Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum Volume 2013 Issue 1

As many Gulf cities Qatar's capital city Doha has undergone rapid transformation processes socio-economically as well as spatially since the end of the 20th century. Large-scale public investments in local developments that were intended to establish Doha as a regional and international service hub ushered in a new evolutionary phase in the city's urbanism. An increasing number of international “Advanced Producer Service” (APS) firms set up offices in Doha, particularly attracted by emerging local real-estate markets. This research attempts to clarify the distinct roles of Knowledge Economies and their employees in the development of urban complexity and diversity in Doha. It therefore explores currently existing APS networks in Doha as well as the morphological consequences for urban fabrics due to the recent economic diversification process. The applied methodologies include a network analysis of 98 APS firms in order to investigate the current characteristics of advanced producer services sectors in Doha. The dynamics in recent urban developments are investigated using a comparative assessment of GIS data of the city in 2003 and 2013 as well as a Space Syntax analysis, which is used to investigate the spatial integration of office locations in Doha. Furthermore, 350 questionnaires of employees engaged in APS firms were evaluated in order to examine the locations of their weekly activities. These empirical investigations of various parameters within contemporary urbanism provide insights into how the transition into a service hub based on emerging knowledge economies and their networks is currently interdependent with increasing urban qualities.

Many people associate the medieval Arabic lands with a flourishing of science. However, when people think of the contemporary Arab world, they are more likely to think of political and religious conflicts than of scientific discoveries. In contrast to these common associations, however, the oil-rich Gulf monarchies in particular have made enormous investments in research and higher education in recent years and decades. These investments raise an array of pertinent questions: Is the Arab world about to regain its past position as a leading producer of science in the world? Do politics and religion in the region support or resist the proliferation of science? Are the Gulf's universities and research centers new ‘houses of wisdom’ like the libraries of the medieval Arab world? Or are they houses built on sand? As science is crucial to the creation of knowledge societies, answering these questions is important for understanding the future of the Arab world. Answering these questions requires an in-depth analysis of the recent history of science in Arabia. The paper focuses on biology, and in particular evolutionary biology, because of its importance and controversial status. On the one hand, Gulf governments have invested millions of dollars in biological research with the intention of improving health care and developing agriculture. The research was also intended to preserve certain flagship species, like the Arabian oryx, and practices, like falconry, as symbols of national identity. This research covered the evolutionary adaptations that enabled organisms to survive in the harsh environments of Arabia. On the other hand, several Gulf governments have banned the theory of evolution, the central theory of modern biology, and sought to replace it with Islamic creationism. The paper examines what enabled scientists to undertake innovative research into evolutionary biology under the constraints of such contradictory policies. If evolutionary biology as a sensitive subject can flourish in the Arab world, so can any field of science. The paper argues that networks, in particular social networks, were crucial to the development of research on biological evolution in the Gulf monarchies. Typical of rentier societies, some of the scientific networks consisted of vertical patron-client relationships. Princes and sheikhs interested in wildlife conservation offered patronage to biologists who worked on desert ecology. They thus shielded the biologists from attacks by religious scholars and from official constraints. However, at least as important as vertical links were more horizontal ones between scientists. Biologists working on evolution often received considerable inspiration from partners at foreign universities. In these partnerships, Gulf scientists often provided funds, and foreign scientists provided the scientific expertise. These foreign partners were often situated at hubs of global scientific networks. Through these networks, biology in the Gulf monarchies formed part of transnational science. Given the strengths and importance of these networks, I argue that we should look at the Arab world as an area interconnected with global science rather than as a poor, peripheral region.

“This project is a trans-­disciplinary and cross-­organizational analysis between Northwestern University in Qatar and Qatar Museum Authority into the viable and effective use of motion-­sensing technologies in museums and cultural spaces for dissemination of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). We will explore alternative opportunities for knowledge transfer of ICH content that manifest with playfulness in order to elicit a deeper understanding of such intangible cultural artifacts with specific focus on cultural dance. The project will examine motion-­sensing technologies that extend learning experiences beyond those that remain behind the computer or television screen bringing ICH content into an intelligent kinesthetic learning environment. Initial prototypes created, as a product of this work, will capture live performances for training an artificially intelligent dance instructor and playback in the form of an interactive dance based application. It will be evaluated in a supervised museum environment where measures of technology efficacy, engagement and learning outcomes will be evaluated. ”

