The shadow and the substance :architectural education and its relation to practice with special reference to Saudi Arabia

PhD ThesisThis study takes as its starting point the generally accepted fact that there exists a gap between architectural education and architectural practice in Saudi Arabia. It seeks to answert he following researchq uestions: What is the magnitude of the gap? How does the gap manifest itselp. Where do the causes of the gap lie? How can the problem of the gap be tackled? What further research needs to be done on the question of the training/practice gap? The researcher undertook a pilot study to explore the nature of the problem, followed by a more extensive field trip to Egypt and Saudi Arabia to gather data. A qualitative methodology, a descriptive approach, a survey type of research design, and an interview data collection technique were adopted. In order to set the field trip results in context, the study outlines the evolution of the architecture profession and its relationship to the training of architects through history, with special reference to architectural education in three countries, the UK, the USA, and Egypt, which in different ways have had a particularly strong influence on Saudi architectural education. In view of the basic premiss of the study architectural practice in Saudi Arabia is also examined so as to establish its relationship with the existing architectural schools. What practice does - or in the case of Saudi Arabia perhaps fails to do - affects what happens in the schools and affects the structure, content, and delivery of the curriculum. Architectural education in Saudi Arabia is described, set in the context of the Saudi educational system in general, as well as in relationship to architectural practice. An account of the emergence of the Saudi architecture schools is given, and details of their structure, students, teaching staff and curriculum are provided, in order to aid the analysis of field trip results. Using the data from the survey, a thorough and extensive analysis of the researcher's field trip research is presented to show how the gap between education and practice manifests itself with respect to the curriculum of Saudi architecture schools, to the teaching approaches used, and to architectural practice in the country. The survey data forms the basis for the study of the causes of the education/practice gap. The findings of the study are that the gap manifests itself in various ways: the fact that new architecture graduates are unprepared for what they meet in practice, in particular that the abstract three-dimensional concept of design they are introduced to in architecture school is far removed from the reality of the building process; that they are unfamiliar with office and managemenpt rocedures; that they have no awareness of the financial and other constraints that attend architectural practice. In other words the causes of the gap between architectural education and practice are found to lie in education in that much of the curriculum is irrelevant to Saudi practice, in that the curriculum lacks integration, in that teachers are distanced from practice because they are not permitted to practise, in thaf teaching techniques are unimaginative and inefficient, and in that there is no effective provision for practical training. Further causes are found to lie in practice, in that practice is not properly organised - there being no effective' professional body to control practice, to advise legislative authorities, to establish codes and standards for the profession to follow (and for architectural education to aim at), to accredit architecture school programmes, and to set up and oversee the registration of architects. The study makes recommendations that would address the problem of the gap between architectural education and practice, in particular the establishment of an effective professional body, the overhaul of the education curriculum, and the setting up of a proper system of practical training similar to that found in Anglo-Saxon countries. The study makes suggestions for further research,a nd provides appendices containing the full text of the researcher's fieldwork interviews and an account of the psychology of learning which may provide ideas for further research.Government of Saudi Arabia: Umm Al-Qura University

Full On-chip low dropout voltage regulator with an enhanced transient response for low power systems

A full on chip low Dropout Voltage Regulator (LDO) with fast transient response and small capacitor compensation circuit is proposed. The novel technique is implemented to detect the variation voltage at the output of LDO and enable the proposed fast detector amplifier (FDA) to improve load transient response of 50mA load step. The large external capacitor used in Conventional LDO Regulators is removed allowing for greater power system integration for system-on-chip (SoC) applications. The 1.6-V Full On-Chip LDO voltage regulator with a power supply of 1.8 V was designed and simulated in the 0.18µm CMOS technology, consuming only 14 µA of ground current with a fast settling-time LNR(Line Regulation) and LOR(Load regulation) of 928ns and 883ns respectively while the rise and fall times in LNR and LOR is 500ns

Doctor-shopping behaviour amongst adult patients attending family medicine clinic Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan

Introduction: Doctor-shopping refers to the changing of doctor without professional referral in a single episode of illness. It leads to some health risk and social problems. Objectives: To determine the prevalence and associated factors of doctorshopping behaviour amongst adult patients attending Family Medicine Clinic (FMC) Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM). Methodology: It was a cross-sectional study conducted on 442 adult patients aged 18 years and above. It was conducted as face to face interview using questionnaires. Data were analysed using SPSS version 11. Results: Fifty-six percents of these patients met our criteria for doctor-shopping patients. Most of the patients went to general practitioners for consultation prior to FMC visit. One-fifth of the respondents went for alternative treatment for the current illness episode. The main reason for changing doctors was due to no improvement of the illness. Doctor-shopping behaviour was found to be significantly associated with older age group and employed patients. Doctorshopping patients were found to be high among married people, females and patients with low education level, but the associations were not significant. The significant associated factors of doctor-shopping behaviour were chronic duration of illness, and advice to seek treatment from somebody. Conclusion: Prevalence of doctor-shopping behaviour amongst adult patients attending FMC was high. It is important to recognise and anticipate problems related to doctor-shopping behaviour. We need to emphasise on the importance of a good doctor-patient relationship, and give accurate explanation and health education to maintain a proper continuity of care

L’USAGE DES OBJETS CONNECTES AU MAROC : VERS LA MISE EN PLACE D’UN MODELE CONCEPTUEL

 Big Data, Intelligence Artificielle, Machine Learning, Chatbot, etc. Autant de concepts qui prennent de plus en plus de place dans notre quotidien et qui permettent de créer des produits et des services toujours plus innovants et personnalisés. Ce passage accéléré au tout digital qui a vu l'extension ces dernières années d'Internet à des choses et à des lieux du monde physique (Internet des Objets ou IdO), déplace encore plus le marketing traditionnel vers le marketing numérique, poussant déjà certains auteurs à ne plus seulement parler de Marketing 2.0 ou 3.0, mais Marketing 4.0 (Kotler et al., 2017). Ainsi, et à travers la présentation des résultats d’une étude empirique, ce travail tente de mieux comprendre l’usage des objets connectés au Maroc, première étape vers la mise en place d’un modèle conceptuel sur le sujet.

