Socio-cultural interaction of Arab immigration groups with Australian host society

Immigration has had a substantial impact on the Australian population over the past four decades. During this period there has been a significant change both in the number of new arrivals and the origins of these settlers. The Jordanian community, as one of the smallest ethnic groups in Australia, is represented in almost every state in Australia. The first significant Jordanian immigration to Australia occurred in the 1970s. Since then Jordanian immigration to Australia has increased, especially after 1991 because of the Gulf crisis and because the Jordanian government began sending students to Australia to continue their studies. Also, a significant number of Jordanians became Australian permanent residents and thereby contributed to the fast growth of the established Jordanian community in Australia. This thesis shed lights on the Jordanian groups that immigrated to Australia along with issues relating to the Australian Jordanian community, which is now not only one of the smallest communities in Australia but also one of the most recognisable. The thesis draws an historical and contemporary picture of Jordanians in Australia, including those who stayed in this country after completing their study. This research investigates a wide range of factors, such as the pull and push that drove the population movement from Jordan to Australia. It also investigates the various factors that have interacted with each other to influence the Jordanians’ decision to migrate to Australia. The study reveals that Jordanian migrants in Australia have often made a smooth transition in their lives in their new country. While the dynamics between migrants from the Middle East and the rest of Australian society has faced many challenges both before and after the event of September 11, 2001, Jordanian immigrants continue to adapt economically and culturally to Australian society and life-style. Furthermore, Jordanian students in Australia are likely to be skilled migrants and to apply for migration status after completing their studies because they believe that Australia will continue to grow faster than other Western countries, and their stay in Australia will help their family back home. This study offers convincing evidence that Jordanian immigrants play a very important, albeit modest role, in promoting business in Australia. Most of the people whom I interviewed have their own business and this study sheds light on the dynamics of small business ownership, the contribution of Jordanians to this field and its cultural significance to Australian society. Finally this study concludes with some recommendations for further studies associated with Jordanians inside and outside Jordan

The Impact of Speech Recognition Systems on The Productivity and The Workflow in Radiology Departments: A Systematic Review

Speech Recognition dictation systems are becoming more popular and provide a viable alternative to conventional transcription services. On the other hand, there is a scarcity in the studies that address the impact of speech recognition on productivity and the workflow in the radiology department. To review the most updated literature in the past 10 years regarding the effects of Speech Recognition systems on the productivity and workflow of radiology departments. A systematic literature review was done using PRISMA, including 14 articles in total, and they were divided into four main themes. The finding confirmed the positive effect of Speech Recognition on departmental productivity, with decreased report turnaround time and an increase in the number of reports available per unit of time

A Proposed Vision of the Transformation of the Arab Universities into Smart Digital Universities

This research develops a proposed vision to transform Arab universities into smart digital universities. The descriptive research approach is used to achieve the research objectives. The research sample consists of 450 faculty members and 75 educational experts randomly selected by stratified random method. The questionnaire is adopted as a research instrument. The findings indicate that a proposed vision can be developed to transform Arab universities into smart digital universities by addressing several themes; the philosophical premises of the proposed vision, the features of the proposed vision “smart university administration, smart people, smart university environment, and knowledge network”, determining the requirements necessary to implement the proposed vision, setting the appropriate foundations for the proposed implementation and success in Arab universities, and demonstrating the potential challenges and threats that may stand in the way of implementing the proposed vision and methods to overcome them

Innovation and Transformation in Early Childhood Education in the UAE

This chapter explores the development of Early Childhood Education in the UAE, focusing on the period between birth and compulsory school age. A distinction is made between Early Childhood Care and Education, focusing on the age group birth to four and Early Childhood Education, focusing on the age group four to six. The contexts of public and private education are explored across the age range, including in-home care, public nurseries, federal nurseries, public kindergartens and kindergarten provision in private schools. Investments in early childhood give children enhanced opportunities for success later in life. Progress has been made in the UAE for the age range four to six years in terms of enhancing quality through rigorous inspection frameworks based on international best practice, as well as in terms of curriculum reform in public schools for that age group. However, for the age range of birth to four years, there has been limited progress in terms of service provision for the age range birth to four years. Quality assurance standards have been raised, but there is still no national curriculum framework in place in the UAE for the early years. The importance of this embodiment of a society’s educational aims and purposes appears well understood for school age children as the nation continues to refine and reform curriculum. The development of a curriculum framework for early childhood care and education is of critical importance in terms of reflecting broad societal values and aspirations and achieving the vision of the UAE

Восприятие студентами вузов роли образовательных цифровых стимулов в побуждении к академической вовлеченности в профессиональном образовании

