Search

The key role of pharmacists within the health system, particularly in optimising safe, responsible and effective use of medicines, underpins the demand for a highly skilled and competent workforce. Therefore, developing the capacity of pharmacists to attain and maintain essential competencies relevant to the population's health needs is required to ensure a high standard of patient care, thereby helping to improve patient and population health. In Saudi Arabia, little evidence exists regarding the assessment of national educational programmes' structure and outcomes. Moreover, no national competency framework exists for pharmacists in any sector or stage of practice. In the absence of such core quality elements to inform pharmacy education assessment and development, the extent to which pharmacy schools in Saudi Arabia prepare competent pharmacists to address societal needs from pharmacy services is unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the extent to which pharmacy education can prepare competent pharmacists to address the healthcare needs for pharmacy practice in Saudi Arabia. An exploratory sequential mixed methods research design was used to address the aim of this study in three phases: individual interviews and focus groups were employed with a purposively selected sample of pharmacy policy makers, pharmacists and the public to explore societal healthcare needs and the roles required of pharmacists to meet those needs; a national online survey of pharmacists and an online nominal group consensus method of pharmacy experts were used to identify competencies considered essential to develop a profession-wide national foundation level competency framework; and a case study in which curriculum mapping of two purposively selected Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) curricula was used to assess the extent to which the current pharmacy programme in Saudi Arabia meets the identified competencies of the developed national competency framework. Based on qualitative and quantitative analyses of societal healthcare needs, pharmacists' roles, core competencies and curricular contents within the local context of Saudi Arabia, findings showed that there is a mismatch between initial education and real practice needs and expectations. While the country's current needs from pharmacists are to optimise health system capacity and increase access to primary care services and medicines expertise in community pharmacies, the study indicated local education is product-oriented with a focus of curricular content and experiential training opportunities in most schools on preparing future pharmacists for hospital pharmacy practice. The study also identified several gaps between current initial education programmes and the competencies required to practise the expected roles, suggesting that current initial education might not prepare the students sufficiently to provide the full range of quality pharmaceutical services as per the country's pharmacy practice needs. The study provided a new understanding of graduates' readiness to practise as per the country's pharmacy practice needs, the quality of educational programmes and pharmacists' professional development opportunities in Saudi Arabia. Findings maybe used to inform the development of competency-based education and maximise graduates' capacity to deliver and develop pharmaceutical services effectively to best meet societal healthcare needs in Saudi Arabia.

Native Arabic speakers used idiomatic expressions such as idioms, formulas, and collocations, in their daily communications. In learning Arabic as a second language (L2), effective communication requires "the ability to understand and use idioms appropriately and accurately in a variety of sociocultural contexts, in a manner like that of native speakers, and with the least amount of mental effort" (Liontas, 2015, p. 441). Yet, promoting L2 idiomatic competence in the classroom and beyond remains a difficult task (Liontas, 2006; Tabatabaei, 2012). The utilization of e-books in the learning environment in L2 teaching in the English language has received much research attention. However, few studies, if any, have explored the impact of using an interactive e-book to learn Arabic idiomatic expressions. The purpose of this dissertation was three-fold: (1) to examine the effects of using an interactive e-book on promoting idiomatic competence, (2) to determine if an interactive e-book increases learners' motivational levels in terms of attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction, and (3) to explore learners' perspectives regarding the utilization of an interactive e-book to learn idiomatic expressions. More specifically, among a variety of idiomatic expressions, I only focused on Liontas' (1999) vivid phrasal (VP) idioms, such as [foreign characters omitted]) literally, "to hit the liver of the truth"; figuratively, "to identify the core of the issue") that evokes a powerful mental image. A total of 84 adult learners of the Arabic language in Saudi Arabia participated in a mixed-methods study. Two advanced language classes were assigned the task of learning VP idioms through an interactive e-book (experimental group) and traditional paper-based learning (control group). Ten target VP idioms were selected based on the reviewed literature and the Arabic idiomatic dictionary. At the beginning of the study, all participants completed a demographic information survey, and a pre-test of idiomatic competence. Following the completion of the learning, all participants completed an immediate post-test motivational survey. The findings of the pre-test did not show a statistically significant difference, highlighting that learners' prior idiomatic knowledge had no impact. Due to the violation of the normality assumption of the data set, a non-parametric analysis Mann-Whitney U test was employed. The findings of the post-test showed that there was statistical significance in favor of the experimental group, with a small effect size. In terms of motivation, there was no statistical significance between the groups in all motivational aspects, including attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction. Thematic analysis of the participants' interviews showed several issues based on their learning experience, including how the e-book enhanced their learning of idiomatic expressions, learner strategies, difficulties in using the e-book, the impact of authentic materials, and recommendations to improve e-book learning environments. The findings of the qualitative data indicated that an interactive e-book has a positive effect on learners' idiomatic competence and motivation. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

