Search results for: fertility levels

Authors: Chirine Aouichaoui, Mohamed Tounsi, Ines Mrizak, Zouhair Tabka, Yassine Trabelsi

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The aim of this study was to provide percentile values for vertical jumping performances and anthropometric characteristics for athletic Tunisian children. One thousand and fifty-five athletic Tunisian children and adolescents (643 boys and 412 girls) aged 7-18 years were randomly selected to participate in our study. They were asked to perform squat jumps and countermovement jumps. For each measurement, a least square regression model with high order polynomials was fitted to predict mean and standard deviation of vertical jumping parameters and anthropometric variables. Smoothed percentile curves and percentile values for the 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, and 95th percentiles are presented for boys and girls. In conclusion, percentiles values of vertical jumping performances and anthropometric characteristics are provided. The new Tunisian reference charts obtained can be used as a screening tool to determine growth disorders and to estimate the proportion of adolescents with high or low muscular strength levels. This study may help in verifying the effectiveness of a specific training program and detecting highly talented athletes.

Keywords: percentile values, jump height, leg muscle power, athletes, anthropometry

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Authors: Wafa Tourab, Abdessalem Babouri, Mohamed Nemamcha

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This work presents an experimental and theoretical characterization of electromagnetic environment in the vicinity of EL-HADJAR high voltage substation located in the eastern Algerian within a very high populated zone. There have been analyses on the effects of electromagnetic fields emanating from coupled multi-lines power systems on the health of the workers and people living in proximity of substations. An experimental investigation has been conducted around a circuit of two 220Kv lines running in parallel. The experimental results are validated by a flexible code of calculus developed in the environment Matlab. The implications of the results are discussed and are in very good agreement with the ICNIRP reference levels for occupational and non-occupational exposures. In a case of study, the separation between the two structures “S” is varied to demonstrate its influence on the electric and magnetic charges quantities generated by the circuit of lines proposed. It is found that increasing S decreases the electric and magnetic fields which occur at the center of the structure then reduces the coupling between lines. We concluded that the evaluation of the spacing between the phase conductors is of paramount interest in the preparation of the line’s implantation inside the electrical posts to reduce them radiations in the environment.

Keywords: low frequency, electromagnetic fields, electromagnetic coupling, high voltage power lines

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Authors: Roberta Guerra, Juan Pablo Pozo Hernandez

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Surface sediments from the coastal lagoon of Pialassa Piomboni in the NW Adriatic Sea were collected and analysed and the potential ecological risks in the area were assessed based on the acid-volatile sulphide (AVS) model. The AVS levels are between 0.03 and 8.8 µmol g-1, with the average at 3.1 µmol g-1. The simultaneously extracted metals (∑SEM), which is the molar sum of Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn, range from 0.3 to 6.6 µmol g-1, with the average at 1.7 µmol g-1. Most of the high ∑SEM concentrations are located in the southern area of the lagoon. [SEM]Zn had the comparatively high mean concentration (1.4 µmol g-1), and a maximum value of 6.1 µmol g-1, respectively. Concentrations of [SEM]Cd, [SEM]Cu, [SEM]Ni, and [SEM]Pb were consistently lower, with maximum values of 0.007 µmol g-1, 1.4 µmol g-1, 0.3 µmol g-1 and 0.2 µmol g-1, respectively. Compared to other metals, [SEM]Zn was the dominant component in all samples and accounted for approximately 31 - 93% of the ∑SEM, whereas the contribution of Cd – the most toxic metal studied – to ∑SEM was no more than 1%. According to the USEPA evaluation method, the sediment samples can be divided into the three following categories: category 1, adverse biological effects on aquatic life may be expected when ([SEM]–[AVS])/fOC > 3000; category 2, adverse effects on aquatic life are uncertain when ([SEM]–[AVS])/fOC = 130 to 3,000; and category 3, no indication of adverse effects when ([SEM]–[AVS])/fOC < 130. Most of the surface sediments of the Pialassa Piomboni lagoon (>90%) had no adverse biological effects according to the criterion proposed by the USEPA; while adverse effects were uncertain in few stations (~2%).

Keywords: sediment quality, heavy metals, coastal lagoon, bioavailability, SEM, AVS

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Authors: Mehrnoosh Pirhayati

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Translation can be affected by different meta-textual factors of target context such as ideology, politics, and culture. So, the rule of fidelity, or being faithful to the source text, can be ignored by the translator. On the other hand, critical discourse analysis, derived from applied linguistics, is entered into the field of translation studies and used by scholars for revealing hidden deviations and possible roots of manipulations. This study focused on the famous Persian translation of the bestseller book, “A**hole No More,” written by XavierCrement 1990, performed by Mahmud Farjami to comparatively and critically analyze it with its corresponding English original book. The researcher applied Pirhayati’s model and framework of translation criticism at the textual and semiotic levels for this qualitative study. It should be noted that Kress and Van Leeuwen’s semiotic model, along with Machin’s model of typographical analysis, was also used at the semiotic level. The results of the comparisons and analyses indicate thatthis Persian translation of the book is affected by the factors of ideology and economics and reveal that the Islamic attitude causes the translator to employ some strategies such as substitution and deletion. Those who may benefit from this research are translation trainers, students of translation studies, critics, and scholars.

