Search results for: Male factor infertility

Authors: Sarah Majid Ansari, Serjosha Wulf, Matthias Görke

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In times of global warming and the increasing shortage of resources, sustainable production is becoming more and more inevitable. Companies cannot only heighten their competitiveness but also contribute positively to environmental protection through efficient energy and resource consumption. Regarding this, technical solutions are often preferred during production, although organizational and process-related approaches also offer great potential. This project focuses on reducing resource usage, with a special emphasis on the human factor. It is the aspiration to develop a methodology that systematically implements and embeds suitable and individual measures and methods regarding resource efficiency throughout the entire production. The measures and methods established help employees handle resources and energy more sensitively. With this in mind, this paper also deals with the difficulties that can occur during the sensitization of employees and the implementation of these measures and methods. In addition, recommendations are given on how to avoid such difficulties.

Keywords: Implementation, human factor, production plant, resource efficiency.

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Authors: Youn-Sung Kim, Jin-Ho Jo, Mi-Sung Kim, Jae-Kun Lee

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Accelerated life cycle test is applied to various products or components in order to reduce the time of life cycle test in industry. It must be considered for many test conditions according to the product characteristics for the test and the selection of acceleration parameter is especially very important. We have carried out the general life cycle test and the accelerated life cycle test by applying the acceleration factor (AF) considering the characteristics of brushless DC (BLDC) motor for washing machine. The final purpose of this study is to verify the validity by analyzing the results of the general life cycle test and the accelerated life cycle test. It will make it possible to reduce the life test time through the reasonable accelerated life cycle test.

Keywords: Accelerated life cycle test, reliability test, motor for washing machine, brushless dc motor test.

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Authors: B. Malekynia

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The anomalous generation of plasma blocks by interaction of petawatt-picosecond laser pulses permits side-on ignition of uncompressed solid fusion fuel following an improved application of the hydrodynamic Chu-model for deuterium-tritium. The new possibility of side-on laser ignition depends on accelerated ions and produced ions beams of high energy particles by the nonlinear ponderomotive force of the laser pulse in the plasma block, a re-evaluation of the early hydrodynamic analysis for ignition of inertial fusion by including inhibition factor, collective effect of stopping power of alpha particles and the energy loss rate reabsorption to plasma by the protons of plasma blocks being reduced by about a factor 40.

Keywords: Block ignition, Charged particles, Reabsorption, Skin layer ponderomotive acceleration.

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Authors: Naser Zourikalatehsamad, Seyed Abdorreza Payambarpour, Ibrahim Alwashali, Zahra Abdolkarimi

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The paper aims to evaluate the effect of online advertising on consumer purchase behavior in Malaysian organizations. The paper has potential to extend and refine theory. A survey was distributed among Students of UTM university during the winter 2014 and 160 responses were collected. Regression analysis was used to test the hypothesized relationships of the model. Result shows that the predictors (cost saving factor, convenience factor and customized product or services) have positive impact on intention to continue seeking online advertising.

Keywords: Consumer purchase, convenience, customized product, cost saving, customization, flow theory, mass communication, online advertising ads, online advertising measurement, online advertising mechanism, online intelligence system, self-confidence, willingness to purchase.

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Authors: Thanawit Buafai, Siyathorn Khunon

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This paper aims to explore the satisfaction levels of tourism product components on the island of Samui by studying the cultural dimension relationships of Hofsted’s classic theory. Both the six Hofsted cultural dimensions and tourism production satisfaction measures have been of interest worldwide. Therefore, the challenge of this study is to re-confirm previous research results in the ever-changing current contexts of the modern globalized business era. Self-rated questionnaires were employed to collect data from six nationalities of tourists in Samui, totaling 386 samples. The reliability of this research methodology was 0.967. Correlation was applied to analyze the relationships. The results indicate that Masculinity is significantly related to tourism destination satisfaction for every factor, while the other five cultural dimensions are related to some factors of tourism satisfaction. Surprisingly, tourist satisfaction toward the bar/restaurant factor is significantly correlated with all six cultural dimensions.

Keywords: Cultural dimensions, tourism products, Samui, Thailand.

