Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted EVALUATING E-GOVERNMENT SYSTEMS USING LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS FROM SOFTWARE ENGINEERING BENCHMARKS: A CASE STUDY OF THE ZAKAT, TAX AND CUSTOMS AUTHORITY (ZATCA) IN THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA(Saudi Digital Library, 2026) Alkhamali, Abdulrahman; Fawareh, Hamed JassimThe growth of e-government services has placed a greater emphasis on the need for designing e-government systems that are functional, but also usable, understandable, and meet users’ needs and expectations. In this regard, the e-systems of the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) – which is used in Saudi Arabia for managing zakat, tax, and customs services- are essential to provide tax, zakat and customs services to a variety of users, such as citizens, businesses, importers, exporters, customs brokers and travellers. Therefore, this study seeks to assess the usability and perceived requirements quality of ZATCA’s digital systems, as viewed from users' perspectives, and to explore the inter-relationships between usability, user experience, perceived requirements quality, and user satisfaction. The research is built upon well-established approaches to usability and software quality, and in line with the international standards such as ISO 9241-11:2018, ISO 9241-210:2019, ISO/IEC 25010:2023, and ISO/IEC 25030:2019. These standards have been widely applied in other studies to assess usability, user experience and quality of digital systems. The adoption of these standards allows the study to draw on previous work and offer a benchmarked assessment of e-government systems. The study used a mixed-methods approach in a descriptive and evaluative single-case study. The study used a bilingual online questionnaire distributed to a non-probability convenience sample with purposive inclusion criteria, targeting external users who had prior experience with ZATCA’s digital systems. The questionnaire contained the System Usability Scale (SUS), UMUX-Lite items, perceived requirements quality items, a measure of overall satisfaction, user-category questions, and open-ended questions. The study measured requirements quality from the users’ perspective and did not claim to directly audit ZATCA’s internal SRS, BRD, or development documentation. A total of 365 responses were used after cleaning. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach's alpha, Pearson correlation, one-way ANOVA and an independent-samples t-test were used to evaluate the quantitative data. The open-ended responses were analysed using thematic analysis and controlled LLM-based coding and classification. The findings show that the level of user satisfaction and usability of ZATCA's digital systems was moderately positive. The average SUS score was 68.253, with an average UMUX score of 3.778, average requirements quality of 3.649 and average satisfaction of 3.721. The results indicated high internal consistency for all scales of the study with Cronbach's alpha values of 0.969 for SUS, 0.894 for UMUX, and 0.948 for the requirements quality scale. The results found very strong positive and significant associations between usability and user experience, requirements quality and satisfaction. For instance, increased usability was strongly linked to increased satisfaction and better requirements quality. The inferential analysis revealed statistically significant differences among users. The highest levels of usability and satisfaction were indicated by individual taxpayers or zakat payers, while customs brokers and some business-related users indicated lower levels of satisfaction. The independent-samples t-test also revealed statistically significant between business/company representatives and individual taxpayers, with individual users showing more positive perceptions. The qualitative findings generally corroborated the quantitative findings by revealing common user complaints about system processes, terminology, guidance and access to services. In conclusion, this study suggests that ZATCA systems are at an acceptable level of operation; but there is room for improvement in usability, requirements and user-centered design. Improving guidance, terminology, and tailoring system design to various user segments can positively impact user satisfaction and the success of digital public service.2 0Item Restricted Designing a Health Education Program for Preventing Adverse Effect of Mobile Phone among Children(Saudi Digital Library, 2026) Alqarni, Abdulrahman; Salem, Nagwa MahmoudThis study aimed to design a health education program for preventing adverse effect of mobile phone among children in Saudi Arabia. Method: A qualitative phenomenological study approach was employed to accomplish this study; a Judgmental and purposive technique was used to recruit 16 mothers of children using mobile phone, 10 health educators and 20 experts. This study was conducted at Prince Abdul Majeed Primary Health Care Center and Al-Ajaweed Primary Health Care Center in Jeddah. Results: The study reveals none of the mothers received any educational program on the adverse effects of the use of mobile phones. While the sources of information on the adverse effects of the use of mobile phones were mainly through the mass media (50%), followed by the internet (25%), and then 18.75% received the information through the healthcare professionals/social media/friends.2 0Item Restricted الدور الوسيط لنمط الشخصية فى العلاقة بين القيادة السامة والاحتراق الوظيفي: دراسة ميدانية على القطاع الصحي بمنطقة نجران(Saudi Digital Library, 2026) alzamanna, Hussain; داهش, جمال عبدالحميد; حسين, رمضان محمدهدفت الدراسة إلى دراسة الدور الوسيط لنمط الشخصية فى العلاقة بين القيادة السامة والاحتراق الوظيفي في القطاع الصحي بمنطقة نجران بالمملكة العربية السعودية. ومن خلال اتباع المنهج الوصفي التحليلي، وتحليل بيانات الدراسة من خلال برنامج SPSS بالتطبيق على عينة مكونة من 335 مفردة. توصلت نتائج الدراسة الى وجود تأثير معنوي لنمط الشخصية الشخصية في العلاقة بين القيادة السامة والاحتراق الوظيفي للعاملين بالقطاع الصحي بمنطقة نجران في المملكة العربية السعودية. كما أوصى الباحث السادة المسئولين في القطاع الصحي بمنطقة نجران تجنب ممارسات القيادة السامة حيث أن جميع أبعادها لها تأثير معنوي في تحقيق الاحتراق الوظيفي للعاملين، وكذلك تجنب ممارسات القيادة السامة حيث أن جميع أبعادها لها تأثير معنوي في نمط الشخصية، وأيضا ضرورة تجنب تشكيل نمط شخصية العاملين على أساس غير سوي لديها حيث أن جميع أبعادها لها تأثير معنوي في شعورهم بالاحتراق الوظيفي.3 0Item Restricted Investigating The Role Of Epigenetic Regulation Mediated By DNMT1 In Early Cell Fate Differentiation In Embryoid Body And Zebrafish Embryo Models(Saudi Digital Library, 2026) Alhussini, Abdulaziz; Pennings, Sari; Péault, Bruno; Meehan, RichardAbstract Introduction: Epigenetics refers to changes in genomic functions that are not caused by alterations in the DNA sequence but may be heritable through cell lineages. DNA methylation is an epigenetic DNA base modification that has been linked to gene repression. DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) is an enzyme that copies the patterns of DNA methylation onto newly replicated DNA strands prior to cell division. During the early cleavage stages of embryogenesis, the genome undergoes a demethylation process. Around the time of blastocyst implantation, DNA methylation increases concurrently with the differentiation of the three germ layers. In parallel, various metabolic changes occur during embryo development to provide necessary metabolites at each developmental stage. The presence of DNMT1 is crucial during embryogenesis, as knockout embryos fail to progress beyond 9.5 days post fertilisation. The importance of DNMT1 is highlighted during gastrulation, which is the period of germ layer formation and tissue specification. The aim of this study was to investigate the requirement for DNA methylation maintenance for correct cellular differentiation. Additionally, it was investigated whether DNA methylation maintenance could play an alternative role, such as in regulating the pathways in metabolism that ensure proper progression of embryo development. Method: Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells (mESC) were used to generate Embryoid Bodies (EBs) as a 3D in vitro model of embryo development. To induce DNA hypomethylation, DNMT1 was targeted either by utilising a recently developed non-covalent chemical inhibitor GSK-3484862 (DNMT1i) or by employing established Dnmt1 knockout (D1KO) mESC lines. Through random and targeted differentiation of EBs, cellular differentiation was verified by visualising cell-specific markers typical of progenitors or terminally differentiated cells originating from different germ layers. Additionally, fertilised zebrafish eggs were subjected to various DNMT1i treatment protocols to visualise the inhibitor effect on cellular differentiation and tissue patterning in an in vivo model. In addition, cell cycle and various metabolites were assayed in mouse embryonic stem cells and in vitro embryoid models using flow cytometry and chemiluminescence assays, to test if failure in DNA methylation maintenance affects cell cycle profile and cellular metabolism. Results/Discussion: Inhibition studies using DNMT1i indicated that early cellular differentiation of mesoderm, endoderm, and ectoderm can occur under DNA hypomethylation conditions induced by DNMT1i. However, late differentiation of cardiomyocytes was delayed. Treating zebrafish embryos with DNMT1i showed a dose-dependent phenotype. The main effects observed were pericardial oedema, embryonic short axis and stochastic patterning of intersegmental vessels, and delayed/absence of differentiation of downstream cell fates, such as T cells. Although DNMT1i treatment of mESC reduces DNA methylation levels to comparable levels observed in D1KO mESC, a few differences were observed with respect to mESC proliferation, and the cell distribution across the S and G2 phases. In addition, the late differentiation towards hepatocytes was detected in DNMT1i-treated EBs but absent in D1KO EBs. Investigation of various metabolites under DNA hypomethylation conditions showed an elevation of lactate levels, with mitochondrial elongation in D1KO and DNMT1i treated mESC. Finally, an increase in γH2AX as an early marker of the DNA damage response was observed in association with DNMT1 absence. Conclusion: DNA hypomethylation did not prevent cellular differentiation of progenitors and many terminal fates derived from mesoderm, endoderm, and ectoderm. Although both DNMT1i treatment and D1KO caused hypomethylation, the differences between these models indicated