Keywords: farjami (2013), Ideology, manipulation, pirhayati's (2013) model of translation criticism, Xavier crement (1990)

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Authors: Ahmed Sameer El Khatib

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The aim of the present paper is to examine the revenue efficiency of the Indonesian Islamic banking sector. The study also seeks to investigate the potential internal (bank specific) and external (macroeconomic) determinants that influence the revenue efficiency of Indonesian domestic Islamic banks. We employ the whole gamut of domestic and foreign Islamic banks operating in the Indonesian Islamic banking sector during the period of 2009 to 2018. The level of revenue efficiency is computed by using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. Furthermore, we employ a panel regression analysis framework based on the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method to examine the potential determinants of revenue efficiency. The results indicate that the level of revenue efficiency of Indonesian domestic Islamic banks is lower compared to their foreign Islamic bank counterparts. We find that bank market power, liquidity, and management quality significantly influence the improvement in revenue efficiency of the Indonesian domestic Islamic banks during the period under study. By calculating these efficiency concepts, we can observe the efficiency levels of the domestic and foreign Islamic banks. In addition, by comparing both cost and profit efficiency, we can identify the influence of the revenue efficiency on the banks’ profitability.

Keywords: Islamic Finance, Islamic Banks, Revenue Efficiency, Data Envelopment Analysis

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Authors: Eakarat Boonreang

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The past two decades, Thailand faced the natural disasters, for instance, Gay typhoon in 1989, tsunami in 2004, and huge flood in 2011. The disaster management in Thailand was improved both structure and mechanism for cope with the natural disaster since 2007. However, the natural disaster management in Thailand has various problems, for examples, cooperation between related an organizations have not unity, inadequate resources, the natural disaster management of public sectors not proactive, people has not awareness the risk of the natural disaster, and communities did not participate in the natural disaster management. Objective of this study is to find the methods for capacity building in the natural disaster management of Thailand. The concept and information about the capacity building and the natural disaster management of Thailand were reviewed and analyzed by classifying and organizing data. The result found that the methods for capacity building in the natural disaster management of Thailand should be consist of 1)link operation and information in the natural disaster management between nation, province, local and community levels, 2)enhance competency and resources of public sectors which relate to the natural disaster management, 3)establish proactive natural disaster management both planning and implementation, 4)decentralize the natural disaster management to local government organizations, 5)construct public awareness in the natural disaster management to community, 6)support Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) seriously, and 7)emphasis on participation in the natural disaster management of all stakeholders.

Keywords: capacity building, Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM), Natural Disaster Management, Thailand

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Authors: Raneem O. Salem, Najwa Al-Mously, Nihal Mohamed Nabil, Abdulmohsen H. Al-Zalabani, Abeer F. Al-Dhawi, Nasser Al-Hamdan

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Objective: There are various demographic and educational factors that affect the academic performance of undergraduate medical students. The objective of this study is to identify these factors and correlate them to the GPA of the students. Methods: A cross-sectional study design utilizing grade point averages (GPAs) of two cohorts of students in both levels of the pre-clinical phase. In addition, self-administered questionnaire was used to evaluate the effect of these factors on students with poor and good cumulative GPA. Results: Among the various factors studied, gender, marital status, and the transportation used to reach the faculty significantly affected academic performance of students. Students with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or greater significantly differed than those with a GPA of less than 3.0 being higher in female students, in married students, and type of transportation used to reach the college. Factors including age, educational factors, and type of transportation used have shown to create a significant difference in GPA between male and females. Conclusion: Factors such as age, gender, marital status, learning resources, study time, and the transportation used have been shown to significantly affect medical student GPA as a whole batch as well as when they are tested for gender.

