ABSTRACT
The main purpose of this study is to investigate and understand the experience of Communication and Media students in Arab countries toward Distance Learning. An online survey questionnaire was used to collect data and investigate students' perceptions of distance learning. A total of 494 students (293 females and 201 males) affiliated with 54 universities from 12 Arab countries participated in the survey. The findings of the study show that 25 out of 54 participating universities used at least two platforms for distance learning during the Corona pandemic. The top three platforms used by the participants were Zoom, WhatsApp, and Microsoft Teams. The majority of participants indicated that they attended both theoretical and practical courses online during the pandemic. © 2023, North American Business Press. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Advanced technologies are leading to a vital change in city life and turning the urban planning development plans. The new technical development initiatives have evolutionary transform the urban infrastructure by optimizing planning of resources use and through information technology systems. Post COVID-19 raised interesting question that if another pandemic or major threat in the future, would urban areas be sufficiently prepared to respond based on the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic? This paper highlights the Expo City Dubai case in light of smart city and smart tourism destination. The emphasis is on dual approach of usage of smart technologies as residential areas and tourist place in term of planning and provision of facilities. This research figure out the planning instruments applied in smart strategies in Expo City by focusing on how sustainability indicators are considered under the smart paradigm. The discussion revealed that Expo City is fulfilling the requirements of being a smart destination by displaying novel technical applications of 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics. The final discussion contextualizes by proposing potential areas of synthesis, applications for planning practice, and areas of future research in sustainable urban city planning. © 2022 IEEE.
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Student performance was affected due to the covid-19 pandemic;therefore, electronic (E), mobile (M), and distance (D) learning are the significant solution for this issue and needs researchers' focus. This study examines the impact of E learning, M learning, and D-Iearning on student performance in educational institutions in the UAE. Besides, this study investigates the moderating impact of institutional support on E-Iearning, M-learning, D-Iearning, and student performance in educational institutions in the UAE. The data were collected from students using questionnaires utilizing smart-PLS to check the data reliability and relationships among variables. The results indicated that E-Iearning, M-Iearning, and D-Iearning have a positive impact on student performance in educational institutions in the UAE. The results also revealed that the institutional support significantly moderates E-Iearning, M-learning, D-Iearning, and student performance in educational institutions in the UAE. The findings of this study help policymakers in establishing the policies related to the improvement of student performance using E learning, M-learning, and D-Iearning. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
The interconnectedness of sectors displays the demand for inputs and supply as a level of output in any economy. This paper addresses the Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in Kazakhstan sectors by using input-output tables during 2012-2017. The change in total sectoral production was separated into two parts: the changes in technical coefficients of intermediate inputs and the change in value-added inputs, respectively. The main findings have identified a changing pattern in sectoral performance. At the same time, the result justified that various sectors such as;petroleum, manufacturing, construction, and food processing sectors have shown increased productivity. The country highly depends on extractive industries but still has better manufacturing value-added performance. The study suggests that to combat challenges like COVID-19 and climate change, it is vital to develop human capital and diversity. With diversification and innovative measures, an economy can attain sustainable economic growth in the long term.
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The COVID-19 crisis has caused sudden pressure on health sector all around worldwide to meet the emergent safety and care needs. The pandemic has caused many governments to invest in technology to meet the increased healthcare demand. In the same lines, current study discussed the various digital solutions used in UAE healthcare sector amid pandemic. These solutions helped to facilitate people at wide scale while dropping the infection rate in the country. The adoption of technologies also displays the collaborated role of UAE government and health authorities. This unified approach has made UAE as a safest destination for nationals, residents and visitors. The innovative policies helped to meet the sudden health care challenges while paving the new road towards telemedicine. The study suggested that careful policies needed to have sustainable implementation of digital health approach. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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The loyalty of the customers is very important for the survival of the organizations. Therefore, the prime objective of the present study was to examine the effect of sensory factors namely visual factors, auditory factors, and touch factors on customer satisfaction and loyalty. For this purpose, data were collected from the respondents of restaurants in the UAE in the form of survey questionnaires. A convenience sampling technique was adopted for this purpose. The usable response rate from the data collected was 75.78%. For the analysis of the data gathered PLS-SEM was used for which smart PLS was used as the tool to examine the data. The findings of the study revealed that visual factors play a very important role in developing customer satisfaction and loyalty. The same was the findings regarding the positive role of the other two sensory factors. Moreover, the mediating role of customer satisfaction was also confirmed in the present study. The gaps filled by the study are mentioned and discussed. These results can be used by academicians and policymakers as well. © 2022 by the authors;licensee Growing Science, Canada.
