Qatar Foundation Annual Research Conference Proceedings Volume 2014 Issue 1

Manual translation (also known as Human Translation or HT) is a service demanded worldwide on a large scale, but can be quite expensive. As a result, Machine Translation (MT) has boomed in the last decade, trying to provide an automatic, and faster solution. However, MT does not always generate a good quality output, and human intervention is necessary to correct it. This intervention is called Post-Editing (PE) , which co Read More

On average, traffic accidents kill around 137 people around the world every hour. In 2004, road injuries were the first leading cause of death and predicted to be the fifth leading cause of death by 2030. Although the world's high-income countries occupy around 52% of the world's registered vehicles, only 10% of the world's traffic fatalities occur on the roads of these countries. In Qatar, traffic accidents kill between 3 to 4 peo Read More

This is presentation of the results of a research which was granted an NPRP on enhancing teaching the Arabic Language in Qatar. This research combines many approaches to learning the Arabic language by 5-6 year old (kindergarteners) Arabic native speakers. Its focus on learning Modern Standard Arabic allows it to be used by kindergarteners in all 22 Arab countries. This research builds upon the Microsoft Surface Table te Read More

This research project has three general objectives which are: (1) To evaluate Qatar's potential for economic diversification; (2) To analyze how soft power influence can be used to promote economic diversification; (3) To inform diagnostic options for Qatari investment authorities to build up capacities of stakeholders in extractive industry-rich economies. These three objectives include analyzing domestic institutions in Qatar Read More

Transnational families where one or more members are employed abroad while others remain back home are likely be characterized by a higher degree of private information relative to households where members are co-resident. Consequently, international migrants, who can only imperfectly monitor and control uses of remittances by family members left behind, may remit less money home if intra-household pref Read More

تعتبر الانحرافات السلوكية لدى المراهقين من أهم وأخطر المشكلات التي تواجه المجتمعات العربية بشكل عام، والمجتمع القطري باعتباره واحدا منها ليس بمنأى عنها. وتنتج هذه المشكلات عن التغيرات الاجتماعية والاقتصادية السريعة التي تمر بها هذه المجتمعات. وقد تفاقمت في الآونة الأخيرة نتيجة ضعف الرقابة الأسرية، وانشغال الآباء والأمهات بأمور الحياة، وزيادة تعامل الجيل الصاعد مع لوسائط التكنولوجية الحديثة. ومن أمثلة تلك السلوكيات؛ التهريج داخل الفصل وعدم احترام المدرسين، تخريب ممتلكات المدرسة، مخالفة Read More

Key words: GCC national, expatriate, nationalisation, Qatarisation, employability, employee engagement, workplace productivity, diversity and inclusion, early mid-career crisis Background The advancement of national talent is the single biggest human capital priority, if not the single biggest business impressive in the region. "Qudurat" was a longitudinal research study dedicated to understanding what drives and moti Read More

Technology transfer is the process of transferring skills, knowledge and technologies to other parties enabling them to further develop and exploit the technology into new products, processes, or services. Based on Sahal's (1981) concept, Bozeman (2000) argues that technology and knowledge are inseparable simply because when a technological product is transferred or diffused, the knowledge upon which its composition is ba Read More

This paper examines the relation between the net trade cycle as a measure of the efficiency of working capital management and operating cash flow of firms listed in the main US stock markets. The relationship is examined using dynamic panel data analysis. The analysis based on a sample of 5802 U.S. non-financial firms. The analysis is applied at the levels of the full sample and divisions of the sample by size. The results sh Read More

The goal of this project is to explore the role of computing technology in enhancing the teaching and learning processes for English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Past studies have demonstrated the potential of technology in enhancing literacy skills and motivating students. We have been building on this work to create a suite of computer and mobile based tools to improve English literacy skills. The distinguishing features o Read More

With projected populations of about 633 million in the Arab region in 2050, water resources per capita are expected to drop to a level of about 470 cubic meters in region, compared with a world average of about 4,700 m3 for the same year (Sadik, 2013). Especially, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries face the most severe water shortages in the region which represents a serious threat to the region's human security (Al Read More

Due to rapid urbanization during the past few decades, Doha has witnessed the disappearance of significant areas of its traditional built environment that were replaced by modern mega real-estate developments, public buildings and projects. More traditional built environments are threatened to be demolished and disappear to pave the way for new projects and developments. Due to their increased land value and Read More

Introduction Today the public perception of any scientific field and in particular of nanotechnology and nanomedicine is fundamental for their convincing grow in everyday life. In this study we provide a worldwide view of nanotechnology and nanomedicine possible future trends and opinions on ethics, funding and economics through the most widely used on line international social media platform: Facebook. At this p Read More