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Authors: O. O. Olawusi-Peters, O. E. Aguda, F. O. Okoye

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Investigations on the accumulation of heavy metals in water and sediments of river Ogbese were carried out between December 2010 and February 2011 using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. Etheria elliptica a sessile organism was also used to determine the concentration of heavy metal in the aquatic environmental. In water, Cu had the highest concentration (0.55 – 0.13 mg/l ±0.1) while in sediments, the highest value obtained was in Fe (1.46-3.89mg/l±0.27). The minimum concentrations recorded were in Pb; which was below detectable level. The result also revealed that the shell accumulate more heavy metals than the flesh of the mussel with Cu in the shell exhibiting a negative correlation with all the metals in the flesh. However, the condition factor (K) value is 6.44, an indication of good health. The length-weight relationship is expressed as W = -0.48 x L 1.94 (r2 = 0.29) showing the growth pattern to be negatively allometric.

Keywords: Condition factor, Etheria elliptica, heavy metals, River Ogbese.

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Authors: A. Al-Rashidi, A. El-Hamalawi

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In this paper, a performance study was conducted to investigate single and dual-axis PV systems to generate electricity in five different sites in Kuwait. Relevant data were obtained by using two sources for validation purposes. A commercial software, PVsyst, was used to analyse the data, such as metrological data and other input parameters, and compute the performance parameters such as capacity factor (CF) and final yield (YF). The results indicated that single and dual-axis PV systems would be very beneficial to electricity generation in Kuwait as an alternative source to conventional power plants, especially with the increased demand over time. The ranges were also found to be competitive in comparison to leading countries using similar systems. A significant increase in CF and YF values around 24% and 28.8% was achieved related to the use of single and dual systems, respectively.

Keywords: Single-axis and dual-axis photovoltaic systems, capacity factor, final yield, renewable energy, Kuwait.

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Authors: Halle Bakhteeyar, Azadeh Maroufmashat, Abbas Maleki, Sourena Sattari Khavas

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In this paper, five options of Iran’s gas flare recovery have been compared via MCDM method. For developing the model, the weighing factor of each indicator an AHP method is used via the Expert-choice software. Several cases were considered in this analysis. They are defined where the priorities were defined always keeping one criterion in first position, while the priorities of the other criteria were defined by ordinal information defining the mutual relations of the criteria and the respective indicators. The results, show that amongst these cases, priority is obtained for CHP usage where availability indicator is highly weighted while the pipeline usage is obtained where environmental indicator highly weighted and the injection priority is obtained where economic indicator is highly weighted and also when the weighing factor of all the criteria are the same the Injection priority is obtained.

Keywords: Flare, Gas, Iran.

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Authors: Keyvan Molanorouzi, Selina Khoo, Tony Morris

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In recent years, there has been a decline in physical activity among adults. Motivation has been shown to be a crucial factor in maintaining physical activity. The purpose of this study was to whether PA motives measured by the Physical Activity and Leisure Motivation Scale PALMS predicted the actual amount of PA at a later time to provide evidence for the construct validity of the PALMS. A quantitative, cross-sectional descriptive research design was employed. The Demographic Form, PALMS, and International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short form (IPAQ-S) questionnaires were used to assess motives and amount for physical activity in adults on two occasions. A sample of 489 male undergraduate students aged 18 to 25 years (mean ±SD; 22.30±8.13 years) took part in the study. Participants were divided into three types of activities, namely exercise, racquet sport, and team sports and female participants only took part in one type of activity, namely team sports. After 14 weeks, all 489 undergraduate students who had filled in the initial questionnaire (Occasion 1) received the questionnaire via email (Occasion 2). Of the 489 students, 378 males emailed back the completed questionnaire. The results showed that not only were pertinent sub-scales of PALMS positively related to amount of physical activity, but separate regression analyses showed the positive predictive effect of PALMS motives for amount of physical activity for each type of physical activity among participants. This study supported the construct validity of the PALMS by showing that the motives measured by PALMS did predict amount of PA. This information can be obtained to match people with specific sport or activity which in turn could potentially promote longer adherence to the specific activity.

Keywords: Physical activity, motivation, the level of physical activity, types of physical activities.

