Infectious disease management system area is considered as an emerging field of modern healthcare in the Gulf region. Significant technical and clinical progress and advanced technologies can be utilized to enhance the performance and ubiquity of such systems. Effective infectious disease management (IDM) can be achieved by analysing the disease management issues from the perspectives of healthcare personnel and patients. Hence, it is necessary to identify the needs and requirements of both healthcare personnel and patients for managing the infectious disease. The basic idea behind the proposed mobile IDM system in this thesis is to improve the healthcare processes in managing infectious diseases more effectively. For this purpose, internet and mobile technologies are integrated with social networking, mapping and IDM applications to improve the processes efficiency. Hence, the patients submit their health related data through their devices remotely using our application to our system database (so-called SAIF). The main objective of this PhD project was the design and development of a novel web based architecture of next-generation infectious disease management system embedding the concept of social networking tailored for Saudi patients. Following a detailed literature review which identifies the current status and potential impact of using infectious diseases management system in KSA, this thesis conducts a feasibility user perspective study for identifying the needs and the requirements of healthcare personnel and the patients for managing infectious diseases. Moreover, this thesis proposes a design and development of a novel architecture of next-generation web based infectious disease management system tailored for Saudi patients (i.e., called SAIF – infectious diseases management framework for Saudi Arabia). Further, this thesis introduces a usability study for the SAIF system to validate the acceptability of using mobile technologies amongst infected patient in KSA and Gulf region. The preliminary results of the study indicated general acceptance of the patients in using the system with higher usability rating in high affected patients. In general, the study concluded that the concept of SAIF system is considered acceptable tool in particularly with infected patients.

The globalisation of commerce, alongside growing information on the Internet, has increased the demand of E-Learning (EL). Furthermore, knowledge management (KM) is capable of generating significant organisational/institutional competitive advantages. KM and EL systems contribution to the requirements of education has resulted in their increased demand of their integration across business/academic world. Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives is one of the most widely used framework of organising levels of expertise. Bloom’s different cognitive domains are based on a hierarchy of learning which progresses from simple to complex and from concrete to abstract. This study considers ways to improve higher education in Saudi Arabia, based on the significant factors (of KM/EL systems) contributing to learner performance and the way in which New Bloom’s Taxonomy could potentially affect/benefit these individual systems; previous academic works will be considered, in an attempt to achieve higher standards of education using this theory/framework. This research presents the value of learning process/tactical approaches, to encourage staff and students to accept the idea of integrating EL and KM factors under New Bloom’s Taxonomy; examples will be given to demonstrate instances where systems have been adopted successfully. To investigate the effectiveness of New Bloom’s Taxonomy on the integration of EL and KM factors in Saudi higher education, a questionnaire methodology was chosen to collect data from experts of both systems; furthermore, the public sector was chosen as it has adopted both systems. Therefore, an integrated framework is proposed.

