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Refugees have a significantly lower rate of higher education enrollment than the rest of the population, which can contribute to continued dependency on donors and can lower their chances of geographical and social mobility. This study sought to investigate the obstacles and facilitators which can support refugee enrollment and success throughout higher education, and to implement a process to encourage their university journey. Participants and data collected in Cycle 1 consisted of Syrian refugee participants who live in one particular refugee camp in Jordan and who wish to pursue higher education but are unable to do so. Action steps were designed, implemented, and evaluated in Cycle 2 to create a new system of support, both financial and non-financial, to boost the continued enrollment of refugees at university. This new model of corporate support aims to view refugees as potential future assets for companies. It consisted of initial guidance sessions, a university scholarship, and continued one-on-one mentorship sessions with members of the management team and/or subject-matter professionals to help refugees succeed in university and explore the connections between what they are learning and the future workplace. The process of evaluating the results of the Action Research study included a series of interviews with mentors and participants, as well as a participant survey to capture the impact of the action study and to assess whether this study can be replicated at a larger scale and in different camps. The study concluded that this system of support which goes beyond financial scholarships to include mentorship and guidance sessions can support the refugees' success in university and help prepare them for the job market after university. The implications for the sector as a whole, and donor organizations, specifically, include a rethink on how aid is provided to refugees for the purposes of higher education, and for a reevaluation of how corporates and organizations should consider refugees, not as money sinks, but as potential future assets, thereby investing more resources, financial and administrative to support refugee education. [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.]

Since economic growth and progress are so important to a country's economic development, governments always put them at the top of their list of priorities. The Libyan construction industry LCI, like its counterparts around the world, plays a critical role in economic growth and development. Despite the government's increasing focus on the sector, the LCI continues to struggle due to project failures and delays. Previous research has identified several elements that are creating delays in Libyan building projects; however, all previous studies have mostly focused on performance-based concerns. There are no studies identifying that national or organisational culture influences the delay of construction projects in Libya. The present study hypothesised that Libyan national culture (NC) and organisational culture (OC) in Libyan construction enterprises might have a substantial effect on project completion. To prove this hypothesis, the present study used a mixed-methods approach (quantitative and qualitative) that included a structured questionnaire and interviews. Participants in the research are workers of construction businesses in Misurata, Libya, since it is one of the most populous cities in Libya, with 40 construction enterprises working there. The data gathered from these participants is analysed using SPSS and NVIVO. The research involved 103 construction employees-80 men and 23 women. According to the descriptive study, most engineers in Libyan construction companies are university graduates, with some holding postgraduate degrees. They have been working for their company for an average of 5 years, with some having over 15 years of experience. These participants were questioned about their companies' national and organisational cultures. According to response analysis, the prevailing organisational culture in Libyan construction businesses is hierarchical, with extensive hierarchies that include the influence of national culture on uncertainty avoidance (UA), power distance (PD) and individualism (IND). The rigid hierarchical culture has been identified as a significant contributor to project delays because decision-making takes too long to accept through various hierarchical levels, whether it is at the initial levels of projects, i.e., project planning, or any sudden decision to cope with uncertain situations. Delays in decision-making led to delays in project completion. Furthermore, longer hierarchies with big power gaps between workers and management do not create a huge communication gap, so neither employees nor managers are motivated to offer feedback throughout the implementation phase. Because project managers and lower-level staff are not authorised to take any rapid action without the consent of senior management, issues that emerge on construction projects take too long to settle. Consequently, development projects in Libya are delayed. Individualism is also seen in the way Libyans run construction projects. Personal needs and interests are put ahead of business goals. This causes stress and anxiety among employees, affecting the project's overall performance. Moreover, the culture of uncertainty avoidance in Libyan construction companies stifles employee creativity and innovation. In today's dynamic markets, industries that accept, change, develop and innovate thrive while Libyan construction firms operate differently. In fact, management encourages employees to minimise uncertainties and risks by brainstorming and coming up with fresh solutions. The culture of uncertainty avoidance creates delays since employees are not allowed to take rapid action and must instead wait for upper management's judgement. These construction companies' national cultures also affect how they manage projects, which can cause projects to be late. According to the findings, Libyan national culture has a significant impact on organisational culture and project management, ultimately contributing to project delays. In order to reduce project delays and contribute to Libya's economic progress, the study advises fundamental cultural changes at both the national and organisational levels.

The aortic valve apparatus (AVA) is a complicated structure continuously moving throughout the cardiac cycle such that it may be regarded as a live organ. Different studies previously focused on analysing the dynamism or local deformations of the AVA; however, the effect of the axial movement of the AVA on blood flow or aortic valve loading remains uncharted. In this study we propose analysing the axial acceleration of the AVA and its effect on blood flow. After mathematically decomposing the deformations of healthy AVA's from CT image tracking, it was deduced that the dominant component is the axial movement towards and away from the left ventricle. Using the 1D water hammer approximation we hypothesised a theory tying the previously inexplicable dicrotic notch seen on the arterial pressure waveform to the AVA acceleration during valve closure. The next intermediate step was to use an idealised model replicating the anatomy of the AVA in order to study the effect of axial acceleration on blood flow combined with steady inflow conditions. A series of non-dimensional parameters describing the underlying physics were derived in order to enable an appropriate comparison with a patient specific anatomy. The final step was to analyse a stationary and an accelerating patient specific AVA using high fidelity Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) simulations. The results showed qualitative and quantitative differences between both cases especially in valvular dynamics and loading. Moreover, the FSI simulation results confirmed the presence of a sudden reactive force on the aortic valve in the accelerating AVA case at the time of peak acceleration during valve closure; where the same phenomenon was not present in the stationary AVA case. The calculated force of 0.6 N along with the aortic valve wetted area of 0.0013 m2 yield ≈ 3.5 mmHg which is in the same ball park as previously measured dicrotic notch pressure rises. As a result, we propose that the axial acceleration of the AVA may be a crucial parameter in diagnosing aortic or ventricular disease since it has a significant effect on aortic valve function. We also propose a future plan of investigation in order to strengthen our hypothesis and enable the use of the acceleration of the AVA as a non-invasive diagnostic parameter.

