What Forms University? An Integrated Model from Syria

This study aims at developing and empirically testing an integrated model incorporating the factors that form university image in Syria. The study used a quantitative survey of students at Syrian universities. A pre-test of the questionnaire was undertaken using a convenient sample of 40 students. Thereafter, a sample of 259 students was used to test the model using structural equation modeling. The findings suggest word of mouth and faculty-individualized attention, one of service quality dimensions, as the antecedents of university image. Moreover, the findings reveal a positive effect of faculty-individualized attention and support staff helpfulness, as service quality dimensions, on student satisfaction. It is also found that student satisfaction positively affect word of mouth. This study is expected to help Syrian universities understand the key factors contributing to university image formation, and, therefore, strengthen their positions in the market. This study comes to be one of the first studies that attempt to understand how university image is formed

The 3XMM/SDSS Stripe 82 Galaxy Cluster Survey: Cluster catalogue and discovery of two merging cluster candidates

We present a galaxy cluster survey based on XMM-Newton observations that are located in Stripe 82 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The survey covers an area of 11.25 deg$^2$. The X-ray cluster candidates were selected as serendipitously extended detected sources from the third XMM-Newton serendipitous source catalogue (3XMM-DR5). A cross-correlation of the candidate list that comprises 94 objects with recently published X-ray and optically selected cluster catalogues provided optical confirmations and redshift estimates for about half of the candidate sample. We present a catalogue of X-ray cluster candidates previously known in X-ray and/or optical bands from the matched catalogues or NED. The catalogue consists of 54 systems with redshift measurements in the range of 0.05-1.19 with a median of 0.36. Of these, 45 clusters have spectroscopic confirmations as stated in the matched catalogues. We spectroscopically confirmed another 6 clusters from the available spectroscopic redshifts in the SDSS-DR12. The cluster catalogue includes 17 newly X-ray discovered clusters, while the remainder were detected in previous XMM-Newton and/or ROSAT cluster surveys. Based on the available redshifts and fluxes given in the 3XMM-DR5 catalogue, we estimated the X-ray luminosities and masses for the cluster sample. We also present the list of the remaining X-ray cluster candidates (40 objects) that have no redshift information yet in the literature. Of these candidates, 25 sources are considered as distant cluster candidates beyond a redshift of 0.6. We also searched for galaxy cluster mergers in our cluster sample and found two strong candidates for newly discovered cluster mergers at redshifts of 0.11 and 0.26. The X-ray and optical properties of these systems are presented.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&A, revised version after language editin

Electronic Application for Palestine Embassy in Malaysia

In a twentieth century, we have observed a large-scale growth of internet-based services in our every sphere of life. Information technology has been a necessary element using by the government as a necessary communication way for delivering services to its citizen. E-services delivery is progressing in developing countries, but the erudition is still in immaturity level. In addition, the citizens’ needs are increasing and they want easy and secure way to reach the government information, services and transactions that will lead to building the trust between government and citizens. This project focuses on investigating the existing techniques and to come out with a proper solution to make electronic-Embassy more participation and empowerment, then developing A web-application to allow users to benefit from embassy services any time anywhere. In addition, focus in automate the most common consular transactions that using from residents that are registration and authenticate documents transactions

The involvement of Aβ42 and tau in nucleolar and protein synthesis machinery dysfunction

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and is distinguished from other dementias by observation of extracellular Amyloid-b (Ab) plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles, comprised of fibrils of Ab and tau protein, respectively. At early stages, AD is characterized by minimal neurodegeneration, oxidative stress, nucleolar stress, and altered protein synthesis machinery. It is generally believed that Ab oligomers are the neurotoxic species and their levels in the AD brain correlate with the severity of dementia suggesting that they play a critical role in the pathogenesis of the disease. Here, we show that the incubation of differentiated human neuroblastoma cells (SHSY5Y) with freshly prepared Ab42 oligomers initially resulted in oxidative stress and subtle nucleolar stress in the absence of DNA damage or cell death. The presence of exogenous Ab oligomers resulted in altered nuclear tau levels as well as phosphorylation state, leading to altered distribution of nucleolar tau associated with nucleolar stress. These markers of cellular dysfunction worsen over time alongside a reduction in ribosomal RNA synthesis and processing, a decrease in global level of newly synthesized RNA and reduced protein synthesis. The interplay between Ab and tau in AD remains intriguing and Ab toxicity has been linked to tau phosphorylation and changes in localization. These findings provide evidence for the involvement of Ab42 effects on nucleolar tau and protein synthesis machinery dysfunction in cultured cells. Protein synthesis dysfunction is observed in mild cognitive impairment and early AD in the absence of significant neuronal death