A complete view of health not only considers the presence or absence of disease, illness or disability, but also considers behavioural health. There are pharmacological interventions prescribed by specialists (e.g. doctors), that help the body resist a certain disease, such as inhalers for asthma sufferers. In a similar vein, there are behavioural interventions (non-pharmacological) that are aimed at influencing behaviour, with the goal to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle. However behavioural interventions are often ad hoc and not well described, in terms of goals, actions and appropriateness to specific situations, and not always adhering to the CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) statement about standard in reporting and publishing interventions of behaviour change1 . To address this issue, a collaborative effort among 400 researchers, from different disciplines, and 12 Countries has resulted in the publication of a compendium of Behaviour Change Techniques (BCTs) [168]. The compendium includes 93 interventions to change human behaviour, with clear definitions and examples, at times including mechanisms of action and modes of delivery [165]. This thesis builds on the same effort, and expands it in two ways, one conceptual and one computational. From the conceptual point of view, we concentrate on a specific issue around successful BCTs, that is giving explicit consideration to barriers that might prevent the success of the intervention. From the computational point of view, we create a formal ontology of the barrier model, which can be used to support health behaviour applications in general, and BCTs in particular. In order to give focus to the effort, we concentrate on barriers to physical activity for individuals affected by Type 2 diabetes (T2D). The work includes (i) identification of assumptions within the barriers domain knowledge and modelling of such barriers explicitly within the ontology; and (ii) extraction and communication of constructive insights such as advice (as suggestions for appropriate physical activity) to overcome barrier challenges. By following an established process of ontology development, this work constitutes also a walk-through case study in building an ontology from scratch, which expands on each phase of the process, including the evaluation stage.

The use of nanomaterials in solar energy conversion and photocatalytic degradation of environmental pollutants represents an opportunity to improve the performance, density, and ease of transportation in renewable resources. Among renewables resources, solar energy is considered as the largest exploitable resource, supplying the earth with energy in 1 hour equivalent to mankind's total energy consumption in an entire year. Collecting and storing sunlight in chemical bonds (solar fuel) using photoelectrochemical water splitting (PEC) is a promising, a clean and sustainable way for hydrogen generation. Moreover, the photocatalytic process has great potential and high efficiency for removal of organic pollutants from water under direct natural sunlight irradiation. The aim of this project is to design, fabricate, characterize and performance enhancement of novel semiconductor materials that could efficiently harvest and store solar energy by splitting water to produce hydrogen and to perform dye degradation as well. The lack of suitable p-type photocathode has been considered and the focus of this work was to design and develop the new stable visible light absorbing photocathode materials. In pursuit of the stable photocathode, in this work YFeO3, which is a cheap and abundant material, with promising properties, and so was chosen as the photocathode in the development of the PEC cell. YFeO3 thin films were produced by spray pyrolysis technique onto fluorine-doped tin oxide film on glass. Results showed that YFeO3 photoelectrode has achieved a photocurrent of 0.6 mA cm-2 at 0.5 V vs. RHE and maximum of 0.41 μmol/cm2 of hydrogen has obtained as well. Similarly, to look for suitable and cheap materials for environmental remediation, Bi2WO6 thin films were produced by spray pyrolysis and aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition techniques. Results showed that the nanostructure and texture of the films can be controlled by controlling the deposition parameters. Moreover, photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) and methylene blue (MB) dyes have been successfully achieved. Finally, α-Fe2O3 films were fabricated as counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells in order to compete for platinum counter electrode. These films were fabricated using aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition and spray pyrolysis techniques. The results showed that the performance of the samples prepared by aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition as a counter electrodes is higher than of the samples prepared by spray pyrolysis.