Introduction. Digital stimuli are one of the strategies prepared by higher education institutions in university teaching in the field of vocational education, but they do not attach importance to them from other strategies that are used. The investigation of the role of educational digital stimuli in achieving the academic passion of vocational education students in Jordanian universities in light of COVID-19 is important to try to know the effect of digital stimuli on the academic passion of vocational education students. Methodology and research methods. The descriptive survey method was used to analyse the data. To achieve the objectives of the study, a questionnaire consisting of (29) items was designed, divided into three areas: dynamics (11 items), mechanics (7 items), and components (11 items) to collect data. The study sample consisted of 260 male and female students in Jordanian universities. Results and scientific novelty. The results showed that the role of educational digital stimuli in achieving academic passion was ‘high’ with no statistically significant differences due to the gender variable, with statistically significant differences due to the variables of the academic year and university type. Practical significance. The study recommends designing educational environments that are attractive, interactive, and related to the students’ reality, using strategies for deep information processing, problem-solving method, creativity and critical thinking in order to achieve students’ involvement in learning.Введение. Цифровые стимулы являются одной из стратегий, подготовленных высшими учебными заведениями в университетском обучении в сфере профессионального образования, но университеты не выделяют их из других стратегий, которые используются. Исследование роли и влияния образовательных цифровых стимулов в достижении академической вовлеченности у студентов профессионального образования в иорданских университетах в свете COVID-19 важно. Методология и методы исследования. Для анализа данных использовался описательный метод опроса. Для достижения целей исследования была разработана анкета для сбора данных, состоящая из 29 пунктов, разделенных на три области: динамика (11 пунктов), механика (7 пунктов) и компоненты (11 пунктов). Выборка исследования состояла из 260 студентов мужского и женского пола в иорданских университетах. Результаты. Результаты показали, что роль образовательных цифровых стимулов в достижении академической вовлеченности была высокой без статистически значимых различий из-за гендерной переменной, со статистически значимыми различиями из-за переменных «учебный год» и «тип университета». Практическая значимость. Даны рекомендации создавать привлекательную, интерактивную и связанную с реальностью учащихся образовательную среду, используя стратегии глубокой обработки информации, метод решения проблем, креативность и критическое мышление, чтобы добиться вовлечения учащихся в процесс обучения

Techniques for Arbuscular Mycorrhiza Inoculum Reduction

It is well established that arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi can play a significant role in sustainable crop production and environmental conservation. With the increasing awareness of the ecological significance of mycorrhizas and their diversity, research needs to be directed away from simple records of their occurrence or casual speculation of their function (Smith and Read 1997). Rather, the need is for empirical studies and investigations of the quantitative aspects of the distribution of different types and their contribution to the function of ecosystems. There is no such thing as a fungal effect or a plant effect, but there is an interaction between both symbionts. This results from the AM fungi and plant community size and structure, soil and climatic conditions, and the interplay between all these factors (Kahiluoto et al. 2000). Consequently, it is readily understood that it is the problems associated with methodology that limit our understanding of the functioning and effects of AM fungi within field communities. Given the ubiquous presence of AM fungi, a major constraint to the evaluation of the activity of AM colonisation has been the need to account for the indigenous soil native inoculum. This has to be controlled (i.e. reduced or eliminated) if we are to obtain a true control treatment for analysis of arbuscular mycorrhizas in natural substrates. There are various procedures possible for achieving such an objective, and the purpose of this chapter is to provide details of a number of techniques and present some evaluation of their advantages and disadvantages. Although there have been a large number of experiments to investigated the effectiveness of different sterilization procedures for reducing pathogenic soil fungi, little information is available on their impact on beneficial organisms such as AM fungi. Furthermore, some of the techniques have been shown to affect physical and chemical soil characteristics as well as eliminate soil microorganisms that can interfere with the development of mycorrhizas, and this creates difficulties in the interpretation of results simply in terms of possible mycorrhizal activity. An important subject is the differentiation of methods that involve sterilization from those focussed on indigenous inoculum reduction. Soil sterilization aims to destroy or eliminate microbial cells while maintaining the existing chemical and physical characteristics of the soil (Wolf and Skipper 1994). Consequently, it is often used for experiments focussed on specific AM fungi, or to establish a negative control in some other types of study. In contrast, the purpose of inoculum reduction techniques is to create a perturbation that will interfere with mycorrhizal formation, although not necessarily eliminating any component group within the inoculum. Such an approach allows the establishment of different degrees of mycorrhizal formation between treatments and the study of relative effects. Frequently the basic techniques used to achieve complete sterilization or just an inoculum reduction may be similar but the desired outcome is accomplished by adjustments of the dosage or intensity of the treatment. The ultimate choice of methodology for establishing an adequate non-mycorrhizal control depends on the design of the particular experiments, the facilities available and the amount of soil requiring treatment

Effect of ethnomedicinal plants used in folklore medicine in Jordan as antibiotic resistant inhibitors on Escherichia coli

