A finite-state approach to arabic broken noun morphology

In this paper, a finite-state computational approach to Arabic broken plural noun morphology is introduced. The paper considers the derivational aspect of the approach, and how generalizations about dependencies in the broken plural noun derivational system of Arabic are captured and handled computationally in this finite-state approach. The approach will be implemented using Xerox finite-state tool

Computational and Experimental Investigations on Biodiesel Combustion Process

The combustion process of liquid conventional and biofuels depend on factors ranging from the thermophysicochemical properties associated with such fuels to the combustion infrastructure used to burn them. A third class of fuels commonly referred to as surrogate fuels can be obtained by mixing conventional and biofuels. It is thought that the existence of oxygen atoms in biofuels play a crucial role in the way they burn in a stream of air, in uencing not only the e ciency of the combustion process of such class of fuels but also the emissions. The mechanisms through which the existing oxygen atoms in uence the combustion process of biofuels (and its surrogates) are still debatable and unestablished. This thesis sheds light on the points mentioned in the paragraph above. Extensive computational and experimental work was done to elucidate the combustion process of conventional, surrogate and biofuels. Some of the reaction mechanisms used in modelling the current reactive ow simulation are already tested while others were developed during the course of this work. The computational results have shown good agreement with the available experimental data. One of the most important observations and ndings reported in this work was that when comprehensive reaction models were used, the injected fuels burned at a slower rate compared to the situation when reduced models were employed. While such comprehensive models predicted better ame structure and far better by-products compared to the existing experimental results, it has also led to di erences in some parameters, especially the temperature eld. The computational prediction has also shown that biodiesel produces a marginally higher rate of COx compared to diesel which was also observed experimentally using a Compression Ignition Engine (CIE). Having said so, the experimental work also showed that surrogate fuels perform far better than pure diesel and biodiesel in CIE) in terms of emissions. The experimental work further addressed some phyisical and spectral analysis of diesel, biodiesel and nine blends as well as assessing the performance of a combination of these fuels in a compression ignition engine. The results are in line with what has reported in the literature but also sheds light on important features related to surrogate fuels and explain better the expected structure of such blends which may in uence the way they burn under di erent environments. With regards to the harmfull emissions of the combustion of liquid fuels, biodiesel was found to produce harmful emissions in a lower quantity compared to conventional diesel which is in line with the ndings of many experimental data. The computational ndings have also predicted less energy content and temperature range for biofuels of order 10-15% which is also in agreement with many experimental ndings cited in the literature

The effect of national culture on service provision

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.PURPOSE: This research is to investigate the effect of national culture on service provision. Hence, the researcher aims Firstly to investigate the differences in national culture between any two different countries share some attributes like language, religion or geographic location. Secondly, it aims to find whether the differences in national culture of two countries associated with differences in service provision. Finally, the researcher aims to propose a framework that shows how differences in national culture may associate with differences in service provision. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: This research will quantitatively develop and examine a conceptual framework that is designed to test the effect of national culture on service provision within the context of Takful industry. A total of 463 respondents completed the survey based questionnaire from two different countries (Kuwait and Egypt) which are identified as being related to the same cluster that is, the Arab clusters. The context of the research happened to be within the context of Takaful (Islamic insurance industry) due to the uniqueness of the sector to the cluster. The data was statistically tested using SPSS and AMOS programming system as the primary statistical technique to build structure equation modelling that allows testing the proposed conceptual framework. FINDINGS: Results have shown that the differences in national culture of power distance and uncertainty avoidance have an effect on service provision through service delivery gaps. Results indicated that the service delivery gaps of information gap, specification gap and performance gap partially mediate the effect of national culture on service provision in terms of information flow, style of management, control, communication policy, specification driver and boundary system. The findings also indicate that there are differences in national culture between Kuwait and Egypt despite the commonality of language and religion. The findings are in contrary to Hofstede’s findings in which he argues that Arab cluster have an identical national culture dominated by Islam. Finally, results provide strong evidence that the researcher cannot disconfirm the theory after being statistically tested in which result support the validity of the theory. LIMITATIONS: The research studied only two dimensions of national culture against three service gap attributed to the theory followed by the research, however they were found strongly linked in previous research. Also the research has addressed only one sector of service industry in two countries, but since the industry (Takaful) stemmed from the religion of the context to which previous research assumes homogeneity of Arab national culture based on the power of the religion. Hence, generalizability of the findings can be extended to any national culture of two countries from the similar cluster share similar attributes of religion and language. CONTRIBUTIONS: Contribution to theory: This research confirmed the findings of previous researches as to what extent national culture effect service provision associated with service delivery gaps. It confirmed previous research findings on the underlying relationships between national culture and service provision and how this might be associated with service delivery gaps. An important contribution to theory is the ability of power distance and uncertainty avoidance in predicting national culture differences in service provision between any two countries. Further, the study found that the national culture dimensions do not equally influence service provision as it varies cross culturally. In addition, the research contributes to the theory by providing a conceptual framework that can cultivates the seed in the body of knowledge to enrich the soil for researchers to study the effect of national culture on service provision. Another contribution stems from the findings that opposes Hofested’s claim regarding the homogeneity of Arab countries. Finally, the research proposes a data driven model stems from the collected data. Contribution to Practice: The findings of this research assist service providers of Takaful in particular, and services sector providers in general, to improve their service quality as it identifies and explains some key insights that might help in dealing with various service delivery gaps. Therefore, it is very important for marketers to understand the effect of national culture differences on service delivery gaps which in turn effect the mechanisms of service provision. Contribution to Policy: The research has contributed to the policy with which delivery processes can be systematically enhancing the excellence of service delivery for organizations. Policies of organizations can be set taking in consideration the role of national culture. Organizations may bridge the service delivery gap if they comprehend the effect of national culture on the delivery of their services. Information gap, specification gap and performance gap can be reduced or eliminated if provider understands the effect of national culture on those gaps and how they policies for Information flow, Style of management, Control, Communication policy, Specification driver and Boundary System. These polices may apply differently in different cultural settings as policies applicable in one culture may not be valid for other culture. On the other hand, differences in power distance and risk acceptance may shape provider’s policy to adapt to the pertinent environment. Hence, this research provides policy makers understand the role of culture on service provision. Contribution to method: This research is significant in drawing support from cultures which is different from Anglo cultures (Hofstede, 1980) which in most researches provide evidence to the management literature. On the foundation of the literature review, the research has contributed to method by using a unique context that related directly to the studied national cultures. The method was the adoption of national culture of countries that belong to the same cluster and study the differences/similarities of this national culture with a unique context that related to the dimension to which they were clustered upon like religion and language. Moderation effect of national culture was not appropriate as the conventional methodology when using structural equation modelling in cross cultural studies. However, mediation effect has been found valid and appropriate in exploring the effect of national culture on service provision. results revealed that the method of testing mediation effect was successful in highlighting the effect of national culture drawn from similar cluster countries on service provision mediated by service quality gaps with which a new addition has been added to the body of the literature

Transcending legitimacy : Al-Awza'i and his interaction with the 'Abbasid state

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Study on sisal fibres as insulator in building materials

In this current era, there are some concerns of using synthetic fibres in regards to their impact on the environment since they are non-recyclable and non degradable. There are many attempts by various groups of engineers and researchers to use natural fibres in engineering applications, in the hopes of replacing synthetic fibres with natural fibres. In this project, the possibility of using natural fibres in building materials is investigated in terms of their compression strength and heat conductivity. Sisal fibres are selected as reinforcement for gypsum walls for the application in industrial and commercial buildings. To gain high interfacial adhesion of the sisal fibres with gypsum, a study on the optimum chemical treatment concentration of NaOH (0-10 %) is considered. To study the heat conductivity of the composites, a newly designed heat conductivity test setup is developed to study the influence of different volume fractions of glass and sisal fibres on the conductivity of gypsum. In addition, compressive test was performed for the selected materials. Failure mechanisms of the samples after compressive testing are examined with the aid of the scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results revealed that the alkalization on the sisal fibres have provided different levels of interfacial adhesion in the composites which were pronounced on the surface topography of the fibres. Based on this observation and supported by other literatures, 6% NaOH was selected as the optimal concentration for composite fabrication. From the compressive test, it was observed that the addition of fibres to the gypsum matrix improves the compressive strength and resulted in reduced brittleness. For sisal fibre-gypsum composite, the optimum fibre content is at 25 vol.% while for glass fibre-gypsum composite, the optimum fibre content is at 30 vol.%. The thermal conductivity resulted showed that pure gypsum was found to have the highest thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivity of the composites decrease with the increment of fibre volume fraction for both synthetic and natural addition of the fibres. Sisal fibre-gypsum composites performs slightly better at insulating heat as compared to glass fibre-gypsum composites possibly due to its porous nature, as heat transfer is impeded by the presence of air voids

