The transferability of Japanese and western production management practices to petrochemical organisations in Saudi Arabia

This thesis seeks to identify the characteristics of Japanese and western management practices concerning product quality, and their transferability to the petrochemical industry in Saudi Arabia. The thesis is divided into seven chapters. Chapter One discusses the purpose and value of this research. Chapter Two introduces the management practices of developing countries and Saudi Arabia in particular, to assist in the understanding of this subject. The experience of western and Japanese companies in transferring their management practices abroad is discussed in Chapter Three. To carry out this study, a model has been developed in Chapter Four, adopted from the theoretical models of Neghandi and Frasada (1971) and Horn, Grubb-Ingram and Masson (1987). This model suggests that product quality can be achieved through improvements in management philosophy, management functions and production management. Chapter Five shows the results of the questionnaire analysis and Chapter Six discusses the findings of the research. Finally, Chapter Seven provide a summary of the research findings which showed both the Japanese and western management practices have contributed considerably to an improvement in product quality in the Saudi petrochemical industry. Both the Japanese and western companies have employed their management practices in their subsidiaries in Saudi Arabia to a considerable extent; however, both Japanese and western practices have been influenced by the business environment in Saudi Arabia to a certain extent

レーダー・クロス・セクションを用いた円柱形状物質内の水分量推定に関する研究

早大学位記番号:新7736早稲田大

Foreigner Talk and Communication Strategies: A Socio-linguistic Study of Interactions with Foreigners in Saudi Arabia

The study of language is as much a part of linguistics as it is of sociolinguistics. After all, language is a social phenomenon and operates within the paradigm of society and culture. Taking off from here, we observed in the course of our informal interviews and interactions with the native and the foreign populations of Saudi Arabia that communication was at a grave loss as neither of the two could arrive at a language that acted as a facilitator rather than a barrier to communication. More specifically, we undertook the study of a new register, ‘Foreigner Talk’ in order to highlight the problem areas in this type of communication set up. Direct empirical data went on to prove our hypotheses correct: Natives who are in constant contact of ‘foreigners’ needed training in linguistics in order to communicate well with the latter and contribute constructively towards building the image of KSA. In the current situation, there is an atmosphere of suspicion and mis-communication leading to loss of image and, at times, finances to the Kingdom of Saudi Arab. We have ventured into making certain recommendations for optimum correction of the imbalance. The researcher is convinced that sustained effort as recommended will positively influence the situation

Parallel Multiphase Navier-Stokes Solver

We study and implement methods to solve the variable density Navier-Stokes equations. More specifically, we study the transport equation with the level set method and the momentum equation using two methods: the projection method and the artificial compressibility method. This is done with the aim of numerically simulating multiphase fluid flow in gravity oil-water-gas separator vessels. The result of the implementation is the parallel Aspen software framework based on the massively parallel deal.II . For the transport equation, we briefly discuss the theory behind it and several techniques to stabilize it, especially the graph laplacian artificial viscosity with higher order elements. Also, we introduce the level set method to model the multiphase flow and study ways to maintain a sharp surface in between phases. For the momentum equation, we give an overview of the two methods and discuss a new projection method with variable time stepping that is second order in time. Then we discuss the new third order in time artificial compressiblity method and present variable density version of it. We also provide a stability proof for the discrete implicit variable density artificial compressibility method. For all the methods we introduce, we conduct numerical experiments for verification, convergence rates, as well as realistic models

Characterisation of the Properties and Performance of Nanofluid Coolants with Analysis of Their Feasibility for Datacentre Cooling

