Factors influencing faculty computer literacy and use in Jordan: A multivariate analysis

This study broadens the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) proposed by Davis (1989) by incorporating multiple dimensions of cultural attributes into the model. The study also specifies and expands on the factors that may influence faculty members\u27 computer literacy and computer usage in a developing country, namely Jordan. To operationalize the constructs of the introduced conceptual model, eight instruments were used. They are Igbaria, Zinatelli, Cragg, and Cavaye\u27s (1997) scales of organizational support; Hofsted\u27s (1988) scale of cultural attributes; Igbaria and Parasuraman\u27s (1989) scale of attitudes toward computers; Thatcher and Perrewe\u27s (2002) scale of computer anxiety; Compeau and Higgins\u27s (1995) scale of computer self-efficacy; Igbaria, Zinatelli, Cragg, and Cavaye\u27s (1997) scales of computer perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use; Wright\u27s (1980) scale of computer literacy; and Igbaria, Zinatelli, Cragg, and Cavaye\u27s (1997) scale of computer usage. The data for the study were collected through a field study with Jordanian faculty remembers as subjects. A national sample of 2500 faculty members from 16 universities in Jordan participated in this study. Responses were received from 812 participants, yielding a response rate of 32.5 percent. Sixty five questionnaires were found unusable, and therefore were discarded. A total of 747 questionnaires (or 29.9 percent) were used in the study. A variety of multivariate statistical techniques were employed to assess the validity of 115 research hypotheses. The multivariate statistical techniques include factor analysis, canonical correlation analysis, multivariate analysis of variance and covariance (MANOVA and MANCOVA), and multivariate regression analysis. The results of the data analyses provided support for 42 hypotheses out of the 115 hypotheses that were examined. The supported set of hypotheses revealed that computer literacy and computer usage were directly affected by individual cultural attributes and were also indirectly affected by them through computer beliefs and behavior variables

The role of megalin in the transport of aminoglycosides across human placenta

Background: Intra-amniotic infections (IAIs) are common complications of labor and delivery. If inadequately treated, these infections can lead to significant morbidity and mortality in the mother and the fetus. Intrapartum aminoglycoside (AG) administration is recommended for the management of IAIs. AGs are known to cross the placenta and achieve bactericidal concentrations in fetal serum. However, the highest and most persistent fetal levels are achieved in renal tissue. So, the fetus may be vulnerable to the nephrotoxic effects of AGs. Megalin, a 600 kDaendocytic receptor, is responsible for the uptake of AGs into renal proximal tubular epithelial cells. This receptor is also expressed in human term placenta and it is reasonable to speculate that it is similarly involved in the placental transport of AGs. However, the mechanisms responsible for placental AG uptake and transport have not yet been characterized. Objective: To evaluate the role of megalin in the transport of AGs across human placenta. Specific aims: (1) To assess and compare megalin expression in term and preterm placental villous tissue, and (2) assess the functional activity of megalin in in vitro placental models. Methods: (1) Following IRB approval, placental tissue samples were collected from pregnant women undergoing term or preterm deliveries. Placental villous tissueswere used to quantify megalin expression by western blotting and q-PCR (2) The human choriocarcinoma cell line (BeWo cells) were grown on Transwell plates, and then megalin expression and function were assessed. Results: Megalin protein and mRNA expression were confirmed in samples of human placental villous tissues. Megalin mRNA expression declined steeply with gestational age till week 31 of gestation then it plateaued thereafter. Also, the expression in the early preterm (n=2) was six fold higher than that of both late preterm (n=3) and term placenta (n=10) (p\u3c0.05). The uptake of 3H-gentamicin by the BeWo cells was time-dependent, saturable (Vmax=42.9 ± 4.9 nmol/mg protein/min; Km=2.93±0.68mM) and partially inhibited by megalin inhibitors. Conclusion: Megalin is expressed in human placental villous tissues as well as the BeWo cells. When grown on Transwell® plates, the BeWo cells appear to be the most appropriate model to study the in vitro transport of AGs across the apical membrane. Time, temperature and concentration dependence of gentamicin uptake in the BeWo cells indicate protein-mediated transport. The inhibition data are consistent with megalin-mediated endocytosis of AGs

Capacitive sensor array for nondestructive evaluation applications

Electromagnetic sensors come in different versions: capacitive, inductive, microwave, optics, etc. Eddy current probes (inductive sensors) have been used for decades in nondestructive evaluation (NDE) applications to detect flaws in conducting objects. Inductive probes are discussed by Rosegreen and Cooley (Bahr, and Rosegreen, 1987; Bahr, 1982; Bahr, and Cooley, 1983; Bahr, 1985). Capacitive sensors have been widely used for many decades also, but these applications have been based on extremely simple physical concepts; there has been no attempt to exploit the sophisticated sensing capabilities of generalized electric field probes. In NDE, there is a requirement to know not only how a probe behaves analytically under different probe geometry transformations, but also how a probe interacts with objects of different shapes and material properties