ABSTRACT This paper consists of two parts. It is argued in Part One that, the crisis in our educational systems, reflected in their poor outcomes (SEC) Supreme Education Council (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006); Rand Organization (2007, 2009); Hoyt, (2002); The Office of the Undersecretary, (2002), is not so much a result of a crisis in classroom assessment per se, as Black and William ( 1998); and R. Stiggins (2001) would like Read More

The current research aimed at evaluating the value-added of the summer enrichment programs on the performance of gifted students at primary school. The subjects consisted of (144) students from the fifth and sixth grades of primary school, those students who participated in the Summer Enrichment Program of AlBushra National school in Mecca in the summer of 2013. The researcher studied the performance of students Read More

The goal of this paper is to study how people do relational reasoning, such as selecting the grade of all students in a class with GPA greater than 3.5. Literature in the field of psychology of human reasoning offer little insight as to how people solve relational problems. We present two studies that look at human performance in relational problems that use basic relational operators. Our results present the first evidence toward Read More

Accountants have been categorized as Conventional among the six well-known Holland's personality types (Holland 1997). We argue that the personality type of successful accountants depend on their respected subfield. In this paper we have subdivided the accountants into three categories; Financial Accountants, Managerial Accountants, and Auditors. We hypothesize that while Conventional individuals are likely to Read More

With the emergence of new brand, preschoolers' television productions and station in the Arab World (i.e. Baraem TV, a subsidiary of JCC TV www.jcctv.net), my MA paper tests the following hypothesis: Arab preschoolers develop their cognitive skills (i.e. language and behavior) once exposed to educational media. The paper orchestras Gerbner et al.'s premise; that is, content rather than screen time or the medium, is Read More

This study examines the Qatar Olympic participation and the creation of a national representation through sport. Until its independence from Britain in 1971, Qatar could not participate in any international sport competition. On September 3, 1971, the country's Heir Apparent appeared on local TV and announced the Qatar's independence. In subsequent years, national sports federations in Qatar started to request for mem Read More

Today, food security is a global problem. The Qatar National Food Security Programme describes the dimensions of food security in Qatar in terms of food quality, physical availability, and affordability, alongside the resilience of the country's food supply to short-term trade shocks and long-term global supply risks. The world's richest country per capita, Qatar has a population of just over two million, but the country does not have Read More

كان من المفترض أن تقوم وسائل الإعلام - ومن بينها الشبكات الاجتماعية - باستكمال دورها في مرحلة إعادة البناء واستكمال مكتسبات واستحقاقات الثورات العربية من إقرار الدساتير واستكمال الأنظمة النيابية والتشريعية التي تساعد في إقرار الأمن وتحقيق العدالة الاجتماعية والكرامة الإنسانية التي قامت من اجلها تلك الثورات ولكن - ومع استثناء جزئي لتونس - حصل العكس وخاصة في التجربة المصرية وقامت وسائل الإعلام والشبكات الاجتماعية خاصة بتجسيد وتأكيد التحزب والتشرذم والاستقطاب السياسي مستخدم Read More

Food is an integral part of our lives, cultures, and well-being, and is of major interest to public health. According to the International Diabetes Federation, 23% of adults in Qatar had diabetes in 2013, being third most affected country in the Middle East and North Africa region. Diet, as a major cause of such diseases, is thus an important subject of study both on personal and societal levels. However, the collection of daily Read More

By the end of 2013, the Qatar Genome Project (QGP) was launched by HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser. Similar initiatives in the Gulf region usher new age for genomics in the Arab world. Previous experience in this field has demonstrated that mapping and sequencing human genomes always have profound ethical and social implications. This explains the establishment of the Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) Research Pro Read More

Female engagement and participation in the Middle East and in the Arab Gulf in particular—especially among ordinary women interacting within their societies—have been largely overlooked in social science literature until quite recently (e.g., Sonbol 2012; Krause 2008). Too often, the Western and global mindset emphasizes social and cultural exclusion and segregation of women, particularly in the Arab Gulf, to argue t Read More

Cyberbullying is a worldwide problem affecting mental health, education, safety and general well-being for individuals across the globe. Despite the widespread availability of the Internet, research into prevalence rates of cyberbullying in Qatar is lacking and legislating for cyberbullying in Qatar has been slow to develop. However, recently there have been some positive initiatives in the country such as the development of a Nati Read More

The presentation will explore the historical development of Doha and Qatar through historical sources, archaeological excavations and ethnographic research (oral histories), through the work of the QNRF-funded Origins of Doha and Qatar project (NPRP 5-421-6-010). The historical perspective will encompass Qatar's involvement in 19th-20th century globalization, when Doha and other Qatari and Gulf towns were dr Read More