This paper presents the findings of an Undergraduate Research Experience Program (UREP) research project funded by Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF). This interdisciplinary research project brings together architecture and sociolinguistics students and faculty members to develop a socio-cultural understanding and interpretation of the structures, designs, and physical dimensions of traditional elements employed by the members of the traditional society of Qatar from two complementary perspectives. The focus of this study is on identifying the multiple meanings and physical representations associated with elements of architecture, exemplified in the case of Qatari traditional architecture. These multiple meanings are dealt with from both architectural and multimodal discursive perspectives. The rationale behind this interdisciplinary approach is the fact that these two approaches are complementary to each other. This is because architecture spaces and elements act as a field and context where peoples' practices and activities take place, Hence, these practices are intricately interwoven with the architectural, i.e. structural and design, peculiarities of the individual spaces. One hundred Qatari traditional elements were selected for the purpose of this investigation within a framework of multimodal analysis. This approach takes into consideration the multiple modes through which meanings are constructed, i.e. building materials, structures and shapes of buildings, types of people who are entitled to use a particular building, activities that are organized around a space, to mention just a few. The project offers the opportunity to undergraduate students and faculty members from diverse disciplines to collaborate in an interdisciplinary research project, and thus to benefit from each other's background knowledge, ideas, and skills. The study recommends that this multidisciplinary approach be applied in undergraduate, postgraduate and other scholarly research pertaining to the study of traditional architecture and urban heritage. It proved to provide a better understanding and to serve as a strong motivation for students to engage themselves in research than an unidisciplinary approach.

In order to evaluate the quality of its survey data, SESRI implemented since 2010 a system of re-interviewing a sub-sample of respondents. These re-interviews usually take place not more than six days from the date of the first interview for the original survey production. Results from these interviews are used as an instrument to analyze non-sampling error and to estimate response inconsistencies, to identify reasons for discrepancies for selected questions for the same respondents, as well as to determine interviewer cheating. Applying the Gross Difference Rate (GDR), Index of Inconsistency (IOI) and Reliability Rate (RR) to estimate variances in respondents' answers, this paper presents the results of the re-interviewing study of the 2012 Qataris' Attitudes Towards the Foreign Workers in Qatar. The results are intended for researchers and data collection organizations to improve the quality of data they collect and use.

Precedents Precedents in the fields of architecture, interior design, and allied disciplines indicate that the built environments that we design and in which we inhabit, work, and entertain have been designed with subjective design orientations with minimal or total negligence of emerging neuroscience contributions. Emerging neuroscience research shows that environmental-related activities such as wayfinding, perception, cognitive mapping and their behavioral consequences—anxiety, stress, happiness, arousal—are both reflected in our brains—neural structures and electro-chemical processes (Zeisel, 2006; Eberhard, 2007; Swanson, 2011; Mallgrave, 2011). These findings proffer solid physiological data (hard science) that pave the way for further research that will decipher the correlation between the design/architecture and the brain/neural activity. Purpose The purpose of this funded research is to explore and compare the behavioral and neural responses of ten adults, when exposed to four classes of images a) positive images, b) negative images, c) neutral images, and d) illuminated luminous ceiling images ) using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging fMRI technology. Methodology To do so, a purposeful sampling was used to generate ten adults living in the northwest of Texas. The purposeful sampling permitted the selection of gender (male and female), age (20-60 years old range), ethnicity (white/Caucasian), right handedness (brain lateralization), and with no prior exposition to an fMRI experiment. The participants undergo 1) an anatomical scan and 2) a functional scan while a random sequence of images (positive, neutral, negative, and sky ceiling images) are projected by a computer controlled visual presentation system. Each participant evaluated 32 images (eight images in each category). This has generated a 40-45 minutes scanner experiment for each participant. Behavioral data were analyzed using grounded theory; while the neural data maps were analyzed using a basic psychometric approach. Findings/Discussion The brain neural mapping as generated by the fMRI constitutes an unparalleled solid scientific biological data, which permitted and facilitated a comparison between behavioral and neurological data. Besides the use behavioral data, the use of fMRI has provided an original opportunity to examine the neurological mechanisms associated with exposure to simulated nature conditions. This has facilitated for the first time in design disciplines cross-check data validity to support or nullify existing behavioral paradigms/theories. Likewise, the preliminary findings of this exploration support precedents that exposure to nature images has beneficial impact on people's psychological, emotional, and behavioral responses. Similarly, in both behavioral and fMRI data, the sky factory images and the presumed positive images were both find to stimulated positive appraisal. More results will be shared with the conference attendees for feedback.

