THE EFFECT OF COLLABORATION ON OMANI STUDENTS’ WRITING: A COMPARISON BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL, PAIR AND GROUP WORK

Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about the integration of collaborative writing in L2 classrooms. Collaboration is likely to have a positive effect on writing. However, none of the studies on collaborative writing have been conducted in an Arabic context where learners seem to be in favour of working individually. The current study investigates the effect of collaboration on L2 Omani students writing and expands the discussion to the attitudes of those learners to such collaboration. The data is collected from 41 students selected from two regional schools in Oman. Learners were firstly asked to complete a questionnaire about their attitudes towards collaborative writing. Then, they were divided into individuals, pairs and groups to work in a writing task followed by self reflections for pairs and groups. The analysis and interpretations of data found that collaborative writing positively affects accuracy, fluency and lexical resources of the texts. Moreover, learners generally perceive collaborative writing positively. It was concluded that collaborative writing tasks, groups rather than pairs, have an advantage over autonomous writing to some extent. The findings suggest that collaborative writing should be introduced gradually in writing classes and integrated in the actual writing process

An estimation of oil prices effect on household consumption in Sweden

This study uses a vector autoregressive (VAR) model to examine the impact of oil prices on household final consumption expenditure in Sweden. Due to that international oil prices have been falling since mid-2014, and due to Sweden’s assumed decreased oil dependency, it is of interest to estimate this effect, and whether it has reduced. The empirical results suggest that the price of oil does significantly affect household consumption in Sweden. It is indicated that an increase in international oil prices is associated with a decrease in household consumption. Furthermore, there are indications that the effect of oil prices on consumption was higher before the mid-1990s than in succeeding periods

Solving Some Evolution Equations with Mixed Partial Derivatives by Using Laplace Substitution - Variation Iteration Method

The aim of this paper is to investigate the application of integral transform combined with variation iteration method to solve evolution partial differential equations. The combined form of the Laplace substitution and variation iteration method is implemented efficiently in finding the analytical and numerical solutions of nonlinear evolution partial differential equations with mixed partial derivatives. The obtained solutions are compared to the exact solutions and other existing methods. Illustrative examples show the efficiency and the powerful of the used method

Prevalence and Spectrum of Coronary Anomalies Detected on Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography: A single centre experience in Oman

ABSTRACT: Objectives: Coronary artery anomalies (CAAs) are uncommon congenital abnormalities with a prevalence ranging from 0.2–2%. CAAs can be asymptomatic or less commonly present with life-threatening symptoms. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and spectrum of CAAs in patients who underwent coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) in Oman. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted at the National Heart Centre, Muscat, Oman between September 2012 and August 2018. All consecutive patients who had undergone CCTA were included. Results: A total of 4,445 patients were included in this study. Of these, 59 patients (1.3%) were diagnosed with CAAs with a mean age of 52.6 years (range: 12–80 years) and an equal gender distribution. Among the patients with CAAs, the majority (69.5%) had anomalous origins from the opposite or non-coronary sinus. Right coronary artery arising from the left coronary sinus was the most common type (33.9%). Fewer patients (18.6%) had left circumflex arising from the right coronary sinus (RCS). Seven patients (11.9%) had left main arising from the RCS. Other CAAs were in the dual left anterior descending artery (8.5%), high coronary artery take-off (6.8%), single coronary ostia (6.8%) and coronary artery fistula (6.8%). Conclusion: The prevalence of CAAs was 1.3% which is similar to the literature.Keywords: Coronary Vessel Anomalies; Computed Tomography Angiography; Prevalence; Oman

Hordeum distichon L. (Gramineae) in Iraq. As a Review

مقدمة: يعد النوع Hordeum distichon L. أهم محصول حبوب يُزرع في العراق ويُزرع بشكل شائع في جميع أنحاء العالم ذات المناخ المعتدل ويُعرف غالبًا باسم الشعير الشائع أو الشعير ذو الصفين وهو مستنبت من الشعير ينتمي إلى العائلة Poaceae، والعشيرة Triticeae. النتائج: لخصت المراجعة الحالية المعلومات التي تم جمعها والتي تم نشرها في مقالات علمية مختلفة حول الصفات المظهرية للنوع Hordeum Distichon والاستخدامات العرقية والطبية والكيمياء النباتية وعلم الأدوية. كما تم جمع الأدلة العلمية الداعمة للنسل النباتي وتحديد الثغرات التي يجب سدها من خلال الدراسة المستقبلية الاستنتاجات: هذه البيانات ستكون مفيدة في توفير الاتجاهات المستقبلية للاستخدام الزراعي والطبّي لنبات Hordeum distichon الذي لا يزال أكثر النباتات العشبية استخدامًا، وفقًا للتطبيقات التقليدية والفحص العلميBackground: Hordeum distichon L. is the most important cereal crop grown in Iraq and is commonly cultivated in temperate climate across the world that is often known as common barley or two-rowed barley is a cultigen of barley belonging to the Poaceae family and the Triticeae tribe. Results: The present review summarized collected information that is spread in different scientific articles about Hordeum distichon's morphology, ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemistry, and pharmacology. It was also gathered scientific evidence supporting ethnobotanical claims and identified holes that must be filled by future study Conclusion: These data will be helpful to provide future directions for the agricultural and medicinal use of Hordeum distichon plant which no need to remain the most extensively used herbal plant, according to traditional applications and scientific examination