This research focuses on the modeling of the causality of sustainable tourism in Qatar. The existing literature illustrates that there is no such model available in context of economy of Qatar. The research follows the procedure of identifying the variables which influence sustainability and seeking the links between them through the contemporary literature. The hypotheses are built to study the significance of relationship between Read More

Background & Objectives The idea that individuals on the Autistic Spectrum struggle in social situations is as old as the conceptualization of Autism itself. Correspondingly, it is known that individuals with High Functioning Autism also struggle to achieve satisfying experiences within education. What is less well known are the specific facets of social cognition that result in this decrease in fulfillment. With this in mind, this study in Read More

Abstract The objective of the thesis is to investigate the role of SMEs in the economic development of Qatar, as these organizations may provide the appropriate knowledge, experience and type of training that can produce innovative, inspired, productive and nascent entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs ultimately share in the building of a highly productive and innovative manufacturing sector, and can help to fulfil the goal Read More

Raising the bar on ethical regulations in international clinical research: Qatar Perspective Learning Objectives: 1. Understand how new national regulations of human research protections can be established in developing countries, 2. Understand the processes required and the institutional cultural shifts necessary to advance human research protections to meet the international standards. Qatar-Research While oil and gas Read More

In recent years, the growth of economics and development of technology in the banking and finance sectors have led to a significant increase in the use of financial instruments (Grbhradt et al., 2004). Accordingly, the accounting regulators particularly standard setters must take these developments into considerations and issue new or emend the existing standards to adopt with this changing environment. However, in Read More

Aftercare is considered part of the social welfare programs destined to provide assistance to specific social groups in need such as prison inmates, substance abusers, deviant juveniles and people with disabilities. This could take the form of guidance, counseling and material and/or moral support. Aftercare programs are generally destined to help restore family relationships and repairing bridges with the community in gen Read More

Background & Objectives Anthropologist describe Asylum in various societies across space and time. My approach to evaluate Asylum in the medieval Islamic World takes advantage of this “universalim of protection”. The proposed presentation will take its starting point with an evaluation of protection in late antiquity and the period of the Early Middle Ages to discuss the preconditions of the cultural and religious encounter Read More

Heritage and tourism have become during the last two decades dynamic areas of development in the world. The idea of heritage is crucial to the critical decision-making process as to how irreplaceable resources are to be utilized by people of the present or conserved for future generations in a fast changing world. In view of the importance of ‘heritage’ to the development of a tourist destination the emphasis on developing ap Read More

Background and Objectives This paper considers how the globalized discourse of genetic risk is shaped, informed and taken up in local moral worlds in Qatar. Using the theoretical and methodological approach of medical anthropology, the research explores the way in which Qataris negotiate notions of health, illness and risk: particularly genetic risk. It looks at the theories of causation that are considered for illness and disabilit Read More

Background Despite the progress made over the past several decades in developing educational systems in Qatar and in the GCC countries as a whole, results in terms of quality of learning outcomes are low when compared to other countries at similar income levels. Indeed, data generated by international comparative surveys such as PISA (2009), PIRLS and TIMSS (2011), and the UNESCO EFA GMR 2012 and IBE World Data Read More

Design and visualization are two inseparable disciplines. All design needs to be analyzed and communicated through visual forms. High tech has brought dramatic changes to how we analyze design. However, this does not render low tech an irrelevant method. The goal of this research is (1) to understand the advantages and limitations of Immersive projection and (2) to understand how high tech and low tech methods can c Read More

التعليم بوجه عام يؤدي إلى تغيير في عقول الأفراد وفي تصرفاتهم وفي نوعية حياتهم لهذا لا يمكن تجاهل أهمية الدور الذي تقوم به التربية على حقوق الانسان في السياق العام لإنجاز هذه الحقوق. ولا يمكن لحماية حقوق الانسان أن تكون إلا بعد معرفتها ومعرفة الوسائل الكفيلة بضمان احترامها. إن الانجاز الملحوظ الذي حققه جهد المجتمع الدولي في مجال حقوق الانسان على الصعيدين القانوني والمؤسساتي، لم يرافقه تحول حقيقي وشامل في الواقع، إذ بقيت الاوضاع الفعلية للأفراد والجماعات بعيدة عن المثل العليا المعلنة في ا Read More

Migrants constitute nearly half of the population of the six Gulf Corporation Council states (GCC). In some of these states, including Qatar, this ratio is even higher. The small local population could not meet the increasing demand for workforce with the booming development of the GCC after the discovery of oil. With the advent of the Gulf-oil economy in the 1950s, GCC states largely sought to import labor from neighboring Arab s Read More