Cultural intelligence and leadership style in the education sector

Purpose: Schools in UAE are multicultural in nature. In this context, cultural intelligence (CQ) is a tool, which can increase an individual’s ability to interact with people outside his/her culture. The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions of the school leaders regarding the key influences of cultural intelligence on their ability to adapt their leadership style in the Abu Dhabi Education Sector. Design/methodology/approach: An extensive review of the literature was carried out to acknowledge the cultural intelligence and leadership style adaptability concepts. This research has adopted a qualitative method of inquiry. Data for the study have been collected from three focus groups with 14 schools leaders in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Findings: This pilot study reveals that cultural intelligence has some influence on the school leaders’ ability to adapt their leadership style within a diverse work environment. This influence is complex in nature and multiple factors have been identified. Research limitations/implications: The main limitations of this study are associated with the small sample size. Regarding the implications, while this study was conducted in a UAE cultural context, it can be extended to other Gulf countries. Future research should prompt educational leaders, administrators, students, and research academics to further consider the impact of cultural intelligence on leadership style. Practical implications: This study contributes towards cultural intelligence literature. Schools should provide cultural training to managers before appointing them to leadership positions, which helps in understanding the culture which they are going to operate in, and effectively manage their drives, workforce, students, and the community. Originality/value: The paper highlights six core factors that influence the ability of school leaders to adapt their leadership style in culturally diverse environments. These preliminary factors need to be examined further to validate the dimensions of leadership adaptability in various contexts

Planning Library Orientations

The number of international students studying in the United States continues to grow and shows no signs of slowing (“Open Doors 2016 Executive Summary,” n.d.). American universities, including academic libraries, are striving to better serve this population and paving the way for innovative partnerships and outreach programs. Although located in the United Arab Emirates, New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Library is no different, with a vast majority of students coming from countries around the world. To better orient these diverse students to the academic library, the NYUAD Library created an innovative, evidence-based orientation program focused on campus collaboration, staff training, assessment, cultural awareness, and library instruction. Our goal, like many libraries, is to better orient our students to the academic library

The Emirates at 2050: Balancing Development and Environmental Stewardship

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) faces the challenge of balancing rapid economic development with environmental preservation and conservation in the Anthropocene era. The nation’s unique ecosystems, characterized by arid desert, rugged mountains, and diverse marine habitats, are vulnerable to disturbances such as urbanization, habitat degradation, groundwater extraction and climate change. To chart a more sustainable course for the Emirates by 2050, the paper proposes policy recommendations such as adopting a national strategy for sustainable development, strengthening environmental policies, investing in urban planning and design, promoting sustainable water management, encouraging use of nature-based solutions, addressing climate change, fostering environmental education, supporting research in environmental sciences, encouraging national and regional cooperation, promoting sustainable business practices in the private sector, and monitoring the progress of environmental policies. By embracing a vision of development that respects the natural environment and safeguards its plant and animal life, the UAE can demonstrate its commitment and serve as a model for other nations to follow, becoming a shining example of responsible development by 2050

Protecting Important Sites for Biodiversity Contributes to Meeting Global Conservation Targets

Abstract Protected areas (PAs) are a cornerstone of conservation efforts and now cover nearly 13% of the world's land surface, with the world's governments committed to expand this to 17%. However, as biodiversity continues to decline, the effectiveness of PAs in reducing the extinction risk of species remains largely untested. We analyzed PA coverage and trends in species' extinction risk at globally significant sites for conserving birds (10,993 Important Bird Areas, IBAs) and highly threatened vertebrates and conifers (588 Alliance for Zero Extinction sites, AZEs) (referred to collectively hereafter as 'important sites'). Species occurring in important sites with greater PA coverage experienced smaller increases in extinction risk over recent decades: the increase was half as large for bird species with.50% of the IBAs at which they occur completely covered by PAs, and a third lower for birds, mammals and amphibians restricted to protected AZEs (compared with unprotected or partially protected sites). Globally, half of the important sites for biodiversity conservation remain unprotected (49% of IBAs, 51% of AZEs). While PA coverage of important sites has increased over time, the proportion of PA area covering important sites, as opposed to less important land, has declined (by 0.45-1.14% annually since 1950 for IBAs and 0.79-1.49% annually for AZEs). Thus, while appropriately located PAs may slow the rate at which species are driven towards extinction, recent PA network expansion has under-represented important sites. We conclude that better targeted expansion of PA networks would help to improve biodiversity trends

