Increased heavy metal tolerance of cowpea plants by dual inoculation of an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen-fixer Rhizobium bacterium

Through biological inoculation technology, the bacterial-mycorrhizal-legume tripartite symbiosis in artificially heavy metal polluted soil was documented and the effects of dual inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus and Rhizobium (N-fixing bacteria, NFB) on the host plant cowpea (Vigna sinensis) in pot cultures were investigated at six concentrations of Zn (0.0 – 1000 mg/kg dry soil) and Cd (0.0 – 100 mg/kg dry soil). From a number of physiological indices measured in this study, microsymbionts significantly increased dry weight, root : shoot ratios, leaf number and area, plant length, leaf pigments, total carbohydrates, N and P content of infected plants as compared with non infected controls at all levels of heavy metal concentrations. Tolerance index of cowpea plants was increased in the presence of microsymbionts than in their absence in polluted soil. Microsymbionts dependencies of cowpea plants tended to be increased at higher levels of Zn and Cd in polluted soil. Metals accumulated by microsymbionts-infected cowpea plant were mostly distributed in root tissues, suggesting that an exclusion strategy for metal tolerance widely exists in them. This study provides evidence for benefits of NFB to AM fungi in the protection of host plants against the detrimental effects of heavy metals. If so, bacterial-AM-legume tripartite symbiosis could be a new approach to increase the heavy metal tolerance of legumes plants under heavy metal polluted soil.Keyword: Mycorrhiza, Vigna sinesis, heavy metals, microsymbiosis, Rhizobiu

Has the Power of Language been Compromised by the Influence of Social Media?

In discrete linguistic terminology, the power of discourse hinges on hedging together a host of key elements including conversational maxims, speech acts, situational context, reference, pragmatics, and language functions. The main instruments which lend power to these elements feature an elaborate array of lexis, grammar, phonology, and graphology. Another source of power in discourse resides in the personal characteristics of the participants/interlocutors in persuading and reaching out to their audience. In the last decade, however, the pure linguistic influence on discourse has been minimized and challenged by the growing power of social media in shaping and influencing all discourse types.This study investigates the role of social media and its networking websites such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. in influencing discourse. The study builds on the hypothesis that the different modes of social media communication have been effective in determining an individual person’s or a party’s power of discourse. Social media can create an alternative source of power which supports the creation of ideologies, cultural attitudes, and political views.The data for the present study have been compiled from materials and information shared on You Tube, Facebook and other social networking applications. The data have also been drawn from tweets on political, social, cultural, human rights issues, presidential campaigns, recent waves of immigration, etc. The data were analyzed to show how the sharing of social media memes has done the work more efficiently than the most linguistically eloquent discourse

Smoothed Bootstrap Methods for Right-Censored Data and Bivariate Data

This thesis introduces a smoothed bootstrap method for univariate right-censored data and investigates this bootstrap method for the coverage probability and survival function inferences through simulations. The bootstrap method relies on the right-censoring A(n) assumption, which was proposed by Coolen and Yan [21]. This assumption allows sampling from the whole data range and avoids the complication in computation that occurs due to ties and right-censored observations which often occur in the samples created by Efron's bootstrap method [31]. The performance of the proposed bootstrap method is studied on finite and infinite data ranges, and compared to the performance of Efron's bootstrap method through simulations. It is found that the smoothed bootstrap method mostly outperforms Efron's bootstrap method, in particular when the sample size is small. Also, the smoothed bootstrap method and Efron's bootstrap method are compared through simulations to compute the actual Type 1 error rates of quartiles tests and two sample medians test. For bivariate data, three smoothed bootstrap methods are introduced. Two of them are based on the generalization of Nonparametric Predictive Inference for random quantities (X,Y) with copulas, proposed by Coolen-Maturi et al. [22] and Muhammad et al. [65]. The third one is by using uniform kernels. These smoothed bootstrap methods are compared to Efron's bootstrap method [33] through simulations. It is found that the smoothed bootstrap methods mostly outperform Efron's bootstrap method in terms of the coverage probabilities for Pearson correlation and the means of T1 = X + Y and T2 = XY^2 when the data distribution is symmetric. Also, these bootstrap methods are compared to compute the Type 1 error rates of the Pearson and Kendall correlation tests to provide insight into the methods' performances. For the Pearson correlation test, the smoothed bootstrap methods mostly perform better than Efron's method, but Efron's method provides better results for the Kendall correlation test

Al Sheikh Abdul Hakim Zuein, Imam and the third preacher of the Great Mosque of Fallujah: A Study of his Life

This paper deals with an under-researched figure who preached across Iraq, particularly in Fallujah. He lived during the Ottoman and royal eras and worked as an imam and preacher in their army. Sheikh Abdul Hakim Zuein was a veteran, serving as an imam and preacher at the Great Mosque of Fallujah from 1928 to 1930. He passed away in 1947 and was buried in Baghdad