some differences in the potential pathways implicated and their effects on cell cycle profile. Conversely, both hypomethylated models demonstrated that cellular metabolism was affected with raised lactate levels, the full implications of which require future investigation. Finally, genomic stress was inferred by the increased activity of the DNA damage response.4 0Item Restricted Strategic sport communication and the making of place(Saudi Digital Library, 2026) Alghamdi, Mohammed Mesfer; Franzisca, WederThis thesis examines the communicative role of sport mega-events in Saudi Arabia from a place-centred strategic sport communication perspective, with particular attention to their role in nation branding and reputation formation. Moving beyond media-centric and outcome-focused approaches, the study conceptualises sport mega-events as strategically organised communicative environments through which place, identity, and reputation are articulated, negotiated, and contested. Addressing key gaps in sport communication and strategic communication scholarship, the research shifts the focus from visibility and exposure to communicative processes, professional expertise, and meaning-making at the national level. Adopting an interpretivist qualitative design, the study draws on semi-structured interviews with 32 communication experts operating across governmental and non-governmental institutions in Saudi Arabia and applies reflexive thematic analysis to examine how SMEs are embedded within broader governmental communication strategies. The analysis explores three interconnected dimensions: the role of strategic communication in nation branding, the role of sport communication within nation- branding processes, and the perceived impact of nation branding on Saudi Arabia’s reputation. The findings demonstrate that strategic communication in Saudi Arabia is understood as a long- term, place-centred process characterised by coordination, narrative governance, and institutional negotiation, rather than by isolated messages or short-term campaigns. Sport communication emerges as a strategically central yet contested communicative practice through which nation-branding efforts are organised and enacted. Empirically, the study extends Anholt’s Competitive Identity framework by identifying sport itself as a distinct and contextually influential nation-branding dimension that amplifies tourism, culture, policy, investment, people, and brands, while producing differentiated effects across these domains. In terms of reputation, the findings reveal a dual dynamic of transformation and contestation. While sport communication accelerates reputational change by projecting narratives of reform, ambition, and openness, it simultaneously intensifies exposure to critique, including sportswashing accusations. Reputation is therefore understood not as a stable outcome but as an ongoing process of negotiation shaped by cumulative impressions over time. The thesis contributes to sport communication scholarship by advancing a strategic sport communication conceptualisation and repositioning sport communication as a central analytical lens for understanding how states communicate place, identity, and reputation in global contexts.7 0Item Restricted COMBINED NONPARAMETRIC TESTS FOR EQUALITY OF LOCATION AND SCALE UNDER ORDERED ALTERNATIVES(Saudi Digital Library, 2026) Alharbi, Latifah; Rhonda, MagelThis study proposes four combined nonparametric test statistics for detecting ordered alternatives in both location and scale across multiple populations. T₁ combines the Jonckheere–Terpstra (JT) statistic with the Moses-type scale statistic using equal weighting, while T₂ combines the Modified Jonckheere–Terpstra (MJT) statistic with the Modified Moses-type scale statistic using equal weighting. T₃ and T₄ apply the same respective combinations but with a weighted scheme that assigns greater emphasis to the scale component, with weight equal to the subgroup size m. Both mean-based and median-based centering approaches were implemented within a subgroup sampling framework. A Monte Carlo simulation study with 10,000 replications per configuration was conducted for k = 3 and k = 4 populations under different sample sizes and subgroup sizes. Six distributions were tested: Normal, Logistic, Laplace, Cauchy, Exponential, and Chi-square with multiple degrees of freedom. Three alternative structures were considered: pure location shifts, pure scale differences, and simultaneous changes in both parameters, along with null configurations for Type I error assessment. Simulation results showed consistent patterns across symmetric distributions. T₁ and T₂ showed higher power under location differences, while T₃ and T₄ showed higher power under scale differences. Under combined alternatives for symmetric distributions, T₃ and T₄ showed better performance, with T₄ having a slight advantage in many cases. Type I error control was adequate for symmetric and approximately symmetric distributions, including the heavy-tailed Cauchy. However, under strongly skewed distributions, Type I error rates were substantially inflated due to induced dependence between the location and scale components, rendering the asymptotic tests unreliable in such settings. Test selection should therefore account for both the anticipated