Wideband Super-resolution Imaging in Radio Interferometry via Low Rankness and Joint Average Sparsity Models (HyperSARA)

We propose a new approach within the versatile framework of convex optimization to solve the radio-interferometric wideband imaging problem. Our approach, dubbed HyperSARA, solves a sequence of weighted nuclear norm and l21 minimization problems promoting low rankness and joint average sparsity of the wideband model cube. On the one hand, enforcing low rankness enhances the overall resolution of the reconstructed model cube by exploiting the correlation between the different channels. On the other hand, promoting joint average sparsity improves the overall sensitivity by rejecting artefacts present on the different channels. An adaptive Preconditioned Primal-Dual algorithm is adopted to solve the minimization problem. The algorithmic structure is highly scalable to large data sets and allows for imaging in the presence of unknown noise levels and calibration errors. We showcase the superior performance of the proposed approach, reflected in high-resolution images on simulations and real VLA observations with respect to single channel imaging and the CLEAN-based wideband imaging algorithm in the WSCLEAN software. Our MATLAB code is available online on GITHUB

Technology-supported reflection : towards bridging the gap between theory and practice in teacher education

The ability to convert theoretical knowledge into practical behavior is a common\ud obstacle facing newly graduated employees in most professions. To overcome\ud this obstacle, educational institutes are offering some kind of field training\ud courses that allow their students to practice and gain experience in a real\ud professional situation. In some professional training institutes, such as teacher\ud education and nursing institutes, these courses are usually mandatory\ud requirements for completing the program. The goal of the field training is to give\ud the students the opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge, under\ud experienced supervision, in a real professional context. In other words, field\ud training supports the period of transition between the initial training of\ud prospective teachers and their entry into professional life as fully qualified\ud teachers (European Commission, 2002). In teacher education, many educators, for\ud instance Buckingham (2005), Smith (2000), Stigler and Hiebert (1999) and Schön\ud (1987) warn about a gap between the theoretical knowledge that is acquired from\ud the educational program and the practical skills that are required at the schools in\ud this transition period. This gap is also found in the teacher education programs in\ud Kuwait (Al Deeb, 1997). The poor performance of the field training in developing\ud prospective teachers’ competences is presented as an important factor that is\ud causing this gap in teacher education in Kuwait (Hasan, 2001). Improving the\ud performance of the field training in these programs could lead to reducing the\ud gap between theory and practice. This study attempts to improve the field\ud training in the teacher education programs in Kuwait through the facilitation of\ud the reflective practice approach among prospective teachers in these programs

Designing a Prototype for Abdullah bin Saud School Webpage

Content management systems for the educational environments presents the suitable solution for indicating and managing students, teachers, and staff activities based technology. This study focus on the different issues in managing and determining the school and users performance in Abdullah Bin Saud School. The school lacking to provide the suitable managing services for its contents based on online services. Thus, this study was found to design, develop, and evaluate a website application for Abdullah Bin Saud School (ABSS). SDLC Prototyping Model was used in this study to design, develop, and evaluate the proposed system. As well, PHP and MYSQL were adopted for building the ABSS website. After all, an evaluation was conducted with 30 students to indicate their perceived ease of use and usefulness towards the use of ABSS. The results show that participants were found ABSS to be ease and useful to use

Promoting Leadership from theIslamic Education Perspective

This research aims to investigate the nature of the mental and spiritual components of the individualthat build one’s leadership from the Islamic educationperspective. The researcher applied theInformation Retrieval Method,tracingthecollection of information and evidence from its original sources, analyzingit, and explainingthe rationale for its reasoning and presentation. Researchfindingsshow that the individual’s mental and spiritual characteristics consist of three components: one’s instinct, one’s knowledge and what s/he inheritedeffortlessly. In conclusion, anintegrated leader in Islamic education is one who combines his/her innate nature, inherited leadership skills from his/herenvironmentalong withthe knowledge acquiredthrough experience, effort and hard work

Investigation and development of a framework for medical waste management

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London.The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the golf states and one of the richest oil producing countries. Saudi population is nearly 27million; in addition, Saudi Arabia receives millions of people from around the world for Islamic pilgrimages. Moreover, Saudi is hosting hundreds of thousands of international professionals and labourers. Hence, the country infrastructure and services have been in the top agenda to be modernized in order to cope with new demand for better quality of life for a rich country. The healthcare sector is one of the key sectors which requires a special on going attention, particularly medically generated waste. Therefore, this research work has been conducted to investigate the status of medical waste management in the capital city; Riyadh. The prime aim of this research work is to propose a strategic framework which can be used as a roadmap for the different stakeholders. This will contribute to the enforcement of better handling and treatment of medical waste and more importantly prevent and control the spread of diseases or harm might be caused by poor handling of medical waste. The aim of the research has been achieved through; the critical review and analysis of the relevant literature, which has revealed the noticeable gap and lack of scientific studies of the proposed field. Appropriately, the findings of the research has contributed to filling the gap of the knowledge as well as serving as a milestone for further research work in this very important field. By surveying Riyadh’s hospitals and other national and international reports has. This allowed the presentation of the facts and indications of the current status of medical waste in Riyadh City. To obtain in-depth knowledge and gather the important findings concerning the medical waste management, focused; interviews of different medical professionals from various hospitals were conducted. This research has revealed more important factors that need to be addressed. These findings were used to propose the framework, which has been formed to enable resolving the challenges of the integration, of the awareness element though Islamic principles, within the Saudi system. The proposed framework has been evaluated by committee of medical professionals and has been accepted as good roadmap and appropriate solution that address the main aim of this research work. Finally, the research work is just a step towards the establishment of a proper biomedical waste management system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Some recommendations for future implementation are suggested at the end of this thesis