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Authors: P. Bárta

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Increasing demand on the performance of Subsea Production Systems (SPS) suggests a need for more detailed investigation of fluid behavior taking place in subsea equipment. Complete CFD cool down analyses of subsea equipment are very time demanding. The objective of this paper is to investigate a Locked CFD approach, which enables significant reduction of the computational time and at the same time maintains sufficient accuracy during thermal cool down simulations. The result comparison of a dead leg simulation using the Full CFD and the three LCFD-methods confirms the validity of the locked flow field assumption for the selected case. For the tested case the LCFD simulation speed up by factor of 200 results in the absolute thermal error of 0.5 °C (3% relative error), speed up by factor of 10 keeps the LCFD results within 0.1 °C (0.5 % relative error) comparing to the Full CFD.

Keywords: CFD, Locked Flow Field, Speed up of CFD simulation time, Subsea

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Authors: Dana M. Ragab, Jasim A Ghaeb

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The Voltage Unbalance Factor (VUF) index is recommended to evaluate system performance under unbalanced operation. However, its calculation requires complex algebra which limits its use in the field. Furthermore, one system cycle is required at least to detect unbalance using the VUF. Ideally unbalance mitigation must be performed within 10 ms for 50 Hz systems. In this work, a linear relation for VUF evaluation in three-phase electrical power system using space vector (SV) is derived. It is proposed to determine the voltage unbalance quickly and accurately and to overcome the constraints associated with the traditional methods of VUF evaluation. Aqaba-Qatrana-South Amman (AQSA) power system is considered to study the system performance under unbalanced conditions. The results show that both the complexity of calculations and the time required to evaluate VUF are reduced significantly.

Keywords: Power quality, space vector, unbalance evaluation.

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Authors: Kadry M. Sadek, Tarek K. Abouzed, Mousa A. Ayoub

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The presence of endocrine-disrupting compounds, such as bisphenol A (BPA), in the environment can cause serious health problems. However, there are controversial opinions. This study investigated the reproductive, metabolic, oxidative and immunologic-disrupting effects of bisphenol A in male rabbits. Rabbits were divided into five groups. The first four rabbit groups were administered oral BPA (1, 10, 50, or 100 mg/kg/day) for ten weeks. The fifth group was administered corn oil as the vehicle. BPA significantly decreased serum testosterone, estradiol and the free androgen index (FAI) and significantly increased sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) compared with the placebo group. The higher doses of BPA showed a significant decrease in follicular stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). A significant increase in blood glucose levels was identified in the BPA groups. The non-significant difference in insulin levels is a novel finding. The cumulative testicular toxicity of BPA was clearly demonstrated by the dose-dependent decrease in absolute testes weight, primary measures of semen quality and a significant increase in testicular malonaldehyde (MDA). Moreover, BPA significantly decreased total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and significantly increased immunoglobulin G (IgG) at the highest concentration. Our results suggest that BPA, especially at higher doses, is associated with many adverse effects on metabolism, oxidative stress, immunity, sperm quality and markers of androgenic action.

Keywords: Bisphenol A, oxidative stress, rabbits, semen quality, steroidogenesis.

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Authors: Jan Doutreloigne

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The main goal of this paper is to develop a switching amplifier with optimized power efficiency for analog signals with a very high crest factor such as audio or DSL signals. Theoretical calculations show that a switching amplifier architecture based on multi-level pulse width modulation outperforms all other types of linear or switching amplifiers in that respect. Simulations on a 2 W multi-level switching audio amplifier, designed in a 50 V 0.35 mm IC technology, confirm its superior performance in terms of power efficiency. A real silicon implementation of this audio amplifier design is currently underway to provide experimental validation.

Keywords: Audio amplifier, multi-level switching amplifier, power efficiency, pulse width modulation, PWM, self-oscillating amplifier.

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Authors: Minh-Khai Nguyen, Young-Gook Jung, Young-Cheol Lim

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It is known that if harmonic spectra are decreased, then acoustic noise also decreased. Hence, this paper deals with a new random switching strategy using DSP TMS320F2812 to decrease the harmonics spectra of single phase switched reluctance motor. The proposed method which combines random turn-on, turn-off angle technique and random pulse width modulation technique is shown. A harmonic spread factor (HSF) is used to evaluate the random modulation scheme. In order to confirm the effectiveness of the new method, the experimental results show that the harmonic intensity of output voltage for the proposed method is better than that for conventional methods.