The aim of this study is to develop and validate a framework for large organisations in the Arab Gulf Region, especially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in order to improve employee engagement and thus improve business performance. This research is completed in three phases. First, a detailed literature review summarises what is known about employee engagement and national culture in the GCC region. Second, an industrial field study then asks experienced leaders in the region to comment on the key enablers and inhibitors of employee engagement to better understand the region-specific factors affecting employee engagement, and their relationship to local culture. The results of the industrial field study suggest a number of changes are required to customise the employee engagement literature beyond the extant literature to meet the needs of employees in the GCC region, including actions such as engaging leaders developing a personal relationship with their employees. These changes are brought together to create a revised framework for employee engagement in large organisations in the GCC. In the third phase of the research, these results are tested in two validation studies. The first is a survey with a large sample of employees in the region confirming that these revised enablers of employee engagement predict feelings of employee engagement, and perceptions of performance. The second is an industrial field experiment in which a treatment group reported feeling greater levels of engagement after changes were implemented by a company. This research finds support for a framework of employee engagement that is both consistent with existing literature confirming the importance of key enablers such as providing opportunities for employees to learn and grow, but also additions to the literature with more region-specific ideas such as accommodating Islamic practicalities. This research contributes to the literature on employee engagement in documenting differences in different regions, specifically in this case the GCC region. This is also the first study to link specific aspects of national culture (e.g., power distance) to employee engagement, as well as to specify the distinctions between the enablers, behaviours, and feelings of employee engagement.

The ability of umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (UC-MSCs) to immunomodulate offers therapeutic potential in liver injury but the inherent heterogeneity of unsorted MSC populations may explain varied/reduced function as well as posing regulatory challenges. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the therapeutic potential of purified CD362+ MSC infusion in murine models of acute liver injury. UC-MSCs were injected intravenously into mice injured by single dose of Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) & OVA-BIL mice. MSC used were either unsorted or sorted CD362+. The extent of liver damage was determined by liver histology, serum analysis, gene expression and FACS analysis 3 or 5 days after cell infusion. Homing and bio-distribution of stem cells was determined by whole mouse cryo-imaging of Q-dot labelled MSC following infusion of UC-MSC into injured mice. CD362+ MSC were as effective as unsorted MSC in ameliorating liver injury, with reductions in serum ALT seen in both models. In contrast heat-inactivated MSC had no effect on liver injury. MSC also led to a reduction in CD45+staining on liver sections in both models of liver injury corroborated by an accompanying reduction in hepatic CD45+ cells in (FACS analysis of liver digest). In addition, there was a significant reduction in hepatic CD19+ B cells in digested liver in CCl4 injury. CD362+ MSCs were found to have the ability to reduce the level of adhesion molecules (ICAM and VCAM) in Ova-Bil mice. Cryo-imaging of time-course in both animal models indicated that MSC had migrated to the lung within 1 hour and were then cleared rapidly, although there was a liverspecific increase in MSC 2-3 day in Ova-Bil mice. CD362+ human MSC exert potent anti-inflammatory activity in toxic and immune-mediated murine liver injury with demonstrable reductions in infiltrating inflammatory leucocytes and B cells.

Human papilloma virus (HPV) related invasive cervical cancer (ICC) is responsible for 270,000 deaths per annum. Some cases of ICC respond to radiotherapy whereas others do not. There is some evidence that the mutation status of the tumour suppressor p53 can combine with high-risk (HR) forms of HPV to influence treatment outcome. The E6 protein from HR-HPV types stimulates degradation of mutant and wild type forms of the p53 protein and the ectopic expression of HR-HPV E6 in mutant p53 expressing cells promotes the evolution of radiation resistant tumours. The p53 family member p73 can compensate for loss of p53 function by either inhibiting the cell cycle or triggering apoptosis in response to DNA damage and E6 also interacts with TAp73. Thus it is hypothesised that interaction of the E6 protein with TAp73 may compromise its ability to regulate genetic stability thereby promoting the evolution of therapy resistance. In order to investigate this, mutant p53 expressing human C33A cervical carcinoma cells transfected with E6 from either LR or HR HPV were used. Flow cytometric analysis of the cell cycle, before and after treatment with low-dose radiation, showed that expression of HR-E6 significantly enhanced the development of polyploidy (>4N). RT-PCR analysis of expression of the p73 transactivated target Bcl-2 Like 11 (or BIM) showed this was down-regulated in HR-E6 expressing cells prior to irradiation. These cells also displayed altered post-radiation kinetics of BIM expression. Since functional TAp73 is required to activate BIM and also regulate G2 checkpoint control, these results showed that the interaction of HR-E6 with p73 could contribute to enhanced genetic instability. Mammalian-two-hybrid (M2H) was carried out to define the interaction between HR-E6 and TAp73. The results showed a strong interaction between HR-E6 and the first 62 amino acids of TAp73 which contains the N-terminal transactivation domain. Attempts were made to block this interaction by delivering competitive 12AA synthetic peptides directly into cells which proved unsuccessful. Therefore, since expression of the N-terminal TAp73(62)AA fragment had shown strong binding to HR-E6 proteins, this was used to stably transfect C33A parent and C33A16-E6 cells. The effects of ectopic expression of this 62AA fragment on the cell cycle were then evaluated by flow cytometry which showed that this suppressed the development of polyploidy in HR-E6 expressing cells. These experiments support the hypothesis that interaction of HPV16 E6 with TAp73 compromises its function thus relieving G2 checkpoint control which enhances endoreduplication and enhanced genetic instability. In order to verify this, full human transcriptome microarrays were probed with mRNA extracted from C33A parental and C33A16-E6 which were then subjected to a systems biology network analysis. Novel, hitherto undefined, effects of the HR-E6 protein on upstream regulators and differentially regulated genes were identified. Notably, these findings confirmed that HPV16 E6 inactivates TAp73 and its transactivation target BIM which is consistent with the aforementioned hypothesis.

