SACM - Australia

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://drepo.sdl.edu.sa/handle/20.500.14154/9648

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System Strength and Dynamic Voltage Recovery of Power Grids with High Penetration of LSPV Plants
(Saudi Digital Library, 0023-05-26) Alshareef, Abdulrhman; Mithulananthan, Nadarajah; Rakibuzzaman, Shah
This research investigates the impact of high levels of large-scale photovoltaic (LSPV) power plant penetration on dynamic voltage stability. Verified LSPV plant model has been utilised to capture its behavior and system strength at various penetration levels with the impact of inverter-based loads on dynamic voltage stability. Moreover, it develops a reliable global dynamic voltage stability assessment index and proposes effective countermeasures to alleviate the detrimental impacts of LSPV plants. The countermeasures includes a data- driven approach considering full voltage trajectory and involving various dynamic interactions to allocate dynamic VAr source to secure system strength with higher penetration of LSPV plants.
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Exploring teachers’ and students’ efficacy in the teaching and learning of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Saudi Arabia
(Saudi Digital Library, 0023-06-06) Alkhairi, Ahmad Hassan E; Alkhairi, Ahmad
This qualitative case study explored teaching and learning practices of English-as-a Foreign Language (EFL) in the school context in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The study is underpinned by Bandura’s (1977, 1986) triadic reciprocal causation model, derived from his Social Cognitive Theory. In particular, the research focused on the teacher-efficacy of Saudi EFL teachers and the self-efficacy of students learning the English language. The approach of the research explores self-efficacy through a qualitative method. Data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews with secondary school teachers and through focus group discussions with their students, through classroom observations, and through examination of teaching materials to comprehend the teaching and learning environment of EFL in Saudi schools.
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Examining Academics and Students Attitudes to Mobile-learning in a Transformative University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: a study of Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University
(Saudi Digital Library, 0023-10-27) Alshehri, Eman; Preston, Greg; Buchanan, Rachel
Although there is a growing interest in mobile-learning and its potential benefits in higher education, limited research has investigated cross-contextual mobile-learning issues such as university technology policies, usage levels, and practices in relation to students' gender, contextual, educational, and gender-based mobile-learning attitudes. This study was undertaken as a case study at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU), to investigate the attitudes of both academic staff and students towards the adoption of mobile-learning with Smartphones. The first purpose of this study was to explore the current Smartphone policies, level of usage, preferred learning activities by students and academics at IAU. The second purpose of the study was to investigate the student’s and academics’ attitudes and perceptions toward using their Smartphones as learning and teaching tools, with particular regard to the challenges and/or enablers that they may encounter. This study used an adapted version of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and a sequential mixed methods design to collect the data using online surveys with students (N=325), and semi-structured interviews with academics (N=21). Regression analysis was used to analyse the online surveys (quantitative data), and a thematic analysis was used to analyse the semi-structured interviews (qualitative data). The study findings revealed that both students and academics generally have a positive attitude toward the use of Smartphones in the learning environment at IAU. Around 98% of students at IAU use Smartphones every day for learning, while the use by the academics was substantially less. From the nine measured variables, only four predictors had a significant influence on students’ attitudes to mobile-learning: self-efficacy, enjoyment, perceived ease of use, and mobile-learning preferences. For academics, the most frequently reported challenge they faced when adopting mobile-learning was the lack of policies and regulations governing their use. This study contributes to the body of knowledge on mobile-learning in higher education and offers useful insights into how Smartphones are currently used by students and academics at IAU and the best practices for implementing Smartphones as learning and teaching tools.
