Objectives: to assess physicians’ and patients’ views in Saudi Arabia towards involving the patient versus the family in the process of diagnosis disclosure and decision-making, and to compare them with views from the USA and Japan.Design: A self-completion questionnaire was translated to Arabic and validated.Participants: Physicians from different specialties and ranks and patients in a hospital or attending outpatient clinics from 6 different regions in KSA.Results: In the case of a patient with incurable cancer, 67% of doctors and 51% of (...) patients indicated that they would inform the patient in preference to the family of the diagnosis . Assuming the family already knew, 56% of doctors and 49% of patients would tell the patient even if family objected . However, in the case of HIV infection, 59% of physicians and 81% of patients would inform the family about HIV status without the patient’s consent . With regards to withholding ventilatory support, about 50% of doctors and over 60% of patients supported the use of mechanical ventilation in a patient with advanced cancer, regardless of the wishes of the patient or the family. Finally, the majority of doctors and patients were against assisted suicide.Conclusions: Although there was more recognition for a patient’s autonomy amongst physicians, most patients preferred a family centred model of care. Views towards information disclosure were midway between those of the USA and Japan. Distinctively, however, decisions regarding life prolonging therapy and assisted suicide were not influenced to a great extent by wishes of the patient or family, but more likely by religious beliefs. (shrink)

BackgroundPsychological distress/morbidity is amongst the primary reason for the cause of pain at multiple sites, its progression, and recovery. Though still not very clear if physical pain in the neck or the back may predict psychological morbidities or not. Thus, we investigated the association between combined neck or back pain and psychological distress/morbidity.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia, including 1,003 individuals. The questionnaire comprised of General Health Questionnaire-12 and some questions about neck and back pain. Data analysis (...) was done using statistical software SPSS version 26.0.ResultsThe results of the multivariate analysis revealed a significant positive association between neck/back pain status and total GHQ score. Having neck/back pain had almost a 2.5 times greater risk of psychological distress/morbidity. Further, females were more likely to have a higher risk of psychological distress/morbidity than males while adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics.ConclusionThe combination of neck and back pain was significantly associated with the Saudi population’s psychological problems. Therefore, the Saudi government needs to devise high-risk strategies and allocate adequate resources to the cause so that at-risk people can be shielded from the adverse complications arising from this condition in the long run. (shrink)

The Business Model Canvas is a strategic model for developing business organizations’ roadmap toward achieving their goals. While several organizations utilize the Business Model Canvas to establish and operate their businesses well, the utilization of BMC seems to be limited in the local market of Saudi Arabia, especially when businesses utilize electronic business channels. This paper aims to explore the status of the utilization of BMC among Saudi SMEs, as a critical sector. The paper highlights the awareness and practice of (...) BMC’s nine factors before and during the operation of e-commerce stores by Saudi SMEs. Then, it aims to explore the significance of practicing those factors in increasing the satisfaction level of running businesses. In this paper, a quantitative survey was distributed conveniently to 200 SMEs in the two largest Saudi cities, which are Riyadh and Jeddah, resulting in 63 valid participations from different industries. After operating e-commerce stores, most SMEs gained more knowledge of five BMC factors: key partners, value propositions, customer relationships, customer segments, and cost structures. Meanwhile, they found some issues in the other four factors: key activities, key resources, channels, and revenue streams. The proposed method exposes the variety of results and indicates a lack of understanding of BMC by the examined e-commerce SME samples, as they depend on traditional methods of identifying the elements of each of the BMC factors. (shrink)

تقومُ فكرةُ هذه الدِّراسة على الرَّبط بينَ القُدرة على اكتساب اللُّغة الثَّانية وطبيعة البيئة الَّتي تُستَخدَمُ فيها هذه اللُّغة. وينشُدُ الباحثُ تطبيقَ فكرتِهِ على نموذج تعليم العربيَّة للنَّاطقينَ بالتُّركيَّة، نظرًا لحاجة هؤلاء إلى استخدام العربيَّة في مُجتمعهم التُّركيّ. ولأنَّ تعليمَ اللُّغة العربيَّة يستدعي الوُقُوفَ على واقع استعمالِها، سواءٌ أكانَ هذا الاستعمالُ في بيئتها العربيَّة أم في بيئةٍ أخرى، فإنَّ هذه الدِّراسةَ تسعى إلى تقديم رؤيةٍ منهجيَّة لكيفيَّة بناء مُدوَّنةٍ لُغويَّةٍ مُتوازية [ثُنائيَّة اللُّغة] بينَ: التُّركيَّة والعربيَّة، ثُمَّ مُعالجة هذه الـمُدوَّنة لاستخلاص (...) المعارف الرَّئيسة من الـمُفرَدات والتَّراكيب [العربيَّة] الأكثر مُناسبَةً لبيئة الـمُتعلِّم [التُّركيَّة]، استرشادًا بمعايير الإطار الأوروبيّ المرجعيّ العامّ للُّغات (CEFR). وقد التزَمَت الدِّراسةُ المنهجَ الوصفيّ الَّذي يُعنى بدراسة الظَّواهر اللُّغويَّة والتَّعبير عنها كمًّا وكيفًا، على الصُّورة الَّتي تبدو عليها اللُّغةُ في الواقع، انطلاقًا من أدبيَّات لسانيَّات الـمُدوَّنة من ناحيةٍ واللِّسانيَّات التَّربويَّة من ناحيةٍ أخرى. وتهدفُ الدِّراسةُ إلى مُعالَجة الفجوة بينَ الـمُقرَّرات التَّعليميَّة للعربيَّة – بمُستوياتها الـمُختلفة – والبيئة [غَير العربيَّة] الَّتي يعيشُ فيها الـمُتعلِّم التُّركيّ؛ حيثُ يجدُ هذا الـمُتعلـمُ نفسَه مُضطرًّا إلى تعلُّم كثيرٍ من الـمُفرَدات والأساليب والتَّراكيب الَّتي قد تكونُ غريبةً أو نادرة الاستخدام في مُجتَمَعه، الأمر الَّذي ينعكسُ على قُدرته على مُمارسة اللُّغة والتَّمكُّن منها. وقد توصَّلَت الدِّراسةُ إلى جُملةٍ من النَّتائج، منها: تطوير مُدوَّنة لُغويَّة مُتوازية بينَ التُّركيَّة والعربيَّة ومُعالجة مادَّتها لغاية تعليم العربيَّة للنَّاطقينَ بالتُّركيَّة، وتقديم تصوُّر منهجيٍّ لكيفيَّة توظيف هذه الـمُدوَّنة في تعليم العربيَّة كلُغة ثانية، وطرح مُقاربة اقتصاديَّة تُساعدُ على الإفادة من الموارد التَّعليميَّة في توفير الوقت والجُهد الـمَبذُولَين في عمليَّتَي التَّعليم والتَّعلُّم. (shrink)

