Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Critical Care Unit Nurses: A Systematic Review of the Literature on Reported Levels of Psychological Stress(Queen’s University Belfast, 2024-09-10) Albishi, Areej; Hughes, ColinThe COVID-19 pandemic has put immense pressure on critical care units, with nurses facing severe psychological strain. ICU nurses have endured extreme conditions, including high patient mortality, resource shortages, and fear of infection, all intensifying their stress. This review analyses the pandemic's psychological impact on critical care nurses, highlighting the stressors, mental health effects, and broader implications for healthcare. It offers insights into the challenges faced and suggests strategies to support nurses' mental well-being in future health crises. Topic: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Critical Care Nurses: A Systematic Review of Reported Psychological Stress Levels. Methodology: A literature review search was conducted using CINAHL, PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, and PsycINFO. Quality was analysed using the tool of Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP). Results: Nine studies were included, revealing the intense emotional and psychological strain endured by ICU nurses during the pandemic. They experienced heightened anxiety, fear, and moral distress, driven by fear of infection, heavy workloads, and frequent patient deaths. Ethical dilemmas exacerbated their stress, leading to burnout and impaired decision-making. Nurses also faced emotional exhaustion. Addressing these psychological burdens is crucial for supporting nurses' mental health in future public health crises. Conclusion: The review highlights the severe emotional and psychological strain experienced by ICU nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to burnout and diminished care quality. Enhanced mental health support, clearer ethical guidelines, and improved working conditions are vital to safeguarding nurses' well-being in future crises.2 0Item Restricted Exploring How Social Media Advertising Shape Cultural Saudi Identity in Saudi Arabia(University of Sheffield, 2024-08-29) Alaydaa, Sarah; Ogunmuyiwa, HakeemInvestigating how social media advertising shapes Saudi cultural identity is the goal of this study. The research reviewed the previous studies that conducted in the last decade to derive its results and conclusions. Social media platforms have fundamentally changed how people interact and communicate. Thus it's important to understand how these virtual social phenomena are affecting our feelings and ideas about ourselves and each other. Finding out how social media advertising affects cultural identity in a good and bad way is the goal of the research. The benefits can be seen in the freedom to engage with others, pick up new information, and deal with the outside world, as well as in the education of other people about their cultures. The negative consequences could manifest as a person adopting Western values, breaking free from the dominant social norms, or acquiring values and customs that are incompatible with Arab culture. Thus, the researcher thinks that the social media has positive effects on cultural identity and on society.3 0Item Restricted رسالة دكتوراه ( قدرة الجماعات الارهابية على استخدام مواقع التواصل في السعودية لتنجيد الشباب ونشر الايدلوجيا المتطرفة - دراسة تحليلية لبناء السرديات الجهادية في تويتر - )(Universidad De Alcala, 2024) Alghamdi, Saleh Saeed; Pertu, Julian LaThe rise of jihadi discourse on Twitter (now known as X) has represented an issue of increasing concern with its influence on online audiences and sociey. Despite counter strategies and global initiatives to curb extremist discourse and online radicalisation the influence of jihadi narratives on social media and Twitter remains a pervasive threat. The widespread adoption of social media and Twitter in Saudia and as a major power in the Middle East, Saudia Arabia has been the target of jihadi discourse and susceptible to extremist influence with far reaching regional and global implications. Given the rise and dissemination of jihadi discourse on Twitter relating to or emanating from Saudi Arabia this research investigates the ability of extremist groups to spread their ideologies through the social media platforms in Saudi Arabia on Twitter in the period 2015-2106. A systematic grounded discourse analysis of Twitter data was employed to comprehensively examine jihadi discourse on the platform. The findings reveal a deliberate and diverse narrative structure that integrates ideological, historical, religious, and socio-political elements, enhancing its persuasive power through strategic framing techniques. The communication strategies on Twitter, including rapid dissemination, amplification, and the use of multimedia, significantly enhance the discourse’s influence. This discourse shapes perceptions, behaviors, and identities, creating strong emotional and cognitive impacts. In Saudi Arabia, Twitter's role in propagating jihadi narratives is particularly impactful, linking messages to current events and leveraging multimedia to resonate with the audience, thereby posing a persistent threat to societal stability. This contributes a novel strategic framework for analysing online extremist communication that extends theory and supports policy guidance to counter online extremism by analysing jihadi discourse's persuasive power and influence on Twitter.8 0Item Restricted The Impact of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Factors on Firm Financial Performance: An Empirical Study