Keywords: academic performance, educational factors, learning resources, study time, gender, socio-demographic factors

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Authors: Bidya Dhar Sahu, Meghana Koneru, R. Shyam Sunder, Ramakrishna Sistla

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Environmental and occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] via textile manufacture, metallurgy, spray paints, stainless steel industries, drinking water containing chromium are often known to cause acute renal injury in humans and animals. Nephrotoxicity is the major effect of chromium poisoning. In the present study, we investigated the potential renoprotective effect and underlying mechanisms of carvedilol using rat model of potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7)-induced nephrotoxicity. Exploration of the underlying mechanisms of carvedilol revealed that carvedilol attenuated nuclear translocation and DNA binding activity of NF-κB (p65), restored antioxidant and mitochondrial respiratory enzyme activities and attenuated apoptosis related protein expressions in kidney tissues. The serum levels of TNF-α, the renal iNOS and myeloperoxidase activity were significantly decreased in carvedilol pre-treated K2Cr2O7-induced nephrotoxic rats. These results were further supported and confirmed by histological findings. In conclusion, the findings of the present study demonstrated that carvedilol is an effective chemoprotectant against K2Cr2O7-induced nephrotoxicity in rats.

Keywords: apoptosis, carvedilol, inflammation, potassium dichromate-induced nephrotoxicity, applied pharmacology

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Authors: Joshua I. Izegaegbe, Femi F. Oloye, Catherine E. Nasiru

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This study determined the level of manganese, zinc, copper, and nickel in the liver and muscle of the African Catfish, Clarias gariepinus from Ilushi River, Edo State, Nigeria with a view to determining the extent of contamination. Heavy metal determination of digested fish samples was done using the atomic absorption spectrophotometric method. The results show that the muscles and livers were contaminated to varying levels with the presence of some non-metallic elements. The heavy metal load revealed that zinc had the highest mean concentration of 0.217±0.008µg/g in liver and 0.130±0.006µg/g in muscle, while copper recorded the least concentration in liver 0.063±0.004µg/g and 0.027±0.003µg/gin muscle. The distribution of the heavy metals in the muscles and livers of Clarias gariepinus showed significant variations and the results also revealed that the concentration of heavy metals (Zn, Cu,Ni and Mn) found in the liver was higher than those found in the muscle. This indicates that the liver is a better accumulator of heavy metal in Clarias gariepinus than the muscles. On comparison with WHO/FAO/FEPA/USFDA standards, the study shows that the concentrations of heavy metals in liver and muscle were within permissible limits safe for human consumption.

Keywords: clarias gariepinus, heavy metals, liver, muscle

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Authors: Leyla Yesilbas, M. Sukru Ozcoban, M. Ergenekon Selcuk

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From past to present, there is a constant need for engineering structures such as high-rise buildings, wide-span bridges, airports and stadiums, business towers due to technological developments and increasing population. Because of the large loads transferred from the superstructure to the ground layers in these types of structures, the bearing strength and seating problems usually occur on the floors. In order to solve these problems, piled foundations are used by passing the weak soil layers and transferring the loads from the superstructure to the solid soil layers. Considering the factors such as the characteristics of the building to be constructed, the purpose and location of the building, the basic cost of the pile should be at normal levels. When these requirements are taken into consideration, a new basic system called 'Barette Foundation' has been developed. In this thesis, an application made to provide slope stability with 'Baret Piles' was investigated. In addition, the ground parameters obtained from the field and laboratory experiments were numerically modeled using a PLAXİS 2D finite element software and barette piles. The effects of barette piles on slope stability were investigated by numerical analysis, and the results of inclinometer measurements in the field were compared with numerical analysis results.

Keywords: barette pile, PLAXİS 2D, slope, soil

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Authors: Yaw Akoto

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The social construction of disability in a Ghanaian society has created a restriction on the development of the academic potentials of persons with disabilities. Ghanaian societal perceptions position persons with disabilities as needy, evil, feeble and 'abnormal' that a person with disability cannot contribute anything meaningful to their own development, society, and the nation as well. Almost all Ghanaian cultures believe the Gods visit evil people with disability as such they erect barriers that limit them to select and enroll in education. The few people with disabilities who gain admission to schools drop out due to these barriers erected by the society and institutions. However, there are very few of these students who are able to pursue their education at the higher education level despite these challenges. This qualitative study explores the motivation of students with disabilities to select and enroll in a Ghanaian university. The study used semi-structured interview to solicit information from students with disabilities in a Ghanaian university. Although the quality of students with disabilities experience was affected by culture, discrimination, marginalisation, and lack of support, the prospect of using themselves as role models, employment opportunities and family impingement were among others that pushed them to embark on their educational journey. The findings of this study have implications for societal and institutional levels for restructuring and refining societal perception and institutional policies on disabilities.