The study has been conducted to examine the direct and indirect relationship between the determinants of electronic recruitment and firm performance through the mediating role of human resources management capabilities based on the resource based view theory. Therefore, this study examines the relationship between the internal determinants of e-recruitment (technology quality, service quality, and security assurance) and the external determinants (e.g. empowered manager and member team, content of an implementation plan for e-recruitment, HR and IT collaboration in e-recruitment, job seeker trust in e-recruitment, organizational reputation, decentralization of selection decision, and government objectives) on e-recruitment, and the effect of e-recruitment on HR capability and firm performance. This study adopted a positivist philosophy. A deduction approach and quantitative method were also suitable for this study. A questionnaire was delivered to some companies in Saudi Arabia. A total of 500 questionnaires were sent, but only 418 were received; for 84.0 percent response rates. This study used PLS to test the research hypotheses. The measurement model has confirmed that the measure indicates accepted reliability and validity. Based on the research results, most hypotheses are accepted. This means that the e-recruitment play a crucial role in improving firm performance. The findings of this study support the argument that e-recruitment plays an important role in improving firm performance. Therefore, firms that use e-recruitment to attract new job seekers will improve their performance. These findings extend prior literature by showing, for the first time, how e-recruitment and HR capability influence firm performance. This study has confirmed that e-recruitment has a positive and significant effect on firm performance. These variables account for 43% and 78% of the variety in HR capability and firm performance, respectively, whereas 57% and 22% are related to other variables. This finding is consistent with the argument that if firm use e-recruitment, they are more likely to improve firm performance. Moreover, high HR capability enhances firm performance. Our study moves beyond previous studies that focus on e-recruitment by correlating e recruitment with HR capability and firm performance. This study contributes by arguing that e-recruitment and HR capability has a positive relation towards firm performance, which conforms to previous studies in similar areas. Apart from the re-examination of resource-based theory in the online recruitment context, our study attempts to make some other fundamental contributions in understanding e-recruitment in the Saudi Arabia context. However, given that this is the first known test of resource-based theory in the Internet recruiting domain, we recommend that future research be done to conduct additional tests of this theory. These findings have both theoretical and practical implications in that the results have provided empirical evidence on the indirect impact of e-recruitment on firm performance and can serve as an indication in practice for firms in understanding e-recruitment and its effects on firm performance. The current study would help professionals in the field of HR to enhance their awareness of the critical role that recruiting highly skilled applicants may play in terms of sustainable competitive advantage and firm performance.

Satellite channels were introduced in Saudi Arabia in the 1980s by limited elite wealthy Saudis. The new communication technologies during the 1990s made it possible for a large number of Saudis to switch to different kinds of direct broadcasting satellite channels using low cost equipment to receive hundreds of uncensored television programmes. Before the spread of satellite dishes throughout the country, Saudis were only able to view two government controlled TV channels offering limited types of programmes compared to what is offered on satellite. Satellite channels and programmes contain cultural messages and images from the originating countries that, it may be argued, are incompatible with Saudi Arabia's Islamic cultural values. No qualitative study, to-date, has investigated the satellite channel viewing habits of the Saudi community in general, in spite of the existence of strong concerns about the influence of such habits on Saudi culture. The present research then, is a study of the relationship between audiences and satellite in Saudi Arabia and an analysis of the implications of this relationship for local culture. The research is placed within the context of current scholarship on satellite audiences and of debates about global media and culture, and media and cultural imperialism. It uses quantitative and qualitative data to answer questions about young Saudi adults' use of satellite TV and their beliefs about its influences, and the effect of viewing satellite television on the usage of other media, particularly the two Saudi local TV channels. The researcher draws upon aspects of the uses and gratifications approach which focuses on the audience as the primary element in understanding the mass communication process. This approach also focuses on how people utilise media content. Whilst there have been a number of studies of TV and satellite audiences, these have neither systematically examined the qualitative dimensions of satellite usage in relation to quantitative data, nor have they discussed their findings in relation to wider debates about the cultural impact of satellite communications in Saudi Arabia. The present study is therefore useful for providing the basis for further cross-cultural comparisons between the media in Western and Arab worlds. Two key primary data collecting techniques, a quantitative survey of 438 male and female university students, and a series of eight in-depth focus group sessions involving 51 individuals, were used to obtain information about young adults' uses of the media in general, and satellite TV in particular, in Saudi Arabia . This combination of these quantitative and qualitative methods was relatively new in the field context. Survey and focus group questions were piloted between mid December 2000 and mid February 2001 at King Abdul-Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. After slight amendments and modifications, the main fieldwork was undertaken from March 2001 to July 2001. The study found young Saudi adults watched satellite channels quite extensively, and the most preferred channels they chose to view were Arab channels, whose programmes depend on entertainment that is presented in a Western manner. Research findings indicated that the image of the Saudi media working within the country's borders was low. The extent of the study sample's exposure to satellite channels was greater than their exposure to local Saudi television. Most of the findings support the 'glocalisation' thesis where the global is heavily mediated through Arab versions of the global or Western culture. The study also highlighted possible influences of conflicting cultural messages from external media on the local culture.

