Barriers to Physical Activity Participation Among University Students in Saudi Arabia

This study aimed to determine the level of physical activity and the effect factors that prevent university male and female students from participating in physical activities. Six hundred and eight students from the University of Hafr Al Batin in Saudi Arabia participated in the study. Male students were 263, and female students were 345 from four university branches. The participants were between 18 – 24 years of age. The measurement instrument included the International Physical Activity Questionnaire short form (IPAQ-SF) and the Barriers to Being Active Quiz (BBAQ). The results of this study indicated that approximately 33% of participants had low physical activity, 42% of college students had moderate physical activity, and 25% had high physical activity. In general, female university students had greater barriers to being physically active than male university students. In addition, barriers to being physically active for students with low physical activity were significantly higher than for those with moderate and high physical activity. Also, female students had more barriers to being physically active than male students in four barrier categories that were lack of resources, social influence, lack of willpower, and lack of skill. Finally, university students who participate in physical activity after college had less barriers to being physically active than students who did not participate in physical activity. In conclusion, understanding the barriers that prevent to be physically active helps consider and solve them in order to reach the WHOs recommendation for physical activity

Earnest Hemingway: Truth & Fiction

The difference between fiction, reality and truth has been a subject of a long debate since Plato excluded literature from his Utopia. Plato insists that literature is a thrice-removed reality or at least an inferior imitation of it. Aristotle, on the other hand, believes that literature might be an improved version of reality. This article explores the possibilities of bridging the gab between fiction and reality and if literature has the power to express truth. I focus the discussion on Earnest Hemingway’s An Old Man at the Bridge, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and a collection of his nonfiction writing- his Spanish Civil War Dispatches. Hemingway indeed managed to portray what he refers to as “absolute truth” in his fiction more than he does in his journalism

The Perception of English Vowels by Arab EFL Learners: A Case Study of University Students at Zarqa University

The present paper focuses on the perception of English vowel sounds by learners of English at university level. English and Arabic, genetically two different languages, share some common features on one hand, and exhibit a lot of differences on the other hand. These differences are the chief source of difficulty in the learning of a foreign language. Some Arabic speakers perform oddly on a range of experimental tasks which involve word discrimination. All these tasks involve discriminating words with identical consonant patterns, but differing in their vowels. Some Arabic speakers, it seems, are conspicuously inaccurate in handling vowels in English words, and are much more prone to make errors involving vowels than subjects of other mother tongue backgrounds. One possible explanation to these effects is that Arabic speakers seem to transfer to English a set of psycholinguistic strategies that are more appropriately deployed in processing Arabic words. Unlike English, Arabic vowels are of secondary importance both in script and in word building, and the word recognition system depends heavily on the tri-consonantal roots which are the basis of most Arabic words with vowels variations placed within the consonantal framework. From pedagogy point of view, such differences between the two languages will be determined and included in various teaching material. In some other words, teaching will be directed at those differences. This in turn determines what the teacher has to teach and what the learner has to learn. The present researchers anticipate that the similarities between the two systems would act as a reference point for the learner's perception of the English vowels. The results of the present research would in turn encourage instructors to follow similar procedures in their teaching of sounds at university level in particular. Keywords: English as a foreign language (EFL), Modern Standard Arabic, Zarqa Universit

Evaluation of Wheat Triticum aestivum L. Genotypes with High Productivity in Al-Muthanna and Thi-Qar Provinces

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate  the performance of different genotypes of soft wheat crop at two locations, the first location in the agricultural research station and trials of the College of Agriculture / Muthanna province and the second location in Al-Garraf district / province of Thi- Qar. Ten genotypes (IR885, IR899, IR1123 , IR981, IR1131, IR969, IR1069) are used and Abu Ghraib, Furat and IBA 99 as comparison cultivars) , Three replicates of each treatment were randomized using a randomized complete block design factorial experiments. The effect of genotypes, locations and the interactions between them has been studied in some growth and yield traits and its components. IR98 genotype record higher rate of seed yield kg / donum for both Al-Muthanna and Thi- Qar locations in which reached (1847.667 and 1889.000 kg / donum), respectively while the results showed that the superiority of Furat cultivar giving the highest rate of height plant, spike length and number of spikes / m 2 which reached ( 105.333 cm and 17,000 cm and 805.333 spike / m 2 ), respectively. As well as my agriculture disagreed with each other in most of the studied traits where the second location (Thi- Qar) gave the highest averages for plant height and spike length and number of the forest and the number of spikes / m 2 and weight of 100 tablets and dry weight / m 2 and holds the grain reached (96.400 cm and 14,800 cm and 8.600 and 615.000 spike / m 2 and 3.725 g and 245.700 g / m 2 1889.000 kg / sq.m), respectively. With regard to the interactions between the genotypes and locations, Furat cultivar had superiority in Thi- Qar location, in which gave the highest rate of plant height and spike length which reached (113.333 cm and 20.000 cm), respectively, while the cultivar surpassed EBA 99 in Thi- Qar location, giving the highest rate of Leaf area reached (76.633 cm 2) while the interactions between genotype IR1069 in Thi- Qar location, the highest average of 100 seed weight reached (5.020 g). Keywords: Performance evaluation , genotypes , fine wheat, agricultural locations

