A Study of Nutritional Awareness of Jordanians’ Consumers towards Functional Foods

The functional food industry has expanded yet research into consumer perceptions of functional foods is limited. This study was carried out to investigate consumers’ awareness, acceptance and attitudes towards functional foods in Jordan. Six hundred and twenty eight Jordanian consumers were randomly recruited at shopping areas, universities and public places. 55.8% of this population sample was male and 44.2% were female, and they were aged between 18 and 70 years. A questionnaire consists of three parts was given to participants to fill it by themselves. It was shown in this study that 74.4 of participants had used olive oil, 55.6% of the participants had used herbal tea, and 37.3% of the participants had used bread with whole grain. The results show that older respondents were 4.233 times more aware of functional food than younger respondents. Also, it was shown that the female respondents were 3.176 times more aware of functional food than the male respondents. Similarly, the likelihood of respondents having awareness of functional food was 2.237 times greater among those who had a higher educational level than among those with a lower educational level. Consumers who used vitamin supplements were 1.831 times more aware of functional food than other consumers. Also, the likelihood of their awareness of functional food was 2.532 times greater among respondents who had a higher income than among those with a lower income. Participants scoring high on the reward from using functional foods were more likely to have consumed milk fortified with calcium, bread with whole grain, and olive oil than participants with low scores. On the other hand, respondents scoring high on the taste of functional foods were more likely to have consumed fruit juices fortified with vitamin C, yoghurt with probiotics, eggs with increased omega-3, breakfast cereals fortified with vitamins and minerals, and herbal tea than participants who scored low. As a conclusion, this study has shown that socio-demographic characteristics such as age, education and income levels, and prices are important indicators that influence consumers’ awareness and consumption of functional food. These results suggest that this type of knowledge could affect consumers’ interest in functional foods and therefore educational strategies might be necessary to encourage the consumption of functional foods. Keywords: Functional food, awareness, acceptance, attitude, probiotics, fortifie

Mode NASA blade used to calculate the power generator for (VAWT) by drag and lift coefficients

One of the confrontations with increasing demand on power in the entire world the methodologies of provided power divided into traditional methods against renewable methods. This article presents a simulation model to estimate the integrated power from vertical access wind turbine (VAWT) stages of development of a simulation model of local power supply system (LPSS) with (VAWT). However, wind power is one of the quickest developing advances for the sustainable power age. Disturbingly, in the ongoing years a few instances of corruption on telecommunication systems frameworks have emerged because of the presence of wind ranches, and costly and in fact complex restorative estimations needed. The grade of variation of power verified according to the grid size. The parameters were taken in the study through the preparation of the model are (efficiency, cost, and system response) compared to the benefits against disadvantages when combining the two systems to achieve a high performance of the power stability

Determinants of learning management systems adoption in Nigeria: A hybrid SEM and artificial neural network approach

Research has shown that technology, when used prudently, has the potential to improve instruction and learning both in and out of the classroom. Only a handful of African tertiary institutions have fully deployed learning management systems (LMS) and the literature is devoid of research examining the factors that foster the adoption of LMS. To fill this void, the present research investigates the factors contributing to students’ acceptance of LMS. Survey data were obtained from registered students in four Nigerian universities (n = 1116); the responses were analyzed using artificial neural network (ANN) and structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques. The results show that social influence, facilitating conditions, system quality, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness are important predictors for students’ behavioral intention to use LMS. Students’ behavioral intention to use LMS also functions as a predictor for actual usage of LMS. Implications for practice and theory are discussed.No sponso

Virtual synchronous generator: an overview

The continuous increase in the penetration of renewable energy (RE) based distributed generations (DGs) in the power system network has created a great concern on the stability of the existing grid. Traditional bulk power plants, which are dominated by synchronous machines (SMs) can easily support system instability, due to the inherent rotor inertia and damping characteristic, as well as voltage (reactive power) control ability. Nevertheless, converter based RE has some special characteristics, such as stochastic real and reactive power output, quick active and reactive power response, small output impedance, and little or no inertia and damping property thereby causing frequency and voltage instability in the system. To solve this problem, virtual synchronous generator (VSG) concept was proposed to emulate some of the features of conventional SG through converter control strategy in order to provide additional inertia virtually. Different control schemes for VSG has been proposed in literature. Surprisingly, an overview of these schemes is yet to be efficiently presented. This paper presents an overview of the VSG control schemes. It provides the concepts, the features of the control schemes and the applications of VSG. Finally, the crucial issues regarding VSG control schemes and the necessary improvement that need to be addressed are highlighted.Keywords: Distributed generation, Synchronous generator, Virtual synchronous generator, Power electronicv converter, Energy storage system, Frequency contro

The neurotoxic effects of Methotrexate (MTX) on rat hippocampus and to explore the neuroprotective role of Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA): Review article

Background: The hippocampus is a major component of the mammalian brains and the brains of other vertebrates. It belongs to the limbic system and plays important roles in memory consolidation. Methotrexate (MTX) belongs to the antimetabolite group, which is an antineoplastic group of drugs. MTX has a wide range of therapeutic effects: e.g. at high doses in many malignancies and at low doses in autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis, due to its anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects. The therapeutic actions of Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) is based on its antioxidant properties including its capacity in regenerating endogenous antioxidants, its metal chelating abilities, its action as a scavenger of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and its capability to repair oxidative damage.Objective: This work aimed to study the neurotoxic effects of methotrxate (MTX) on rat hippocampus and to explore the neuroprotective role of alpha lipoic acid (ALA).Methods: The databases were searched for articles published in English in 4 data bases [PubMed – Google scholar- Science direct and Egyptian bank of knowledge] and Boolean operators (and, or, not) had been used such as neurotoxic effects of methotrxate and rat hippocampus OR alpha lipoic acid and in reviewed articles.Conclusion: So, from this review article, it can be concluded that, alpha lipoic acid administration along with methotrxate therapy can ameliorate the harmfull effects of methotrxate on hippocampus