Globalisation of business, research and education is posing a number of challenges to senior management in both education establishment (Knight, 2004; Bogotch and Maslin-Ostrowski, 2010) as well as related ministries (Ka Ho Mok, 2007; Chen, Yat Wai Lo, 2013). The attempts of the Bologna process to set the foundations for degrees mapping (and potentially reciprocal recognition), is way far from solving the problems presently faced by policy and decision makers in education. Establishing a common ground for the mapping of the present set of curricula is not enough, there is the need for a much deeper understanding of the implications (Pursiainen, Medvedev, 2005) that a globalised world places. Insourcing of educational models in a specific cultural context needs to be proved beneficial on a case by case context. Outsourcing Higher Education of the wealthiest part of the society by sending the best students abroad is not a solution either. While the experience of studying abroad is invaluable (it opens up the mind to a multi-cultural, multi-language and multi-faith context) it also entails some risks and not all of the gained experience may be directly applicable in one-own context. To cherry-pick from the best-of-breed education systems in a non-planned, systemic and organic manner leads to an inconsistent and potentially incomplete knowledge transfer. The work carried out in this respect for the adoption of the Bologna process (Shaw, at al 2013; Crosier, Parveva, 2013) has made clear that it is not enough to endorse a system, it is necessary to adapt it to the local culture. The changes cannot be confined to the higher education domain, but on the contrary need to be percolated in the entire education system. This requires adopting a transformative approach to the education system aiming at improving its effectiveness, efficacy and quality. Education needs to be revolving around values (aimed at building the new generation of citizens that can also become scholars, managers, leaders), critical thinking and strive for excellence. Positive experiences as well as negative ones must be taken into account. Marta A. Shaw, David W. Chapman & Nataliya L. Rumyantseva (2013) Organizational culture in the adoption of the Bologna process: a study of academic staff at a Ukrainian university, Studies in Higher Education, 38:7, 989-1003 Crosier,D. Parveva, T. (2013) The Bologna Process: Its impact on higher education development in Europe and beyond, UNESCO: International Institute for Educational Planning, published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Pursiainen, C. and Medvedev, S.A. (eds.). The Bologna Process and its Implications for Russia. The European Integration of Higher Education. Ð M.: RECEP, 2005. Bogotch,I. and Maslin-Ostrowski,P. (2010) Internationalizing Educational Leadership: How a University Department Jumps the Curve From Local to International, Educational Administration Quarterly, 46: 210 Ka Ho Mok (2007) Questing for Internationalization of Universities in Asia: Critical Reflections, Journal of Studies in International Education, 11: 433 Dorothy Iru Chen, William Yat Wai Lo (2013) Internationalization or commodification? A case study of internationalization practices in Taiwan's higher education, Asia Pacific Educ. Rev., 14:33-41

Recent research suggests a diverse range of motivational influences are involved in the decision to gamble and in the maintenance of gambling behaviour. However, to date, much of the existing research is cross sectional which prevents the temporal nature of gambling motivations and behaviour to be examined. To address this gap, the current longitudinal study surveyed 895 members from a community sample about their gambling behaviour and motivations to gamble at two time periods, twelve months apart. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) was employed as a framework to model the respondents' beliefs about expected outcomes of gambling, perceptions of others gambling, erroneous beliefs, intention to gamble and gambling behaviour. Consistent with the assumptions of the TPB, beliefs about the outcomes of gambling, social perceptions and erroneous beliefs were related to the intention to gamble at time one. In addition, the predictive validity of the model was supported with gambling intention (time 1) predicting subsequent gambling frequency. Further analysis revealed gambling behaviour was equally as intentional for non at-risk gamblers (PGSI = 0) and those classified as at-risk gamblers (PGSI > 2). Furthermore, respondents' unplanned behaviour was partial explained by changes in gambling beliefs. Taken together, the current study suggests that the frequency of gambling is predominately intentional, despite the level of gambling involvement, and that changes in motivation correspond with changes in gambling behaviour.

