Phenotypic and Genotypic Trends for Some Economic Traits in Egyptian Buffaloes

A total of 2763 lactation records of Egyptian buffaloes, sired by 147 bulls, were collected from Mahalla Mousa Farm, Kafer El sheihk Government. Traits studied are milk production (MP), lactation length (LL) and age of heifers at calving (AHC). Effects of period and month of calving, lactation order and heifers at calving were studied as main effects , beside bull, buffaloes within bulls and errors were studied as random effects.. Also, Animal mode was used to estimate genotypic parameter, transmitting ability, phenotypic and genotypic trends for above traits studied. Least squares analysis of variance (Table 2) show a significant effects of year of calving and month of calving and lactation order on MP, LL and AHC. Linear and quadratic regression coefficients of MP and LL on AHC had also a significant effect. Sires and buffaloes within sires had a significant effect on MP, LL and AHC. Estimates of (h2) were 0.28, 0.20 and 0.10, for MP, LL and AHC respectively. Genotypic correlations between MP and each of LL and AHC were 0.76 and -0.36, respectively. Genotypic correlation between MP and AHC was -0.30. Phenotypic correlation between MP and both of LL and AHC were 0.80 and -0.90, respectively and phenotypic correlation between LL and AHC was -0.40. Predicted transmitting ability from buffaloes ranged from -774 to 933 kg for MP from – 60 to 101 d for LL and from – 4 to 8 mo., for AHC. Predicted sire transmitting ability for MP ranged from – 408 to 535 kg, for LL ranged from -27 to 29 d and for AHC ranged from -2 to 5 mo., Expected dam transmitting ability ranged from -388 to 365 kg for MP, from – 30 to 23 d for LL from - 2 to 2 mo., for AHC. Annual phenotypic and genetic trend for milk production calving was positive and significant. While, annual genotypic change for lactation length and age of heifers at calving were negative and significant

A comparison between sire and animal model for lifetime Production traits in Egyptian buffaloes

A total of 1621 lactation records of Egyptian buffaloes, kept at Mehalet Mousa farm, belonging to the Animal production Research Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, were used. Data were analyzed by using sire model (SM) and animal model (AM). For SM, the model includes the fixed effects of year and month of birth and age at first calving as covariate and sire as a random effect. For AM, the model includes the fixed effects of month and year of birth and random effects of animals and errors on lifetime milk yield (LTMY), total lactation period (TLP), age at disposal (AGDS) and number of lactation completed (NLC). Means were 10552 kg, 1173 d, 125 mo., and 5.97 for LTMY, TLP, AGDS and NLC, respectively. Estimates of heritability from sire model were 0.45, 0.18, 0.90 and 0.36 for LTMY, TLP, AGDS and NLC, respectively and from AM were 0.27, 0.17, 0.12 and 0.06 for above traits studied, respectively. Estimates of phenotypic correlations among traits studied ranged from 0.55 to 0.73 for SM and for AM 0.40 to 0.80 and genetic correlations among traits studied ranged from 0.19 to 0.96 for SM and from AM ranged from 0.10 to 0.98. Rank correlations among lifetime and longevity traits as estimated from SM were positive and highly significant (P<0.01) and ranged from 0.08 to 0.98 as estimated from SM. Rank correlations of sire transmitting ability among lifetime and longevity traits as estimated from AM were positive and significant (P <0.01) and ranged from 0.33 to 0.88

The protective role of melatonin on L-arginine-induced acute pancreatitis in adult male albino rats

Background: Acute pancreatitis (AP) is an inflammatory disease that has an increasing incidence worldwide. AP is associated with high morbidity and mortality rates ranging 15–40% in its severe form. Oxidative stress plays an important role in pancreatic acinar cell injury in case of AP. Melatonin (Mel) is proven to have both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. The aim of the work was to investigate the protective role of Mel against L-arginine (L-arg)-induced AP in adult male albino rats. Materials and methods: Thirty-six adult male albino rats were used in this study. Animals were divided into four groups; Control group (Group A; n = 6), Mel group (Group B; n = 6), L-arg group (Group C; n = 12) receiving two doses of L-arg injection with 1 h interval in-between, and L-arg+Mel group (Group D; n = 12) receiving Mel 1 h after each L-arg injection. 24 h after the second L-arg injection, the serum levels of amylase (AM), lipase (LP), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumour necrotic factor-alpha (TNF-α) were determined. Then, pancreatic specimens were processed for histological and immunohistochemical staining with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and the area percentage of VEGF and collagen content were measured by digital image analysis. Results: Microscopic examination revealed that animals received L-arg only (Group C) showed loss of the pancreatic lobular architecture with marked fibrosis, acinar degeneration, inflammatory reaction and marked oedema with vascular congestion. Also, L-arg-induced AP caused a significant elevation of the serum levels of AM, LP, IL-6. All these histo-pathological and serological parameters were markedly improved by Mel administration. Conclusions: Melatonin exhibits strong therapeutic effects in the course of AP. Hence, the use of Mel as adjuvant treatment in AP is recommended.