This dissertation proposes a new framework for the measurement of software product quality for hybrid systems. Hybrid system measurement is developed using a combination of Object Oriented Programming (OOP) and Aspect Oriented Programming (AOP) techniques. To make the required range of measurements for such hybrid systems, new metrics for AOP quality measurement will be proposed. These metrics will be collected from a range of open source projects using specific tools, and will be evaluated to prove their value. These metrics will then form part of a new software quality framework, used to evaluate the overall quality of the selected projects. This new framework is based upon the existing and widely adopted ISO 9126 quality model. The outcomes of this thesis will contribute to hybrid systems' quality measurement. The theoretical contribution of existing software quality frameworks will be evaluated, and existing OO and AO metrics will be discussed. The new metrics will then be identified, and an expanded quality framework will be presented. I will then conduct intensive statistical analyses to evaluate the proposals. The methodology of this thesis will be an experimental method to identify and evaluate AO metrics, combined with a statistical analysis to prove their efficacy. The major contribution of the work will be to help developers and designers to improve their hybrid application systems in several ways, including quality, maintainability, efficiency, and complexity.

Drilling is one of the important aspects in the oil and gas industry due to the high demand for energy worldwide. Drilling time is considered as the major part of the operations time where the penetration rate (ROP) remains as the main factor for reducing the time. Maximizing ROP to lower the drilling cost is the main aim of operators. However, high ROP if not controlled may impact on the well geometry in terms of wellbore instability, cavities, and hole diameter restrictions. Accordingly, more time is needed for the other operations that follow such as: pool out of hole (POOH), casing running, and cementing. Bit wear is considered as the essential issue that influences in direct way on the bit performance and reduce ROP. Predicting the abrasive bit wear is required to estimate the right time when to POOH to prevent any costly job to fish any junk out to the surface. The two-common types of bits are considered in the research, rock bits (roller cone bits) and Polycrystalline Diamond Compact bits (PDC). This study focuses more on PDC bits because about 60% of the total footage drilled in wells worldwide were drilled by PDC bits and this is expected to reach 80% in 2020. The contribution of this research is to help reducing the drilling cost by developing new tools not to estimating the time when to POOH to surface but also to measure the wear and enhance the accuracy of prediction the bit efficiency. The work is broken down into four main stages or models to achieve the objective: The first stage; estimating of the rock abrasiveness and calculate the dynamic dulling rate of the rock bit while drilling. The second stage; estimating the PDC abrasive cutters wear by driving a new model to determine the mechanical specific energy (MSE), torque, and depth of cut (DOC) as a function of effective blades (EB). The accuracy of the predicted wear achieves 88% compared to the actual dull grading as an average for bits used in five wells. The third stage; modifying the previous MSE tool to develop a more accurate approach; effective mechanical specific energy (EMSE), to predict the PDC bit efficiency in both the inner and outer cone to match the standard bit dulling. The fourth stage; predicting ROP while PDC drilling in hole by accounting three parts of the process: rock drillability, hole cleaning, and cutters wear. The results achieve an enhancement of about 40% as compared to the available previous models. Consequently, the developed models in this study provide a novelty on understanding in more details the bit rock interface process and gain an idea of the relationship between the drilling parameters to enhance the bit performance and avoid damaging the bit. This is basically about optimisation the controllable factors such as: weight on bit (WOB), rotary speed (RPM), and flow rate. The result is the reduction in time losses and the operations cost. To ensure reliability and consistency of the proposed models, they were validated with several vertical oil wells drilled in Libya. The results from the validation of the models are consistent with the real field data. The research concludes that the developed models are reliable and applicable tool for both: to assist decision-makers to know when to pull the bit out to surface, and also to estimate the bit performance and wear.

This cross-sectional study comes as a response to the global calls to improve the quality of education and teachers and the increasing international need for qualified teachers. Few researchers have examined this issue from the context of developing countries, including Saudi Arabia. The present study seeks to examine the factors motivating Saudi teachers when choosing teaching as a profession and their commitment to teaching. Using a concurrent mixed- method approach, 793 pre-service and in-service teachers responded to a questionnaire survey which was adapted from the theoretical model of factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT- Choice) along with a brief measurement of occupational commitment. Qualitative data were gathered from 16 in-service teachers through semi-structured interviews. For the quantitative analysis, correlation tests, independent samples t-tests, a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) of stepwise regression analyses were conducted using SPSS, while the interview data were analysed thematically. The findings indicated that altruistic (i.e., social utility values) and extrinsic motivations (i.e., job security/salary, prior positive teaching and learning experiences), followed by one's perceived teaching ability, played an important role in shaping the choice to become teachers. Moreover, the participants perceived teaching to be a highly challenging job of low social status. The interview data indicated that culturally relevant factors, such as religion and teaching as a preferable choice for women, were additional motives. A comparison of the motivations was made across the different factors and teacher sub-groups. Overall, female teachers were more satisfied and showed stronger motivations toward the profession, while in-service teachers, who expressed higher teaching abilities, valued social utility factors and job security more than pre-service teachers. Finally, intrinsic motivations, followed by social utility values and the ability to teach, were key factors contributing to occupational commitment among pre-service teachers. This study concludes with the implications of the findings and recommendations for future research.

