The role of attitudes and motivation in teaching and learning foreign languages : a theoretical and empirical investigation into the teaching and learning of English in Iraqi preparatory schools

Attitude and motivation, two central concepts in the domain of educational psychology, have not been attended to as required in the literature on English language teaching and learning in Iraq. Consequently, the current study aims at launching a theoretical and empirical investigation into the role of both concepts in bringing about the current discouraging situation of teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Iraq. The theoretical part of the work subsumes the first four chapters. Chapter One is the introduction where the problem to be investigated, the hypotheses, the aims of the research, and the reasons behind the choice of this topic for research have been stated. Chapter Two describes the educational system and the current situation of English language teaching and learning in Iraq. Worth mentioning in this respect are the different pre- and in-service training establishments, English textbooks and tests, and the supervision of teachers of English. Chapter Three is on attitude. The concept has been initially considered from a purely psychological viewpoint with focus on the historical review of attitude development, definition, basic components, main characteristics, formation, and change. Attitude in education forms a second point of departure with emphasis being laid on the role of the concept in teaching and learning foreign languages. Chapter Three ends with attitude measurement. Motivation, the topic of study of Chapter Four, is tackled in terms of its historical development, definition, and different theories. Reference is also made to the role of motivation in education in general, and in foreign language teaching and learning in particular. Accordingly, types of motivation, factors affecting pupils' and teachers' motivation, and teachers' role in motivating pupils form main subjects of discussion. Chapter Four ends with two sections; the first of which tackles the facets of difference between attitude and motivation, while the second deals with the differences between interest on the one hand, and attitude and motivation on the other. Chapter Five is on the method of research adopted to gather the data for the current study. It also contains the analysis of the Pupils' and Teachers' Attitudes and Motivation Questionnaires. Finally, some general remarks about the empirical part of the work are also made. Chapter Six presents the statistical analysis and survey results. It also contains some hypotheses on pupils' and teachers' attitudes and motivation. There is further analysis of some responses made by pupils and teachers which could not be hypothesized. This chapter ends with the analysis of headteachers' and supervisors' perceptions of English language teaching and learning in Iraq. The final chapter titled 'conclusion' contains the general conclusions arrived at by the researcher, followed by some implications for future work

A Survey on Vertical and Horizontal Scaling Platforms for Big Data Analytics

There is no doubt that we are entering the era of big data. The challenge is on how to store, search, and analyze the huge amount of data that is being generated per second. One of the main obstacles to the big data researchers is how to find the appropriate big data analysis platform. The basic aim of this work is to present a complete investigation of all the available platforms for big data analysis in terms of vertical and horizontal scaling, and its compatible framework and applications in detail. Finally, this article will outline some research trends and other open issues in big data analytic

Control and communication systems for automated vehicles cooperation and coordination