An epidemiological study of a patient population, triage category allocations and principal diagnosis within the emergency centres of a private healthcare group in the Emirate of Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Aim: To describe, compare and correlate the number of patients seen, their demographics, triage category allocations and principal diagnosis in four emergency centres; to better understand the patient population and triage practices in this setting. Design: An observational, cross-sectional, epidemiological study. Methods: Electronic medical records were retrospectively evaluated from patients triaged in each of the four emergency centres over six months. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the patient demographics and variance between triage category allocations. Results: A total of 56,984 patient records were captured, with an equal gender split and the workforce being the largest patient population (20–50 years). Acute upper respiratory infection was the most prolific diagnosis, and lower acuity triage categories were allocated the most. There were inconsistencies in the application of triage systems between the emergency centres, the most obvious being the variance in triage system selection and application

Protecting Important Sites for Biodiversity Contributes to Meeting Global Conservation Targets

Abstract Protected areas (PAs) are a cornerstone of conservation efforts and now cover nearly 13% of the world's land surface, with the world's governments committed to expand this to 17%. However, as biodiversity continues to decline, the effectiveness of PAs in reducing the extinction risk of species remains largely untested. We analyzed PA coverage and trends in species' extinction risk at globally significant sites for conserving birds (10,993 Important Bird Areas, IBAs) and highly threatened vertebrates and conifers (588 Alliance for Zero Extinction sites, AZEs) (referred to collectively hereafter as 'important sites'). Species occurring in important sites with greater PA coverage experienced smaller increases in extinction risk over recent decades: the increase was half as large for bird species with.50% of the IBAs at which they occur completely covered by PAs, and a third lower for birds, mammals and amphibians restricted to protected AZEs (compared with unprotected or partially protected sites). Globally, half of the important sites for biodiversity conservation remain unprotected (49% of IBAs, 51% of AZEs). While PA coverage of important sites has increased over time, the proportion of PA area covering important sites, as opposed to less important land, has declined (by 0.45-1.14% annually since 1950 for IBAs and 0.79-1.49% annually for AZEs). Thus, while appropriately located PAs may slow the rate at which species are driven towards extinction, recent PA network expansion has under-represented important sites. We conclude that better targeted expansion of PA networks would help to improve biodiversity trends

A catalog of new Blazar candidates with Open Universe by High School students

Blazars are active galactic nuclei whose ultra-relativistic jets are coaligned with the observer direction. They emit throughout the whole e.m. spectrum, from radio waves to VHE gamma rays. Not all blazars are discovered. In this work, we propose a catalog of 54 new candidates based on the association of HE gamma ray emission and radio, X-ray an optical signatures. The relevance of this work is also that it was performed by four high school students from the Liceo Scientifico Statale Ugo Morin in Venice, Italy using the open-source platform Open Universe, in collaboration with the University of Padova. The framework of the activity is the Italian MIUR PCTO programme. The success of this citizen-science experience and results are hereafter reported and discussed.Comment: Proceedings of the 12th Cosmic Ray International Symposium (CRIS 2022), 12-16 September 2022, Naples (Italy). Send correspondence to: [email protected], [email protected]

Determination of nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone, and ammonia in ambient air using the passive sampling method associated with ion chromatographic and potentiometric analyses

Concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3), and ammonia (NH3) were determined in the ambient air of Al-Ain city over a year using the passive sampling method associated with ion chromatographic and potentiometric detections. IVL samplers were used for collecting nitrogen and sulfur dioxides whereas Ogawa samplers were used for collecting ozone and ammonia. Five sites representing the industrial, traffic, commercial, residential, and background regions of the city were monitored in the course of this investigation. Year average concentrations of ≤59.26, 15.15, 17.03, and 11.88 μg/m3 were obtained for NO2, SO2, O3, and NH3, respectively. These values are lower than the maxima recommended for ambient air quality standards by the local environmental agency and the world health organization. Results obtained were correlated with the three meteorological parameters: humidity, wind speed, and temperature recorded during the same period of time using the paired t test, probability p values, and correlation coefficients. Humidity and wind speed showed insignificant effects on NO2, SO2, O3, and NH3 concentrations at 95% confidence level. Temperature showed insignificant effects on the concentrations of NO2 and NH3 while significant effects on SO2 and O3 were observed. Nonlinear correlations (R2 ≤ 0.722) were obtained for the changes in measured concentrations with changes in the three meteorological parameters. Passive samplers were shown to be not only precise (RSD ≤ 13.57) but also of low cost, low technical demand, and expediency in monitoring different locations