Placental Morphology of Pregnant Iraqi Women with Rheumatic Heart Disease

Background: Placental morphology and cellular arrangement can be altered in maternal diseases. Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is a chronic heart condition that can lead to death in pregnant women. The aim of this study is to determine the histological changes of the placenta in pregnant women suffering from RHD. Methods: Placentae were collected from 10 healthy pregnant women, and 31 pregnant women with heart conditions (26 with RHD and 5 with NRHD) who had been admitted to the Baghdad Teaching Hospital. Placental tissues were fixed in 10% formal-saline and were processed for light microscopy. Measurements including the placental weight and diameter of the chorionic villi capillaries were recorded. Results: The results indicate that there are many histological changes in pregnant women with RHD such as hyalinisation, fibrosis of the chorionic villi, proliferation of trophoblastic cells, and thickening of its membrane. Additionally, expectant mothers with RHD experience a reduction in capillary diameter and thickening of the capillary walls, and decreased size and weight of their placenta when compared with the control. Conclusions: Heart diseases, especially RHD, are associated with developmental damage of the placenta in pregnant women by injuring the endothelial cells of the placentas capillaries

Mining question-answer pairs from web forum: a survey of challenges and resolutions

Internet forums, which are also known as discussion boards, are popular web applications. Members of the board discuss issues and share ideas to form a community within the board, and as a result generate huge amount of content on different topics on daily basis. Interest in information extraction and knowledge discovery from such sources has been on the increase in the research community. A number of factors are limiting the potentiality of mining knowledge from forums. Lexical chasm or lexical gap that renders some Natural Language Processing techniques (NLP) less effective, Informal tone that creates noisy data, drifting of discussion topic that prevents focused mining and asynchronous issue that makes it difficult to establish post-reply relationship are some of the problems that need to be addressed. This survey introduces these challenges within the framework of question answering. The survey provides description of the problems; cites and explores useful publications to the reader for further examination; provides an overview of resolution strategies and findings relevant to the challenges

Syringocystadenoma Papilliferum of the Upper Lip

Syringocystadenoma papilliferum (SCAP) is a rare skin tumour believed to arise from the apocrine or eccrine sweat glands. It appears predominantly in childhood, usually at birth. It is exceedingly rare for it to appear on the upper lip. We report a case of SCAP in a 10-year-old Omani girl who presented to the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital in Muscat, Oman, in February 2012 with a non-tender, non-pruritic, solitary verrucous papule of 4 x 5 mm on the left side of the upper lip. It had been present since birth and had slowly been increasing in size over the years. It was occasionally associated with recurrent ulceration and bleeding and had previously been misdiagnosed and mismanaged. An excisional biopsy was performed and the whole lesion was removed. The surgical site was then sutured and the patient was discharged on the same day

T-helper 1 Immune Response in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and its Relation to Disease Activity

