Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted Enactment of the Tatweer Education Policy in Saudi Arabia: A Comprehensive Analysis(University of Nottingham, 2024) Allohibi, Omar; Stevenson, HowardThis study explores the enactment of the Tatweer Education Policy (TEP) in four schools in Saudi Arabia. It focuses on the perspectives of teachers and leaders on how the policy has impacted their practice. The study scrutinises how the TEP is implemented, specifically in four schools in Medinah selected to participate in the Tatweer programme. The data was collected using a qualitative case study design, with the specific methods being online interviews and document reviews. The study’s findings reveal that even though the TEP facilitates collaborative approaches, self-evaluation systems, and learner-centred teaching strategies, teachers and school leaders face significant challenges during implementation. One of the leading challenges relates to the dual nature of supervision, where the local education offices are responsible for providing resources, support, monitoring and supervision to all government schools and emphasise a more traditional and outdated system of education. On the other hand, there are the Tatweer Units (TUs) responsible for supporting Tatweer schools and providing them with the capability to follow the TEP system by assisting them in building and evaluating plans, raising awareness in relation to the TEP activities, training teachers based on the guidelines of the policy, and advocating more contemporary child-centred methods. The findings show that this conflict results in confusion, which hinders the implementation of the TEP. The findings also highlighted other factors impeding the implementation of the TEP, including heavy workloads, insufficient time, lack of resources, and slow bureaucratic decisions. Based on the conclusions drawn, the study recommends that there needs to be better coherence in supervision, schools should receive the support required by the TEP, the local needs of schools should be considered by involving all stakeholders in the policy development process and schools should be allowed to play a greater role in decision-making. This will ensure that the TEP and reforms it calls for can be realised in alignment with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and the realisation of its benefits.7 0Item Restricted Development of Hyperbranched Polymers for Application in Electronic Devices A(The University of Sheffield, 2024-10) Asiri, Fatemah; Iraqi, Ahmeddescribed. The hyperbranched polymers were prepared through AB2 polycondensation strategy using trans-esterification reactions with a single oxadiazole-based monomer, in the presence and absence of the core molecule 4-nitrophenyl acetate. In Chapter 3, oxadiazole-based hyperbranched polymers using A2 and B3 monomers were prepared through an A2B3 polycondensation approach to obtain ether linked copolymers. In Chapter 4, the Suzuki polycondensation method was utilised to synthesise four hyperbranched polymers with thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) properties. These polymers were based on oxadiazole units and were prepared employing a side chain approach. Through copolymerisation with varied monomer ratios, TADF units (10-(4-(5-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)phenyl)-10H phenoxazine (TRZ-PXZ)) were attached as part of the polymers repeat units. Mass spectrometry, elemental analysis, 1H NMR and 13C NMR, and other techniques were used to investigate the structure of the intermediate monomers and hyperbranched polymers prepared. Studies of the optical, electrochemical and thermal properties of all of the hyperbranched polymers were undertaken using several techniques that included UV-vis spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry (CV), and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA).3 0Item Restricted أثر التحديات التكنولوجية على دور الأسرة في التنشئة الاجتماعية: دراسة ميدانية في مدينة تبوك بالمملكة العربية السعودية(جامعة المنصورة, 2025) بديوي, عبدالله; حمودة, رشا السيدتناولت هذه الدراسة التحديات التكنولوجية الحديثة في عملية التنشئة الاجتماعية في المجتمع السعودي باعتبارها عملية بنائية معقدة التركيب تتفاعل فيها العناصر الاجتماعية والثقافية والتكنولوجية، وكذلك تناول المتغيرات المؤثرة في عملية التنشئة الاجتماعية، داخل نطاق الأسرة وخارجها نتيجة الاستعانة بالأدوات التكنولوجية الحديثة.3 0Item Restricted The Influence of Policy Changes on Foreign Direct Investment and Sectoral Diversification(Portsmouth university, 2025) Almarri, Abdulaziz; IsabillFinally, this dissertation has shown that the UAE’s strategic application of FDI based on significant infrastructure and regulatory reforms has contributed to economic diversification. Still, the remaining challenges make clear that diversification is a continued process that necessitates intentional actions to rationalize regulation, build local innovation ecosystems, and drive socio-economic equity. The UAE provides a case study of the promise and complexity of transforming an economy historically reliant on resource rents into a modern, interdependent one. The UAE’s ability to sustain not only a commitment to innovation and strategic adaptability, but also inclusive development in the future, will continue to make it a compelling case study for how FDI can evolve into a force for actual and