Experimental feasibility study of using date palm oil as a bitumen Bio-Modifier in HMA pavement

This paper examines the effects of Date palm oil as a bitumen modifier on the compressive strength of bitumen and hot mixed asphalt (HMA) pavement. Date palm oil contains anti-oxidant isomers that have the potential to enhance the performance and durability of bitumen. The compressive strength test of asphalt pavement mixed with Date palm oil was performed in accordance with British Standards BS 1881: Part 116: 1983. The cube specimens of asphalt pavement were manufactured mixing with 0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, and 10% of Date palm oil out of total sample mass. The experimental results suggested that Date palm oil as a bitumen modifier reduced the compressive strength of HMA pavement. The findings of this paper urge for further experiments to understand the effects of Date palm oil on the asphalt pavements under long-term traffic load, environment and surface drainage

Foreign Investments and Stock Market: Evidence From Palestine

Purpose: This study aims to examine the association between the different forms of inbound foreign investments and the Palestine Exchange (PEX) index to shed light on the nature of that impact.   Theoretical Framework: Several academic studies have examined stock market index factors. Chen, Roll, and Ross's (1986) seminal study on macroeconomic conditions and U.S. stock returns provides an example. Interest rate, inflation, industrial production, risk premium movements, and dividend yield positively explain expected stock return. Abusharbeh and Karim (2016) found that interest and consumer price index positively affect banking and investment firm profits on The Palestine Exchange (PEX). Shahbaz (2013) examined how foreign direct investment affects Pakistan's stock market. Results supported foreign direct investment's stock market complementarity.   Design/Methodology/Approach: The market index and panel quarterly data for inward foreign investments are used in this study. From 2009 to 2022, end-of-quarter data were collected on total inward foreign investments, their sub-components (direct investments, stock portfolio investments, and currency and deposits in Palestine), and the market index (Al-Quds index) closing value. Fifty-six observations were gathered.   Findings: The study found that the overall model integrating all three types of inward foreign investments significantly explains the market index. Foreign portfolio investments (FPI) are significantly associated with the stock market index. However, the results showed that inward foreign direct investments (FDI) and foreign deposits and currency investments (FCI) have no significant impact on the stock market index, indicating that they do not complement or substitute each other.   Research, Practical & Social Implications: This study can help the stock market, regulators, and policymakers create incentives and regulations to attract different forms of inward foreign investments. It also examines why foreign direct investments (FDI) and foreign deposits and currency investments do not complement or substitute stock market development.   Originality/Value: This study provides empirical evidence on the impact of the different forms of foreign investment in Palestine on the stock market. Further research is recommended to explore additional variables that might be significant, such as market capitalization and market volume

Relative and Incremental Value Relevance of Traditional and Real Performance Measures: Evidence from Palestine Manufacturing Listed Companies

Purpose: This study seeks to test both incremental and relative value relevance of the Economic Value-Added (EVA) as a real performance indicator and (EPS) as a traditional performance indicator in the context of the Palestine Exchange (PEX) listed manufacturing companies.   Theoretical framework: Previous research provided mixed evidence about the superiority of EVA over the traditional performance measures in predicting market value; some studies supported the superiority of EVA (Zimmerman, 1997; Shishanya et al., 2020), while others denied that superiority (Biddle et al., 1997; Agnatia & Amalia, 2018). Testing the value relevance of EVA compared to EPS was rarely conducted in Palestine.   Design/methodology/approach: Seventy company-year observations were gathered from 10 of 13 manufacturing PEX-listed companies over seven years (2015-2021); the study employed regression and correlation analysis.   Findings: The study found a significant relationship between EPS and stock returns while concluding an insignificant relationship between EVA and stock returns. The study also found that EPS beats EVA. However, the findings showed that EVA adds incremental information content to EPS’s interpretation of stock returns.   Research, Practical & Social implications:  The study outcomes help and direct the investors and analysts, in assessing the company’s performance and predicting stock returns; it also helps policymakers and regulators in directing and updating reporting requirements.   Originality/value: This study adds to the literature on the value relevance of real and traditional performance indices in Palestine. Further research is recommended on other sectors and the whole market