alternative structure and the degree of distributional skewness.6 0Item Restricted Beyond Simple Adoption: Policy Design and Demographic, Ownership Pathways and Technology Efficiency in Residential Solar Markets(Saudi Digital Library, 2026) Alotaibi, Abdullah; Miller, Clark; Kaloush, Kamil; Phelan, PatrickThis dissertation examines how policy design, ownership structure, and technological quality shape U.S. residential solar adoption. While studies often treat adoption as a binary outcome, this framework is incomplete because adoption counts alone do not explain how households participate in the distributed energy transition. It is also necessary to examine system types, financing pathways, and whether higher-performing technologies diffuse evenly across communities. The central argument is that policy and market design create the choice architecture for residential solar decisions, while demographics shape choices within that architecture. Consequently, policy effectiveness and equity must be evaluated not only by total deployment, but by who adopts, what they adopt, how they adopt it, and how equitably advanced technology is accessed. Using installation-level data linked to ZIP-code demographics, this dissertation analyzes these dynamics across Arizona, California, New York, and Vermont. The first chapter examines whether solar system choices are driven more by household demographics or by policy environments. Classifying installations by ownership, size, and storage, it shows that while demographics matter, policy context plays a stronger role in shaping feasible choices. The second chapter investigates how net metering reform affects adoption through ownership structure. Combining a national analysis with a difference-in-differences case study of Salt River Project and Arizona Public Service, it finds that restrictive export compensation reduces adoption primarily by weakening third-party ownership rather than prompting substitution into direct purchase. The third chapter shifts to technology quality, analyzing photovoltaic module efficiency relative to the yearly market frontier. It finds that module efficiency improved over time across all states, but unevenly. The dissertation recommends evaluating solar policy through a broader framework encompassing adoption volume, ownership structure, configuration, storage access, and technology quality. It urges policymakers to preserve diverse adoption pathways, design equity-oriented incentives that lower upfront barriers, expand storage access, improve market transparency, and collect detailed system data. Ultimately, equitable policy must look beyond installation counts to improve the systems households can access and the benefits they receive.3 0Item Restricted Impedance-Estimation Driven Voltage Management Framework for Unbalanced Inverter Based Resource Integrated Distribution Networks Through Coordinated Control(Saudi Digital Library, 2026) Althaiban, Nasser; Sukumar, KamalasadanThe growing penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs), advanced power electronics, and dynamically reconfigurable switching operations has transformed modern electric distribution systems into highly nonlinear, unbalanced, and data-rich networks. Conventional analysis tools are highly dependent on fixed system parameters, static topology information, and balanced approximations that are no longer valid under high DER variability, frequent switching, and unbalanced loading. Consequently, utilities face limited observability, inaccurate state estimation, and degraded effectiveness of legacy voltage control devices such as capacitor banks and on-load tap changers (OLTCs). This dissertation Addresses these challenges through an integrated, physics-informed, data-driven framework for three-phase unbalanced distribution systems, encompassing real-time parameter estimation, topology identification, and coordinated voltage regulation. The first contribution is a hybrid Kalman filter estimation algorithm for real-time estimation of line conductance (G) and susceptance (B). The framework decouples the linear prediction step from a sigma-point nonlinear update step, leveraging a physics-informed path matrix to achieve numerical stability, phase-selective estimation, and fast convergence under load changes, topology switching, shunt capacitor banks, and high DER penetration. Validation on the IEEE 13-bus and 123-bus test feeders demonstrates superior accuracy (MAE, RMSE, R2), and computational efficiency relative to standalone EKF and UKF methods under partial observability and measurement noise. The second contribution is a Thevenin impedance-based topology estimation frame work that infers switch open/closed status across multiple feasible radial configurations without exhaustive search or full network observability. By exploiting deviations in estimated Thevenin impedance signatures at switch locations, the method reliably distinguishes among five feasible radial topologies of the IEEE 123-bus feeder, even under unbalanced voltages and measurement sparsity. The third contribution is a data-driven, Z-Bus-aided voltage regulation framework that uses estimated parameters and identified topology to compute real-time phase-wise Thevenin voltage sensitivities for tap decision-making. The framework reconstructs primary-side