sustained prosperity and resilience in the long-term.9 0Item Restricted Enhancing Indoor Air Quality and Minimizing Airborne Virus Dispersion Under Various Ventilation Strategies While Maintaining Thermal Comfort(CARDIFF UNIVERSITY, 2025) ALQARNI, ZAHI ALI SAEED; Yacine, RezguiIndoor air quality (IAQ) and thermal comfort are critical factors that influence occupant health, productivity, and general well-being in office environments. The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the importance of effective ventilation strategies in mitigating the transmission of airborne viruses. This research investigates the performance of three ventilation strategies: indoor recirculation systems (4-way ceiling cassette air conditioners), natural ventilation, and mixed mode ventilation (AC + natural ventilation) in maintaining optimal IAQ, thermal comfort, and infection control in an open-plan office setting. Using a combination of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and real-world environmental monitoring, this study evaluates airflow patterns, pollutant dispersion, and thermal regulation under different ventilation conditions. This thesis explicitly demonstrates that IAQ, thermal comfort, and airborne virus transmission are deeply interconnected. Poor air quality not only impairs comfort and productivity but also prolongs aerosol suspension time, elevating infection risk. As such, ventilation strategies must be designed to address these three aspects holistically. The findings reveal that the air conditioning (AC) system, while providing controlled air distribution, often leads to stagnation zones that reduce air mixing efficiency and increase pollutant accumulation. Natural ventilation, though beneficial under favourable conditions, exhibits inconsistent performance due to external weather variations, leading to excessive humidity fluctuations and temperature instability. In contrast, mixed mode ventilation emerges as the most effective strategy, offering improved airflow uniformity, improved pollutant dilution, and greater adaptability to seasonal changes. The results demonstrate that a well-optimised hybrid system, which strategically combines an AC system and natural ventilation, can mitigate the limitations of standalone approaches by balancing fresh air intake, controlled temperature regulation, and efficient humidity management. This research contributes to a novel integrated methodological framework that bridges CFD simulations with IoT-based environmental monitoring, ensuring robust validation of ventilation performance under real-world conditions. The findings have significant implications for the optimisation of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and public health policies, particularly in the post-pandemic era, where IAQ is a major concern. By addressing critical knowledge gaps in ventilation performance, this thesis provides practical recommendations for facility managers, architects, and policy makers to develop more resilient and health-conscious indoor environments.10 0Item Restricted An Investigation of Factors Influencing Private Technology Organisations’ Intention to Adopt OGD in Saudi Arabia(UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON, 2024-08) Alhujaylan, Abdullah Sulaiman; Carr, Leslie; Ryan, MatthewGovernments worldwide are increasingly riding the wave of the OGD (OGD) initiative, in which governments share their data freely to be used and reused by various stakeholders to stimulate innovation and economic growth, as well as promote transparency and accountability. Private technology organisations are considered to be key players in the OGD ecosystem. Therefore, governments globally endeavour to encourage these organisations to adopt OGD to develop new social and economic benefits through innovative products and services. However, adopting OGD is not an easy process because it relies on several factors. This research aims to investigate factors that may influence the decision of an organisation to adopt OGD. This research proposes an integrated model to identify and comprehend how certain factors influence private technology organisations' adoption of OGD. A three-staged sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was adopted, guided by a post-positivism paradigm. This study was conducted in three sequential stages, each one based on the prior stage's findings. The first stage was semi-structured interviews with closed- and open-ended questions with fourteen experts to assess the importance of several factors and identify other factors that were not mentioned in previous studies and might affect the adoption of OGD. The second stage of this empirical study was an online questionnaire, which was used to confirm the proposed factors in the OGD adoption model and other factors identified from interviews (data governance and data integration). The third data analysis stage employed qualitative case study methodology to understand better how and why previously examined factors influence private organisations' decisions to adopt OGD. Upon reviewing and analysing Cases (A, B, and C) data on the factors that influence and enable private technology organisations to adopt and use OGD, it was found that all the selected factors constituting the proposed adoption model that were extracted from the relevant literature and those that emerged during the data analysis of the two previous phases of this study were influencing and validating. The findings reveal that technical factors, including providing high-quality API services, data visualisation tools, and mechanisms for integrating Open Government Data (OGD), are essential for the adoption of OGD. Nonetheless, this study indicates that adopting OGD is not exclusively dependent on technical factors; it is also significantly shaped by organisational dynamics and intermediary entities within the OGD ecosystem. The critical role of open data intermediaries, the promotion of a data-driven culture among civil servants in government agencies, and the essential support provided by specialised business incubators and accelerators are all significant factors to consider. Furthermore, the study emphasises the significance of creating a data governance framework and providing efficient, high-quality feedback and communication services to data users. This approach presents opportunities to improve the adoption of open government data within private organisations. The adoption model has evolved iteratively, leading to a mature addition OGD model that is empirically supported by the results of the three-stage data analysis. This model provides a more comprehensive and detailed understanding of the factors influencing the adoption of OGD by private technology organisations. Five significant contributions are made by this research. Firstly, a theoretical enrichment was made by integrating two well-known adoption models and using them as a theoretical basis for this study, namely the IS Success Model and the TOE framework and extending them by adding three factors, which are political leadership, open data intermediaries and business incubators and accelerators. In addition to contributing to expanding theIS success model by adding a new category concerned with data awareness culture. This combination reinforced the comprehension and interpretation of the study’s findings. Secondly, The improved model provided helpful insight into the key factors affecting OGD adoption. Furthermore, it expanded the existing literature by applying these theories to examine the adoption of such data from the standpoint of private technology organisations. Thirdly, the research identified a total of eighteen factors that would increase the likelihood chances of successful adoption of OGD by private technology organisations. Fourth, this is the only study that sheds light on which open datasets private technology organisations in Saudi Arabia context have utilised and which government data these organisations are looking to have published by government entities as open data. Finally, this research is one of the few studies that focused on studying the factors influencing the adoption of private organisations to OGD and is unique in studying the impact of several factors that have not been empirically investigated from the private technology organisations' lens view. It is also the first study in the Saudi context to study private technology organisations that developed commercial technology products using OGD as a primary source.3 0Item Restricted دور الانماط القيادية الحديثة في الحد من التسرب الوظيفي للعمالة المتعددة الجنسية بالقطاع الصحي(جامعة القاهرة, 2023) الرشودي, فيصل; عبدالعزيز, عبدالتوابدور الأنماط القيادية الحديثة في الحد من التسرب الوظيفي للعمالة المتعددة الجنسية بالقطاع الصحي24 0Item Restricted South Arabia in the Roman period from the first century BC to the sixth century AD(Eötvös Loránd University, 2025) Daghriri, Ahmad Mohammad A; György, NémethThe Arabian Peninsula is uniquely located at the crossroads of regional and global trade routes, land and Sea. Its location has become the global centre connecting the countries of the East and the West, and its residents have become a cultural link between the peoples of these countries. The Arabian Peninsula has also occupied a prominent position in producing aromatic materials such as incense and frankincense. The role of its residents in international trade was one of the leading roles in linking vital parts of the world to each other. Its residents were not only trade intermediaries but also partners in building human civilization and its development. The inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula were provided with factors of stability and prosperity, and they flourished in various regions, including cities. Some metropolises reached the ranks of the civilizational countries that coincided with them. At that time, the Arabian Peninsula was the focus of attention on the political forces surrounding it. Its importance increased after the conquests of the East by Alexander the Great, as he realized from the beginning the importance of the Arabian Peninsula and the seas surrounding it to his empires. Then, the Ptolemies and Seleucids inherited Alexander's empire in the East and, with them, inherited his interest in the Arabian Peninsula. One of the manifestations of this interest was carrying out an organized movement of explorations of the coasts of the Arabian Peninsula with a desire to learn about it. Among the activities of these exploratory missions was that they recorded much information about the peoples and tribes of the Arabian Peninsula, and given the interest of the Ptolemies and the Seleucids in international trade and the desire to