Multi-Sectoral Uses of Water & Approaches to DSS in Water Management in the NOSTRUM Partner Countries of the Mediterranean

Agriculture contributes an average of about 10% to the GDP of the partner countries of the Mediterranean involved in the project NOSTRUM. On the other hand, industry contributes an average of about 30% in these countries. It is to remark that in almost all countries the weight of industry accounts between 20% and 30% of the national economy, with the exception of Algeria, where this weight is at about 60%, mainly imputable to the great development of oil extraction and energy sector. In the majority of participating countries, agriculture sector is the greatest consumer of water (more than 65% of total water consumption). Although the case from France where agriculture water use is only about 10% of total water consumption and Italy with around 45%, but this may be due to the fact that most countries reporting for their agricultural water consumption do not include the amount of rain-fed to cultivated lands as a part of their agriculture water use. Most agriculture water use is limited to irrigation water from streams/rivers and groundwater. Rain-fed cultivated-lands in France is almost 90% of its total cultivated area. For Croatia, data given in National Report indicate a 0% of water use for agriculture. The average of water use for agriculture for all the basin is of 62.3% but with a great scatter expressed by a high standard deviation (26.8%) that reflects a wide variation range of water use for agriculture among different countries. The average of water use for agriculture is weakly less on northern countries (52.7%) than on southern countries (75.2) but the twice values are still on the range of the average of the all basin and cannot be taken as indication of difference between north and south. Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) plans are currently developed and implemented by various countries to organize the multi-sectoral water uses. On the other hand, the need for Decision Support System (DSS) as a tool in developing and implementing Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is in growing demand. In spite of the great potential for the research and the development of DSS, the utilization of DSS in water management is not widely spread in the partner countries. In some countries, DSS was planned and developed at the scale of territorial integrated water management. Integration of DSS application to the existing IWRM systems at the partner countries would assist in satisfying the water related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).Integrated Water Resources Management, Decision Support Systems, Mediterranean Basin

Amneh: My Grandmother and My Feminist Inspiration

I dedicate this article to the memory of my grandmother, Amneh ‘Awad Taha-Hamed. Throughout the history of the Palestinian people, women have been involved with wars and upheavals, personal losses, and exile, as well as with social, educational, and economic changes. The Nakba’s (Palestinian catastrophe of 1948) memories and stories are combined with fear, loss, violence, humiliation, and insecure feelings. Palestinian mothers and grandmothers, citizens of Israel play an active role in keeping the Palestinian identity and the traditional structures alive by passing their memories to the next generations. As a result of the Nakba, and the confiscation of lands, women started to stay at home and take on domestic roles to preserve Palestinian cultural and religious values. This was my experience with my grandmother, Amneh, who had many personal and diverse experiences within the context of the social and political changes that took place in her life, especially when my grandfather was detained. During that time, she remained with her four children and gave birth to her fifth child without the presence of my grandfather who was in Israeli prison. Amneh putit upon herself to pass her memories and reflections to her grandchildren, to keep her story, and her people’s history and narrative alive

Implementing Recent Curricular Changes to English Language Instruction in Israel: Opinions and Concerns of Teachers in Israeli Arab Schools

In 2013, the English curriculum of the Israeli educational system underwent a significant reform, aimed to improve students' achievements in English and close the gaps between students’ achievements in Israel, and students’ achievements in other OCED countries in the subject matter. However, all indicators show that after the implementation of the new program, achievements of most Israeli students' in English, especially those of Israeli Arab students, do not meet expectations. Therefore, we interviewed 10 English teachers working in the Israeli Arabic school system, with at least 13 years seniority, in hope to find out why the new curriculum does not accomplish its goals. The findings of this study reveal that teaching English according to the new curriculum is challenged in several ways, some of which are curriculum related, others relate to the training of the teachers, and other challenges relating to the school, and the students population

The Effect of Carbofuran and Endosulfan on the African Catfish, Clarias Garieplnus