This study considers aspects of the morphology and syntax of the dialect of Faifa, an area roughly 120 km east of the city of Jayzan, the capital of the Jazan region of Saudi Arabia. This dialect is one of the most famous complex dialects, if not the most complex dialect, in Saudi Arabia. The dialect has a considerable number of salient features that distinguish it from other Saudi dialects particularly and from other Arabic dialects generally. The population of Faifa remained isolated from other communities for a long time until about 1990, which protected their dialect from the influence of neighbouring dialects. However, with the spread of schools and government services in the Faifa Mountains, and as a consequence of factors such as the influence of the media and increasing communication with other societies, the dialect has begun to erode. Thus, the contribution of this study has been to examine and record some of the morphological and syntactic features of this dialect before it disappears. In addition, this study makes this endangered dialect accessible to future researchers in the field of linguistics and in related fields such as sociolinguistics or diachronic linguistics.

Recent developments in learner corpora have highlighted the growing role they play in some linguistic and computational research areas such as language teaching and natural language processing. However, there is a lack of a well-designed Arabic learner corpus that can be used for studies in the aforementioned research areas. This thesis aims to introduce a detailed and original methodology for developing a new learner corpus. This methodology which represents the major contribution of the thesis includes a combination of resources, proposed standards and tools developed for the Arabic Learner Corpus project. The resources include the Arabic Learner Corpus, which is the largest learner corpus for Arabic based on systematic design criteria. The resources also include the Error Tagset of Arabic that was designed for annotating errors in Arabic covering 29 types of errors under five broad categories. The Guide on Design Criteria for Learner Corpus is an example of the proposed standards which was created based on a review of previous work. It focuses on 11 aspects of corpus design criteria. The tools include the Computer-aided Error Annotation Tool for Arabic that provides some functions facilitating error annotation such as the smart-selection function and the auto-tagging function. Additionally, the tools include the ALC Search Tool that is developed to enable searching the ALC and downloading the source files based on a number of determinants. The project was successfully able to recruit 992 people including language learners, data collectors, evaluators, annotators and collaborators from more than 30 educational institutions in Saudi Arabia and the UK. The data of the Arabic Learner Corpus was used in a number of projects for different purposes including error detection and correction, native language identification, Arabic analysers evaluation, applied linguistics studies and data-driven Arabic learning. The use of the ALC highlights the extent to which it is important to develop this project.

Dendrimers and star-polymers have attracted considerable attention among scientists and researchers since they were discovered in the 1980s. In chemistry, organometallic dendrimers and star-polymers have contributed to the development of several fields such as catalysis, chemical sensor's, and biomaterials. This project presents the design of new organoiron dendrimers and star-polymers capped with pyrene moieties. The presence of g6-chloroarene-e- cyclopentadienyl iron moieties in the structures of the primary materials can enhance nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions because of the strong electron-withdrawing ability of the cationic cyclopentadienyl iron complexes. The synthesis of three different compounds containing i76-chloroarene-n5- cyclopentadienyl iron moieties with first and second-generation dendrimers and star-polymers capped with pyrene moieties were illustrated and examined. In addition, the products of the different experiments were characterized by using various spectroscopic techniques such as ATR-FTIR (IR), 11-1-NMR, 13C-NMR. The thermal stability of these complexes presented unique properties when tested by TGA in the range of (280-500°C). Cyclic voltammetry was used to study the reduction of the iron centers in both dendrimers and star-polymers, which showed redox activity due to the presence of the iron centers. The fluorescence properties were studied after pyrene moieties were added to the all complexes periphery.