Many caricaturists get the idea for their caricature from current issues of society. The philosophy of the caricature lies in the opinion it presents, which discusses society’s goals, culture, and crises, and it is represented in an ironic way to deliver its visual message. The fight for women’s rights, inequality, and discrimination are examples of issues concerning Saudi women that have been represented by several caricaturists. Hence, the aim of this paper is to investigate female and male caricaturists’ linguistic and (...) semiotic representation of Saudi women’s challenging issues. Following (Kress and Van Leeuwen. 2006. Reading images: The grammar of visual design, 2nd edn. London: Routledge), a social semiotic multimodal approach to the analysis is adopted in this study, which is drawn from Halliday’s social semiotic theory. Twenty caricatures were carefully selected based on the content and the issues that are being discussed in the caricatures with a consideration of their relation to the aim of the study. The present study contributes to enriching Saudi women’s rights in relation to Saudi Vision 2030. The research is significant in that, in examining women/male caricaturists’ representations of the challenges and opportunities of Saudi women empowerment prior/after Saudi Vision 2030 in the workplace, social life, it contributes to understanding the supportive caricature discourse, basic social values for Saudi women, the pressures they undergo, and the success they have achieved so far in attaining their rights. The study findings show that both the semiotic and verbal elements of the caricatures were significant in delivering the messages for women’s rights in the new Saudi. (shrink)

In recent years, the genetic testing and selection of IVF embryos, known as preimplantation genetic testing (PGT), has gained much traction in clinical assisted reproduction for preventing transmission of genetic defects. However, a more recent ethically and morally controversial development in PGT is its possible use in selecting IVF embryos for optimal intelligence quotient (IQ) and other non–disease-related socially desirable traits, such as tallness, fair complexion, athletic ability, and eye and hair colour, based on polygenic risk scores (PRS), in what (...) is referred to as PGT-P. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning–based analysis of big data sets collated from genome sequencing of specific human ethnic populations can be used to estimate an individual embryo’s likelihood of developing such multifactorial traits by analysing the combination of specific genetic variants within its genome. Superficially, this technique appears compliant with Islamic principles and ethics. Because there is no modification of the human genome, there is no tampering with Allah’s creation (taghyīr khalq Allah). Nevertheless, a more critical analysis based on the five maxims of Islamic jurisprudence (qawa'id fiqhiyyah) that are often utilized in discourses on Islamic bioethics, namely qaṣd (intention), yaqın̄ (certainty), ḍarar (injury), ḍarūra (necessity), and `urf (custom), would instead reveal some major ethical and moral flaws of this new medical technology in the selection of non–disease-related socially desirable traits, and its non-compliance with the spirit and essence of Islamic law (shariah). Muslim scholars, jurists, doctors, and biomedical scientists should debate this further and issue a fatwa on this new medical technology platform. (shrink)

Maḥmūd, Zakī Najīb; 1905- ; philosophy; criticism and interpretation.

Islamic education; Muslims; conduct of life.

Behaving ethically depends on the ability to recognize that ethical issues exist, to see from an ethical point of view. This ability to see and respond ethically may be related more to attributes of corporate culture than to attributes of individual employees. Efforts to increase ethical standards and decrease pressure to behave unethically should therefore concentrate on the organization and its culture. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how total quality (TQ) techniques can facilitate the development of a (...) cooperative corporate culture that promotes and encourages ethical behavior throughout an organization. (shrink)

Machiavelli, Niccolò, 1469-1527; political views; political science; international relations; philosophy.

Islamic ethics; Muslims; conduct of life.

bakhsh-i 1. Muqaddamah, Manṭiq, Umūr-i ʻāmmah, Ṭabīʻyāt, Ilāhīyāt.

Sharīf Kāshānī, Ḥabīb Allāh, -1921 or 1922 ; Persian poetry- 20th century ; Sufi poetry, Persian- 20th century.

Law (Philosophical concept); methodology.