Mención Internacional en el título de doctorThe technological advances in the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are exponentially improving over the last century. The objective is to provide intelligent and innovative services for the different modes of transportation, towards a better, safer, coordinated and smarter transport networks. The Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) focus is divided into two main categories; the first is to improve existing components of the transport networks, while the second is to develop intelligent vehicles which facilitate the transportation process. Different research efforts have been exerted to tackle various aspects in the fields of the automated vehicles. Accordingly, this thesis is addressing the problem of multiple automated vehicles cooperation and coordination. At first, 3DCoAutoSim driving simulator was developed in Unity game engine and connected to Robot Operating System (ROS) framework and Simulation of Urban Mobility (SUMO). 3DCoAutoSim is an abbreviation for "3D Simulator for Cooperative Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Automated Vehicles Simulator". 3DCoAutoSim was tested under different circumstances and conditions, afterward, it was validated through carrying-out several controlled experiments and compare the results against their counter reality experiments. The obtained results showed the efficiency of the simulator to handle different situations, emulating real world vehicles. Next is the development of the iCab platforms, which is an abbreviation for "Intelligent Campus Automobile". The platforms are two electric golf-carts that were modified mechanically, electronically and electrically towards the goal of automated driving. Each iCab was equipped with several on-board embedded computers, perception sensors and auxiliary devices, in order to execute the necessary actions for self-driving. Moreover, the platforms are capable of several Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication schemes, applying three layers of control, utilizing cooperation architecture for platooning, executing localization systems, mapping systems, perception systems, and finally several planning systems. Hundreds of experiments were carried-out for the validation of each system in the iCab platform. Results proved the functionality of the platform to self-drive from one point to another with minimal human intervention.Los avances tecnológicos en Sistemas Inteligentes de Transporte (ITS) han crecido de forma exponencial durante el último siglo. El objetivo de estos avances es el de proveer de sistemas innovadores e inteligentes para ser aplicados a los diferentes medios de transporte, con el fin de conseguir un transporte mas eficiente, seguro, coordinado e inteligente. El foco de los ITS se divide principalmente en dos categorías; la primera es la mejora de los componentes ya existentes en las redes de transporte, mientras que la segunda es la de desarrollar vehículos inteligentes que hagan más fácil y eficiente el transporte. Diferentes esfuerzos de investigación se han llevado a cabo con el fin de solucionar los numerosos aspectos asociados con la conducción autónoma. Esta tesis propone una solución para la cooperación y coordinación de múltiples vehículos. Para ello, en primer lugar se desarrolló un simulador (3DCoAutoSim) de conducción basado en el motor de juegos Unity, conectado al framework Robot Operating System (ROS) y al simulador Simulation of Urban Mobility (SUMO). 3DCoAutoSim ha sido probado en diferentes condiciones y circunstancias, para posteriormente validarlo con resultados a través de varios experimentos reales controlados. Los resultados obtenidos mostraron la eficiencia del simulador para manejar diferentes situaciones, emulando los vehículos en el mundo real. En segundo lugar, se desarrolló la plataforma de investigación Intelligent Campus Automobile (iCab), que consiste en dos carritos eléctricos de golf, que fueron modificados eléctrica, mecánica y electrónicamente para darle capacidades autónomas. Cada iCab se equipó con diferentes computadoras embebidas, sensores de percepción y unidades auxiliares, con la finalidad de transformarlos en vehículos autónomos. Además, se les han dado capacidad de comunicación multimodal (V2X), se les han aplicado tres capas de control, incorporando una arquitectura de cooperación para operación en modo tren, diferentes esquemas de localización, mapeado, percepción y planificación de rutas. Innumerables experimentos han sido realizados para validar cada uno de los diferentes sistemas incorporados. Los resultados prueban la funcionalidad de esta plataforma para realizar conducción autónoma y cooperativa con mínima intervención humana.Programa Oficial de Doctorado en Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y AutomáticaPresidente: Francisco Javier Otamendi Fernández de la Puebla.- Secretario: Hanno Hildmann.- Vocal: Pietro Cerr

El hebreo y el árabe en contacto: desviación e interferencias en la ficción judía iraquí

As bilingual authors, Iraqi Jewish novelists use Arabic in some of their Hebrew novels, the result of which has been some linguistic phenomena related to languages in contact. This paper discusses the deviations and interferences between Arabic and Hebrew in Iraqi Jewish fiction, asserting that both interference and deviation from the Modern Hebrew norm occur at times under the influence of Arabic. The paper concludes with the question of whether these deviations from the Modern Hebrew norm foreground literary texts by Iraqi Jewish authors. Como autores bilingües, lo novelistas judíos iraquíes utilizan el árabe en algunas de sus novelas hebreas, lo que ha originado algunos fenómenos lingüísticos relacionados con el contacto entre lenguas. Este artículo analiza las desviaciones y las interferencias entre el árabe y el hebreo en la ficción judía iraquí, afirmando que tanto la interferencia y la desviación del hebreo moderno se producen a veces bajo la influencia de la lengua árabe. El artículo concluye preguntando si estas desviaciones destacan los textos literarios de autores judíos iraquíes