Comparison of Retention between Milled and Conventional Denture Bases: A Clinical Study

The advancement in dental material technology led to the improvement in the fabrication method of PMMA denture bases. Denture base adaptation can be influenced by the amount of polymerization shrinkage that occurs during the processing method of fabrication. CAD/CAM dentures milled from prepolymerized PMMA acrylic resin blocks theoretically have reduced or no polymerization shrinkage. There have been no clinical studies, to date, that have compared retention values between milled and conventionally processed denture bases. Therefore, the purpose of this study clinical study was to compare the retention values between conventional heat polymerized and digital milled maxillary denture bases. Twenty patients (n=20) with completely edentulous maxillary arches participated in this study. At the first visit, a preliminary impression was made and poured in type III dental stone. A custom tray was constructed from Triad light cure material. At the second visit a heavy body PVS impression material was used to border mold the trays and a final impression was made with light body PVS impression material. The final impression was scanned and the STL files were sent to Global Dental Science for the fabrication of a CAD/CAM milled denture base (AvaDent) (group A). Then the final PVS impression was poured in type III dental stone. The master cast was used to fabricate a heat polymerized acrylic denture base resin (group B). A unique testing device was used to measure denture retention in lbs. The testing device was composed of three parts; DAFG (attached to a motorized test stand), customized FTD and a Panadent earbow ( modified and mounted to a customized wooden stand). The FTD consisted of a hollow brass rod with a pulley at each end used to transfer the force through a nylon thread. A snap hook attachment was attached to the denture base at the center with autopolymerizing resin. The nylon thread was tied securely to the snap hook. At the other end the nylon thread was attached to the DAFG through a secure grip attachment. Each denture base was subjected to a vertical pulling force three times at 10-minute intervals. The statistical analysis showed significant (α\u3e.05) increase in retention for milled denture base method of fabrication over the conventional polymerizing method with a mean (N) difference of 4.47 lbs (P\u3c0.001). Average retention for the milled denture bases was 16.66 ± 7.32 lbs and average retention for the conventional heat polymerized denture bases was 12.19 ± 6.15 lbs. Based on analysis of results, it was concluded that the retention of digitally designed and milled complete denture bases from prepolymerized PMMA acrylic resin blocks offer significantly higher retention than the denture bases fabricated by a conventional heat polymerized method

Best Approximation from the Kuhn-Tucker Set of Composite Monotone Inclusions

Kuhn-Tucker points play a fundamental role in the analysis and the numerical solution of monotone inclusion problems, providing in particular both primal and dual solutions. We propose a class of strongly convergent algorithms for constructing the best approximation to a reference point from the set of Kuhn-Tucker points of a general Hilbertian composite monotone inclusion problem. Applications to systems of coupled monotone inclusions are presented. Our framework does not impose additional assumptions on the operators present in the formulation, and it does not require knowledge of the norm of the linear operators involved in the compositions or the inversion of linear operators

Physical and economic factors and their effects on development of solar energy in Saudi Arabia

The search for alternative energy resources began early in this century after the discovery of crude oil, but in 1973, when crude oil prices dramatically increased, the search for new energy sources intensified. The conservation of oil consumption, mainly in industrial countries has been more strictly applied, due to the limited quantities of fossil fuels, especially crude oil which is expected to be depleted within the next few decades. Moreover, the increasing level of air pollution and its severe consequences on human, animal, and plant life and climate, has forced the world to try to reduce air pollution emissions in the short-run, and to search for more reliable, renewable energy resources. Amongst renewable energy resources, solar energy has attracted much attention due to its unique characteristics, including its wide availability in huge quantities, particularly at the middle latitudes, its relatively simple harnessing compared with nuclear energy, and most importantly, its clean source which does not discharge any pollution emission. The intensity of solar radiation in Saudi Arabia reaches an average of 290 wm-2, one of the highest insolation values in the world. Here attention has been focused on solar energy as the main alternative sources of power. However, there is a great variation in the distribution of incoming solar radiation within Saudi Arabia. This variation is attributed mainly to six major factors. They include the following: 1. Sunshine duration 2. Insolation index 3. Altitude of the station 4. Specific humidity 5. Cloud cover, and 6. Dust storms. In order to measure the effect of each factor mentioned above on the variation of incoming solar radiation, a multiple linear regression model is developed and used. This is the most appropriate method to explain the interrelationships between the determinants and their dependent variable. In addition to the physical factors, the human factor is considered in this thesis as a result of the crucial effect of the perspectives and attitudes of people upon solar energy development. Therefore, a questionnaire was conducted at Al-Uyaynah Village, northwest of Riyadh, which has a solar-generated electricity in Saudi Arabia

