Study of Theories of Personality and Learning Styles; some Implications and Sample Activities to Support Curriculum Change in a Higher Education TESOL Program in Syria

This dissertation studies theories of personality and learning styles and introduces sample communicative activities to support the change in the Syrian curriculum. Chapter one gives an idea of the present TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages) situation in Syria highlighting the increasing need for change which was a consequence of using direct method as the only teaching method. It clarifies why we, in Syria, need to look for new methods of teaching that would result in better learning environment. As a step towards achieving the change, this dissertation looks closely at theories of personality and learning styles because they are relevant to teaching and learning process. Chapter two looks at theories of personality and focuses specifically on those which have close relation to English language learning. Chapter three lists learning styles with their definitions and looks in more detail at styles that have clear relation to the learning process. In chapter four, examples of communicative activities are suggested. These activities aim to unlock learners’ awareness of themselves and to give teachers, in Syria, an opportunity to collect data about prevalent personality traits and preferred learning styles among learners. An act ion research, that involves English teachers and learners in Syria, is suggested in chapter five to achieve the aim. Finally, a number of problems that might be faced are identified and some recommendations are given for overcoming them

Cultures in Contact: How Education and Cultural Studies Help Obliterate Unnecessary Perpetuation of Cross-cultural Misunderstanding Between the USA and the Arab World

Cultures often shape the way people think and the way they see the rest of the world. For cultures, to be sure, provide us with customs, values, ideas, beliefs and principles. And people live in a cultural web that influences the way they relate to each other, the way they look, their habits, dreams and desires. But as cultures bind people together, they also blind and set them apart. We accept certain ways of looking at the rest of the world that can only be characterized as cultural stereotypes or frames of reference. These stereotypes define their relationships to other nations, cultures and societies, and they view other cultures as prescribed by their own. The most dominant ones shape the way people perceive the world, and they blind us to other ways of seeing it. When something violates such stereotypes, it may be called unnatural, uncommon, or, even worse, unethical! Our identities (who we are and how we think) are deeply rooted in certain cultural values that are so closely associated with our beliefs that questioning them implies re-considering the way people see the world, and the way it sees them. As a matter of fact, in the aftermath of the Cold War and 9/11, 2001, the Arab and Muslim World has been engaged in an ongoing struggle to develop new approaches, initiatives, and programs toward a better understanding of the region and its peoples, while stressing the point that much of the misunderstanding between this part of the world (the Middle East) and the rest of the world stems from real conflicts and displeasure with Western policies. It is the purpose of this paper to explore the manner in which education and cultural studies can be a vehicle, which may serve to moderate the tensions that emerge from dissimilar understandings and goals. It is our intention to address those pedagogical and systemic aspects, which, in a way, serve to unintentionally reinforce a jaundiced view of other nations and people, and find answers for the following questions in the course of the paper as well: What divides and binds cultures? Where do our differences come from? Are those differences cultural? Are they religious? Are they social? Or are they political? Should nations live in cultural boxes? How can education and cultural studies help us build bridges instead of walls?Key words: Mutual understanding; Common ground; Grievances; Foreign policy; Set apart; Differences; Exchange programs; Forums; Perceptions; Stereotypes; Animosit

A Critique of Jabra’s Arabic Translation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest

This study critiques and evaluates Jabra’s translation of The Tempest into Arabic. This translation poses a lot of problems stemming from the differences between English and Arabic, the difficulty and ambiguity of the original text, and the translator’s approach.The discussion demonstrates the great efforts made by the translator to convey the equivalent meanings of the text. It also clearly shows that Jabra’s translation is literal, that the translator sometimes uses colloquial, inaccurate, and nonpoetic words that add to the ambiguity of the text, that he sometimes gives good translations, that he makes slight mistakes, and that he sometimes deletes or drops words or lines from the text, which represents a flagrant violation of the ethics of translation.Despite the pitfalls, Jabra’s translation of The Tempest is the fruit of hard work deserving of praise and appreciation. The mistakes made are ascribed to the difficulty of translating literature whose language consists of figures of speech that defy translation.Key words: Shakespeare; Drama in translation; Language; English; Arabic; Syntax; Figures of speech; Literary translation; Strategies of translatio

Resistance to Change: Hephzibah and Clifford in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables as Two Case Studies

It is argued that change is a necessity, that it’s connected with time, that it is either for the better or the worse, and that some people of whom Hepzibah and Clifford in Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables are ones who sometimes resist change for certain reasons. The discussion demonstrates that Hepzibah and Clifford resist change in defi ance of time and reality. They both imprison themselves in the past and refuse to live in the real world. This refusal to change occurs due to identity-related reasons, the loss of certain interests, fear of the unknown, the threat to their security and survival, and its being imposed upon them. This paper shows that change is a fact of life and that it occurs daily in subtle ways whether we like it or not. In line with this contention, people should cope with it, and come to terms with the past and the present whose disregard is a sign of folly.Key Words : Resistance ; Reluctance ; Necessity ; Imprison ; Reality ; Imposed ; Collaps

Laptop Riser, a Useful PBL Project for Diploma Students in Engineering Design

A useful project is identified for the semester-four diploma students in their final workshop of mechanical engineering program in the school of engineering at Australian college of Kuwait (ACK). ACK is putting significant emphasis in project based learning (PBL) and is developing new courses for both diploma and degree programs according to PBL style. In the final workshop project, it is required that the students design and manufacture a foldable laptop riser during fourteen weeks of their works. This project uses welding, cutting, drilling, and bending processes. It is expected that the deliverable product of this workshop is to be used in offices of ACK faculties and staff to raise the laptop height to provide an ergonomic and healthy office use. Students gain experiences in developing their own ideas, acquainted with preliminary design calculations, make sketches and drawings, build their laptop risers, and report their learning outcomes.  The students are allowed to work individually or in a team of two to three students. The students are asked to satisfy specific requirements and fulfill certain restrictions such as pre known available materials, sizes and dimensions, and quality of finished product. We found that students are satisfied with their learning and developed skills and also enjoyed to see their end products are utilized in the ACK offices

Modelling urban growth evolution and land-use changes using GIS based cellular automata and SLEUTH models: the case of Sana'a metropolitan city, Yemen.

