Arab EFL learners' attitudes towards and perceptions of English culture and their achievement in English.

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A Systemic Risk Management Model to Manage the Equipment Maintenance System in Oil and Gas Companies

The risk management is significant when managing the equipment maintenance system (EMS) which is very important to maintain equipment operations and is fundamental for achieving business objectives. With the advent of risk-based thinking in industry, there was a need for introducing the risk culture within the organization, including maintenance, in order to reduce business losses. Analysis of equipment failures data showed a relation between the failures types with their consequences, and all interaction with system maintenance components. The ineffective maintenance system may cause multiple losses for the organization and therefore affects the whole business. This paper introduces a systemic risk management model to manage the maintenance system undesired events and control the impact on the organization and the consequences on business. Using systemic risk management model, the maintenance professional can manage the whole maintenance system through risk analysis, assessment, and management by creating the different risk scenarios to develop proper types of control

Effect of Educational Program on Compliance of Myocardial Infarction (MI) Patients in Gaza Strip

Myocardial infarction is a major cause of death and disability worldwide and in Palestine as well. Acute myocardial infarction is considered the main cause of death among males 15-59 year old.  Mortality rate from MI is 18.7% in males and 7.7% in females worldwide. However, recently it has become evidenced that there are certain modifiable factors that may contribute to the occurrence of MI. Such factors if recognized and acted upon may prevent MI or its recurrence. The aim of this study; was to determine the effect of an educational program on compliance of myocardial infarction patients in Gaza Strip. Research design; Quasi-experimental design (pre-test/post-test) was used in this study. The study sample; consisted of 65 clients suffering from myocardial infarction who were selected randomly from cardiac outpatient clinics in Shifa and Nasser hospital in Gaza Strip. Tools for data collection included structured interviewing questionnaire that was used to collect data on socio-demographic characteristics, pretest and post-test questionnaire about patient's knowledge and reported practices, then biochemical lipid profile levels results were taken from patients' health records. Study results revealed a statistically significant difference between pre and post educational program in most variables related to patient's knowledge about the nature of myocardial infarction, causes, signs and symptoms, complications and medication. Also, a highly statistically significant difference was found between pre and post educational program in relation to subject's reported practices. The study concluded that, educational program implicated changes in myocardial infarction subjects' knowledge, and reported practices. The study recommended generalizing such educational program in other cardiac clinics in Gaza Strip in order to improve myocardial infarction patients' compliance to medication, diet, exercise, smoking cessation and stress management. This would ultimately increase the quality of life for myocardial infarction patients and decrease the incidence of complications. Keyword: compliance, myocardial infarction, educational program, knowledge, reported practic

The Value of 18 Fluorine-fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography Imaging in Breast Cancer Staging

BACKGROUND: Accurate staging is important for management decisions in patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer. AIM: This study was conducted to evaluate the value of 18 fluorine-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) imaging in breast cancer staging.. METHODS: A prospective study of 80 patients (1 male and 79 female) mean age 51.13 years with histologically confirmed breast cancer. The staging procedures included history, physical examination, mammography, and CT of neck, chest, abdomen, and pelvis; then, PET/CT was performed in a time interval <30 days. The findings of PET/CT were compared with those of the other conventional methods. RESULTS: The agreement between conventional methods (mammography, breast ultrasound, contrast-enhanced CT of the neck, chest, abdomen, and pelvis) and 18F FDG-PET/CT was 0.6 for assessing the T stage, 0.39 for N stage, and 0.75 for M stage. There was moderate agreement between CT and 18F FDG-PET/CT in the detection of nodal lesions (K=0.6) and pulmonary lesions (K=0.51), while a perfect agreement was noted for detecting osseous (K=0.82) and liver lesions (K=0.81). In total, 50 patients (62.5%) were concordantly staged between the conventional imaging and 18F-FDG PET/CT, while 30 patients (37.5%) showed a different tumor, node, and metastasis stage. The changes were driven by the detection of additional findings (n=26) or exclusion of findings (n=4), mainly at the lymph nodes (LNs) and/or distant sites. Regarding N status, 18F FDG-PET/CT revealed previously unknown regional lymphatic spread in supraclavicular (n=4; 5%), infraclavicular (n=11; 13.7%), and internal mammary (n=12; 15%) lymph node groups. 18F-FDG PET/CT changed M status in a total of four patients (5%); three of them were upstaged by detecting distant metastases, while osseous deposits were excluded in one patient leading to downstaging. CONCLUSION: 18F-FDG-PET/CT is considered a valuable imaging tool in the initial staging of breast cancer, which significantly impacts the overall American Joint Committee on Cancer staging in 37.5% of our study population

Protecting Fingerprint Data Using Watermarking

A motivation for the use of watermarking techniques in biometric systems has been the need to provide increased security to the biometrics data themselves. We introduce an application of wavelet-based watermarking method to hide the fingerprint minutiae data in fingerprint images. The application provides a high security to both hidden data (i.e. fingerprint minutiae) that have to be transmitted and the host image (i.e. fingerprint). The original unmarked fingerprint image is not required to extract the minutiae data. The method is essentially introduced to increase the security of fingerprint minutiae transmission and can also used to protect the original fingerprint image.. 1

Collaboration with Families of Children with Disabilities in Qatar: A Parent's Perspective

The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives of parents of children with disabilities in regard of the components of true collaboration practices in different educational institutions. As well as to solicit their understanding of the important components of collaboration that might improve services. A model based on the work of Blue-Banning, Summers, Frankland, Nelson and Beegle (2004) was adopted having six original domains including communication, knowledge, respect, trust, equality, commitment, a seventh domain of advocacy was added. A sample of 163 parents of families with disabilities was interviewed and a survey was collected accordingly, validity and reliability of the tool were checked in addition to an exploratory factor analysis, which confirmed the previous model. Results showed a great need for collaboration between families and school personnel especially teachers, all components are important and need to be addressed; still communication and equality were the major components of collaboration that needs to be addressed to achieve proper collaboration. Further analysis showed some differences according to other variables, like educational institute type, further implications are discussed

Detection of A2142G, A2142C and A2143G clarithromycin mutations in Helicobacter pylori in Alexandria University Pediatric Hospital

Background: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori)colonizes the stomach and affect almost 50% of the world’s population. Clarithromycin is considered a cornerstone for H. pylori treatment. Emergence of clarithromycin resistance (CLR-R) has played a major role in failure of H. pylori eradication both in adults and children.  Clarithromycin resistance is mostly due to mutations in 23S rRNA gene: A2142G, A2142C, and A2143G. The aim of the current study is to determine the prevalence of CLR-R among H. pylori infected children with prior clarithromycin treatment. Materials and Methods: Multiple endoscopic gastric biopsies were collected from 50 H. pylori infected children after cessation of clarithromycin-based treatment. Samples were subjected to histopathological examinations, rapid urease test (RUT) and simultaneous molecular detection of H. pylori infection as well as CLR-R by multiplex Real-Time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: Histopathological examinations and RUT revealed H. pylori in 74% and 92% of samples respectively. Molecular detection of CLR-R showed that 62.5% positive H. pylori cases were not harboring any of the tested mutations, while 25% harbored 2143A-G single mutation. Double mutations (2142A-C and 2143A-G) were detected in only 4 cases. Statistical significant correlation existed between both RUT and PCR results as well as between histopathological findings and PCR test results. Conclusions: A combination of histopathogy, RUT and multiplex PCR procedures offers a real benefit in the simultaneous diagnosis of H. pylori infection along with clarithromycin resistance status. Other mechanisms of clarithromycin resistance need to be investigated to explain treatment failure in absence of the previously detected mutations