Finding the Optimum Orientation for PV Systems Matched to the Timing of the Demand Profile

IEEE conference publicationElectricity consumption in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has grown by about 7% annually in the last two decades due to population and economic growth. The consumption of the residential sector accounts for over 50% of the total energy generation largely due to the consumption of the buildings’ air conditioning. This factor contributes significantly to a situation where peak electricity demand occurs in early afternoon. Thus, this paper presents one of the possible ways of managing electricity peak demand by proposing deployment of PV panels with slope and orientation that are optimized with respect to the timing of the demand profile in order to contribute most effectively to national electricity generation capacity. As a case study, numerical results are presented for Riyadh city in KSA

Are Deep Learning Approaches Suitable for Natural Language Processing?

In recent years, Deep Learning (DL) techniques have gained much at-tention from Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) research communities because these approaches can often learn features from data without the need for human design or engineering interventions. In addition, DL approaches have achieved some remarkable results. In this paper, we have surveyed major recent contributions that use DL techniques for NLP tasks. All these reviewed topics have been limited to show contributions to text understand-ing, such as sentence modelling, sentiment classification, semantic role labelling, question answering, etc. We provide an overview of deep learning architectures based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), and Recursive Neural Networks (RNNs)

The Acquisition of Past Temporality by Two ESL Learners at Different Levels of Proficiency

The acquisition of English past temporality has been a topic of discussion in the second language acquisition field. Most of the studies have looked at a case study or a group of learners of the same level of proficiency. The findings indicated that learners with low proficiency level keep relying on using the lexical means as their verbal morphology begin established. No study has compared between two case studies or two group of different level of proficiency to find whether this phenomenon can be true with learners of different level of proficiency. This study sought to find this by examining the development of English past temporality with two case studies of learners of English as a second language. Each learner was interviewed for 20 minutes. The results indicated that there is a difference between the two learners in terms of the level of English past temporality mastery. However, it was found that even the second learner has reached a level of mastery of English past temporality; he still relies on using the lexical means

Effects of Cinnamon Water Extract as a Cariostatic Agent on Nicotine-Induced Streptococcus Mutans Biofilm

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of cinnamon water extract on nicotine-induced Streptococcus mutans biofilm. This study utilized S. mutans biofilm assays with varying concentrations of nicotine/cinnamon water extract levels. Design: A preliminary experiment was carried out to confirm the most likely effective concentration of cinnamon water extract on S. mutans biofilm. Then a 24-hour culture of S. mutans UA159 in microtiter plates was treated with varying nicotine concentrations (0-32 mg/ml) in TSBS at the same time with or without the optimum cinnamon water extract concentration. A spectrophotometer was used to determine total growth absorbance and planktonic growth. The microtiter plate wells were washed, fixed and stained with crystal violet dye and the absorbance measured to determine biofilm formation. Results: The results indicated that cinnamon water extract was able to inhibit biofilm formation significantly (p<0.05) at 5 mg/ml cinnamon water extract, therefore, 5 mg/ml of cinnamon water extract was recognized as the MIC for S. mutans biofilm formation. When combined with nicotine, cinnamon water extract sub-MIC (2.5 mg/ml) demonstrated a significant inhibitory effect (p<0.05) in biofilm and total absorbance measures at high concentrations of nicotine (8 mg/ml and above). In addition, cinnamon water extract showed a significant effect (p<0.05) at very low concentrations of nicotine (0.25 and 0.5 mg/ml) in all measures (biofilm, planktonic and total absorbance). However, at low concentrations of nicotine (2 and 4 mg/ml), there was a significant increase (p<0.05) in biofilm growth, whereas planktonic growth was significantly (p<0.05) decreased at the same concentrations. Conclusion: These results provided more evidence regarding the negative effects of nicotine and also demonstrated the positive influence of cinnamon water extract in reducing nicotine-induced biofilm formation, which needs be confirmed by in-vivo studies

Action Research Approach in TESOL

Through observation of students behaviour foreign language teachers often seek ways to improve their teaching of a foreign language Teachers teaching of a foreign language observe their students behaviours analyze them identify possible problems propose intervention for the problem and evaluate the results after implementation of the proposed intervention Some solutions succeed others fail When this approach results in a self-reflective spiral of planning acting observing reflecting and re-planning it is called Action Research Mc Niff Whitehead 2002 46 It is a practical approach which aims to develop the process of teaching and learning by empowering participants and extending participation through collaboration Zuber-Skerritt 1991 2 In this paper I will show how Action Research succeed to solve a problem that I have faced in my familiar classroom According to the Action Research approach solving problems of teaching that may happen in TESOL classrooms takes collaboration and much participation Each teacher should play a great and essential role as a collaborator to help students to improve both teaching and learning levels In addition it is important for a teacher to evaluate any proposed solution through assessing the level of the students In fact the levels of the students partly reflect the level of the teacher and her his effort in developing the procession of education School and teachers can be considered two essential factors of the factors of students success Where Fullen 2001 115 argues that educational change depends on what teachers do and think it is as simple and as complex as that Willis reminds us that individual human action is embedded in cultural and structural systems not of the individual s making Willis 1977 Herein lies the value of Action Research for TESOL as a collective selfreflective inquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of t