Validity of anti-nuclear antibodies, double strand DNA antibodies and other parameters in autoimmune hypoparathyroidism

Background: Hypoparathyroidism is the destruction of the parathyroid gland by the immune system, as part of a multiple endocrine insufficiency syndrome. Tissue resistance to PTH's activities can occur in rare cases, resulting in hypoparathyroidism with increased PTH levels. Hypothyroidism is more common in females than males. 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (active vitamin D) levels must be evaluated to rule out vitamin D deficiency as a contributor to or cause of hypocalcemia. Hypocalcemia and phosphatemia are common symptoms of hypoparathyroidism. Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and double strand DNA (DsDNA) are the important biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of patients with autoimmune diseases. ANA and DsDNA occur in different endocrine disorders including thyroid disorders like hypoparathyroidism.Methods: Thirty Hypoparathyroidism patients with age range 21-74 years with (20 female and 10 male) were attending international Baghdad Medical Hospital, during the period from December 2019 to February 2021 and thirty apparently healthy were chosen as healthy control groups respectively. For these two study groups, the blood samples were collected to evaluate the serum level of serum phosphorus, calcitonin, Calcium, Vitamin D3, DsDNA and ANA. The type of kits used for serum DsDNA and ANA in humans were an indirect enzyme immunoassay (ELISA) and the kits for serum level of serum Vitamin D3 and calcitonins were a sandwich ELISA. Finally, these kits for the calcium and phosphorus inorganic Colorimetric method were used.Results: Using Student's t-test, the present study's data revealed a statistically significant difference in the mean of age group cases and controls (P=0.005), as well as a statistically significant difference in serum mean values of each Serum phosphorus (P=0.005), calcitonin (P=0.005), calcium (P=0.002), and vitamin D3 centration (P=0.005) between these two groups . By using Chi-square test sex was not significant between hypoparathyroid and control (P=0.787) and DsDNA was not significantly more positive in hypoparathyroid subjects than control (P=0.112); while ANA was significant (P=0.024).Conclusion: The study sheds light on the necessity to screen the hypo parathyroid patients for vitamin D, calcium and phosphorous levels and calcitonin for better prognosis of patients and for each of antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and double strand DNA (DsDNA).Keywords: Hypoparathyroidism; Phosphate; Calcium; Calcitonin; Vitamin D; ANA; DsDN

Exploring cultural variation in the emotional expressivity of online drawings

Extensive research points to cross-cultural differences in emotional expressivity and the use of context in communication. This study explored these ideas through digital, online, drawings produced using Google\u27s Quick Draw (N = 4869). The selected pictures were of fish and had been drawn by individuals from across six nations: UK, USA, Australia (individualist), Japan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (collectivist). Participants from individualist societies produced images expressing emotion (e.g. smiling or frowning fish) more frequently than their collectivist counterparts. Similarly, participants from individualist nations were significantly more likely to include contextualising elements within their drawings (e.g. seaweed, bubbles etc.). The results support previous work on emotional expression across cultures and research in the area of high and low context communication. This study extends these ideas into the area of computer-based drawing, suggesting Google\u27s Quick Draw represents a useful resource for exploring emotional and cultural variation through the medium of online drawings

Pulmonary Hyalinising Granuloma: A report of two cases

ABSTRACT: Pulmonary hyalinising granuloma (PHG) is a rare fibrosclerosing inflammatory lung condition of unknown aetiology. It is characterised by solitary or multiple pulmonary nodules that are usually found incidentally while imaging the chest for other reasons. We report two cases of histologically proven PHG diagnosed at the Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman. The first case was a 71-year-old male patient who presented in 2010 with a dry cough, weight loss and bilateral pulmonary nodules. The second case was a 58-year-old male patient who presented in 2012 and was found to have incidental bilateral pulmonary nodules on chest X-ray. Both patients were started on prednisolone and on follow-up the PHG nodules remained stable. Although there is no definitive treatment, PHG generally has an excellent prognosis.Keywords: Granuloma; X-Ray Computed Tomography; Multiple Pulmonary Nodules; Lung; Case Report; Oman

Diffusion of inorganic contaminants in dense clay

Develops a mathematical model for depicting behavior of molecular diffusion coefficients -- the factors which cause wastes to migrate through landfill clays into the surrounding soils

A New Empirical Model for Calculating Solubility of Cholesterol in Supercritical Dioxide Carbon

In this research, a new empirical model for calculating solubility of cholesterol in supercritical dioxide carbon has been proposed. The new empirical model included a new parameter is time of staying meat under supercritical CO2, as well as the traditional parameters as pressure and temperature. Multiple linear regression is used to obtain the new empirical model with coefficient correlation of 0.963 and 0.973 for both of static and dynamic methods respectively, as well as the standard error reached 0.014 and 0.00915 respectively, also all parameters have a significant effect of on the cholesterol solubility in the for static and dynamic methods. The results also showed that the cholesterol diffusion coefficient in supercritical CO2 was significantly increased with increasing temperature and reduced with increasing pressure. Values of mass transfer coefficient ranged between 1.3468×10-5 – 3.7756×10-5 m-2s-1 and 6.9177×10-6 - 3.6480×10-5 m-2s-1 for static and dynamic methods respectively. Keywords: supercritical CO2, cholesterol, solubility, mea