Teaching Arabic as foreign language is a fairly new field of study, particularly in Western Universities. The aim of this thesis is to discuss one aspect of this field by concentrating on text-book analysis and evaluation. In carrying out this task we have formulated a set of questions to serve as parameters in the collection and analysis of data relevant to this task (appendix II). The subject of this practical study is vol. 1, entitled "Arabic for Beginners" of a series of books used for teaching Arabic to foreign adults at the Arabic Language Institute. Our study utilises a number of notions and considerations which are applicable to text-book analysis and evaluation generally. In Appendix I we deal with some of these points in an attempt to specify the theoretical dimension presupposed by our practical analysis. The thesis contains two main parts:- the theoretical part which deals with different aspects belonging to the teaching of Arabic as a foreign language, including the characteristics of the Arabic language and the teaching of sounds, vocabulary, constructions, and culture. The practical part, on the other hand, is concerned with the practical application and the outcome of the analysis of the text-book in terms of a set of criteria which may have applicability outside the immediate realm of Arabic foreign language teaching. The thesis contains four chapters. Chapter one deals with the characteristics of the Arabic language and its importance as a foreign language; it also concentrates on the objectives of Arabic language teaching as well as on the problem of syllabus design in relation to this language. Chapter two gives a general outline of the institutes and the materials of teaching Arabic as a foreign language in Saudi Arabia. Chapter three deals with the importance of sounds, vocabulary, constructions and culture, paying attention to their place in the text-book of teaching Arabic as a foreign Language. Chapter four sets out the results of applying the criteria of text-book evaluation to the book under investigation, pointing out its positive and negative features in the areas of sounds, vocabulary, constructions and culture.

Research indicates self-disgust plays a significant role in the development and maintenance of depression, yet it is still a concept that is inadequately developed and often viewed as being only a single-faceted emotion. Although number of measures for assessing disgust have been developed, many of these give limited insight into notions of the self, focusing instead on external rather than internal matters. Hence, it is suggested that current tools to assess self-disgust are not sufficiently comprehensive. Thus, this thesis aims to develop a new scale of self-disgust that includes multiple aspects of the self. In this thesis, a new psychometric instrument, the Edinburgh Self-Disgust Scale (ESDS), is proposed to investigate self-disgust in both a clinical and non-clinical population in Saudi Arabia. Methods of translation and back translation are used, along with six instruments translated from English into Arabic. The first study aims to examine the psychometric properties (descriptive analysis, item-to-scale correlation, split-half reliability, internal consistency and confirmatory factor analysis) of the new questionnaire within a non-clinical sample. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) supports the division of the ESDS into five subscales (body shape, concept of the self, unacceptable behaviour, treatment of others and past-experience). External validity is confirmed through associations of subscales with existing measurements of factors relating to self-disgust: The Body Image Scale (BIS); the Multidimensional Self-Concept Scale, the Other as Shamer Scale (OAS), the Experience of Shame Scale (ESS), the UPPS-P Impulsive Behaviour Scale, the Self-Disgust Scale (SDS) and the Beck Depression Inventory – 2nd Edition (BDI-II). The results indicate that ESDS is significantly correlated with these measurements. The second study aims to replicate these findings using the clinical sample, to ensure that the ESDS behaves in a similar manner within a clinical population. Convergent validity with the BDI-II is also established. The ESDS is found to be significantly correlated with depression on the BDI and the existing factor structure is supported. It is concluded that the ESDS provides an appropriate and comprehensive assessment of self-disgust for an Arabic speaking population and shows convergent validity with the BDI-II in a clinical sample. Recommendations for future research and clinical utility are given.