Teachers' Engagement in an Omani University Foundation Programme

This study is about teachers’ engagement in a University Foundation Programme in Oman. In particular, the study probes the learning-teaching beliefs that both teachers and students hold inside the classroom in an Omani context. These students are in their first university year and come from a range of settings in Oman, so these learning beliefs could result from learning styles in the school being different to those in a university. The students were not used to be taught English as a second language in schools and they are not used to be taught by native speakers of the language. These changes in students’ learning environment could influence teacher engagement inside the classroom. This study used both quantitative and qualitative methods to answer the research questions. The Engaged Teacher Scale (ETS) and the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) were both used in this study. The Engaged Teacher Scale was in teachers’ questionnaire, students’ questionnaire and in the form of a closed diary every two weeks. The Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) had two versions, one for teachers and one for students. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for both teachers and students to give reasons for their responses in the questionnaires and diaries. Analysis of variance showed a main effect of Students’ Level on their Social Engagement with their teachers. Teachers’ data also shows that Pre-Foundation (A) teachers were more socially engaged with their students which agree with the students’ data, but Social Engagement was not significant with Teachers’ data. Results from Teachers’ Diaries also indicated that participants did rate the three Emotional Engagement differently and that these differences were statically significant. This showed the importance of Teachers’ Emotional Engagement when the decreasing significance of Emotional Engagement can decrease all components of Teachers’ Engagement

Students' Perceptions at Department of Art Education at Sultan Qaboos University towards Self-Assessment and Challenges of its Implementations in Teaching Fine Arts

هدفت الدراسة إلى الكشف عن تصورات طلبة قسم التربية الفنية بجامعة السلطان قابوس حول التقييم الذاتي، والتحديات التي تواجه تطبيقه في تدريس الفنون التشكيلية، كما هدفت أيضا إلى التعرف إلى أثر متغيرات السنة الدراسية في هذه التصورات، استخدم الباحثان المنهج الوصفي التحليلي. وتكونت عينة الدراسة من (167) طالبا وطالبة من قسم التربية الفنية بجامعة السلطان قابوس للعام الأكاديمي 2021- 2022م، وطُبقت أداة الدراسة في الفصل الدراسي الثاني (ربيع 2021). وتمثلت أداة الدراسة في استبانة تكونت من (42) فقرة؛ موزعة على (4) محاور، هي: أهمية التقييم الذاتي، وأهداف التقييم الذاتي، وأشكال وطرق التقييم الذاتي، وتحديات تطبيق التقييم الذاتي في تدريس الفنون التشكيلية، وقد وزعت الاستبانة على أفراد العينة بعد التأكد من صدقها وثباتها. أظهرت نتائج الدراسة وجود تصورات عالية لدى طلبة قسم التربية الفنية حول التقييم الذاتي، إذ جاءت التصورات عن التحديات التي تواجه تطبيق التقييم الذاتي في تدريس الفنون التشكيلية بدرجة عالية بحسب المتوسط العام لفقرات المحور، وكشفت النتائج عدم وجود فروق دالة إحصائيا تعزى إلى متغير السنة الدراسية في تصورات الطلبة حول التقييم الذاتي وتحديات تطبيقه في تدريس التربية الفنية. وبناءعلى هذه النتائج توصي الدراسة بإجراء دراسات أخرى مشابهة للكشف عن مدى استخدام معلمي الفنون التشكيلية للتقييم الذاتي في تدريس الفنون، والعمل على تغذية الحقل التربوي بالمزيد من المعارف والمراجع العربية التي تعنى بالتقييم الذاتي وأهميته في التدريس

Predicting Software Revision Outcomes on Github Using Structural Holes Theory

Many software repositories are hosted publicly online via social platforms. Online users contribute to the software projects not only by providing feedback and suggestions, but also by submitting revisions to improve the software quality. This study takes a close look at revisions and examines the impact of social media networks on the revision outcome. A novel approach with a mix of different research methods (e.g., ego-centric social network analysis, structural holes theory and survival analysis) is used to build a comprehensible model to predict the revision outcome. The predictive performance is validated using real life datasets obtained from GitHub, the social coding website, which contains 32,962 pull requests to submit revisions, 20,399 distinctive software project repositories, and a social network of 234,322 users. Good predictive performance has been achieved with an average AUC of 0.84. The results suggest that a repository host's position in the ego network plays an important role in determining the duration before a revision is accepted. Specifically, hosts that are positioned in between densely connected social groups are likely to respond more quickly to accept the revisions. The study demonstrates that online social networks are vital to software development and advances the understanding of collaboration in software development research. The proposed method can be applied to support decision making in software development to forecast revision duration. The result also has several implications for managing project collaboration using social media

Clonal propagation and molecular analysis of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.)