of Non-Financial Constituents of the S&P 500(University of Liverpool, 2024-09) Fallatah, Ahmed Zaki; Giorgioni, GianluigiAbstract This study empirically examines the influence of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors on financial performance of non-financial firms listed on the S&P 500. It analyzes data for 425 firms over the period from 2010 to 2023. This research study apply panel data analysis using Generalized Least Squares (GLS) Regression and reveals a significant and positive relationship between overall ESG scores and Corporate financial performance metrics, Return on Equity, Return on Assets and Tobin's Q for current S&P 500 firms. For the firms that were removed from the index, while ESG scores significantly enhance Tobin's Q in terms of market evaluation and their impact on financial measurement is less pronounced. The analysis highlights that environmental scores influence financial outcomes across both current and dropped firms. Social scores positively affect financial performance in current firms but show limited impact for firms removed from the index. Governance scores appear to have a more nuanced impact, suggesting that good governance alone may not be enough to differentiate performance among firms. The study shows the importance of robust ESG practices, particularly in environmental and social pillars, for enhancing corporate financial success and market valuation. The firm’s market position and financial health may influence the relationship between ESG factors and immediate financial returns. The research shows that ESG investments can boost a market position of company and resilience and their direct impact on immediate financial returns can vary depending on the company’s financial health and market status. Therefore, this study reveals the complex relationship between ESG practices and financial performance. The findings provide useful valuable insights for business leaders, investors, and policymakers looking to align ESG practices with financial goals and foster sustainable, long-term growth.36 0Item Restricted ANALYSIS AND VALUATION OF CONVEX SETS(UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER, 2024) Alrashidi, Amal; Montaldi, JamesThis dissertation explores the valuation of convex sets in Euclidean space. Starting with the Steiner formula, which provides a basis for studying mixed volumes, it pro ceeds to prove Groemer‘s integral theorem, showing how valuations extend within convex sets. The final chapter focuses on Hadwiger‘s theorem and its applications to projections and Grassmannians, offering insights into intrinsic volumes and their geo metric significance. These findings contribute to a clearer understanding of valuation theory in convex geometry.6 0Item Restricted AI in Telehealth for Cardiac Care: A Literature Review(University of technology sydney, 2024-03) Alzahrani, Amwaj; Li, lifuThis literature review investigates the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in telehealth, with a specific focus on its applications in cardiac care. The review explores how AI enhances remote patient monitoring, facilitates personalized treatment plans, and improves healthcare accessibility for patients with cardiac conditions. AI-driven tools, such as wearable devices and implantable medical devices, have demonstrated significant potential in tracking critical health parameters, enabling timely interventions, and fostering proactive patient care. Additionally, AI-powered chatbots and telehealth platforms provide patients with real-time support and guidance, enhancing engagement and adherence to treatment regimens. The findings reveal that AI contributes to improving healthcare outcomes by enabling early detection of cardiac events, tailoring treatment plans to individual patient needs, and expanding access to care for underserved populations. However, the integration of AI in telehealth is not without challenges. Ethical considerations, such as ensuring data privacy, managing biases in AI algorithms, and addressing regulatory complexities, emerge as critical areas requiring attention. Furthermore, technological limitations, including the need for robust validation and patient acceptance of AI technologies, underscore the importance of bridging the gap between research and real-world implementation. This review also examines future trends, including the integration of blockchain technology with AI to enhance data security and privacy in telehealth systems. Advancements in machine learning and the Internet of Things (IoT) are paving the way for innovative solutions, such as secure remote monitoring and personalized rehabilitation programs. While AI holds transformative potential in revolutionizing telehealth services for cardiac patients, addressing these challenges is imperative to ensure equitable, effective, and patient-centered care. This review underscores the need for interdisciplinary collaboration and regulatory oversight to unlock the full potential of AI in telehealth and improve outcomes for cardiac patients globally.14 0Item Restricted DEVIATION INEQUALITIES FOR DISCRETE LOG-CONCAVE DISTRIBUTIONS(UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA, 2024) Alqasem, Abdulmajeed; Marsiglietti, ArnaudIn this thesis we explore log-concave distributions starting from the Brunn-Minkowski inequality. We discuss some of the nice properties this class of distributions has. We then show new results about discrete log-concave random variables. In particular, we investigate remarkable conjecture of Feige (2006) for the class of discrete log-concave probability distributions and prove a strengthened