The Challenges and Opportunities of Implementing an Islam-Based Education System in Canada’s Multicultural Society: The Case of the British Columbia Muslim School

Abstract This dissertation explores how the British Columbia Muslim School (BCMS) re-sponds to the tension between preserving and promoting an Islamic worldview and values and the challenge to correspond to the norms and values of the dominant soci-ety in the context of Canada’s multicultural society. The dissertation further focuses on how the school teaches students the principles of Islam to strengthen their faith and identity while providing a safe environment in which to practice their faith and adopt an Islamic way of life. It also discusses the challenges faced by students and teachers of the BCMS in practicing Islam in public. In addition, the dissertation analyses perspectives on developing multicultural com-petence; how the BCMS deals with the issue of isolation, and the compatibility of an Islamic education with Canada’s multicultural system. This dissertation argues for the development of a more open and inclusive Islamic education curriculum for the BCMS as an alternative to the present exclusive cur-riculum that, as Ramadan (2004) observes, emphasises the differences between Islam and the mainstream society. If there is a hope of creating better integrated students, the Islamic education curriculum should find a balance between preserving students’ beliefs and Islamic identity, and enhancing their multicultural competence. To this end, the Islamic education program should expand the concept of respect to in-clude non-Muslims’ beliefs and cultures, and define good Islamic practices to include good citizenship in the multicultural context. In return, this dissertation argues, Canada’s public schools, government agencies, and media outlets should develop policies aimed at challenging Islamophobia and present Islam from a perspective of peace and social justice, and not from the nega-tive images which present Islam as a religion based on extremism (Zine, 2004). Finally, the dissertation offers some recommendations for finding a balance between preserving students’ faith and identity, and enhancing their multicultural competence

Support Vector Regression Based S-transform for Prediction of Single and Multiple Power Quality Disturbances

This paper presents a novel approach using Support Vector Regression (SVR) based S-transform to predict the classes of single and multiple power quality disturbances in a three-phase industrial power system. Most of the power quality disturbances recorded in an industrial power system are non-stationary and comprise of multiple power quality disturbances that coexist together for only a short duration in time due to the contribution of the network impedances and types of customers’ connected loads. The ability to detect and predict all the types of power quality disturbances encrypted in a voltage signal is vital in the analyses on the causes of the power quality disturbances and in the identification of incipient fault in the networks. In this paper, the performances of two types of SVR based S-transform, the non-linear radial basis function (RBF) SVR based S-transform and the multilayer perceptron (MLP) SVR based S-transform, were compared for their abilities in making prediction for the classes of single and multiple power quality disturbances. The results for the analyses of 651 numbers of single and multiple voltage disturbances gave prediction accuracies of 86.1% (MLP SVR) and 93.9% (RBF SVR) respectively. Keywords: Power Quality, Power Quality Prediction, S-transform, SVM, SV

Nurses' Experiences of Cultural and Language Barriers to Patient Safety and Quality Care during the Hajj Season

Context: Language and cultural barriers between patients and nurses can contribute to patient safety, dissatisfaction, and poor quality of care, especially with Hajj patients. Effective communication between patients and nurses is key to safe and quality nursing care. Multicultural and multi-language barriers stand in the way of this effective communication, so an in-depth study is needed to describe this phenomenon based on nurses' perspective. Aim: This research aims to identify issues and challenges related to the cultural and language differences between patients and nurses during the Hajj season and to describe nurses' experiences in providing care in a multicultural and multi-language healthcare setting during the Hajj season. Methods: Qualitative descriptive design. Five Hospitals in Makkah Health clusters were selected for this study. A purposive sample of 50 nurses was recruited for this study. Data collection Procedure including Audio-recorded interview using semi-structured questionnaires. Results: Most participants identified language differences in their caring experience for Hajj patients. Because the participants felt unable to communicate with patients effectively, the language barrier affected nursing care. Despite the challenges of taking care of patients with different cultures, the majority of the staff feel it is a good experience for them. The last major theme identified in the study was the understanding of trans-cultural nursing. Most participants were honest enough to tell that they do not know at all that transcultural nursing means. Some participants were familiar with the term but were unsure what it meant or how to explain it, and a few knew the term and its concept. Conclusion: Nurses had difficulty communicating with patients due to the language barrier. Providing an interpreter or translator, seeking assistance from the patient's relations officer, and using technology such as Google Translate to address this issue are all possible solutions. The study recommends addressing the cultural barriers, al

New Multiplexing Technique Based On Return-To-Zero Duty-Cycles

The ever increasing demand for higher speed data transmission is now accelerated more than ever, derived by the requirements of new applications that require very high bandwidths. The huge amount bandwidth available on transmission links such as optical fibers is shared by multiple users using multiplexing techniques. Although commercially available multiplexing techniques help utilizing transmission bandwidth, they are yet to exploit the full bandwidth available due to the speed bottleneck imposed by electronics. To better utilize the transmission bandwidth and release the electronic bottleneck this study proposes a multiplexing technique based on different Return-to-Zero (RZ) duty-cycles. Different users are assigned different RZ duty-cycles. These RZ signals modulate a Continuous Wave CW laser carrier before being multiplexed together using passive couplers. The resulting multiplexed signal forms a multilevel step-down signal. This feature enables channel demultiplexing to be performed electronically at single user baud rate, which is very economic. In this thesis the system design is developed and implemented in the optical domain.Theoretical study of the system limitations is also presented. Due to cost, time, and flexibility constraints, OptiSystems and MATLAB simulators are used in the design and implementation of the proposed technique and to evaluate the performance of the system under different configurations. The system’s performance is investigated back-to-back and after transmission over Standard Single Mode Fiber (SSMF). The system tolerance to signal impairments is investigated. The impairments considered in this study are the dispersion, fiber nonlinearities and amplifier noise. The system tolerance to chromatic dispersion is found to be very poor compared to Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) systems. To reduce the effect of dispersion the study proposes a synchronization technique that gave four times improved dispersion tolerance. The use of dispersion compensating techniques is also recommended as they completely eliminate the dispersion effect. The system is affected by two main nonlinear effects; Self Phase Modulation (SPM) and Stimulated Brillouin Scattering (SBS). Simulation results investigation showed that dispersion pre-compensation reduces the SPM effect and raises the maximum power limit set by this nonlinear phenomenon. This thesis makes two primary contributions. First, this thesis introduces the theory and working principle of the duty-cycle division multiplexing technique which is both economic and less complex than conventional multiplexing techniques. Second, the thesis evaluates the performance of the proposed technique for different design configurations and signal impairment

