Prediction Model of Elastic Modulus for Granular Road Bases

The estimation of elastic modulus for road bases is the primary objective of this research which is implemented a significant role in transmitting the vertical loading to the pavement foundation layers. In this study, the effect of weathering conditions on the stiffness of base course is investigated and implied the durability test by subjecting the prepared samples to a different numbers of wet-dry cycles (0,2, 4, 6, 8 and 10). A conventional base materials of local natural gravel aggregate and treated base materials with recycled concrete aggregate RCA at different percentages (0%, 25%, 50% 75% and 100%) is adopted in this research. The elastic characteristics are estimated in terms of elastic modulus. Elastic modulus are estimated by passing the ultrasonic pulse velocity through the untreated and treated base materials laboratory specimens. This test can be used to study the elastic modulus properties of base materials. A multiple linear regression analysis is used for prediction the elastic modulus using the SPSS (software ver.21). Elastic Modulus (kPa) is the dependent variable whereas the independent variable are; No. of wet- dry cycle and Percent (%) of RCA stabilizer. The obtained results for elastic modulus (Es) of granular base material layer showed increasing in elastic modulus with percentage of RCA%., results revealed that the (Es) values reached a maximum value of (6927kPa) for 100%. For the OMC’s values increases due to the percentage increment of RCA in granular base material mixture, this increment in water contents is refer to high absorption capacity of the paste clinging to the RCA. On other side the dry density decrease gradually with adding percentage of (RCA) in granular base material mixture

Prevalence and Severity of Depression among Mothers of Disabled Children in Palestine. A Descriptive, Aanalytical, Cross Sectional Study

Introduction: Mothers of children with disabilities often experience greater stress and emotional demands than other mothers do. Mothers of children with disabilities showed also more psychological distress than other member in their families, as they are the primary caregivers for their children. Childhood disability often imposes a social and emotional burden for children and their families. Aim: The aim of the study is to assess the prevalence and severity of depression among mothers of disabled children in the north of the West Bank in order to establish baseline data and suggest recommendations to policy makers and professional workers. Subjects and Methods: A descriptive, analytical kind (cross sectional) study. Two hundred mothers were included in the study divided in two groups, including 100 mothers of children with disabilities (age range, 2-16years) as a study group, and 100 mothers of normally developing children (age range, 2-16 years) as a control group. There were 47%  girls and 53% boys of  the children in the control group and there were 38%  girls and 62% boys of the children in the study group. These children have different diagnoses with a 10% down syndrome, 18% hearing disabilities, 7 % physical disability, 11% speech disorders, 18% autism, 14% mental retardation, 12% cerebral palsy and 10 % other disorders.  The mothers’ average ages in the study group and control group were 32.6 (SD±6.3) and 31(SD± 5.7) years, respectively. A demographic information form and Beck Depression Inventory were administered to mothers of these children who met the inclusion criteria. The assessments were performed during children´s treatment in rehabilitation centers. Results: The prevalence of depression was higher among mothers caring for disabled children than mothers of non-disabled children in the control group. Fifty four percent of mothers of disabled children had a mild to severe level of depression and 18% of them suffered from moderate to severe depression as derived from Beck Inventory score. When we compare between the study and control groups, the study reveals that there are many factors that increase the prevalence of depression among mothers in the study group compared to control group which include: child’s age <10 years, mother’s age <40 years, middle and low income, and un-employment. On the other hand there was no association in the study group between mothers´ depression score and mothers´ age, child age, educational level of the mothers, family style and family income. For the control group (mothers of normally developing children) 15% of them had a mild to severe level of depression and 2% had moderate to severe depression and there was a significant correlation between mothers´ depression score and mother´s age (p=0.010). There was a relation between mothers depression score and family income, but it was not statically significant (p=0.07).The result of this study indicates that there was a significant difference between mothers’ depression score with respect to having or not having disabled children (u=1911, p<0.01).The mothers of children with physical disabilities (mean rank was 60.36) and cerebral palsy (mean rank was 58.67) have a higher depression score than mothers with children of other kinds of disabilities, and the lowest level of depression score was for mothers whose children have down syndrome, which had a mean rank of 38.45. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that 54% of the mothers of disabled children had various degrees of depression, with 18 % suffering from severe depression. For the mothers with non-disabled children, 18% had various degrees of depression, which is within the normal statistics (12-25%) (WHO, 1990). In study group the study reveals that the disability itself tend to be consider as a strong factor in the same group to increase the prevalence of depression, in contrary in control group the study reveals that there are many factors to increase the prevalence of depression among mothers which include: mothers age>40, child age >10, low family income and low educational level. When we compare between the study and control groups, the study reveals that there are many factors to increase the prevalence of depression among mothers in the study group compared to control group which include: child’s age <10 years, mother’s age <40 years, middle and low income, and un-employment. Recommendations: Early recognition of depression symptoms in mothers of disabled children should be of great concern for health care providers. The effective rehabilitation programs should provide ample opportunity for repeated follow-up interviews that not only offer information about children's disabilities but also psychological support for mothers. Shifting the rehabilitation services from child-centered to family-centered services through providing supportive services is recommended. Keywords: disabled children, depression, Beck depression inventory, extended family, nuclear family

