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Investigating Reflective Practices and their Impact on English Language Teachers’ Professional Development: An Explanatory Case Study in the UAE Education Sector
No full textThis PhD thesis examines the reflective practices of English Language Teaching (ELT) teachers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It explores their understanding of reflective practice, its significance in professional development, the prevalent strategies within various dimensions of reflection, and factors influencing their engagement. The research further delves into the impact of demographic factors on ELT teachers' perceptions and the support they receive for continuous reflective practice. It also investigates how reflective practice is represented in official institutional documents within the UAE education sector. Adopting a mixed-methods approach, the study uses both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis techniques to comprehensively address the research objectives. The findings reveal a broad recognition among UAE's ELT teachers of reflective practice's importance for their professional development and its potential to enhance their teaching effectiveness. However, the extent of their engagement in various reflective practices differs, ranging from regular to sporadic or limited involvement. This variability is influenced by factors such as institutional support, time constraints, access to professional development resources, and individual teaching and learning beliefs. This study identifies the reflective practices and strategies most commonly used by ELT teachers in the UAE and explores their application across different teaching contexts and levels of experience. The research also examines whether demographic variables, such as age, gender, teaching experience, and native language, influence ELT teachers' perceptions of reflective practice. Moreover, it investigates teachers' perceptions of the support they receive for ongoing reflective practice and professional development, identifying the forms of support they believe would best facilitate their growth. Finally, the study analyses the extent to which official documents, policies, and guidelines in the UAE education sector promote and support reflective practice and the strategies outlined for its implementation among educators, including ELT teachers. This research contributes to the understanding of reflective practice within the context of ELT in the UAE. It provides valuable insights for educators, policymakers, and teacher trainers seeking to enhance reflective practices, professional development of ELT teachers, and thereby improve the quality of English language teaching in the region.
Keywords: reflective practice, reflective teaching and learning, professional development, ELT/TESOL educatio
Sentiment Analysis in Social Media: A Deep Learning Framework for Analyzing Public Sentiment toward Policies during Natural Disasters
No full textThe primary aim of this study is to produce and present a robust, reliable, and accurate framework to measure and analyze public sentiments for decision-makers and policies legislators while managing and administrating the spread of a pandemic or a natural disaster in general. The study utilizes COVID-19 as an actual case study to evaluate the proposed framework, and tests relevant hypotheses. The study used word embedding as a feature vector and then tested the accuracy of different models such as LSTM, Transformers, Logistic regression, Random Forest Classifier, KNN, and Multinomial Naïve Bayes. This work used a deep learning model –LSTM model on the collected tweets to classify the emotions and reactions. The models applied in the classification of COVID-19 global data performed differently with regard to accuracy and precision. Transformers emerged as the most accurate model, with a precision score of (90.18%) and an accuracy of (90.17%). LSTM was also superior with regard to the accuracy, with an (88.45%) precision score and an accuracy of (88.44%). The Random Forest classifier performed fairly, with a (52.43%) precision score and (51.26%). The other models performed poorly in predicting sentiments; for instance, Multinomial Naïve Bayes recorded (43.54%) precision and (41.23%) prediction accuracy, the logistic regression model recorded a (43.54%) precision and (41.23%) prediction accuracy, and the KNN model had (41.23%) precision and (41.11%) prediction accuracy. Overall, LSTM was established as the most suitable model for the selected dataset since it was able to fit the dataset and can be generalized to the current and new datasets, unlike transformers
Developing an Urban Resilience Index for Ajman City
No full textLand-use change and worldwide environmental degradation are both accelerated by urbanisation. With global urbanisation accelerating, new regulations are needed to protect urban ecosystems, species, and the services they offer, ensuring more viable, adaptable, and liveable cities. The increase in the research of sustainable development has enhanced the awareness and attention of various global sectors such as developers and policymakers regarding advanced sustainable cities, along with the associated impact of sustainability in terms of the urban transformation.
Ajman, one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE, has begun to establish plans, policies, and initiatives for this aim in collaboration with the other governmental agencies. Ajman has faced more obstacles as a result of the Emirate’s growing population, improved social conditions, way of life, and industrial revolution. These difficulties line up with the national and international aims and strategies that focus on pressing environmental, social, and economic problems. As a result, Ajman Municipality has made it a priority to integrate sustainability into all facets of daily life, and considers it to be essential to both its vision and goals.