Challenges facing women living with HIV in Upper Egypt

This research aims to identify challenges that face women living with HIV in Upper Egypt in order to help policy makers and different stakeholders to overcome those challenges. Interviews with women living with HIV from different governorates in Upper Egypt were conducted. In addition, this research included interviews with national AIDS program officials and NGOs managers to obtain different perspectives about the condition of women living with HIV. Women represent half of people living with HIV around the world. The burden of disease on women is even more challenging in many countries due to gender inequality. The effect of culture in Upper Egypt on women living with HIV was an added value to this research as there is shortage in researches that tackled this problem in this particular area in Egypt. Despite efforts to fight HIV in Egypt and to reduce stigma and discrimination, women living with HIV in Upper Egypt face many challenges. What are those challenges and how can Egypt overcome them? Main findings included that women living with HIV in Upper Egypt need a stigma free reproductive health services. They need to disclose about their illness without fear of stigma. Women face many difficulties to access reproductive health services upon disclosure about their status. Women might transfer the virus to their children due to mismanagement of their cases or lack of proper services in health care provision during child birth. Moreover, there is a shortage in the services provided for PLHIV in Upper Egypt including medications’ distributing centers and laboratory tests. Finally, there is a pressing social stigma against PLHIV which results in low utilization of testing services

Coronavirus Disease Diagnosis, Care and Prevention (COVID-19) Based on Decision Support System

تم عمل نظام دعم القرار السريري الآلي (CDSS) كنموذج جديد في الخدمات الطبية. بحيث يتم استخدام CDSSs لمساعدة الأخصائيين (الأطباء) في اتخاذ قراراتهم المحيرة. ولهذا السبب ، تم بناء DSS اعتمادًا على معرفة الأطباء وباستخدام استخراج البيانات لمساعدة خلية الازمة الطبية للسيطرة على جائحة فيروس COVID-19 ، وبشكل عام ، لتحديد الفئة من العدوى وتقديم علاج بروتوكول مناسب حسب أعراض المريض. في البداية لتشخيص المرض تم الاعتماد على ثلاث اعراض اولية هي ( الحمى, التعب والسعال الجاف) لمعرفة الشخص المصاب وعند تحديد أي من هذه الاعراض يتم تقسيم الاشخاص المصابين الى اربعة اصناف حسب مناعة الاشخاص ( اصابة طفيفة , اصابة عالية , اصابة شديدة جدا و طبيعي). وايضا يتم التشخيص باستخدام عاملين هما ( عمر المريض و الامراض المزمنة للمريض مثل السكر ومشاكل القلب وضغط الدم ) ثم يتم تقدير حالة المصاب حيث توجد ستة مستويات للاشخاص المصابين بفيروس كورونا 2019 وتحتاج الى عناية حسب حالة المصاب. عندما يكون الفحص موجب واعتمادا على عمر المريض والامراض المزمنة يتم تحديد في أي مستوى من المستويات الستة يكون المريض حسب الاعراض . وبذلك يتم تحديد درجة حالة المريض من الدرجات الاربع ثم يتم اقتراح اربعة بروتوكولات للعلاج ويتم اختيار الانسب حسب اختيار الاطباء وايضا يوفر النظام معلومات كاملة عن الوقاية وتجنب الوباء واخيرا يتم ارسال ايميل يحتوي جميع المعلومات من مركز السيطرة لللاشخاص المسؤولين . تم اعتماد خوارزمية C4.5  في شجرة اتخاذ القرار لبناء هذا التطبيق.                                                                                                                                              Automated clinical decision support system (CDSS) acts as new paradigm in medical services today. CDSSs are utilized to increment specialists (doctors) in their perplexing decision-making. Along these lines, a reasonable decision support system is built up dependent on doctors' knowledge and data mining derivation framework so as to help with the interest the board in the medical care gracefully to control the Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) virus pandemic and, generally, to determine the class of infection and to provide a suitable protocol treatment depending on the symptoms of patient. Firstly, it needs to determine the three early symptoms of COVID-19 pandemic criteria (fever, tiredness, dry cough and breathing difficulty) used to diagnose the person being infected by COVID-19 virus or not. Secondly, this approach divides the infected peoples into four classes, based on their immune system risk level (very high degree, high degree, mild degree, and normal), and using two indices of age and current health status like diabetes, heart disorders, or hypertension. Where, these people are graded and expected to comply with their class regulations. There are six important COVID-19 virus infections of different classes that should receive immediate health care to save their lives. When the test is positive, the patient age is considered to choose one of the six classifications depending on the patient symptoms to provide him the suitable care as one of the four types of suggested treatment protocol of COVID-19 virus infection in COVID-19 DSS application. Finally, a report of all information about any classification case of COVID-19 infection is printed where this report includes the status of patient (infection level) and the prevention protocol. Later, the program sends the report to the control centre (medical expert) containing the information. In this paper, it was suggested the use of C4.5 Algorithm for decision tree