Keywords: Single phase switched reluctance motor (SRM), harmonic spread factor (HSF), random switching technique.

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Authors: Hitham M. Tlilan

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Using finite element method (FEM), the elastic new strain-concentration factor (SNCF) of cylindrical bars with circumferential flat-bottom groove is studied. This new SNCF has been defined under triaxial stress state. The employed specimens have constant groove depth with net section and gross diameters of 10.0 and 16.7 mm, respectively. The length of flatness ao has been varied form 0.0 ~12.5 mm to study the elastic SNCF of this type of geometrical irregularities. The results that the elastic new SNCF rapidly drops from its elastic value of the groove with ao = 0.0, i.e. circumferential U-notch, and reaches minimum value at ao = 2 mm. After that the elastic new SNCF becomes nearly constant with increasing flatness length (ao). The value of tensile load at yielding at the groove root increases with increasing ao. The current results show that severity of the notch decreases with increasing flatness length ao.

Keywords: Bar, groove, strain, tension

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Authors: M. Nassereddine, J. Rizk, A. Hellany, M. Nagrial

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The prologue of new High Voltage (HV) transmission mains into the community necessitates earthing design to ensure safety compliance of the system. Conductive structures such as steel or concrete poles are widely used in HV transmission mains. The earth potential rise (EPR) generated by a fault on these structures could result to an unsafe condition. This paper discusses information on the input impedance of the over head earth wire (OHEW) system for finite and infinite transmission mains. The definition of finite and infinite system is discussed, maximum EPR due to pole fault. The simplified equations for EPR assessments are introduced and discussed for the finite and infinite conditions. A case study is also shown.

Keywords: Coupling Factor, Earth Grid, EPR, Fault Current Distribution, High Voltage, Line Impedance, OHEW, Split Factor, Transmission Mains.

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Authors: Farhan Hussain, M.S.Islam

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Analytically the effect of polarization dependent loss on a high speed fiber optic communication link has been investigated. PDL and the signal's incoming state of polarization (SOP) have a significant co-relation between them and their various combinations produces different effects on the system behavior which has been inspected. Pauli's spin operator and PDL parameters are combined together to observe the attenuation effect induced by PDL in a link containing multiple PDL elements. It is found that in the presence of PDL the Q-factor and BER at the receiver undergoes fluctuation causing the system to be unstable and results show that it is mainly due to optical-signal-to-parallel-noise ratio (OSNItpar) that these parameters fluctuate. Generally the Q-factor, BER deteriorates as the value of average PDL in the link increases except for depolarized light for which the system parameters improves when PDL increases.

Keywords: Bit Error Rate (BER), Optical-signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR), Polarization-dependent loss (PDL), State of polarization (SOP).

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Authors: Sandeep Chandana, Rene V. Mayorga

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The paper presents a new hybridization methodology involving Neural, Fuzzy and Rough Computing. A Rough Sets based approximation technique has been proposed based on a certain Neuro – Fuzzy architecture. A New Rough Neuron composition consisting of a combination of a Lower Bound neuron and a Boundary neuron has also been described. The conventional convergence of error in back propagation has been given away for a new framework based on 'Output Excitation Factor' and an inverse input transfer function. The paper also presents a brief comparison of performances, of the existing Rough Neural Networks and ANFIS architecture against the proposed methodology. It can be observed that the rough approximation based neuro-fuzzy architecture is superior to its counterparts.

Keywords: Boundary neuron, neuro-fuzzy, output excitation factor, RANFIS, rough approximation, rough neural computing.

