Politics, terrorism and the news media: a case study of Saudi Arabia (2006-2007).

With the enormous development of communications and the transmission of national news to all parts of the world in seconds, it has become important to consider the treatment of national crises in the media and the challenges that may be encountered in the production of news during such crises. This is especially important in relation to the transnational problem of terrorism. This study chooses to examine the ways in which the Saudi Arabian national media have treated terrorism news between the period 2006-2007, given the complex position of Saudi Arabia in relation to Islamist terrorism. Therefore, it will focus its theoretical part on examining the political, economic, ideological and social factors that may affect the shaping of news production, and on terrorism news in particular. Then, it will move on to studying the different theories of news framing, and the framing of terrorism news. Then, the empirical part will be focused on content analysis of different news-related stories of terrorism, taken from different Saudi sources, based on Iyengar's theory of news coverage, as well as our own set of categories in order to reveal a deeper explanation of news coverage of terrorism in the Saudi media. This importance of this study comes from the fact that very few studies have focused on examining the performance of the Saudi news media in the rise of terrorism. We hope that this study can help Arab Gulf media in testing and improving the performance of their news media coverage, especially now that incidents like terrorism and the Arab Spring have shown wide public discontent towards the efficiency of news coverage during such events. We also hope that the results of the empirical part can help in shaping a new policy that provides a better vision and framework for news production, as most of the media organisations in this part of the world are state-owned and their methods of news production have arguably not reflected public needs

Financial Performance and Identify Affecting Factors in this Performance of Non-oil Manufacturing Companies Listed on Libyan Stock Market (LSM)

The major objective of this study to assess the financial performance level and identify affecting factors  in this performance of non oil manufacturing companies listed on Libyan stock market (LSM), for the years from 1999 to 2008. Many previous studies examined the subject of financial performance in the various economic sectors, such as industrial, service, commercial, banking, and tourism from developed and developing countries. Researchers have studied in these subjects on evaluating the financial performance such as Medhat Tarawneh, 2006, Liargovas and Skandalis, 2008, Amalendu Bhunia (2010), Almajali, et al, 2012, and many more. The sample of this study consists of eight companies which were selected based on the criterion of size of the capital.  This study is based on the secondary data obtained from the balance sheets and profit and loss accounts. This study used the financial ratio analysis to measure the level of liquidity, operational efficiency and profitability, while the statistical method used to identify the variables that affect on financial performance. The model of this study consists of nine variables; including the dependent variable is financial performance measured by the return on assets (ROA) and eight  independent variables namely current ratio (CR), quick ratio (QR), net working capital (NWC), inventory turnover ratio (ITR), account receivable turnover ratio (ARTR), general administrative expenses ratio (GAER), company size (CZ) and company age (CG). The data collected was analyzed using financial ratio analysis approach and a number of basic statistical techniques such as descriptive statistics, correlation test (Pearson’s correlation) and regression analysis (Multiple Regression Analysis). the findings of the study, first with regarding of financial ratio analysis approach , the study concluded that there is a high liquidity, this makes these companies have the capacity to meet its financial obligations in the short term, while operational efficiency indicators were unsatisfactory, such inventory turnover ratio and accounts receivable turnover ratio. While regarding the statistical analysis it can be conclude that there are significant relations between liquidity variables and operational activity variables with return on assets as findings suggested that, working capital components and financial performance (ROA) in selected companies disclose both positive and negative association. three variables are negative significant relations with return on assets (ROA namely current ratio (CR), quick ratio (QR) and account receivable (ARTR)) illustrate negative significant relations with return on assets (ROA), while five variables positive significant relations with return on assets (ROA), namely net working capital (NWC), inventory turnover ratio (ITR), general administrative expenses ratio (GAER), company size (CZ) and company age (CG). Keywords: manufacturing industry, financial performance, financial ratio analysis