Bioremoval of chromium from wastewater of tannery factory in Iraq

Bioremoval of chromium from wastewater of tannery factory in Iraq was studied. The bacteria Proteus vulgaris 7E showed an enhanced capability in biosorping chromium when its concentration increased in the solution, reaching a maximum of 476,7 mg/ ml out of 492 mg/ ml under optimum conditions at pH 6 and 50°C at one hour contact time and biomass of 1 mg/ml. The present results showed that dead cells of P. vulgaris 7E biosorbed 87.41 mg/ml of chromium in comparison with91.18 mg/ml of chromium biosorbed by living cells, this indicates the insignificant effect of physiological state of cells. It was found that the above biosorption is physico-chemical process depends upon electrostatic attraction forces. The results has illustrated that the most efficient eluting solution was 0.1M HCL which recovered 85% of biosorbed chromium. P. vulgaris 7E was able to remove completely all chromium from the waste water taken from tannery factory

Performance of Weaned Rabbits Raised in Cages or Pens in Northern Guinea Savannah Zone of Nigeria

Abstract. Management system in rabbit production has been reported to affect the performance of rabbits. In view of this, an eight week study was conducted to evaluate the effects of two different management systems (cage-housed and pen-housed) on the growth performance indices of weaned rabbits in Northern Guinea Savannah zone of Nigeria. Twenty four (24) weaned rabbits of heterogeneous breeds in equal sexes, aged between 5-6 weeks, with live weight of 612±14.72 g were used for the study. The rabbits were randomly divided into two groups (cage-housed and pen-housed) consisting of 12 rabbits per group. They were fed commercial diet (concentrate) supplemented with Tridax procumbens and given access to clean fresh water adlibitum. The experiment lasted for 8 weeks. Results from the study showed a significant difference (P<0.05) in daily body weight gain, feed intake and final body weight. Caged-housed Rabbits recorded higher daily weight gain, daily feed intake 72.24±0.07 g/day and final body weight of 1373±41.57 g as against 9.92±0.38 g/day, 63.58±0.88 g/day and 1168±23.36 g, respectively for the pen-housed rabbits. It is concluded that rabbits raised in cages had better growth performance indices than those raised in pens. It is however, recommended that further studies be conducted to assess the welfare of rabbits raised under the two management systems. Key words: Growth performance, weaned rabbits, management systems. Abstrak. Sistem pemeliharaan ternak kelinci mempengaruhi performan kelinci. Penelitian telah dilakukan selama 8 minggu untuk mengevaluasi pengaruh dua sistem pemeliharan yang berbeda  terhadap index pertumbuhan kelinci lepas sapih di area Northern Guinea Savannah, Nigeria. Dua puluh empat (24) kelinci lepas sapih dengan jenis kelamin sama, umur 5-6 minggu dengan bobot hidup 612±14,72 g digunakan dalam penelitian ini. Kelinci dibagi secara acak ke dalam dua kelompok (kandang terkurung dan pen), setiap kelompok 12 kelinci.  Kelinci diberi pakan konsentrat disuplementasi dengan Tridax procumbens dan air diberikan secara adlibitum. Eksperimen berlangsung selama 8 minggu. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan perbedaan nyata pada kenaikan bobot harian, asupan pakan dan bobot akhir. Kelinci yang dikandang terkurung memiliki pertambahan bobot badan harian 13,62±0,70 g/hari, asupan pakan harian 72,24±0,07 g/hari, dan bobot badan akhir 1373±41,57 g yang lebih tinggi daripada kelinci dalam kandang pen, secara berturut-turut yaitu  9,92±0,38 g/hari, 63,58±0,88 g/hari dan 1168±23,36 g. Disimpulkan bahwa kelinci yang dipelihara dalam kandang terkurung memiliki indeks pertumbuhan yang lebih baik daripada yang di dalam pen.  Penelitian lebih lanjut disarankan guna mengukur kenyamanan kelinci yang dipelihara dengan dua sistem pemeliharaan tersebut. Kata kunci: Performan pertumbuhan, kelinci lepas sapih, sistem pemeliharaa

Social Commerce Among Micro and Small Medium Enterprises Before and During the COVID19: A Systematic Literature Review

Social commerce (SC) is a relatively new tool that businesses are using to conduct business using social media (SM). The findings of prior literature are inconclusive. This paper reviews the literature to identify the current status and to identify the determinant of SC. A systematic literature review was conducted. A total of 41 articles were reviewed. A comparison between before and during COVID19 was conducted. The findings showed the number of studies has not increased during COVID-19. The technology acceptance model (TAM) and Technology-Organization- Environment (TOE) are used widely in the literature. The most important factors identified in this study are divided into before COVID19 and during COVID19. Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use were important in both periods. New variables that were considered important during COVID19 is the organizational readiness, trust, security, and E- word of mouth (EWOM). More research is needed to understand the factors that contribute to SC adoption in different nations. Variables such as trust, environmental uncertainty, and perceived value can be included in future work. Developing a digital ecosystem for SC is a direction for future work. Understanding the important factors can contribute to the advancement of SC