control its outlets. There was a long conflict between them that had a clear impact on the conditions of the Arabian Peninsula. This conflict continued between the forces that succeeded them in the region, such as the Parthians and, after them, the Sassanians in the East and the Romans in the West. They tried to impose their political control on different regions of the Arabian Peninsula to impose their economic control over the region. These events echoed in the Arabian Peninsula, which became an attraction centre for these global powers. It was going through one of the most prosperous periods of its history, and the political systems that emerged since the first half of the first millennium BC developed. Stable states with independent political entities were formed, especially in southern Arabia, such as the Ma'in, Saba, Qataban, Hadhramaut, and Himyar kingdoms. These kingdoms occupied a long period of southern Arabia's history. This study aims to analyze and explain: 1- The beginning of Roman interests in the region, their patterns and factors that shaped them. 2- The reasons for Gallus’ expedition against the Sabaeans of South Arabia, the reasons of its failure, and its consequences 3- The archaeological and literary evidence related to the pattern of Romans’ interest in the region after the failure of the Roman military intervention. 4- The impact of the emergence of Christianity on changing the pattern of Roman interests and their dynamics in South Arabia. 5- The various aspects of Roman intervention in the affairs of the Himyarite kings in South Arabia and its methods.7 0Item Restricted Obesity is linked to remodelling of mitochondrial dynamics and the inflammasome in the heart(The University of Manchester, 2025) Albalawi, Zainab; Kitmitto, AshrafBackground: Obesity affects 890 million adults worldwide, with the number of obese people predicted to rise to 1 billion by 2030. Obesity is a common precursor to type 2 diabetes (T2DM) both of which are driving the prevalence of Heart Failure with preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF). HFpEF has few treatment options in part due to a limited understanding of the pathophysiological processes. This thesis took a combined in-vivo and in-vitro approach to characterise the intersection between changes to cardiac function, mitochondrial dynamics and the inflammasome resulting from diet-induced obesity (DIO) (a longitudinal study), and the effects of associated stressors. The experimental findings additionally led to investigations of the protein MIRO1 (a regulator of mitochondrial motility in neuronal cells), as little is known about the role of this protein in heart health. Methods and Results: 8-week-old C57BL/6J male mice were fed either a 60% High Fat Diet (HFD) or normal chow diet for 16 or 19 weeks. After 16 weeks, the HFD mice developed hyperglycaemia and hyperinsulinemia. Cardiac structure and function, as assessed by echocardiography and electrocardiography (ECG), revealed mild impairment of systolic function, associated with eccentric hypertrophy with no changes to the ECG. Western blotting and RT-qPCR showed a shift towards fission, with a reduction in mitochondrial fusion proteins MFN1 and MFN 2 (~0.6-fold, p = 0.04 and p = 0.05, respectively). Levels of MIRO1 also fell ~2-fold (p=0.0005). In contrast to expectations, extending the HFD protocol to 19-weeks did not affect cardiac function relative to control mice. Furthermore, at 19 weeks there was a shift towards increased fusion (up-regulation of the fusion proteins MFN1 and OPA1 and down-regulation of the fission protein DRP1). Interestingly, the mitophagy proteins PINK1 and PARKIN mirrored changes detected in the 16 week model (up and down-regulation respectively). Protein levels for the NLRP3 inflammasome components increased. Proteomics analysis of isolated cardiac mitochondria (19 weeks) identified increased expression of proteins regulating ketogenic activity. In-vitro (H9C2) cytokine treatments had mixed effects on cardiomyocytes. IL-1β treatment did not affect the mitochondrial and inflammasome proteins, whereas IL-6 and TNF-ɑ affected expression level changes to inflammasome related proteins (NLRP3 and Caspase 1) and proteins linked to mitophagy (PARKIN) and mitochondrial motility (MIRO1 and MIRO2). A cardiac specific MIRO1 knockout mouse (Cre-loxP) was next developed. Partial deletion of MIRO1, Cre+Het (heterozygous), mice exhibited mild diastolic dysfunction, which was exacerbated in the MIRO1cKO (homozygous) model. Mitochondrial function of MIRO1cKO mice was assessed using a high-resolution respirometer (Oxygraph) and displayed impaired oxidative phosphorylation and increased levels of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) relative to wild type (WT) mice. Tissue from the apex of MIRO1cKO hearts was fixed for Transmission electron microscopy (EM) revealing more interfibrillar (IFM) and subsarcolemma (SSM) mitochondria with disrupted cristae, consistent with increased Cytochrome C expression compared to WT mice. Cre+Het mice when given a combination of a 60% HFD and L-NAME, when compared to control mice, exhibited a rapid onset of cardiac dysfunction consistent with HFpEF pathophysiology. Conclusion: This Thesis work developed and characterised a DIO mouse model that reiterated features of HFrEF, identifying a shift towards mitochondrial