regulator voltages under partial observability, including switch-adjacent regulator locations, and executes prediction-before-action tap control to avoid oscillatory behavior. Validated across static, dynamic, and topology-transition scenarios, the controller restores voltage profiles across all three phases with fewer tap operations and faster correction than conventional OLTC strategies, particularly during simultaneous load fluctuations and topology changes. Collectively, these three components form a unified situational-awareness and control framework that improves distribution system observability, enables accurate real-time modeling, and delivers reliable voltage regulation under high DER penetration. The results directly support the development of next-generation distribution management systems (DMS), providing utilities with scalable, model-informed, data-driven tool for operating modern unbalanced distribution networks5 0Item Restricted Restoring Transparency in CPS Firmware through Protocol Recovery, Device Inference, and Component Recovery(Saudi Digital Library, 2026) Turkistani, Bayan; Yagemann, CarterCyber-physical systems (CPS) underpin modern infrastructure, yet their firmware remains opaque due to stripped binaries, heterogeneous hardware, and deeply intertwined software–hardware interactions. This lack of transparency complicates efforts to understand system behavior, identify vulnerabilities, and analyze failures in safetycritical environments. This research addresses these challenges through three complementary thrusts. The first introduces ProtoReveal, a static analysis framework that automatically recovers in-use MMIO registers and low-level communication protocols from stripped firmware. The second contributes DevHunt, which combines static analysis with targeted symbolic execution to infer peripheral device types and reveal hidden or unauthorized hardware interactions. The third introduces DroneStrip, a framework that reconstructs software architecture from stripped firmware through component boundary recovery, enabling mission-aware firmware debloating without requiring source code, symbols, or build metadata. Together, these contributions advance firmware transparency by improving visibility at the protocol, device, and software-architecture levels, providing a foundation for more analyzable, understandable, and secure cyber-physical systems.8 0Item Restricted RAQEEB: AN ANCHOR-CONSTRAINED FRAMEWORK FOR FINE-GRAINED ERROR CLASSIFICATION AND RELIABILITY-AWARE QUALITY ESTIMATION IN ARABIC MACHINE TRANSLATION(Saudi Digital Library, 2026) Alshammari, Afraa; Khan, LatifurMachine translation (MT) increasingly mediates how political conflict is detected and analysed across languages. For a morphologically rich and under-resourced language such as Arabic, evaluating MT quality remains hard: standard automatic metrics reduce a translation to a single score that cannot say what error occurred, where, or how severe it is. This dissertation contributes Raqeeb ("observer"), an anchor-constrained framework for fine-grained Arabic MT error classification and reliability-aware quality estimation. Two motivating studies show that a domain-specific language model outperforms general-purpose models on political-conflict classification across English, Spanish, and Arabic, and that MT systematically strips rare, domain-specific vocabulary from the source text, a loss that, rather than translation quality, is a dominant factor in downstream performance. Evaluation must therefore pinpoint where and how a translation fails. Raqeeb unifies five components. Mizan ("scale") is a 23-class Arabic MT error taxonomy with a four-level, MQM-compatible hierarchy and expert-calibrated severity weights. TRIVET (Triple Validation with Error Taxonomy) ties each candidate error to a specific keyword anchor, checks it with Arabic-aware structural methods, and confirms it with a cross-vendor audit. Together with a domain-contrastive keyword extraction and a two-layer blind annotation process, these yield QUANTA, a 9,032-instance Arabic MT error dataset covering all 23 classes, validated by two independent expert annotators at almost-perfect agreement on the core taxonomy criteria (Gwet's AC1 0.83 for real, 0.97 for synthetic). On a five-encoder benchmark, AraBERT v2 reaches a cross-validated 23-class macro-F1 of 0.614; without the anchor constraint performance collapses to 0.114, and expert-validated real data proves twelve times more sample-efficient than synthetic data. Building on this dataset, RaqeebCOMET enhances the neural metric COMET with a severity penalty derived from the taxonomy, reaching Spearman 0.669 against a held-out human quality score where raw COMET reaches 0.011. A hierarchical fallback sustains 89.0% accuracy by emitting predictions at the finest reliable taxonomy level, never silently abstaining, and the structural gates show promising out-of-domain transfer. Together these contributions form a coherent software pipeline from raw parallel corpus to validated, reliability-aware Arabic MT error analysis, released as the open-source Raqeeb toolkit. As a software-engineering contribution, the framework provides structural verification, defect classification, cross-vendor regression control, and reliability-aware triage for human-in-the-loop deployment.3 0