Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor inhibition enhances chronic obstructive pulmonary disease picture in mice exposed to waterpipe smoke

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is marked by destruction of alveolar architecture. Preclinical modelling for COPD is challenging. Chronic cigarette smoke exposure, the reference animal model of COPD, is time-inefficient, while exposure to waterpipe smoke (WPS), a surging smoking modality, was not fully tested for its histopathological pulmonary consequences. Since alveolar damage and pulmonary vascular endothelial dysfunction are integral to COPD pathology, lung histopathological effects of WPS were temporally evaluated, alone or in combination with vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) inhibition in mice.Materials and methods: Mice were exposed to WPS, 3 hours/day, 5 days/week, for 1, 2, 3, or 4 months. Another group of mice was exposed to WPS for 1 month, while being subjected to injections with the VEGFR blocker Sugen5416 (SU, 20 mg/kg) 3 times weekly. Control mice were exposed to fresh air in a matching inhalation chamber. Histopathological assessment of COPD was performed. Alveolar destructive index (DI) was counted as the percentage of abnormally enlarged alveoli with damaged septa per all alveoli counted. Mean linear intercept (MLI) was calculated as a measure of airspace enlargement.Results: Exposure to WPS resulted in significant increases in alveolar DI and MLI only after 4 months. Lung inflammatory score was minimal across all time-points. Importantly, combination of WPS and SU resulted in significantly increased DI, MLI, and inflammatory scores as early as 1 month post exposure.Conclusions: Combined exposure to WPS and SU results in COPD picture, highlighting the role of pulmonary vascular endothelial dysfunction in the disease

Socio-Organisational Approach to Online Banking Transaction Risk Communication inside Banks in Jordan

This study aims to investigate the innovation of Online Banking Transaction (OBT) risk communication issues inside banks in Jordan from the socioorganisational point-of-view through studying the effects of national and organisational cultures on the risk communication process. Although risk communication issue has been approved to be one of the success reasons of Online Banking (OB) usage, the risk communication approaches that have been developed during past years tend to offer narrow technically oriented solutions, and they have not paid enough attention to the social aspects of risks and the informal structures of organizations. Using the previous research findings, this study presents a socioorganisational approach to the OBT risk communication innovation process inside banks in Jordan, which enrich the in depth understanding for practical projects and empirical research contexts

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

The Role of Television in Developing Creative and Innovative Ideas Among University Youth: A Field Study on a Sample of University Youth in the United Arab Emirates

University youth. Diagnosing young peoples motives in radio programs and diagnosis. The skills that young people see in their development and standing, and their interconnectedness in television in their marketing, especially since creativity and innovation are among the skills that can be cultivated in individuals, through a stage based on interesting scientific development that inspires creativity and innovation among young people, such as: competitions Scientific programs that stimulate the thinking process and puzzle programs related to the areas related to roads and military status. Developing scientific programs that motivate young people to develop their skills in developing their skills in developing their skills in developing their skills in project development and development programs. That is the essence of this study, which led us to the following results: The field results confirmed that 59% of the sample members believe that Arab programs contribute to marketing and developing creative and innovative skills for Arab youth, compared to 41% who believe in the contribution of foreign programs. Results related to the motives of exposure to programs concluded that 17% are motivated by acquiring new knowledge and scientific experiences, 11% are motivated by learning about the latest discoveries, 41.5% are exposed to learning innovative ways to solve problems, 18% are exposed to entertainment and leisure, and 10.5% are exposed to programs motivated by learning about peoples cultures, and 6% motivated by self- discovery

Educational Supply Chain Management: A View on Professional Development Success in Malaysia