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The Effects of Transport Urban Renewal: A Study of Road-Rail Level Crossings in Melbourne, Australia
(Saudi Digital Library, 0023-11-29) Gbban, Abdulrhman; Kamruzzaman, Liton; Coxon, Selby; Dolbex, Alexa
ABSTRACT Transport infrastructure plays a vital role in shaping and structuring urban economic, environmental, and social activities by enabling access to destinations. However, it can also pose a significant barrier for communities. Despite numerous studies documented the enabler effects of transport infrastructures, little research focuses on identifying their barrier effects (or community severance). Most of these studies, however, focus on a particular type of barrier effect (direct, indirect, or wider) using cross-sectional data, and as a result, they lack to provide causal evidence of barrier effects in a more systematic way. Studies have hypothesized that direct, indirect and wider barrier effects occur in a sequential manner. Rarely studies examined this sequential flow on barrier effects (from direct to indirect to wider) and how they vary according to the design of transport infrastructure. This study aims to address these gaps in the literature using the road-rail level crossing removal project (LXRP) in Melbourne as a case study. In particular, the study questions and objectives are: Research Question 1: To what extent does the renewal of level crossings reduce community severance directly, indirectly, and catalytically? Research Objective 1: Assess the direct barrier removal effects of rail crossing upgrade Research Objective 2: Assess the indirect barrier removal effects of rail crossing upgrade Research Objective 3: Assess the wider/catalytic barrier removal effects of rail crossing upgrade Research Question 2: What is the level of (in)consistency between objective and subjective measures of barrier removal effects caused by the renewal of level crossings? Research Objective 4: Assess the consistency of the objective and subjective measures of the wider barrier removal effects. To answer the research questions, a combination of quantitative and qualitative data collection methods was employed. Qualitative data was used to understand the perceived barrier removal effects of LXRPs from the perspective of residents, whereas quantitative data complemented the qualitative data to objectively measure the wider barrier removal effects of LXRPs. A quasi-panel design was utilized in this study to assess the impact of infrastructure upgrades on residents' perceptions of their urban environment. An online questionnaire survey was designed to collect qualitative data from 776 residents living around 13 LXRP sites (cases) and 13 control sites. The questionnaire captured residents' perceptions of changes in the patterns of walking and cycling, travel time, and social life within their neighborhoods, respectively representing direct, indirect, and wider barrier removal v effects. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to understand if the reported changes were significantly different between the case and control sites. Quantitative data collection involved the extraction of land use data from satellite images in the case and control sites in 2015 (pre-LXRP) and 2020 (post-LXRP). The case-control study design ensured that the observed changes in land use patterns in the LXRP sites were not due to chance (e.g. external effects). A difference-in-difference method was employed to robustly infer about the causal impacts of LXRPs on land use patterns. Furthermore, the gathering of both qualitative and quantitative data enabled the study to evaluate the degree of consistency between the two measures. This evaluation was conducted using the %agreement analysis to assess the level of agreement between these two types of measures. The survey data indicate that the removal of level crossing barriers resulted in: a) an enjoyment of walking and cycling in the communities (direct effects); b) a reduction in cycling time to workplaces, shops and restaurants, and schools (indirect effects); and c) an increase in open spaces and commercial use, and a decrease in residential areas (wider effects). Note, however, that some of the positive effects were found only when the new infrastructure was built above the ground suggesting the significant effects of infrastructure design on barrier removal effects. The %agreement analysis results, however show that while there is a considerable agreement between the objective and subjective measures in the perception of changes in shops and restaurants, parking lots and public buildings, noticeable inconsistencies exist in the measurement of houses and apartments, vacant lots and industrial buildings. This thesis, for the first time, provides causal evidence of barrier removal effects of transport infrastructure and how these can be observed in a sequential order from direct to indirect to wider. The findings are encouraging for transport authorities aiming to reduce barrier effects for communities. It also provides evidence of the effective ways of reducing the barrier effects through the design of infrastructure (above the ground vs. underground). However, the discrepancy between the objective and subjective measures suggests that residents are unaware of the positive impacts that LXRPs are making on the communities. This can be achieved, for example, through communication strategies.
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The Effect of Physical Exercise as an Adjunctive Treatment to the Usual Treatment for Major Depressive Disorder: An Integrative Review
(Saudi Digital Library, 2017) Alsolami, Eman; West, Sandra; Betihavas, Vasiliki
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a leading cause of disability around the world. The current treatment approach for MDD is limited. Physical exercise is a suggested treatment for depression and the use of exercise as an adjunctive therapy to the usual treatment of depression has received significant attention. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate whether physical exercise as an adjunctive therapy leads to an extra reduction in depressive symptoms compared with using the usual treatments alone. An integrative review was conducted by a systematic search in Scopus and PsycINFO databases. The search yielded 100articles, which were narrowed to 15 articles based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The review found that using exercise as an adjunctive therapy to the usual treatment of depression decreased depressive symptoms more than using the usual treatment alone. It also found that this effect is not influenced by factors such as type of exercise, as aerobic and resistance exercise lead to the same effect. In addition, it found that exercise programs of short- and medium-duration were more effective than programs of a longer duration, and that hospital- and public-based exercise were more effective than home-based exercise. However, this review cannot determine whether the effect of using exercise as an adjunctive therapy to the usual treatments might be different based on the severity of depression and the patient’s age. This review suggests that using short and moderate programs of exercise as an adjunctive therapy to the usual treatment of depression can be an effective way to improve the depressive symptoms among adult patients with MDD.