Keywords: beliefs, Ghanaian university, social construction, students with disabilities

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Authors: Abdul Rahman M. Chamseddine, Mahmoud El-ashiri

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In the field of language teaching, communication skills are essential for the learner to achieve, however, these skills, in general, might not support the comprehension of some texts of literary or artistic nature like poetry. Understanding sentences and expressions is not enough to understand a poem; other skills are needed in order to understand the special structure of a text which literary meaning is inapprehensible even when the lingual meaning is well comprehended. And then there is the need for many other components that surpass one text to other similar texts that can be understood through solid traditions, which do not form an obstacle in the face of change and progress. This is not exclusive to texts that are classified as a literary but it is also the same with some daily short phrases and indicatively charged expressions that can be classified as literary or bear a taste of literary nature.. it can be found in Newpapers’ titles, TV news reports, and maybe football commentaries… the need to understand this special lingual use – described as literary – is highly important to understand this discourse that can be generally classified as very far from literature. This work will try to explore the role of the literary text in the language class and the way it is being covered or dealt with throughout all levels of acquiring proficiency. It will also attempt to survery the position of the literary text in some of the most important books for teaching Arabic around the world. The same way grammar is needed to understand the language, another (literary) grammar is also needed for understanding literature.

Keywords: language teaching, Arabic, literature, pedagogy, language proficiency

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Authors: Kari M. Solomon

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Companies with a culture accepting of change management and performance excellence are better suited to determine their sustainability performance and impacts. A mature corporate culture supportive of performance excellence is better positioned to integrate sustainability management tools into their standard business strategy. Companies use various sustainability management tools and reporting standards to communicate levels of sustainability performance to their stakeholders, more often focusing on shareholders and investors. A research gap remains in understanding how companies adapt business excellence models to define corporate sustainability performance. A content analysis of medium-sized enterprises using corporate sustainability reports and business excellence models reveals the challenges and opportunities of reporting sustainability performance in the context of organizational excellence. The outcomes of this content analysis contribute knowledge on the resources needed for companies to build sustainability performance management systems integral to existing management systems. The findings of this research inform academic research areas of corporate sustainability performance, the business community contributing to sustainable development initiatives, and integrating sustainable development issues into business excellence models. There are potential research links between sustainability performance management and the alignment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) when organizations promote a culture of performance or business excellence.

Keywords: business excellence, corporate sustainability, performance excellence, sustainability performance

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Authors: Sabahat Zahra

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The purpose of this research is to present the changing global environment and its potential impacts on sustainable food and energy production at global level, particularly in Pakistan. The food and energy related-economic sector has been subjected to negative consequences due to recent extreme changes in weather conditions, particularly in developing countries. Besides continuous modifications in weather, population is also increasing by time, therefore it is necessary to take special steps and start effective initiatives to cope with the challenges of food and energy security to fight hunger and for economic stability of country. Severe increase in temperature and heat waves has also negative impacts on food production as well as energy sustainability. Energy (in terms of electricity) consumption has grown up than the production potential of the country as a consequence of increasing warm weather. Ultimately prices gone up when there is more consumption than production. Therefore, all these aspects of climate change are interrelated with socio-economic issues. There is a need to develop long-term policies on regional and national levels for maintainable economic growth. This research presents a framework-plan and recommendations for implementation needed to mitigate the potential threats due to global climate change sustainable food and energy production under climate change in the country.

Keywords: climate changes, energy security, food security, global climate change

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Authors: Mardiati Zain, Ryanto Khasrad, I. Elihasridas, J. Juliantoni

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The research objective was to determine the productivity of cattle fed a complete ration with ammoniated based of oil palm-frond supplemented by Rumen Microbes Growth Factor (RMGF). The research used Randomized Block Design applying 4 rations as treatment and 4 groups cattle. The treatments were: A (60% oil palm frond ammoniated + 40% concentrate + RMGF); B (50% oil palm frond ammoniated + 50% concentrate + RMGF); C (40% oil palm frond ammoniated + 60% concentrate + RMGF); and D (30% oil palm frond ammoniated + 70% concentrate + RMGF). The measured parameters were dry matter (DM) and organic matter (OM) intake, daily weight gain (DWG), feed efficiency, total digestible nutrient (TDN), and digestibility of crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), cellulose, hemicellulose. Statistical analysis showed that the treatment had no significant effect (P > 0.05) on DM intake, OM intake, daily weight gain, feed efficiency, digestibility of DM, OM, CP, TDN, NDF, hemicellulose but had a highly significant effect (P < 0.01) on digestibility of ADF and cellulose. All treatments with different ratio (oil palm frond ammoniated: concentrate : RMGF) had no different effect on cattle productivities.