The organisation is continually confronting challenges to remain and successful, which compels organisation to regularly re-evaluate their strategies, structures, policies, processes, operations and culture. Managing change effectively is however a main challenge in the change management domain because of massive human involvement. Thus, managers and change agents are eager to know how to encourage and effectively prepare employees for change situation. Engagement can be seen as one of the more popular concepts in various social sciences, including psychology, organisational behaviour, human resource management, and of course, public relations, and one of the effective strategies in encouraging and preparing employees for change. Numerous researchers have mentioned reasons for the importance of employee engagement in organisation, recognising the strong connection between engagement, employee performance, and business outcomes. Although organisation is competing to develop engagement strategies to reach the purpose of engagement, studies report that these efforts may not be working. Internal communication is a part of the organisational context in which employees are engaged or disengaged. Studies have consistently shown that various internal communication elements, such as innovative corporate communication initiatives, open channels of communication, constant feedback, and information sharing, are positively associated with work engagement. This empirical study proceeds with a systemic review of literature that led to the development of a conceptual model. The data were collected from a sample of employees by using survey questionnaires. Data were analyses using descriptive statistics, and exploratory factor analysis runs on the statistical package for social sciences and applied analysis to assess the model fit of the study and hypotheses testing. This study may contribute to the literature on employees‘ engagement, particularly for Saudi Arabia, and may assist the management, change management strategies and practitioners of human resources.

Despite excellent service history, concrete pavement faces accelerated deterioration due to water and chemical ingress through micro cracks and surface voids. Surface applied protective materials, especially silane, have been widely used to hinder the deterioration process of concrete structures. However, concrete pavements, in particular, are not protected at the moment due to the concerns over their frictional properties. The improper performance of silane when applied to wet surfaces and its inconvenient application method, especially if applied to concrete roadways and bridges, drove researchers to look for some new alternative materials. Accordingly, the internal incorporation of protective materials into fresh concrete mixtures and the application of some new alternative surface applied materials on concrete started to emerge. For the materials to be effectively benefited as protective treatments, some significant issues and impediments must be addressed by research: (I) The unsatisfactory mechanical properties emphasised in the literature as the main drawback of the internal integration method; (II) the affinity of the surface applied materials to moisture at the time of application, which is reflected on the rejection rate of concrete to the applied materials and, consequently, their efficacy in protecting concrete. In this research, the internal integration of crystalline material into fresh concrete and the application of new materials on the surface of matured concrete, namely; liquid crystalline material, fluoropolymer, silicate resin were used and compared with traditional silane. Standard and non-standard methodologies were utilised in this research to investigate the performance of the protective materials and to build an indepth understanding of their mechanism of interaction with concrete pavement. Results demonstrated the enhancement of concrete's strength by more than 42% after optimising the added dosage of the integrated crystalline material and the water-to-cement ratio (w/c) of the concrete mix. Also, water absorption and chloride diffusion have been reduced by more than 65% and 90% respectively after the internal integration process. Applying the newly-developed surface applied materials to matured concrete with high moisture contents resulted in enhanced performance compared to silane when tested for water absorption and chloride penetration. Two standard and non-standard prolonged freeze-thaw investigations of all the materials, either internally integrated or surface applied, signified the adequate long-term performance of the treatments. Overall, this research lays the foundations for using the proposed treatments in the construction industry.

This thesis provides a study for the rotor position estimation in SM-PMSMs, particularly at zero and low speeds. The method for zero rotor speed is based on injection of three high frequency voltage pulses in the motor stator windings. Then, the voltage responses at the motor terminals are exploited to extract the rotor position. Two approaches, modelling and practical implementations, are presented. The obtained results have showed a verification of a high-resolution position estimation (a position estimation of 1 degree angle), a simplicity and cost effective implementation and a no need for current sensors is required to achieve the estimation process. It should be noticed that the implementation of rotor position estimation at zero speed is only attended when the rotor is at standstill or very low speed. Therefore, the motor driver is not expected to be active at this condition. Thereby, the zero speed estimation does not provide a robust torque control. In future, this should be taking into consideration to overcome this drawback and to make the estimator more reliable. At low speed running, the primary goal is to start spinning the under test motors, and then the rotor position estimation is achieved. The motor spinning is based on adopting a virtual injected signal to generate the voltage components, Vα and Vβ, of the space vector pulse width modulation technique. Then, generating the eight space vectors is conducted through storing the standard patterns of the six space vector sectors in a memory structure together with the timing sequences of each sector. The presented strategy of motor running includes a proposed motor speed control scheme, which is based on controlling the frequency of the power signal, at the inverter output, through controlling the timing period of execution the power delivery program. The thesis presents a proposed method to achieve the estimation goal depends on tracking the magnetic saliency on one motor line voltage. Thereby, the rotor position estimation The introduced proposed method, for rotor position estimation at zero speed, verifies the following contributions: Ø Presents a simple and cost effective zero speed rotor position estimator for the motor under test. Ø The aimed resolution in this thesis is an angle 1 degree. IV Ø Adopting solely the measuring of motor terminal voltages. Ø Eliminating the detection of the rotor magnet polarity as a necessary technique for completing the position estimation. At low speed running, the following contributions are verified: Ø Rather than a real frequency signal, a virtual injected signal is adopted to generate the voltage components, Vα and Vβ of the space vector pulse width modulation technique. Ø The proposed method for generating the eight space vectors is based on storing the standard patterns of the six sectors in a memory structure together with the timing sequence. Ø The strategy of motor speed control is based on controlling the period of execution the power delivery program. Ø The strategy of low speed rotor position employs one motor line voltage from which the low speed estimation is achieved.