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Bacterial Risk Assessment of Cereals and Cereal Products in Saudi Arabia
(Saudi Digital Library, 2017) Banah, Osama; Davies, Belinda
Food is considered an essential element and core requirement for life. However, if contaminated by microbiological, physical or chemical agents, food can cause death or disease among those who consume it. For this reason, ensuring the safety of the food we eat is a crucial requirement in reducing the incidence of foodborne disease outbreaks. This can be expected to impact positively on the general health of the public in countries where such measures are adopted and enforced. This study aimed to identify and rank the microbiological hazards associated with foods commonly consumed in Saudi Arabia. We identified cereals and their products as the country’s most consumed food type, and a microbial risk assessment was conducted based on a version of the CODEX risk assessment framework developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization. The completed risk assessment identified cooked rice and cooked pasta as the highest-risk foods within the cereals and cereal products category. In addition, the bacteria identified as associated with these two types of food were also ranked according to their hazard level. Bacillus cereus was considered the highest risk, followed by Salmonella spp. (non-typhoidal) and then Staphylococcus aureus. The research also confirmed the importance of food safety skills and knowledge and the role of proper food handling techniques in preventing and reducing the likelihood of foodborne outbreaks.
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Electrical resistance measurements of silver nanowire junctions using Conductive Atomic Force Microscopy
(Saudi Digital Library, 2017-09-25) Alzahrani, Sanaa Abdullah M; Hoxley, David; Langley, Daniel
Transparent conductive materials (TCMs) are in high demand for widespread applications, including organic light-emitting diode displays, touch panels, solar cells. TCMs have conventionally been made from indium tin oxide (ITO) as it offers high electrical conductivity and transparency. However, as a brittle ceramic, its usage in future applications in building flexible electronic devices has become limited. Networks of silver nanowires (AgNWs) are an alternative TCM material, displaying flexibility and high optical transmittance. However, their low sheet resistance relies on minimizing the contact resistance between individual silver nanowires, which remains a major challenge. We have used an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) to measuring the electrical resistance of individual nanowire junctions and conducting pathways in networks deposited on glass substrates. It was found that mechanical pressing at room temperature improves the electrical conductivity of the AgNW networks, but considerable resistance remains. This is attributed to residual layer of organic contamination from the dispersants used in the films formation process. Possible treatments to reduce this are discussed.
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Physiological and Biochemical Differences between Diabetes Type 1 and Diabetes Type 2
(University of New England, 2017-10-20) Almutairi, Majed; Farlane, Jim
The expression "diabetes" is gotten from the ancient Greek word 'diabainen', which means ‘go through’, to show the too much passage of urine from the kidney. Until the 1600s it was not included, nonetheless, that Willis included the expression "mellitus" ('sweet') to recognize this condition from an unreasonable production of non-sweet urine (diabetes 'insipidus')(Poretsky, 2010). Just about 200 years after the fact (1776), Dobson showed that sweet taste of urine wasbecause of an abundance of sugar in blood and urine. Another 100 more years were needed to demonstrate the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus. In 1889, von Mering and Minkowski showed that pancreatectomised dogs created manifestations of diabetes, thus first time connecting diabetes surprisingly to a particular organ. In 1910, Sharpey-Schafer recommended that diabetic peoples were inadequate in a substance created in the pancreatic islets (found in 1869 by Langerhans) and called it 'insulin'; in this manner, a connection between the pancreas, insulin and diabetes was begun to develop and thus modern period of diabetes study started. It was just in 1921, in any case, that a more exact picture developed: Banting, Macleod and Best demonstrated that diabetes in pancreatectomised dogs could be turned around after the intravenous organization of the "islet" extracted from typical canine ancreata. Then, Best, Banting and Collip refined this substance from bovinepancreata, and the first patient was effectively treated in 1922, bringing about a decrease in blood glucose as well as glycosuria. In 1926, MacLean recommended a difference between 'hepatic glycosuria' and 'genuine diabetes'. After ten years, Himsworth, compressing his past research, recognized 'insulin-dependent' and 'insulin-independent' diabetes mellitus, with the last more treacherous condition portrayed by less serious hyperglycaemia. In the 1950s, a solid estimation of circling insulin with a radioimmunoassay system permitted a reasonable difference between 'insulin-dependent' and 'insulin-independent' diabetes mellitus, and the worldview of two pathophysiologically distinct disordersturned out to be increasingly clear in the folowing years (Zaccardi, Webb, Yates, & Davies, 2016).
