DETERMINANTS OF PARENTAL CHILD’S SCHOOL PREFERENCES IN QATAR

Purpose: The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of “Quality Education”, “Developing Better Social Skills”, “Homework Assignment”, “Using Private Tutors”, “Charging School Fees” and “Nationality” on “Parental School Preference” using primary data collected from preparatory and secondary school teachers in Qatar. Methodology: The population for this study consists of all parents in Qatar. The current study used a very large stratified sample size n = 1462 that was determined by the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) using a 95% confidence interval estimate. The nine items used in this study are part of a huge questionnaire measuring attitude and parental child’s school preferences. Kaisers-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test and the Bartless test of sphericity were used to determine the appropriateness of using factor analysis. What are more; principal axis factoring and oblique rotation extracted three factors? Main findings: The representative sample Factor analysis extracted three dimensions (quality education, developing better social skills, homework assignment). The dependent variable (parental school choice) was regressed on the factor scores of these three extracted dimensions in addition to four independent variables (school fees, nationality, repeating a school grade, and parents’ disappointment if their child doesn’t go far in school). The results revealed that parental school choice is significantly determined by three explanatory variables: the quality of education, school fees, and nationality. Implications: Raising standards for teachers should be a key element in educational quality. What’s more, in the spirit of findings the policymakers in Qatar should make funding part of school fees for expatriates a priority. Novelty: This article empirically correlates two main fields of educational research: Parental School Choice is given Quality of Education, Charging School Fees, and Nationality.This work was supported by the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute, Qatar University. The authors would like to thank all the parents who took part in the 2015 Qatar Education Study. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Darwish Al-Emadi, Dr. Abdoulaye Diop, Dr. Elmogeira Elawad, and Mr. Anis Miladi, Mr. Isam Mohamed Abdelhameed in giving so generously of their time at various stages of the data collection and entry.Scopu

Local and regional factors influencing zooplankton communities in the connected Kasseb Reservoir, Tunisia

Associations between zooplankton community structure and abiotic (temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, nutriments) and biotic factors (chlorophyll a and phytoplankton community) were examined, in Kasseb Reservoir, northern Tunisia. Samples were taken bimonthly from July to December 2002 at 3 sampling stations (deepest station: Station 1, Brik River: Station 2 and M’Zaz Stama River: Station 3). From our results it is evident that zooplankton exhibit seasonally and spatially heterogeneous distribution. The highest density of zooplankton was recorded in September at a depth of 5 m (10.8 × 103 ind·l-1). At Station 1 cyclopoid copepods (65% of total abundance) were the most abundant group followed by Cladocera (21% of total abundance). At Station 2 (93% of total abundance) and Station 3 (98% of total abundance) cyclopoid copepodswere numerically dominant throughout the study period. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was used to estimate the influence of abiotic and biotic factors in structuring the zooplankton assemblage. Zooplankton abundance was negatively correlated with turbidity (r= -0.381,

and CREST

process and applications to optimal stopping problems under partial observatio

Complications orbitaires de la polypose nasosinusienne de l’enfant

La polypose nasosinusienne (PNS) est une pathologie rare chez l’enfant. La symptomatologie clinique est habituellement celle de l’adulte. Exceptionnellement, une complication locorégionale lui est révélatrice. A travers deux observations de PNS diagnostiquées suite à une complication orbitaire, on discute les particularités cliniques de cette entité ainsi que ses implications thérapeutiques. Il s’agissait de deux enfants âgés de 13 ans ayant été hospitalisés pour une exophtalmie unilatérale d’apparition aiguë. L’examen clinique a découvert une PNS surinfectée évoquant alors le diagnostic de complication orbitaire d’origine infectieuse, confirmé par l’imagerie. Le traitement a associé un drainage chirurgical d’urgence de l’abcès orbitaire par voie externe paracanthale interne, suivi par une corticothérapie locale. L’ethmoïdectomie a été nécessaire dans un cas. L’évolution était favorable dans les deux cas avec une stabilisation de la PNS et une absence de signes de récidive de l’infection orbitaire