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Geography / John A. Harrington Jr / The climate of the Middle East is warming and extreme hot temperature events are becoming more common, as observed by the significant upward trends in mean and extreme temperatures during the last few decades. Climate modeling studies suggest that the frequency, intensity, and duration of extreme temperature events are expected to increase as the global and local climate continues to warm. Existing literature about heat waves (HWs) in Saudi Arabia provides information about HW duration using a single index, without considering the observed effects of climate change and the subtropical arid climate. With that in mind, this dissertation provides a series of three stand-alone papers evaluating temporal, geographic, and atmospheric aspects of the character of warm season (May-September) HWs in Saudi Arabia for 1985 to 2014. Chapter 2 examines the temporal behavior(s) of the frequency, duration, and intensity of HWs under the observed recent climate change. Several issues are addressed including the identification of some improved methodological practices for HW indices. A time-sensitive approach to define and detect HWs is proposed and assessed. HW events and their duration are considered as count data; thus, different Poisson models were used for trend detection. Chapter 3 addresses the spatio-temporal patterns of the frequency and intensity of hot days and nights, and HWs. The chapter reemphasizes the importance of considering the on-goings effects of climate warming and applies a novel time-series clustering approach to recognize hot temperature event behavior through time and space. Chapter 4 explores the atmospheric circulation conditions that are associated with warm season HW event occurrence and how different HWs aspects are related to different circulation types. Further, possible teleconnections between HWs and sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies of nearby large bodies are examined. Results from Chapters 2 and 3 detected systematic upward trends in maximum and minimum temperatures at most of the 25 stations, suggesting an on-going change in the climatology of the upper-tail of the frequency distribution. The analysis demonstrated the value of using a time-sensitive approach in studying extreme thermal events. Different patterns were observed over time and space not only across stations but also among extreme temperature events (i.e., hot days and nights, and HWs). The overall results suggest that not only local and regional factors, such as elevation, latitude, land cover, atmospheric humidity, and distance from a large body of water, but also large-scale factors such as atmospheric circulation patterns are responsible for the observed temporal and spatial patterns. Chapter 4 confirmed that as the Indian Summer Monsoon Trough and the Arabian heat low were key atmospheric features related to HW days. SST anomalies seemed to be a more important factor for HWs intensity. Extreme thermal events in Saudi Arabia tended to occur during regional warming due to atmospheric circulation conditions and SSTs teleconnections. This study documents the value of a time-sensitive approach and should initiate further research as some of temporal and spatial variabilities were not fully explained

The purpose of this study was to determine the views of nephrology nurses regarding pre-operative education prior to kidney transplant. The study was conducted in Nephrology Ward in King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Qualitative descriptive design was used. Purposive non-probability sampling was used until data saturation occurred. Target population were registered nurses working in the Nephrology Unit. Both male and female nurses aged between 25 and 59 years working for a period of at least one year in the Nephrology Unit were included in the study. Data saturation was reached after interviewing 15 nephrology nurses. Themes and categories emerged from adopting Creswell’s (2013) “data analysis spiral”. Some of the key findings were that pre-operative patient education is a multidisciplinary team approach and that psychosocial aspects of the patients should be taken into consideration before educating the patients. Conclusions were drawn and recommendations were also made from findings of this study. Ultimately, key recommendations were that there is a need to train and empower nurses in importance of delivering pre-operative education and that expatriate nurses have access to Arabic speakers to overcome language barriers while educating the patients / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

The main aim of this PhD research was to explore the cultural differences in moral judgment, moral behaviour, moral identity, and cultural values between Saudi Arabia and United Kingdom. Furthermore, I was interested in the psychological factors affecting morality in those two cultures. The first study aimed to achieve the following objectives: to understand people’s moral judgment in Saudi Arabia and the UK, to investigate whether and how personality traits and cultural values affect moral judgment in five moral foundations (harm avoidance, justice, ingroup, authority, purity), and to investigate whether personality traits and cultural values are related differently or similarly across Saudi and UK cultures. The findings of the study revealed that Saudi and British participants differed with regard to their foundation-specific moral judgments. Saudi participants were more likely to endorse moral foundations in the domains of intergroup relations, authority, and purity. However, there were no cross-cultural differences in the domains of harm avoidance and justice. Moreover, the results showed that the effect of personality traits and cultural values on morality varied. Harm and fairness foundations were predicted by personality traits while ingroup, authority, purity foundations were predicted by values. The second study investigated whether