Factorial microarray analysis of zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha: Dreissenidae, Bivalvia) adhesion

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The zebra mussel (<it>Dreissena polymorpha</it>) has been well known for its expertise in attaching to substances under the water. Studies in past decades on this underwater adhesion focused on the adhesive protein isolated from the byssogenesis apparatus of the zebra mussel. However, the mechanism of the initiation, maintenance, and determination of the attachment process remains largely unknown.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, we used a zebra mussel cDNA microarray previously developed in our lab and a factorial analysis to identify the genes that were involved in response to the changes of four factors: temperature (Factor A), current velocity (Factor B), dissolved oxygen (Factor C), and byssogenesis status (Factor D). Twenty probes in the microarray were found to be modified by one of the factors. The transcription products of four selected genes, DPFP-BG20_A01, EGP-BG97/192_B06, EGP-BG13_G05, and NH-BG17_C09 were unique to the zebra mussel foot based on the results of quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). The expression profiles of these four genes under the attachment and non-attachment were also confirmed by qRT-PCR and the result is accordant to that from microarray assay. The <it>in situ </it>hybridization with the RNA probes of two identified genes DPFP-BG20_A01 and EGP-BG97/192_B06 indicated that both of them were expressed by a type of exocrine gland cell located in the middle part of the zebra mussel foot.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results of this study suggested that the changes of <it>D. polymorpha </it>byssogenesis status and the environmental factors can dramatically affect the expression profiles of the genes unique to the foot. It turns out that the factorial design and analysis of the microarray experiment is a reliable method to identify the influence of multiple factors on the expression profiles of the probesets in the microarray; therein it provides a powerful tool to reveal the mechanism of zebra mussel underwater attachment.</p

Detection of Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia virus (VHSV) from the leech Myzobdella lugubris Leidy, 1851

The leech Myzobdella lugubris is widespread in the Lake Erie Watershed, especially Lake St. Clair. However, its role in pathogen transmission is not fully understood. In this same watershed, several widespread fish mortalities associated with the Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia virus (VHSV) were recorded. Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia is an emerging disease in the Great Lakes Basin that is deadly to the fish population, yet little is known about its mode of transmission. To assess the potential role of M. lugubris in VHSV transmission, leeches were collected from Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie and pooled into samples of five. Cell culture and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were used to determine the presence of the virus and its identity. Results showed that 57 of the 91 pooled leech samples were positive by cell culture for VHSV and 66 of the 91 pooled leech samples were positive by RT-PCR for the VHSV. Two representative virus isolates were sequenced for further genetic confirmation and genotype classification. VHSV detected within M. lugubris was homologous to the Great Lakes strain of VHSV genotype IVb. This is the first record of the VHSV being detected from within a leech, specifically M. lugubris, and suggests the potential of M. lugubris being involved in VHSV transmission

Structural Efficiency of Steel Stiffening Deck Systems in Suspension Bridges Due to Gravity Loads

In this paper, suspended stiffened decks in suspension bridges are considered. Three steel deck-stiffening systems are compared structurally; the plate girder, the box girder and the stiffening truss. A three-span continuous suspension bridge model is considered. Analysis is made by the second order non-linear deflection theory in its linearized form. Developed software is used for the analysis to determine the induced tension in the cable, moments, shears and deflections of the girders for any general live load case. AASHTO criteria for steel girders are adopted. AASHTO highway live loads -HL 93- are applied to Khartoum-Tuti Suspension Bridge in Khartoum, Sudan for each type of the stiffening systems. Ten load cases are considered and discussed. Results have shown that the most efficient type to resist gravity loads is the stiffening truss, followed by the box girder and last is the plate girde

Detection of Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia Virus (VHSV) from Diporeia spp. (Pontoporeiidae, Amphipoda) in the Laurentian Great Lakes, USA

The mode of viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) transmission in the Great Lakes basin is largely unknown. In order to assess the potential role of macroinvertebrates in VHSV transmission, Diporeia spp., a group of amphipods that are preyed upon by a number of susceptible Great Lakes fishes, were collected from seven locations in four of the Great Lakes and analyzed for the presence of VHSV. It was demonstrated that VHSV is present in some Diporeia spp. samples collected from lakes Ontario, Huron, and Michigan, but not from Lake Superior. Phylogenetic comparison of partial nucleoprotein (N) gene sequences (737 base pairs) of the five isolates to sequences of 13 other VHSV strains showed the clustering of Diporeia spp. isolates with the VHSV genotype IVb. This study reports the first incidence of a fish-pathogenic rhabdovirus being isolated from Diporeia, or any other crustacean and underscores the role macroinvertebrates may play in VHSV ecology