A Brief Historical Perspective of English in Saudi Arabia

This chapter presents a brief historical perspective of the teaching and learning of the English language in Saudi Arabia. Historically, English was introduced for the first time in Saudi Arabia in the late 1920s, at which time the language was perceived to have little importance and was met with great resistance by society. Indeed, the new language was believed to be a real threat to the Saudis’ Arabic mother language, their culture, customs, and their religion: Islam. Thus, the teaching and learning of English received little attention for approximately seven decades because of the language’s low status in the country. However, a real shift occurred in teaching and learning English in the country after the events of 9/11. Since then, the Saudi government has made massive efforts to promote English, which has resulted in tremendous development in the way in which English is taught ,and its influence in the country. This development has contributed significantly to the enhanced status of English, as well as the appearance of new trends and insights in EFL teaching and learning in Saudi Arabia. Keywords: History of English, Saudi Arabia, EFL/ESL teaching, EFL/ESL learning, petro-linguistics

Effect of Stress Ratio on Fatigue Crack Growth Rate at Notched Hole in 7075-T6 Aluminum Alloy Under Biaxial Fatigue

This research investigates the behavior of fatigue crack growth rate in both laboratory air and saltwater (3.5% NaCl) environments for notched cruciform specimen made from 7075-T6 aluminum alloy sheet at different stress ratios. With biaxility ratio of 1, and frequency of applied load of 10 Hz, the crack growth behavior was investigated under in-plane biaxial tension-tension fatigue with 0.1, 0.5, 0.7 stress ratios and then compared them to study the effect of stress ratio on the crack growth rate. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was used to calculate cyclic variation of stress intensity factors (delta K) at the crack tips. The crack growth rate was observed using optical microscopy. In addition, the test generates more accurate definition of the Walker equation parameters and leads to more accurate prediction of fatigue crack growth rate at different stress ratio. This study shows that there is no effect of the stress ratio on crack path direction. Increase in stress ratio leads to increase in the fatigue crack growth rate under the biaxial loading test. The effective fatigue crack growth rate predicted by Walker equation is very close to the effective fatigue crack growth rate generated by the test in laboratory air and saltwater environments. In the saltwater environment, the corrosion accelerates the crack growth rate

Providing Sharia-Compliant Consumer Protection in Online Contracts: A Case Study of Saudi Arabia

The emergence of modern technology and online selling in the early 1990s led to a significant shift in business practices, as sellers and buyers no longer needed to follow the traditional contracting process. Indeed, the facilitation of online contracts, sales and purchases over the Internet, such as business-to-consumer contracts (B2C), is one of the most significant technological developments of the Internet age. Despite the benefits of online shopping and its increasing popularity among consumers in recent years, online retailing is not without its problems, and the negative consequences can be severe. Consumers are affected by several factors when they purchase a product or service online. In short, compared to offline shopping, greater risk and less trust are expected in an online environment. This has led some global organisations to address the need for supranational consumer protection and alleviate risks to online consumers worldwide. However, such initiatives may not have the desired impact on developing countries, as long as these guidelines are not adopted in their national legislation. The first objective of this study is to investigate the laws regulating online consumer protection in the KSA and to assess whether they have achieved their purposes. A secondary objective is to determine whether or not there is the need for further reform in the legislation of online consumer protection, and if such reform is indicated, how it might be achieved in a way that reflects the needs of a state in the modern world, yet remains consistent with Islamic law. To that aim, the thesis will consider adopting Sharia law's features and take the English consumer protection model as an inspiration to suit the Saudi legal environment to regulate online transactions. Therefore, the best practices and legal principles that come to light from this analysis will then be outlined to fulfil this research's main aim, identifying opportunities for the improvement of consumer protection in Saudi Arabia

Computational Analysis of Antibody Binding Mechanisms to the Omicron RBD of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein: Identification of Epitopes and Hotspots for Developing Effective Therapeutic Strategies

The advent of the Omicron strain of SARS-CoV-2 has elicited apprehension regarding its potential influence on the effectiveness of current vaccines and antibody treatments. The present investigation involved the implementation of mutational scanning analyses to examine the impact of Omicron mutations on the binding affinity of four categories of antibodies that target the Omicron receptor binding domain (RBD) of the Spike protein. The study demonstrates that the Omicron variant harbors 23 unique mutations across the RBD regions I, II, III, and IV. Of these mutations, seven are shared between RBD regions I and II, while three are shared among RBD regions I, II, and III. The findings suggest that the mutations exert a noteworthy influence on the antibodies\u27 binding affinity, especially in Class II and Class III antibodies. Among the mutations, those located at positions R346, L452, and F490 appear to have a particularly notable impact. Multiple mutations were detected at positions F375, Y501, and H505 across all sub-variants of Omicron, indicating their potential significance in evading the immune system. The mutations could potentially bear significant ramifications with regards to immune evasion. The research underscores the significance of continuous observation and scrutiny of viral mutations in order to guide the creation of efficacious treatments for novel strains of SARS-CoV-2