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Escherichia coli </it>occurs naturally in the human gut; however, certain strains that can cause infections, are becoming resistant to antibiotics. Multidrug-resistant <it>E. coli </it>that produce extended-spectrum β lactamases (ESBLs), such as the CTX-M enzymes, have emerged within the community setting as an important cause of urinary tract infections (UTIs) and bloodstream infections may be associated with these community-onsets. This is the first report testing the antibiotic resistance-modifying activity of nineteen Jordanian plants against multidrug-resistant <it>E. coli</it>.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The susceptibility of bacterial isolates to antibiotics was tested by determining their minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) using a broth microdilution method. Nineteen Jordanian plant extracts (<it>Capparis spinosa </it>L., <it>Artemisia herba-alba Asso, Echinops polyceras </it>Boiss., <it>Gundelia tournefortii </it>L, <it>Varthemia iphionoides </it>Boiss. & Blanche, <it>Eruca sativa Mill</it>., <it>Euphorbia macroclada </it>L., <it>Hypericum trequetrifolium </it>Turra, <it>Achillea santolina </it>L., <it>Mentha longifolia </it>Host, <it>Origanum syriacum </it>L., <it>Phlomis brachydo</it>(Boiss.) Zohary, <it>Teucrium polium </it>L., <it>Anagyris foetida </it>L., <it>Trigonella foenum-graecum </it>L., <it>Thea sinensis </it>L., <it>Hibiscus sabdariffa </it>L., <it>Lepidium sativum </it>L., <it>Pimpinella anisum </it>L.) were combined with antibiotics, from different classes, and the inhibitory effect of the combinations was estimated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Methanolic extracts of the plant materials enhanced the inhibitory effects of chloramphenicol, neomycin, doxycycline, cephalexin and nalidixic acid against both the standard strain and to a lesser extent the resistant strain of <it>E. coli</it>. Two edible plant extracts (<it>Gundelia tournefortii L</it>. and <it>Pimpinella anisum L</it>.) generally enhanced activity against resistant strain. Some of the plant extracts like <it>Origanum syriacum </it>L.(Labiateae), <it>Trigonella foenum- graecum </it>L.(Leguminosae), <it>Euphorbia macroclada </it>(Euphorbiaceae) and <it>Hibiscus sabdariffa </it>(Malvaceae) did not enhance the activity of amoxicillin against both standard and resistant <it>E. coli</it>. On the other hand combinations of amoxicillin with other plant extracts used showed variable effect between standard and resistant strains. Plant extracts like <it>Anagyris foetida </it>(Leguminosae) and <it>Lepidium sativum </it>(Umbelliferae) reduced the activity of amoxicillin against the standard strain but enhanced the activity against resistant strains. Three edible plants; Gundelia <it>tournefortii </it>L. (Compositae) <it>Eruca sativa </it>Mill. (Cruciferae), and <it>Origanum syriacum </it>L. (Labiateae), enhanced activity of clarithromycin against the resistant <it>E. coli </it>strain.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study probably suggests possibility of concurrent use of these antibiotics and plant extracts in treating infections caused by <it>E. coli </it>or at least the concomitant administration may not impair the antimicrobial activity of these antibiotics.</p

Kinetics of biodegradation of diethylketone by Arthrobacter viscosus

The performance of an Arthrobacter viscosus culture to remove diethylketone from aqueous solutions was evaluated. The effect of initial concentration of diethylketone on the growth of the bacteria was evaluated for the range of concentration between 0 and 4.8 g/l, aiming to evaluate a possible toxicological effect. The maximum specific growth rate achieved is 0.221 h-1 at 1.6 g/l of initial diethylketone concentration, suggesting that for higher concentrations an inhibitory effect on the growth occurs. The removal percentages obtained were approximately 88%, for all the initial concentrations tested. The kinetic parameters were estimated using four growth kinetic models for biodegradation of organic compounds available in the literature. The experimental data found is well fitted by the Haldane model (R2 = 1) as compared to Monod model (R2 = 0.99), Powell (R2 = 0.82) and Loung model (R2 = 0.95). The biodegradation of diethylketone using concentrated biomass was studied for an initial diethylketone concentration ranging from 0.8–3.9 g/l in a batch with recirculation mode of operation. The biodegradation rate found followed the pseudo-second order kinetics and the resulting kinetic parameters are reported. The removal percentages obtained were approximately 100%, for all the initial concentrations tested, suggesting that the increment on the biomass concentration allows better results in terms of removal of diethylketone. This study showed that these bacteria are very effective for the removal of diethylketone from aqueous solutions.The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the financial support of this project by the Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT), Ministerio da Ciencia e Tecnologia, Portugal and Fundo Social Europeu (FSE). Cristina Quintelas thanks FCT for a Post-Doc grant

Muslim active citizenship in Australia: Socioeconomic challenges and the emergence of a Muslim elite

The most recent national Census demonstrated that Australian Muslims continue to occupy a socioeconomically disadvantaged position. On key indicators of unemployment rate, income, type of occupation and home ownership, Muslims consistently under-perform the national average. This pattern is evident in the last three Census data (2001, 2006 and 2011). Limited access to resources and a sense of marginalisation challenge full engagement with society and the natural growth of emotional affiliation with Australia. Muslim active citizenship is hampered by socioeconomic barriers. At the same time, an increasingly proactive class of educated Muslim elite has emerged to claim a voice for Muslims in Australia and promote citizenship rights and responsibilities. <br /