as the study methodology through the review of the literature on the subject of the study to determine the factors influencing the phenomenon of the study and then developed a tool to collect the necessary data. The questions of the questionnaire were answered using descriptive statistics. The results indicated that all paragraphs relating to the motivating factors of using the E-Learning system were between high and very high degree, and the arithmetic average of the motivations was a high degree as a whole. The results of the study also showed that the most significant constraints of using E-Learning systems and techniques were the need for technical skills. The technical skills development program was not within the preparation and development of the professional skills of the faculty members. The arithmetic average of the obstacles gave a medium degree as a whole. The study also revealed a statistically significant difference in the incentives axis due to the impact of gender in favor of males. And there were no statistically significant differences in the constraints axis according to the gender variable. And there were no statistically significant differences in the study as a whole according to the variables of getting courses in the field of E-Learning or the academic rank. Key words: Motivations of using E-Learning system - constraints of using E-Learning sy