The purpose of this study is to develop a decision making model based on the grey relational analysis for auditing firm selection. The auditing firm selection is a multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) problem that is affected by quantitative and qualitative factors, some of which may conflict with each other. Since most of the input information is not known accurately, selecting the right auditing firm becomes more difficult. Grey theory is one of the new mathematical methods used to analyze systems with uncertain and incomplete information. In this research, using a multi-criteria decision making approach, the grey system theory has been used to capture the complexity inherent in auditing firm selection process. A comprehensive literature review is carried out to arrive at the most important criteria for selecting an auditing firm and the alternatives considered are the big four auditing firms. Then with the help of decision makers in Qatar, the weight and rating of criteria for all alternatives are described by linguistic variables that can be expressed in grey number. This is followed by proposed grey possibility degree to determine the ranking order of all alternatives. Finally, the best auditing firm is proposed based on their grey ranking. The novelty of the approach lies in its consideration of the of multiple criteria simultaneously for the selection of an auditing firm. The proposed model is expected to serve as an to aid top management and chief financial officers in their decision of selection of an auditing firm.

ملخص تتناول الدراسة طبيعة عقود الخيارات المالية (Options Financial) في الأسواق المالية والتجارية العالمية المنظمة، والطريقة التقليدية التي يتم تداول الأصول المالية والحقيقية بها، كما تتناول آراء الباحثين والإقتصاديين الإسلاميين حولها، وهي آراء تتلخص بعدم موافقة الخيارات في واقعها العملي مع أدبيات الإقتصاد الإسلامي، لكن بالنظر إلى وظائف هذه الخيارات وما تقدمه من منافع للدول ومؤسساتها، مثل: (الإستثمار، والمضاربة، والتحوط)، فليس في هذه الوظائف ما يخالف أدبيات الإقتصاد الإسلامي من حيث المبدأ، بل لا يستطيع النظام المالي التقليدي أو الإسلامي الإستغناء عنها، لذا هدفت الدراسة إلى معرفة مدى إمكانية إعادة هندسة هذه الخيارات وفق أدبيات الإقتصاد الإسلامي والإفادة منها، وسيتم التأكد من إمكانية تحقق ذلك بتحديد عناصر مخالفة الخيارات المالية لأحكام الشريعة الإسلامية، والتي تتمثل في: (إستخدام الخيارات من قبل المستثمرين بغرض المضاربات غير المشروعة، المتمثلة تحديداً في عنصرين، الأول: عدم التسلم والتسليم في موعد تصفية العقد، والإستعاضة عن ذلك بالتسوية النقدية، وهي المقامرة في الفقه الإسلامي، والثاني: التورط في إحدى محددات العرض والطلب المصطنعة). وعند إستثناء هذين العنصرين من عقود الخيارات، والإلتزام بالضوابط الأخرى المبينة في الدراسة، سيتم التوصل إلى تصميم خيارات مالية إسلامية جديدة، يمكن (للأفراد، والشركات، والحكومات) الإفادة منها في أسواق المال المحلية والدولية التقليدية والإسلامية، متميزة بتقديم ذات الوظائف للمستثمرين والمتحوطين المهتمين بالتداول وفق أحكام الشريعة الإسلامية. الكلمات الدالة: الخيارات المالية، الأسواق المالية، الأصول المالية والحقيقية، الإقتصاد الإسلامي، الإستثمار، المضاربة، التحوط، المقامرة، خيار الشراء، خيار البيع.

