Canopy Resistance as Affected by Soil and Meteorological Factors in Potato

Precision irrigation requires a method of quantifying the crop water status or root zone depletion of water to determine when and how much water to apply to the soil. Changes in canopy resistance (rc) and canopy temperatures have the potential of being used as a crop water status indicator for irrigation management. A study was conducted on potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) grown in northern Egypt at Shibin El-Kom on an alluvial loamy soil for winter (20 Sept. 2001 through 20 Jan. 2002) and spring (1 Feb. 2002 through 20 May 2002) seasons to determine if rc derived from energy balance and plant parameters could be used to determine the onset of water stress and the amount of water required to refill the soil profile. Diurnal rc was determined for well-watered conditions and achieved minimum values of 20 and 10 s m-1 at noontime during winter and spring periods, environmenrespectively. A power relationship of -0.86 for well-watered conditions was developed between rc and net radiation (Rn) at various plant growth stages. In deficit soil water conditions, rc increased linearly with decreasing available soil water (ASW), with a change in potato rc of 0.75 and 0.39 s m-1 per percentage ASW for 1 and 2 MJ m-2 h-1 of Rn at midgrowth, respectively. A ratio of actual/potential canopy resistance (rc/rcp) was derived to normalize the meteorological differences between growing seasons. This ratio was 2.5 when 50% of ASW was removed and can be used as a parameter to determine the need for irrigations using weather factors and canopy temperature. Canopy resistance increased linearly with increasing soil solution salinity, electrical conductivity, when the soil solution was above the threshold soil salinity value. A ratio of rc/rcp was found to normalize the effects of different environments across saline and water deficit conditions

Relationship between transformational leadership, organizational structure and knowledge management

The study examines the relationships between transformational leadership style, knowledge management and organizational structure among 255 administrators in a public university in Malaysia. The findings of this study reveal that transformational leadership style is a vital in promoting knowledge management practices in an organization.Specifically, the result of this study reveals that idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration of transformational leadership style significantly influence knowledge management practices. The organizational structure was found to moderate the effect of transformational leadership on knowledge management indicating that organizational structure plays a crucial role in assisting the leaders to manage knowledge across the organization

Decision making style and investment success of retail investors in Malaysia

Since the past three decades, numerous contributions have been made by the traditional finance proponents in assisting investors making good investment decisions assuming that they are rational decision makers, and unbiased in predicting the future. Nevertheless, proponents of behavioural finance always argued that people do act in irrational manner and often make predictable errors in their forecasts thus violated these assumptions. Market anomalies and crashes are some of the examples that explain the existence of psychological bias that lead to inefficient outcomes. When come to investing, different investors would have different investment style and strategy, depending on their objectives. Some don’t even have strategy and would rather ask for ‘hot tips’ or listening to rumours. Prior studies revealed that some investors would prefer listening to strangers when the stock is fundamentally strong and consistent with their investment goals. This consequently would affect their investment objectives, causes mispricing, discourage trading among market participants and contribute towards market inefficiencies. Thus, in line to address this gap, the main objective of this research is to study the factors that influence investors’ decision-making style and investment success. The research framework is adopted from Muhammad and Abdullah (2009), which suggested that investors’ decision-making style and investment success could be influenced by the ability to analyze the environmental, financial and economic information (i.e rational manner) and individuals’ emotions and frame of references (irrational manner). The research identified that investors’ decision-making style is heavily influenced by financial analysis in which contributes towards their investment decision success. In other words, investors are rational when making decision investing in the capital market. On the other hand, other variables do not show any significant relationship with the dependant variable

Prevalence of selected intestinal protozoan infections in marginalized rural communities in Palestine