It is a generally accepted belief that the use of nanofluids enhances heat transfer rates in comparison with a traditional fluid and can be considered to be one of the most important energy conservation measures in many industrial applications. Despite increased interest, detailed and systematic studies of nanofluids’ flow and thermal characteristics are limited and their effect on heat transfer is often misunderstood. The concentration of a nanofluid is often chosen independently of the application conditions, nanofluid type or cost and other economic parameters such as the cost of energy and lifetime of the application. This thesis has three main objectives; the first is the measurement of the thermal properties of nanofluids and the proposal of a correlation model for nanofluid viscosity. The results of these measurements show that the nanofluid viscosity depends on the type of nanoparticles and their concentration and the fluid temperature. It is shown that the viscosity increases with increasing nanoparticle concentration and decreases with increasing temperatures over the nanoparticle concentration and temperature ranges investigated. The second objective is concerned with the measurement and evaluation of heat transfer performance and pressure drop of various nanofluids via an experiment using forced convection heat transfer within the turbulent regime. In general, it is shown that the heat transfer coefficient of nanofluids decreases with increasing nanoparticle concentration at a specific flow rate and the base fluid gives higher heat transfer with respect to the nanofluids. In the other hand, Assessing the thermal performance of nanofluids by considering the Nusselt number and its variation with Reynolds number is misleading because both Nusselt number and Reynolds number depend on the nanofluid properties (i.e. thermal conductivity, density and viscosity that are function of the volume fraction). This can lead to a false impression that some nanofluids produce an improvement in heat transfer performance. Moreover, using nanofluid will require additional pumping power to achieve the corresponding base fluid’s Reynolds number. Finally, existing single-phase liquid correlations of the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop are compared and show good agreement in predicting nanofluid behaviour. The third objective aims to determine recommended nanoparticle concentrations of a typical nanofluid used within immersion cooling of a data centre server; this is based on two different designs for immersion cooling by Iceotope at varying Reynolds numbers. This is determined by calculating the heat transfer and pressure drop through the server for various values of the volume fraction of nanoparticles by using a model created within the finite element solver, COMSOL. The server’s total power consumption as a function of its CPU temperature and cooling system, including the increased pumping power required for varying nanofluid concentrations, are predicted and used in a proposed novel methodology to evaluate potential economic trade-offs in utilising nanofluids within an immersed liquid cooled data centre. This methodology is used to calculate the minimum total costs and economically optimum volume fraction of a nanofluid with this type of data centre. The results show that Al2O3-water nanofluids showed the highest thermal performance with respect to other nanofluids because Al2O3 has the highest thermal conductivity, however Al2O3-water nanofluids are the most viscous giving it the highest pressure drop and consequently the highest pumping costs. Under the economic factors used, it is found that the most cost effective fluid for both the server with cooled plate having two parallel tubes and the server with cooled plate having serpentine tube configuration is the base fluid (water)

The role of citation in interdisciplinary discourse: an investigation into citation practices in the journal "Global Environmental Change"

This thesis proposes an innovative model for citation analysis and applies it to 1186 citations derived from twenty papers from one interdisciplinary journal: Global Environmental Change. The main aim of this thesis is to build, not to quantify, a model which facilitates understanding of how citations act, and are acted upon, in citing texts. The model builds on, extends and modifies certain aspects of some existing models on citation form, stance and function. This thesis argues that stance and function are different but related concepts in the analysis of citation. They operate in different directions and, when combined, can reflect the role of citation in the citing text. In order to achieve a fine-grained understanding of the role of citation, citations are analysed within and beyond the level of the statements in which they occur. To achieve this, a new level is proposed for the analysis of citation function: the ‘citation block’. In this thesis, it is argued that citations operate in different directions within and beyond the proposition-level. The current thesis aligns and compares analyses at the clause- and block-levels for every citation. This alignment results in the identification of conventional and unconventional patterns of citing. The model is applied to four sub-corpora of texts from two time periods and representing the more ‘science-like’ and ‘social science-like’ papers in the journal. The text-based analysis demonstrates the complexity of citation practices in interdisciplinary discourse. Overall it is suggested that in this journal the ‘social science’ papers over time have become more similar to the ‘science’ papers. The results also show variation in citation practices between the individual selected papers in each sub-corpus. This variation is attributed to the interdisciplinary nature of GEC. The proposed model has the potential to be used to investigate variation in citation practices beyond interdisciplinary discourse, within and between disciplines or genres

Reproductive biology of wild goldlined seabream, Rhabdosargus sarba, captive breeding and larval development in the Sultanate of Oman

