Factors that Shape Arab American College Student Identity

Arab American identity has not yet received the research attention and scholarship that it deserves. In this dissertation, I have qualitatively studied the narratives of young Arab American college students and recent graduates. The research questions that I explored include what makes them Arab Americans, and what are the factors that help them identify as such. By focusing on Arab Americans and their identity factors, I have presented the narratives of those women and men who self-identify as Arab American and quoted their accounts of how they navigate this undervalued, misunderstood, and stereotyped identity. I have used ethnic and racial identity models, such as Cross (1971) and Wijeyesinghe (1992, 2001, 2012) to note the factors that are salient in Arab American identity as described through in-depth interviews and focus groups with 11 Arab American young women and men. The dissertation concludes with a model that presents the factors that shaped Arab American identity for these subjects and the interrelationships among those factors

Aplikasi Algoritma Genetik Untuk Optimasi Penjadwalan Kuliah (Studi Kasus di Program Studi Teknik Industri Undip)

ABSTRAK Penjadwalan kuliah pada suatu universitas adalah suatu pekerjaan menempatkan kegiatan perkuliahan kedalam ruangan dan waktu yang ada sedemikian rupa agar dapat meminimasi pelanggaran terhadap sejumlah batasan-batasan tertentu. Batasan-batasan yang harus dipenuhi oleh sebuah jadwal kuliah dapat dibedakan menjadi dua kategori: hard constraints dan soft constraints. Sebuah jadwal kuliah adalah feasibel jika dan hanya jika semua hard constraints dapat dipenuhi. Tujuan dari optimasi penjadwalan kuliah adalah untuk mencari jadwal kuliah yang tidak memiliki pelanggaran terhadap hard constraints dan sebisa mungkin memimimasi pelanggaran terhadap soft constraints. Permasalahan ini sangatlah kompleks karena melibatkan banyak batasan-batasan yang harus dipertimbangkan. Hard constraints meliputi konflik dari sumber daya yang ada (dosen, mahasiswa, ruangan) dan juga kapasitas ruangan yang tersedia. Permasalahan akan menjadi semakin rumit jika terdapat soft constraints seperti waktu mengajar yang dipilih oleh para dosen. Otomasi penjadwalan kuliah merupakan hal yang sangat penting karena dapat menghemat jam kerja dan memberikan solusi optimum dalam waktu yang singkat, yang dapat meningkatkan produktivitas, kualitas proses belajar mengajar, dan kualitas pelayanan. Salah satu metode yang dapat digunakan untuk menyelesaikan permasalahan penjadwalan kuliah ini adalah pendekatan algoritma genetik. Algoritma genetik merupakan alat optimasi yang memodelkan prinsip evolusi. Algoritma genetik mampu menemukan solusi optimum secara global dalam ruang pencarian yang sangat kompleks. Dengan menggunakan sebuah populasi awal dari solusi yang dikodekan dan dipilih berdasarkan kualitasnya, lalu digunakan untuk membuat populasi baru dengan menggunakan proses kawin silang dan mutasi atas individu-individu awal. Fungsi evaluasi digunakan untuk menghitung hard constraints dan soft constraints yang dapat dipenuhi. Tugas akhir ini membahas penjadwalan kuliah yang terdapat pada Program Studi Teknik Industri Undip. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengoptimasi penjadwalan kuliah dan memudahkan pekerjaan penjadwalan kuliah dengan membuat sebuah software penjadwalan kuliah. Software yang dibuat dirancang menggunakan algoritma genetik. Hasil pengujian yang dilakukan menunjukkan bahwa software algoritma genetik telah dapat menghasilkan nilai fitness maksimum yang berarti semua batasan-batasan yang ada berhasil dipenuhi. Dengan demikian, jadwal kuliah yang dihasilkan merupakan solusi yang optimum

An Assessment of Global Factors towards the Financial Performance of a Containership Using a Bayesian Network Method

The movement of containerised goods made 2009 debatably the most dramatic year in the history of the box. A Bayesian network methodology associated with the cause and effect analysis technique is introduced to analyse the global economic conditions, the container market demand and the bunker fuel price in order to measure the financial performance of a containership. This method demonstrates the combination of qualitative and quantitative criteria in order to ensure that the best possible decision can be made by a shipping company. As a consequence, the result provided by the Bayesian Network method can be used as an indicator for helping shipping lines plan a cost-effective business strategy. Keywords: Bayesian Network Method; Uncertainty Treatment; Vessel Speed; Containership; Decision Making Technique.