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Stakeholders management is attracting more attention in the construction industry, and this has been particularly the case during the COVID-19 as the stakeholders’ role has been either absent or neglected. In this situation, limitations are seen to exist in the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) methodology, and consequently, more effort is required to improve risk mitigation. The aim of this study is to review the best practice as seen in the literature relating to the impact of stakeholder management. In this respect, twenty articles are reviewed, showing the promising possibility of developing a framework for ERM. Specifically, the findings from the analysis highlighted eight stakeholder-related parameters with high impact, these being: maturity, sustainability, decision-making strategy, leadership and guidelines, knowledge-sharing and culture, social responsibility, risk auditing and standardization, and training. The strength of risk response can be vastly improved if all these parameters are taken into account in the ERM methodology adopted during periods of crisis. © 2022, Jordan University of Science and Technology. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 has caused a state of emergency not only in the UAE but also around the globe. Following the preventive measures, the government of UAE has closed temporarily all types of educational institutes, replacing them by other institutes, thus shifting to e-learning. Therefore, this study aims at examining the role of information and communication technology, e-service quality, and e-information quality towards the brand image of universities by concentrating on students’ e-learning. More specifically, this study investigates the impact of the information and communication ethnobiology post COVID-19 on the university’s brand image of Alain University in UAE as one of the leading universities. The contribution of the study is twofold. First, the study is among the pioneering studies that have proposed a framework to develop an excellent online learning system, which can promote the university’s brand image. Second, this study fills the gap by investigating the subject in the context of a Gulf country, which is among the most affected thirty countries due to COVID-19. It is, therefore, a critical contemporary issue for governments, higher education commissions, and universities to understand the antecedents of the online learning system and their relationships with the university's brand image. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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Purpose: This study aims to investigate and assess the first experience of faculty members and students with distance learning implemented at Al Ain University (AAU) to contain the spread of Coronavirus or COVID-19. The paper attempted to understand faculty and students’ satisfaction with institutional readiness for distance learning and perception towards opportunities and challenges of distance learning. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on data collected in March 2020 through an online survey questionnaire from the participants (students = 445, faculty members = 139). The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) was used in formulating a conceptual framework. The collected data were analysed using several statistical techniques and partial least square structural equation modelling, to test and verify hypotheses. Findings: The study found that, although faculty members and students expressed high satisfaction with the institutional readiness for distance learning and believed in its opportunities and advantages, they expressed concerns about the challenges facing distance learning. Findings of the study indicated a relationship between the status or college of the participant and perceived opportunities and advantages of distance learning. Hypotheses testing supported the study framework and UTAUT theory by identifying and confirming the impact of perceived opportunities of distance learning on satisfaction with the institutional readiness for distance learning. Originality/value: The study suggested that non-distance learning institutions should keep offering courses through distance learning to prevent any shortcomings in the future. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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This paper highlights that, in the Caspian Basin, the COVID-19 pandemic and oil price fluctuations have cast negative impacts on oil-exporting economies. These resource-abundant economies have faced revenue contraction and dwindling budget expenditures due to oil price changes. This study has examined export and economic diversification analyses for all economies and has concluded that the Caspian region cannot achieve full economic diversification due to over-dependence on oil revenues. Most of the export-oriented sectors consist of minerals and oil and gas, neglecting the more sustainable growth of non-resource tradable sectors. As a result, the export diversification index demonstrates that a huge share of exports in these countries is mainly natural resources. Economic diversification, which is based on sectoral value-added, also indicates that these countries show some signs of diversity, but the utmost need to have structural reforms and policy instruments to diversify their revenue stream remains. However, with the passage of time and a renewable energy strategy, these economies will achieve economic diversification targets. © 2020, Institute of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. All rights reserved.