Background: Intestinal parasitic infections are common in rural areas with poor infrastructure and low socioeconomic status. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of selected parasitic infections in marginalized rural areas in the northern part of the Palestinian West Bank Region, using conventional and PCRbased methods, and also to assess risk predictors of infection. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 104 individuals from three rural villages in the Jordan Valley. Stool samples were collected and examined by a battery of tests that included microscopy of wet fecal samples in normal saline with iodine, concentration by ethyl acetate sedimentation and also by zinc sulfate floatation, a conventional PCR and a real-time PCR (qPCR). Risk factors were assessed that included demographic, socioeconomic, and behavioral characteristics. Data on method performance was analyzed by kappa-statistic, Cochrane’s Q, and McNemar post hoc test. Mid-P exact test and odds ratio were used to discern association between outcome and risk predictors. Results: The overall prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections was 48% (49/102). The predominant parasites were Giardia lamblia at 37% (37/102) and Hymenolepis nana at 9% (9/102). To concentrate cysts and eggs, sedimentation can be used as an alternative to floatation with a loss of 1% of positive cases. The methods employing PCRs proved crucial as it increased the detected infection rate of G. lamblia approximately three-fold from 13% by the conventional methods to 37% by the qPCR. Multiple infections were present in 13% (13/102) of the study group, which included double (10%) and triple (3%) infections. Regarding the genus Entamoeba, E. dispar and E. coli were detected at rates of 2 and 8%, respectively. While none of the individuals were infected with the pathogenic E. histolytica, E. nana (4%) was detected for the first time in the area. Age was a risk predictor for infection (OR = 2.61, CI 95% 1.05–6.45, P = 0.038). Conclusions: The increased prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections in children in marginalized rural areas in Palestine is worrying. The addition of PCR-based methods is important for the diagnosis of such infections as, with cautious interpretation, it increases proficiency and overcomes underestimation and misdiagnosis of cases. Control measures including education on personal hygiene and environmental sanitation, should be introduced to reduce the prevalence of the intestinal parasites and, thus, the infections they cause in this and other areas.Acknowledgments We thank L. F. Schnur for reviewing the manuscript. Authors’ contributions AA, conception of the research, study design, data analysis and drafting of the manuscript. SE and AN, molecular biological testing and analysis. KD and HA collection of samples and conventional examination. ZA, data analysis and interpretation. All the authors have read and approved the final manuscript. Funding This research is a self-funded work by the researchers

Brand Love Co-Creation in a Digitalized Supply Chain Management: A Study on Framework Development and Research Implications

The study presents an integrative framework of brand love co-creation with theoretical underpinnings in joint with digital customer experiential creation of brand love. Main idea of this framework are brand love platforms entailing both relational activities and offerings, at the intersection of joint parties of experiential co-creators (whether in their role as customers) and co-creational enterprises as organizing the practice of brand love co-creation (whether in their role as innovating or marketing offerings or managing network relations). Using one illustrative examples of NEXT as an example of brand, the study discusses how brand love co-creation can be leverage through digital brand engagement platforms. Subsequently, using three independent variables, social-self, brand image and brand trust the study try to discuss the concept of co-creational enterprises as a nexus of co-creational digital platforms of engagements, and elaborate upon the organizational practice of brand love co-creation in a digitalized world. From the findings the study concludes with several implications for future brand research

Case Report: Autochthonous Case of Human Visceral Leishmaniasis in the West Bank, Palestine

Human visceral leishmaniasis (HVL) is a parasitic disease infecting children in the Mediterranean region. Here,weportray a case of a 2-year-old child with an epidemiological description of the situation surrounding the case. The patient was suffering from recurrent fever, weakness and abdominal discomfort associated with loss of appetite. Routine blood investigations showed pancytopenia, whereas examination revealed hepatomegaly. A diagnosis of HVL was made by demonstrating amastigotes in a Giemsa-stained smear from a bone marrow aspirate followed by genotyping by PCR and sequencing. In conclusion, early detection of VL infection followed by appropriate treatment protocols is essential to saving the patient

The Educational, Emotional and Physical Effects of Lock-Down Due to COVID-19 on Palestinian Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Corona-virus pandemic has affected millions of people worldwide. On March 5th, 2020, the first cases were identified in Palestine, and a partial lockdown including schools was imposed and then being followed by a total lockdown from March 22nd until May 26th. Students stayed home and switched to online learning, for almost two months with restrictions on many aspects of their lives. Therefore, this study aimed to explore how the lockdown related to the current pandemic impacted the lives of a convenient sample of Palestinian students. Methods: An online survey using google forms were sent out to a convenient sample of students participating in extracurricular programs offered by Al Nayzak Palestine, and Code Palestine. Fifteen questions asked about the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown imposed in the period between March 5th and May 26th on students’ physical activity, emotions, social relationships and education. Gender and grade level data were also collected. Parental consent was obtained for all participants. Results: One-hundred and four students completed the survey in September 2020. 39% were boys and 40% were in 11th grade, 30% in 9th grade and 24% were in 10th grade. Sixty-four percent did a little or no form of physical activity during this period and 61% increased their screen time due to gaming and online learning. Forty-two percent did not care about the Corina virus and 35% were worried, mainly because of the fear that their family may get infected. 30% reported that they had less contact with family and friends and 49% missed them very much during the lockdown. 30% percent thought that the current pandemic affected their learning a lot and 21% thought they should not go back to schools in person until the pandemic has completely gone away. Conclusion: Data from this survey suggests that there is a significant physical, emotional and educational impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students. Parents and teachers should be encouraged to discuss these major issues with students to address their challenges. Students’ opinions and feelings need to be addressed in any future plan of changing the learning format in response to the current pandemic worries

Incidence of Echinococcus granulosus in Domestic Dogs in Palestine as Revealed by Copro-PCR

Hydatidosis or echinococcosisis considered a neglected zoonotic disease despite its high burden in the livestock industry and the high risk of infection by humans in endemic areas. In a cross-sectional study we estimated the copro-Incidence and also genotyped Echinococcus granulosus isolates from domestic dogs using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Medical archives in nine major hospitals in Palestine were reviewed to determine incidence of E. granulosus infection detected in humans during surgery. Faecal samples were collected from 93 domestic dogs in three districts with the highest number of human cases: Al- Khalil (Hebron), Tubas and Jenin. Genomic DNA was extracted from dog faecal samples and amplified by PCR targeting the repeat DNA sequence (EgG1 Hae III) followed by sequencing of five positive samples. Genotyping was determined by sequencing and BLAST searching of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit (CO1). The incidence of E. granulosus infection detected in humans at surgery was 1.2 per 100,000 in the West Bank and 1.0 per 100,000 in Gaza Strip. Seventeen of 93 domestic dogs (18%) were positive, based upon comparison with the Echinococcus DNA control. The five sequenced samples were confirmed to be E. granulosus. Successfully genotyped sample belonged to E. granulosus sensu stricto (formerly G1-G3 complex, sheep strain). For domestic dogs, age group (13-24 months) and sex were identified as two risk factors for contracting E. granulosus. The study identified the high incidence of E. granulosus sensu stricto in dogs in Palestine. AuthorWe thank the Arab American University in Jenin-Palestine for the fund received under grant number 2013-104, cycle 2. Also, the study received support from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague, The Netherlands and NVHU under grant reference number 2014.52146. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Determinants of Savings Behaviour Among University Students in Sabah, Malaysia.

Most economists believe that anincrease in savings will flourish the growth of economic activities and further strengthening the economy of that particular nation. However, recent news report stated that household debts in Malaysia have gradually risen to 86.8% of its GDP, making it the most highly levered households in Asia. As a result, total household savings remained insufficient and they are mostly under prepared for retirement. What is more worrying is the young adults are reported to be the main group trapped into this financial complexity. This issue has raised concern on the needs to educate the young adults the fundamental value of supplementing their savings in order to ensure sufficiency of their future retirement income. With regard to savings behaviour, the needs of savingsamongst individuals differ from one to another as a result of different mind-set, behaviour, knowledge, and social environment. The research therefore intends to (i) investigate factors that influence savings behaviour amongst university and college students; and (ii) to examine the role of financial attitudes in mediating the relationship between financial literacy and savings behaviour. Structured questionnaires were distributed to 1728 undergraduate students studying at higher learning institutions across major cities in Sabah using convenient sampling technique. Structural equation modelling was applied using the SMART-PLS software v.2.0 to execute the analyses. Results revealed that family involvement, peer influence, self -control and financial literacy play an important role in nurturing students’ savings behaviour. In addition, students are said to have more favourable financial attitude when they are financially literate. Financial attitude however, does not have the mediation effect on the relationship between financial literacy and savings behaviou