Translating selected poysemous words in the Holy Quran into English: An analysis of strategies and procedures

Polysemy refers to those words that have multiple related meanings. In the Qurān, there are numerous polysemous words; therefore, in translating this holy book, the translator will encounter problems in identifying and rendering the intended meaning of the polysemous words. Previous literature has revealed that limited studies have been done to examine how polysemy is translated in the Qurān, namely into English. To bridge this gap, the current study seeks to clarify the governing factors, which help to identify the intended meaning of the polysemous words, in order to propose a logical procedure to transfer the polysemous words in the Qurān. Drawing upon Nida's and Newmark's theories in translation, the study examines the translations of 24 ambiguous senses from 12 selected polysemous words in the Qurān. The samples were selected from four selected translation of the Qurān. Descriptive, interpretive and comparative analyses were carried out in order to achieve its aims. The study reveals that understanding the context, reasons for revelation, perception of the verses surrounding the polysemy, consultation of numerous authentic commentaries and comprehension of the syntactic and grammatical features of the verse are crucial factors in identifying the intended meaning of the polysemous words in the Qurān Polysemy refers to those words that have multiple related meanings. In the Qurān, there are numerous polysemous words; therefore, in translating this holy book, the translator will encounter problems in identifying and rendering the intended meaning of the polysemous words. Previous literature has revealed that limited studies have been done to examine how polysemy is translated in the Qurān, namely into English. To bridge this gap, the current study seeks to clarify the governing factors, which help to identify the intended meaning of the polysemous words, in order to propose a logical procedure to transfer the polysemous words in the Qurān. Drawing upon Nida's and Newmark's theories in translation, the study examines the translations of 24 ambiguous senses from 12 selected polysemous words in the Qurān. The samples were selected from four selected translation of the Qurān. Descriptive, interpretive and comparative analyses were carried out in order to achieve its aims. The study reveals that understanding the context, reasons for revelation, perception of the verses surrounding the polysemy, consultation of numerous authentic commentaries and comprehension of the syntactic and grammatical features of the verse are crucial factors in identifying the intended meaning of the polysemous words in the Qurān. Through the analysis, the study found that the selected translators employed literal and semantic renditions; paraphrasing, descriptive information, communicative translation and transliteration strategies to transfer the meaning of the polysemy. Moreover, the results revealed that the explication, communicative and interpretive strategies are appropriate to convey the intended meaning of the polysemous words in the Qurān. The current study enhances the field of Qurānic translation by proposing concrete procedures to overcome the difficulties in rendering the deep sense of the polysemy in the Holy Qurān. Through the analysis, the study found that the selected translators employed literal and semantic renditions; paraphrasing, descriptive information, communicative translation and transliteration strategies to transfer the meaning of the polysemy. Moreover, the results revealed that the explication, communicative and interpretive strategies are appropriate to convey the intended meaning of the polysemous words in the Qurān. The current study enhances the field of Qurānic translation by proposing concrete procedures to overcome the difficulties in rendering the deep sense of the polysemy in the Holy Qurān

Developing Education Profession Ethics Among Pre-services Teachers: Kohlberg Modeled Training Program Intervention

This study aimed to identify the effectiveness of a training program based on Kohlberg Moral Growth Theory in the development of education profession ethics among pre-service teachers at the School of Educational Sciences at the University of Jordan. The study population consisted of (134) classroom teacher students in the academic year 2018/2019. Randomly, (30) students were assigned as the experimental group and (30) students as the control group. Moral judgment scale developed by Al-Disi and Rawadieh (2019) was used to measure moral judgement of education profession ethics. The training program consisted of (6) modules in accordance with Kohlberg. The experimental group joined the ethics training program for two months. Results showed that the training program was (71%) effective in the development of the education profession ethics among the experimental group. The researchers recommended investing the training program in developing a curriculum course of education profession ethics for pre-service teachers. Keywords: Kohlberg, Pre-Service Teachers, Training Program, Education Profession Ethics, Jordan. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-2-04 Publication date: January 31st 202

Estimation Using Bivariate Extreme Ranked Set Sampling With Application To The Bivariate Normal Distribution

In this article, the procedure of bivariate extreme ranked set sampling (BVERSS) is introduced and investigated as a procedure of obtaining more accurate samples for estimating the parameters of bivariate populations. This procedure takes its strength from the advantages of bivariate ranked set sampling (BVRSS) over the usual ranked set sampling in dealing with two characteristics simultaneously, and the advantages of extreme ranked set sampling (ERSS) over usual RSS in reducing the ranking errors and hence in being more applicable. The BVERSS procedure will be applied to the case of the parameters of the bivariate normal distributions. Illustration using real data is also provided