The perceived trustworthiness of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) on attitude towards dietary supplements, purchase intention and behaviour for dietary supplements amongst female adolescents in Saudi Arabia

Social networking sites (SNS) such as MySpace, Twitter and Facebook provide effective communication platforms that influence the purchase behaviour of brands for many age groups particularly adolescents. These platforms offer boards of online engagement by user-generated content to share, like and exchange their experience and opinions through electronic word of mouth (eWOM). The aim of this study is to investigate perceived trustworthiness of eWOM dimensions; volume, valence and perceived source expertise of eWOM influence on attitude, purchase intention and purchase behaviour towards dietary supplements amongst Saudi female adolescents. Due to rapid socio-economic changes in Saudi Arabia (SA), healthy food intake was replaced by high-calorie diet and sedentary behaviour. The proposed model for this study investigates purchase behaviour in social media by using the three dimensions of perceived trustworthiness of eWOM. The sample size was 1,027, and a non-probability sampling technique was adopted. The targeted population ranged from 11-19 years old. The covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM) were performed by using AMOS software. The findings reveal that the perceived trustworthiness of eWOM dimensions show a significant influence on attitude, purchase intention and actual purchase behaviour towards dietary supplements. Interestingly, the perceived body image and time spent on social media do not moderate the relationship between the perceived trustworthiness of eWOM and attitude towards dietary supplements. This study contributes to marketers’ strategy implementation through cooperation with social influencers. In food marketing, labelling should be provided including nutritional facts and re-branding healthy food. Moreover, Policy makers should seriously consider banning fast food from schools and initiating social marketing campaigns. In order to control use of dietary supplements, it should be by prescription only and risk assessments should be introduced as well

Experimental Study to Evaluate the Performance of Flat Plate Solar Collector with Natural Circulation

In this research, a practical study was carried out on a flat plate solar collector covered by transparent layer faced toward the south and tilted 30o from horizon. The collector is low cost and simple design with 170 litters volume capacity. The collector works according to the natural circulation phoneme where the flow occurs due to the differences in water density. The practical data were collected for Baghdad (33.3o N, 44.3o E) during the period 15 Sep – 31 Dec 2007. The performance of solar collector had evaluated for various conditions and water demands. The obtained data show confident results. It is noticed that the maximum temperature of the water on 15 Dec could reach (43oC) where the inlet temperature was (18oC). Based on that, the using of mentioned collector is reliable and applicable to supply domestic hot water in conjugation with auxiliary heater. Keywords: Solar Collector, Natural Circulation, Hot Water, Renewable Energ

Investigating the Efficacy of In Vivo Exposure as an Additive Element to Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Eating Disorders: A Multiple-Baseline Design across Behaviors.

Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2017

FIA-spectrophotometric determination of nitrazepam by oxidation with a solid-phase reactor and coupling with 2,2'-dihydroxybiphenyl reagent

A new reverse flow injection system combined with a solid-phase reactor containing PbO2 was suggested for spectrophotometric determination of nitrazepam in pharmaceutical tablets. Nitrazepam was  measured by coupling with a new reagent (2,2'-dihydroxybiphenyl) oxidized by forced through the reactor containing PbO2 immobilized in a polymeric matrix. The absorbance of the resultant blue colored product was measured at 635 nm, and the calibration graph for nitrazepam was linear in the 10 to 300 µg/mLconcentration range with RSD of less than 2.5% (n = 38) and a sample throughput of 40 h-1. The influence of the variables of flow system and solid-phase reactor such as composition, size of particles and length of the reactor, were studied. The proposed method was applied for determining nitrazepam in two commercial tablets without any interferences.               KEY WORDS: Reverse flow injection, Nitrazepam, PbO2 reactor, Oxidative coupling Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2019, 33(1), 183-190DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v33i1.1

PKM PENANGANAN KEBERSIHAN DI KECAMATAN MAPPAKASUNGGU

PKM PENANGANAN KEBERSIHAN DI KECAMATAN MAPPAKASUNGG

Somalia: Paradoxes of Private Prosperity, Poverty Pockets, Volatile Vulnerability and Public Pauperisation

Second draft of report for UNICEF

Optimising Residential Courtyard in Terms of Social and Environmental Performance for Ghadames Housing, Libya

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Vernacular architecture comes from a wealth of knowledge and experience of humans who were able to adjust to the surroundings and adapt to even extreme climate conditions. In fact many old traditional settlements may fail to functionally provide high indoor quality according to the modern building standards. However, these buildings are still seen as a good example of serving the purpose of locals’ social life and their ability to effectively respond to outdoor climate. Therefore, this work recognises the need to develop the courtyard concept to meet the social and environmental requirements of today’s housing conditions taking the advantage of traditional architecture of Ghadames. The work carried out methods of descriptive and simulation analysis to investigate the environmental performance of existing and proposed residential courtyards employing natural ventilation system in terms of thermal comfort conditions. The optimisation process of the courtyard design not only relied on methods of observation but also householders and professionals’ views were considered. Householders and professionals agreed that courtyard houses might be often linked to lower social classes but still serve most of social and climate purposes. The dynamic thermal simulation showed that indoor comfort temperature in a traditional courtyard was found to be at 34˚C. An optimisation design process was conducted to a courtyard building resulted in reducing the indoor comfort temperature to about 28˚C. Further results showed that the new design has improved the daylighting performance at 2.9% of average daylight factor. The work also outlined the applicability of using locally sourced building materials and their capacity to achieve high thermal performance particularly with reference to the use of organic date-palm fibre. It can conclude that the proposed design has integrated the passive climate design strategies to help achieving acceptable indoor comfort conditions and also sustainable features to further enhance locals’ social life