Molecular and phenotypic characterization of atypical enteropathogenic Escherichia coli serotypes isolated from children with and without diarrhea

BackgroundWe characterized 36 atypical enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) serotypes isolated from children with and without diarrhea in Iran. Because the identification of atypical EPEC based on biochemical features is rather difficult and time consuming, we used a combination of three approaches, including a polymerase chain reaction-based method, culture adherence assay, and the restriction analysis of fliC gene (fliC-restriction fragment length polymorphism), to identify E coli serotypes.MethodsTo distinguish typical and atypical EPEC strains, the presence of EPEC attaching effacing A gene (eaeA) gene and EPEC-attaching factor (EAF) plasmid were analyzed. All E coli strains were identified based on the detection of the eaeA+, bundle-forming pili A gene (bfpA−), EAF− or eaeA−, bfpA+, EAF− profiles and the absence of stx (encoded for shiga toxin) gene as atypical EPEC.ResultsAll strains studied belonged to 5 atypical EPEC serogroups and 15 serotypes based on the virulence profiles. Of 36 atypical EPEC serotypes, 22 (61.2%) and 14 (38.8%) strains isolated from diarrheal and healthy cases, respectively. O142:H48 (19.5%) and O111:H21 (11.1%) serotypes were the most prevalent isolates, followed by serotypes O111: H− and O86:H48 (5.6% each).ConclusionsThe characteristics of the atypical EPEC serotypes from children with diarrhea were significantly different from those without diarrhea. The compilation of data on atypical EPEC strains presented here indicates the importance of a combined approach of conventional and molecular tests to study the virulence and epidemiology of EPEC serotypes in human subjects

The Causality between Government Revenue and Government Expenditure in Iran

The causal relationship between government revenue and government expenditure is an important subject in public economics especially to the control of budget deficit. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between government revenue and governmentexpenditure in Iran by applying the bounds testing approach to cointegration. The results of the causality test show that there is a bidirectional causal relationship between government expenditure and revenues in both long run and short run. Therefore, the results of this paper are consistent with fiscal synchronization hypothesis. The policy implication of results suggests that because of existing interdependence relation between government expenditure and revenue, the government makes its expenditures and revenues decision simultaneously. Under this hypothesis, the fiscal authorities of Iran should try to increase revenues and decrease expenditure simultaneously to control the budget deficits

Barriers to Accountability Implementation in the Education Directorates in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The study aimed to identify the barriers to accountability implementation in the education directorates and to know the suggestions for applying accountability in the education directorates in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from the study members’ point of view. For the purpose of achieving the objectives and procedures of the study, the descriptive survey approach was used. The study included all the male and female assistants of the education directors of the boys/girls education affairs, whose number is (90), and all the assistants of the education directors of school affairs whose number is (45). Therefore, the total number of assistants is (135). The study also included all directors and heads of departments and sections belonging directly to the education directors in the regions and provinces, whose number is (540). Hence, the total of the study population is (675). The researcher depended on the questionnaire for data collection, and the most prominent results were: -    There is a number of barriers which may face the implementation of accountability in the education directorates where the majority of the study members’ agreed that the most important of these barriers are: lack of technically qualified human cadres who are needed for the implementation of accountability, rarity of training programs that directed to the implementation of accountability in work, limited availability of appropriate measures to measure performance, and the low level of awareness role of the media of accountability importance. -    The majority of the study members’ agree that there is a number of suggestions which can contribute to the accountability implementation in the education directorates, and they came according to the following grading: using modern technologies to record and classify data and to extract results, specifying work objectives accurately, awareness of the administrative system in the educational directorates by the importance of accountability in work, and spreading the accountability culture and its role in the improvement of educational work. Keywords: Administrative accountability – Barriers of accountability implementation – Accountability in the education directorates in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia