Architectural Heritage Preservation as a Tool for Sustaining the Architectural Identity

立命館大学博士(工学)doctoral thesi

Inclusion of Students with Special Needs in Private Schools in Kuwait: Challenges that Face School Administrators

The inclusion approach is one of the most effective ways of integrating students with special needs into society. According to Kuwaiti regulations, both public and private schools must increase quality services to assist students with special needs in inclusive classrooms. Although the inclusion approach is mandatory in Kuwait, schools have encountered barriers to its implementation. Therefore, there were three key goals to this research: (a) to identify challenges of the implementation of inclusion approaches that face private primary school administrators in Kuwait, (b) to identify how inclusion practices are implemented by administrators, teachers, and counselors in private Kuwaiti primary schools, and (c) to identify the differences in the implementation practices of inclusion between two private primary schools in Kuwait. The findings revealed that the two schools faced six similar challenges, and three that differed. The obstacles the two schools had in common included: (1) parental issues, (2) academic barriers, (3) a lack of specialist teachers, (4) gaps in communication, (5) modification and accommodation matters, and (6) financial issues. The three that differed for the first school were: (1) low expectations, (2) the large number of students with LD, and (3) policy issues, while for the second school they were: (1) time management, (2) disciplinary issues, (3) systemic problems. Six key methods for implementing the inclusion approach were revealed. Four were common to both schools and two were different. The four in common were: (1) learning styles, (2) collaboration, (3) communication, and (4) preparation. The two seen solely in the first school were: (1) cooperative learning among students, and (2) discipline management, and in the second school they were (1) teaching LD students in small groups, and (2) anti-bullying sessions. Based on the findings of this research, future work should examine the challenges faced by school administrators attempting to implement the inclusion process, especially at the high school and university levels

Inclusion of Students with Special Needs in Private Schools in Kuwait: Challenges that Face School Administrators

The inclusion approach is one of the most effective ways of integrating students with special needs into society. According to Kuwaiti regulations, both public and private schools must increase quality services to assist students with special needs in inclusive classrooms. Although the inclusion approach is mandatory in Kuwait, schools have encountered barriers to its implementation. Therefore, there were three key goals to this research: (a) to identify challenges of the implementation of inclusion approaches that face private primary school administrators in Kuwait, (b) to identify how inclusion practices are implemented by administrators, teachers, and counselors in private Kuwaiti primary schools, and (c) to identify the differences in the implementation practices of inclusion between two private primary schools in Kuwait. The findings revealed that the two schools faced six similar challenges, and three that differed. The obstacles the two schools had in common included: (1) parental issues, (2) academic barriers, (3) a lack of specialist teachers, (4) gaps in communication, (5) modification and accommodation matters, and (6) financial issues. The three that differed for the first school were: (1) low expectations, (2) the large number of students with LD, and (3) policy issues, while for the second school they were: (1) time management, (2) disciplinary issues, (3) systemic problems. Six key methods for implementing the inclusion approach were revealed. Four were common to both schools and two were different. The four in common were: (1) learning styles, (2) collaboration, (3) communication, and (4) preparation. The two seen solely in the first school were: (1) cooperative learning among students, and (2) discipline management, and in the second school they were (1) teaching LD students in small groups, and (2) anti-bullying sessions. Based on the findings of this research, future work should examine the challenges faced by school administrators attempting to implement the inclusion process, especially at the high school and university levels

Large-Scale Land Reclamation and Soil Improvement for a City Expansion

This paper describes the geotechnical experience gained over the last 25 years at a 21-square kilometers waterfront development along the east coast of Doha city, Qatar. The development process involved filling a shallow bay using approximately 53 million cubic meters of calcareous sand with gravel and limestone fragments, making it one of the largest land reclamation projects in the world. The 2 to 3-meter-high filling was placed on natural seabed deposits that typically consist of a 1.0 m to 1.25 m top layer of soft plastic silt followed by an approximately 3.5 meters of loose to medium sand and an extended layer of weathered limestone. The subsurface layers that posed engineering problems such as excessive settlement to constructions in the filled area were primarily the soft plastic silt and loose sand. Field and laboratory tests conducted before and after filling showed a significant soil improvement due to fill loading and the consequent soil aging. This is attributed to primary and secondary consolidation of plastic silt and secondary compression of sand. Settlement analysis considering this improvement has led to the use of shallow foundations for low-rise and relatively high-rise structures changing the general practice of overusing the costly and time-consuming deep foundations and soil replacement

PSYCHOMETRIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ORIGINAL DASS-42 & THE SHORT VERSION DASS-21 OF THE DEPRESSION ANXIETY STRESS SCALES AMONG UNDERGRADUATESالخصائص السيكو مترية للصورة الأصلية DASS-42 والصورة المختصرة DASS-21 لمقاييس الاكتئاب والقلق والإجهاد لدى طلاب الجامعة

ABSTRACT: This study aims to examine psychometric properties of the of the original DASS-42 & the short version DASS-21 of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales among undergraduates. The original DASS-42 & the short version DASS-21 were administered to a two independent samples with a total of (1677) students from Kuwait University of (740 males and 937 females) for the validity and reliability evaluation of the original DASS-42 & the short version DASS-21, as well as exploring gender differences. The following measures were administered to participants: original DASS-42 & the short version DASS-21 , second version of Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Big Five Inventory (BFI-2) Anxiety, Depression & Neuroticism subscales. Cronbach’s Alpha mean were ranged for the original DASS -42 subscales between 0.83 for depression, 0.79 for anxiety, and 0.81 for Stress. While for the short DASS -21 subscales between 0.78 for depression, 0.77 for anxiety, and 0.76 for Stress. The exploratory & conformity factor analysis extracts three factors from the original DASS-42 & the short version DASS-21. Significant correlations were found between the original DASS-42 & the short version DASS-21 subscales, BDI-II, BAI, BFI-2 Depression, BFI-2 Anxiety, & BFI-2 Neuroticism. A significant gender differences were found in the original DASS-42 & the short version DASS-21 of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales in which females scored higher than males in Depression, Anxiety, & Stress. ملخص: تهدف الدراسة الحالية إلى التحقق من الخصائص السيكو مترية للصورة الأصلية DASS-42 والصورة المختصرة DASS-21 لمقاييس الاكتئاب والقلق والإجهاد لدى طلاب الجامعة. استخدمت في هذه الدراسة عينتين مستقلتين إجمالي قوامها (1677) من طلاب جامعة الكويت بواقع (740) من الطلبة و (937) من الطالبات، وذلك لحساب الثبات والصدق ولفحص الفروق بين الجنسين. تم تطبيق الصورة الأصلية DASS-42، والصورة المختصرة DASS-21 من مقاييس الاكتئاب والقلق والإجهاد، وقائمة بيك الثانية للاكتئاب BDI-II، وقائمة بيك للقلق BAI، ومقياس القلق والاكتئاب والعصابية المتفرعة من الطبعة الثانية لقائمة الخمسة الكبار BFI-2. وقد أسفرت نتائج الدراسة عن تباين معاملات الثبات للمقاييس الفرعية الثلاثة المكونة للصورة الأصلية DASS-42 من مقاييس الاكتئاب والقلق والإجهاد، بلغ متوسط معامل ألفا 0.83لمقياس الاكتئاب، و0.79 لمقياس القلق، و0.81 لمقياس الإجهاد. في حين بلغ متوسط معامل ألفا 0.78لمقياس الاكتئاب، و0.77 لمقياس القلق، و0.76 لمقياس الإجهاد للصورة المختصرة DASS-21. كما اسفرت نتائج الصدق العاملي الاستكشافي والتوكيدي عن استخلاص ثلاثة عوامل مكونة للصورة الأصلية DASS-42 والمختصرة DASS-21 من مقاييس الاكتئاب والقلق والإجهاد. كما كشفت النتائج عن ارتباطات جوهرية موجبة بين بين جميع متغيرات الدراسة. وأخيرا كشفت النتائج عن وجود فروق جوهرية بين الجنسين في الاكتئاب والقلق والإجهاد لصالح الطالبات

CloudMPL:a domain specific language for describing management policies for an autonomic cloud infrastructure

To benefit from the advantages that Cloud Computing brings to the IT industry, management policies must be implemented as a part of the operation of the Cloud. Among others, for example, the specification of policies can be used for the management of energy to reduce the cost of running the IT system or also for security policies while handling privacy issues of users. As cloud platforms are large, manual enforcement of policies is not scalable. Hence, autonomic approaches for management policies have recently received a considerable attention. These approaches allow specification of rules that are executed via rule-engines. The process of rules creation starts by the interpretation of the policies drafted by high-rank managers. Then, technical IT staff translate such policies to operational activities to implement them. Such process can start from a textual declarative description and after numerous steps terminates in a set of rules to be executed on a rule engine. To simplify the steps and to bridge the considerable gap between the declarative policies and executable rules, we propose a domain-specific language called CloudMPL. We also design a method of automated transformation of the rules captured in CloudMPL to the popular rule-engine Drools. As the policies are changed over time, code generation will reduce the time required for the implementation of the policies. In addition, using a declarative language for writing the specifications is expected to make the authoring of rules easier. We demonstrate the use of the CloudMPL language into a running example extracted from a management energy consumption case study

Incidence and risk factors of adjacent segment disease following short segment posterior instrumentation in Bahraini patients: a five-year retrospective analysis

