Educational Games in Elementary Education: Unlocking the Potentials

The advent of technology has made big strides in the development of humans’ life in different spheres. The integration of technology in education has introduced other teaching methods that could improve and emulate the traditional way of teaching. The use of educational games is a by-product of integrating technology into teaching to enhance teaching methods and students’ performance. This study, hence, aims to evaluate the effect of using educational games in teaching mathematics to second-graders in a Palestinian school using a quasi-experimental approach. Thirty male and female second-graders from Al Aqsa Integrated School, Kuala Lumpur, were the targeted sample. The sample was divided into an experimental group and a control group. A selected educational game was used to explain mathematics lessons, namely addition within 99 or 999, to the experimental group. The same content was taught to the students in the control group using the traditional method. Findings showed that teaching mathematics via educational games was significantly effective in improving students’ achievement in the experimental group compared to the achievement of their counterparts taught via the traditional method. These findings provide evidence that educational games could substantially improve primary second-grade students’ skills in mathematics compared to the traditional teaching method

MOOCs in Omani Higher Education Institutions: Use and Popularity

Due to the rapid influence of technology on the teaching-learning process, both instructors and students alike are expected to keep abreast of the perpetual developments in the field of education. The introduction of Massive Open Online Courses (Henceforth MOOCs), as one form of e-learning, has made skyrocketing changes in the manner and availability of education provided to mass numbers of learners all the world, including Arab countries. The use of MOOCs in Oman is relatively new, and thus it appears to be unbeknown to a large segment of undergraduate students. The study beforehand, therefore, is meant to explore Omani undergraduate students’ awareness of MOOCs both locally and globally via the use a self-administered questionnaire targeting three main academic institutions in Oman with a total number of 306 participants. In-depth scrutiny of the obtained data evidently shows that unfamiliarity of MOOCs among Omani undergraduate students is significantly high, a fact reflected in the high percentage of those oblivious of its existence (88.89%) as opposed to those (11.11 %) who are familiar with MOOCs. Lack of publicity of these platforms in the Omani academic institutions and the academic community in general, among several other reasons, stand behind such unawareness of these platforms

Effective transfer entropy approach to information flow between exchange rates and stock markets

We investigate the strength and direction of information flow between exchange rates and stock prices in several emerging countries by the novel concept of effective transfer entropy (an alternative non-linear causality measure) with symbolic encoding methodology. Analysis shows that before the 2008 crisis, only low level interaction exists between these two variables and exchange rates dominate stock prices in general. During crisis, strong bidirectional interaction arises. In the post-crisis period, the strong interaction continues to exist and in general stock prices dominate exchange rates. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Effect of Depth of Total Intravenous General Anesthesia on Intraoperative Electrically Evoked Compound Action Potentials in Cochlear Implantation Surgery.

PURPOSE: This study aims to compare the effect of the depth of total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) on intraoperative electrically evoked compound action potential (e-ECAP) thresholds in cochlear implant operations. METHODS: Prospectively, a total of 39 patients aged between 1 and 48 years who were scheduled to undergo cochlear implantation surgeries were enrolled in this study. Every patient received both light and deep TIVA during the cochlear implant surgery. The e-ECAP thresholds were obtained during the light and deep TIVA. RESULTS: After comparing the e-ECAP means for each electrode (lead) between the light and deep anesthesia, no significant differences were detected between the light and deep anesthesia. CONCLUSION: The depth of TIVA may have no significant influence on the e-ECAP thresholds as there was no statistical difference between the light and deep anesthesia

Anti-microbial Activity Of Graphene Oxide Against Bacteria And Fungi

Graphene Oxide (GO) is a promising material for various applications. The team prepared GO from graphite and studied the interaction with different microorganisms. Anti-microbial properties were detected for the prepared GO. Anti-microbial activities of GO was tested against one eukaryotic fungi (Candida albicans) two prokaryotic bacteria Gram-negative bacilli (Escherichia coli ATCC 41570 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 25619) and two prokaryotic bacteria Gram-positive cocci (Streptococcus feacalis 19433 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 11632). Spectrophotometer was used to measure the growth as an indirect method, viable cell counting was used as direct method. Readings were taken at successive incubated times. Results revealed that GO exhibited stronger antibacterial and anti-fungal activity against the used bacteria and fungi species. Acknowledgements: This research was made possible by NPRP grant (NPRP5-039-2-014) from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statement made herein are solely the responsibility of the author.qscienc