Museums are increasingly placing digital images of portions of their collections online. Weblogs of visits to these online 'digital museums' can then analysed to give the collection curators a sense of what portions of the digital collections are attracting the greatest degree of interest (as coarsely measured by 'hits' on images). Some sites support commenting by viewers, and these comments also can be useful in gaining insight into the interests of the viewers [1] and can be 'mined' to suggest additional useful metadata for the collection [2]. However, these digital museums generally include only a small fraction of the items on display in the physical museum. We propose a method for uncovering visitor interest across the entire physical museum's display, by 'mining' a public repository of personal photographs for photos taken during visits to the museum. The visitors can be assumed to take photos of those museum exhibits that has the highest personal impact on them—for example, if they find the item to be interesting, shocking, entertaining, or so forth. In this case study we examine photos of visits to the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, as uploaded to Flickr. Specifically, we select a sample of 500 photos tagged with "Qatar Islamic Museum" (the keywords that appear to be most common for this museum). From that sample we manually categorized the images to be either photos of the museum itself, or photos of item(s) in the collection. For each of these base categories, we further downloaded and analysed the metadata applied by the photographer to the image, Comments that other Flickr users added, and the number of times that the image was Favorited by Flickr users. The photographs of collection items were further manually manually grouped and characterized by item type (eg, Ceramics, Tapestries, etc.). Where possible, multiple images of the same object were identified. These results of the manual analysis support an insight into the visitor experience to the Museum of Islamic Art. We also present a prototype of a 'control panel' for the Museum that will allow the Museum's curators to automate the process of downloading photos of the Museum and its collection, together with the Flickr metadata accessible through the Flickr API (Comments, Favorite counts, etc). This data is then displayed in an Excel spreadsheet together with the original photo, and macros support the curator in analysing the data. We argue that this system will support the curators in seeing the Museum from a visitor's point of view—to gain insights into what they enjoyed, valued, and connected with most strongly. [1] Cunningham, S.J., and Mahoui, M. 2013. Interacting with and through a digital library collection: Commenting behaviour in Flickr's The Commons. Proceedings of JCDL 2013, 23 - 26. [2] Momeni, El., Tao, K., Haslhofer, B., and Houben, G-J. 2013. Identification of useful user comments in social media: A case study on Flickr Commons. Proceedings of JCDL 2013, 4 - 12.

In this interactive poster (a set of public web demos) we present insights into the socio-cultural activity in Qatar as seen on Twitter. Our starting point is the identification of around 70,000 active Twitter users that are, either permanently or temporarily, based in Qatar. This identification is done using a number of features such as (i) the self-stated location, (ii) the geo-tagged position of tweets from geo-enabled mobile devices, and (iii) a large amount of interest (= following) in local Twitter accounts such as @dohanews (“Doha News”), or @qatarevents (“I love Qatar”). Comparing to estimates from the Arab Social Media Report compiled by the Dubai School of Government we are confident that our sample includes the majority of active Twitter users in Qatar. For this user population we regularly obtain all their public tweets using the public Twitter API and annotate them with geographic co-ordinates (if the tweets comes from a mobile device) and with the language used. Language detection is performed using state-of-the-art libraries which work well for most cases but still fail for the comparatively small number of Tweets in Arabizi or other transliterated languages. The first demo visualizes the variation in language usage in different parts of Qatar in general and Doha in specific. Whereas English dominates in West Bay, Arabic dominates in less urban areas and Tagalog, the main Philippine language, is very prominent in the Industrial Area. This simple analysis already illustrates potential applications for more systematic social science studies. The second demo visualizes the “pulse of the city” and allows the user to select a day of the week, time of the day and language of interest. Areas that are more or less active than expected are highlighted which provides insights into where people live, work or are actives on weekends. For the last demo, we manually compiled topical lists of words related to topics such as traffic, sports, shopping, religious activities and references, family and friends, and work. These lists are translated to English, Arabic and Tagalog, the main languages in our data set. The user then has the option to see areas with an increased activity either in time (e.g. mosques for religion) or in space (e.g. Aspire for sports). We believe that this exploratory, interactive study shows promising potential for large scale demographic studies as well as for survey-type analysis to get insights into the worries and concerns of large parts of the populations. Though the Twitter population is clearly not a representative sample of the offline population, a bias could potentially be corrected by weighting different members in the sample differently. For example, older users or Indian workers, two groups that are underrepresented in our current data, could be given additional weight. We hope that our interactive presentation will initiate conversations and spark new ideas on how to use Social Media for social science research.

Traditionally countries looked at measuring well-being in terms of income growth. But size and growth of GDP reflects aggregate economic performance and is not necessarily a good measure of individual or national well-being ― low income groups may not always benefit ― and increasing GDP growth is unsustainable if depleting the natural resource base. International policy focus now shifting to measuring well-being of individuals and nations and quality of lives of individuals and populations. New and innovative methods to monitor well-being and happiness are being devised by international agencies, some countries, as well as NGOs and private sector. National well-being is now being understood and measured through many dimensions of people's lives, attitudes and aspirations using traditional and non-traditional data sources. The paper will provide a background on the evolving international focus on measures of well-being, including the approaches of UNDP, Stiglitz, government of the UK, Legatum Institute, OECD, BCG and Gallup/Silatech, and make the case for developing a well-being index for Qatar. It will touch on Qatar's new Social Prosperity Index and present the methodology and results of new measures of well-being for Qatar in the domains of health, education and environment