Performance Evaluation of Three PID Controller Tuning Algorithm on a Process Plant

Accurate tuning of controller in industrial process operation is prerequisite to system smooth operation which directly reduce process variability, improved efficiency, reduced energy costs, and increased production rates. Performance evaluation of a model based PID controller tuning algorithm on a chemical process plant is presented in this paper. The control action of three different PID controller tuning algorithms namely; Hagglund-Astrom, Cohen and Coon, and Ziegler-Nichols on the process plant was examined in a closed loop control configuration under normal operating condition and in the face of disturbance. LabVIEW software was used to model a chemical process plant from open loop control test data. The time domain response analysis of the controllers shows that each tuning algorithm exhibit different time response. Ziegler-Nichols algorithm shows the best performance with fastest rise time, settling time and was able to restore the system back to normal operating condition in a short time when subjected to disturbance compare to Cohen & Coon controller and Hagglund-Astrom algorithm settings

An Enhanced Software Quality Testing Approach Using Metamorphic Testing Technique

The software testing process plays an important role in improving the quality of the software product. The product or program which is free from errors greatly contributes to assuring the quality of the software. An oracle in software testing is a person (tester) who performs the testing process. The oracle problem is the difficulty of determining the expected outcomes of selected test cases. A tester (oracle) may not always be available, or might be available but the process is too expensive and difficult to apply. The research presented in this paper proposes an approach for reducing the effect of the oracle problem during testing software and hence enhancing the quality of testing. Metamorphic Testing (MT) approach has been introduced and applied to generate a follow-up test case for multiple executions of program under test and verify the result automatically.  An experimental method has been used to explain the mechanism of work for (MT). JUNIT tool which supports MT has been used to apply selected case studies (trigonometric function, geometric shapes classification, booking web service). The obtained results showed a good enhancement in the testing process. The importance of this research lies in overcoming oracle problem or alleviates it and thus, the research contributes to knowledge the domain by guiding researchers to use the metamorphic method because of its great advantages, as well as evaluating the effect of metamorphic method through empirical studies

Pre and Post Training Knowledge of Cassava Viral Disease among Farmer and Extension Officer in Nigeria

This study presents findings of a train-the trainer cassava stakeholders training workshop conducted in 2017. Farmers and agricultural extension officers from 12 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Nigeria were invited for a 2-day workshop aimed at raising awareness and educating participants on cassava virus disease management. An open-ended questionnaire was used to measure pre and post workshop knowledge alongside practices and needs. A total of 74 persons, 49 farmers and 25 extension officers were included in the study. Participants were mostly males who had been cultivating cassava for 12±9 years or had been providing extension services for 17±9 years. Pre-workshop knowledge on cassava viral diseases among cassava farmers was poor with farmers scoring an average of 2.04±1.1 out of 5 obtainable points on knowledge. Disease management practices were poor among farmers with 40.8% obtaining planting materials from unverified sources. Post-workshop evaluation showed that farmers’ knowledge of cassava viral diseases had increased as adjudged by an average knowledge score of 7.98±1.80 out of 11 obtainable points. This study highlights the effectiveness of training in improving farmers’ knowledge and equipping them to contribute to the management of cassava viral diseases

Cloud computing fitness for e-government implementation: importance-performance analysis

The means through which governments deliver services and the way they operate may be considerably enhanced through cloud computing. It can help to address e-government implementation challenges and revolutionize e-government systems in terms of cost savings and the professional use of resources. The aim of this paper is to analyze the importance and performance of the factors that influence the fitness of cloud computing for e-government implementation. This paper integrates the task technology fit model with the diffusion of innovation theory to address this issue. Yemeni public institutions were identified as sources for data collection and 292 information technology employees participated as sample respondents for a structured questionnaire. Security, compatibility, relative advantage, and tasks were the variables found to affect the fitness of cloud computing for e-government activities. However, no impact was seen from the standpoints of trialability and complexity of the technology. In terms of assessing the fitness of cloud computing for e-government services, a greater understanding among policy formulators was sought through the importance-performance matrix analysis (IPMA). The results of IPMA can help identifying areas for strategic focus to assess cloud computing as an alternative technology to implement e-government services

Outcomes of integrating a clinical pharmacist in the pediatric cardiology ward

To date, very limited data are available on clinical pharmacist's services in pediatric cardiology. The aim of this review was to assess "drug-related problems" (DRPs) and patient outcomes during the involvement of the clinical pharmacist in the pediatric cardiology ward. Studies published between January 2000 and November 2021 were searched across Medline, PubMed, Google Scholar, Elsevier, and ScienceDirect for “DRPs” and “patient outcome” with “clinical pharmacist” and “pediatric cardiology”. Results revealed that the incorporation of clinical pharmacists in the multidisciplinary team can detect and resolve DRPs, reduce the overall burden of healthcare costs, and improve drug safety in pediatric cardiology patients. Most DRPs identified and interventions proposed by the clinical pharmacists were accepted by the physicians. Studies have also reported a positive impact on patient outcomes, including: shorter hospital stay, fewer disease events, optimal anticoagulation levels, lipid levels, and blood pressure. Moreover; pharmacist-led discharge medication counseling resulted in better medication adherence, fewer medication discrepancies, and a lower incidence of cardiovascular-associated hospital readmissions. In summary, there is growing evidence that integration and interventions of clinical pharmacists into cardiology ward has a positive influence on DRPs and patient outcomes