Background: Despite advances in spinal surgery, adjacent segment disease (ASD) and adjacent disc degeneration (ADD) remain notable postoperative complications following spinal fusion, mainly due to suspected increased biomechanical stress that leads to adjacent disc degeneration. This research focuses on the Bahraini population, utilizing MRI to compare pre-op and post-op Adjacent disc conditions to identify the incidence and risk factors of ASD and ADD after short segment spinal fusion. Methods: A retrospective cohort study conducted over a five-year period at Salmaniya Medical Complex, the largest tertiary care center in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Reviewing pre-operative and post-operative MRI scans of 41 symptomatic patients who underwent short segment spinal fusion between 2014 and 2019. Patients were selected based on specific pre-operative and post-operative criteria developed by the orthopaedic team and were followed up to October 2023. Statistical analyses were performed using R software. Results: The analysis of 41 patients revealed a significant incidence of adjacent segment changes and the main risk factor that showed significance was advancing age. While other reported risk factors like level of fusion and number of fused segments did not significantly correlate with advancing ADD or ASD. There was no statistically significant association between hypertension, diabetes or multiple comorbidities and worsening conditions for either ASD or ADD post operation. Conclusions: The findings from our study contribute to the understanding of ASD and ADD after lumbar fusion surgeries, particularly in highlighting the significance of age. These insights can aid surgeons in better anticipating the risks associated with specific demographic and clinical profiles. More controlled studies on larger populations will help delineate more concrete risk factors

Relationship between Dimensions of International Culture and the Five-Factor Model of Personality for Kuwaitis and Non-Kuwaiti Teachers

This study aimed to examine the relationshipbetween the dimensions of international culture and the five factors of personality in a sample of 1080 Kuwaiti and Egyptian teachers which was selected randomly from secondary schools in Kuwait, measured by Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions and five-factor model; gender and nationality were also considered. The results indicated significant positive correlations between agreeableness and power distance, conscientiousness and both individuality and masculinity. There are also significant negative correlations between agreeableness and each individuality and masculinity and uncertainty avoidance, conscientiousness and the variable of power distance, uncertainty avoidance and long-term trend. Also, the results showed that males differed from females on four out of the five cultural dimensions. However, Kuwaitis differ from Egyptians on four out of the five cultural dimensions. Except in the long-termtrend, there were no significant differences between the Kuwaitis and Egyptians

Hepatic Cyst Compressing The Right Atrial and Ventricular Inflow Tract: An Uncommon Cardiac Complication

Commonly reported complications of hepatic cysts are spontaneous hemorrhage, rupture into the peritoneal cavity, infection and compression of the biliary tree however cardiac complications are not commonly reported. We are presenting a case of a large liver cyst presenting with right atrial and ventricular inflow tract impingement resulting in cardiac symptoms. A 68 year-old Hispanic female presented with one month of fatigue and shortness of breath after household work and walking less than one block, right upper quadrant pain and weight loss. She had history of multiple hepatic cysts for more than 12 years, well-controlled diabetes and hypertension. Examination of the heart revealed tachycardia with regular heart sounds. There were no murmurs. She had tenderness in her right upper quadrant on palpation and an enlarged smooth liver. Rest of physical examination was unremarkable. CT scan of the abdomen showed multiple non-enhancing liver cysts in both lobes, with the largest measuring 12 x 15 x 17 cm which was significantly increased from her baseline of 7 x 8 x 10 cm in 2003. Echocardiogram showed normal left ventricular ejection fraction, grade 1 diastolic dysfunction and a hepatic cyst impinging RA and RV inflow tract. She had successful laparoscopic enucleation of liver cyst and subsequent relief from tachycardia, fatigue and shortness of breath. In conclusion, this case illustrates that hepatic cysts may become symptomatic after remaining quiescent for an extended period. They may present with unusual symptoms and clinicians should be mindful of rare complications, such as in this case

Role of artificial intelligence in cloud computing, IoT and SDN: Reliability and scalability issues

Information technology fields are now more dominated by artificial intelligence, as it is playing a key role in terms of providing better services. The inherent strengths of artificial intelligence are driving the companies into a modern, decisive, secure, and insight-driven arena to address the current and future challenges. The key technologies like cloud, internet of things (IoT), and software-defined networking (SDN) are emerging as future applications and rendering benefits to the society. Integrating artificial intelligence with these innovations with scalability brings beneficiaries to the next level of efficiency. Data generated from the heterogeneous devices are received, exchanged, stored, managed, and analyzed to automate and improve the performance of the overall system and be more reliable. Although these new technologies are not free of their limitations, nevertheless, the synthesis of technologies has been challenged and has put forth many challenges in terms of scalability and reliability. Therefore, this paper discusses the role of artificial intelligence (AI) along with issues and opportunities confronting all communities for incorporating the integration of these technologies in terms of reliability and scalability. This paper puts forward the future directions related to scalability and reliability concerns during the integration of the above-mentioned technologies and enable the researchers to address the current research gaps