Many regions in the Middle East are currently implementing bilingual-type programmes in their national education. The abundance of initiatives in the region (e.g. Qatar, UAE, and Bahrain) suggest that this represents more than just a quantitative increase of second language provision in schools. This marks a shift from bilingual education being for the elite only towards encapsulating forms of bilingual education within public education. However, with the lack of formal documents and super-national language policies formulated to state the goals, policies and guidance for language education in the states (such as The European Commission's White Paper on Education and Training, 1995, or the Plurilingualism Promotion Plan issued by the Andalusian government in 2005) presents a caveat increased by the scarcity of research to surround these bilingual practices before and after the national changes in education and the language-in-education issues. Documenting this change is informative for the educational sector internationally especially with the interest in educational exportation in recent years. This study sought to gain an insight into the policy and practice of language-in-education in the Qatari educational system by exploring and describing the organisation and implementation of bilingual education in Qatar. It focused on the bilingual programmes offered to Qatari students and Arabic speaking children at international and independent primary schools in the unique linguistic and socio-economic context of Qatar, where Modern Standard Arabic, English and the Qatari dialect are spoken. Following a case study approach, I attempted to determine how bilingual education was conceived and carried out in international and independent schools by investigating various aspects of their bilingual and biliteracy practices. I concentrated on arrangements for the allocation, distribution, and separation of two languages (Arabic and English) with respect to fourth grade children. In addition to observing the bilingual methods and biliteracy approaches used in the classroom, and interviewing the teachers, I examined secondary data drawn from a database.The analysis of the two cases examined revealed various differences across two types of schools within a small country such as Qatar. Following a thematic approach the results are discussed within two corollaries: curricular organization and classroom praxis. Findings reveal that the international school followed a partial immersion type of bilingual education while the independent school followed a CLIL-type of bilingual education. The findings also reveal interesting results of the prominent use of IRF type of exchanges in both L1 and L2 classes. The flexible language use and purposive code-switching were discussed and documented as significant contributions to key concerns in contemporary bilingual education. As a whole the two case studies, supported by some statistical descriptions, reflected an instance of the official bilingual education context in Qatar.

In multilingual context of the present Iran, recent years have witnessed a significant tendency among families in indigenous communities to undermine the mother tongue and speak the official language of Persian to young children. Therefore, the present study aimed at finding out the main reasons for language shift from native to official among Dehloran families in Ilam, Iran. A questionnaire consisted of 46 items to identify the main reasons for language shift was distributed among 206 participants to reflect their views on the basis of a five-point Likert scale from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree. Results indicated that the majority of people related language shift to reasons such as the belief in better understanding of educational materials in school as well as achieving fluency in Persian, the role of Persian as the lingua franca of all Iranian ethnics, and the use of Persian in expanded domains. Moreover, the participants believed that the language shift is not confined to a particular social class but is pervasive among all members of the society.

D-Loop of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is widely used to investigate the chicken populations history, origin, migration or evolution. No previous genetic data is available on the chicken from the Arabian Peninsula. In this study, a 420 bp fragment of D-Loop of Mitochondrial (mtDNA) was used to estimate the genetic diversity and origins of local chickens in Arabian Peninsula (including the isle of Socotra) and Somalia. From 207 sequences (175 from the current study and 32 from GenBank), we retrieved a total of 27 haplotypes with an average haplotype diversity of 0.7588 (±0.0300). From 5 chicken populations in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Socotra Island and Somalia, we revealed 3 distinct clades; clade E, a likely Indian subcontinent origin as the commonest clade in Oman, Saudi Arabia and Socotra Island; clade C, a Southeast Asia origin appeared mainly in Somalia and clade A, Southeast and/or East Asia origin appeared in few individuals. We attributed the wide presence of clade E to the seafaring trade and migration routes around Indian Ocean that has linked Arabian Peninsula with Indus Valley (center of origin). The results of Mantel test indicated that the relationship between chickens of clade E in India, Arabia, Northeast Africa, East Africa and Southeast Africa is subjected to Isolation by Distance. Our findings can provide other evidences to the role of Arabian Peninsula in the ancient historical maritime and terrestrial contacts between Asia and Africa, and indicated the presence of large maternal genetic diversity in the region, which could potentially support genetic improvement programs.

