E-learning adoption in higher education in Jordan: vision, reality and change

This paper discusses the implementation of an e-learning program at a Jordanian University (Al-Ahliyya Amman University). The program originally aimed to establish a virtual university which offers totally online courses but due to a number of reasons there had to be some changes in the implementation process. The paper discusses such changes and challenges faced by AAU in implementing its e-learning program from an IS project management point of view. Findings suggest that implementing such projects needs careful consideration of a variety of issues to ensure that the objectives are achieved. The case provides rich insights to other educational institutions wishing to implement such projects

Saudi mothers' preferences about breaking bad news concerning newborns: a structured verbal questionnaire

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Breaking bad news (BBN) to parents whose newborn has a major disease is an ethical dilemma. In Saudi Arabia, BBN about newborns is performed according to the parental preferences that have been reported from non-Arabic/non-Islamic countries. Saudi mothers' preferences about BBN have not yet been studied. Therefore, we aimed to elicit the preferences of Saudi mothers about BBN concerning newborns.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We selected a convenience sample of 402 Saudi mothers, aged 18-50 years, who had no previous experience with BBN. We selected them via a simple number-randomization scheme from the premises of a level III Saudi hospital between October of 2009 and January of 2011. We used a hypothetical situation (BBN about trisomy 21) to elicit their preferences about BBN concerning newborns via a structured verbal questionnaire composed of 12 multiple-choice questions. We expressed their preferences as percentages (95% confidence interval), and we used the Kendall's W test (W) to assess the degree of agreement in preferences.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The Saudi mothers preferred that BBN be conducted with both parents together (64% [60-69]), albeit with weak levels of agreement (W = 0.29). They showed moderate agreement in their preferences that BBN should be conducted early (79% [75-83], W = 0.48), in detail (81% [77-85], W = 0.52), in person (88% [85-91], W = 0.58), and in a quiet setting (86% [83-90], W = 0.53). With extremely weak agreement, they preferred to have a known person present for support during BBN (56% [51-61], W = 0.01), to have close bodily contact with their babies (66% [61-70], W = 0.10), and to have no another patients present (64% [59-68], W = 0.08). They showed moderate levels of agreement in their desires to detail, in advance, their preferences about process of BBN by giving a reversible, written informed consent that could be utilized for guidance, if needed (80% [76-84], W = 0.36).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In our experience, Saudi mothers' preferences about BBN concerning newborns are varied, suggesting that a "one-size-fits-all" approach is inappropriate. A reversible, written informed consent detailing their preferences about BBN that would be kept in their medical records and utilized for guidance, if needed, may be the best solution, given this level of diversity. These findings merit further study.</p

The effect of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Artemisia herba alba on human laryngeal carcinoma and murine mammary adenocarcinoma cell lines

The present study was carried out to evaluate the cytological effects of aqueous (AE) and ethanolic (EE) extracts of Artemisia herba alba on human laryngeal carcinoma (Hep-2) cell line and murine mammary adenocarcinoma (AMN-3) cell line in vitro. The cytological study performed simultaneously with cell growth assay. The results of study revealed concentration-dependent cytological changes like patchy growth inhibition, loss of confluent feature and cellular degeneration after exposure to the lowest concentrations (156.25 and 312.5 μg/ml). The early findings of cytolysis were seen after exposure to 625 μg/ml. While the highest concentrations (1250, 2500 and 5000 μg/ml) caused severe growth inhibition with marked cytolytic features including loss of cellular outlines, large numbers of dead cells and high content of cellular debris. In conclusion, the results of this study revealed the high cytological effect of Artemisia herba alba extracts on Hep-2 and AMN-3 cell lines in vitro

Investigating the Aerodynamic Surface Roughness Length over Baghdad City Utilizing Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques

This study calculated the surface roughness length (Zo), zero-displacement length (Zd) and height of the roughness elements (ZH) using GIS applications. The practical benefit of this study is to classify the development of Baghdad, choose the appropriate places for installing wind turbines, improve urban planning, find rates of turbulence, pollution and others. The surface roughness length (Zo) of Baghdad city was estimated based on the data of the wind speed obtained from an automatic weather station installed at Al-Mustansiriyah University, the data of the satellite images digital elevation model (DEM), and the digital surface model (DSM), utilizing Remote Sensing Techniques. The study area was divided into 15 municipalities (Rasheed, Mansour, Shulaa, Karrada, Shaab, Adhamiyah, Sadre 2, Sadre 1, Rusafa, Alghadeer, Baghdad Aljadeedah, Karkh, Kadhumiya, Green zone, and Dora). The results indicated that the variations in Zo depend strongly on zero-displacement length (Zd) and the roughness element height (ZH) and wind speed. The research results demonstrated that Baghdad Aljadeedah has the largest (Zo) with 0.43 m and Rasheed has the lowest value of (Zo) with 0.19 m.; the average (Zo) of Baghdad city was 0.32 m

Evaluation of health system in Iraq from people's point of view: a comparative study of two different eras

Background: Since the 2003 United States–British coalition military invasion, Iraq has been in a state of continuous deterioration at all levels, including the health sector. This study aimed to elicit the viewpoints of the Iraqi people on the current health system, focusing on many provided health services and assessing whether the public prefers the current health system or that was provided before the invasion. Methods: A cross-sectional survey designed to explore the Iraqi people’s opinions on their health system. A self-administered questionnaire using a multi-stage sampling technique was distributed in five geographical regions in Iraq to collect the data from the head of household between 1st October and 31st of December 2019. Multiple logistic regressions were recruited to determine the significant contributing variables in this study. Results: A total of 365 heads of households (response rate: 86.1%) with the mean age of 48.36 + 11.92 years (ranged 35-78) included in the study. Most of the respondents (61.4%) complained of healthcare inaccessibility, 59.7% believed that health resources were not available, 53.7% claimed a deterioration in the quality of care, and 62.2% believed that the political / media position did not contribute to positive changes during the past two decades. Indeed, most respondents (66.0%) believe that the current healthcare system is worse than before. In the multivariate analysis, there was a statistically significant relationship between the characteristics and opinions of the respondents. Old age group (p = 0.003), men (p = &lt; 0.001), married (p = 0.001), low educated (p = &lt; 0.001), rural resident (p = &lt; 0.001), unemployed (p = 0.003), monthly income of less than USD 400 (p = &lt; 0.001), consider themselves to be unhealthy (p = 0.001),&nbsp; and those who think that people are unhappy now than two decades ago (p = 0.012) have a more negative opinion of the health system. Conclusion: Most Iraqis surveyed expressed disappointment from the health system after the 2003 United States–British Coalition military invasion. The current health system is faltering at all levels and does not meet the citizens' basic needs. Health Transformation Program (HTP) has become inevitable to develop an accessible, affordable, high-quality, efficient, and effective health system

Antibacterial Activity of Some Selected 1,2,4-Triazole Derivatives Against Standard, Environmental, and Medical Bacterial Strains

Abstract Recently, four heterocyclic compounds containing 1,2,4-triazole (designated as Y2, Y3, Y30, and Y32) were synthesized by our lab. Previous data showed that 1,2,4-triazole nucleus posses a wide range of pharmacological activities such as antioxidant, antiviral, antitumor and antibacterial activities. Currently, the need for triazole derivatives with a broad spectrum of antibacterial activity are in the rise. Therefore, these data encouraged us to test newly synthesized 1,2,4-triazole compounds for their antibacterial activity against three types of bacteria: standard, environmental and medical bacteria. Both well diffusion and broth dilution methods were employed to examine the potential antibacterial activity against the aforementioned types of bacteria. The standard bacteria include Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213, Staphylococcus epidermis ATCC 12228, and Bacillus 292 Jacob H. Jacob et al. cereus ATCC11778, whereas environmental bacteria include Citrobacter sp., Bacillus pumilis, and Yersinia enterocolitica. The medical bacteria consists of three pathogenic bacteria (assigned as CS1, CS2, and CS3) isolated from medical samples obtained from a local hospital. These strains were further identified by means of biochemical tests and 16S rDNA sequencing. Based on these analyses, the CS1, CS2, and CS3 strains were Escherichia coli, Shigella sonnei and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, respectively. Data revealed that the compound Y2 and Y3 were effective against all tested bacterial strains except E. coli. Interestingly, compound Y3 was found to have antibacterial activity higher than penicillin G (the positive control) against P. aeruginosa and similar to penicillin G against B. cereus. However, the compounds Y30 and Y32 has no recognizable antibacterial effect. The antibacterial activity of Y2 and Y3 was appeared to be attributed to the type and the position of substituent groups

Barramundi (Lates calcarifer) from Iraq: a new record for the Arabian Gulf, with a highlight on it genetic origins and description of two skeletal deformities

The natural distribution of Lates calcarifer (barramundi or Asian sea bass), ranges from western India, around Sri Lanka to the Bay of Bengal, and through the whole of Southeast Asia to Papua New Guinea and northern Australia. It is not known to be native to the Arabian Gulf, although the species has recently been introduced for aquaculture production in Iran. In 2019, 12 adult barramundi were caught from freshwater in the Shatt al-Arab River, its estuary and marine waters bordering Iraq. This is the first wild-capture record of this species for Iraq’s inland waters and the northern Arabian Gulf. The specimens were morphologically described, while genetic structure analyses indicated that the specimens likely originated from Australian and Thailand genetic stocks and thus probably were aquaculture escapees from farmed populations. Among the L. calcarifer collected from the freshwater environment on the Shatt al-Arab River, one specimen exhibited saddleback syndrome, and another showed abnormality in the left operculum. The results are interesting and useful in reminding people to prevent aquaculture escapees. The aim of this study was to morphologically describe the specimens and undertake a genetic analysis to determine the likely provenance of the fish

Corrosion reduction in steam turbine blades using nano-composite coating

The current study aims to reduce the hot corrosion issues in steam turbines for Al-Mussaib thermal power stations. To gain the aim of the study, many experimental tests were conducted by taking a sample from an existing broken steam turbine blade to identify the alloy composition and preparing samples with exact composition by powder metallurgy method, then using the electro-deposition method to coat the prepared samples by three different coating composite materials consists of TiO2 in different ratios (5, 10 and 15) g/l and 5 g/l SiO2 added to Watt's solution. To verify the efficiency of coating, several tests were conducted (surface roughness, hardness, wear, and oxidation test). The obtained results indicated that increasing the Ni-5%SiO2-TiO2 (5, 10 and 15) g/l caused an increase in the coating thickness, which is compatible with increasing the surface roughness. Also, the sample hardness increased after coating, which returned to increasing TiO2 amount (5, 10 and 15) g/l. However, wear resistance for the samples after coating by selected coating composite and 10 g/l TiO2 amount records the highest reduction in the wear of the sample

Analysis of the Healthcare MERS-CoV Outbreak in King Abdulaziz Medical Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, June–August 2015 Using a SEIR Ward Transmission Model

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is an emerging zoonotic coronavirus that has a tendency to cause significant healthcare outbreaks among patients with serious comorbidities. We analyzed hospital data from the MERS-CoV outbreak in King Abdulaziz Medical Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, June–August 2015 using the susceptible-exposed-infectious-recovered (SEIR) ward transmission model. The SEIR compartmental model considers several areas within the hospital where transmission occurred. We use a system of ordinary differential equations that incorporates the following units: emergency department (ED), out-patient clinic, intensive care unit, and hospital wards, where each area has its own carrying capacity and distinguishes the transmission by three individuals in the hospital: patients, health care workers (HCW), or mobile health care workers. The emergency department, as parameterized has a large influence over the epidemic size for both patients and health care workers. Trend of the basic reproduction number (R0), which reached a maximum of 1.39 at the peak of the epidemic and declined to 0.92 towards the end, shows that until added hospital controls are introduced, the outbreak would continue with sustained transmission between wards. Transmission rates where highest in the ED, and mobile HCWs were responsible for large part of the outbreak