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With the rapid development of the indoor spaces positioning technologies such as the radio-frequency identification (RFID), Bluetooth and WI-FI, the locations of indoor spatial objects (static or moving) constitute an important foundation for a variety of applications. However, there are many challenges and limitations associated with the structuring and querying of spatial objects in indoor spaces. The purpose of this study is to address the current trends, limitations and future challenges associated with the structuring and querying of spatial objects in indoor spaces. Also it addresses the related features of indoor spaces such as indoor structures, positioning technologies and others.

In this paper, the author focuses on understanding the aspects and challenges of spatial database managements in indoor spaces. The author explains the differences between indoor spaces and outdoor spaces. Also examines the issues pertaining to indoor spaces positioning and the impact of different shapes and structures within these spaces. In addition, the author considers the varieties of spatial queries that relate specifically to indoor spaces.

Most of the research on data management in indoor spaces does not consider the issues and the challenges associated with indoor positioning such as the overlapping of Wi-Fi. The future trend of the indoor spaces includes included different shapes of indoors beside the current 2D indoor spaces on which the majority of the data structures and query processing for spatial objects have focused on. The diversities of the indoor environments features such as directed floors, multi-floors cases should be considered and studied. Furthermore, indoor environments include many special queries besides the common ones queries that used in outdoor spaces such as KNN, range and temporal queries. These special queries need to be considered in data management and querying of indoor environments.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper successfully addresses the current trends, limitations and future challenges associated with the structuring and querying of spatial objects in indoor spaces.

The purpose of this paper is to obtain the nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NLSE) numerical solutions in the presence of the first-order chromatic dispersion using a second-order, unconditionally stable, implicit finite difference method. In addition, stability and accuracy are proved for the resulting scheme.

The conserved quantities such as mass, momentum and energy are calculated for the system governed by the NLSE. Moreover, the robustness of the scheme is confirmed by conducting various numerical tests using the Crank-Nicolson method on different cases of solitons to discuss the effects of the factor considered on solitons properties and on conserved quantities.

The Crank-Nicolson scheme has been derived to solve the NLSE for optical fibers in the presence of the wave packet drift effects. It has been founded that the numerical scheme is second-order in time and space and unconditionally stable by using von-Neumann stability analysis. The effect of the parameters considered in the study is displayed in the case of one, two and three solitons. It was noted that the reliance of NLSE numeric solutions properties on coefficients of wave packets drift, dispersions and Kerr nonlinearity play an important control not only the stable and unstable regime but also the energy, momentum conservation laws. Accordingly, by comparing our numerical results in this study with the previous work, it was recognized that the obtained results are the generalized formularization of these work. Also, it was distinguished that our new data are regarding to the new communications modes that depend on the dispersion, wave packets drift and nonlinearity coefficients.

The present study uses the first-order chromatic. Also, it highlights the relationship between the parameters of dispersion, nonlinearity and optical wave properties. The study further reports the effect of wave packet drift, dispersions and Kerr nonlinearity play an important control not only the stable and unstable regime but also the energy, momentum conservation laws.

This paper aims to address the flow of Sisko nanofluid by an unsteady curved surface. Non-uniform heat source/sink is considered for heat transfer analysis.

Numerical solutions are constructed using bvp4c procedure.

Pressure profile inside boundary region is increased when A and K are enhanced.

No such analysis is yet presented.

This study aims to evaluate the usability of Google Drive (GD) in addition to measuring the effectiveness of GD and the challenges faced while using this cloud storage application among public library users of Lahore.

The study adopted a sequential explanatory mixed method design comprising the quantitative (QUAN) and qualitative (QUAL) parts. For the QUAN phase, a questionnaire survey was conducted among 384 users of public libraries through purposive sampling. For the QUAL phase, the think aloud technique was performed on several tasks during experiments and verbalized their thoughts and experiences while interacting with the system. The cloud usability model (CUM) was used to measure the “usability” of GD.

Findings indicated that most users were satisfied with GD's obvious features and inherent functions. QUAL results indicated that respondents did most tasks easily, whereas only some could complete the task.

The study is valuable as it is the first time used CUM to measure the perceived usability of GD. Second, the study used a mixed method study to get insights into perceived usability, effectiveness and challenges while using GD. The findings might be helpful for cloud support teams, including GD, as they can enhance certain features of usability, which lead to increased usage among users.

This research work is based on MPhil thesis.