Entrepreneurial Learning in a Multi-generational Family Business: Evidence from Nigeria Abstract Although a long-standing phenomenon, family business as an economic and social phenomenon has started to receive greater attention and focus from the academic research body, mainly due to the widespread of this type of businesses worldwide and their impact on economy. The subject of entrepreneurship has long been studied and the family business is considered to be the dominant form of organization in the world (Hoy and Sharma, 2012), there have still been calls for more research and studies that connects entrepreneurship and family systems (family and business) (Aldrich and Cli, 2003). Entrepreneurial learning is understood as how people acquire knowledge and enact new behaviours in the process of recognizing and acting on opportunities and of organizing and managing ventures (Rea & Carswell, 2000). Learning is an integral part of the entrepreneurial process in which human and social aspects hold as much importance as economic factors. Although entrepreneurship is an on-going process, the entrepreneur is considered central to the process as his/her entrepreneurial activities enable the existing/new organization to come into existence or correspond to the venture requirements. In family business, family members have to assume the role of innovator, manager, business owner, staff and so on, at various stages of the business and each role requires unique set of skills whose possession and application translate into a unique learning exercise. Accordingly, early participation in the day-to-day practice of the business develops a strong identification of family members with the business, a sense of ownership and a responsibility for the business preparing them not only to be fit to run a certain type of business but also to be able to identify and capitalize on opportunities (entrepreneurial learning). The paper draws on an empirical study of three generations in two family businesses through in-depth interviews, observations and organizational records. Six individual interviews were undertaken with non-family members and members of the family who had taken over or were working in the business. Data analysis was carried out via a qualitative data analysis software - NVivo - comparing both within-case and across-case analyses. The paper suggests that in family businesses, there is asymmetry between the participation of the three generations; and that entrepreneurial learning varies relatively in the first, second and third generations. Similarly, the founding generation participated through collaboration, expertise and communication while subsequent generations participated through apprenticeship, communication and new resources (especially human and social capital resources). Multi-generational entrepreneurial learning in family systems depended on the ability to replicate and transform practice, and this plays an important role in the generative capacity of a family business. We anticipate that our findings will add credence to theory (better understanding of entrepreneurial learning in a developing country), practice (useful information for family business owners) and education (development and enhancement of the curriculum on family business).

This QNRF-funded project features a cross-national investigation of the influence of higher education development and science capacity-building on scientific knowledge production. Measuring science on the basis of published papers in selected STEM disciplines, we identify factors behind national differences and global similarities. How does variation in national models and strategies to develop higher education and research universities explain long-term cross-national trajectories in science productivity over the 20th century? Observing unprecedented growth in scientific knowledge productivity, we selected six national cases that represent three phases of higher education development and science-based societies: a major European precursor model (Germany), American broad institutionalization of the currently dominant model, and, finally, Asian (Japan, China, Taiwan) and Middle Eastern (Qatar) innovators seeking to learn from the best. The enormous potential of a knowledge economy and society depends on continued production of scientific knowledge, but also its specification and enhanced quality. Even though scientists globally add to the world's store of scientific knowledge, there are significant cross-national differences in relative contribution. While global production grows substantially, a few nations still produce the overwhelming majority of new science. For example, the U.S. leads the world in research, producing 21% of all research papers (2004-2008). Together with China (10%), UK (7%), Japan (6%) and Germany (6%), these five countries contribute 60% of all publications globally (UKRS 2011). Our preliminary research suggests that differences in key aspects of institutional models of higher education development and science capacity-building are associated with cross-national differences in scientific knowledge production over time. We use mixed methods to analyze the institutional model of higher education development and science capacity-building in these nations over time. Our main measure is the number of published papers in journals, relying on a unique dataset from Thomson Reuters' Web of Science (1900-2011). Examining trends in journal publications in selected STEM disciplines, we analyze how universities, investments in higher education and science, international collaborations, and scientific networks have changed to create the conditions for the "knowledge society". Mainly, this poster presentation explains the influential German institutional model of the research university, which enjoyed preeminent status in modern science's early institutionalization. Placing primacy on autonomous science and valorizing the unity of teaching and research, this type of university continues to dominate German higher education. Yet massive tertiary educational expansion, the rise of extra-university research institutes, and establishment of praxis-oriented universities of applied sciences challenge the foundational principle, threaten this globally popular model, and reduce university-based research capacity in Germany. Nevertheless, Germany's dual pillars of mass universities and prestigious independent research institutes continue to boast one of the largest national scientific outputs globally. With an annual R&D investment of 2.84% GDP (2011), Germany has among the highest levels of science investment in Europe. Measured in publications, Germany still competes at the very top. While still a model for other countries, other top science countries today rely on their universities more in producing competitive science than does Germany. UK Royal Society (2011): Knowledge, Networks and Nations: Global Collaborations in the 21st Century. London

