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This paper aims to examine the impact of the assurance and advisory role of internal audit (ADRIA) on organisational, human and technical proactive measures to enhance cybersecurity (CS).

The questionnaire was used to collect data for 97 internal auditors (IAu) from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. The authors used partial least squares (PLS) to test the hypotheses.

The results show a positive effect of the ADRIA on each of the organisational proactive measures, human proactive measures and technical proactive measures to enhance CS. The study also found a positive effect of the confirmatory role of IA on both human proactive measures and technical proactive measures to enhance CS. No effect of the confirmatory role of IA on the organisational proactive measures is found.

This study focused on only three proactive measures to enhance CS, and this study was limited to the opinions of IAu. In addition, the study was limited to using regression analysis according to the PLS method.

The results of this study show that managers need to consider the influential role of IA as a value-adding activity in reducing CS risks and activating proactive measures. Also, IAu must expand its capabilities, skills and knowledge in CS auditing to provide a bold view of cyber threats. At the same time, the institutions responsible for preparing IA standards should develop standards and guidelines that help IAu to play assurance and advisory roles.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of its kind that deals with the impact of the assurance and ADRIA on proactive measures to enhance CS. In addition, the study determines the nature of the advisory role and the assurance role of IA to strengthen CS.

Higher education institutions play a crucial role in pursuing a more sustainable future. Research in sustainable development education (SDE) has grown dramatically in the last two decades because of its importance and global influence. In many universities, sustainability training is restricted to courses, is segregated from the study, and is not connected with sustainable campus operations. Thus, sustainability education is often addressed separately. The study adopted the descriptive-analytical method, and the keywords were adapted and extracted from the United Nations' definition of sustainability and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, in addition to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 framework. This study examined whether sustainability elements are integrated into Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University's curricula (i.e. courses and programs). We were particularly interested in learning how various academic fields integrate sustainability into their curricula. The study results indicated no elective or mandatory courses were designed for sustainable education in the university plan and showed a low degree of integration within the university curricula. For universities, incorporating SDE capabilities within the curriculum has practical ramifications. The curriculum review found that the courses focused chiefly on environmental concerns but enhanced the depth of coverage. Some approaches assist university leaders in devising curricula reforms to promote sustainability learning, providing students with opportunities to reflect on the topic, and bridging the gap between the activities being done at a university to foster sustainability and student perception of what needs to be achieved.

The objective of this study was to delineate and compare enteral nutrition (EN) practices among neonatal units across the Arabian Gulf countries.

A cross-sectional study was conducted by recruiting 255 clinicians working in neonatal units in the Arabian Gulf countries.

Out of 255 invited clinicians, 73 (29%) participated in the survey. Neonatal units used varied EN strategies, where feeding practices exhibited variability. The majority (74%) of units had a local standard feeding protocol, while 18% followed international protocols, and 8% did not adhere to a specific protocol. When maternal milk was not used, the main alternatives were preterm formula (67%) and predigested formula (14%). The age at which the first EN was commenced and the reported advancement rate showed significant variations among different units (p < 0.001). The initiation of fortification was primarily driven by reaching a specific enteral volume (commonly reported as 100 mL/kg/day) and addressing poor postnatal growth. Fortification practices did not differ significantly among professions, except for the initial fortification strength, where none of the dietitians and only 8.3% of neonatologists preferred full strength, compared to 28.6% and 21.4% of medical residents and nurses, respectively (p = 0.033).

This study marks the first exploration of EN practices in neonatal units, examining their local and cross-country variations. It provides valuable insights to guide local trials and foster global collaboration among neonatal units to establish a unified knowledge base, standardized practices and promote research and innovation, ultimately contributing to optimal feeding practices for very preterm infants.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the lockdown and the increased spread of food delivery applications (FD Apps) during COVID-19 pandemic have augmented the consumption of fast foods.

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 673 adults from different regions of Saudi Arabia using an online questionnaire.

Data showed that 61% (N = 410) of participants used FD Apps during the pandemic. Among those users, 54.9% (225) were females and 70.5% were in the 18–44 years old group. Most FD Apps’ users were university graduates (74.4%). The increased use of FD Apps during the pandemic significantly affected the eating behavior and the nutritional pattern. It has further significantly augmented the consumption of fast foods (p-value < 0.05).

This study reports on the use of FD Apps during COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia and its impact on consumer eating pattern. This study shows the need for prudent use of these applications to limit ordering fast foods and consider healthier choices. It further calls for education programs, awareness campaigns, legislative measures and formal policies to rationalize the use of such applications for better nutrition, health and well-being.

The Saudi 2030 Housing Program Vision aims to increase the population of Riyadh City, the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to between 15 and 20 million people. This paper aims to predict the demand for residential units in Riyadh City by 2030 in line with this vision.

This paper adopts a statistical modeling approach to estimate the residential demands for Riyadh City. Several population growth models, including the nonlinear quadratic polynomial spline regression model, the sigmoidal logistic power model and the exponential model, are tested and applied to Riyadh to estimate the expected population in 2030. The growth model closest to the Kingdom’s goal of reaching between 15 and 20 million people in 2030 is selected, and the paper predicts the required number of residential units for the population obtained from the selected model. Desktop database research is conducted to obtain the data required for the modeling and analytical stage.

The exponential model predicts a population of 16,476,470 in Riyadh City by 2030, and as a result, 2,636,235 household units are needed. This number of housing units required in Riyadh City exceeds the available residential units by almost 1,370,000, representing 108% of the available residential units in Riyadh in 2020.

This study provides valuable insights into the demand for residential units in Riyadh City by 2030 in line with the Saudi 2030 Housing Program Vision, filling the gap in prior research. The findings suggest that significant efforts are required to meet the housing demand in Riyadh City by 2030, and policymakers and stakeholders need to take appropriate measures to address this issue.