This thesis examines the long-run determinants of FDI in oil-exporting countries, and the causal relationship between FDI and economic growth in that group of countries. It focuses on the “traditional” determinants of FDI that have been examined within the literature as well as on a number of other determinants which specifically relate to oil-exporting countries, with a special focus given to political and institutional risk determinants. The thesis relies on two theories as a theoretical background; the Eclectic Paradigm and the Rentier State theory. It contributes to the existing literature of the determinants of FDI. That is to say, it is the first to investigate the long-run determinants of FDI in oil-exporting countries. It also provides a further test for the Eclectic Paradigm particularly by analysing the locational advantages (L) of that theory, taking into the account the long-run effect of these advantages upon FDI in host countries. Finally, it contributes to the literature on economic growth by empirically testing the relationship between FDI and economic growth; considering the impact of FDI on economic growth and vice versa. The data sample in the thesis comprises 44 oil-exporting countries over 30 years from 1984-2012. The thesis reports a number of findings regarding the determinants of FDI. It firstly finds that “openness to trade” and “composite risk” are the most important variables (amongst the overall determinants) for FDI inflows in oil-exporting countries in the long-run, while “law and order” is the most important variable amongst the institutional and political determinants. It also concludes that FDI does not contribute to economic growth in oil-exporting countries; the only contribution is observed within non-rentier and non-Islamic oil-exporting countries.

The Stock Market is a significant sector of a country’s economy and has a crucial role in the growth of commerce and industry. Hence, discovering efficient ways to analyse and visualise stock market data is considered a significant issue in modern finance. The use of data mining techniques to predict stock market movements has been extensively studied using historical market prices but such approaches are constrained to make assessments within the scope of existing information, and thus they are not able to model any random behaviour of the stock market or identify the causes behind events. One area of limited success in stock market prediction comes from textual data, which is a rich source of information. Analysing textual data related to the Stock Market may provide better understanding of random behaviours of the market. Text Mining combined with the Random Forest algorithm offers a novel approach to the study of critical indicators, which contribute to the prediction of stock market abnormal movements. In this thesis, a Stock Market Random Forest-Text Mining system (SMRF-TM) is developed and is used to mine the critical indicators related to the 2009 Dubai stock market debt standstill. Random forest and expectation maximisation are applied to classify the extracted features into a set of meaningful and semantic classes, thus extending current approaches from three to eight classes: critical down, down, neutral, up, critical up, economic, social and political. The study demonstrates that Random Forest has outperformed other classifiers and has achieved the best accuracy in classifying the bigram features extracted from the corpus.

Social revolutions are rare but momentous occurrences in modern world history. The occurrence of social revolutions in any society acts as a triggering force creating radical cultural, political and economic transformations as well as initiating new paradigm of power, practices and systems within this society (Elkersh, 2012; Ritchi, 2012; and Holbech, 2006) Egypt experienced a radical paradigm shift triggered by, the 25th of January revolution that completely altered the organization of the state, class structures, and prominent beliefs of the Egyptian society. After the rapid overthrow of the Mubarak regime, intensive waves of post-revolution protests have soon extended to include mainly all, state agencies and most of public and private sector's organizations (Howidi, 2012; Maqbol, 2013). Although, there are a large number of post revolution studies that discussed this phenomenon from social, economic and political perspective, none of them investigate the impact of this phenomenon on business organizations. This study introduces a new theory to explain the transformations that are expected to emerge in Egyptian organizations in the context of the turbulent social and political events of the 25th January Revolution 2011. This research adopted the qualitative approach of grounded theory to collect and analyze data in order to create a theory through inductive analysis of the data. Data was collected from 22 semi structured interviews; participant observations and documentary evidence were used to enhance the rigor of the study. A coding paradigm was constructed presenting the theoretical framework of the study. Overall, the results of this study demonstrate that causes, features and consequences of the drastic transformations that emerged in Egyptian organizations in the aftermath of the 25th January 2011 revolution, display high degree of similarity with causes, features and consequences of the general socio-political changes triggered by revolutions. Evidence from data analysis demonstrates that power in Egyptian organizations was forced downward to the bottom line employees. Protesting employees were able to initiate new patterns of power and introduce new work practices aligned with their needs and demands. The findings also revealed ten underlying causes that triggered employees anger and drove them to engage in violent protests in the work place, causing destructive consequences to both Egyptian organizations and to the Egyptian economy. Finally, the results of this study demonstrate that managers and employees were not able to manage effective changes in their organizations and to utilize positive outcomes from these changes.

This work attempts to explain the relationship between innovation expenditure, innovation outputs, and firm productivity. It investigates the key factors that drive these relationships using unbalanced German manufacturing panel data at firm level captured by the Mannheim Innovation Panel (MIP) between 2003 and 2013. A structural equation model is employed to test the data consisting of three stages proposed by the Crepon, Duguet, and Mairesse econometric model (CDM) framework. The first stage is a Heckman model to control for selection bias and to explain the firm’s decision if participating in innovation activities or not, and the level of expenditure on innovation in relation to its previous labour productivity. The second stage is the knowledge production function in which innovation expenditure generates economically valuable knowledge in the form of different types of innovation. The third stage is the production function, which describes the relationship between generating innovation and labour productivity. This work focuses on testing the CDM and the expansions on process innovation and organisational innovation in the production function using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) approach. The results imply that the firm’s decision to involve itself in innovation activities is positively associated with its previous labour productivity. However, for those firms which participate in innovation activities, the previous labour productivity affects the level of expenditure on innovation negatively. The estimation results of the knowledge production function suggest that product innovation in the form of new to the firm of clearly improved products rises with innovation expenditure. The estimation results of the production function promote the role of presenting market novelties, process innovation targeted at the reduction of average costs, and organisational innovation as sources for labour productivity. A set of determinants that might affect innovation and productivity were investigated. The empirical results suggest that market novelties are driven by qualified personnel, however, this study was unable to find drivers for process and organisational innovations.