Keywords: oil palm frond ammoniated, digestibility, rumen microba growth factor, Bali cattle

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Authors: Vidhu Mitha Goutham, Ruma Mukherjee

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The low availability of well-trained, unlimited, dynamic-access models for specific languages makes it hard for corporate users to adopt quick translation techniques and incorporate them into product solutions. As translation tasks increasingly require a dynamic sequence learning curve; stable, cost-free opensource models are scarce. We survey and compare current translation techniques and propose a modified sequence to sequence model repurposed with attention techniques. Sequence learning using an encoder-decoder model is now paving the path for higher precision levels in translation. Using a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) encoder and a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) decoder background, we use Fairseq tools to produce an end-to-end bilingually trained Spanish-English machine translation model including source language detection. We acquire competitive results using a duo-lingo-corpus trained model to provide for prospective, ready-made plug-in use for compound sentences and document translations. Our model serves a decent system for large, organizational data translation needs. While acknowledging its shortcomings and future scope, it also identifies itself as a well-optimized deep neural network model and solution.

Keywords: attention, encoder-decoder, Fairseq, Seq2Seq, Spanish, translation

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Authors: Adrian-Gabriel Chifu, Sebastien Fournier

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One of the challenges of natural language understanding is to deal with the subjectivity of sentences, which may express opinions and emotions that add layers of complexity and nuance. Sentiment analysis is a field that aims to extract and analyze these subjective elements from text, and it can be applied at different levels of granularity, such as document, paragraph, sentence, or aspect. Aspect-based sentiment analysis is a well-studied topic with many available data sets and models. However, there is no clear definition of what makes a sentence difficult for aspect-based sentiment analysis. In this paper, we explore this question by conducting an experiment with three data sets: ”Laptops”, ”Restaurants”, and ”MTSC” (Multi-Target-dependent Sentiment Classification), and a merged version of these three datasets. We study the impact of domain diversity and syntactic diversity on difficulty. We use a combination of classifiers to identify the most difficult sentences and analyze their characteristics. We employ two ways of defining sentence difficulty. The first one is binary and labels a sentence as difficult if the classifiers fail to correctly predict the sentiment polarity. The second one is a six-level scale based on how many of the top five best-performing classifiers can correctly predict the sentiment polarity. We also define 9 linguistic features that, combined, aim at estimating the difficulty at sentence level.

Keywords: sentiment analysis, difficulty, classification, machine learning

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Authors: Dermot O'Brien, Vasileios Christaras, Georgios Fontaras, Igor Nai Fovino, Ioannis Kounelis

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With the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), 5G, and blockchain (BC) technologies, vehicles are becoming ever increasingly connected and are already transmitting substantial amounts of data to the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) servers. This data could be used to help detect mileage fraud and enable more accurate vehicle emissions monitoring. This would not only help regulators but could enable applications such as permitting efficient drivers to pay less tax, geofencing for air quality improvement, as well as pollution tolling and trading platforms for transport-related businesses and EU citizens. Other applications could include traffic management and shared mobility systems. BC enables the transmission of data with additional security and removes single points of failure while maintaining data provenance, identity ownership, and the possibility to retain varying levels of privacy depending on the requirements of the applied use case. This research performs simulations of vehicles interacting with European member state authorities and European Commission BC nodes that are running hyperleger fabric and explores whether the technology is currently feasible for transport applications such as the emission monitoring use-case.

Keywords: future transportation systems, technological innovations, policy approaches for transportation future, economic and regulatory trends, blockchain

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Authors: Mojtaba Esmaeilzad Limoudehi, Ebrahim Amiri

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Water scarcity is now one of the leading challenges for human societies. In this regard, recognizing the relationship between soil, water, plant growth, and plant response to stress is very significant. In this paper, considering the importance of drought stress and the role of choosing suitable cultivars in resistance against drought, a split-plot experiment using early, intermediate, and late-maturing cultivars was carried out in Katul filed, Golestan province during two cultivation years of 2015 and 2016. The main factor was irrigation intervals at four levels, including 7 days, 14 days, 21 days, and 28 days. The subfactor was the subplot of six maize cultivars (two early maturing cultivars, two medium maturing cultivars, and two late-maturing cultivars). The results of variance analysis have revealed that irrigation interval and cultivars treatment have significant effects on the number of grain in each corn, number of rows in each corn, number of grain per row, the weight of 1000 grains, grain yield, and biomass yield. Although, the interaction of these two factors on the mentioned attributes was meaningful. The best grain yield was achieved at 7 days irrigation interval and late maturing maize cultivars treatment, which was equal to 12301 kg/ha.