Neonatal feed restriction modulates circulating levels of corticosterone and expression of glucocorticoid receptor and heat shock protein 70 in aged Japanese quail exposed to acute heat stress.

This study aimed to determine the effect of neonatal feed restriction on plasma corticosterone concentration (CORT), hippocampal glucocorticoid receptor (GR) expression, and heat shock protein (Hsp) 70 expression in aged male Japanese quail subjected to acute heat stress. Equal numbers of chicks were subjected to either ad libitum feeding (AL) or 60% feed restriction on d 4, 5, and 6 (FR). At 21 (young) and 270 (aged) d of age, birds were exposed to 43 ± 1°C for 1 h. Blood and hippocampus samples were collected to determine CORT and Hsp 70 and GR expressions before heat stress and following 1 h of heat stress, 1 h of post-heat stress recovery, and 2 h of post-heat stress recovery. With the use of real-time PCR and enzyme immunoassay, we examined the hippocampal expression of GR and Hsp 70 and CORT. The GR expression of the young birds increased following heat stress and remained consistent throughout the period of recovery. Conversely, no significant changes were noted on GR expression of aged birds. Although both young and aged birds had similar CORT before and during heat stress, the latter exhibited greater values following 1 and 2 h of recovery. Within the young group, feeding regimens had no significant effect on Hsp 70 expression. However, neonatal feed restriction improved Hsp 70 expression in aged birds. Neonatal feed restriction, compared with the AL group, resulted in higher CORT on d 21 but the converse was noted on d 270. Neonatal feed restriction appears to set a robust reactive hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal response allowing the development of adaptive, healthy, and resilient phenotypes in aged quail as measured by a higher hippocampal Hsp 70 expression along with lower CORT

The Impact of Small Scale Mining on Irrigation Water Quality in Asante Akim Central Municipality of Ghana

Small scale mining is a major threat to water resources and agricultural activities in most mining communities across Ghana. This study investigated the effect of small scale mining on the quality of water for irrigation from some selected sites along a river and a reservoir which was used as a control. The physical and chemical parameters of the water samples were measured using standard methods for water quality analysis. The samples were acid digested and assayed using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS). The study revealed that several of the physico-chemical parameters (turbidity, pH, conductivity, TDS) and heavy metals such as Pb and Hg were significantly higher (5% level of significance) at the river sites compared to the reservoir. Whilst most of the parameters measured were within range of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) limit for irrigation water quality, Hg, Cd, K and turbidity levels were higher than FAO permissible limits for irrigation water. Hazard assessment based on the sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), US Salinity laboratory classification and the Wilcox diagram for irrigation water quality showed the water tobe within acceptable salinity and sodium limits for irrigation. It is inferred from the findings that activities of small scale miners along the river affects the quality of the water. The high turbidity and detection of some level of heavy metals in the water should be a major concern to stakeholders in the Municipality as continuous influx of small scale miners in the area could increase heavy metal concentration beyond the acceptable thresholds

Physiological responses of 3 chicken breeds to acute heat stress.

Domestic animals have been modified by selecting individuals exhibiting desirable traits and culling the others. To investigate the alterations introduced by domestication and selective breeding in heat stress response, 2 experiments were conducted using Red Jungle Fowl (RJF), village fowl (VF), and commercial broilers (CB). In experiment 1, RJF, VF, and CB of a common chronological age (30 d old) were exposed to 36 ± 1°C for 3 h. In experiment 2, RJF, VF, and CB of common BW (930 ± 15 g) were subjected to similar procedures as in experiment 1. Heat treatment significantly increased body temperature, heterophil:lymphocyte ratio, and plasma corticosterone concentration in CB but not in VF and RJF. In both experiments and irrespective of stage of heat treatment, RJF showed lower heterophil:lymphocyte ratio, higher plasma corticosterone concentration, and higher heat shock protein 70 expression than VF and CB. It can be concluded that selective breeding for phenotypic traits in the domestication process has resulted in alterations in the physiology of CB and concomitantly the ability to withstand high ambient temperature compared with RJF and VF. In other words, domestication and selective breeding are leading to individuals that are more susceptible to stress rather than resistant. It is also apparent that genetic differences in body size and age per se may not determine breed or strain variations in response to heat stress

The Synthesis And Applications Of Carbon Nanotubes From Natural Gas.