Obesity is now recognized as an inflammatory disease, in which white adipose tissue (WAT) is an active site and major contributor to this manifestation. The work in this thesis was directed towards the notion of adipose tissue inflammation in obesity and examined whether low oxygen tension or “hypoxia” may underpin this phenomenon. All experiments in this thesis looked at aspects related to adipose tissue biology, function, regulation and inflammation from the molecular level to the cellular and/or physiological level; with either human adipose biopsies or primary culture of cells isolated from fresh adipose biopsies of human or rat origin. These experiments included; A human study investigating the potential beneficial effects of naturally occurring citrus flavonoids on insulin sensitivity and inflammatory phenotype of subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) in overweight and/or obese women (BMI 27-35), who had mild features of insulin resistance, but were otherwise healthy. This involved comprehensive gene expression profiling of selected genes of interest related to adipose tissue function, inflammation and insulin sensitivity using TaqMan low density array technology. It was found that although SAT was associated with a noticeable expression of inflammatory markers, frequent consumption of orange juice (250 ml/day) rich in flavonoid compounds (686.85 mg/L hesperidin and 55.93 mg/L narirutin) was not associated with any significant alterations in these transcripts. In addition, supplementation of the diet with an extra 22.5g of sugars derived from the orange juice did not have any detrimental effects in serum uric acids, plasma lipid, insulin sensitivity and inflammatory markers.

Endovascular image-guided surgery (EIGS) using C-arm fluoroscopy is being per- formed for more and more complex procedures with longer imaging times. An example of such complex procedures is fenestrated endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR), which involves delivering bespoke stent-grafts through vasculature into the aneurismal area using low dose images. However, X-ray is much better at visualizing interventional devices and dense structures compared to vasculature. To enhance vascular visualisation, iodinated contrast medium (ICM) is injected and a significantly higher X-ray dose than standard low dose images is employed to produce a digital subtraction angiography (DSA) image. ICM usage is essential but nephrotoxic and can cause renal failure. DSA is also often a major contributor to the overall patient radiation dose. Furthermore, a DSA image is only valid for the current interventional view and not the new view once the C-arm is moved. The required high accuracy, the lengthy imaging time, and the large volumes of ICM used (with the associated radiation dose and high risks of renal failure) during fenestrated EVAR, have motivated this thesis to look into novel methods to enhance vasculature, and reduce ICM usage during complex EIGS procedures, while maintaining the clinical work-flow. My first novel method proposes using an established two-dimensional (2D)- three-dimensional (3D) rigid registration system to facilitate improved interven- tional DTS (iDTS) reconstruction, using standard hardware, and with no ICM injection. This is achieved by a small angle C-arm sweep (e.g. 40) to acquire intraoperative fluoroscopy images, which are then registered to the preoperative computed tomography (CT) volume. The proposed method automatically recon- structs patient-anatomy-specific images and removes clutter resulting from bony anatomy. Experiments were carried out using one phantom and 4 clinical datasets. Phantom results showed a 3419% signal difference to noise ratio (SDNR) improvement compared to standard fluoroscopy images. Patient results showed that the method enabled visualization of clinically relevant features: the outline of the aorta and some aortic calcifications, without the injection of any ICM, and with much reduced radiation dose compared to DSA imaging. The second method is an extension to the first method to enable much smaller vascular structures, such as the renal ostia, to be enhanced. This is achieved by injecting a much smaller ICM volume than is usually used for standard DSA imaging (e.g. 10-30%) during the C-arm sweep. Experiments were carried out using CT-based synthetic fluoroscopy images, to which simulated contrast was added in different amounts before deboned iDTS (de-iDTS) reconstruction. Numerical results showed that the reconstructed de-iDTS images with simulated contrast had better SDNR values compared to the synthetic DSA image with motion and noise artefacts. Reconstructed de-iDTS images showed that the renal ostia can be clearly seen after adding motion and noise when using 30% simulated ICM. The third novel method proposes using the mentioned 2D-3D registration system to facilitate remapping a DSA image from one view to another, after the C-arm is moved. This is achieved by registering the two image views to the preoperative CT volume, which allows repeated ICM-free DSA imaging. Experiments were carried out using 9 clinical datasets. Numerical results showed an overall averaged remapping accuracy error of 2.73 mm, with 7 patients scoring averaged errors 3 mm. In addition, the overall averaged error was found to increase by 163% when using the 2D-3D overlay method, which was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.01). In summary, I have developed novel imaging methods for vascular enhancement during interventional fluoroscopy using standard hardware. My novel methods have shown: 1) the potential to provide additional intraoperative information, which cannot be provided by the preoperative CT volume alone, such as the deformed aorta position with respect to interventional devices, and 2) the potential to enable a reduction in overall ICM usage, and radiation dose, while maintaining the clinical work flow. I propose that these methods could find a role alongside DSA imaging, replacing DSA imaging where appropriate, while using DSA for critical points in the procedure. This is particularly beneficial for patients with renal insufficiency and/or patients at high risk of radiation adverse response. Because my novel method of iDTS can be directly employed on any standard fluoroscopy system, in addition to vascular enhancement during EIGS, the method could be potentially used to enhance structures in other image-guided surgery (IGS) applications.