Keywords: corn, growth period, optimization, stress

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Authors: Nyoman Wijana, Chandra Arha

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Disclosures of Intellectual Capital (IC) is a presentation of corporate information assets that are not recorded in the financial statements. This disclosures is very helpful because it provides inform corporate assets are intangible. In the new economic era, the company's intangible assets will determine company's competitive advantage. This study aimed to examine the effect of IC disclosures on market capitalization growth. Observational studies conducted over ten years in 2002-2011. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect for last ten years. One hundred samples of the company's largest market capitalization in 2011 traced back to last ten years. Data that used, are in 2011, 2008, 2005, and 2002 Method that’s used for acquiring the data is content analysis. The analytical method used is Ordinanary Least Square (OLS) and analysis tools are e views 7 This software using Pooled Least Square estimation parameters are specifically designed for panel data. The results of testing analysis showed inconsistent expression levels affect the growth of the market capitalization in each year of observation. The results of this study are expected to motivate the public company in Indonesia to do more voluntary IC disclosures and encourage regulators to make regulations in a comprehensive manner so that all categories of the IC must be disclosed by the company.

Keywords: IC disclosures, market capitalization growth, analytical method, OLS

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Authors: Kedar S. Prabhavalkar, Nimmy Baby Poovanpallil

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Lamotrigine is approved for maintenance treatment of bipolar I disorder. However, its role in the treatment of acute bipolar depression is not well clear. Its efficacy in the treatment of major depressive disorders including refractory unipolar depression suggested the use of lamotrigine as an augmentation drug for acute bipolar depression. The present study aims to evaluate and perform a comparative analysis of the therapeutic effects of lamotrigine, an epileptic mood stabilizer, when used alone and in combination with duloxetine in treating acute bipolar depression at different doses of lamotrigine. Male swiss albino mice were used. For evaluation of efficacy of combination, immobility period was analyzed 30 min after the treatment from forced swim and tail suspension tests. Further amount of sucrose consumed in sucrose preference test was estimated. The combination of duloxetine and lamotrigine showed potentiation of antidepressant activity in acute models. Decrease in immobility time and increase in the amount of sucrose consumption in stressed mice were higher in combined group compared to lamotrigine monotherapy group. Brain monoamine levels were also attenuated more with combination compared to monotherapy. Results of the present study suggest potential role of lamotrigine and duloxetine combination in the treatment of acute bipolar depression.

Keywords: lamotrigine, duloxetine, acute bipolar depression, augmentation

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Authors: Imed Mezghani, Yousra Ben Salah, Mohamed Chaieb

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Tricholaena teneriffae L. is a xerophytic perennial herb that belongs to the Poaceae family likely to be used for ecological restoration programs. It's a dominant and economically important species widely distributed in the Bou-Hedma National Park, Tunisia. Reintroduction and expansion of T. teneriffae depend solely on sexual reproduction. This makes the understanding of its germination requirements vital for conservation and management. To provide basic information for its conservation and reintroduction, we studied the influence of environmental factors on seed germination patterns. The germination responses of seeds were determined over a wide range of constant temperatures (15–35°C), polyethylene glycol solutions of different osmotic potentials (0 to −2 MPa) and salt solution (0 to 150 mM of NaCl). Results indicated that the optimum temperature germination was attained at 25°C which corresponds to temperatures prevailing during mid spring season in the Mediterranean area. Seeds germinated in Polyethylene Glycol solutions exhibited significantly lower germination than control especially when water potential fell below -0.6 MPa. Germination percentage and rate decreased with an increase NaCl concentration. Seeds germination was substantially delayed and reduced with an increase in NaCl to levels above 50 mM. T. teneriffae is moderately salt tolerant at germination stage.

Keywords: germination, temperature, Tricholaena teneriffae L., salt stress, water stress, rehabilitation

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Authors: Ali Dashti

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Recycling materials within the realms of theatrical costume design and production is important. When a Kuwaiti play finishes its run, costumes are thrown away and new ones are designed when necessary. This practice indicates a lack of awareness of recycling strategies. This is a serious matter; tons of textile materials are being wasted rather than recycled. The current process of producing costumes for Kuwait theatre productions involves the conception and sketching of costumes, the purchase of new fabrics, and the employment of tailors for production. Since tailoring is outsourced, there is a shortage of designers who can make costumes autonomously. The current process does not incorporate any methods for recycling costumes. This combined with high levels of textile waste, results in significant ecological issues that demand immediate attention. However, data collected for this research paper, from a series of semi-structured interviews, have indicated that a lack of recycling facilities and increased textile waste do not present an area of concern within the Kuwaiti theatrical costume industry. This paper will review the findings of this research project and investigate the production processes used by costume designers in Kuwait. It will indicate how their behaviors, coupled with their lack of knowledge with using recycling strategies to create costumes, had increased textile waste and negatively affected Kuwait theatre costume design industry.