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X-Ray Imaging of Nanostructured Silicon Thin-Film Anodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries
(Saudi Digital Library, 2017-12-05) Alomari, Suaad; Van Riessen, Grant; Arhatari, Benedicta
Nanostructured silicon is one of the most promising anode materials for high energy density lithium ion batteries. However, the degradation that occurs as a result of a large volume change during the lithiation/delithiation cycle hinders commercial application. The mechanism of degradation, the charge capacity, and the charge/discharge performance of silicon anodes are strong functions of microstructure and nanostructure. Therefore, it is important to develop methods of characterising silicon anodes at these structural length scales. The objective of this study is to explore X-ray based methods that can potentially be applied for in operando studies of model Li-ion batteries during charge and discharge cycles. This is of great importance for the rational design of future high performance silicon anodes. A process for fabricating nonoporous, thin film silicon was developed. The process, based on magnetron sputtering of phosphorous doped silicon and reactive ion etching, was shown to produce nanoporous films with structure that depends on the reactive ion etching parameters. This process was integrated into a scheme for fabricating microscale Li-ion batteries that are compatible with optical and X-ray microscopy. After determining that phase contrast imaging using laboratory sources can not provide the sensitivity required to characterise variations in thin-film anode structures, we evaluated the potential of synchrotron based ptychographic Fresnel coherent diffractive imaging (FCDI) using soft x-rays. In this experiment, we studied the nanostructure of the amorphous silicon film before and after deposition of a LiPF6 electrolyte solution. The coherent diffraction intensity was weak but clearly showed characteristics consistent with the expected nanostructure of the Si film. The characteristic nanostructure of the dry silicon film in coherent diffraction patterns was not observed after electrolyte deposition. While the cause for this difference is not fully understood and remains the subject for future work, the role of the electrolyte in reducing sensitivity to the nanoscale structure of the silicon, and the possibility of it inducing structural changes upon contact are considered. Quantitative phase and magnitude images of representative areas of the dry Si anode were successfully reconstructed from the ptychographic FCDI data. These results indicate that FCDI using synchrotron radiation has the required sensitivity for studying changes in the nanostructure of thin-film silicon anodes and we use the data obtained to evaluate the potential for in operando studies of dynamic processes occurring during electrochemical operation.
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The Effectiveness of Virtual Reality as a Non-Pharmacological Intervention to Reduce Pain During Medical Procedures Among Adults: An Integrative Review
(University of Sydney, 2018-06) Asiri, Salihah; West, Sandra; Betihavas, Vasiliki
Aim: The aim of this review is to identify the effectiveness of VR as a non-pharmacological intervention to reduce pain among adult patients during medical procedures. Background: Managing pain during medical procedures is important for both patients and caregivers in providing high quality care as well as patient satisfaction. Using non-pharmacological analgesics is highly recommended due to the relative lack of side effects compared to traditional pharmacological analgesics, which can cause several side effects such as constipation, nausea, or cognitive dysfunction. These concerns, along with the associated risk of addiction, have led to limiting the use of opioids for analgesia. This review focused on using VR as a distraction method, which can be used alone or in addition to pharmacologic analgesia to reduce adult patients’ perceived pain during medical procedures. Methods: An integrative literature review was completed via a comprehensive and systematic search performed using online electronic databases, including CINAHL, PubMed, and PsycINFO via OvidSP. After the search and selection process was complete, the literature was categorized as either experimental studies of healthy participants or studies of patients undergoing various medical procedures in clinical settings. Results: Three pain components are measured while using VR in both experimental and clinical studies. These include the sensory (the intensity of pain), affective (unpleasant pain), and cognitive (time spent thinking about pain) components of pain. The amount of ‘fun’ experienced was also measured. This review suggests that the VR condition can reduce all three pain components when compared with the no VR condition, and the amount of fun experienced was increased in the VR condition. Conclusion: This paper seeks to identify the effectiveness of VR as a non-pharmacological intervention to reduce pain among adult patients during medical procedures.
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Plasma Fluorination of Graphene and Graphene Oxide
(Flinders University, 2018-11-28) Alsaedi, Amal; Quinton, Jamie; Raston, Colin
Plasma fluorination of graphene includes surface modification of graphene using plasma SF6 to modify and enhance its surface physical, electronic, and conduction properties. Experiments of plasma fluorination have been performed in the vacuum and VFD systems in this project and characterising the fluorinated graphene To develop a deep understanding of plasma fluorination process. The characterisation process involved investigating the chemical-bonding of fluorinated graphene sheets using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Auger electron spectroscopy. The research also attempted to compare and contrast the results of plasma fluorinated graphene in a high vacuum environment, with the plasma fluorinated graphene using the VFD device. Based on the obtained results, the researcher will propose new, greener, and optimised fluorination route(s) that can be employed in the future when undertaking plasma fluorination of individual graphene sheets for commercial applications. In this project, Vacuum system and plasma VFD were used to produce Fluorinated graphene via plasma. Fluorination of graphene was done in the vacuum system by exposing to O2 plasma as pre-treatment and then SF6 plasma X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Auger electron spectroscopy were used to investigate plasma fluorination process. It was determined from the obtained results, Fluorinated graphene that produced using vacuum system was partly fluorinated, and when the time increased in order to increase the fluorination level, the damage appeared on graphene sheets and the samples in general and increased by increasing the time which could consider as a limitation for this method since it could limit the use of production from this method. Plasma fluorination was also done using plasma VFD. From the obtained results, fluorination of graphene and Graphene oxide in the plasma VFD were successful. Fluorination process of graphene after trying to eliminate the risk of HF generation by redispersing materials was not achieved since this process remove most of fluorine content. However, XPS and AES confirmed the productions of FGO in plasma VFD.
