The Development And Implementation Of A Creativity Module In Art Education Among Primary School Pupils In Saudi Arabia

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk membentuk dan melaksanakan modul kreativiti. The purpose of the study is to develop and implement creativity module

Designing a Continuing Professional Development Programme for Enhancing the Teaching Skills of Teachers of the Arabic Language

The literature shows that there are limitations in continuing professional development (CPD) programmes that prevent teachers of the Arabic language (TALs) at elementary schools in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) from benefitting fully from these programmes to enhance their teaching skills. To resolve this problem, this study was undertaken, utilising the principles of andragogy as the theoretical framework and employing evaluation research as a methodology. The methodology consisted of four phases. The first (exploratory) phase involved administering a needs analysis questionnaire to 39 male TALs to identify the teaching skills they required, then conducting semi-structured interviews with six male TALs (who would also participate in the second, third and fourth phases), to elicit their views on the characteristics of effective CPD that would help to improve their teaching skills. The outcomes of this exploratory phase were considered in constructing the development phase, in which two experts took part, and the execution phase, which established the procedures for planning and implementing the CPD programme. Finally, the evaluation phase identified the requirements that the CPD programme must meet in order to improve the target group’s teaching skills in the next stage of its design. It concluded that the CPD programme designed for this study was capable of addressing the stated problem. Based upon the outcomes of the above four phases, the study resulted in the design of a relevant CPD programme to improve TALs’ teaching skills and one that was suitable in the context of CPD in the KSA.The Ministry of Education and Albaha University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabi

Ecological studies on the colocynth, Citrullus colocynthis (L.) (Curcurbitaceae) from Shada, Saudi Arabia and its insect repellent properties

Abstract: This study attempts to provide an insight into the relationship between Citrullus colocynthis and the surrounding soil. Moreover, it aims to investigate the relationship between the various physicochemical properties of soil with each other. The flavonoid compounds in C. colocynthis were isolated, identified and tested for possible insect repelling properties. Soil samples were collected and subjected to analysis, while the insect repellent properties of C. colocynthis extracts were investigated by testing its components on the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum. A significant correlation was found between organic matter content and pH, soil moisture and soil textural components. A positive correlation was found between pH value and soil moisture, coarse and fine sand. Conversely a negative correlation was found between pH with silt and clay. Soil moisture increased proportionately with silt and clay content but decreased proportionately with coarse and fine sand content. Quercetin 3-rhamnoside and quercetin were isolated from C. colocynthis leaves and had a moderate repellant effect against T. castaneum and effectively lowered the population of the beetles by 82.5%. In conclusion, there was a strong relationship between the physicochemical properties of soil. Furthermore, the flavonoid constituents of C. colocynthis had potential insecticidal properties

Hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, anti-amylase, and antiglucosidase effects of Ziziphus spina-christi (L.) against carbon tetrachloride-induced toxicity in rats

Purpose: To explore the hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, anti-amylase, and anti-glucosidase effects of the medicinal plant Ziziphus spina-christi (L.). Methods: Ziziphus spina-christi (L.) methanol extract (ZS-1) and its ethyl-acetate (ZS-2), n-butanol (ZS3), and aqueous (ZS-4) fractions were evaluated for their hepatoprotective, anti-amylase, and antiglucosidase activities. Adult male Wister rats were divided into 11 groups (I- XI) with 6 mice per group. Group I was normal control, while the treatment groups were as follows: group II, CCl4; group III, Silymarin + CCl4; group IV, Ziziphus spina-christi total methanol extract (ZS-1), 100 mg/kg) + CCl4; group V, ZS-1 (200 mg/kg) + CCl4; group VI, ethyl acetate fraction (ZS-2), 100 mg/kg + CCl4; group VII: ZS-2 (200 mg/kg) + CCl4; group VIII, butanol fraction (ZS-3), 100 mg/kg) + CCl4; group IX, ZS-3 (200 mg/kg) + CCl4; group X, aqueous fraction (ZS-4), 100 mg/kg) + CCl4; group XI: ZS-4 (200 mg/kg) + CCl4. Silymarin was used as the standard. Biomarkers of liver and kidney toxicity and histopathological changes were evaluated. Results: Liver and kidney malondialdehyde (MDA), non-protein sulfhydryls (NP-SH) and total protein levels were elevated in CCl4-treated rats; however, ZS-1 and ZS-4 of Z. spina-christi significantly reduced these levels. ZS-2 and ZS-3 did not significantly improve the studied parameters. These results were confirmed by results from histopathological examination. ZS-1 and ZS-2 showed mild inhibitory activities against α-amylase and α-glucosidase (54 and 43 % at 100 µg/ml, respectively). Conclusion: The results indicate that ZS-1 and ZS-4 samples displayed dose-dependent hepatoprotective and nephroprotective effects, whereas ZS-2 and ZS-3 samples did not exhibit these effects. Similarly, α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzymes are considerably inhibited by ZS-1 and ZS-2

Thymoquinone ameliorates acrylamide-induced reproductive toxicity in female rats: An experimental study

