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An ontolological treatment of clinical prediction rules implementing the Alvarado Score
No full textA lack of acceptance has hindered the widespread adoption and implementation of clinical prediction rules (CPRs). The use of clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) has been advocated as one way of facilitating a broader dissemination and validation of CPRs. This requires computable models of clinical evidence based on open standards rather than closed proprietary content. The ongoing TRANSFoRm project has developed ontological models of CPRs suitable for providing CPR based decision support. This paper presents a description of the design and implementation of the ontology model for CPRs that has been proposed. The conceptual validity of the ontology is discussed using the example of a specific CPR in the form of the Alvarado Score for acute appendicitis. We demonstrate how the model is used to query the structure of this particular rule, providing a computable representation suitable for CPRs in genera
Transportation global environmental impact
No full textThis paper addresses the role of highway transportation and its contribution to greenhouse gases. It outlines cleaner fuel options and discusses pavement construction and maintenance impacts on the environment. In addition, it considers carbon tax to encourage industry and governmental associations to promote green technology and low-carbon footprint products
Determinants of corporate social responsibility reporting : evidence from an emerging economy
No full textThis paper aims to measure the extent of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its determinates by non-financial companies listed on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. The study employs content analysis of the annual reports to measure the extent of CSR disclosure in Abu Dhabi Companies. In addition, the study adopts multiple regression analysis to identify factors influencing the extent of corporate social responsibility disclosure. The findings reveal that the level of CSR disclosure by companies listed on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange is low with an average of 34 %, indicating that such disclosure is still not of a primary concern to these companies. The results also suggest that the extent of CSR disclosure is influenced by corporate size, industry and profitability. The paper is limited by the subjectivity of content analysis as well as it considers CSR disclosure for only one year. This study has public policy implications for the decision makers in the UAE as well as a number of other Arab and Middle East countries. This paper adds to the limited CSR literature in Arab and Middle East countries in general and the United Arab Emirates in particular. This paper not only examines the extent and determinants of corporate social disclosure but also attempts to theorize such disclosure
Legal and regulatory framework of highly-skilled migration : the case of the Palestinian Authority
No full textSince its establishment, in 1994, the Palestinian Authority has encouraged the ‘return’ of Palestinians to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority has also enacted an investment promotion law in order to attract foreign capital and investments.
These two policies are motivated by the assumption that human and financial capitals are both necessary for building Palestinian institutions, and preparing for statehood. Almost 20 years later, the results though are slight. The few who have returned have had little impact, while many others, mostly with university degrees or the highly-skilled, emigrate.
The Palestinian Authority law does not define highly-skilled migration. The lack of laws related to issues of migration is largely due to its lack of jurisdiction. Exit of residents and foreign nationals from the occupied Palestinian territories, including those under Palestinian Authority control, and their re-entry, are still regulated and administered by Israel. This lack of regulation has long been accompanied by a lack of policies to deal with a phenomenon (namely the emigration of highly-skilled Palestinians), that is rightly considered as dangerous for the Palestinian cause and for Palestinian unity more generally; most importantly, it also has negative consequences on Palestinian society and the Palestinian economy (thus, hindering state-building efforts)..
Attracting highly-skilled immigrants and limiting the damage from the emigration of highly-skilled Palestinians cannot be managed by legal regulation alone. A decision of a highly-skilled individual to migrate is not only an economic decision. Political and security factors, coupled with the long Israeli occupation, have also decided the direction of highly-skilled migration flows
Efficiency analysis of UAE banks using data envelopment analysis
No full textPurpose
– The current study aims to explore and measure the profitability, marketability, and social disclosure efficiency of UAE banks using a nonparametric frontier method – data envelopment analysis (DEA).
Design/methodology/approach
– In order to estimate the relative efficiency of the Emirati banks based on three different dimensions: profitability, marketability and social disclosure, a sample of 20 listed Emirati banks in 2009 is first selected. Second, a disclosure index to measure the extent of their social disclosure is developed and utilized. Third, the input‐oriented version of DEA model is deployed to estimate their technical and scale efficiency.
Findings
– Based on nonparametric Wilcoxon signed rank test, paired‐difference t test and sign test, this study reports significant evidence that the UAE banks are performing much better in profitability and social disclosure activities than marketability activities. The results also provide additional evidence regarding the positive relation observed between the performance of social disclosure and profitability performance.
Research limitations/implications
– The sample is small, although it includes all relevant Emirati banks. Moreover, follow‐up research using panel data derived from the UAE banking sector are required to test and generalize the current results.
Originality/value
– The paper is original in its approach by introducing social disclosure as a new empirical dimension to the literatures of banking efficiency analysis using DEA
Jeunesses arabes, Du Maroc au Yémen : loisirs, cultures et politiques
No full textIt is a full sociological phenomenon as Marcel Mauss puts it to support a European team or even two from a distance like Royal Madrid and Barcelona. The question then becomes How to read such a phenomenon, in Palestine as it is not a particular trend to one society. Read here is used as mode of justifying such a global trend that has the ability to gather supporters from countries across the globe from the football club itself. And also how to attempt to analysis the dynamics of such groups and see the symbolical dimensions they use to identify with these teams. The particularity of the Palestinian context adds is the fact that these supporters have here over others is that they live with a colonial context and are subjected to this condition daily. This particularity demands from any reader an accompanying analysis of the social dimension of such a phenomenon as well as taking into consideration the cultural and sociological changes it brings about, withers on the symbolical or on the ideological level.Du Maroc au Yémen, de l'Algérie à la Syrie, de la Tunisie au Liban, en passant par l'Irak, la Libye, l'Egypte, la Jordanie, la Palestine, l'Arabie saoudite et les Emirats arabes unis, ces spécialistes dressent avec sensibilité, humour ou inquiétude un portrait exceptionnel de cette génération dont on parle beaucoup, mais qu'on écoute trop rarement. Ce livre donne ainsi la parole à des jeunes hommes et femmes qui, héritiers de traditions plurielles, animés par des idées nouvelles et travaillés par divers mouvements culturels, inventent l'avenir de sociétés en plein bouleversement
Socio Economic Effects of Consumers's Credit Risks in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
No full textJarrar,Mustafa:
Palmonari,Matteo:
Fellbaum,Christiane:تهدف هذه الدراسة الى تحليل الاثار الاقتصادية والاجتماعية و المخاطر المترتبة على الارتفاع في حجم القروض المصرفية الاستهلاكية خلال السنوات الماضية ن والى تحقيق مجموعة من الاهداف اهمها التعرف على حجم القروض الاستهلاكية التي تقدمها المصارف العاملة في الاراضي الفلسطينية المحتلة
كما تهدف الدراسة ايضا الى التعرف على نسبة التعثر في القروض والتعرف على جوانب المخاطر الاخرى التي تظهر نتيجة القروض التي تقدمها المصارف والتعرف على الدور الذي تقوم به سلطة النقد للتقليل من مخاطر التوسع في القروض التي تقدمها المصارف العاملة في الاراضي الفلسطينية المحتلة واقتراح سياسات محددة ممكن ان تتبعها سلطة النقد و المصارف لتعزيز الآثار الايجابية و التقليل من الآثار السلبية للقروض بما فيها القروض الاستهلاكي