Poetry and the State: The Politics of Nabat Tradition in Kuwait

This thesis analyzes the relationship between the practice of an old tribal Bedouin oral tradition (Nabat poetry) and the politics of the nation-state in Kuwait. The historical context of this tradition, its development within modern state boundaries, and its current role in the politico-cultural exchange are all examined. Anthropological, ethnohistorical, and Arabic local printed resources are used. In addition, Bedouin oral traditions and personal observation are employed for final analysis. Unlike the pre-state Nabat, the current practice is institutionalized to become an essential aspect of state modern processes. A connection is suggested between the emphasis (in the current practice of Nabat) on continuity of old poetic structures and their aesthetic and social values and the Bedouins\u27 reconstruction of their social reality and protection of their political identity within the state. It is also posited that as long as the state is able to contain the production of Nabat to reinforce the legitimacy of its historical being, it will incorporate it as a part of its own cultural identity and nationalistic tradition

The acute effects of exercise on appetite perceptions, gut hormones and food intake in females

In recent years there has been growing interest in the role of gut hormones in regulating appetite, energy balance and weight control. Prominent among these hormones is the hunger hormone ghrelin which is the only circulating hormone currently known to stimulate appetite. A variety of hormones are known to suppress appetite and notable among these is peptide YY (PYY). Both ghrelin and PYY exist in more than one form with acylated ghrelin and PYY3-36 representing the biologically active forms of these hormones i.e. the form of each hormone with the most potent effects on appetite. Many studies have investigated ghrelin responses to exercise in male participants and some studies have also examined PYY responses. Far fewer studies have examined ghrelin and PYY responses in female participants and this was the primary purpose of the studies reported here. This thesis comprises four main experimental chapters which collectively sought to clarify whether there is any evidence to support the hypothesis that appetite, gut hormone and food intake responses differ in female compared with male participants. A total of 123 participants took part in the studies reported in this thesis. The first of these studies was cross-sectional in nature and compared fasting appetite, plasma acylated ghrelin and dietary restraint questionnaire values (among other variables) in 34 males and 33 females. No significant differences were observed between sexes for any of these variables. In the second study, appetite, plasma acylated ghrelin and ad libitum food intake responses to cycling exercise were examined in 13 female participants taking the oral contraceptive pill in both the luteal and follicular phases of the menstrual cycle. Although fasting hunger and prospective food consumption values were higher in the follicular than the luteal phase there was no difference in appetite, plasma acylated ghrelin and food intake responses to exercise between menstrual cycle phases. In the third study, appetite, plasma acylated ghrelin, plasma PYY3-36 and food intake responses to energy deficits created via diet and exercise were compared in 13 young, healthy female participants who completed three separate trials (control, exercise deficit and food deficit) in a random order. The findings revealed that, as with male participants, females experience compensatory appetite, gut hormone and food intake responses to dietary induced energy deficits but not to exercise induced energy deficits (over the course of a nine hour observation period). The final study reported in this thesis compared appetite, plasma acylated ghrelin and ad libitum food intake responses to a one hour run in 10 male and 10 female participants. Suppressions of both hunger and plasma acylated ghrelin were noted during exercise but there was no significant difference in the responses of males and females during or after exercise. Collectively, the studies reported here suggest: 1) that fasting appetite and plasma acylated ghrelin concentrations do not differ between male and female participants; 2) that appetite, ghrelin and food intake responses to cycling exercise do not differ according to the phase of the menstrual cycle in females; 3) that dietary restriction is more likely to elicit compensatory feeding responses than elevated exercise levels in females and 4) that males and females do not differ in their acute appetite, ghrelin and food intake responses to an acute bout of running exercise. Hence the studies reported here do not support the hypothesis that exercise will be less effective for controlling appetite and food intake in females than in males

Modelling of gas-condensate flow around complex well geometries and cleanup efficiency in heterogeneous systems