Somatic embryogenesis is the mass production system of choice for date palm to increase the rates of vegetative propagation. However, the low rates of conversion to plants are common for somatic embryos. Up to 50% of plant productiqn in the Jimmah Tissue Culture Laboratory, Oman is lost during the stages of somatic embryo germination and conversion. Partial desiccation of date palm somatic embryos of the genotype Khalas Aldahra, either by dehydration for up to 4 hours or supplementation of the maturation Murashige and Skoog-based medium with sorbitol, sucrose and polyethylene glycol, increased significantly the percentage conversion to plants. In contrast, the addition of indol-3-butyric acid (IBA), a-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), abscisic acid (ABA), flurprimidol or activated charcoal to the germination medium did not improve the conversion of embryos to plants compared to the control. A protocol for cryopreservation of somatic embryos and embryogenic cultures of the genotype Buhabisha was developed in the current study using the vitrification method (incorporating PVS2 solution) and pretreatment with glycerol, sorbitol and dimethylsulfoxide as a cryoprotectant prior to freezing. Despite the fact that, there was a low percentage of survival of somatic embryos, the results from this study provided evidence that it is possible to cryopreserve somatic embryos and embryogenic callus of Omani date palms. A cell suspension protocol from the genotype Buhabisha was established in this study in order to utlilise more efficient micropropagation methods and to overcome the problems of the large size of somatic embryos that may lead to an efficient cryopreservation technique. NAA gave the best regeneration frequency of somatic embryos compared to 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) or picloram. However, attempts to replace activated charcoal in the date palm cultures with either polyvinylpyrolidone or ascorbic acid were unsuccessful. The use of dialysis membrane to separate cell suspensions from activated charcoal was successful, but the generation of somatic embryos was low. Twenty one genotypes obtained from the Jimmah Research Station, Oman were screened and evaluated with microsatelIite markers to establish a DNA fingerprinting procedure. Simple Sequence Repeats (microsatellites) showed that date palm genotypes analysed had high genetic divergence. Importantly, somaclonal variation was not detected by DNA fingerprinting in tissue culture-derived plants of the genotype Khalas Aldahra.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Sustainability behavior at the University of Sharjah: A gender comparison

Universities around the world have an important role in sustainability which encourage them to conduct campus sustainability studies to measure their sustainability performance. This study aims to assess sustainability performance and compare the level of behavior between males and females at the University of Sharjah. We developed and distributed a questionnaire to all the university populations to measure sustainability behavior. We used a Likert scale and hypothesis testing to analyze the questionnaire. By the end of the questionnaire duration, we received 646 responses, where 238 were males, and 408 were females. To analyze the questionnaire, the sign test was applied to determine the level of sustainable behavior of the males’ and females’ respondents. The results of this test showed that both males’ and females’ behavior levels are high. This is a good sign that both males and females are practicing their daily activities in a sustainable manner. Furthermore, the Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test was applied to compare the males’ and females’ behavior levels. As a result, it was found that males have better sustainability behavior. It is recommended that the University of Sharjah organizes more events and activities to boost the behavior level of female respondents. Also, the university may define some rules and regulations to monitor the sustainability behavior at the campus by providing rewards, incentives, and penalties in case of violation. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

Antibacterial Activity and Chemical Composition of Crude Extract and Oil of Zygophyllum (Fagonia) luntii (Baker) 1894 (Family Zygophyllaceae)

Traditionally wild plants including Zygophyllum spp., containing many bioactive constituents, are used as medicine. Zygophyllum luntii from Zygophyllaceae family is wildly grown in Oman and has been used for medical purposes. The present study investigated the antibacterial activity of the crude extracts (leaves, stem and roots) and oil (leaves) from Z. luntii. These extracts were tested against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in well diffusion assays utilizing Muller Hinton Agar (MHA). The hydrocarbon contents and the fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) components of the extracts were also determined by GC-MS. Significant antibacterial activity was observed in the Z. luntii leaves extract and significant differences (F=14.06, df=2, P=0.002) were found among E. coli, P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. The highest inhibition was observed against P. aeruginosa (15.5 ± 2.64 mm) then E. coli (11.25 ± 1.50mm) and S. aureus (3.50±4.72 mm). The Z. luntii extracts showed about 50-60% effectiveness against E. coli and P. aeruginosa compared to Ciprofloxacin. A total of 20, 19 and 8 compounds were detected from leaves, stem and roots extracts, respectively. Heneicosane, Docosane and Tricosane were found in the highest concentration in leaves; HOP-22(29)-EN-3.BETA.-OL and β-Sitosterol in stems, and Docosane and Tricosane in roots of Z. luntii. Nine types of fatty acids methyl esters were detected in oil extracted from leaves and methyl esters of Palmitic acid, Linolenic acid and Oleic acid constitutes 90% of the oil. This is the first report on antibacterial activity and chemical composition of Z. luntii

First Report on Comparative Essential Oil Profile of Stem and Leaves of <i>Blepharispermum hirtum</i> Oliver and Their Antidiabetic and Anticancer Effects