Many management studies report poor implementation of organisational strategy into practice (Yukl and Lepsinger, 2007; Li et al., 2008) and the absence within the literature of the question of how to translate strategy into effective practice provides the encouragement for this study. There are suggestions that by adopting a project management approach, organisations can better implement their overall strategies, meaning that what they do is properly and totally aligned with their goals (Pellegrinelli and Bowman, 1994). However, recent studies have concluded that project management makes little contribution to the achievement of organisational objectives, and possibly causes failure in this respect (Young and Grant, 2014). That said, Young and Grant (2014) have not provided any detailed information on the reason for such failure. At the same time, some management studies have revealed a number of challenges that confront organisations when approaching strategy implementation. Given these observations, this study aims to explore how organisations in Saudi Arabia are practising project management. It does so by adopting a qualitative method, involving thirty (30) face-to-face semi-structured and unstructured interviews undertaken in two phases with five organisations from the banking, property development, and higher education sectors. Two exploratory case studies (IT and Construction) were used to investigate the translation challenges in respect of strategy and project management implementation. From these, the study has identified a number of challenges confronting the participating organisations, and shows these challenges to be inter-related. Furthermore, it arrives at an understanding of why these challenges arise by investigating how the practice has been translated in these organisations. The tools and materials which resulted as objects from the translation are used to establish common knowledge, but are insufficient to create a clear view of the strategy within the participating organisations. Three main challengers related directly to the translation of project management practice emerged, namely: change, individual influences, and the role of the objects. The study makes several recommendations to improve the translation concept so that strategy implementation and overall project management practice can be enhanced. Additionally, it makes recommendations for further research to continue the efforts in this field of enquiry.

This thesis is an attempt to understand few aspects of the initial public offerings (IPO) market using the data from the London Stock Exchange (LSE) for both the Main Market (MM) and the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) segments. I examined the cost of raising money for the IPOs. I found that IPO spread is in the range of 4% - 6.43% and a median of 5%, which contrasts with previous US studies that report a spread of 7%. More interestingly, there is no clustering of fees at any level in the LSE. Economies of scale explain the spread charged in the AIM better than the MM, implying the spread decreases when the proceed increases. As the final product of the IPO preparation stage is the IPO prospectus, I conducted a textual analysis to measure the tones’ relationship with IPO short-run and long-run dynamics. I used a novel methodology of analysis the textual tone from the IPO prospectus utilising Loughrun and McDonald (2011) modified word list. I found that IPO tone is related to underpricing, spread and lockup length. However, I did not find any relationship with the volatility or idiosyncratic risk. That may be due to the fact that these are not useful measures of ex-ante uncertainty. I also examined some of the long-run anomalies in the IPO literature. The tone measures show a significant relationship with the survival of the firms and time till dead. I showed that the information disclosed at the time of IPO is still valid for predicting the survival of IPO firms. However, I do not find much correlation with the IPO tone measures and lockup expiration returns and long-run IPO performance. That might be a result of methodological controversies of measuring the long-run performance of the IPO. JEL Code: G14, G15, G24, G30, G32.

Human T cells expressing CD56 are capable of tumour cell lysis following activation with interleukin-2 but their role in viral immunity has been less well studied. The work described in this thesis aimed to investigate CD56+ T-cells in relation to cytomegalovirus infection in healthy subjects and kidney transplant patients (KTPs). Proportions of CD56+ T cells were found to be highly significantly increased in healthy cytomegalovirus-seropositive (CMV+) compared to cytomegalovirus-seronegative (CMV-) subjects (8.38% ± 0.33 versus 3.29%± 0.33; P < 0.0001). In donor CMV-/recipient CMV- (D-/R-)- KTPs levels of CD56+ T cells were 1.9% ±0.35 versus 5.42% ±1.01 in D+/R- patients and 5.11% ±0.69 in R+ patients (P 0.0247 and < 0.0001 respectively). CD56+ T cells in both healthy CMV+ subjects and KTPs expressed markers of effector memory-RA T-cells (TEMRA) while in healthy CMV- subjects and D-/R- KTPs the phenotype was predominantly that of naïve T-cells. Other surface markers, CD8, CD4, CD58, CD57, CD94 and NKG2C were expressed by a significantly higher proportion of CD56+ T-cells in healthy CMV+ than CMV- subjects. Functional studies showed levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines IFN-γ and TNF-α, as well as granzyme B and CD107a were significantly higher in CD56+ T-cells from CMV+ than CMV- subjects following stimulation with CMV antigens. This also resulted in higher levels of proliferation in CD56+ T-cells from CMV+ than CMV- subjects. Using class I HLA pentamers, it was found that CD56+ T-cells from CMV+ subjects contained similar proportions of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells to CD56- T cells in healthy donors of several different HLA types. A comprehensive gene expression profile by microarrays of CMV-stimulated sorted CD56+ T-cells was conducted which showed that expression of 106 genes involved in innate and adaptive immune responses was significantly changed, almost all being increased. Some of these changes were validated via RT-PCR and flow cytometry, the latter indicating higher ISG-15 protein expression in response to CMV stimulation in CMV+ than CMV- subjects. Overall, these differences may reflect the expansion and enhanced functional activity of CMV-specific CD56+ memory T cells. In view of the link between CD56 expression and T-cell cytotoxic function, this strongly implicates CD56+ T cells as being an important component of the cytotoxic T-cell response to CMV.

The purpose of this study was to investigate educator perceptions regarding the externalizing and internalizing behaviors of special education and general education students. The population for this study was three selected full inclusion elementary schools in Middle Tennessee. The research technique used in this quantitative study was causal comparative. These causal-comparative tests were performed using an inferential parametric independent t-test, as well as a non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-test to show confidence in whether the t-test was accurate. The findings from this study were that teacher perception scores showed that special education students have more internalizing and externalizing behaviors than general education students. [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.]

