Design of a multi-sensor platform for integrating extracellular acidification rate with multi-metabolite flux measurement for small biological samples

2019 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.To view the abstract, please see the full text of the document

EFL Undergraduate Students' Perspectives of the Curriculum Employed in the English Language Department at the Hashemite University

This current study aimed to investigate EFL undergraduate students' perspectives of the curriculum employed in the English Language Department at the Hashemite University. More specifically, the study attempted to explore their perspectives of the literature, linguistics, translation and the four language skills courses they had during their study at the university. The research instruments used was a questionnaire and questionnaire interview. One hundred and seventy seven students (40 males and 137 females) took part in the study. Eighty two of them were in the third year of study and 95 were in the fourth. Results showed that the students perceived the curriculum positively and regarded the translation and four language skills courses as the most beneficial. Results also indicated the reasons behind which the students regarded each course as more/less beneficial. In addition, they revealed statistical significant differences in the students’ responses due to gender in favor of females and no significant differences according to study-year. In light of these results, recommendations were suggested. Keywords: EFL undergraduates, perspectives, EFL curriculum, EFL courses, The Hashemite University DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-26-01 Publication date:September 30th 201

A weighted companion of Ostrowski's inequality using three step weighted kernel

There are numerous works suggesting linking SSM models to information systems (IS) models for information systems development. In these works links between SSM and IS models are established at the conceptual level i.e. they provide ways to utilise SSM models to identify or to derive IS models. However, most of them have not provided a method for representing the links explicitly in the combined model. Consequently, the links become subtle and untraceable, looking at the combined model only at the representation level. This paper proposes an approach based on meta modelling to achieve a uniform and formalised representation of models that combine SSM and IS models. The approach allows one to represent not only SSM and IS modelling concepts but also relationships between the concepts in a meta model using the conceptual modelling language Telos. Telos supports meta models to be flexibly specified and extended to meet specific modelling requirements of a particular project. An exemplary application is presented to demonstrate the operationalisation of the proposed approach and to illustrate the uniform representation of combined models. The example also shows benefits of the formalised representation in terms of computer support for managing and retrieving a combined model's meta data

EFL Undergraduate Students’ Perspectives of the Methodology of Teaching Employed by their Teachers in the Teaching-Learning Context

This current study aimed to explore English as a foreign language (EFL) students’ opinions on the methodology of teaching used by their teachers. More specifically, the study aimed to investigate their perspectives of performance techniques the teachers used in the classroom. The sample consisted of 190 male and female students chosen randomly from the population of the study (N= 650). The research instrument used in this study was a questionnaire including items derived from the literature related to teaching and learning and to students’ attitudes toward method of teaching.  Results indicated students’ positive attitudes toward the methods of teaching used by their teachers. They also revealed that the teachers were very active with regard to preparation for lectures, presenting the aim clearly from the very beginning, listening to students’ opinions and addressing their concerns, encouraging students to remember rules and sentence patterns to apply them in communication, creating a friendly and purposeful environment in the classrooms and displaying enthusiasm in the teaching-learning context. Moreover, results showed no significant differences between the attitudes of males and females. However, there were significant differences between their attitudes according to study level and grade point average. In light of these results, recommendations were suggested. Keywords: EFL undergraduates, perspectives, teachers, methodology of teaching DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-33-18 Publication date: November 30th 201

Lost in Translation: Shop Signs in Jordan

Shop signs, in the Jordanian public commercial environment, have invariably been studied from linguistic, sociolinguistic, and pragmatic perspectives, but they have been utterly ignored from a translational point of view. This study, the first of its kind, investigates various problems and inadequacies pertinent to the subject under discussion. Shop signs are selected here from a number of heterogeneous cities, and the translation errors therein, committed by communicators, were empirically analyzed and categorized. Language and culture are, of necessity, inextricably intertwined, and this nexus is particularly apparent in the world of local commercial shop signs, and thus it has been tackled for its direct relevance to the translation of these signs. This investigation, therefore, highlights the linguistic (e.g., word-order, wrong lexical choice, and reductionist strategies), and extralinguistic (i.e., sociocultural and promotional) factors that have turned out to lead to translation inappropriateness and unparallelisms, information skewing, and, consequently, serious semantic-conceptual problems in the produced TLTs. This study may, in a way, provide educated insight into the trendiest translation practices in this field, and the way shop signs are most often verbalized, mishandled, and mistranslated.Les panneaux de magasins, nombreux dans le contexte commercial public en Jordanie, ont été largement étudiés d’un point de vue linguistique, sociolinguistique et pragmatique, mais jamais ils n’ont été abordés sur le plan de leur traduction. Cette étude, la première de son genre, aborde les problèmes et insuffisances liés au sujet en question. Les panneaux commerciaux ont été sélectionnés à partir d’un certain nombre de paramètres hétérogènes. Quant aux erreurs de traduction commises par les interlocuteurs, elles ont été empiriquement analysées et classées par catégorie. Étant donné que la langue et la culture sont inextricablement liées, le lien entre elles s’avère encore plus évident lorsqu’il s’agit des panneaux commerciaux locaux. Le sujet a été ainsi abordé en raison de son rapport direct avec la traduction de ces signes. Cette recherche met donc l’accent sur les facteurs à la fois linguistiques (e.g. l’ordre des mots, les choix lexicaux, les stratégies réductionnistes) et extralinguistiques (e.g. facteurs socioculturels et promotionnels) qui ont été à l’origine de l’inexactitude et l’inadéquation de la traduction, d’une part, et du détournement de l’information, d’autre part. Ce qui mène, en conséquence, à de graves problèmes sémantico-conceptuels sur le plan des traductions en question. Cette étude pourrait, d’une certaine manière, fournir un aperçu instruit des différentes tendances de traduction pratiquées dans le domaine ainsi que de la manière dont les panneaux commerciaux sont souvent exprimés, malmenés et, notamment, mal traduits