The industrial environment is unpredictably shifting. Technology advancements and pandemics force the corporate environment to evolve even faster in order to stay competitive and thrive. As a result, in today's fast-paced business environment, supply chain management has grown in popularity. The study's major goal is to apply the concept of industrial supply chain management to educational management. The empirical study will be conducted separately and do not cover in this paper. In dynamic and uncertain business operations, the educational model is more appropriate to switch from mass production delivery to industrial experiences in building individual talent excellence. This minimizes the educator's knowledge and experiences delivery gap to the learner in the educational supply chain. From the issues, This study identifies the education attributes and how it affects professional development success. This study further investigates the moderating effect of industrial experiences on the relationship between education attributes and professional development success. Besides, this study aims to propose an educational supply chain model (EduSCM) for 21st-century professional development success in Malaysia higher education to gain competitive advantages. To achieve the objectives, mixed methods research design is proposed. The qualitative data collection will be collected after the completion of quantitative data analysis. The data collected from the interview use to explain, interpret, understand, and triangulate the results of quantitative analysis to produce a potent conclusion. Lastly, this study will provide a unique conceptual diagram expected to aid researchers and practitioners to create a more comprehensive understanding of the linkages between learning competencies, industrial experiences, and professional development

Structural and Optoelectronic Characterization of Synthesized Undoped CZTS and Cd-doped CZTS Thin Films

138-149Copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS) thin films with different doping ratios of Cadmium (Cd) were successfully fabricated using the sol-gel method by dip-coating technique. The surface morphology, the crystal structure properties as well the optical properties of undoped CZTS thin film and Cd- doped CZTS thin films were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-Vis spectrophotometer. SEM micrographs demonstrated that the size and morphology of the particles improve due to increasing the Cd concentration in CZTS thin films. In addition, the XRD patterns exhibited the crystalline nature for CZTS thin films with kesterite crystal structure and showed improvement in some crystal structure properties such as crystal size and volume of unit cell with the incorporation of Cd into CZTS thin films. Moreover, optical bandgap energy , in addition to several optoelectronic parameters such as refractive index (), extinction coefficient (), dispersion energy, high-frequency dielectric constant, density of state, Plasma frequency, and relaxation time have been estimated. Remarkably, the bandgap energy of CZTS thin films ranges from 1.594 to 1.529 depending on the Cd content; it increases with increases the concentration of Cd into CZTS thin films

A study of the Scrum Master’s role

Scrum is an increasingly common approach to software development adopted by organizations around the world. However, as organizations transition from traditional plan-driven development to agile development with Scrum, the question arises as to which Scrum role (Product Owner, Scrum Master, or Scrum Team Member) corresponds to a Project Manager, or conversely which Scrum role should the Project Managers adopt? In an attempt to answer this question, we adopted a mixed-method research approach comprising a systematic literature review and embedded case study of a commercial software development team. Our research has identified activities that comprise the Scrum Master role, and which additional roles are actually performed by Scrum Masters in practice. We found nine activities that are performed by Scrum Masters. In addition, we found that Scrum Masters also perform other roles, most importantly as Project Managers. This latter situation results in tension and conflict of interest that could have a negative impact on the performance of the team as a whole. These results point to the need to re-assess the role of Project Managers in organizations that adopt Scrum as a development approach. We hypothesize that it might be better for Project Managers to become Product Owners, as aspects of this latter role are more consistent with the traditional responsibilities of a Project Manager

Optimization of facade design based on the impact of interior obstructions to daylighting

Overcrowding in the perimeter zone is an inevitable issue in residential rooms with limited space. Obstructions, such as furniture and household items, may block the existing windows, and therefore affect interior daylight conditions. A facade design approach is needed that simultaneously takes into account daylighting and the volume of usable space for obstructions in the perimeter zone of such rooms. This study simulates daylight distributions in a typical small residential room with obstructions in front of windows. The simulation consists of two parts. First, the effects on horizontal illuminances caused by different positions and shapes of obstructions are examined under an overcast sky. Second, the maximum usable space volumes for obstructions of 51 optimized facade configurations are calculated in terms of four window-to-wall ratios (WWRs). The results of this study show that optimizing the forms of facade design can increase the usable interior space volume and meet the daylighting requirements of Chinese standards for small residential rooms. Additionally, by using the optimized facade forms, a facade with a WWR value of 50% provides the maximum usable space for obstructions. Based on the above results, this paper presents two matrices that can help architects in selecting the appropriate fenestration methods and confirming the size of usable space and allocation for residents