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Authors: Zhongxu Chen, Jun Yang, Heyue Mao, Xiaoyu Zheng

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Hemorrhage Disease of Grass Carp (HDGC) is a kind of commonly occurring illnesses in summer, and the extremely high death rate result in colossal losses to aquaculture. As the complex connections among each factor which influences aquiculture diseases, there-s no quit reasonable mathematical model to solve the problem at present.A BP neural network which with excellent nonlinear mapping coherence was adopted to establish mathematical model; Environmental factor, which can easily detected, such as breeding density, water temperature, pH and light intensity was set as the main analyzing object. 25 groups of experimental data were used for training and test, and the accuracy of using the model to predict the trend of HDGC was above 80%. It is demonstrated that BP neural network for predicating diseases in HDGC has a particularly objectivity and practicality, thus it can be spread to other aquiculture disease.

Keywords: Aquaculture, Hemorrhage Disease of Grass Carp, BP Neural Network

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Authors: E. Abustam, M. I. Said, M. Yusuf, H. M. Ali

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This study aims to examine the sensory quality of meatballs made from Balinese beef and buffalo meat after the addition of smoke powder prior to storage at the temperatures of 2- 5°C for 7 days. This study used meat from Longissimus dorsi muscle of male Balinese cattle aged 3 years and of male buffalo aged 5 years as the main raw materials, and smoke powder as a binder and preservative in making meatballs. The study was based on completely randomized design (CRD) of factorial pattern of 2 x 3 x 2 where factors 1, 2 and 3 included the types of meat (cattle and buffalo), types of smoke powder (oven dried, freeze dried and spray dried) with a level of 2% of the weight of the meat (w/w), and storage duration (0 and 7 days) with three replications, respectively. The parameters measured were the meatball sensory quality (scores of tenderness, firmness, chewing residue, and intensity of flavor). The results of this study show that each type of meat has produced different sensory characteristics. The meatballs made from buffalo meat have higher tenderness and elasticity scores than the Balinese beef. Meanwhile, the buffalo meatballs have a lower residue mastication score than the Balinese beef. Each type of smoke powders has produced a relatively similar sensory quality of meatballs. It can be concluded that the smoke powder of 2% of the weight of the meat (w/w) could maintain the sensory quality of the meatballs for 7 days of storage.

Keywords: Balinese beef meatballs, buffalo meatballs, sensory quality, smoke powder.

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Authors: Hasan Atak

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Emerging adulthood, between the ages of 18 and 25, as a distinct developmental stage extending from adolescence to young adulthood. The proportions composing the five-factor model are neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. In the literature, there is any study which includes the relationship between emerging adults loneliness and personality traits. Therefore, the relationship between emerging adults loneliness and personality traits have to be investigated. This study examines the association between the Big Five personality traits, and loneliness among Turkish emerging adults. A total of 220 emerging adults completed the NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), and the The UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLALS). Correlation analysis showed that three Big Five personality dimensions which are Neuroticism (positively), and Extraversion and Aggreableness (negatively) are moderately correlated with emerging adults loneliness. Regression analysis shows that Extraversion, Aggreableness and Neuroticism are the most important predictors of emerging adults loneliness. Results can be discussed in the context of emerging adulthood theory.

Keywords: Personality, Big Five Traits, Loneliness, Turkish Emerging Adults

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Authors: Amira, A. Goma, U. E. Mahrous

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Welfare may be considered to be a subjective experience; it has a biological function that is related to the fitness and survival of the animal accordingly, researches have suggested that welfare is compromised when the animal's evolutionary fitness is reduced. This study was carried out to explain the effect of some managerial stressors as handling and restraint on behavioral patterns and biochemical parameters of rats. A total of 24 (12 males & 12 females) Sprague-Dawley rats (12 months & 150-180g) were allotted into 3 groups, handled group (4 male & 4 female), restrained group (4 male & 4 female) and control group (4 males & 4 females). The obtained results revealed that time spent feeding, drinking, movement and cage exploration frequencies increased significantly in handled rats than other groups, while lying time and licking increased significantly in restrained rats than handled and controls. Moreover, social behavior decreased in both stressed groups than control. Triglycerides were significantly increased in handled rats than other groups, while total lipid, total protein and globulin significantly increased in both treated groups than control. Corticosterone increased in restrained and handled rats than control ones. Moreover, there was an increment in packed cell volume significantly in restrained rats than others. These deducted that if we want to study the effect of stress on animal welfare it is necessary to study the effect of such stressors on animal’s behavior and physiological responses.

Keywords: Behavior, handling, restraint, rat, welfare.