Languages are passed down through generations from parents to children by communication. Yet linguists find that languages (and varieties of languages) change over time - but at different rates. This study mainly aims at investigating semantic and word changes that took place in the Qatari colloquial Arabic over a period of thirty years. The research began by interviewing forty Qatari locals. The participants came from two age groups: (18-24 years) and (55-61 years) - this is to document change over time. The interview examined the presence of semantic changes in the Qatari colloquial Arabic. The linguistic variable in this study was a list of forty-five dialectical terms and expressions that were commonly used by adults 30 years ago. The second part of the research method included investigating the origin of each term from Kitab al-'Ayn (the first dictionary of the Arabic language) and Lisan Al Arab to confirm that they come from Arabic. The results of the research vary. The majority of the lexical items under investigation presented some form of change over the two generations; they showed phonetic, semantic as well as other types of change. There was also evidence of terms that were borrowed from languages such as Farsi, English and Urdo and incorporated into the Qatari local dialect, after undergoing phonetic change. Languages change for a variety of reasons. History reveals many examples of dialect change fuelled by migration/movement, colonization and economic growth. One finding of this research is that the vocabulary an individual uses nowadays is a social marker of age. An example of this includes the word ?????? )?ambalou?), meaning ambulance. This lexical item was borrowed from English before going through a phonological change, and users of this term tend to be from an older generation. The changes happening to the Qatari colloquial Arabic is an undocumented phenomenon. The study increases the awareness about the development of the language in the country and is a research platform for further investigation in the field.

Student Notes to Foster Teaching Enhancements in Learning the Qur'an: From the Lens of Non-Arabic Speakers Background Proper recitation of the Qur'an requires learning the correct ma-kha-rij (exit: the point of articulation of each letter) of the Arabic letters. For adult non-Arabic students, this requires methodologies that suit their various attitude and learning styles. In usual practice, lessons are prepared by the teachers. They are the ones identifying and preparing the objectives, subject, methodology, and exercises. Students are taught as expressed in the teacher's plan. In a detailed lesson plan, however, student's responses are even ideally assumed or expected to be responded in a certain way. But have they considered asking their students how to teach them instead? This study explores how the adult non-Arabic speaking students learn the Qur'an. Specifically, it seeks to investigate adult learning attitudes and learning methods of non-Arabic speakers using their class notes. Methodology This study uses qualitative method through interview and classroom observation designs. It utilizes a mixed of closed and open-ended questionnaire for the teachers and the students. These tools are validated. It uses descriptive statistics. Respondents are teachers and students of Norania Qaida class of 2012-2013. Results The innate nature to teach becomes natural as an adult learner. It further imbibes an attitude to greater motivation and eagerness to learn. This makes a student and a teacher different in their own ways. In exploring the students' notes, learning is now expressed in varied forms; the unique teaching methodology employed by the teacher and student's learning styles. This study also identifies the relationship between cognition of student's mother tongue and difficulty in learning a new language. While it is common to some that some Arabic Letters are difficult to some nationalities, it is not the same with others. For example, some Arabic letters such as letters “dhad”, “ssad” are difficult to all non-Arabic speakers, however, it is observed that letter “ha” is easier for Indonesians, letter “waw” are pronounced differently for Indians, “qaf” and “ka” are light for stiff (Tagalog) “ka” for Filipinos and so on. Teacher and students have long used the traditional method of repetition and constant practice, both attests to its benefits. Tags: Arabic Language, Qur'an, adult learning, student learning, methodology, non-Arabic speakers, student notes, teaching enhancement