Political Speech on Twitter: A Sentiment Analysis of Tweets and News Coverage of Local Gun Policy

While the gun debate has been one of America’s most politically contentious issues, Twitter has become, in recent years a popular venue for politicians to carry out the debate. The present thesis is aimed at better understanding of political speech on Twitter, as well as the ways in which political frames and sentiment on Twitter differ from those of news media coverage regarding gun policy in the state of Arkansas. The study uses framing theory, which assumes that both news media and individuals use frames to construct perceptions and narratives about issues. Adopting an automated content analysis as a method, the study examined 354 gun-related tweets downloaded from the Twitter accounts of three Arkansas politicians (Charlie Collins, Denise Garner, and Greg Leding) and 40 news articles about gun policy involving these politicians from three local newspapers. The results indicated that state politicians’ discourse on Twitter constituted of a variety of extremely polarized words and frames pertaining and appealing to the core values of their local constituents, while local newspapers’ frames were very fact-based and unbiased. The results also showed that political sentiment on Twitter was extremely negative, fearful, and agitated, while news media expressed a very neutral sentiment in their coverage of gun policy, suggesting a new venue for further investigation of current assumptions about the negative nature of news tone

A COMPARISON OF SPORTS MARKETING AND SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY APPROACHES TO ACHIEVE GYM MEMBERS LOYALTY IN QATAR

This thesis investigated the effects of two different pathways to achieve gym members loyalty. The first path is a marketing path that is built around the customer engagement concept, driven by perceived quality, satisfaction, involvement. The second path is adapted from the sports psychology field, which concentrates on exercise persistence and its antecedents: intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, and outcome expectation. Member's loyalty was studied as an outcome of customer engagement and exercise persistence. The thesis also explored the moderating effects of gender and age generation. Data were collected in Qatar (n = 443) and analysed using SPSS and Smart PLS3. The results revealed that the two pathways explained a significant amount of variance in loyalty, but the marketing path had a higher explanatory power than the sports psychology path. The results showed that three predictors-perceived quality, satisfaction, and involvement-significantly influence customer engagement. Intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy had significant influence on exercise persistence, whereas outcome expectation was not a significant predictor. The findings show that customer engagement and involvement have significant effects independently of gender and generation (generation 1 vs. generation 2). Based on the results, key theoretical and managerial implications are proposed

The role of local government in the effective implementation of the National Environmental Management: Integrated Coastal Management Act 2008- a case of the Draft Cape Town Metropolitan Coastal Protection Zone Management by-Law

Magister Legum - LLMThe purpose of the study is to outline the relevant legislation and assess whether it is adequately applied to protect the 240 km coastline with its associated sensitive ecosystems; in particular, as assessment will be made of the By-law

AN INTEGRATED MODEL OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS (HEIS) SERVICE QUALITY: THE CASE OF QATAR UNIVERSITY

Over the more recent times, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are being considered as service providers that are experiencing intensive competition and rapid growth. This research study introduced an integrated conceptual model that considered both services marketing and consumer behavior streams within the Higher Education sector. Using this conceptual model, the study examined the impact of university services on enhancing students’ emotional attachment where emotional attachment plays a key role in motivating students to exhibit voluntary and extra-role behaviors toward the university. Based on responses from 568 students at Qatar University, the hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results demonstrated that reputation and academic aspects are the only dimensions that affect students’ emotional attachment positively. The findings also provided empirical evidence of the full mediation role of brand attachment in the association between academic aspects dimension and customer citizenship behaviors (CCB). The results have practical implications for a better understanding of student emotional relationship with the university and provided insights into the service dimensions that the managers should monitor and facilitate

Importance of Machine Learning Techniques to Improve the Open Source Intrusion Detection Systems

Nowadays, it became difficult to ensure data security because of the rapid development of information technology according to the Vs of Big Data. To secure a network against malicious activities and to ensure data protection, an intrusion detection system played a very important role. The main objective was to obtain a high-performance solution capable of detecting different types of attacks around the system. The main aim of this paper is to study the lacks of traditional and open source Intrusion Detection Systems and the Machine Learning techniques commonly used to overcome these lacks. A comparison of some existing works by Intrusion Detection System type, detection method, algorithm and accuracy was provided

Experimental and Computational Water Analysis for Kojima Lake

We study a wind-generated current in Kojima Lake. We introduce an experimantal result which was obtained using a float equipped with a GPS unit. We also present a result of numerical study in which a result from finite element analysis of flow is applied to the momentum equation of the float to simulate its motion

First Report of in Vitro Biological Agent to Biocontrol of Date Palm Stipe Rot Affected by Fusarium brachygibbosum by Using Pergularia tomentosa L., Aqueous Extract

Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is a specie cultivated in Mauritania. The present study is focus on the potential of the aqueous extract of the Pergularia tomentosa L., as biological control agent against Fusarium brachygibbosum, the main agent of the date palm stipe rot disease in Mauritania. Fungal pathogen was isolated from symptomatic date palm stipe rot disease in Mauritania. The morphological characterization and the molecular identification by sequencing ITS1, ITS2 5.8 RNAr region showed homology of 98% with Fusarium brachygibbosum strain UOA/HCPF 16982 s during in vitro tests on leaves performed to verify its phytopathogenicity. the inhibitory effect of aqueous extract of Pergularia tomentosa L. on the phytopathogenic isolate (Fusarium brachygibbosum) of date palm, on mycelial growth and spore germination was observed. In fact, in vitro on PDA, mycelial growth ranged from 39.23 to 67.7 %, depending on the concentration of the aqueous extract of P. tomentosa. The aqueous extract showed a reduction of spore germination varying from 5.3 to 23.8 %. The minimum inhibitory concentrations varied from 1 to 100 mg/ml. the various extracts give high antioxidant activities exhibited by DPPH assay. Multivariant analysis by PCA plot and the heatmap were done, to evaluate the correlation between the tested parameters. These results suggest the use of Pergularia tomentosa L., extract as a biological agent to control and reduce damage caused by Fusarium brachygibbosum.National Agency for Scientific Research and Innovation in Mauritani

Epidémiologie des PFA et les performances du système de surveillance en Mauritanie de 2008 à 2012

Introduction: La Commission Régionale de Certification de l’Eradication de la poliomyélite pour  l’Afrique(CRCA) en session à Brazzaville du 8 au 10 octobre 2007 avait déclaré la Mauritanie « libérée de  la poliomyélite ». Objectif: Décrire l’épidémiologie des PFA (Paralysies flasques aigues) et évaluer les  indicateurs de performance du système de surveillance pour la période de 2008 à 2012 ayant suivi cette déclaration. Méthodes: Les données du service de surveillance épidémiologique ont été nettoyées et analysées à l’aide du logiciel Epi-infoversion 3.4.3 (CDC Atlanta).Résultats: 319 cas de PFA ont été notifié soit une incidence moyenne de 4.61/100000 enfants de moins de 15 ans par an. La distribution des cas cumulés par mois montre une importante notification des cas PFA pendant la période de Février à Juillet et à la suite de l’épidémie de 2009 alors que l’incidence des cas confirmés a été plus importante entre Novembre et Février. L’âge moyen était de 4ans (E.T. ±4ans) et 77.4% avaient un âge ≤ 5ans. 18 cas de PFA ont été confirmés poliovirus sauvage(PVS) dont 6 en 2009 et 12 en 2010 et tous d’importation. L’âge moyen était de 3.4 ans (E.T ±2.6 ans). 44,4% étaient des filles et 55.5% garçons. Cette proportion était proche de celle des PFA non polio (45.1% versus 54.9%). 61% avaient reçu au plus une dose de vaccin polio orale (VPO) pour les cas de PFA polio contre 7.4% pour les PFA non polio. Aucune discrimination de genre n’a été observé sur la population des PFA ayant reçu une dose au plus (ratio-sexe= 16/17=0.94). La fièvre était présente pour 90%des cas de PFA non polio contre 85% pour les cas PVS. Cette fièvre à progresser en 3 jours pour tous les cas de PVS et pour 82,7% des cas de PFA non polio. Le taux d’hospitalisation était de 13.6% pour les cas de PFA non polio contre 89% pour les PFA polio. Dans tous les deux groupes, les membres de prédilection étaient d’abord l’un des 2 membres inférieurs de façon alternative (46.8%), ensuite les deux membres inférieurs à la fois (22.2%). En troisième lieu, un membre supérieur et un membre inférieur de façon asymétrique (5.3%) et en quatrième lieu, tous les 4 membres (4.6%). Le diagnostic final des cas de PFA non polio n’était pas rapporté pendant toute la période de l’étude, cependant, 2 cas ont été classés compatible et un cas de paralysie associée à la vaccination contre la polio a été rapporté en 2012 chez un enfant féminin de 3 ans ayant reçu sa première dose de VPO. En ce qui concerne les performances des indicateurs de la surveillance, 4 indicateurs n’ont pas atteint les performances escomptées: Le pourcentage des échantillons arrivés au laboratoire national moins de 3 jours après les prélèvements est resté en deçà des objectifs, variant entre 40% et 70%. Il en est de même des Districts de santé ayant notifies au moins un cas (50 à 68%). Le pourcentage des prélèvements dans lesquels un entérovirus non polio a été isolé a connu une évolution en dents de scie avec des valeurs de 0.0% en 2008 et en 2010 et 1.9% en 2011. L’examen de suivi du 60eme jour n’a concerné que les cas dont l’échantillon était jugé inadéquat au laboratoire. Conclusion: Les PFA qui ont été notifiés en Mauritanie de 2008 à 2012 présentent tableau clinique qui est classique, et sont notifiés avec un pic régulier en début des périodes de soudure (Mars-Juillet) suggérant l’hypothèse d’un lien écologique avec les changements de climat et de régime alimentaire. Les performances des indicateurs de la surveillance des PFA sont à améliorer, notamment: 1) La compréhension des critères de jugement de la qualité des échantillons. 2) L’examen de laboratoire et l’interprétation des résultats. 3) La détermination du diagnostic final pour chaque cas de PFA non polio. 4) L’enregistrement des informations dans la base des données.Key words: Poliomyélite, PFA, épidémiologie, surveillance, éradicatio