VALEUR DE CONSOMMATION DES COSMETIQUES FAITS MAISON CHEZ LA FEMME MAROCAINE

La prise de conscience chez la femme marocaine des risques liés aux substances chimiques contenues dans les produits cosmétiques la rende de plus en plus avertie et exigeante vis-à-vis de la composition de ces produits. Par ailleurs, la tendance vers la valorisation des produits naturels et la diffusion du Do It Yourself (DIY) contribuent également à l’évolution de ses comportements. Cette coexistence entre le moderne et le traditionnel, entre le conventionnel et le naturel nous questionne sur les choix et les usages de la consommatrice marocaine. Ainsi, ce travail tente de mieux comprendre la valeur de consommation des produits cosmétiques faits maison chez la femme marocaine en proposant d’identifier les sources de valeur accordées aux cosmétiques faits maison à partir d’une quarantaine d’entretiens semi-directifs réalisés avec des consommatrices habitant la côte atlantique du Royaume du Maroc

An evaluation on information management: A case study of a national public organization

As the business environment nowadays faces stiff competition and as information and communication technology increase in sophistication and complexity, organizations are facing even more challenges and difficulties in managing information. Therefore, it is vital for organizations to evaluate their information management on regular basis in order to gain competitive advantages. This paper presents an overview of an evaluation on information management involving information storage, information processing, and information retrieval in a national public organization. The primary data was collected by means of field visits, series of observation and semi-structured interviews with key personnel of the organization. This paper also discusses on complications encountered when having different systems with different platforms, information security considerations when dealing with ISs and technologies outsourcing projects, and consequences of having very dependent on outside vendors. It further suggests several recommendations to improve the information management of such organization

مقاصد الشريعة في الوصيّة : دراسة تحليلية

ملخص البحث: الوصيّة كانت معروفة قبل مجيء الإسلام، ولكن الإسلام جاء عليها بشروط لم تكن موجودة، فقد كان صاحب المال يعطي من ماله وصية لمن يشاء ويحرم من يشاء؛ لذلك لم تكن للوصية قيمة إلى أن جاء الإسلام وأقرها بشروط معينة، وقد اقتضت حكمة التشريع الإسلامي مراعاة المصالح العام للناس في تشريعاته المتعددة لتشريع الإسلام الخالد، يهدف دائمًا إلى جلب كل ما تحققت فائدته، ودرء كل ما تحققت مفسدته، ومن هذا التشريع الوصية، وذلك لحاجة الناس إليها، فهذه الورقة تأتي لتجلي هذا المقصد من مقاصد الدين الحنيف، حيث إن الشارع لم يغلق باب الخير ويمنع تدارك ما فات فأجاز للعباد التصرف في جزء من مالهم ليعوّضوا ذلك التقصير، وليكون زيادة في حسناتهم قبل انقضاء آجالهم

A novel dynamic replica creation mechanism for Data Grids

The abstract Data Grid is an infrastructure that manages huge amount of data files, and provides intensive computational resources across geographically distributed collaboration.A key concept in Data Grids is replication of data, whereby multiple copies of data are stored at different geographical locations, making access to data faster and more reliable.However, replication is also bounded by two factors: the size of storage available at different sites within the Data Grid and the bandwidth between these sites. In this paper, we proposed a dynamic replication mechanism termed as Replica Number Mechanism (RNM) that determine the optimal number of replicas to be created or deleted with the aim of minimizing the overall resource usage (network bandwidth and storage usage).OptorSim is used to evaluate the performance of the proposed mechanism. The simulation results show that RNM requires less execution time and consumes less network usage and storage usage compared to existing approaches of Simple Optimizer and LFU (Least Frequently Used)

Numerical Modeling of Soil Erosion with Three Wall Laws at the Soil-Water Interface

In the area of civil engineering and especially hydraulic structures, we find multiple anomalies that weakens mechanical characteristics of dikes, one of the most common anomalies is erosion phenomenon specifically pipe flow erosion which causes major damage to dam structures. This phenomenon is caused by a hole which is the result of the high pressure of water that facilitate the soil migration between the two sides of the dam. It becomes only a question of time until the diameter of the hole expands and causes destruction of the dam structure. This problem pushed physicist to perform many tests to quantify erosion kinetics, one of the most used tests to have logical and trusted results is the HET (hole erosion test). Meanwhile there is not much research regarding the models that govern these types of tests. Objectives: In this paper we modeled the HET using modeling software based on the Navier Stokes equations, this model tackles also the singularity of the interface structure/water using wall laws for a flow turbulence. Methods/Analysis: The studied soil in this paper is a clay soil, clay soil has the property of containing water more than most other soils. Three wall laws were applied on the soil / water interface to calculate the erosion rate in order to avoid the rupture of such a structure. The modlisitation was made on the ANSYS software. Findings: In this work, two-dimensional modeling was carried of the soil.in contrast of the early models which is one-dimensional model, the first one had shown that the wall-shear stress which is not uniform along the whole wall. Then using the linear erosion law to predict the non-uniform erosion along the whole length. The previous study found that the wall laws have a significant impact on the wall-shear stress, which affects the erosion interface in the fluid/soil, particularly at the hole's extremes. Our experiment revealed that the degraded profile is not uniform. Doi: 10.28991/cej-2021-03091742 Full Text: PD