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Authors: Nebojsa B. Raicevic, Teodoros S. Prokic, Vladan Golubovic

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Recently, bianisotropic media again received increasing importance in electromagnetic theory because of advances in material science which enable the manufacturing of complex bianisotropic materials. By using Maxwell's equations and corresponding boundary conditions, the electromagnetic field distribution in bianisotropic solenoid coils is determined and the influence of the bianisotropic behaviour of coil to the impedance and Q-factor is considered. Bianisotropic media are the largest class of linear media which is able to describe the macroscopic material properties of artificial dielectrics, artificial magnetics, artificial chiral materials, left-handed materials, metamaterials, and other composite materials. Several special cases of coils, filled with complex substance, have been analyzed. Results obtained by using the analytical approach are compared with values calculated by numerical methods, especially by our new hybrid EEM/BEM method and FEM.

Keywords: Bianisotropic media, impedance and Q-factor, Maxwell`s equations, hybrid EEM/BEM method.

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Authors: H.B. Nguendo Yongsi

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An epidemiological cross sectional study was undertaken in Yaoundé in 2002 and updated in 2005. Focused on health within the city, the objectives were to measure diarrheal prevalence and to identify the risk factors associated with them. Results of microbiological examinations have revealed an urban average prevalence rate of 14.5%. Access to basic services in the living environment appears to be an important risk factor for diarrheas. Statistical and spatial analyses conducted have revealed that prevalence of diarrheal diseases vary among the two main types of settlement (informal and planned). More importantly, this study shows that, diarrhea prevalence rates (notably bacterial and parasitic diarrheas) vary according to the sub- category of settlements. The study draws a number of theoretical and policy implications for researchers and policy decision makers.

Keywords: Cameroon, diarrheal diseases, health risk factor, planned and spontaneous settlement, urban policy, urbanization.

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Authors: M. Cheraghi, B. Lorestani, N. Yousefi

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Contamination of heavy metals represents one of the most pressing threats to water and soil resources as well as human health. Phytoremediation can be potentially used to remediate metalcontaminated sites. A major step towards the development of phytoremediation of heavy metal impacted soils is the discovery of the heavy metal hyperaccumulation in plants. In this study, the several established criteria to define a hyperaccumulator plant were applied. The case study was represented by a mining area in Hamedan province in the central west part of Iran. Obtained results showed that the most of sampled species were able to grow on heavily metal-contaminated soils and also were able to accumulate extraordinarily high concentrations of some metals such as Zn, Mn, Cu, Pb and Fe. Using the most common criteria, Euphorbia macroclada and Centaurea virgata can be classified as hyperaccumulators of some measured heavy metals and, therefore, they have suitable potential for phytoremediation of contaminated soils.

Keywords: Enrichment factor, Heavy metals, Hyperaccumulator, Phytoremediation, Translocation factor

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Authors: Cristina Sá, Carlos Gomes, António Martins

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The reasons that explain different behaviors towards tax obligations in similar countries are not completely understood yet. The main purpose of this paper is to identify and compare the factors that influence tax morale levels in Portugal and Spain. We use data from European Values Study (EVS). Using a sample of 2,652 individuals, a factor analysis was used to extract the underlying dimensions of tax morale of Portuguese and Spanish taxpayers. Based on a factor analysis, the results of this paper show that sociological and behavioral factors, psychological factors and political factors are important for a good understanding of taxpayers’ behavior in Iberian Peninsula. This paper added value relies on the analyses of a wide range of variables and on the comparison between Portugal and Spain. Our conclusions provided insights that tax authorities and politicians can use to better focus their strategies and actions in order to increase compliance, reduce tax evasion, fight underground economy and increase country´s competitiveness.

Keywords: Compliance, tax morale, Portugal, Spain.