Connectivity Analysis in Vehicular Ad-hoc Network based on VDTN

In the last decade, user demand has been increasing exponentially based on modern communication systems. One of these new technologies is known as mobile ad-hoc networking (MANET). One part of MANET is called a vehicular ad-hoc network (VANET). It has different types such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicular delay-tolerant networks, and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I). To provide sufficient quality of communication service in the Vehicular Delay-Tolerant Network (VDTN), it is important to present a comprehensive survey that shows the challenges and limitations of VANET. In this paper, we focus on one type of VANET, which is known as VDTNs. To investigate realistic communication systems based on VANET, we considered intelligent transportation systems (ITSs) and the possibility of replacing the roadside unit with VDTN. Many factors can affect the message propagation delay. When road-side units (RSUs) are present, which leads to an increase in the message delivery efficiency since RSUs can collaborate with vehicles on the road to increase the throughput of the network, we propose new methods based on environment and vehicle traffic and present a comprehensive evaluation of the newly suggested VDTN routing method. Furthermore, challenges and prospects are presented to stimulate interest in the scientific community

Enhancing the Behavior of One-Way Reinforced Concrete Slabs by Using Laced Reinforcement

This paper studies experimentally the behavior of laced reinforced concrete one-way slabs under monotonic load. The experimental program included testing three simply supported one-way slabs of dimensions (1500 mm length, 600 mm width, and thickness 130mm. One of these slabs was the control specimen which was designed without lacing reinforcement steel and the other two specimens designed were with two variable lacing reinforcement ratio (0.27% and 0.52%). All specimens were cast with normal of 22 MPa compressive strength. Specimens were tested under two equal line loads applied at the third parts of the slab (monotonic load) gradually applying up to failure. The specimens showed an enhanced in ultimate load capacity up to 40% as a result of increasing the lacing steel ratio to 0.52 %. Also, decreasing in deflection at service and at ultimate load levels by 42% and %57 respectively. In addition, the results showed that specimen with lacing reinforcement are more ductility than specimen without lacing reinforcement so using of lacing steel reinforcement leads to significant improvements in ductility index which reached to about 49% with increasing the lacing steel ratio to (0.52%)

Empirical Equations for Analysis of Two-Way Reinforced Concrete Slabs

There are many different methods for analysis of two-way reinforced concrete slabs. The most efficient methods depend on using certain factors given in different codes of reinforced concrete design. The other ways of analysis of two-way slabs are the direct design method and the equivalent frame method. But these methods usually need a long time for analysis of the slabs.In this paper, a new simple method has been developed to analyze the two-way slabs by using simple empirical formulae, and the results of final analysis of some examples have been compared with other different methods given in different codes of practice.The comparison proof that this simple proposed method gives good results and it can be used in analysis of two-way slabs instead of other methods