The purpose of this paper is to improve the recent models for the evaluation of the efficiency of decision making units (DMUs) comprising a network structure with undesirable intermediate measures and fuzzy data.

In this paper a three-stage network structure model with desirable and undesirable data is presented and is solved as linear triangular fuzzy planning problems.

A new three stage network data envelopment analysis (DEA) model is established to evaluate the efficiency of industries with undesirable and desirable indicators in fuzzy environment.

The implication of this study is to evaluate the furniture services and the chipboard industries of wood lumber as a three-stage process.

In some cases, DMUs include two or multi-stage process (series or parallel) operating with a structure called a network DEA. Also, in the real world problems, the data are often presented imprecisely. Additionally, the intermediate measures under the real-world conditions include desirable and undesirable data. These mentioned indexes show the value of the proposed model.

The ketogenic diet (KD) has gained popularity due to its ability to improve type 2 diabetes, weight loss, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. However, long-term use of the KD might not be safe due to its adverse effects. This study examined the effects of the KD alone or in combination with Zamzam water (holy water for Muslims) on glucose homeostasis, lipid parameters and oxidant-antioxidant variables in rats.

Based on the diet given for ten weeks, three groups of adult male Wistar rats were made (12 rats/group): (1) rats which fed on a chow diet and ordinary water, (2) rats which fed on KD and ordinary water and (3) rats which were given KD along with Zamzam. Fasting blood glucose (FBG), serum insulin, insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, superoxide dismutase and malondialdehyde were compared by one-way ANOVA followed by post-hoc Tukey’s HSD test among groups.

Rats which fed on KD and Zamzam water had significantly reduced FBG and LDL cholesterol compared to the rats which fed on a chow diet and ordinary water (p-values 0.001), and KD and ordinary water (p-value 0.004 and 0.006, respectively). Serum insulin, insulin resistance, HDL cholesterol, superoxide dismutase and malondialdehyde did not differ significantly.

Consumption of KD along with Zamzam for ten weeks significantly reduces FBG and LDL cholesterol. KD alone does not decrease these parameters in ten weeks duration.

The purpose of this study is to assess the perceptions of Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University's students and their household members about cultural heritage conservation in selected cities of Saudi Arabia. Cultural heritage conservation is increasingly important for sustainable tourism management, especially in Saudi Arabia that sets out to promote international tourism. However, a lack of awareness of heritage values among the local community could hinder the conservation efforts.

A structured questionnaire (n = 168) was employed for data collection and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

The finding of the t-test analysis indicates significant statistical relationship between occupation and community involvement (P (T ≤ t) one-tail = 0.0047 and two-tail = 0.0093, p < 0.05), and between educational level and community involvement (P (T ≤ t) one-tail = 0.0047 and two-tail = 0.0093, p < 0.05). The findings reveal that although almost more than half (54.2%) of the participants were students, 56.0% and 54.9% did not believe in participating and considering heritage conservation a national duty, respectively, while 57.1% of the public employees, 57.6% of the private employees, and 66.7% of the housewives indicate that they can personally participate in cultural heritage conservation and believed it to be a national duty.

The study concludes that cultural heritage courses should be offered as a core courses for college students in order to instill the importance of cultural heritage conservation in their minds.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the share of coronavirus publications and its citation-based indicators in various journal impact factor quartiles to discover their relationship and analyze the advantages of Q1 publications.

Bibliometric analyses of world coronavirus research publications (articles and reviews) indexed in Web of Science database over 20 years among four journal quartiles were performed.

The publication and citation shares in various journal quartiles were decreased in the following order: Q1 > Q2 > Q3 > Q4. World coronavirus publications/citations share in Q1 journals were on average 1.78/4.18, 2.75/7.90 and 5.07/27.79 times greater than Q2, Q3 and Q4 publications, respectively. Moreover, similar patterns were obtained for various research performance dimensions: impact, excellence, corporate interest and funding indicators. These indicators of Q1 publications were much better than the corresponding values for world overall and infectious disease literature. Thus, there was a clear research performance advantage of Q1 coronavirus publications.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study analyzing the journal impact factor quartiles and its impact on coronavirus research performance. The results/findings of this study are useful for many stakeholders to enhance the research influence by considering journal impact factor quartiles especially Q1 journals.

This study evaluated the impact of a faculty training program on student assessment using the Kirkpatrick model.

A self-reported survey assessed 111 Saudi and non-Saudi participants' satisfaction. Subjective and objective measures (self-reported measures, assessment literacy inventory and performance-based assessment tasks) gauged participants' learning level. Pre- and post-training data were collected from 2020 to 2022.

A highly significant effect on satisfaction (>80%) and learning levels was observed, as manifested by workplace practices of student assessment (>70%, the cut-off score). Pre- and post-training comparisons of participants' satisfaction and assessment literacy scores showed significant improvements following training. Multiple regression analyses showed no significant effects for gender and educational attainment but a substantial impact of academic cluster on participants' student assessment skills.

Long-term effects of training faculty on assessment practices and student achievement will be studied at the institutional level in future research.

The current study contributes to human capital investment via faculty training on student assessment, helping them comply with assessment best practices. This assures the quality, fairness and consistency of assessment processes across disciplines in higher education institutions, enhances assessment validity and trust in educational services and may support institutional accreditation.

This study provides opportunities for sharing best practices and helps establish a community of practice. It enhances learning outcomes achievement and empowers higher education graduates with attributes necessary to succeed in the labor market. The human capital investment may have a long-term impact on overall higher education quality.

This study contributes to the scarce literature investigating the impact of training faculty from different clusters on student assessment using subjective and objective measures. It provides developing and evaluating a long-term student assessment program following the Kirkpatrick model.