Keywords: costume, recycle, reuse, theatre

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Authors: Ali Olfati, Parichehr Nouri

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Objective: In this study, we have investigated for the first time in the literature the efficacy of riboflavin [VB2] in preventing uterus As₂O₃ damage. Methods: Rats received 40 μg LHRHa for estrus synchronization. 48 pregnant Wistar rats were included. Four groups were formed with 7 rats in each group: Sham, 1.5 mg arsenic trioxide (As₂O₃/L) alone or in combination with VB2 [20 and 40 mg/L] in drinking water [for 21 days continuously]. Similar to maternal generation treatment, the F1-female generation was also arranged [for 35 days continuously until puberty]. Results: Data indicated that As₂O₃ reduced body weight and feed intake (p<0.05). Furthermore, the serum malondialdehyde levels in the As₂O₃ group were significantly higher than that of the control group (p<0.05). At the same time, total antioxidative status and the activities of glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, and catalase were reduced (p<0.05). Meanwhile, As₂O₃ remarkably increased the production of inflammatory markers [interleukin 6 and C-reactive protein](p<0.05). As₂O₃ administration induced uterus apoptosis-related genes by upregulating caspase-3, iNOS, and Bax genes and downregulating Bcl-2 gene of pubertal F1-female rats (p<0.05). Conclusion: Our observation indicated that VB2 therapy is potentially an effective strategy to modifying the detrimental effects of As₂O₃ in pubertal F1-female rats via suppresses oxidative damages.

Keywords: As₂O₃, inflammation, puberty, vitamin B2

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Authors: Mohammed Idaan Hassan Al-Majidi

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An analysis of twenty one assorted brands of vegetable oils in Babylon Iraq, reveals varying levels of cholesterol content. Cholesterol was found to be present in most of the oil brands sampled using three standard methods. Cholesterol was detected in seventeen of the vegetable oil brands with concentration of less than 1 mg/ml while seven of the oil brands had cholesterol concentrations ranging between 1-4 mg/ml. Low iodine values were obtained in four of the vegetable oil brands and three of them had high acid values. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) confirmed the presence of cholesterol at varying concentrations in all the oil brands and gave the lowest detectable cholesterol values in all the oil brands. The Laser brand made from rapeseed had the highest cholesterol concentration of 3.2 mg/ml while Grand brand made from groundnuts had the least concentration (0.12 mg/ml) of cholesterol using HPLC analysis. Leibermann-Burchard method showed that Gino brand from palm kernel had the least concentration of cholesterol (3.86 mg/ml ±0.032) and the highest concentration of 3.996 mg/ml ±0.0404 was obtained in Sesame seed oil brand. This report is important in view of health implications of cholesterol in our diets. Consequently, we have been able to show that there is no cholesterol free oil in the market as shown on the vegetable oil brand labels. Therefore, companies producing and marketing vegetable oils are enjoined to desist from misleading the public by labeling their products as “cholesterol free”. They should indicate the amount of cholesterol present in the vegetable oil, no matter how small the quantity may be.

Keywords: vegetable oils, heart diseases, leibermann-burchard, cholesterol

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Authors: Hissa Sadiq, Abdullah Abu-Tineh, Fatma Al-Mutawah, Hamda Al-Sulaiti

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The purpose of this quantitative study was to measure the difference in levels of satisfaction of students, teachers, and parents in schools run by licensed school leaders comparing with schools run by unlicensed school leaders. Data was gathered from 108 school performance reports as published by Ministry of Education and Higher Education for the year 2015-2016. School leaders in 58 participating schools obtained the professional licenses while school leaders in 56 participating schools have no professional licenses. Percentages, standard deviations, and t-tests were used to analyze the data. Results showed that no statistical differences were found in students’ satisfaction between the two school types. However, there were statistical differences in parents and teachers’ satisfaction in the two school types attributed to obtaining the professional license. Teachers and parents of students in schools run by licensed school leaders satisfied more than schools run by unlicensed school leaders. Finally, many recommendations and implications were discussed and proposed. This paper was made possible by NPRP grant # (NPRP7-1224-5-178) from the Qatar national research fund (a member of Qatar Foundation) to Abdullah M. Abu-Tineh. The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the author

Keywords: professional licenses, Qatari schools, licensure system, satisfaction

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Authors: Baigts-Allende Diana, Klojdová Iveta, Kozlu Ali, Metri-ojeda Jorge