Edge loading in hip replacement bearings may occur due to rotational and translational mal-positioning. Rotational mal-positioning is easier to detect clinically which include steep inclination angle and excessive version/anteversion angles. Translational mal-positioning encompasses micro-separation of the centres of rotations of the head and the cup and could occur due to several clinical reasons, such as head offset deficiency, medialised cup, stem subsidence, impingement, subluxation and laxity of the joint/ soft tissue. Microseparation conditions were validated on the Physiological Anatomical Leeds Mark II Hip Joint Simulator against retrievals and shown to replicate stripe wear, and wear debris seen in vivo. The present thesis is focused on understanding the wear mechanisms of different sized ceramicon- ceramic and metal-on-metal bearings under the different edge loading conditions and determining the contributions of rotational and translational mal-positioning to the increase in wear. The wear of ceramic-on-ceramic bearings did not increase due to rotational mal-positioning, however stripe wear and increase in wear rates occurred under translational mal-positioning conditions. On the other hand, the wear of metal-on-metal bearings was influenced by both rotational and translational mal-positioning with the latter having the more severe effect. There was clinically no difference in the wear of the 36mm bearings when compared to the 28mm bearings under translational mal-positioning conditions. However, with the larger bearings, edge loading due to rotational mal-positioning occurred at a steeper cup inclination angle. Edge loading caused severe wear features and roughening of the surface of metal-on-metal bearings with indications of increased corrosion rates. The new validated geometric measurement and analysis technique have helped determine the volumetric wear of ceramic and metal components and show three-dimensional representations of the wear areas, which could be applied for determining wear volumes and understanding wear features on retrieved explants. This thesis has emphasised the need for a more accurate surgical positioning and shown the necessity for testing hip replacement bearings under a wider range of clinical conditions that go beyond the current ISO standards. This should also include conditions which generate rotational and translational mal-positioning in vivo.

Water is essential for life. In the Arabian Peninsula (AP), rainfall is irregular, infrequent and low. Climate studies show that the AP receives between less than SOmm per year and more than 2S0mm per year depending upon location. Therefore rainfall monitoring and modelling are very important in optimising the use of this scarce resource. Monitoring rainfall using satellite observations is an alternative method which can solve the problem of the inadequate rainfall monitoring by ground-based methods (raingauge and radar). In this project, rainfall variability over the study area was shown using raingauges observations. The Tropical Applications of Meteorology using SATellite (TAMSAT) approach has been tried to estimate rainfall in the Arabian Peninsula. It depends on the use of cold cloud duration based only on thermal infra- red imagery. Then, the rainfall estimates were utilized to evaluate the rainfall ERA- Interim reanalysis dataset over the study area, and the tele-connection between the rainfall variability over the southwest mountainous region of the AP and the southwesterly monsoon was derived using the ERA-Interim data. The results show that the AP has extreme temporal/spatial variation of rainfall. Most of the' study area receives rainfall between October and May while rainfall occurs in the southwest region (SWAP) throughout the year by getting two rainy seasons (winter and summer). It was found that the TAMSAT approach performs well over the SWAP during summer which led to conducting an evaluation of rainfall ERA-Interim date only over this region. The evaluation has shown that the rainfall reanalysis data captures the summer intra/inter-annual rainfall pattern while its rainfall values are overestimated specifically for September. The analysis of the connection between rainfall variability over the SWAP and the southwesterly monsoon gave indication of the monsoon influences. The main finding is the relationship between weak (break)/strong (active) monsoon and the increase/decrease of rainfall over the study area in terms of providing perceptible water which enhances the creation of rainy clouds.

E-Learning is gaining increased importance in government agendas and among other stakeholders such as academics, students and technology Providers. This study examines the factors contributing to attitudes towards E-Learning in higher education among stakeholders in Jordan. The research developed a TAM-EL model for predicting the intention to adopt E-Learning based on the constructs of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). TAM-EL proposes that Perception of usefulness of technology, Perception of ease of use of the technology, Patronised (degree support for the technology), and Practised (previous experience with the technology) influence attitude towards adoption of E-Learning. The main research question of the study was: To what extent does the proposed model, in particular the role of the components Perception, Patronised, and Practised, play in the adoption of E-Learning? The TAM-EL model was tested using data collected from a large sample of participants representing E-Learning Users and Providers from universities in Jordan. The partial least square method was used to test the model for the study and regression and multiple regression analysis were used to test the hypotheses of the study. The findings of the study validated the TAM-EL model for technology adoption among Users and Providers of E-Learning in Jordan. Moreover, attitude of Providers towards E-Learning was found to be a very strong predictor of the adoption of E-Learning by the institution, accounting for approximately three-quarters of the variance in prediction of E-Learning. In addition, the degree of support for Providers as measured by the Patronised variable accounted for approximately two-thirds of the variance in Prediction of E-Learning, suggesting that this variable is a significant factor contributing to Attitude and to Prediction. Additionally, the findings and the analysis indicate that Users also have an important role as stakeholders in the adoption of E-Learning in Jordan. While the variable of Attitude contributes to approximately 57% of the variance in the Prediction of E-Learning, the variable of Patronised contributes only approximately 28% of the variance in the Prediction of E-Learning. Moreover, the findings show a marked difference between Users' and Providers' Attitudes towards E-learning and therefore an obvious recommendation is the need to engage Users in a more determined manner.

This thesis investigates the relationships between financial, monetary, and economic variables in open and closed-economy systems using data from the G7. A number of linear and nonlinear models are used in an attempt to better understand variable dynamics and assess the capabilities of the different models. Linear and nonlinear cointegration and specification tests are carried out. Also, dynamic innovation analysis is developed for the different systems. Main findings suggest that financial and economic relations are largely country specific. Strong evidence of increasing European integration effects with time is found. Furthermore, equity spillover effects are reported between G4 markets. Nonlinear cointegration and regime dependent dynamics are identified in all systems. Threshold and Markov based vector error correction models provide a more complete picture of variable dynamics and adjustment mechanisms. Similarly, regime dependent dynamic innovation analysis is found key for understanding the evolutions of the various interrelationships. Finally, it is argued that capitalising on the strengths of the different linear and nonlinear models contributes to a better and more complete understanding of the studied dynamics.