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Authors: Md. Emaj Uddin

Abstract:

Age at first marriage is a basic temporal term that is culturally constructed for marriage relationship between an adult male and an adult female intended to have sex, to reproduce and to adapt to environment from one generation to another around the world. Cross-cultural evidences suggest that age at first marriage for both male and female not only varies across the cultures, but also varies among the subcultures of the same society. The purpose of the study was to compare age at first marriage for husband and wife including age differences between them between Muslim and Santal communities in rural Bangladesh. For this we hypothesized that (1) there were significant differences in age at first marriage and age interval between husband and wife between Muslim and Santal communities in rural Bangladesh. In so doing, 288 couples (145 pairs of couples for Muslim and 143 pairs of couples for Santal) were selected by cluster random sampling from the Kalna village situated in the Tanore Upazila of Rajshahi district, Bangladesh, whose current mean age range was 36.59 years for husband and 28.85 years for wife for the Muslim and 31.74 years for husband and 25.21 years for wife for the Santal respectively. The results of Independent Sample t test showed that mean age at first marriage for the Muslim samples was 23.05 years for husbands and 15.11 years for wives, while mean age at first marriage for the Santal samples was 20.71 years for husbands and 14.34 years for wives respectively that were significantly different at p<0.05 level. Although husbands compared to wives in both the communities were relatively older, there were significant similarities in mean age differences (7.71 for Muslim couples and 7.51 for Santal, p>0.05) among the selected husbands and wives between the two communities. This study recommends that further cross-cultural researches should be done on the causeeffect relationships between socio-cultural factors and age at marriage between the two communities in Bangladesh.

Keywords: Age at First Marriage, Age Difference at Marriage, Bangladesh, Cross-Cultural Comparison, Muslim, Santal.

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Authors: Amir Ghasemlouei, Alireza Khalaj

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Breast cancer is in the top rate of cancer. We analyzed the prevalence of obesity and its association with breast cancer and finally we reviewed 25 article that 320 patient and 320 control which enrolled to our study. The distribution of breast cancer patients and controls with respect to their anthropometric indices in patients with higher weight, which was statistically significant (60.2 ± 10.2 kg) compared with control group (56.1 ± 11.3 kg). The body mass index of patients was (26.06+/-3.42) and significantly higher than the control group (24.1+/-1.7). Obesity leads to increased levels of adipose tissue in the body that can be stored toxins and carcinogens to produce a continuous supply. Due to the high level of fat and the role of estrogen in a woman which is endogenous estrogen of the tumor and regulates the activities of growth steroids, obesity has confirmed as a risk factor for breast cancer. Our study and other studies have shown that obesity is a risk factor for breast cancer. And it can be prevented with a weight loss intervention for breast cancer in the future.

Keywords: Breast cancer, review study, obesity, overweight.

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Authors: Qasem A. Al-Radaideh, Emad Abu-Shanab, Shaima Hamam, Hani Abu-Salem

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Online news websites are one of the main and wide areas of Mass Media. Since the nineties several Jordanian newspapers were introduced to the World Wide Web to reach various and large numbers of audiances. Examples of these newspapers that have online version are Al-Rai, Ad-Dustor and AlGhad. Other pure online news websites include Ammon and Rum. The main aim of this study is to evaluate online newspaper websites using two assessment measures; usability and web content. This aim is achieved by using a questionnaire based evaluation which is based on the definition of usability and web content in the ISO document as the standard number 9241-part 11. The results are obtained based on 204 audiences- responses. The results of the research showed that the usability factor is relatively good for all Jordanian online newspapers whereas the web content factor is moderate.

Keywords: Communication and mass media, Jordanian online news websites, website content, website usability.

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Authors: Se Kyung Oh, Ary Bachtiar Krishna Putra, Soo Whan Ahn

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A numerical study on the turbulent flow and heat transfer characteristics in the rectangular channel with different types of baffles is carried out. The inclined baffles have the width of 19.8 cm, the square diamond type hole having one side length of 2.55 cm, and the inclination angle of 5o. Reynolds number is varied between 23,000 and 57,000. The SST turbulence model is applied in the calculation. The validity of the numerical results is examined by the experimental data. The numerical results of the flow field depict that the flow patterns around the different baffle type are entirely different and these significantly affect the local heat transfer characteristics. The heat transfer and friction factor characteristics are significantly affected by the perforation density of the baffle plate. It is found that the heat transfer enhancement of baffle type II (3 hole baffle) has the best values.

Keywords: Turbulent flow, rectangular channel, inclined baffle, heat transfer, friction factor.

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