Effects of Using Culture-laden Texts on Culture-specific Translation Skills in Arab Students

This work explores the possibility of translating culture-laden texts from English into Arabic, relying on a corpus of literary texts representing the local cultures of the 16th. and the 18th. century England. Furthermore, it taps into the applicability of SL cultural texts to help students appropriately render a culture-specific lexicon. The present study makes use of an experimental research design to check whether the use of literary texts may help EFL learners enhance their culture-specific translation skills in a traditional instruction setting. Finally, its findings indicate that the use of culture-laden literary texts can be efficient in introducing the culturally loaded lexicon of the English language, thereby inducing improvements in translational writing skills of EFL learners of translation

Chitosan as an eco-friendly heterogeneous catalyst for Michael type addition reactions. A simple and efficient route to pyridones and phthalazines

Depending on their nature, nitrile activated methylene compounds add readily to β-enaminones in presence of chitosan to yield dienamides, pyridones or pyridine thiones. The dienamides, formed in this manner, can be readily converted to pyridones by stirring in refluxing acetic acid. Reaction of pyridazinones with a mixture containing benzaldehyde, malononitrile and chitosan affords phthalazines that are also produced by reaction of pyridazinone with benzylidene-malononitrile

The level of availability of scientific research skills as imagined by postgraduate students

هدفت هذه الدراسة إلى التعرف على مستوى توافر مهارات البحث العلمي كما يتصوُّرُها طُلاب الدراسات العليا، في بعض الكليات بجامعة بنغازي. كما هدفت إلى التعرف عما إذا كان هناك فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية في مستوى توافر مهارات البحث العلمي (تنفيذ خطوات البحث العلمي، كتابة البحث العلمي، تفسير وتحليل نتائج البحث العلمي، مهارات البحث في قواعد البيانات ومصادر المعلومات والمكتبات الإلكترونية على الإنترنت)، تُعزى لبعض متغيراتهما الديموغرافية والأكاديمية (الجنس، نظام التفرغ العلمي للدراسة، الكلية والقسم العلمي). وقد كشفت نتائجها بأنَّ مهارات البحث العلمي كما يتصوُّرُها طُلاب الدراسات العليا، قد جاءت متوفرة بمستوى مُتوسط في الكليات المبحوثة بمتوسط حسابي بلغ (3.304)، كما كشفت النتائج بأنه لا توجد هناك فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية في مستوى توافر مهارات البحث العلمي، تُعزى لبعض متغيراتهما الديموغرافية والأكاديمية، وقد أوصت الدراسة بأن تُولي الإدارات الأكاديمية في الجامعة الأهمية القصوى لتوفير الاشتراكات السنوية في قواعد البيانات والمستودعات والمكتبات الرقمية العالمية؛ وذلك حتى يتسنَّى لطُلاب الدراسات العليا الاستفادة منها في إنجاز أبحاثهم ورسائلهم العلمية وزيادة إنتاجيتهم البحثية.This study aimed to recognize the level of availability of scientific research skills as imagined by postgraduate students in some colleges at Benghazi University. It also aimed to recognize whether there are statistically significant differences in the level of availability of scientific research skills (implementation of scientific research steps, writing scientific research, interpretation and analysis of scientific research results, search skills in databases, information sources, and electronic libraries on the Internet), which are attributed to some of their demographic and academic variables (gender, scientific sabbatical to study, college, and scientific department). Its results revealed that the scientific research skills, as imagined by postgraduate students were available at an average level in the researched faculties, with an arithmetic mean of 3.304. The results also revealed no statistically significant differences in the levels of availability of scientific research skills, which are attributed to some of their demographic and academic variables. The study recommended providing annual subscriptions to digital libraries for postgraduate students

Crisis management and strategic flexibility: the moderating role of e-readiness. The case of government authorities in the kingdom of Bahrain

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonThis study aimed at identifying the impact of strategic flexibility and its dimensions (Flexibility of Capacities, The Flexibility of Resources, The Flexibility of Information, and The Flexibility of Coordination) on crisis management and its dimensions (Detection of Early Signals, Preparedness and Prevention, Damage Containment, Activity Recovery, Learning), and having E-Readiness as the moderating variable which was measured through the following dimensions (ICT Infrastructure, Human Resources, Management Requirements and Physical Capabilities) and testing the impact of strategic flexibility on Crisis management in the Kingdom of Bahrain through the interaction effect of the electronic readiness to find whether it improve that impact. The Methodology used as a structural survey. The study was done on a sample of (376) employees working in 14 government authorities located in the Kingdom of Bahrain. These government entities were established to deal with critical aspects of the life of the citizens of Bahrain. Entities were given a particular arrangement which is different from other traditional governments Ministries and departments. These special arrangements were expected to give them a kind of flexibility over other government entities. Government authorities in the Kingdom of Bahrain were the appropriate environment to test the impact of Strategic flexibility on crisis management. The study found a strong positive impact of Strategic flexibility on Crisis Management, and each dimension individually also has a substantial impact on Crisis management. E-readiness intersection impact was not proved but the study found that two dimensions of E-readiness which are Human resources and physical capabilities enhance the relationship between Strategic Flexibility and crisis management

ANFIS TVA Power Plants Availability Modeling Development

In the present chapter, the evaluation of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Markov model transient behavior is derived and studied. It is focused on finding the models of the transient-state availability and unavailability of the four (TVA) models among using an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). The developed ANFIS model for the TVA models is derived, and both availability and unavailability of the four TVA models are derived using the curve fitting technique, where each model of the transient availability of the three-state models of the TVA models is found. Each model is considered as a three-state model, and its equations obtained using the curve fitting technique are helping for the future availabilities and unavailabilities. The availability is a very important measure of performance for the availability of TVA power plants. The technique is used and applied on the four models in the present study to formulate and obtain the TVA models’ results and are compared. In addition, the generation effects on the reliability investigation. The generation study evaluates the improvement in reliability over a time

Accuracy of Platelet Counting by Optical and Impedance Methods in Patients with Thrombocytopaenia and Microcytosis

Objectives: Obtaining accurate platelet counts in microcytic blood samples is challenging, even with the most reliable automated haematology analysers. The CELL-DYN™ Sapphire (Abbott Laboratories, Chicago, Illinois, USA) analyser uses both optical density and electronic impedance methods for platelet counting. This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of optical density and electrical impedance methods in determining true platelet counts in thrombocytopaenic samples with microcytosis as defined by low mean corpuscular volume (MCV) of red blood cells. Additionally, the impact of microcytosis on platelet count accuracy was evaluated. Methods: This study was carried out between February and December 2014 at the Haematology Laboratory of the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital in Muscat, Oman. Blood samples were collected and analysed from 189 patients with thrombocytopaenia and MCV values of <76 femtolitres. Platelet counts were tested using both optical and impedance methods. Stained peripheral blood films for each sample were then reviewed as a reference method to confirm platelet counts. Results: The platelet counts estimated by the impedance method were on average 30% higher than those estimated by the optical method (P <0.001). The estimated intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.52 (95% confidence interval: 0.41–0.62), indicating moderate reliability between the methods. The degree of agreement between methods ranged from -85.5 to 24.3 with an estimated bias of -30, suggesting that these methods generate different platelet results. Conclusion: The impedance method significantly overestimated platelet counts in microcytic and thrombocytopaenic blood samples. Further attention is therefore needed to improve the accuracy of platelet counts, particularly for patients with conditions associated with microcytosis