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Emulsion gels are constituted by a colloidal system (emulsion) stabilized by a polymeric gel matrix. These systems are more homogeneous and stable than conventional emulsions and can behave as either gel-like or soft-solid. Protein-based emulsion gels (PEG) have been used as carrier systems of bioactive compounds and as food structuring to improve the texture and consistency, mainly in producing low-fat content products. This work studied the effect of protein: polysaccharide ratio 0.75:1.25, 1:1, and 1.25:0.75 (levels -1, 0, and +1) and pH values (2-9) on the stability of protein-based emulsion gels using soy protein isolate and sodium alginate. Protein emulsion capacity was enhaced with increased pH (6,7,8 and 9) compared to acid pH values. The smaller particle size for PEG was at pH 9 (~23µm); however, with increasing protein ratio (level +1), higher particle size was observed (~23µm). The same trend was observed for rheological measurements; the consistency index (K) increased at pH 9 for level -1 (1.17) in comparison to level +1 (0.45). The studied PEG showed good thermal stability at neutral and pH 9 (~98 %) for all biopolymer ratios. Optimal conditions in pH and biopolymer ratios were determined for PEG using soy protein and sodium alginate ingredients with potential use in elaborating stable systems for broad application in the food sector.

Keywords: emulsion gels, food structuring, biopolymers, food systems

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Authors: Hakim Chayeb

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Macrophages (Mo) play an essential role in host defense against pathogens. These inflammatory cells contain a large group of inducible enzymes such as NO synthase (NOS). This study was conducted to characterize experimentally induced inflammation in vivo by lipopolysaccharides (LPS). LPS is an essential component of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria and a potent inducer of macrophage. Except control rats, all rats received different doses of LPS intra-peritoneally. The involvement of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and constitutive (cNOS ) in the modulation of the inflammatory response was studied by treating the rats with L-NAME (non-selective NOS inhibitor) or aminoguanidine (AG inhibitor of iNOS). Inhibitors were injected 24 hours before LPS administration. The results showed that esterase activity (a marker of macrophage infiltration) which is induced by LPS is reduced by AG, was potentiated by treatment with L-NAME in tissue homogenates of the liver, kidney and spleen. Meanwhile, the concentrations of nitric oxide (NO) induced by LPS were reduced with AG and are completely inhibited with L-NAME in the tissues studied. NO concentrations and plasma transaminase levels have undergone remarkable increases in rats treated with LPS alone. However, the AG significantly reduced these rates. Our results highlighted the role of NO synthase inhibitors in reducing of inflammatory responses that characterize many infectious diseases.

Keywords: aminoguanidine, esterase, LPS, L-NAME, macrophage, nitric oxide

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Authors: Mohammed Mohsen Ahmed Al Azab

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Co-education at universities is one of the options that may have an economic as well as social benefit, as it may have a positive impact on improving relationships between students and increasing competitiveness among them, which may have positive effects on educational achievement and alleviate some social problems such as divorce. There is, to the best knowledge of the researcher, no studies tested the subject matter of the current study in Saudi society. The Saudi society is undergoing radical changes at all levels. The current study aims to identify the attitudes of university students toward co-education, the differences between male and female students from various specialties in their attitudes towards co-education, and the relationship of this to the educational level of the parent (educated-uneducated) using the descriptive, comparative, correlational approach. The study sample (n = 200) was chosen randomly among male and female students at King Saud University. The researcher prepared and used an attitude scale. Results showed positive attitudes towards co-education among university students (mean = 3.7, Std. = 0.45). It was also shown that there are significant differences between students’ attitudes towards co-education that can be attributed to their field of study, with students in scientific majors scoring higher than humanities counterparts. Findings also show differences between students’ attitudes towards co-education that can be attributed to the educational level of the parent, where the attitudes of those whose parents received some education were more positive. The results did not indicate any differences between students’ attitudes towards co-education that can be attributed to their gender.

Keywords: attitude, co-education, university students, level of parental education

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Authors: Nicholas Okpe

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As the world gets more and more engulfed in both man-made and natural disasters, the call for religious intervention becomes intrinsically louder to the extent that any religious inclination that does not devolve into societal or humanitarian adventures makes no meaning. Wars, conflicts, environmental disturbances have thrown new challenges hitherto unknown to the doorsteps of religious groups for intervention as the last hope of humanity. In Nigeria, since the last two decades, many things have fallen apart that have led to humanitarian crisis from the North to the South and from the East to the West. Over five million Nigerians live in internally displaced camps all over the country due to the various forms of social unrest as well as natural disasters, especially floods. These problems have brought forth the signifance of various religious groups who through their interventions have often shown to be the hope of the people. This paper examines the latent potentials of religion in not only making people to cope with difficult situations they find themselves in, but also giving sucure to the many who otherwise are despondent and at the edge of life. Many religious groups have well developed plans of interventions in various humanitarian situations. The efforts of religions such as christianity, Islam and the indigenous African religion is exrayed and assessed for proper evaluation. The paper finds out that the most potent and effective means of attending to humanitarian crisis today in Nigeria is through the various religious organization as governments at various levels have lost credibility in such exercises.

Keywords: humanitarianism, religion. nigeria, society, practice

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