The application of ground-based and satellite remote sensing for estimation of bio-physiological parameters of wheat grown under different water regimes

Remote sensing technologies have been widely studied for the estimation of crop biometric and physiological parameters. The number of sensors and data acquisition methods have been increasing, and their evaluation is becoming a necessity. The aim of this study was to assess the performance of two remote sensing data for describing the variations of biometric and physiological parameters of durum wheat grown under different water regimes (rainfed, 50% and 100% of irrigation requirements). The experimentation was carried out in Policoro (Southern Italy) for two growing seasons. The Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 images and radiometric ground-based data were acquired regularly during the growing season with plant biometric (leaf area index and dry aboveground biomass) and physiological (stomatal conductance, net assimilation, and transpiration rate) parameters. Water deficit index was closely related to plant water status and crop physiological parameters. The enhanced vegetation index showed slightly better performance than the normalized difference vegetation index when plotted against the leaf area index with R2 = 0.73. The overall results indicated that the ground-based vegetation indices were in good agreement with the satellite-based indices. The main constraint for effective application of satellite-based indices remains the presence of clouds during the acquisition time, which is particularly relevant for winter-spring crops. Therefore, the integration of remote sensing and field data might be needed to optimize plant response under specific growing conditions and to enhance agricultural production

Evaluation of antagonistic activity of Trichoderma spp. against Meloidogyne incognita

Root-knot nematode Meloidogyne spp. is one of the most dangerous pests on vegetable crops in Algeria. Actually, research of alternative methods against these enemies is necessary. Culture filtrates of three species of filamentous fungi, Trichoderma harzianum, T. atroviride, T. longibrachiatum, tested against Meloidogyne incognita showed a nematicide effect on larval mortality of the second stage and also inhibited the potential of hatching nematode whose effectiveness varies with species, time of exposition and concentration. Finally, the use of some of these species of fungi can be an alternative method in the management of this bioagressor

Real-time tracking and mining of users’ actions over social media

© 2020, ComSIS Consortium. All rights reserved. With the advent of Web 2.0 technologies and social media, companies are actively looking for ways to know and understand what users think and say about their products and services. Indeed, it has become the practice that users go online using social media like Facebook to raise concerns, make comments, and share recommendations. All these actions can be tracked in real-time and then mined using advanced techniques like data analytics and sentiment analysis. This paper discusses such tracking and mining through a system called Social Miner that allows companies to make decisions about what, when, and how to respond to users’ actions over social media. Questions that Social Miner allows to answer include what actions were frequently executed and why certain actions were executed more than others