Clinical Decision Support: Strategies for Success

AbstractClinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) are considered essential tools of evidence-based medicine. These systems provide physicians, caregivers and also patients with clinical knowledge needed and patient or disease specific information to help them make effective decisions that would enhance patient care and improve clinical outcomes. The lack of well-described success factors is the main challenge facing design, development and implementation of CDSS. We need to learn more about the factors that can help in increasing usability and acceptance. The medical informatics department at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia worked on identifying and describing best strategies and requirements for success of CDSS building a detailed plan for development and implementation. The explored recommendations were categorized into ten main topics that should be addressed. These include the right content of CDSS, delivering valid and reliable information, delivering simple messages, providing users with references, saving users’ time, integrating with clinical workflow, improving system response and speed, adopting active and passive alert mechanisms, integrating with other hospital information systems (HIS) and proper management of CDSS knowledge

Reducing Emergency Department Crowding Using Health Analytics Methods: Designing AnEvidence Based Decision Algorithm

AbstractOBJECTIVE: The main objective of this study is to utilize health analytics methods in designing an evidence based decision algorithm to support healthcare professionals in identifying and safely diverting less risky emergency patients to ambulatory care settings or referring them to other hospitals in order to reduce emergency department crowding. METHODS: The study used retrospective analysis methods. Data were retrieved from the hospital data warehouse system including a total of 13,750 emergency encounters conducted over the first six months of 2014. Descriptive analytics were used to explore different variables and test for any relationships between these variables and admission probability of the patient to determine which variables could be used to build the suggested decision algorithm model. RESULTS: Three variables; acuity level, mode of arrival and age group were identified as the most influential factors on future admission status of emergency patients and were recommended as indicators for designing the decision algorithm. DISCUSSION: Based on the analysis and the suggested decision algorithm, 30% of emergency patients had a 0.2% admission rate; these were suggested to be diverted to urgent outpatient appointments within 24hours. About 20% of patients can be safely referred to other hospitals, according to the conditions set in the decision algorithm while the remaining 50% of patients should continue their emergency treatment. CONCLUSION: Health analytics can support designing evidence based tools to guide the process of performance improvement, in our study reducing emergency department crowding at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Nonlinear Instruction of MIS: Why and When?

With the latest developments in information technology, nonlinear organization and management of information has become easier and more costeffective. This has facilitated the development of nonlinear instruction environments. The potential of such environments is increasingly recognized by many researchers. In this research, we examine the potential of a particular nonlinear environment: hypercourseware. More specifically, this article describes the development of a hypercourseware for an introductory MIS course and discusses the results of an empirical study designed to examine why and when the usage of such a system can enhance student performance. Both observed and perceived effects of the system are examined. The hypercourseware improves significantly student learning as measured by the peiformance of students in exams. Its effect is more significant when it is used in the initial stages of learning to enhance concept formation and understanding. These results are also supported by student perceptions. The hypercourseware is perceived by the students as more efficient and more enjoyable than a strictly linear environment. Furthermore, most students used the system in the initial stages of learning to understand and form new concepts, then relied on lecture notes to review already learned concepts

Automation and computer integrated manufacturing in food processing industry: an appraisal

This study is concerned with a research programme on automation and computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) in food processing industry, culminating in an implementation framework detailing the extent of automation and application of computer based technologies in Irish food processing industries. This work involved with designing of a postal survey questionnaire and mailing it to 221 manufacturing companies, and designing a web-based survey and emailing it to 31 manufacturing companies in the Republic of Ireland. Questions were designed to capture information about the level of automation, envisaged level of automation, motivation and obstacles to implement computer-based technology, and the extent of implementation of CIM environments at plants. The key findings point to the existence of a linear relationship between practice and performance. From the perspective of competitive advantage, the traditional postal survey gives a higher response rate than web-based survey, but on the other hand the web based survey takes shorter response time and cost s less than a traditional postal survey. The results of this study show variable levels of automation. A large number of the manufacturing plants are applying automation, and are trying to increase the automation level m their plants. This work has demonstrated that the manufacturers have the desire to adopt CIM systems at different levels, despite the cost obstacle of implementing them