Carbon Nanotubes are newly discovered carbon: it is fullerene related structures but a fullerene's carbon form a sphere while a nanotube is cylindrical. According to theoretical predictions of carbon nanotubes. the tubular fullerene. may possess extraordinary physical and chemical properties. Due to its unique properties, carbon nanotubes have found a variety of potential applications in advance technologies; including nanoelectronics, biomedical, electromagnetics, electrochemical, composite. mass storage, etc. They provide an alternative to current technology to achieve better performance and smaller sizing in numerous applications. It brings technologies of all area to the edge and beyond expectation in the past. This paper will cover the outstanding properties of carbon nanotubes and the applications of carbon nanotubes

Chemical and biological investigations of Delonix regia (Bojer ex Hook.) Raf.

U radu je opisana izolacija pet sastojaka petroleterske i diklormetanske frakcije metanolnog ekstrakta kore biljke Delonix regia: lupeol (1), epilupeol (2), β-sitosterol (3), stigmasterol (4) i p-metoksibenzaldehid (5). Nadalje, testirano je antimikrobno djelovanje različitih ekstrakata difuzijskom metodom na disku (15 μg mm2). Zone inhibicije za sastojke topljive u petroleteru, tetraklormetanu i diklormetanu bile su 914 mm, 1113 mm, odnosno 920 mm, dok je zona inhibicije standarda kanamicina bila 2025 mm. U biološkom pokusu smrtnosti morskih kozica najveću toksičnost pokazali su spojevi topljivi u tetraklormetanu (LC50 = 0,83 μg mL1), dok je topljivost sastojaka topljivih u petroleteru i diklormetanu bila LC50 14,94, odnosno 3,29 μg mL1, a standarda vinkristin sulfata 0,812 μg mL1. Ovo je prvo izvješće o izolaciji sastojaka, antimikrobnom djelovanju i citotoksičnosti biljke D. regia.In this study five compounds, lupeol (1), epilupeol (2), β-sitosterol (3), stigmasterol (4) and p-methoxybenzaldehyde (5) were isolated from the petroleum ether and dichloromethane fractions of a methanolic extract of the stem bark of Delonix regia. Antimicrobial screening of the different extracts (15 μg mm2) was conducted by disc diffusion method. The zones of inhibition demonstrated by the petroleum ether, carbon tetrachloride and dichloromethane fractions ranged from 914 mm, 1113 mm and 920 mm, respectively, compared to kanamycin standard with the zone of inhibition of 2025 mm. In brine shrimp lethality bioassay, the carbon tetrachloride soluble materials demonstrated the highest toxicity with LC50 of 0.83 μg mL1, while petroleum ether and dichloromethane soluble partitionates of the methanolic extract revealed LC50 of 14.94 and 3.29 μg mL1, respectively, in comparison with standard vincristine sulphate with LC50 of 0.812 μg mL1. This is the first report on compounds separation from D. regia, their antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity

ANEW TECHNIQUE BY USING INVERTED TABLES AND 3D BOX FOR EFFICIENT QUERYING OVER AN ENCRYPTED DATABASE

The increase in the amount of data in encrypted databases has caused problems in data processing and retrieval time. In traditional query processing methods, there are many difficulties in execute query over an encrypted database because it is time- consuming. In this paper, proposes technique for querying encrypted databases records, allows authorized users to execute queries without decrypting all the records of the encrypted database. In this technique, inverted tables include the numbers of 3D box cover locations that were created to enhance and speed up the retrieval time of query and improve an approach of data embedding according to the random 3D box. The proposed method has been examined on the Iraqi voter encrypted Database. The retrieval time in (second, millisecond) has been computed for the traditional method of query processing and proposed technique that using inverted tables. The retrieval time of query executing of proposed techniques without retrieval of all the records of the encrypted database is 10.870 (seconds, millisecond) where the retrieval time of query executing of conventional method that’s retrieval of all the records of the encrypted database is 40.682 (seconds, millisecond)