Les tumeurs benignes de la parotide

Introduction : Les tumeurs parotidiennes bénignes sont caractérisées par une grande diversité histologique. Les indications thérapeutiques ne sont pas encore bien codifiées et restent un sujet de controverse.Matériel et méthodes : Nous rapportons une étude rétrospective à propos de 48 cas de tumeurs parotidiennes bénignes, colligés sur une période de 7 ans (2004-2010). Tous les patients ont bénéficié d’un examen ORL complet, d’un bilan biologique et radiologique. Le traitement était chirurgical dans tous les cas.Résultats : L’âge moyen était de 46 ans et le sex-ratio 1,52. Le motif de consultation était dans tous les cas une tuméfaction au niveau de la région parotidienne. L’échographie cervicale a confirmé le siège intra-parotidien dans tous les cas. L’IRM était pratiquée chez 28 patients. Le cystadénolymphome était évoqué dans 6 cas et l’adénome pléomorphe dans 22 cas. Une cytoponction a été pratiquée chez 8 patients et a montré un aspect en faveur d’adénome pléomorphe dans 6 cas et de cystadénolymphome dans 2 cas. Tous les patients ont été opérés sous anesthésie générale. La tumeur était au dépends du lobe superficiel dans 43 cas et du lobe profond dans 5 cas. Une parotidectomie totale a été pratiquée chez les 5 patients ayant une tumeur au dépends du lobe profond. Parmi les 43 patients ayant une tumeur au dépends du lobe superficiel, une parotidectomie totale a été pratiquée chez 5 patients, une parotidectomie exofaciale chez 35 patients et une simple énucléation tumorale dans 3 cas. L’examen anatomopathologique définitif était concordant avec l’examen extemporané dans 100% des cas. Au total, nous avions 31 cas d’adénome pléomorphe et 17 cas de cystadénolymphome. Des complications post-opératoires étaient présentes dans 9 cas. L’évolution ultérieure a été marquée par l’absence de récidive dans tous les cas, avec un recul moyen de 28 mois.Conclusion : Le développement des techniques de l’imagerie a permis actuellement d’évoquer le diagnostic de bénignité d’une tumeur parotidienne et même d’évoquer fortement un diagnostic anatomopathologique. Le choix de l’intervention chirurgicale est guidé par la localisation et l’étendue de la tumeur et par le type histologique.Mots-clés : tumeur bénigne, glande parotide, imagerie par résonance magnétique, cytoponction, parotidectomie, nerf facialIntroduction: Benign parotid tumors are characterized by high histological diversity. Therapeutic indications are not well codified and remain a subject of controversy.Materials and Methods: We report a retrospective study of 48 cases of benign parotid tumors, collected over a period of 7 years (2004-2010). All patients underwent complete ENT examination, biological and radiological assessment. Treatment was surgical in all cases.Results : The mean age was 46 years and the sex ratio 1.52. Tumefaction in the parotid region was the presenting symptom in all cases. Cervical ultrasound confirmed the intra-parotid location in all cases. MRI was performed in 28 patients. Cystadenolymphoma was suggested in 6 cases and pleomorphic adenoma in 22 cases. A fine-needle aspiration was performed in 8 patients and showed pleomorphic adenoma in 6 cases and cystadenolymphoma in 2 cases. All patients were operated under general anesthesia. The tumor was at the expense of the superficial lobe in 43 cases and the deep lobe in 5 cases. A total parotidectomy was performed in 5 patients having a deep lobe tumor. Among the 43 patients having a superficial lobe tumor, a total parotidectomy was performed in 5 patients, an exofacialparotidectomy in 35 patients and a single tumor enucleation in 3 cases. The final histological examination was consistent with the frozen section in 100% of cases. In total, we had 31 cases of pleomorphic adenoma and 17 cases of cystadenolymphoma. Postoperative complications were present in 9 cases. The subsequent evolution was marked by the absence of recurrence in all cases, with a mean follow-up period of 28 months.Conclusion : The development of imaging techniques has currently allowed to suggest the diagnosis of benignity of a parotid tumor, and even to highly evoke the pathological diagnosis. The choice of surgical procedure is guided by the location and extent of the tumor and by the histological type.Keywords : benign tumor, parotid gland, magnetic resonance imaging, fine-needle aspiration, parotidectomy, facial nerv

Pragmatic Ontology Evolution: Reconciling User Requirements and Application Performance

Increasingly, organizations are adopting ontologies to describe their large catalogues of items. These ontologies need to evolve regularly in response to changes in the domain and the emergence of new requirements. An important step of this process is the selection of candidate concepts to include in the new version of the ontology. This operation needs to take into account a variety of factors and in particular reconcile user requirements and application performance. Current ontology evolution methods focus either on ranking concepts according to their relevance or on preserving compatibility with existing applications. However, they do not take in consideration the impact of the ontology evolution process on the performance of computational tasks – e.g., in this work we focus on instance tagging, similarity computation, generation of recommendations, and data clustering. In this paper, we propose the Pragmatic Ontology Evolution (POE) framework, a novel approach for selecting from a group of candidates a set of concepts able to produce a new version of a given ontology that i) is consistent with the a set of user requirements (e.g., max number of concepts in the ontology), ii) is parametrised with respect to a number of dimensions (e.g., topological considerations), and iii) effectively supports relevant computational tasks. Our approach also supports users in navigating the space of possible solutions by showing how certain choices, such as limiting the number of concepts or privileging trendy concepts rather than historical ones, would reflect on the application performance. An evaluation of POE on the real-world scenario of the evolving Springer Nature taxonomy for editorial classification yielded excellent results, demonstrating a significant improvement over alternative approaches