The objective of this thesis is to investigate Total Quality Management (TQM) as a means of making the Saudi construction industry more efficient. The thesis also examines the effect of TQM on industry in general. Although TQM is a management concept that has been implemented in many industries effectively and with encouraging results, adopting TQM in the construction industry is more challenging due to its unique characteristics. The research has examined the compliance of the Saudi contractors and design offices with the principles of TQM qualitatively through personal interviews, and quantitatively through a mailing questionnaire. The objective of this part of the thesis is to determine the levels of industry compliance with the principles of TQM, and to detect the potential obstacles to compliance. In addition, this thesis has examined the effectiveness of TQM implementation in the Saudi construction industry. A case study of TQM implementation in one of the largest project owners (client) in Saudi Arabia has been reported and analysed. In addition, the findings of interviews with contracting companies, to determine the effectiveness of TQM as a solution to the problems of the Saudi construction industry, have been reported and discussed. Furthermore, practical TQM implementation experience in a small construction firm has been reported to augment the findings of other sources, namely the personal interviews and the questionnaire. The interviews with the contractors identified the major problems of the Saudi construction industry, which have been reported in this research. These problems have been further investigated in order to determine their significance through the mailing of a questionnaire. The results of the questionnaire have been reported and analysed in this study. The thesis has discussed those problems that have been identified statistically as significant (major) problems, and proposed solutions to them.

Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) is a multidisciplinary and comprehensive outpatient secondary prevention program. Its substantial secondary prevention benefits grant it a strong recommendation for multiple indications (Balady et al., 2011; Smith et al., 2011; Piepoli et al., 2016). Well-conducted clinical trials and meta-analyses have demonstrated that CR participation is associated with a 13% reduction in all-cause mortality, 26% reduction in cardiovascular mortality, and a 31% reduction in re-hospitalizations (Anderson et al., 2016). Currently, CR is covered by Medicare for the following seven indications: Within 12 months of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), post coronary artery bypass surgery, current stable angina that is resistant to conventional therapy, post heart valve surgery, post percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), symptomatic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (EF %) and post-heart transplantation. Although the concept of cardiac rehabilitation dates from the 1950s, there remain many gaps in our knowledge (Levine et al. 1952). Most current papers address the CR benefits, for example, its role in improving the total mortality, CV death, hospitalization, or specific medical conditions like diabetes or obesity. There is a scanty amount of paper that addresses the CR in improving overall health. Moreover, underutilization is a significant challenge that has limited the CR benefits for decades (Ades et al., 2017). Most current research in this domain focuses on referral rate, participation rate, and adherence with limited reporting on completion rate. In this dissertation, we report our scientific investigations: first, predictors for cardiac rehabilitation completion; second, changes in the Life Simple 7 score among CR completers.

This dissertation examines the emergence of the on-demand economy and its significance for workers, taking Uber Technologies as the primary empirical case. I ask three questions involving the social processes underlying the (1) emergence of Uber, (2) how Uber drivers evaluate their work experiences, and (3) how committed drivers re-organize their lives around on-demand work. I integrate concepts from literatures on emergence, organizations, and culture within a “pragmatist” framework, and collect and analyze data from mainly news accounts of Uber’s interactions (2009-2017) as well as interviews (2015-2017) I conducted with 62 drivers in the Greater Boston area (Massachusetts). I make the following findings. First, Uber’s emergence centered on two inter-related processes: (1) Uber’s ecology was poised to the emergence of the on-demand organizational model given labor-market developments, political vulnerabilities, and technological advancements; and (2) Uber’s mode of action (e.g. legal claim-making, mobilizing support) allowed it to rapidly gain market share and legitimacy. These findings provide new ways of explaining and predicting the kinds of innovations that emerge in different social-ecologies. Second, behavioral differences between drivers’ work-evaluations depended on cultural configurations, (e.g. personal-norms), problem-situations (e.g. income shocks), and knowledge-activation mechanisms. For example, drivers with U.S.-based college degrees tended to feel “out of place” with Uber, partly due to personal career-norms acquired through formal-education. Yet, college-educated immigrant drivers’ personal-career norms were attenuated by various factors (e.g. degree-inequivalency, networks), resulting in greater commitment to Uber. Other findings involved the effects of negative prior labor market experiences and acutely-experienced problem-situations. Key implications include new ways of understanding worker behavior (e.g. job-switching). Third, the structural properties of on-demand work generate distinct modes of creative action among drivers, described as “projective” and “responsive” creativity. Regarding projective creativity, many drivers experienced, for the first time, a strong sense of financial self-efficacy and “freedom” that impelled them to concrete steps toward personal projects (e.g. entrepreneurship, familial problem-solving). Regarding responsive creativity, Uber’s work-structure (e.g. pricing) triggered various behavioral changes (e.g. reduced weekend partying) in workers. These findings improve our understanding of human “agency” and social-selection, and help us rethink the relationship between changing work-relations, social inequality, and human freedom., Sociology, On-Demand Economy; Organizational Strategy; Emergence; Culture; Habits; Creativity; Pragmatism

Fundamental insights into the interplay of chemical potential, microstructure, thermomechanical conditions, and composition gradients enable new approaches for controlling tool-material interactions and resulting tool-wear in machining processes. The diamond turning process, which involves material removal at micrometer length-scales will be shown to involve the formation of an inseparably connected known as built-up edge (BUE). Here, tribochemical interactions occur between single-crystal diamond and the deformed chip to first generate inter-diffusion and contact. This initiates rapid degradation of the cutting edge when the built-up edge fractures. These interactions were explored between diamond and a range of transition metals: titanium (Ti), Niobium (Nb), and zirconium (Zr). Tribochemical effects are revealed even at low deformation speeds (quasistatic;