7-O-methylpunctatin, a novel homoisoflavonoid, inhibits phenotypic switch of human arteriolar smooth muscle cells

Remodeling of arterioles is a pivotal event in the manifestation of many inflammation-based cardio-vasculopathologies, such as hypertension. During these remodeling events, vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) switch from a contractile to a synthetic phenotype. The latter is characterized by increased proliferation, migration, and invasion. Compounds with anti-inflammatory actions have been successful in attenuating this phenotypic switch. While the vast majority of studies investigating phenotypic modulation were undertaken in VSMCs isolated from large vessels, little is known about the effect of such compounds on phenotypic switch in VSMCs of microvessels (microVSMCs). We have recently characterized a novel homoisoflavonoid that we called 7-O-methylpunctatin (MP). In this study, we show that MP decreased FBS-induced cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and adhesion. MP also attenuated adhesion of THP-1 monocytes to microVSMCs, abolished FBS-induced expression of MMP-2, MMP-9, and NF-?B, as well as reduced activation of ERK1/2 and FAK. Furthermore, MP-treated VSMCs showed an increase in early (myocardin, SM-22?, SM-?) and mid-term (calponin and caldesmon) differentiation markers and a decrease in osteopontin, a protein highly expressed in synthetic VSMCs. MP also reduced transcription of cyclin D1, CDK4 but increased protein levels of p21 and p27. Taken together, these results corroborate an anti-inflammatory action of MP on human microVSMCs. Therefore, by inhibiting the synthetic phenotype of microVSMCs, MP may be a promising modulator for inflammation-induced arteriolar pathophysiology. - 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Funding: This work was supported by the American University of Beirut (Grant # MPP 320133 to A.E.), University of Petra (Grant #: 5/4/2019) to A.B., E.B., and A.E., and the National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS) to M.F.Scopu

Thermotolerant isolates of Beauveria bassiana as potential control agent of insect pest in subtropical climates

The use of Beauveria bassiana in biological control of agricultural pests is mainly hampered by environmental factors, such as elevated temperatures and low humidity. These limitations, further amplified in a global warming scenario, could nullify biological control strategies based on this fungus. The identification of thermotolerant B. bassiana isolates represents a possible strategy to overcome this problem. In this study, in order to maximize the probability in the isolation of thermotolerant B. bassiana, soil samples and infected insects were collected in warm areas of Syria. The obtained fungal isolates were tested for different biological parameters (i.e., growth rate, sporulation and spore germination) at growing temperatures ranging from 20\u2daC to 35\u2daC. Among these isolates (eight from insects and 11 from soil samples), the five with the highest growth rate, spore production and germination at 30\u2daC were tested for their entomopathogenicity through in vivo assays on Ephestia kuehniella larvae. Insect mortality induced by the five isolates ranged from 31% to 100%. Two isolates, one from Phyllognathus excavatus and one from soil, caused 50% of the larval mortality in less than four days, reaching values exceeding 92% in ten days. These two isolates were molecularly identified as B. bassiana sensu stricto by using three markers (i.e., ITS, Bloc and EF1-\u3b1). Considering these promising results, further studies are ongoing, testing their efficiency in field conditions as control agents for agricultural insect pests in Mediterranean and Subtropical regions

Assessing the impact of agricultural strategies on soil Artropods: a case study using environmental DNA