fission. Surprisingly, extending the HFD duration resulted in a reversion of the cardiac dysfunction to a healthy cardiac phenotype. This finding afforded the opportunity to compare the 16 and 19 week models at the molecular level to identify mitochondrial proteins that exhibited plasticity and thus may be linked to the pathogenesis of HF. For example, the shift from fission to fusion could suggest that promoting fusion improves cardiac outcomes. Additionally, upregulation of the ketogenesis pathway proteins was also identified at 19 weeks, suggesting HMGCS2 and BDH1 linked processes may represent intervention pathways. The link between obesity and inflammation status emerged as complex and further studies are required for clear stratification to HFrEF progression. This thesis also generated novel data revealing that the protein MIRO1 plays a crucial role in cardiac function and loss of MIRO1 leads to cardiac and mitochondrial dysfunction and altered the mitochondrial morphology. When combined, the novel results from this Thesis research have identified potential new target candidates/directions for developing novel approaches to preventing/delaying obesity-linked HF and serve as a platform for future investigation.17 0Item Restricted Enhancing Saudi Undergraduate Students’ Employability by Integrating Translation Competences and CAT Tools into Translation Training Programmes(Queen’s University Belfast, 2024) Alfaisal, Hailah Abdulaziz; Blumczynski, PiotrThis thesis addresses the issue of the gap between translation training programmes at Saudi universities and the needs of the national translation market for highly skilled translators, and the implications of this gap, especially on the employability of translation programs’ students. The thesis aims to provide a fresh perspective on that issue and propose feasible and viable solutions for the problems created by the gap. The perspective of this thesis affirms the necessity of responding adequately to the market needs and demands but at the same time insisting on a comprehensive curriculum that includes all the recognized aspects of translation and one that is continuously updated to accommodate new insights and findings in translation research. The proposed solution emphasizes the inclusion in the curriculum of all the translation competencies, as well as the theoretical and historical aspects of translation, and integrating translation competences with Computer Assisted Translation (CAT). This integration should be stated as the core and the basis of translation study and all the translation activities in the program. The researcher used a mixed-method analysis which combined quantitative and qualitative methodologies in collecting and analysing the relevant data. The researcher used a (quantitative) questionnaire and a (qualitative) interview, and the joint input from the two methods allowed coverage of the stakeholders in the field being examined: students, instructors, heads of departments and deans of colleges in three Saudi universities—King Saud University, Imam Mohamed Ibn Saud Islamic University, and Princess Noura University. The questionnaire was administered to 217 students of translation in the three universities. The interviews were conducted with deans, heads of departments and instructors, each of whom had at least three years’ experience of teaching translation and some of whom also had administrative experience related to translation programmes. The findings of the research effort indicate that there is minimal, if any, real effort in the contexts where the research was conducted to bridge the gap between university study of translation and the translation market. The two essential aspects of translation, translation competence and translation technology, whose possession and mastery make up the qualifications currently required in the translation market, are not studied and practiced exhaustively in the translation programs: only linguistic competence is dealt with, and that is largely to improve the students’ English, with one or two translation technology courses being offered in English programmes. Insufficient and inadequate instruction and training in translation competencies and in translation technology, especially CAT, and the total absence of integration of competence and CAT in Saudi translation programs, have been identified as the main causes of the gap between university translation programmes and the translation market’s needs, and a major contributory factor to the unemployability of translation graduates. To bring this problematic situation to an end, translation programmes should make the integration of translation competence and CAT tools mandatory in all aspects of the translation programme and must stress to learners and trainers that the current and future status of the study and practice of translation will be based on this integration. Without this integration, translation curricula will be outdated and irrelevant to the needs of society and the translation market. Institutions must make sure that they have highly qualified instructors in translation and translation technology, as well as appropriate and adequate equipment for instruction and training in translation technology. It is essential that this equipment can be used effectively in the integration of translation competence and translation technology.9 0