The Role of Digital Library in Bridging the Language Divide: Comparison Study of Arabic and Other Languages

Developing countries are often said to suffer the disadvantages created by a ‘digital divide’ – the gap between the digitally advantaged and the digitally disadvantaged. Much of the attention given to the digital divide had focussed on the most severely disadvantaged countries (particularly in Africa and parts of Asia). This study was examined the phenomenon in the context of developing Arab countries, with a particular focus on the capacity of digital libraries to bridge the ‘divide’ as it applies to research and scholarly communication. This will entail a case study of University of Jordan.A particular focus of the study will be on assessing the particular challenges and frustrations facing Arabic-speaking researchers in their use of networked information services. That is, while the term digital divide is often used as a means of expressing the technology gap between developed and developing countries, it may well be that a further divide is created because of the domination of the languages and content of the developed world in the networked environment.The research will investigate the potential for digital library services to better serve Arabic-speaking scholars, in particular though the increased access to scholarly publishing in Arabic. It will also explore the policy initiatives and constraints that may impact upon the future development and implementation of digital library services for the benefit of Arabic-speaking scholars. There are no current published studies that deal with the capacity of digital libraries to address the digital divide in the developing Arab World. The findings of this research will provide important recommendations aimed at improving the capacity for digital libraries in Jordan and the wider Arab World to promote Arabic scholarship. Keyword: Digital Libraries, Arab world, Arabic languag

Indoor environment propagation review

A survey of indoor propagation characteristics is presented, including different models for path loss, shadowing and fast fading mechanisms, different channel parameters including signal strength, power delay, coherence bandwidth, Doppler spread and angle of arrival. The concepts of MIMO channels are also covered. The study also explores many types of deterministic channel modelling, such as Finite Difference Time Domain, Finite Integration Method, Ray tracing and the Dominant path model. Electromagnetic properties of building materials, including frequency dependence, are also investigated and several models for propagation through buildings are reviewed

Thermal injury in tonsils and its relation to postoperative pain—a histopathological and clinical study

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare thermal injury and depth of necrosis of using different monopolar power settings in partial tonsillectomy and correlate the results with the postoperative pain score. Results: The study included a total of 15 patients with mean of age of 5.7 ± 2.57 years. The mean depth of injury was significantly higher for the 25 W side (0.973 ± 0.613) versus the 15 W side (0.553 ± 0.218) (p = 0.023). The postoperative pain score showed no significant differences between both sides. Conclusion: The histopathologic depth of thermal injury is significantly higher with the 25 W monopolar microdissection in comparison to the 15 W; however, it does not seem to correlate with the postoperative pain level. Apparently, power settings of 25 W can be safely used for pediatric intracapsular tonsillectomies, without added postoperative morbidity despite the deeper tissue injury observed in the tonsil.The authors are grateful to the Histology and Electron Microscopy Service (HEMS) team at the i3S (Institute for Research and Innovation in Health, University of Porto) for providing the necessary equipment and the technical support for the electron microscopic analysis

Isolation, characterization, and hydrolytic activities of Geobacillus species from Jordanian hot springs

The present study was conducted to isolate, identify, characterize and to determine the enzymatic activities of the thermophilic Geobacillus species from five Jordanian hot springs. Based on phenotypic characters, eight thermophilic isolates were identified and belonged to the genus Geobacillus. The Geobacillus isolates were abundant in all investigated hot springs. The optimal temperature for growth of the isolates was 60 to 65°C and the optimal pH was 6 to 8. Colonies were light yellow circular to rhizoid. The bacterial cells were Gram positive rods and endospore forming. All isolates produced amylase, caseinase, alkaline and acid phosphatases, esterase (C4), esterase lipase (C8), α-Galactosidase, β-Glucuronidase, β-Glucosidase, and N-Acetyl-β-glucosaminidase. Seven isolates produced leucine and valine arylamidases and five isolates produced naphthol-AS-B1- phsphohydrolase. Lipase (C14) activity from two isolates and α-chymotrypsin activity from three isolates were also detected. The phenotypic characterization of those isolates was confirmed by genotypic method using 16S rDNA sequence analysis. Maximal homology of all eight  isolates to genus Geobacillus was observed. Five of these isolates showed greater than 98% homology with Geobacillus stearothermophilus and one isolate showed 100% homology with Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius. Therefore, 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis can be considered as a valuable genotypic tool for the identification and characterization of thermophilic bacteria at genus level. Moreover, enzymatic products of those isolates could receive considerable attention due to their potential applications in biotechnology.Keywords: Thermophiles, Geobacillus, hydrolytic enzymes, hot spring, 16S rRNA