This research is intended to develop an urban resilience index (URI) for Ajman city to support future planning. The primary objective was to develop a tool for measuring and quantifying the resilience of an area, in order to assist policymakers and urban planners in determining whether a development project will be instrumental in enhancing city-level resilience. The proposed URI is based on data collected from a range of indicators spanning a number of key URI component indices. The dimensions over which the indices are distributed were identified through a critical literature review, while keeping Ajman’s local context in mind. The methodology for the current research was the primary qualitative approach, which was collected by conducting interviews.
Ajman’s URI, according to the stakeholder feedback, should include institutional, infrastructural, social, and economic factors. The stakeholders also pointed out that the primary urban indicators that should be included in Ajman’s URI are the ecological environment’s quality, environmental policies, land use, public service amenities, disaster response and reduction framework, and critical city infrastructure. One of the issues raised was that the population of urban areas has grown significantly in recent years, and is expected to grow even further. Therefore, planners cannot find a balance between measures that can be better implemented to make urban systems, cities, and their people more resilient to problems.
A 17-item universal resilience indicator composite was developed and found to be effective in assisting policymakers with the planning and assessment of a resilient future Ajman. The proposed URI can provide comprehensive information on urban resilience to climate change for municipal planners in cities. It allows for comprehensive city comparisons, which aids in the qualitative evaluation of areas of strength and weakness. It also allows one to look into the relationships between the total URI and other aspects of urban climate change resistance. Thus, the URI can be used to assess individual components of urban resilience and their associated indicators, as well as broad indicators of urban climate change resilience
The Impact of Transformational Verses Strategic Leadership Styles in the Success of Engineering Teams
No full textEngineering teams' success is based on their ability to work effectively and use their skills, experience, and knowledge to achieve results. To achieve this, the team needs robust and effective leadership. The research seeks to identify the elements of each style that can contribute to the success of engineering teams and to investigate the potential effects of each on the team's overall performance. Furthermore, this research will seek to understand the dynamics of the team that are impacted by the leadership style and its effectiveness on the team's performance. Additionally, this research will analyze the relationship between the Transformational and Strategic leadership styles and the team's success and how the two kinds interact to achieve the desired results. Finally, this research will provide recommendations for engineering teams on effectively implementing the leadership style that best suits their goals and objectives. The investigation utilized a quantitative research approach that collected and analyzed numerical data. The research will include workers from several fields. The sample will be selected randomly to generalize the study's results. The minimum required sample size for the analysis will be 100 participants to ensure sufficient statistical power. Data was collected using web-based survey websites. The strategy entailed uploading the questionnaire on the platform and generating a link randomly sent to potential respondents. The instrument contained elimination questions to ensure that only individuals in the UAE engineering sector were allowed to participate. Descriptive statistics were performed to provide a starting point for the research and determine the participant distribution within the target sample. Pearson Moment correlation analysis was performance to evaluate the strength of the relationship between employee engagement and transformational leadership on employee outcomes. The study conducted a linear regression analysis to estimate the impact of the predictor variable on the dependent variable. Besides, ANOVA was performed to determine whether there were significant differences in the participants' demographic characteristics, including work experience, gender, age, and highest educational attainment, concerning the study variables. The findings demonstrated that transformational and strategic leadership significantly influenced organizational performance. Besides, employee engagement was a significant moderator between the independent and dependent variables. Nonetheless, transformational leadership was more appropriate in strengthening the engineering team’s internal competitiveness than strategic leadership. The phenomenon signifies that engineering teams could experience advantages from having a leader who can encourage and stimulate team members to collaborate toward common objectives. The results of this study additionally enhance the expanding knowledge base regarding the influence of various leadership approaches on team productivity
The Impact of Industry 5.0 Technologies on the Performance within the Healthcare Sector through the Integration of Gamification-Based Learning Programs
No full textEducation continues to evolve in response to its influence in a world increasingly dominated by technology. This study thoroughly explores applying and accepting Gamification-Based Learning Programs within the healthcare sector.