Women and Suicide in Palestine: Victimization, Loss, Socio-Psychological Factors and Lack of Support - A Phenomenological Study

Background: Despite the protective factors of Islam suicide, female suicide attempts exists in Palestine.  However there is little information about the causes, risks or protective factors regarding suicide for women in Palestine. Aims: This study investigates the history and experiences of Palestinian women who have attempted suicide in order to better inform policy makers, service providers and the international community about steps need to reduce this disturbing trend. Methods: Guided interviews were completed with 20 female suicide attempt survivors in Palestine using a qualitative phenomenological method to analyze the data. Results: Five themes emerged: victimization related to violence; Loss (family members, cultural identity, relationships, and security); psychological factors ;  socio-cultural factors;  and lack of support systems. Conclusion and Recommendation: The findings of the study demonstrate the importance of understanding the experience of suicide in the female population in Palestine, looking at risks related to victimization, loss, and lack of personal control.  The findings reflect the need for a holistic national strategy for prevention including support for mental health and advocacy programs for women, demanding basic human rights, prohibiting cultural practices such as child marriage, providing economic and social support and promoting Islamic values rather than traditional customs. Keywords: Suicide, Women’s Issues, Palestine, Victimization, Socio-cultural factor

Synthesis and Characterization of Some New Morpholine Derivatives

In this paper a new series of morpholine derivatives was prepared by reacting the morpholine with ethyl chloro acetate in the presence triethylamine as a catalyst in benzene gave morpholin-N-ethyl acetate(1) which reacted with hydrazine hydrate in ethanol, and gave morpholin-N-ethyl acetohydrazide (2) . Morpholin-N-aceto semithiocarbazide (3) were prepared by reacting compound(2) with ammonium thiocyanate , concentrated hydrochloric acid and ethanol as a solvent .Compound (3) reacted with sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid to give 5-(morpholin-N-methylene)-1H-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiol (4) .The new series of 1,2,4-triazol derivatives (5-8) was synthesized by reaction of compound(4) with formaldehyde , DMF as a solvent and different secondary amines. Preparation of new 1,2,4-triazoline derivatives (9) by reaction compound (4) with bromo acetic acid . Reaction of compound (9) with different aromatic aldehyde and dimethyl sulfoxide as a solvent obtained compounds (10-13)

Stressors Affecting Baccalaureate Nursing Students in the Clinical Area in Palestinian Universities

Stress is one of the issues that nursing student face during their transition from theoretical education to clinical application and it can affect the psychosocial status; it may influence academic performance and student well-being. Aim of the study: This paper aims to identify sources of stress and the intensity of stressors facing baccalaureate nursing students in clinical training in governmental and private hospitals in Palestinian Universities. Background: Stress among nursing students is familiar especially in training as the student exposed to new area with different types of patients, professionals, equipment’s, instructors and hospitals; these stressors mostly affect the student’s ability to achieve good outcome. Method: This descriptive study use face-to-face questionnaire. Results: the mean total response degree about the stress factors due to the career, training environment, working with various kinds of patients, and the evaluation by supervisors were medium (2.52, 2.59, 2.81, 2.59) respectively. There is relationship between the degree of the stress factors towards the university, place of training, years of study, and training period, F= 3.858(0.002), 3.194( 0.042), 4.214 ( 0.015), 4.778( 0.009) respectively. Conclusions: stress that nursing students face must be consider as an important factor that affect their achievement and ability to have good experience, there are differences between the variables which needs more attention trying to decrease the number and intensity of these stressors. Keywords: clinical learning, Palestinian Universities, Stressors, Training settings

Synthesis, Characterization and Study the Biological Activity of New Morpholine Derivative

A new series of morpholine derivative were prepared by reacting the morpholine with ethyl chloro acetate in the presence triethylamine as an catalyst and benzene as a solvent gave the ethyl morpholin-4-ylacetate reaction with hydrazine hydrate and ethanol as a solvent gave the 2-(morpholin-4-yl)acetohydrazide gave series of Schiff base were prepared by reacting 2-(morpholin-4- yl)acetohydrazide with different aromatic aldehydes and ketons . The new series of (3-9 )were synthesis by reaction of Schiff base (10-14) with chloroacetyl chloride, triethyl amine as an catalyst and 1,4dioxane as a solvent .The chemical structures of the synthesis compound were identified by spectral methods their [ IR ,1H-NMR and 13C-NMR ].The synthesised compounds were screened for antibacterial activity and antifungal activity promising by disc diffusion method by measuring the zone of inhibition and the results were compared to standard drugs ciprofloxacin

ANALYSIS OF GEOTEXTILE EMBANKMENT BY ANSYS

The major objectives of this research are to analyze the behavior of road embankments reinforced with geotextiles constructed on soft soil and describe the finite element analysis by using ANSYS program ver. (5.4). The ANSYS finite element program helps in analyzing the stability of geo- structure (embankment) in varied application of geotextiles reinforcement to enhance the best design for embankment. The results of analysis indicate that one of the primary function of geotextiles reinforcement was to reduce the horizontal displacement significantly. With the inclusions of reinforcement, the horizontal displacement reduced by about (81%), while the vertical displacement reduced by (32%). The effect of geotextiles stiffness modulus on horizontal and displacement is quite significant even a very high modulus of geotextile will have relatively little effect on vertical displacement. Also it is observed from the obtained results that the maximum displacement occurred at the toe of embankment for both horizontal and vertical movement, then decrease gradually to a negligible value for the layer reinforced case. Also the reinforcement reduces the shear stress developed in the foundation soil

TRAVEL TIME RELIABILITY INDICES FOR URBAN ROUTES IN BAGHDAD CITY

Reliability is one of the main metrics of transport system efficiency and quality of service. For both travelers and transport management organizations, the high variance of road travel times has become a problem. Reliability has been identified as one of the main areas of interest of the Strategic Highway Research Plan II. In order to evaluate congestion and unexpected changes in travel time, reliability metrics are increasingly used. GPS devices provide for exact assessment of travel time for each connection along the routes used for this research. (14 Ramadan arterial street, Al-Karada arterial street and Damascus arterial street). A GPS-equipped instrumented car was used to gather 50 test runs at peak and off peak times. At peak and off peak hours, 50 test runs were obtained using a GPS-equipped instrumented car. Raising the buffer time index results in inferior conditions for reliability. A buffer index of AL- Karada street was created about 53% and 30% for Damascus street and finally for 14 Ramadan street which present a 29% buffer index for north direction. As for its southern direction 14 Ramadan street created a buffer index of about 65% and 33% for AL- Karada street and finally for Damascus street which present a 29% buffer index. In addition, travel time index for (14 Ramadan street, AL- Karada street and Damascus street) respectively is about 2.8 %, 3.3% and 2.6% for north direction, as for its southern direction the travel time index is obtained for (14 Ramadan street, AL- Karada street and Damascus street) respectively were a 3%,3.7%, and 2.5%. Finally, the 95% percentile travel time for observed three selected routes in this study, the extra delay was felt on each route (1627, 2212, and 1192) sec. for (14 Ramadan street, AL- Karada street and Damascus street) for north direction, as for its southern direction the extra delay that perceived on each route (2221, 2132, and 975) sec. for (14 Ramadan street, AL- Karada street and Damascus street) respectively