foundation-related moral behaviour was affected by moral judgment and people’s moral identity in a cross-cultural context comparing adults from the UK and Saudi Arabia. Findings of this study resulted in no cross-cultural differences between the two samples concerning moral judgment in the care and justice foundations. Furthermore, no cultural differences were found between the two samples concerning moral behaviour in the five foundations. In addition, moral identity mediated the relationship between moral judgment and allocations in the dictator game. The third study investigated the relationship between (dis-) honest behaviour, moral judgment and moral identity in two different cultures, namely Saudi Arabia and the UK. It has been found that there are no statistically significant differences in honest behaviour between Saudi Arabia and the UK. Furthermore, deception was not predicted or correlated significantly with any of the five foundation-specific moral judgments across both cultural samples. However, culture moderated the relationship between deception and moral judgment in harm and authority moral foundations. Additionally, moral sensitivity did not mediate the relationship between moral judgments and dishonesty. The forth study explored the link between moral foundation violations (harm, justice, ingroup, authority, and purity) and anger, disgust, sadness, apathy, guilt, contempt, shame, resentment, and embarrassment emotions. Findings showed that the violations of harm, and justice foundations triggered anger and Violations of purity foundation triggered disgust. The results show no cultural differences in the assignments of the violations made by both samples. Saudi and UK participants’ classifications were in agreement with the original classifications of the 40 violations by Graham et al. (2009). However, we found cross-cultural differences in the relationship between emotions and moral foundation violations.

In recent years, Internal Control has become the focus of attention every time there is a notable scandal in the corporate world. An effective internal control system can prevent an organisation from fraud and errors, and provide an organisation with assurance and competitive advantages. It is argued that in order to have a robust internal control system, an integrated system, such as an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is needed. ERP systems have the ability to control user access and facilitate the separation of duties, which is one of the most common internal control mechanisms used in order to deter fraud within financial systems. Moreover, there are other factors that can provide support for effective internal control systems. This thesis aims to explain how ERP success, organisational and ERP factors affect the effectiveness of internal control procedures. In particular, this thesis develops and validates a research model with empirical evidence collected in the context of the Saudi Arabia business environment. In order to achieve the research aim, this research identifies four key propositions derived from the existing literature to establish the relationships between organisational factors, ERP factors, ERP success and effectiveness of internal control procedures. An exploratory study is used to initially test the four propositions. The findings indicate that different companies follow different requirements that mainly depend on ownership. Additionally, the study indicates that the eight components of the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission’s (COSO) Enterprise Risk Management framework are considered by the companies investigated, however there are variations regarding their level of consideration. The findings suggest that further study is needed to explain the impact of ERP success on internal control and to measure the effect of the organisational and ERP factors. Based on the four propositions, four hypotheses are developed and tested in a quantitative study. A questionnaire is constructed and sent to 217 Saudi ERP-implemented companies. 110 valid responses are received. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) is adopted for data analysis and hypothesis testing. The results suggest that the maturity of the ERP systems, formalisation and centralisation can impact on the success of ERP systems. Prospectors’ strategy, organisational culture and management support are positively related to the effectiveness of internal control procedures. The study results show a positive significant relationship between the success of ERP systems and effectiveness of internal control procedures. This research contributes to the knowledge at different levels. At the theoretical level, it develops and validates a theoretical framework that links the ERP system success to the effectiveness of internal control procedures. At the methodological level, unlike many of previous studies, this study adopts multiple data collection methods, and a powerful statistical technique, PLS-SEM to generate more robust outcomes. Finally, at the practice level, the study is conducted in Saudi Arabia, which is different from the developed countries in many aspects, such as internal control regulations and taxation system. Thus, the findings can be beneficial to Saudi organisations as well as other Middle-East countries.