This study was undertaken to determine the toxic effects of sub-lethal concentrations of carbofuran and endosulfan on some behavioural, morphological, biaccumulation, biochemical, histopathological, and molecular aspects of the freshwater African catfish, Clarias gariepinus. The toxicity of carbofuran and endsulfan was ascertained by estimating the LC₅₀. The calculated 96-h LC₅₀ values of carbofuran and endosulfan for juveniles of Clarias gariepinus were found to be 10.4 p.p.m and 2l.6 p.p.b respectively, under tropical condition. The test fish swam erratically, struggled to breath, often swam to the surface, followed by loss of equilibrium. The color of the skin became progressively pale during the period of the test, The liver glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT), glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT) and acetycholinesterase (AchE) were determined photometrically. Within 16 days of treatment, the activity levels of GOT and GPT were significantly (p<0.05, p<0.01, p<0.001) increased by 203% and 121% for carbofuran and 167% and 195% for endosulfan respectively, whereas, AchE activity levels were inhibited following exposure to the test pesticides. With no exceptions, the in vivo and in vitro effects of carbofuran and enosulfan on GOT, GPT and AchE were qualitatively similar. The pesticide concentration in the tissues was in the order of liver> intestine> gill> brain> muscle. The highest concentration of the test pesticides (353.47 µg/g carbofuran and 1409.35 µg/g endosulfan) were found in the liver 24 hours after treatment. Liver lesions were observed following exposure to both pesticides. The evidence of pesticide accumulation was elucidated by necrosis and damaged fish liver. The depletion in the protein content was observed following exposure to carbofuran and endosulfan. The RNA concentrations were significantly decreased in Clarias gariepinus exposed to both pesticides, whereas, DNA concentrations tend to remain constant. The DNA molecular weight of the control fish was found to be about 16832 bp, whereas, the DNA molecular weights of carbofuran and endosulfan exposed fish were 14505 and 14505 bp respectively. The liversomatic index decreased to 2.11 for carbofuran and 1.59 for endosulfan in comparison to control. The biochemical, molecular, bioaccumulation, histological, behavioural and morphological techniques employed in this study may be used to detect and assess any pesticidal pollution in the aquatic environment at an early stage of pollution

A description of odd mass Xe and Te isotopes in the Interacting Boson-Fermion Model

Recent interest in spectroscopic factors for single-neutron transfer in low-spin states of the even-odd Xenon $^{125,127,129.131}$Xe and even-odd Tellurium, $^{123,125,127,129,131}$Te isotopes stimulated us to study these isotopes within the frame work of the Interacting Boson-Fermion Model. The fermion that is coupled to the system of bosons is taken to be in the positive parity $3s_{1/2}$, $2d_{3/2}$, $2d_{5/2}$, $1g_{7/2}$ and in the negative $1h_{11/2}$ single-particle orbits, the complete 50-82 major shell. The calculated energies of low-spin energy levels of the odd isotopes are found to agree well with the experimental data. Also B(E2), B(M1) values and spectroscopic factors for single-neutron transfer are calculated and compared with experimental data.Comment: Submitted to Nuclear Physics

Magnetohydrodynamic flow with heat and mass transfer of non-Newtonian fluid past a vertical heated plate embedded in non-Darcy porous medium with variable porosity

Numerical solutions of the nonlinear partial differential equations which describe the motion of the non-Newtonian fluid with heat and mass transfer past a semi-infinite vertical heated plate embedded in a porous medium are obtained.  The considered fluid is obeying the Eyring Powell model.  The system is stressed by an external uniform magnetic field.  The porous medium is obeying the non-Darcy Forchheimer model.  The variation of permeability, porosity and thermal conductivity are considered.  Similarity transformations are made to transform the system of equations to non-linear ordinary differential equations.  A shooting algorithm with Runge-Kutta Fehlberg integration scheme is used to solve these equations.  The velocity, temperature and concentration distributions are obtained as functions of the physical parameters of the problem.  The effects of these parameters on these distributions are discussed and illustrated graphically through a set of figures. Keywords: Magnetohydrodynamics, Mixed convection, Eyring Powell model, Non-  Darcy flow, Porous medium, Magnetic field

The Effect of Junior High School Teachers' Motivation and Willingness to Change on the Diversity of Their Teaching Methods

This study attempts examine the influence of motivation and willingness of   teachers to change on the diversity of teaching methods. The research question is: What is the influence of junior school teachers' motivations and willingness to change on the diversity of their teaching instructions? The participants of the study are 50 English teachers of Junior High Schools in Northern Israel. The research instruments were three questionnaires. The research’s findings revealed a significant influence of English teachers of Junior High Schools willingness to change on the diversity of teaching methods; the higher the willingness to change, the diversity in teaching modes increases. Another significant effect was also found between the level of teaching motivation and diversity of teaching methods; teachers with high motivation level reported diversification in teaching methods. A final significant effect of level of general motivation and willingness for change was also found; the willingness for change among teachers of high motivation increased. The main research conclusion is that willingness to change, which is connected to motivation, influences the diversity of teaching methods. Therefore, in order to assimilate changes in teachers’ working modes, like diversifying their teaching methods or in any other way, there is a need to encourage and nurture their motivation