This extensive study was conducted through the lens of Gamification-based Learning Programs in the healthcare industry with the primary objective of realizing how learning techniques open the way for integrating technology into many professional fields. This study presented novel findings based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Usage of Technology (UTAUT2), embracing the importance of mobility, facilitating conditions, habit, and availability in encouraging the use of GBLPs. However, traditional considerations such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, hedonic motivation, and price value have little effect on the decision to accept technology, necessitating a reevaluation of the reasons for technological use.
This research used a hybrid SEM-ANN strategy, highlighting its potential to make accurate and consequential projections regarding the future of Gamification-based Learning Programs applications. While this study focused on the healthcare industry, the lessons learned apply to other professional learning settings and may help spark a revolution in how we know in many fields.
The report continues by pointing out its limitations and calling for more research into this area from various professions. The research could cover the way for future research into the model, encouraging confidence in its ability to forecast technological uptake and serve as a roadmap for crafting more exciting and effective educational environments
The impact of blended learning on learners’ academic performance and emotional well-being
No full textThis research seeks to investigate the learners’, teachers’, and school management's perceptions of blended learning. The study has adopted the mixed method approach to explore the effectiveness of blended learning implementations on middle and high school students in a private school in the UAE. The study sampling participants were 60 students who set for a questionnaire and interview. 18 teachers were requested to participate in the survey. There were also interviews with teachers who had a wide range of experience in teaching via blended learning. Teachers’ attitude toward blended was investigated against students’ attitude to compare the findings and achieve the goals of this study.
Based on the data analysis, the study has concluded that teachers reported a positive attitude toward blended learning, while students indicated a negative attitude to the blended learning implementation. The study findings indicated that students encountered sophisticated challenges that negatively impacted their academic progress and emotional well-being
The Benefits of Using Blockchain for Freight and Logistics
No full textThe following paper strives to investigate the potential impacts of blockchain technology on the efficiency and operations of the freight & logistics industry. The research addresses two critical research questions that are: (a) How can blockchain technology enhance the efficiency of freight and logistics processes? (b) What are the most suitable applications of blockchain in the freight and logistics industry?
The study adopts a descriptive research design with a quantitative research approach, utilizing a deductive approach to test research hypotheses. The research focuses on the population of Emirati stakeholders, preferably managers working in the freight and logistics industry, such as logistics companies, service providers, shippers, and carriers. Data will be collected through applying purposive sampling technique. The data instrument is a structured survey questionnaire.
The research will apply statistical analysis including descriptive statistics and inferential analysis. Furthermore, SPSS and R analysis will be applied. Major findings will uncover potential advantages of blockchain integration within UAE along with the considerations and challenges for adoption. The implications will provide invaluable guidance to blockchain experts and professionals. This will also lead to further expansion of the field
The Effectiveness of Current Policies and Regulations Aimed at Promoting Sustainable Practices in Residential Neighborhoods in Dubai, UAE
No full textThis dissertation provides a comprehensive assessment of the Sa’fat Dubai Green Building Rating System and its role in advancing sustainability in residential zones. The study seeks to identify and address the shortcomings in existing policies, recommend improvements, and conduct a detailed examination of green building standard practices. Utilizing a methodological framework that integrates a thorough review of literature,extensive surveys, and advanced computer-based simulations, the research evaluates the collaborative dynamics between governmental efforts, the private sector's initiatives, and community participation. The outcomes reveal significant policy voids, with the Sa'fat framework leading to energy savings between 10% and 47% in different cases as assessed by the IES-VE software, underscoring the imperative of tailored sustainability approaches. The financial examination, however, indicates the economic impracticality of certain scenarios, such as the extensive payback period of 51 years for green roofs, versus the 8.5 years for triple-glazing, necessitating a judicious balance of cost-effectiveness in sustainable methodologies.The dissertation's primary recommendations advocate for a more systematic integration of policies, informed by international benchmarks such as BREEAM, and the establishment of more definitive guidelines to differentiate the levels of certification within the Sa'fat system. Emphasizing the critical role of data-driven policymaking and active engagement of all stakeholders, the dissertation proposes strategies to bolster the efficacy of the system. These strategic recommendations are designed to serve as a guide for policymakers and urban planners in fostering sustainable urban development in Dubai and in other rapidly growing cities with similar contexts
Impact of Energy Efficiency Practices on Healthcare Financial Profitability: Case Study of Al-Gardens Hospital Jordan, Middle East
No full textNowadays; sustainability is thriving by being implemented in various industries worldwide. Construction Sector is consuming huge amount of energy globally, where healthcare institutes take a high percentage of this consumption due to its 24/7 operation hours and the complexity of its function. Many practices such operational and building envelop practices can be implemented for healthcare institutes to reduce energy consumption. BIM REVIT and its feature Insight360 proved its ability in analysing the energy performance of the building and supporting in proposing energy efficiency practice for the building.