Arab / Islamic concept of intelligence in the case of Fatah paramilitary

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This thesis provides a composite picture of the Islamic concept of intelligence traces the historical roots of Islamic intelligence activities and explains the (Ideological) relationship between the Islamic religion and the intelligence concept adhered to by modern Arab and Islamist paramilitary groups. Special reference is made to Fatah movement which has been taken up as a case study. The thesis shows that the two main sources of Islam (the Quran and the Sunnah) provided the regulative codes of practice towards intelligence activities. Prophet Muhammad’s intelligence tradition offers the ideal model that the Arab / Islamic paramilitary groups emulate. Referring to the Islamic roots, the research seeks to point out that the hallmarks of the Islamic intelligence concept which emerged from the Quran and Prophet Mohammed’s tradition, became the framework that accommodated ‘Arab / Islamic modern paramilitary intelligence activities’, such as Fatah’s. The thesis uses the modern concept of the intelligence to identify the ancient activities and compares data process within the intelligence cycle. The range of activities is broad: clandestine collection, counterintelligence, analysis and dissemination, and covert action. It also introduces the Arab intelligence tradecraft such as the uses of safe houses, methods of communication, secrecy and concealments...etc. This thesis also aims to correct the perception that Arab intelligence concept developed after the emergence and expansion of the Islamic Empire

Islamic Finance in Saudi Arabia: Developing the Regulatory Framework

Saudi Arabia and Islam have had a very close relationship since the establishment of Saudi Arabia. Thus, Saudi Arabia chose Islam to govern all its laws. Since 1952, with the discovery of oil, the country has witnessed a huge development including the establishment of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) as a Central Bank. SAMA was expected to only allow financial activities that did not conflict with the teachings of Islamic law, as stated in its Charter. However, since its existence, SAMA has supervised and licensed conventional banks that charge Riba (interest or usury) and all the regulations made by SAMA have been designed to deal with conventional banks. Consequently, there is a difference between the law, Islamic law, and the practice. Over the years a dramatic improvement in Islamic finance has been realised. Many countries and international organisations that specialised in Islamic finance have set especial regulations that suit such finance. Nonetheless, Saudi Arabia as a regulatory body preferred not to join this trend and continued adopting and practising the same regulations that were made for conventional finance. This thesis seeks to develop the regulatory framework towards Islamic finance by sheding light on the legal challenges and difficulties that may encounter Islamic finance in Saudi Arabia, which may prevent the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from being the leading country for developing Islamic finance. To help in identifying these challenges, an Islamic financial product Sukuk (Islamic bonds) is chosen to be a case study to show some of the challenges in practice. The thesis firstly discusses Islamic principles toward finance, then the legal environment of Saudi Arabia and how Islamic finance is practised in the Kingdom. It then introduces the new development in the legal environment in response to the Saudi Vision 2030 which can be a tool to help solving the obsricales that Saudi Arabia is encountering. Then the thesis discusses some challenges related to sharia boards in financial institutions, such as not having sharia governance as part of the corporate governance of financial institutions that market their products as being compliant with sharia law; in addition, the absence of a Central Sharia Board that should help in ensuring the conformity of financial products to sharia law. The thesis proposes that the regulators should develop and adopt especial regulations framework that could help the development of Islamic finance. The thesis defines Sukuk and shows how it differs from other financial instruments in conventional finance. Then, it identifies some of the challenges that face Sukuk and its development in the country. Moreover, it looks at a very recent development in the Saudi legal system, which is in response to the Saudi Vision 2030 and the recent interest that was shown by decision-makers, such as the Chairman of the CMA, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, the Deputy Minister for Internal Trade, and also both the Governor and Vice-Governor of the SAMA, in response to the Vision 2030 which could contribute to the development of Islamic finance. As far as the researcher is aware, hardly any studies have addressed this issue with respect to the new development that Saudi Arabia is currently witnessing in response to the Saudi Vision 2030 and the recent developments taking place in neighbouring countries which broadly share similar cultural and religious values. Finally, the thesis proposes some recommendations to develop Islamic finance including some guidelines for establishing a Central Sharia Board, and also, a sharia supervisory governance for Islamic financial institutions which should have a positive effect on Islamic finance in the country.Saudi Electronic Universit