A feasibility test of an online intervention to prevention dating violence in emerging adults

Dating violence in emerging adults is a significant problem and few prevention programs based on the developmental needs of this age group have been developed. Our research team developed an online dating violence prevention program called WISER (Writing to Improve Self-in-Relationships) for emerging adults. The program is based on narrative therapy principles and uses structured writing techniques. A single group pre-post feasibility test of WISER was conducted with 14 college women. WISER was demonstrated to be feasible and acceptable and to show promise as an effective program to decrease dating violence in this population

The Extent to Which the Jordanian Private Industrial Companies Use SMA Techniques

This study aims to examine the extent of usage of SMA techniques in the Jordanian private industrial companies (JPIC) and to examine the impact of general and financial managers’ characteristics on the adoption of SMA techniques. It also aims to explore the importance of usage the SMA techniques by JPIC in the future. The study is based on a questionnaire survey of JPIC. The study reveals that 12 out of 19 SMA techniques were adopted by JPIC. These techniques are ABC, COQ, VCC, SCM, EMA, benchmarking, BSC, competitor cost assessment, competitor position monitoring, CPA, customer lifetime value and valuation of customer assets. The results also provide interesting findings; whenever JPIC used the SMA technique they placed high importance of usage rate in the future. The SMA techniques that were not used by JPIC had a low importance of usage rate in the future, in exception of integrated PMS which achieved high importance of usage rate and the LCC which achieved a moderate rate. Finally, no impact of general and financial managers' characteristics was found on the adoption of SMA techniques in JPIC. Keywords: strategic management accounting, private companies, Jordan

An evaluation of two approaches to teacher education in Jordan.

The study was an evaluation of two approaches to teacher\ud education, namely a behaviouristic/teaching skills\ud approach and a humanistic/personal development approach,\ud in Jordan. The study focused on determining the\ud effects of these two approaches on teacher effectiveness\ud during training.\ud The population of the study consisted of 60 universitygraduate\ud newly-recruited teachers in UNRWA/UNESCO\ud schools in Jordan.\ud The independent variable was the approach to training\ud while the dependent variables were three instruments:\ud (a) Classroom observation schedule as measured by\ud educational supervisors and headteachers (b) Teacher\ud performance scale as measured by the teacher-trainees,\ud by their pupils and headteachers and (c) Self-concept\ud scale as measured by teacher-trainees (pre and post).\ud The time allocated for the implementation of the\ud treatment extended for three months and instructional\ud materials relevant to both approaches were selected,\ud prepared and made available to two groups who were\ud randomly distributed in advance.\ud Analysis of data indicated that trainees improved\ud roughly equally under both approaches. There was continuous improvement in teaching performance as\ud assessed in the classroom visits conducted six times\ud for each teacher-trainee during the treatment. Their\ud self-concept also grew with training on both approaches.\ud The outcomes of the approaches were compared and each\ud examined in its own right.\ud The study intended to enrich the methodological approach\ud developed and applied by the UNRWA/UNESCO Institute of\ud Education, which is called the "Integrated Multi-Media\ud Approach" whereby different media are applied, in an\ud integrated manner, in the in-service teacher education\ud programmes. The study proposed and used a theoretical\ud background and framework that might be a basis for the\ud programme design and development in teacher education.\ud The analysis of data suggested that certain method,—\ud ological issues merited further investigation, but\ud that neither approach had been shown to be detrimental to\ud the overall training