The attention to the university–business collaboration (UBC) for its role in the knowledge-based economy is growing in many countries. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to conduct two surveys to explore the causes of low collaboration between the private sector and academia in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The first survey covers nearly 50 companies to learn their perspectives. Using the findings of the first survey, a second survey was conducted of university researchers to understand the determinants of private and public funding of research and development projects. The survey provided two types of data, namely, categorical and continuous, which were subjected to reliability and normality tests. A linear regression analysis also was utilized to explore the role of different factors on the funded projects by the two sectors.

There is a perception among researchers that the private sector is woefully underestimating research capacity of Saudi universities. One interesting finding is that publishing in journals from the International Scientific Indexing (ISI) is a strong predictor for government funding, but not for private funding. From the private sector perspective, publishing in ISI-indexed journals is not sufficient evidence of research capability. Moreover, high teaching load is a major obstacle in acquiring private funding, but not so for public funding.

The paper provides two main recommendations to improve collaboration. First, universities should incentivize publishing in high-impact journals more than in ISI-indexed journals to increase the faculty’s research capabilities. Second, universities should reduce the teaching load of faculty involved in research projects, particularly those funded by the private sector.

The outcomes of this survey-based study are very valuable to the ecosystem of academia, business and government in general and for Saudi Arabia in particular, where there is a vital need to implement the right policies regarding UBC in the country.

The objective of this research was to test the effect of information and communication technology (ICT) resources, library facilities, teacher lecturing skills and physical classroom environment on student satisfaction and university image. This paper also sought to contribute to the existing body of knowledge by confirming the role of student satisfaction as a mediator among the stated factors and university image.

Data were collected from 314 students at higher education institutions (HEIs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) using a survey instrument. Throughout the data analysis stage, the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed in order to validate the research instrument and test the hypotheses.

The findings verified that teacher lecturing skills and ICT resources have a positive effect on both student satisfaction and university image. Moreover, the study revealed that the library facilities and physical classroom environment positively affect both student satisfaction and university image. Lastly, the analysis showed that student satisfaction mediates the link between the stated factors and university image.

This paper adds to the published literature by investigating the direct and indirect effects of teacher lecturing skills, ICT resources, physical classroom environment and library facilities on university image via student satisfaction at HEIs in the UAE. This study is the first to integrate all of these factors into a single research model.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the process of internationalization of higher education (HE) in the United Arab Emirates by examining the development of its HE system, and analyzing the components and results of internationalization.

The study adopts a qualitative research methodology to analyze primary evidence from interviews with academics in the UAE, and uses documents and archival research as secondary evidence to provide a comprehensive view of the UAE’s internationalized HE sector. A review of the literature is undertaken to inform discussion and analysis which focuses on the internal and external environments of the UAE. A strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis identifies the benefits and challenges for the UAE of internationalized HE.

The study finds that internationalization of HE in the UAE has grown rapidly in the last decade, and that the UAE has sought to establish and promote itself as an “education hub” in the Middle East. However, this may subsume the government’s parallel goal of educating its citizenry to the level of skills necessitated by globalization. Three major forces promoting internationalization in the UAE are neoliberalism, quality assurance, and imported internationalization, an approach seeks the prestige conferred by international accreditation that is predominant in the UAE as well as other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states. An area of concern is the governance of systems to ensure high quality for universities that may be state-owned, privately owned, or international branch campuses. The study concludes that regional integration could provide the way forward for these countries in their internationalization efforts, not by standardizing but by better formulating study programs across the range of state, private and international higher education institutions.

The study has important implications for HE policy and governance in the development of internationalized HE in the UAE. It provides theoretical perspectives with practical implications, focusing on some of the critical issues in this developing field for HE administrators and practitioners alike. It also has implications for the UAE’s national social values and cultural identity. This may be a reflection of the UAE’s relatively recent unification as a state whose HE system, developed to skill its population, has been overtaken by the imperative to compete in a globalized world. The research is limited by the absence of longitudinal data to review longer-term outcomes.

The UAE, like other GCC countries, is striving to take its higher educational system to a higher level of performance. This study can be considered as one of the very few studies in the area of the internationalization of HE in the UAE. It contributes to the HE literature by identifying factors and circumstances that facilitate, and hinder, the development of internationalization of HE in the UAE. Globalization can be considered as one of the history’s most significant social processes, and the HE sector plays a vital role in the delivery of knowledge and skills to societies, and thus its socio-economic development.

