Carbon Neutrality Implementation Practices and Challenges in the School Environment in the Sultanate of Oman from the Point of View of Principals and Teachers

ملخص: هدفت الدراسة الكشف عن ممارسات تطبيق الحياد الكربوني، وتحدياته في البيئة المدرسية، بسلطنة عمان من وجهة نظر مديري المدارس والمعلمين، حيث اعتمدت الدراسة المنهج المختلط، ولتحقيق الأهداف المرجوة منها؛ اُستُخدِمت أداتان لجمع البيانات: أولاهما الاستبيان، وقد طبق على (412) معلم ومعلمة، وثانيهما المقابلات البؤرية، وطُبقت على عينة مكونة من (12) مديرًا ومديرة، و(12) معلمًا ومعلمة من مدارس الحلقة الثانية للتعليم الأساسي في محافظتي جنوب الباطنة والداخلية بسلطنة عمان. كشفت نتائج الدراسة عن وجود ممارسات بدرجة متوسطة في تطبيق الحياد الكربوني في البيئة المدرسية من وجهة نظر المديرين والمعلمين، كما كشفت عن وجود بعض التحديات بدرجة كبيرة، مثل: قلة الدعم المالي، والوسائل التعليمية المتاحة، كما أظهرت النتائج عدم وجود فروق دالة إحصائية في وجهات نظر المعلمين تعزى للجنس والتخصص والمحافظة التعليمية.  وفي ضوء النتائج السابقة، أوصت الدراسة بتعزيز الوعي بأهمية الحياد الكربوني لجميع العاملين في البيئة المدرسية، وتدريب المعلمين على استراتيجيات تدريس تتناسب والممارسة العملية لتطبيق الحياد الكربوني في التعليم المدرسي.Abstract: The study aimed to explore the practices of implementing carbon-neutral practices and its challenges in the school environment in the Sultanate of Oman from the viewpoint of principals and teachers. The study adopted the mixed method approach, using two data collection tools to achieve its objectives. The first tool was a questionnaire applied to (412) male and female teachers, besides focus group interviews with a sample consisting of (12) male and female principals and (12) male and female teachers, from cycle II basic education schools in the governorates of Al Batinah South and Al Dakhiliyah. The results showed that carbon neutrality practices are moderately practiced in school education from the point of view of principals and teachers. The results also revealed that there are some major challenges, such as the lack of financial support and available educational means. Additionally, the results showed that there are no statistically significant differences in teachers’ viewpoints based on gender, specialization, and educational governorates. Considering this, the study recommended promoting awareness of the importance of carbon neutrality among all workers in the school environment and training teachers on appropriate teaching strategies for the practice of carbon neutrality in school education

Non-parametric kernel estimation for symmetric Hawkes processes. Application to high frequency financial data

We define a numerical method that provides a non-parametric estimation of the kernel shape in symmetric multivariate Hawkes processes. This method relies on second order statistical properties of Hawkes processes that relate the covariance matrix of the process to the kernel matrix. The square root of the correlation function is computed using a minimal phase recovering method. We illustrate our method on some examples and provide an empirical study of the estimation errors. Within this framework, we analyze high frequency financial price data modeled as 1D or 2D Hawkes processes. We find slowly decaying (power-law) kernel shapes suggesting a long memory nature of self-excitation phenomena at the microstructure level of price dynamics.Comment: 6 figure

Non-parametric kernel estimation for symmetric Hawkes processes. Application to high frequency financial data

We define a numerical method that provides a non-parametric estimation of the kernel shape in symmetric multivariate Hawkes processes. This method relies on second order statistical properties of Hawkes processes that relate the covariance matrix of the process to the kernel matrix. The square root of the correlation function is computed using a minimal phase recovering method. We illustrate our method on some examples and provide an empirical study of the estimation errors. Within this framework, we analyze high frequency financial price data modeled as 1D or 2D Hawkes processes. We find slowly decaying (power-law) kernel shapes suggesting a long memory nature of self-excitation phenomena at the microstructure level of price dynamics.