Background: Acrylamide (AA) is a carcinogenic compound that causes severe reproductive impairments and represents a high environmental risk factor. Thymoquinone (TQ) has a unique antioxidant activity and has been widely used as a protective agent against various types of toxicity. Objective: To evaluate the protective effects of TQ against AA-induced reproductive toxicity in female rats. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 40 female albino rats (120-150 gr, 8-10 wk) were sorted into 4 groups, (n = 10/each), vehicle group (received a daily oral administration of 0.5 ml saline [9%]); AA group (received a daily oral administration with freshly prepared AA, 20 mg/kg body weight) for 21 days which is less than the lethal dose LD50 of AA in rats (20 mg/kg body weight); AA+TQ group (received a daily oral administration of TQ, 10 mg/kg body weight) after AA intoxication for 21 days, and TQ group (received a daily oral administration of TQ only, 10 mg/kg body weight) for 21 consecutive days. Reproductive hormones, carcinogenic biomarkers, and oxidative stress markers were measured. The histological assessment showed the protective effect of TQ against AA-induced ovarian injury. Network pharmacology analysis and molecular docking approach were carried out to determine the binding affinity of TQ with cyclooxygenase 2. Results: TQ administration significantly enhanced the functional capacity of the ovary at hormones, oxidative biomarkers, and tumor markers at a significant level of p < 0.001. Besides, TQ protects the ovary of AA-treated rats from the severe degeneration effect. Conclusion: TQ showed a promising protective effect against AA-induced reproductive toxicity in female rats. Key words: Acrylamide, Thymoquinone, Rats, Oxidative stress, Cyclooxygenase 2, Inflammation

Binary liquid film condensation from water-ammonia vapors mixture flowing downward along a parallel plate condenser

The ammonia-water film condensation is used as an efficient working fluid in industrial applications such as refrigeration, plate condenser and evaporator, absorber/generator heat exchange, air-conditioning, heat pumps and separation processes. The present work focuses on a numerical investigation of water-ammonia condensation on a falling binary liquid film inside a parallel plate condenser by mixed convection. The parallel plate condenser is composed by two parallel vertical plates. One of the plates is wetted by liquidfilm and cooled by the thermal flux cooling while the other plate is isothermal and dry. Parametric computations were performed to investigate the effects of the inlet parameters of gas, the properties of the binary liquid film as well as the thermal flux cooling on the combined mass and heat transfer and on the efficiency of the parallel plate condenser. The results show that an increase in the inlet vapor of ammonia as well as of vapor water enhances the efficiency of the parallel plate condenser. It is shown also that an enhancement of efficiency of the parallel plate condenser has been recorded when the thermal flux cooling and inlet liquid flow rate is elevated. Whereas the increase of the inlet liquid concentration of ammonia inhibits the efficiency of the parallel plate condenser

Survey and molecular detection of Melissococcus plutonius, the causative agent of European Foulbrood in honeybees in Saudi Arabia

AbstractA large-scale field survey was conducted to screen major Saudi Arabian beekeeping locations for infection by Melissococcus plutonius. M. plutonius is one of the major bacterial pathogens of honeybee broods and is the causative agent of European Foulbrood disease (EFB). Larvae from samples suspected of infection were collected from different apiaries and homogenized in phosphate buffered saline (PBS). Bacteria were isolated on MYPGP agar medium. Two bacterial isolates, ksuMP7 and ksuMP9 (16S rRNA GenBank accession numbers, KX417565 and KX417566, respectively), were subjected to molecular identification using M. plutonius -specific primers, a BLAST sequence analysis revealed that the two isolates were M. plutonius with more than 98% sequence identity. The molecular detection of M. plutonius from honeybee is the first recorded incidence of this pathogen in Saudi Arabia. This study emphasizes the need for official authorities to take immediate steps toward treating and limiting the spread of this disease throughout the country

The Role of Parenting in the Prediction of Criminal Involvement: Findings From a Nationally Representative Sample of Youth and a Sample of Adopted Youth

The role of parenting in the development of criminal behavior has been the source of a vast amount of research, with the majority of studies detecting statistically significant associations between dimensions of parenting and measures of criminal involvement. An emerging group of scholars, however, has drawn attention to the methodological limitations—mainly genetic confounding—of the parental socialization literature. The current study addressed this limitation by analyzing a sample of adoptees to assess the association between 8 parenting measures and 4 criminal justice outcome measures. The results revealed very little evidence of parental socialization effects on criminal behavior before controlling for genetic confounding and no evidence of parental socialization effects on criminal involvement after controlling for genetic confounding

10 Gbps Mobile Visible Light Communication System Employing Angle Diversity, Imaging Receivers, and Relay Nodes

Over the last decade, visible light communication (VLC) systems have typically operated between 50 Mbps and 3.4 Gbps. In this paper, we propose and evaluate mobile VLC systems that operate at 10 Gbps. The enhancements in channel bandwidth and data rate are achieved by the introduction of laser diodes (LDs), angle diversity receivers (ADR), imaging receivers, relay nodes and delay adaptation techniques. We propose three mobile VLC systems; an ADR relay assisted LD-VLC (ADRR-LD), an imaging relay assisted LD-VLC (IMGR-LD) and select-the-best imaging relay assisted LD-VLC (SBIMGR-LD). The ADR and imaging receiver are proposed for the VLC system to mitigate the intersymbol interference (ISI), maximise the signal to noise ratio (SNR) and reduce the impact of multipath dispersion due to mobility. The combination of IMGR-LD with a delay adaptation technique adds a degree of freedom to the link design, which results in a VLC system that has the ability to provide high data rates under mobility. The proposed IMGR-LD system achieves significant improvements in the SNR over other systems in the worst case scenario in the considered real indoor environment