Poverty Effects of House Holds in the Southern Region of Jordan

This study investigated the poverty effects of households in the southern region of Jordan, Madaba, Aqaba, Tafila governorates.The poverty ratio in this region exceeds 28.7%,  . Data was collected by the use of questionnaire which addressed questions related to the study. A total of 900 questionnaires were given out to all the population. Of these, 180 questionnaires were re-called from each local government. The variables of research – per capita expenditure, per capital income, age of respondent, sex (male or female head count), the age structure of the population shows a significant difference in the household saving rate. Idiosyncratic and covariate factors affect the expected per capita consumption of the overall expected poverty for this area. Not less than 80% expected poverty is synonymous with southern region according to these variables. The highest variance occurred in education head count levels which can be divided into five categories. Male-headed households have lower mean consumption than female-headed households. As the determinants of households of the southern region and structures of variables to link the results and actions, therefore the paper, extends the usual of set of explanatory variables which explained the household behavior and to capture their influential impact on household and life cycle dependency ratio admitted as explanatory due to a young, under-educated populace, which is compounded by a heavy responsibility on male-headed count per female. The paper found that the growth of the agricultural sector is slow which means that most of the southern region depends on returns of this sector beyond the dependence on civilian employement to support their household. These results provides a big support for life cycle hypothesis as well as the permanent income hypothesis.We noticed that poverty is a predominant as phenomenon as it is pervasive, with over 30% of the population falling below the poverty line in Jordan. This paper assesses the impact of poverty in the level of determinants of households. Jel elassification: 053, D21, J20, E1

Deep Reinforcement Learning Powered IRS-Assisted Downlink NOMA

In this work, we examine an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) assisted downlink non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scenario with the aim of maximizing the sum rate of users. The optimization problem at the IRS is quite complicated, and non-convex, since it requires the tuning of the phase shift reflection matrix. Driven by the rising deployment of deep reinforcement learning (DRL) techniques that are capable of coping with solving non-convex optimization problems, we employ DRL to predict and optimally tune the IRS phase shift matrices. Simulation results reveal that IRS assisted NOMA based on our utilized DRL scheme achieves high sum rate compared to OMA based one, and as the transmit power increases, the capability of serving more users increases. Furthermore, results show that imperfect successive interference cancellation (SIC) has a deleterious impact on the data rate of users performing SIC. As the imperfection increases by ten times, the rate decreases by more than 10%

Inspiratory Conductance does not vary with Height, Weight, Body Mass Index, Age, Sex or Spirometric Volumes in Healthy Adults

Introduction and objective: We previously showed that inspiratory conductance (IC) can be calculated from early inspiratory pressure fall and initial acceleration of the inspiratory air column. To characterize IC further we conducted a study to determine whether its value varies with height, weight, BMI, age, sex and lung volumes. Methods: We measured IC, height, weight, FEV1, FVC and PEFR in 147 healthy volunteers’ age 18-50 years. Results: During tidal breathing at rest the mean (SD) IC was 8.31 (3.15) L s-1 kPa-1. No significant correlation was found between IC and height (r=0.04), weight (r=0.142), BMI (r=0.058), FEV1 (r=0.275), FVC (r=0.019), PEFR (r=0.182) or age (r=0.017) and there was no significant difference between men and women. The same was found for IC measured during slow deep breathing and rapid breathing. Conclusion: IC is independent of age, sex, height, weight, BMI and spirometric lung volumes so there is no imperative to correct for those factors in an individual. Within-subject directional changes in IC within the context of a short clinical timeframe might be the best potential for clinical application

The impact of information technology on customer service in the Jordanian banking sector

During the last two decades the bank marketing literature has been characterised by a concern for service quality and information technology (IT) within the industry. IT and customer service are relatively new `strategic weapons' for banks, both being concerned with the deployment of information. The two concepts relate to the building and maintenance of long-term profitable relationships between the customer and the bank. With increasing competition it has become necessary for banks to keep ahead of rivals by differentiating themselves and IT is seen as an opportunity to achieve a sustainable `competitive advantage', especially in terms of improving service quality. In the light of this, the aim of this study is to investigate the influence of IT on the quality of service in the Jordanian banking sector. To accomplish the study objectives a questionnaire survey was conducted with two independent samples (bank customers and branch managers). The empirical work involved the development of questionnaires which were used for data collection and the study sample consisted of 550 bank customers and 67 branch managers. Initially, the data in the questionnaires were analysed to provide a general description of the respondents' characteristics and their perceptions of individual variables of service quality, IT-based service, customer satisfaction / loyalty and bank selection criteria. The research hypotheses were tested using Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney, Spearman Correlation Coefficient and t-tests. The main results of the study show a significant and positive relationship between IT and customer service. The more IT is used, the better the perception of service quality be. The results also give another strong indication that IT is playing a crucial role, with regard to bank selection criteria. Additionally, the findings revealed that the least important factor in influencing customers' choice of their banks is higher interest on savings and deposits, which is strongly related to religion and cultural background. On the other hand, it has been found that the most important factors in motivating the adoption of electronic channels by customers are time-saving, followed by the convenience of these channels. The study suggests several recommendations in order to increase the effectiveness of IT in Jordanian banks and improve their strategic and `competitive positions'. Finally the thesis ends by setting out an agenda for further work.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo