A Statistical Learning Approach to Evidence the Acoustic Miracles in the Holy Quran Using Audio Features

This paper presents a novel approach for exploring the intrinsic acoustic properties of the Holy Quran, in an attempt to provide yet one more evidence of the miraculous nature of the Quran. The study uses a dataset composed of recitations made by seven prominent reciters and three chapters of the Quran. A novel statistical approach is used to detect the correlation between the recitations of the reciters for three different Chapters (Quranic Surah). The study utilizes the Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs) feature to detect certain common patterns among the recitations. The main measurement indexes used in this study are the correlation and the Euclidian Distance (ED) between the mean of the MFCCs Cepstral Coefficients, and deltadelta MFCCs. The study reveals a strong correlation and short distance between all recitations for one verse at a time, and relatively high correlation and short distance for two or more verses. Furthermore, the study lays down a foundation to detect and formulate acoustic clusters for sequential verses in the Holy Quran

Criminal Protection from Misleading Advertisements on Social Media Under the Bahraini Consumer Protection Law

Providing effective criminal protection for the consumer from the danger of misleading advertisements spread through social media has become an imperative necessity. It contains many legal problems, especially in light of the increasing spread of such advertisements simultaneously with the significant increase of e-commerce. In this paper, we demonstrate the adequacy of criminal protection for the consumer provided by the Bahraini Consumer Protection Law in the face of misleading and deceptive acts through commercial advertisements using social media, and the extent of consumer awareness of it

THE ROLE OF THE GEOPOLITICAL POSITION OF THE HASHEMITE KINGDOM OF JORDAN TOWARDS AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY FROM 1990 TO 2017

The role of the geopolitical location of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan towards United States (US) foreign policy from 1990 to 2017 is the focus of this study, which addressed the impact of important regional and international political events, positively or negatively, on the development of relations between the two countries in terms of political and security aspects. The study adopted a qualitative approach, and primary data was collected through interviews with 16 participants from political, economic, and security experts in Jordan and the US. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data obtained. The study concluded that US foreign policy recognizes Jordan as a close ally and considers its stability extremely important; Jordan has a suitable location to defend Israel because critical Arab countries surround it, and Jordan enjoys a unique geographical location in the Middle East. Some political events play an essential role in US foreign policy concerning security aid to Jordan, as the US links its aid to Jordan to political events.

Global overview of the management of acute cholecystitis during the COVID-19 pandemic (CHOLECOVID study)

Background: This study provides a global overview of the management of patients with acute cholecystitis during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: CHOLECOVID is an international, multicentre, observational comparative study of patients admitted to hospital with acute cholecystitis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data on management were collected for a 2-month study interval coincident with the WHO declaration of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and compared with an equivalent pre-pandemic time interval. Mediation analysis examined the influence of SARS-COV-2 infection on 30-day mortality. Results: This study collected data on 9783 patients with acute cholecystitis admitted to 247 hospitals across the world. The pandemic was associated with reduced availability of surgical workforce and operating facilities globally, a significant shift to worse severity of disease, and increased use of conservative management. There was a reduction (both absolute and proportionate) in the number of patients undergoing cholecystectomy from 3095 patients (56.2 per cent) pre-pandemic to 1998 patients (46.2 per cent) during the pandemic but there was no difference in 30-day all-cause mortality after cholecystectomy comparing the pre-pandemic interval with the pandemic (13 patients (0.4 per cent) pre-pandemic to 13 patients (0.6 per cent) pandemic; P = 0.355). In mediation analysis, an admission with acute cholecystitis during the pandemic was associated with a non-significant increased risk of death (OR 1.29, 95 per cent c.i. 0.93 to 1.79, P = 0.121). Conclusion: CHOLECOVID provides a unique overview of the treatment of patients with cholecystitis across the globe during the first months of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The study highlights the need for system resilience in retention of elective surgical activity. Cholecystectomy was associated with a low risk of mortality and deferral of treatment results in an increase in avoidable morbidity that represents the non-COVID cost of this pandemic

Existence and convergence results for Caputo fractional Volterra integro-differential equations

In this article, homotopy analysis method is successfully applied to find the approximate solution of Caputo fractional Volterra integro-differential equation. The reliability of the method and reduction in the size of the computational work give this method a wider applicability. Also, the behavior of the solution can be formally determined by analytical approximate. Moreover, we proved the existence and convergence of the solution. Finally, an example is included to demonstrate the validity and applicability of the proposed technique

Agile Approaches for Cybersecurity Systems, IoT and Intelligent Transportation

To adapt to the rapidly increasing vulnerabilities in software products and cyber threats that exploit them, security professionals are actively working with software developers to produce more secure systems. In software development, agile methods are increasingly adopted in critical software projects where security risks are prominent challenges. This adoption stems from the fact that agile methods are highly iterative and support delivering services and products in smaller batches which allows security professionals to seamlessly integrate software development security activities with agile methodologies. In addition, the iterative nature of agile software development encourages frequent inspections, tests, and patching of software systems to mitigate cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities. Considering the massive growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) products, the challenge of software development while addressing the security and safety concerns of these devices will continue to increase. This paper presents a comprehensive and detailed review of agile software development in the context of IoT, ITS, and their cybersecurity and risk challenges. Furthermore, we provide a systematic comparison of the reviewed literature based on a set of defined criteria. Finally, we provide a broader outlook and an outline for designing future security-enhanced agile software development solutions for IoT and ITS systems

Salivary cortisol, perceived stress and coping strategies: A comparative study of working and nonworking women

AimsThis study investigated stress levels and coping strategies among working and nonworking women in the United Arab Emirates.BackgroundStress levels in working and nonworking women have previously been studied, but few studies used cortisol to measure stress or examined how coping strategies affect stress levels.MethodsWe employed a cross-sectional design with a convenience sample of women aged 20–65 years. Information on women’s sociodemographic characteristics, perceived stress (using the Perceived Stress Scale) and coping strategies (using the Brief-COPE) was collected. Participants’ morning (07:00–08:00) and evening (19:00–20:00) cortisol levels were measured using unstimulated saliva samples.ResultsIn total, 417 working and 403 nonworking women participated in this study. More nonworking women reported high stress levels than working women (14.1% vs. 4.1%, p = .001). Working women reported more use of informational support and venting to cope with stress compared with nonworking women (94.0% vs. 88.1%, p = .001). More nonworking women had impaired morning (0.359 mg/dl) cortisol compared with working women (58.1% vs. 28.5% and 41.7% vs. 18.0%, respectively). Compared with working women, nonworking women had 3.25 (95%CI: 2.38, 4.47) and 3.78 (95%CI: 2.65, 5.43) times the odds of impaired morning and evening cortisol, respectively.ConclusionNonworking women exhibited higher levels of stress than working women. There is an urgent need to support nonworking women to manage stress through appropriate awareness campaigns and public health policies.Implications for ManagementPolicymakers and community leaders should consider the mental health of nonworking women as a priority in planning public health policies and programmes. Nurse managers must have a voice in reforming public health policy to support early assessment and management of stress among nonworking women.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/175502/1/jonm13697_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/175502/2/jonm13697.pd