Two phase flow of gas and condensate fluids in porous media is different from that of conventional Gas-Oil fluid systems. Such reservoirs are characterized by their complex phase and flow behaviors that significantly affect the well performance. The presence of retrograde fluid, when the pressure drops below dew point, and the dependency of the gas and condensate relative permeability (kr) on the velocity and interfacial tension (IFT) makes numerical modeling and performance prediction of gas condensate systems a real challenge, especially for complex well geometries such as hydraulically fractured wells (HFWs). The current research work is divided into three elements. The first one is devoted to study the flow behaviour around Single and Multi-layer hydraulically fractured wells (HFWs) in gas condensate reservoirs. Here, several in-house simulators have been developed for single-phase and two-phase gas condensate flow. The two phase in-house simulators correctly account for the phase change and the dependency of relative permeability to velocity and interfacial tension, due to inertia (reduction in kr as velocity increases) and coupling (improvement in kr as velocity increases and/or IFT decrease). The integrity of the in-house simulators have been verified by comparing some of their results with those obtained using the fine grid option of the ECLIPSE (E300) commercial reservoir simulator under the same prevailing flow conditions. Benefiting from, the 2 and 3-D in-house simulators a large data bank has been generated covering a wide range of variations of pertinent geometrical and flow parameters. Then, a new formula is proposed for estimation of an effective wellbore radius of an equivalent open-hole (EOH) radial 1-D system replicating flow around the 2 and 3-D HFW systems. The proposed formulation is general, in the sense that if the total gas fractional flow (GTR) is unity, then it correctly converts to that suitable for single phase gas system under Non-Darcy flow conditions and when Reynolds number is small to that under Darcy flow conditions. The second part of this thesis is devoted to study the optimization of hydraulic fracture geometry in gas condensate reservoirs. In this part of the study, a general optimum fracture design formulation is proposed based on the effective proppant number concept. In this new formula the maximum productivity index and optimum penetration ratio can be calculated for a certain proppant number, both accounted for the coupling and inertia effects. Here an effective proppant number formula is proposed (i.e. correcting the absolute proppant number for the effect of coupling and inertia). The proposed formula is general as it correctly converts to that suitable for single-phase Darcy and Non-Darcy flow. Furthermore, using the effective proppant number formula proposed here, the well-known Unified Fracture Design (UFD, Economides and Valko formula) has been modified to account for gas condensate flow conditions, i.e. coupling and inertia effects. The third part of this research work presents a thorough and extensive evaluation of the impact of the pertinent parameters on the clean-up efficiency process, which is often considered as one of the main reasons for the under-performance of hydraulic fracturing treatments, in gas reservoirs. In fact, most available clean up efficiency literature studies are concentrated on evaluating the impact of a single pertinent parameter at a time. That is, none of these studies have investigated the variation of all pertinent parameters simultaneously over a wide practical range of their variations, which may help in better understanding of the clean-up process and may provide practical guidelines to successful hydraulic fracturing jobs. Accordingly, this work embarked on a much more expanded study following statistical approaches. First, the key parameters which have significant impact on the gas production loss (GPL) are identified and then a 2-level full factorial statistical experimental design method has been used to sample a reasonably wide range of variation of pertinent parameters covering many practical cases for a total of 12 parameters. Since over 36,000 simulation runs were required, to cover the range of variation of all parameters, the simulation process has been simplified using a computer code, which was developed to automatically link different stages of these simulations. The analysis of the simulation runs using two response surface models (with and without interaction of parameters) demonstrates the relative importance of the pertinent parameters after different production time periods and provide a practical guidelines to a successful hydraulic fracturing job. In conclusion, this research cover the following main elements of HFW research, 1) – To propose simple numerical modelling methods for gas and gas condensate flow around single and multi-Layer HFWs, 2) – To propose a general Optimum Fracture Design method for gas and gas condensate reservoirs, which correctly account for the effects of coupling and inertia. 3) – To provide a thorough and extensive evaluation of the impact of pertinent parameters on clean-up efficiency of hydraulically fractured gas well

Kuwait’s readiness for the knowledge-based economy: an exploratory study

The small city-state of Kuwait has undergone marked change over the last century. However, despite the significant transformations within its political economy, Kuwait’s socioeconomic needs require attention. This is essential, considering Kuwait’s current attempt to transform into a knowledge-based economy (KBE), a central component of Kuwait’s Vision 2035 and at the top of the country’s policy agenda. Kuwait’s attempt to diversify its resources requires significant reform in KBE’s four main pillars: effective investment in education, constructing robust and innovative tertiary sector capabilities, modernising the information technology infrastructure, and having an economic environment that is conducive to maximum development. And while Kuwait increasingly invests in ICT infrastructure and a welcoming economic environment, education and innovation seem to lag. This research aims to address the increased demand for academically based explorations of Kuwait’s attempts to transfer to a knowledge-based economy and present a comprehensive analysis of Kuwait’s Vision 2035, with emphasis on how the country aims to develop its education and innovation pillars to aid diversification efforts. By involving the relevant participants (e.g., government ministries and higher education institutions), this research seeks to inform policy debates by proposing actionable policies targeting education and innovation and, thus, defines concrete steps to strengthen the KBE in Kuwait