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Models for honeybee nest-site selection: a survey with cross-model comparisons
(University of New England, 2019-12-14) Alzubaidi, Sharifah Mohammed; Schaerf, Timothy
Throughout their lives honeybees engage in a variety of complex, cooperative, tasks that require re markable group-level coordination between thousands of worker bees. These tasks include foraging, provisioning stores and offspring, and guarding the entrance to their home. Another such task is the nest-site selection process that reproductive swarms must undertake to find and establish a new home in a limited period of time. One general way to view nest-site selection by honeybees is as a best-of-N decision-making process, where the swarm members must first find and then choose the best between many alternative sites, some of which can be at distances many kilometres from the location of the swarm, to establish a new home. The process has a finite time-limit, as reproductive swarms cannot store food, and are exposed until they establish a new home. Nest-site selection is best understood for the western hive bee, Apis mellifera, particularly due to a sequence of studies performed since 1999, but it seems that all species of honeybee apply processes with at least some similarities in choosing a new location to establish a colony. Part of the process of better understanding how the nest-site selection process of A. mellifera works has been the development and analysis of a variety of mathematical models based on current knowledge of the system at the time that the models were developed, starting with systems of nonlinear ordinary differential equations proposed by Britton et al. (2002). Since the seminal work of Britton et al. (2002), the types of models used to study nest-site selection have grown to include matrix models, individual based models, stochastic simulation models, and systems of nonlinear stochastic differential equations, across more than a dozen studies. One of the most important advances in understanding the details of nest-site selection in the last decade has been the study of the role that inhibitory stop-signals play in the overall decision-making process (Seeley et al., 2012), which required a combination of empirical observations and the analysis of an appropriate model to understand properly. As models of nest-site selection are based on the same biological process, they often include mathematical terms or algorithmic mechanisms that represent the same components of the decision making process, and that are broadly similar whilst at the same time differing in fine detail. This study is devoted to examining if differences in the details of models for nest-site selection result in quantitatively different predictions by these models. Chapter 1 provides an overview of current understanding of the real-world, biological, nest-site selection process for A. mellifera. Chapter 2 briefly details each of the current models of nest-site selection, the aspects of nest-site selection that these models have been used to examine, and the broad similarities between the models. In Chapter 3, I then chose a smaller sample of the available models for nest-site selection to examine in greater detail (one matrix model, one differential equation model and two individual based simulation models, one with relatively simple components and another that is more complex). I examine a process for choosing within-model parameters for each model so that equivalent components of the nest-site selection process will produce quantitatively similar outcomes for a standard, simplified, problem of choosing between two nest-sites - one that is of excellent quality, and another that is of poorer quality, but still acceptable. I then examine and compare the overall predictions of the models with parameters chosen so that equivalent elements of the nest-site selection process behave as similarly as possible. When parameter sets are chosen to try to maintain quantitative similarities between model components, the broad qualitative predictions of the models remain the same (with the best nest-site identified by model swarms as being the best site). However, the quantitative predictions of the models, particularly the absolute number of workers "devoted" to a particular site and some details of the system's dynamics, differ markedly across the models, in some cases by a factor of more than ten.