Elucidating how agricultural practices affect soil arthropod\u2019s communities is of relevant for both scientific and economic interests. Thus, using DNA metabarcoding approach, Arthropods communities inhabiting soil of organic and conventional farms were characterized. Soil samples were collected from organic and conventional farms, covering the margin and three levels towards the center of a stable meadow and a barley field in both farms; each sample consisted of 10 homogenized cores of soil (~560 cm3), sampling was performed in spring, summer and autumn Soil texture, pH, N and C parameters were measured. DNA was extracted from three replicates of each soil sample. A fragment mitochondrial cox1 was amplified using three primer pairs and sequenced using Illumina Miseq. Raw sequences were processed and analyzed using Qiime to obtain Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) table. Approximately 75% of the obtained reads were identified as Animalia, and among these ~80% as Arthropods. \u3b1-diversity indices barley field in conventional farming were significantly lower (OTUs= 854, H'= 5.34\ub10.53, Pielou\u2019s evenness= 0,77\ub10,06) comparing with the other samples (OTUs> 1100, H'> 6 and Pielou\u2019s evenness> 0,8). Fitting the farming system, the field, position as factors in NMDS showed that Arthropods communities were not affected by the collecting season and the farming system (organic vs conventional), instead crop vs stable meadows and the position in the field (margin vs middle) have a strong effect. Soil properties affected the Arthropods communities, especially the pH on Chilopoda and Diplopoda and the C/N ratio on Arachnida and Insecta. Our results pointing out that the strategy of farm management does not affect the arthropod communities of the soil as much as the soil properties itself, while the position in the filed had a major effect, highlighting the importance of green corridors for maintaining the soil biodiversity and the agroecosystem functioning

Soil DNA metabarcoding: evaluating the efficiency of multiplex primer sets in recovering the soil invertebrate's community as soil quality indicators

DNA Metabarcoding was used to investigate the efficiency of two sets of primers (combinations A and B) for characterizing the soil invertebrate\u2019s communities in different farming management systems. Soil samples were taken from three different sites in the South-West of Milan and DNA was extracted directly. PCR was applied by using 4 pairs of previously published primers targeting invertebrate\u2019s cox1, followed by Illumina Miseq sequencing. The results showed that the presence of the most popular primer pair used in barcoding studies (LCOI490-HCO2198) has affected negatively the taxonomic assignment of OTUs, since about 67.88 % of the obtained sequences where not identified. Our analysis showed that a higher percentage of Arthropoda, Annelida, Nematoda and Rotifera &Tardigrada (41.6, 5.9, 0.8 and 1% of total reads, respectively) was obtained with primer combination B; thus this primers set can be considered a promising method to evaluate the soil arthropods community

Evaluation of the effect of hypericum triquetrifolium turra on memory impairment induced by chronic psychosocial stress in rats: Role of BDNF

Background: Chronic psychosocial stress impairs memory function and leads to a depression-like phenotype induced by a persistent status of oxidative stress. Hypericum perforatum L. (St. John’s wort) is widely used to relieve symptoms of anxiety and depression; however, its long-term use is associated with adverse effects. Hypericum triquetrifolium Turra is closely related to H. perforatum. Both plants belong to Hypericaceae family and share many biologically active compounds. Previous work by our group showed that methanolic extracts of H. triquetrifolium have potent antioxidant activity as well as high hypericin content, a component that proved to have stress-relieving and antidepressant effects by other studies. Therefore, we hypothesized that H. triquetrifolium would reduce stress-induced cognitive impairment in a rat model of chronic stress. Objective: To determine whether chronic treatment with H. triquetrifolium protects against stress-associated memory deficits and to investigate a possible mechanism. Methods: The radial arm water maze (RAWM) was used to test learning and memory in rats exposed to daily stress using the resident-intruder paradigm. Stressed and unstressed rats received chronic H. triquetrifolium or vehicle. We also measured levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampus, cortex and cerebellum. Results: Neither chronic stress nor chronic H. triquetrifolium administration affected performance during acquisition. However, memory tests in the RAWM showed that chronic stress impaired different post-encoding memory stages. H. triquetrifolium prevented this impairment. Furthermore, hippocampal BDNF levels were markedly lower in stressed animals than in unstressed animals, and chronic administration of H triquetrifolium chronic administration protected against this reduction. No significant difference was observed in the effects of chronic stress and/or H. triquetrifolium treatment on BDNF levels in the cerebellum and cortex. Conclusion: H. triquetrifolium extract can oppose stress-associated hippocampus-dependent memory deficits in a mechanism that may involve BDNF in the hippocampus