The current research was designed to explore the Blepharispermum hirtum Oliver (Asteraceae) stem and leaves essential oil (EO) composition extracted through hydro-distillation using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis for the first time. The EOs of the stem and leaves of B. hirtum were comparatively studied for the in vitro antidiabetic and anticancer potential using in vitro α-glucosidase and an MTT inhibition assay, respectively. In both of the tested samples, the same number of fifty-eight compounds were identified and contributed 93.88% and 89.07% of the total oil composition in the EOs of the stem and leaves of B. hirtum correspondingly. However, camphene was observed as a major compound (23.63%) in the stem EO, followed by β-selinene (5.33%) and β-elemene (4.66%) and laevo-β-pinene (4.38%). While in the EO of the leaves, the dominant compound was found to be 24-norursa-3,12-diene (9.08%), followed by β-eudesmol (7.81%), β-selinene (7.26%), thunbergol (5.84%), and caryophyllene oxide (5.62%). Significant antidiabetic potential was observed with an IC50 of 2.10 ± 0.57 µg/mL by the stem compared to the EO of the leaves of B. hirtum, having an IC50 of 4.30 ± 1.56 µg/mL when equated with acarbose (IC50 = 377.71 ± 1.34 µg/mL). Furthermore, the EOs offered considerable cytotoxic capabilities for MDA-MB-231. However, the EO of the leaves presented an IC50 = 88.4 ± 0.5 μg/mL compared to the EO of the stem of B. hirtum against the triple-negative breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) cell lines with an IC50 = 123.6 ± 0.8 μg/mL. However, the EOs were also treated with the human breast epithelial (MCF-10A) cell line, and from the results, it has been concluded that these oils did not produce much harm to the normal cell lines. Hence, the present research proved that the EOs of B. hirtum might be used to cure diabetes mellitus and human breast cancer. Moreover, further studies are considered to be necessary to isolate the responsible bioactive constituents to devise drugs for the observed activities

Differential Expression of Oman’s Wild Lavender, Lavandula subnuda for Chemical Composition towards Medicinal and Aromatic Application

Plants have been used directly or indirectly as medicines for over 5000 years as a source of antibiotics, antineoplastics, analgesics, and cardio-protective, among others. Approximately 70–90% of the population in developing countries continue to use ancient medicines based on plant extracts for treatment. Recently, the isolation and identification of biologically active compounds and molecules from nature have led to the discovery of new therapeutics, prompting the improvement of the health and pharmaceutical sectors. Phytochemicals revolve around the pharmaceutical industry's research and development (R&D) sector as a source of new molecules leading to the development of new novel drugs. Given the above, the present investigation addresses the differential nature of wild lavender (Lavandula subnuda Benth) plants of diverse locations in Oman with respect to their chemical composition of the essential oil in addition to morphological characters and chlorophyll contents of leaves to explore the possibility of isolating its prime chemical compounds on a commercial scale in perfumery industry. There are no previous studies so far who have reported on essential oil recovery and chemical composition exclusively in respect of Lavandula subnuda. Composite samples of ten randomly selected plants were collected from wadi habitats of four diversified locations. Edaphic features of managed sites were recorded, and their soil chemical contents were determined following instructions using S1 Titan/Tracer 5/CTX equipment of Bruker developed based on energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF). Morphological traits were measured using a ruler, and chlorophyll contents were recorded using the atLEAF CHL Plus chlorophyll meter as atLEAF values. The essential oil was extracted using ETHO X's advanced microwave extraction system and analyzed for chemical compounds using GC-MS analysis on Shimadzu GC-2010 Plus gas chromatograph. The experimental data were analyzed statistically, wherever required, by applying basic statistics of the EXCEL -16 version. The results indicated that in general, the Lavandula subnuda plants of locations of high altitudes had higher expressivity in all the morphological traits and chlorophyll contents than those of low altitudes. The essential oil recovery, however, was found to be higher from the plant samples of lower altitudes (0.70 to 0.79% (w/w)) than from those of higher mountains/ altitudes (0.15 to 0.18% (w/w)). The pattern of values of commonly occurring chemical contents of essential oils was different. Each essential oil's top ten chemical compounds contributed about 80% of the total in four locations. Of the ten top chemical compounds, eight compounds, namely D-Germacrene (42.67%) from Wadi Al-Khod, Estragole (32%) and Linalool (23.89%) from Wadi Halban), trans-Borneol (23.46%) and 4-Terpineol (18.73%) from Wadi Najd Al-Waqba and Kessane (18.60%), beta-cis-Caryophyllene (13.68%) and beta-Elemene (10.618%) from Wadi Al-Hayul, were found highest in quantity and had huge potential for further application. It is concluded that there exists a higher possibility of adapting Good Agriculture Practice (GAP) to produce the highest herbage yield of vegetative parts of Lavandula subnuda plants based on morphological features under wild conditions to extract these compounds on a commercial scale in both the pharmaceutical and perfumery industries.Keywords: Morphology, Chlorophyll, Chemical compounds, Differential Expression, Lavandula subnuda,, Lamiacea