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Ambulatory Oncology Chair Utilisation in Australia: Apilot Study
(Queensland university of technology, 2020-10-23) Alquzi, Fatimah; Chan, Raymond
Background Cancer is one of the principal diseases which afflicts Australians, with statistics suggesting that half of all Australians will be diagnosed with some form of cancer by the age of 85. In recent years, the largest increase in demand for enhanced cancer care services has occurred amongst out-patients, rather than in- patients. In order to deliver quality ambulatory oncology care services, it is essential that service providers fully appreciate both the relevant demand issues and the associated supply challenges. Once knowledge in both these areas has been secured, appropriate strategies can be devised through which the implementation of fair, effective, and needs-based services can be ensured. Objectives This study investigates chair utilization in an oncology ambulatory therapy unit in Brisbane, Australia. Specifically, the study examines the relationship between oncology chair utilization and various treatment factors, including the type of cancer, the day of the service, whether the OOS is related to a clinical trial, whether the OOS is SACT or non-SACT, and how the relationship between the trial and the department. Design and methodology In order to achieve the research objectives, this study adopts a retrospective analysis of an administrative dataset (CHARM® Pharmacist at the Princess Alexandra Hospital) related to chair utilization in an ambulatory oncology unit. The relevant data is cleaned by a Metro South Health employee, who has unrestricted access and widespread familiarity with CHARM, ieMR, and Electronic Scheduling Management System (ESM) records. This data cleaning was performed using Microsoft Excel®, wherein different approaches were employed to ensure that the analysed data reflects actual chair utilization in the hospital setting. iii Results The data analysis revealed a number of principal results, to wit: weekdays had a higher incidence of Occasions of Services (OOS) than the weekend, Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT) recorded higher levels of OOS than Non-Systemic Cancer Therapy (Non-SACT), and gastrointestinal cancer, lung carcinoma, lymphoma, and breast cancer were the main types of cancer treated in the unit. Since this is the first study to quantify chair utilization in a day oncology setting, the results of this study can be used to inform the future design of a larger multicentre study to enable a comparison to be made between service growth and demand. These findings also have applicability in workforce planning since they can forecast the extent to which capacity should be expanded in order to guarantee effective and responsive cancer care services in ambulatory oncology settings. Based on these findings, it is recommended that future longitudinal studies should be conducted to identify and predict trends in ambulatory oncology cancer care demand. Moreover, the paper recommends a nationwide programme of exploration of ambulatory oncology services in order to arrive at more generalizable conclusions regarding chair utilization in ambulatory oncology care centres.
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Determinants of Saudi Students’ Continuance Intention to Use MOOCs: Integrating Personal Innovativeness in Information Technology (PIIT) Theory and Technology Acceptance Model
(Latrobe University, 2021-06-28) Alghamdi, Saad; Soh, Ben
This study aims to determine the Saudi students' intention to use Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The study will integrate the Personal Innovativeness in Information Technology (PIIT) Theory and Technology Acceptance Model to determine the factors. A review of the literature was conducted, and it was found that there is insufficient research into the factors which influence the Saudi students' intention to use MOOCs. A research framework has been proposed comprising of PIIT theory and Technology Acceptance Model, which can address the aim of this research. Furthermore, questionnaire items have identified which can measure the Saudi students' intention to use MOOS. A quantitative survey of Saudi students studying in Australia was conducted. A large majority of Saudi students (about 65 to 80%) in Australian universities perceived high level of usefulness and ease of use for MOOCs. Therefore, they expressed the desire to continue using it in future. Some of them were willing to be the first to try out new information technologies. There was some hesitation (30% of students) in being the first to try and even to try out new information technologies. The mean response for all scales trended towards agreement to the statements. Hence, it can be concluded that the general attitude was favourable towards using MOOCs for learning a large variety of courses and subjects they were learning. All the four hypotheses were verified using correlation coefficients. Thus, both PU and PEOU positively influenced intention to continue using MOOCs in future too. Also, both PU and PEOU were positively related with PIIT. Thus the research model was validated.
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Development and Impacts of Wireless Communication Systems
(Queensland University of technology, 2022) Rubayan, Sultan; Kajewski, Stephen; Rose, Tim
The specific aim of this research is to explore and analyze how wired communication systems are gradually being replaced with wireless ones in the context of construction projects. This centers on the technological advancements and new inventions that have come up to transform communications in construction operations in the past. A major goal of this research is to investigate the use of 5G networks along with the integration of Internet of Things (IoT) devices into the wireless communication technology among construction sites (Chowdhury et al., 2019). This aim mainly reflects a detailed study of the past, present and future wireless communication in the building sector which will help the industry experts as well as the researchers obtain good perspectives.