An effective and efficient planning of an urban growth and land use changes and its impact on the environment requires information about growth trends and patterns amongst other important information. Over the years, many urban growth models have been developed and used in the developed countries for forecasting growth patterns. In the developing countries however, there exist a very few studies showing the application of these models and their performances. In this study two models such as cellular automata (CA) and the SLEUTH models are applied in a geographical information system (GIS) to simulate and predict the urban growth and land use change for the City of Sana’a (Yemen) for the period 2004–2020. GIS based maps were generated for the urban growth pattern of the city which was further analyzed using geo-statistical techniques. During the models calibration process, a total of 35 years of time series dataset such as historical topographical maps, aerial photographs and satellite imageries was used to identify the parameters that influenced the urban growth. The validation result showed an overall accuracy of 99.6 %; with the producer’s accuracy of 83.3 % and the user’s accuracy 83.6 %. The SLEUTH model used the best fit growth rule parameters during the calibration to forecasting future urban growth pattern and generated various probability maps in which the individual grid cells are urbanized assuming unique “urban growth signatures”. The models generated future urban growth pattern and land use changes from the period 2004–2020. Both models proved effective in forecasting growth pattern that will be useful in planning and decision making. In comparison, the CA model growth pattern showed high density development, in which growth edges were filled and clusters were merged together to form a compact built-up area wherein less agricultural lands were included. On the contrary, the SLEUTH model growth pattern showed more urban sprawl and low-density development that included substantial areas of agricultural lands

Achilles tendon rupture following surgical management for tendinopathy: a case report

BACKGROUND: Achilles tendinopathy is understood to be a failed healing response. Operative management is utilised following the failure of non-operative methods. CASE PRESENTATION: We present a case of Achilles tendon rupture, sustained whilst isometrically loading the Achilles tendon during an eccentric loading exercise programme. Conclusion: Bilateral surgical exploration and debridement had previously been performed after conservative management of bilateral Achilles tendinopathy had been unsuccessful

The PROVENT-C19 registry: A study protocol for international multicenter SIAARTI registry on the use of prone positioning in mechanically ventilated patients with COVID-19 ARDS

Background The worldwide use of prone position (PP) for invasively ventilated patients with COVID-19 is progressively increasing from the first pandemic wave in everyday clinical practice. Among the suggested treatments for the management of ARDS patients, PP was recommended in the Surviving Sepsis Campaign COVID-19 guidelines as an adjuvant therapy for improving ventilation. In patients with severe classical ARDS, some authors reported that early application of prolonged PP sessions significantly decreases 28-day and 90-day mortality. Methods and analysis Since January 2021, the COVID19 Veneto ICU Network research group has developed and implemented nationally and internationally the "PROVENT-C19 Registry", endorsed by the Italian Society of Anesthesia Analgesia Resuscitation and Intensive Care. . .'(SIAARTI). The PROVENT-C19 Registry wishes to describe 1. The real clinical practice on the use of PP in COVID-19 patients during the pandemic at a National and International level; and 2. Potential baseline and clinical characteristics that identify subpopulations of invasively ventilated patients with COVID-19 that may improve daily from PP therapy. This web-based registry will provide relevant information on how the database research tools may improve our daily clinical practice. Conclusions This multicenter, prospective registry is the first to identify and characterize the role of PP on clinical outcome in COVID-19 patients. In recent years, data emerging from large registries have been increasingly used to provide real-world evidence on the effectiveness, quality, and safety of a clinical intervention. Indeed observation-based registries could be effective tools aimed at identifying specific clusters of patients within a large study population with widely heterogeneous clinical characteristics. Copyright

Global economic burden of unmet surgical need for appendicitis

Background: There is a substantial gap in provision of adequate surgical care in many low-and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify the economic burden of unmet surgical need for the common condition of appendicitis. Methods: Data on the incidence of appendicitis from 170 countries and two different approaches were used to estimate numbers of patients who do not receive surgery: as a fixed proportion of the total unmet surgical need per country (approach 1); and based on country income status (approach 2). Indirect costs with current levels of access and local quality, and those if quality were at the standards of high-income countries, were estimated. A human capital approach was applied, focusing on the economic burden resulting from premature death and absenteeism. Results: Excess mortality was 4185 per 100 000 cases of appendicitis using approach 1 and 3448 per 100 000 using approach 2. The economic burden of continuing current levels of access and local quality was US $92 492 million using approach 1 and$73 141 million using approach 2. The economic burden of not providing surgical care to the standards of high-income countries was $95 004 million using approach 1 and$75 666 million using approach 2. The largest share of these costs resulted from premature death (97.7 per cent) and lack of access (97.0 per cent) in contrast to lack of quality. Conclusion: For a comparatively non-complex emergency condition such as appendicitis, increasing access to care should be prioritized. Although improving quality of care should not be neglected, increasing provision of care at current standards could reduce societal costs substantially