Introduction: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a prototypic systemic autoimmune disease characterized by various immunological abnormalities, including dysregulated activation of both T and B lymphocytes. The etiology of this immunological disorder has not been clearly elucidated. Aberrant production and imbalance of T-helper (Th) cell cytokines have been implicated in the pathogenesis of autoimmunity. The aim of this study is to evaluate the level of Th1 cytokines interleukin-18 (IL-18) and osteopontin (OPN) in SLE patients and their correlation with the disease activity. Methods: The study included 24 patients with SLE and 20 age- and sex- matched control subjects. The disease activity was evaluated with the SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI). Plasma OPN and IL-18 concentrations were measured in patients and control groups using an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Results: Plasma OPN and IL-18 concentrations were significantly higher in SLE patients than in the control group (P < 0.001). OPN and IL-18 concentrations correlated positively and significantly with SLEDAI scores in SLE patients (r = 0.831, P < 0.001 and r = 0.826, P < 0.001 respectively). In addition, there was a highly significant positive correlation between OPN and IL-18 levels (r = 0.75, P < 0.001). Conclusion: The circulating IL-18 and OPN concentrations were significantly elevated in SLE patients and correlated with the SLEDAI score. This suggests a crucial role for Th1 cytokines in the inflammatory processes and tissue damage in SLE disease. Both cytokines my act as potential disease markers for monitoring of SLE disease activity and therapeutic efficacy. Keywords: SLE, Th-1, SLEDAI, osteopontin, IL-1

A REVIEW OF CURRENT NURSING PRACTICE AND EVIDENCE-BASED GUIDELINES IN ENTERAL NUTRITION IN THE CRITICALLY ILL PATIENT

Objectives: to provide an overview of evidence-based guidelines regarding some clinical practices related to enteral nutrition along with nursing adherence to these guidelines in the critically ill. Background: evidence-based guidelines for enteral nutrition curtailing the incidence of complications through managing gastric residual volumes, minimizing feeding interruption/under-feeding, confirming tube placement and preventing feeding system contamination. Design: an integrative literature review was employed to include various quantitative methodologies; however, RCTs predominated. Methods: electronic searching of CINAHL, Medline and Cochrane Library databases between 1995- 2011. Of 599 retrieved studies, 87 were included in the review. Results: The studies showed an inadequacy in nursing adherence to enteral nutrition evidence-based. Gastric residual volume should be strictly controlled using prokinetic agents, appropriate head of bed elevation and proper endo-tracheal tube cuff pressure. Feeding interruption should be avoided whenever is possible and an intentional increase to feeding rates/volumes are recommended to avoid under-feeding. X-ray and pH methods of confirming tube placement are more reliable and superior to capnometry and auscultatory methods. Feeding system hanging time should not exceed four consecutive days to prevent infection by endogenous source in addition to delivering formulae at closer body core temperature. Conclusion: evidence-based protocols should be employed effectively and consistently to eradicate discrepancies in nursing practice. Relevance to clinical practice: this paper highlights nursing role in prohibiting the majority of enteral nutrition complications through adhering to evidence-based guidelines

Optimization of capacity in non-Gaussian noise models with and without fading channels for sustainable communication systems

The highest rate at which information may be reliably sent via a communication link is known as its capacity. In the case of non-Gaussian noise, the capacity of the channel depends on the specific characteristics of the noise, which can cause severe errors and reduce the reliability of communication systems over a fading channel. The Gaussian mixture impulsive noise model (GMINM), which is a more general and flexible non-Gaussian model for impulsive noise, has been compared in this paper with the Middleton Class-A impulsive noise model (MCAINM) in terms of derived channel capacity normalized by channel bandwidth (C/BW) with and without Rayleigh fading (Rf) channels. It also investigated the trade-off between complexity and accuracy in modeling the impulsive noise using two simplified Middleton Class-A impulsive noise models based on derived C/BW. The derived C/BW of these models under various conditions, such as different signal-to-noise ratios and impulsive noise parameters and models, have been performed and evaluated using two different scenarios: the exact method and the semi-analytical method. When the impulsive noise parameters  and A are both near 0 in GMINM and MCAINM, respectively, the capacity of the impulsive noise channel is found to be equivalent to that of the Gaussian channel sustainable, as shown by the findings based on Monte-Carlo simulations. We have shown that when the impulsive noise decreases, the capacity increases in all models; however, the capacity of Gaussian noise is higher than the capacity of non-Gaussian noise, which in turn is higher than the capacity of non-Gaussian noise over the Rf channel overall values of SNR in dB. Moreover, multi-channel configuration introduces spatial diversity and multiplexing gains that have been proposed to sustainably optimize the ergodic capacity for the challenge case when the channel state information (CSI) is unknown at the transmitter in non-Gaussian noise over Rf channel. In today's rapidly evolving world, sustainable communication systems play a crucial role in ensuring efficient and responsible utilization of resources. As the demand for wireless communication continues to rise, it becomes imperative to optimize the capacity of communication channels, especially in scenarios involving non-Gaussian noise models and fading channels.