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Collaborative planning for the environmental sustainability of the Hajj
(2022) Abonomi, Abdullah; De Lacy, Terry; Pyke, Joanne
Every year, millions of Muslim worshippers visit Mecca in Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj, which is the fifth and last pillar of Islam. Mecca generally hosts more than 2,300,000 people from approximately 183 different countries and cultures every year. Tourism, especially a religious tourist attraction such as the Hajj, is expected to boost the economy and create new jobs for Saudi youth in the services sector. Despite the many benefits of pilgrimage, the Hajj itself has adverse environmental impacts. The activities of Hajj generate considerable solid and liquid waste, use large quantities of scarce freshwater and produce high levels of greenhouse gases. The government of Saudi Arabia has established many strategies and policies, such as a the ‘prepared meal project’, to reduce the impacts of the Hajj activities on environmental sustainability. However, these environmental strategies have not achieved their goals. For example, several hospitality agencies refused to collaborate on the prepared meal project for pilgrims established by the government to reduce waste. The wider literature demonstrates that the success of sustainability plans and projects in the tourism context requires collaboration between stakeholders from all sectors. This collaboration does not occur in the Hajj. The overarching aim of this research is to investigate how the environmental sustainability of the Hajj can be improved. The particular focus, however, is on how stakeholder collaboration in planning can be improved to achieve sustainability goals. This study applies Gray’s (1989) collaborative planning model to investigate the nature of the collaboration process between Hajj stakeholders and identify the drivers that will support collaboration. This model establishes a three-phase planning process necessary to successfully achieve stakeholder collaboration and the strategic goals. To achieve the aim, this research employed a qualitative methodology to investigate the nature of collaboration between Hajj stakeholders and the drivers that induce their collaboration while planning for environmental sustainability of the Hajj. Both primary data and secondary data were used. A qualitative approach was adopted and specific methods used included unstructured and semi-structured interviews. Interviewees were selected to be representatives of public and private sector stakeholders, and interviews were conducted in a face-to-face setting at a time and location convenient to them. The qualitative analysis program ATLAS was used to analyse the data and define the themes. Research findings identified many barriers to collaboration between Hajj stakeholders at each stage of Gray’s (1989) collaboration model. Centralised governance, poor leadership and a lack of adequate resources in the planning process created obstacles to the achievement of environmental sustainability in the destination. The results show that the level of collaboration between stakeholders in the Hajj is fragile and requires significant improvement. Thus, from an analysis of findings, ways to improve the collaborative network between Hajj stakeholders when planning for protecting the environmental sustainability of the destination are explored. This study contributes to theory by applying Gray’s (1989) model to a new and unique context, thereby revealing barriers and drivers to effective planning and the implementation of environmental policy and strategy. The study reveals opportunities for improvement and future research. The practical contribution of the study is that it can inform policymakers of the importance of changing their traditional approach in the planning process, especially because the government of Saudi Arabia has made a commitment to environmental sustainability, as detailed in the national document Vision 2030. In addition, the results may guide Hajj stakeholders from all sectors to understand the barriers and drivers that affect the development of collaboration. Thus, they may review and re-establish their collaborative network for the Hajj planning process.
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Modeling Fluid Flow through Railway Ballast
(2022) Alrdadi, Raed; Meylan, Michael; Lamichhane, Bishnu
Floodwater can potentially damage railway tracks severely, and the most damaging is when it scours the ballast, which can cause significant train accidents. Therefore, water flow through railway ballast must be accurately predicted to assess and mediate the risk of ballast damage. The current study presents a series of related topics concerning fluid flow through porous media, including railway structure deterioration, water flow through ballast under various conditions, and a stochastic water flow model. Significant emphasis is placed on the ballast’s gradation and on ballast fouling which plays an important role in flow through it. We have added brief preliminaries of the basic mathematical and physical methods to understand better the stochastic process and the finite element method (FEM) use.
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THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MAGICAL THINKING, RATIONAL THOUGHT AND EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE
(Queensland University of Technology, 2022) Alghaythi, Khalaf Shami; Duff, Jed
Background: Evidence-based practice (EBP) has attracted worldwide interest from nurses and researchers. EBP is critical to providing safe nursing care, improving the quality of health services for the patient, and problem-solving and clinical decision making. However, the implementation of EBP in clinical settings in Saudi Arabia has been challenging. Purpose: This study aimed to explore how EBP has been implemented among Saudi Arabian nurses and to assess whether there is a relationship between magical thinking, rational thought, and EBP among Saudi nurses. Method: A cross-sectional survey was administered online to 151 Saudi Arabian nurses. We used a questionnaire form to collect the demographic data of the participants and data on EBP, magical thinking and rational thinking using the Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire (EBPQ), the Illusory Beliefs Inventory (IBI) and the Rational‐Experiential Inventory (REI‐40), respectively. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the participants’ demographic data, and regression analysis was used to predict and explain the variance which led to the implementation of EBP. Results: The findings demonstrated that nurses in Saudi Arabia had a positive attitude toward EBP (mean=4.29, SD=1.88) but low levels of implementation of EBP (mean=3.95, SD=1.53). Non-Saudi nurses correlated significantly with EBP B=0.859, p=0.001) and showed a better implementation of EBP than Saudi nurses. The regression results showed that the EBP increased by 0.027 units every year. However, the result was not significant (B= 0.027, p= 0.102). For every one year increase in the participants’ experience, the EBP increased by 0.008 units (B=0.008, p=0.645). The results indicated a significant positive correlation between EBP subtotal mean and IBI total mean (r=0.274, p=<.001), while the regression coefficient (B = 0.737, 95 %CI (0.317–1.157) indicated that an increase of one unit in the IBI total score corresponded, on average, to an increase in the EBP total score by 0.74 points. However, the results showed no significant correlation between EBP and REI. Conclusion: EBP is important for patients and the quality of nursing care. However, the nurses in Saudi Arabia showed low levels of EBP implementation. To enhance the level of EBP, nurses’ educational offices in hospitals and schools must increase awareness of the importance of EBP and thinking style.