A Study on Radiation Hazard of Granite and Marble Widely Used in Jordan Using Gamma Ray Spectrometer

Granite and marble are widely used in building construction, so possible radioactive nuclides inside them may contribute to the exposure dose to human health. The purpose of this study was to investigate the natural radioactivity concentration and assess the radiological risk limits and health care. The samples of marble and granite were pulverized into small, fine, smooth pieces and counted with the GAMMA-X (GMX) spectrometer to measure the radioactivity concentrations of 238U, 232Th, and 40K. The radiological dose, internal and external hazards, and radium equivalent activity were calculated with a standard formula. The results showed that the radioactive concentrations of 238U, 232Th, and 40K in granite were higher than those in marble. The external hazard for granite samples was below unity, while its internal hazard exceeded unity. The radium equivalent activity did not exceed the critical legal level of 370 Bq/kg as a safe level. For marble, the external and internal hazards and radium equivalent activities showed good agreement with the safe construction level. Its external and internal hazards were less than unity, whereas the radium equivalent activities were less than the critical legal level

Harnessing deep learning algorithms to predict software refactoring

During software maintenance, software systems need to be modified by adding or modifying source code. These changes are required to fix errors or adopt new requirements raised by stakeholders or market place. Identifying thetargeted piece of code for refactoring purposes is considered a real challenge for software developers. The whole process of refactoring mainly relies on software developers’ skills and intuition. In this paper, a deep learning algorithm is used to develop a refactoring prediction model for highlighting the classes that require refactoring. More specifically, the gated recurrent unit algorithm is used with proposed pre-processing steps for refactoring predictionat the class level. The effectiveness of the proposed model is evaluated usinga very common dataset of 7 open source java projects. The experiments are conducted before and after balancing the dataset to investigate the influence of data sampling on the performance of the prediction model. The experimental analysis reveals a promising result in the field of code refactoring predictio

Psychometric Properties of an Instrument Developed to Assess Students’ Evaluation of Teaching in Higher Education

Student evaluation of teaching is a global predominant practice in higher education institutions. Therefore, a major university in Jordan developed a questionnaire for students’ use in evaluating their instructors’ teaching effectiveness.  Since student evaluation of teaching is an important process, the present study tried to examine the psychometric properties of the instrument. Item-total correlations showed acceptable internal consistency. In addition, a two-factor structure of the scale (teaching effectiveness and course attributes) was supported by exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis from two independent samples. Convergent validity was supported by a moderate correlation coefficient between course averages of students’ ratings on the first factor and course averages of students’ final grades in each course. Finally, students’ responses on the factor that captures teaching effectiveness were found to have very high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha of 0.96). However, this instrument lacks evidences of content validity and convergent validity. Therefore, it is important to be cautious in evaluating faculty members and making promotion decisions that is based solely on the scores obtained using this instrument.

MQVC: Measuring Quranic Verses Similarity and Sura Classification Using N-Gram

Extensive research efforts in the area of Information Retrieval were concentrated on developing retrieval systems related to Arabic language for the different natural language and information retrieval methodologies. However, little effort was conducted in those areas for knowledge extraction from the Holly Muslim book, the Quran. In this paper, we present an approach (MQVC) for retrieving the most similar verses in comparison with a user input verse as a query. To demonstrate the accuracy of our approach, we performed a set of experiments and compared the results with an evaluation from a Quran Specialist who manually identified all relevant chapters and verses to the targeted verse in our study. The MQVC approach was applied to 70 out of 114 Quran chapters. We picked 40 verses randomly and calculated the precision to evaluate the accuracy of our approach. We utilized N-gram to extend the work by performing experiment with machine learning algorithm (LibSVM classifier in Weka), to classify Quran chapters based on the most common scholars classification: Makki and Madani chapters

Test Cases Selection Based on Source Code Features Extraction

Extracting valuable information from source code automatically was the subject of many research papers. Such information can be used for document traceability, concept or feature extraction, etc. In this paper, we used an Information Retrieval (IR) technique: Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) for the automatic extraction of source code concepts for the purpose of test cases\u27 reduction. We used and updated the open source FLAT Eclipse add on to try several code stemming approaches. The goal is to check the best approach to extract code concepts that can improve the process of test cases\u27 selection or reduction

Is it suitable to use the same categorization in rating scales when applied to students with distinctive levels of achievement?

This study examined the efficiency of using the same rating scale categories in measuring affective constructs for students with distinctive levels of achievement. Data used in this study came from the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011, as a case, on the three scales that were designed to measure eighth graders\u27 attitudes towards science. Data from the four higher and the four lower science performing countries were analyzed using Rasch model. Results revealed that the use of a four-point rating scale appears to be appropriate for some of the higher performing countries; however, it was not appropriate for the lower performing countries. In addition, category functioning and distances between threshold estimates differed by whether the country was a higher or a lower performing country; distances between threshold estimates were too close for the lower performing countries as compared to the higher performing countries. The findings of the current study question the utility of using these scales for a cross-national sample and deducing results concerning the samples’ agreeability to the construct of attitudes towards science