version. More specifically, we show that the conjectured bound holds when the random variables are independent discrete log-concave with arbitrary expectation. Finally, we present various extensions of log-concavity in discrete settings. We define the notion of discrete gamma-concave random variables and establish a localization theorem. Also, we propose a definition for discrete log-concavity in higher dimensions.12 0Item Restricted Saudi EFL Teachers’ Journeys of Hope: A Case Study(University of Leeds, 2024) Alsulaiman, Raghad; Conlon, ErinAs an emotion, hope seems to play a critical role in the field of education. However, much of the research up to now has been preoccupied with the emotions of students, rather than teachers; and the Saudi Arabian context is not an exception. This study thus sought to fill this literature gap by exploring the hope journeys of Saudi EFL teachers. Using a qualitative collective case study design, I recruited four female Saudi EFL university-level teachers for the study. Open-ended surveys and semi-structured interviews were used in generating data from these participants, while reflexive thematic analysis was used in the data analysis. The first set of findings suggested that the nature of hope is complex, with participants defining it in relation to emotional, cognitive, spiritual, and visual dimensions. The second set of findings showed that participants had internal, external, and interpersonal sources of hope they found in their teaching journeys. The third set of findings focused on the unique ways in which participants plan to cultivate and generate hope as they move forward in their journeys. The findings provided an important opportunity to advance our knowledge and understanding of the rarely investigated area of study, namely Saudi EFL teachers’ hope. The study thus holds important implications in the area, especially for interested teachers.4 0Item Restricted TOWARDS ROBUST AND ACCURATE TEXT-TO-CODE GENERATION(University of Central Florida, 2024) almohaimeed, saleh; Wang, LiqiangDatabases play a vital role in today’s digital landscape, enabling effective data storage, manage- ment, and retrieval for businesses and other organizations. However, interacting with databases often requires knowledge of query (e.g., SQL) and analysis, which can be a barrier for many users. In natural language processing, the text-to-code task, which converts natural language text into query and analysis code, bridges this gap by allowing users to access and manipulate data using everyday language. This dissertation investigates different challenges in text-to-code (including text-to-SQL as a subtask), with a focus on four primary contributions to the field. As a solution to the lack of statistical analysis in current text-to-code tasks, we introduce SIGMA, a text-to- Code dataset with statistical analysis, featuring 6000 questions with Python code labels. Baseline models show promising results, indicating that our new task can support both statistical analysis and SQL queries simultaneously. Second, we present Ar-Spider, the first Arabic cross-domain text-to-SQL dataset that addresses multilingual limitations. We have conducted experiments with LGESQL and S2SQL models, enhanced by our Context Similarity Relationship (CSR) approach, which demonstrates competitive performance, reducing the performance gap between the Arabic and English text-to-SQL datasets. Third, we address context-dependent text-to-SQL task, often overlooked by current models. The SParC dataset was explored by utilizing different question rep- resentations and in-context learning prompt engineering techniques. Then, we propose GAT-SQL, an advanced prompt engineering approach that improves both zero-shot and in-context learning experiments. GAT-SQL sets new benchmarks in both SParC and CoSQL datasets. Finally, we introduce Ar-SParC, a context-dependent Arabic text-to-SQL dataset that enables users to interact with the model through a series of interrelated questions. In total, 40 experiments were conducted to investigate this dataset using various prompt engineering techniques, and a novel technique called GAT Corrector was developed, which significantly improved the performance of all base- line models.11 0Item Restricted The Role of NF-κB Acetylation in Microglial Activation: Implications for Therapeutic Targeting in Neuroinflammation.(University Of Leeds, 2024-09) Algaradah, Salma; Wood, IanNeuroinflammation is a hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases, largely driven by microglial activation. This study investigates the role of Nuclear Factor kappa B (NF-κB) acetylation, specifically at the lysine residues K122 and K314 in regulating microglial activity and its potential as a therapeutic target in neuroinflammatory conditions. Using wild-type and mutant NF-κB constructs, the impact of acetylation on nuclear translocation and transcriptional activity of NF-κB was analysed, with a focus on Suberoylanilide Hydroxamic Acid (SAHA), a histone deactylase inhibitor (HDACi). The findings indicate that acetylation at K314 is crucial for NF-κB’s nuclear retention and pro-inflammatory transcriptional activity, while K122 plays a lesser role. The K314Q mutant exhibited enhanced nuclear retention under inflammatory stimuli, whereas the K314R mutant was resistant to the effects of SAHA. These results highlight the importance of K314 acetylation in modulating NF-κB’s role in inflammation and suggest that HDACis like SAHA could be explored for targeted therapeutic interventions in neuroinflammation, particularly by modulating specific acetylation sites.11 0