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A COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION OF COMPLEX INTERVENTIONS IN HEALTH: INFORMING DECISION MAKERS
(Saudi Digital Library, 2022) Alabbasi, Khalid Hishmet Abdul Moin; Kruger, Estie; McGeachie, John; Tennant, Marc
Model of Care has been designed in Saudi Arabia to improve health outcomes for the population alongside the rationale of allocating financial resources. This Model of Care based on six “systems” of care (keep me well, planned care, maternity care, chronic care, urgent care, and end of life care) and delivers 42 integrated interventions that cut across all systems of care. Thus, the key aims of this thesis are to comprehensively evaluate the impact of reform efforts on different models of health care delivery in Saudi Arabia, using a comprehensive hospital database from one site (King Abdullah Medical Complex in Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia) that implemented the Model of Care. The obtained data were analysed to assess whether King Abdullah Medical Complex was able to: 1) reduce the emergency department visits; 2) improve health outcomes in patients receiving home healthcare services; 3) reduce the average length of stay in hospital; and 4) improve the health referral system. An additional set of data on the population distribution and the primary healthcare centre’s locations of Jeddah Second Cluster–Jeddah city were obtained from open-access web-based sources to investigate the spatial accessibility of the existing primary healthcare. Data analyses revealed that the number of cases attending the emergency department significantly decreased following the introduction of the urgency transfer policy. In Home Healthcare, three significant explanatory variables of mortality [age, having a major diagnosis (diabetes mellitus, cerebrovascular diseases, and bedridden), and having more cancelled visits] were identified. In addition, the findings suggested that the number of patients admitted to the hospital were far greater after the bed management initiative began than before it was implemented. Introducing e-referral systems has improved scheduling,decreased variation among clinics and improved patient access and would likely improve the closing rates of the referral loop. However, the capacity of primary healthcare centers does not appear to be enough to satisfy the demands of the population. In Jeddah’s Second Cluster–Jeddah city, the population density varies significantly between districts, with services concentrated in some highly populated areas. It is anticipated that the findings of this single site implementing the Model of Care will be explored further at other hospital complexes within Saudi Arabia, to enhance Model of Care refinement and success.
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Deep Learning to Construct Computational Head Models for Modelling Electroconvulsive Therapy
(Saudi Digital Library, 2022-02-15) Alduraywish, Abdulrahman Mohammed; Dokos, Socrates
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a neuromodulatory technique used widely for treatment of various psychiatric diseases such as Alzheimer’s and epilepsy. It includes the application of a large dose of electric current for short periods of time through attached electrodes on the scalp. However, there are some concerns related to electric field (EF) distribution in the brain and the potential for cognitive side effects. These concerns can be investigated thoroughly using computational modelling via the finite element (FE) method. To construct FE head models for simulating ECT stimulation, segmentation of magnetic resonance image (MRI) head scans is essential. This segmentation can be performed manually, which is laborious and time-consuming, or automatically. Various automatic segmentation approaches have been utilized to segment MRI head scans, including intensity-based techniques and deep learning techniques. In particular, convolutional neural networks (CNN), a subfield of deep learning, are considered as state-of-the-art owing to their outstanding performance. In this research, 2D U-Net and 3D U-Net CNN architectures were employed to rapidly segment seven MRI head scans into not only cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), grey matter (GM) and white matter (WM) as most studies performed but to include skin, skull tissues. This in turn will accelerate the process of construction of FE head models for simulating ECT. Two experiments were conducted using 2D U-Net, where in experiment 1, all the extracted slices from each head scan were used for training and testing, while experiment 2 involved only mid-slices. Additionally, two experiments were carried out using 3D U-Net with different patch sizes, 64 × 64 × 64 (experiment 3) and 128 × 128 × 128 (experiment 4). Inverse frequency class weighting was also used as an additional run for each experiment. The segmentation performance was evaluated in terms of intersection over union (IOU). In general, higher IOU scores were obtained for experiment 2 and experiment 4. The process of 3D segmentation (experiment 4) took only several seconds compared with previous approaches, which would take few hours. Predicted outputs from experiment 4 were used to construct FE models to simulate ECT. Various electrode montages were modelled on the scalp of each constructed head model, and EF magnitudes in various brain regions under ECT were compared against the corresponding manually-segmented head models. Larger EF magnitudes (10-25%) were exhibited in the automatically-segmented head models of four subjects, while weaker EFs (5-7%) were exhibited in the other three subjects compared with manual segmentation. These errors could be improved by increasing the training dataset to more than seven head scans, enhancing the segmentation accuracy for more accurate simulation of ECT.
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