Social development is the ultimate goal of every nation, and climate change is a major stumbling block. Climate Risk Index has documented several climate change events with their devastations in terms of lives lost and economic cost. This study aims to link the climate change and renewable energy with the social progress of extreme climate affected countries.

This research used the top 50 most climate-affected countries of the decade and estimated the impact of climate risk on social progress with moderation effects of renewable energy and technology. Several competing panel data models such as quantile regression, bootstrap quantile regression and feasible generalized least square are used to generate robust estimates.

The results confirm that climate hazards obstruct socioeconomic progress, but renewable energy and technology can help to mitigate the repercussion. Moreover, improved institutions enhance the social progress of nations.

Government should improve the institutional quality that enhances their performance in terms of Voice and Accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law and Control of Corruption to increase social progress. In addition, society should use renewable energy instead of fossil fuels to avoid environmental degradation and health hazards. Innovation and technology also play an important role in social progress and living standards, so there should be free hand to private business research and development, encouraging research institutes and universities to come forward for innovation and research.

The ultimate goal of all human struggle is to have progress that facilitates human beings to uplift their living standard. One of the best measures that can tell us about a nation’s progress is Social Progress Index (SPI), and one of many factors that can abruptly change it is the climate; so this study is an attempt to link the relationship among these variables and also discuss the situation where the impact of climate can be reduced.

Although social progress is an important concept of today’s economics discussion, relatively few studies are using the SPI to measure social well-being. Similarly, there is consensus about the impact of climate on people, government and crops but relatively less study about its overall impact on social progress, so this study attempts to fill the gap about the relationship between social progress and climate change.

The main contribution of this study is the solution for the impact of climate risk. Climate risk is not in human control, and we cannot eliminate it, but we can reduce the negative impacts of climate change. Moderator impact of renewable energy decreases the negative impact of climate change, so there is a need to use more renewable energy to mitigate the bad consequences of climate on social progress. Another moderator is technology; using technology will also mitigate the negative consequences of the climate, so there is a need to facilitate technological advancement.

Cyberbullying is a visible and prominent issue in today’s society. This study aims to identify factors influencing cyberbullying, discover its consequences on society, learn strategies and practices for dealing with cyberbullying and propose a framework to control cyberbullying in an online environment.

A systematic literature review was applied to meet the study’s objectives as the research methodology. A total of 27 peer-reviewed journal papers covering the study’s variables were included to carry out the systematic review.

The findings of the study revealed that social media, advancement of technology, lack of awareness, negative use of technology and smartphones affected cyberbullying in society. The study also showed the psychological disasters of cyberbullying. Prominent psychological dangers of the cyberbullying included emotional, psychiatric, psychosomatic, mental aggression, delinquency, depression, psychological distress, frustration, isolation, violence, unhappiness, suicidal tendencies, inferiority complex, embarrassment, negative emotions, self-harming attitudes and the passions of revenge. It also provided key strategies to stop and control cyberbullying activities. Key strategies included digital literacy, social support, emotional management, strict cyber laws and effective training sessions.

The study has provided a framework to stop and control cyber bullying for social survival. The study has offered significant theoretical, social and practical implications.

The present paper is an attempt to study Education 4.0 supported by Industry 4.0 tools and techniques. The main purpose of the study is to examine the acceptance and use of one of the internet of things (IoT)-based learning management systems, i.e. videoconferencing application (Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, GoToMeeting, WebEx), by academicians of higher education using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model.

The study comprises 218 responses of academicians associated with higher education in the Sultanate of Oman. Descriptive and factor analysis of the collected data are employed using SPSS-26. Further, using Amos-21, the fit and validity indices of the measurement model are computed. Various relationships of the UTAUT structural model along with moderation effects of gender and nationality are tested.

The results suggest that performance expectancy, effort expectancy and social influence significantly predict behavioral intention. In turn, behavioral intention and facilitating conditions also significantly predict the use behavior of academicians for videoconferencing in higher education. Finally, gender moderates two out of four UTAUT relations, but nationality does not moderate any of these relations.

A lot of prior studies investigate several models to use technology-enabled pedagogy from educators' or students' perspectives. There are very limited studies that examine IoT-based learning tools within the UTAUT environment. Additionally, no study is available that considers UTAUT relations for the use of videoconferencing in higher education. Also, in the present study, one more moderator, i.e. nationality, is tested.