This study investigated the, age, growth, mortality and reproductive biology of wild caught goldlined seabream Rhabdosargus sarba in the Sultanate of Oman, captive spawning of broodstock and larval development and feeding. Age was estimated by counting the opaque rings that formed in the sagittal otoliths. It was evident from the marginal zone analysis that one opaque and one hyaline were deposited annually. Length-age and weight-age data were fitted to the Von Bertalanffy growth function (VBGF), which suggested a difference in growth rate between sexes. Males mature at age zero due to the protandrous nature of this species and length at first maturity was L50%= 19.04cm T.L. Females mature at 1+ years of age and length at first maturity was L50%= 23.41cm T.L. Length at first capture was estimated to be (LC50= 13.3cm) which was below the age at first maturity for male. Length converted catch curves gave an estimated instantaneous mortality rate for the sampling site (Z=0.42) and (Z= 0.39) for the fish sampled at the fish market. This total mortality rate gave an exploitation rate of about E=0.15 at both sampling locations which suggested that R. sarba was fished below optimal levels of exploitation. Ovarian development of wild stocks was evaluated histologically. Oocyte development was classified into seven stages including atresia that was subdivided into four stages. These included previtellogenic, vitellogenic, atretic and postovulation phases of ovarian development. Testis was classified into four stages based on type of cells and their relative abundance, which included immature, developing, active and post-spawning. Testes were found to mature one month in advance of ovaries. Based on histological evidence, the natural spawning season occurred in late December to early January and continued until late February. Gonadosomatic index for male and female peaked in January and decreased sharply following spawning activity. Sterology had proven a useful tool to study on the ovarian dynamics of R. sarba. The level of plasma calcium (Ca2+) was elevated during maturity stage four (early vitellogenic phase) suggesting higher vitellogenin activity during this stage. Its level was 20% higher than of stage two maturity. The dynamics of lipid level and composition in female R. sarba during the reproductive season were also studied. Females experienced lipid depletion in liver, muscles, carcass and visceral fat as a result of ovarian development during the reproductive season. The level of total lipid correlated well with the ovarian stage of maturity (p<0.02). Fatty acid composition and profile of the ovaries at various stages of development also varied during the reproductive season. Breeding of wild stock of R. sarba in captivity was investigated. Spawning occurred after a short captive acclimatisation (two months) period without any artificial induction. Histological and ultrastructural changes in R. sarba larva in early life history were also investigated. Morphological and functional differentiation of the digestive tract and the eye of the larvae took place before the completion of yolk and oil globule absorption. Food particles were observed on the third day after hatching in the rectal area of intestine of R. sarba larvae at the time when the larval vision system appeared to be functional. Rotifer enrichment with lipid emulsions improved larval growth rate and survival as a result of improvement in the level of HUFA (DHA and EPA). The highest R. sarba larval growth (P0.05) in larval survival was observed between feeding the larvae with rotifers enriched in sunflower oil and rotifers fed algae. However, highest R. sarba larval survival (P < 0.05) was obtained while feeding the larvae with rotifers enriched with cod liver oil. Finally it has to be said that R. sarba proven to spawn in captivity and that larval rearing was possible and that it is a candidate species for aquaculture in the Sultanate of Oman. It has to be emphasised that more research could be carried in the future on broodstock management and egg and larval quality in order to reveal more information about the species requirement

Prenatal care perception of Saudi females of childbearing age: an epidemiological study

Background: The purpose of this study is to assess perception of Saudi women of childbearing age regarding prenatal care.Methods: Participants were invited to participate in a voluntary online survey. The brief survey consisted of 15 basic multiple choice questions administered in Arabic, and delivered as a secure link through private social media messaging services. The survey permitted only 1 attempt per user. In order to reach and capture non-respondents, 2 follow-up reminders 10 days apart were sent through the same channels of communication. The survey data was collected and analyzed using the survey software platform, Qualtrics by Qualtrics © LLC 2017.Results: Approximately 9% of participants reported previous pregnancy without use of prenatal care. Nearly 12% of respondents thought that prenatal care is only indicated for malnourished pregnant females, and 7% reported not knowing who prenatal care is specifically indicated for. Nearly 21% reported prenatal care should start after confirmation of pregnancy, 14% thought proper start is anytime within the first 3 months, 8% reported proper start should be after confirmation of healthy pregnancy and 8% reported not sure when to initiate prenatal care. Approximately 12% thought taking prenatal vitamins should be once weekly or some days of the week, while 5% do not advice women to take prenatal vitamins during pregnancy at all.Conclusions: The majority of Saudi women are well educated on prenatal care. However, women in early and late twenties are less aware of proper usage of prenatal care

Ta'awwul-Based Killing in Islamic Jurisprudence

This research is concerned with the problem of ta-awwul-based killing, namely the killing based on the killer's belief in the lawfulness of his act of killing; this is different from the crime of premeditated murder and killing by mistake. The research aims to identify and categorize Islamic rulings on ta-awwul killing that suggests waiving the death penalty. It also aims to establish legal requirements that maintain as a top priority the sanctity of human life, while accommodating the ta-awwul argument. Ta-awwul–based killing is considered to be eligible for waiving the death penalty. Shari'ah takes the killer's ta-awwul into consideration; yet, for a ta-awwul to be credible, it has to fulfill specific conditions, substantiated by strong evidences. The research follows an inductive approach, identifying the categories and branches of ta-awwul-based killings. It identifies ten categories, and it studies each category in detail, pointing out any disagreements among scholars. The research explores possible ways of protecting lives from the danger of ta-awwul-based killing so that Shri'ah's definite regard for the sanctity of human life can be kept a top priority, without violation. It identifies a set of Shari'ah requirements that control ta-awwul consideration. The requirements allow for taking the ta-awwul argument into account, without jeopardizing Shar'ah's main concern for the sanctity of human life