The aim of the research is to access the economic viability of different energy saving practices/scenarios that can be applied to a hospital in Jordan. The research highlighted the gap noticed in energy efficiency case studies literature; that is the need for researches to be conducted in developing economy counties such as Middle East – Jordan, also no future research/studies were mentioned for further improvements for each case study as per its location and available opportunities.
In this research, Jordan Middle East developing economy countries healthcare institute’s is the targeted facilities in this research, it is introducing energy efficiency practices that reduce energy consumption and raise the profitability of healthcare institute with low initial cost and low payback period through technical energy analysis and financial analysis. The relation between dependent variable (energy efficiency) and the independent variables (building envelop and operational practices variables) is tested. The research assumes that lighting control system as operational practice can reduce energy efficiency with 21% of the total energy consumption and 1 year and 4 weeks payback period, and the window to wall ratio considered as the most energy efficient and feasible building envelop practice to be implement with energy savings of 6% of the yearly energy consumption kwh/year and payback period of 0.46 year.
Hospitals as critical facility need to be resilient in its power production, CHP system can mitigate the risk of shortage of power due to climatic events or power distribution disruption. Future opportunities of new technologies can be developed in Jordan that need more research and studies. The research results support designers, engineers & investors in taking the most energy efficient & financially feasible practice to be implemented for healthcare facilities in Jordan.
Cryptocurrencies Price Forecast and Hedging Capabilities
No full textCryptocurrency is a new kind of investment recently emerged after being developed using blockchain technology, cryptocurrency price prediction is difficult due to its high volatility as this attracted many investors who are looking for high rewards, crypto described to be lucrative investment which in the past five years attracted considerable amount of investment capital, currently crypto market cap exceeds a trillion USD, on the other hand crypto high volatility could vanish the entire investment.
This research aims to provide investors with methods to forecast cryptocurrencies price in the aim of supporting their decision making, as well as to investigate cryptocurrency short and long term relationship with stock markets indexes (S&P500 and FTSE100) and hard commodities (Gold and Oil) in the aim also to reveal more details about cryptocurrencies price behavior, at the same time investigating cryptocurrency relationship with Gold can give us crypto capability in providing hedge against recession as Gold always considered to be ‘safe haven’ against market high volatility, the data span collected covering a period from Jan-2018 till Sep-2022 for all variables tested in this study including Bitcoin, Litecoin, S&P500, FTSE100, Gold and Oil, in this study we used Granger causality and Engle Granger tests to detect existence of short and long term relationship between our variable, at the same time we used ARIMA,VAR, and VECM models to forecast 15 days cryptocurrency closing price. Our findings shows that ARIMA model (7,1,7) and ARIMA (8,1,10) demonstrated evidence to be very good model in forecasting 15 days for Bitcoin and Litecoin closing price respectively, as both models show errors forecast less than 5%. also, empirical finding shows that there is no statistically relationship between stock markets performance nor with Gold and Oil price in both long and short run with cryptocurrencies.
Furthermore, in the aim to investigate the capability of cryptocurrencies to provide hedging ‘Safe haven’ to its investors the same as Gold, the empirical findings in this research shows that the behavior of cryptocurrencies price statistically found different than Gold in both short and long run, hence as a result of this cryptocurrencies cannot be assumed to be a ‘safe haven’ nor its capable to provide hedging such as Gold during recession time.
This study contributes to literatures to reveal more details about cryptocurrency price forecast and determinants, also to support investors decisions throw providing them with the tools required to predict cryptocurrency price, finally this study highlighting the risk coming from cryptocurrency volatility on the whole economy especially the empirical results show no relationship existing with stock markets nor with commodities chosen in this study