THE LEBANESE CIVIL WAR (1975-1990): CAUSES AND COSTS OF CONFLICT

This paper analyzes the factors that caused and sustained the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war and aims to identify the main causes of the conflict. The author relies heavily on the Collier-Hoeffler Model but does not limit the list of causes of conflict to this model. The second part of the study is devoted to highlighting the costs of the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war with the explicit purpose of raising awareness among decision makers of the long-term "lose-lose" nature of such conflicts. The paper concludes that the major causes of the Lebanese civil war were sectarian dominance within a confessional system and external factors that exacerbated the problem of divergent national identities

Evidence of Intraday Multifractality in European Stock Markets during the Recent Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak

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Mapping The Central Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve, Perak, Using Remote Sensing And Geographic Information System

Mangroves are characterized by littoral forest formation occurring in all estuaries of the Peninsular Malaysia. It plays an important role to protect the shoreline along the coast. In Malaysia, although mangroves are well managed especially in Perak, Johor and Selangor but the integration of remote sensing with geographic information system (GIS) for mapping and managing mangrove forest is not widely practiced. The purpose of this study is to use remote sensing technique using SPOT and IKONOS data integrated with GIS for mapping the extent of mangrove forest in central part of MMFR and for quantifying temporal changes in stand density and areal extent within the MMFR from year 1989 – 2000.A study in mapping the mangrove forest using remote sensing integration with GIS was carried out in central part of Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve (MMFR) in the Range Kuala Trong, Perak. The study area faces the Straits of Malacca lying between latitudes 438N to 449N and longitudes 10020E to 10036E, where the classification of mangrove forest areas was carried out and recorded. Multispectral SPOT (Systeme Pour‟l Observation de la Terre) images of 1989, 1993, 1997 and 2000 and IKONOS image of 2000 for Kuala Trong areas (based on AOI) were enhanced, classified and vectorized using image processing software for the purpose of mapping the mangrove forest. Spatial data for the mangrove forests such as information of compartments, blocks, names of area digitized by the Forestry Department (Mapping and GIS Section) using ARC/INFO Version 3.4.2 Geographic Information System (GIS) software were used as secondary data in the study. Based on the image analysis of the SPOT images, the mangrove forest reserves were classified as Excellent Forest Reserve, Good Forest Reserve, Poor Forest Reserve, Dryland Forest Reserve and Damaged Forest Reserve. These five classes of mangrove forests, can be further categorised as Productive and Non-productive area. The analysis showed that the average volumes of timber available within the productive areas of the study site were Excellent Forest (362.50m3/ha - 50.82%); Good Forest (256.31m3/ha -5.93%) and Poor Forest (94.54m3/ha - 13.25%) with an overall classification accuracy of more than 70% while the statistics value obtained from Kappa‟s was shown more than 0.6 which is relatively quite good results for image processing. It can be concluded that the satellite remote sensing with the integration of GIS can be successfully used and implemented for mangrove classification and mapping for the advance purposes of providing fast, efficient and accurate information on the mangrove resource

IMPACT OF PERSONALITY TRAITS AND CONTEXT ON EMPLOYEES’ JOB OUTCOMES

The research focuses to investigate the various unique aspects that may have impact on job outcomes during change implementation in a public sector organization. The study has two prime objectives.  First objective is to study the association between employees’ withdrawal behavior and personality traits. Second objective is to find factors of organizational context that may have impact on employees’ job outcomes. Data have obtained from 345 employees of State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC). These selected employees are working in top business zones. Data collected by using simple random sampling technique and self-administered questionnaire. The result revealed a positive association between employees’ withdrawal behavior and personality traits. Another significant connection has also found in between employees job outcomes and organizational contextual factors. The paper contributes in existing literature of organizational change implementation, personality traits, employees’ job outcomes, and organizational contextual factors in the perspective of a developing country

Contagion of the Subprime Financial Crisis on Frontier Stock Markets: A Copula Analysis

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A Visual Analysis of a Malaysian English School Textbook: Gender Matters

AbstractIn the Malaysian education system, attention is highly paid on reading words. Visual images are often treated as “decoration”, or are dismissed altogether (Kress & Leeuwen, 1996). Many local researchers (Saedah 1990, Bahiyah et al., 2008) have only analysed written texts to see how social practices deemed negative such as gender biasness are reflected in the words (lexical items) and linguistic structures. Currently, no systematic research has been undertaken in Malaysia to analyse visual images in English language school textbooks to study how visual images can reflect gender biasness. This research project addresses gender biasness found in visual images in school textbooks, i.e., the treatment of one gender over the other especially of women and girls. The project adopts three widely used approaches for analyzing visual images; content, socio semiotic and ethno-methodology analyses. This paper will however highlight its preliminary analysis focusing on image analysis based on participation, gender and representational meanings. Its aim is to identify the types of images and the representation of gender biasness and stereotyping found in the textbook. The preliminary findings should expose the sexism and gender biasness in the visual images of a sampled textbook; i.e. an English school textbook that is abound with visual images that sometimes, more so than written texts, can articulate more forcefully social and cultural meanings

Artemisia absinthium L. Aqueous and Ethyl Acetate Extracts: Antioxidant Effect and Potential Activity In Vitro and In Vivo against Pancreatic α-Amylase and Intestinal α-Glucosidase

Artemisia absinthium L. is one of the plants which has been used in folk medicine for many diseases over many centuries. This study aims to analyze the chemical composition of the Artemisia absinthium ethyl acetate and its aqueous extracts and to evaluate their effect on the pancreatic α-amylase enzyme and the intestinal α-glucosidase enzyme. In this study, the total contents of phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and condensed tannins in ethyl acetate and the aqueous extracts of Artemisia absinthium leaves were determined by using spectrophotometric techniques, then the antioxidant capacity of these extracts was examined using three methods, namely, the DPPH (2, 2-diphenyl-1picrylhydrazyl) free radical scavenging method, the iron reduction method FRAP, and the β-carotene bleaching method. The determination of the chemical composition of the extracts was carried out using high-performance liquid chromatography—the photodiode array detector (HPLC-DAD). These extracts were also evaluated for their ability to inhibit the activity of the pancreatic α-amylase enzyme, as well as the intestinal α-glucosidase enzyme, in vitro and in vivo, thus causing the reduction of blood glucose. The results of this study showed that high polyphenol and flavonoid contents were obtained in ethyl acetate extract with values of 60.34 ± 0.43 mg GAE/g and 25.842 ± 0.241 mg QE/g, respectively, compared to the aqueous extract. The results indicated that the aqueous extract had a higher condensed tannin content (3.070 ± 0.022 mg EC/g) than the ethyl acetate extract (0.987 ± 0.078 mg EC/g). Ethyl acetate extract showed good DPPH radical scavenging and iron reduction FRAP activity, with an IC50 of 0.167 ± 0.004 mg/mL and 0.923 ± 0.0283 mg/mL, respectively. The β-carotene test indicated that the aqueous and ethyl acetate extracts were able to delay the decoloration of β-carotene with an inhibition of 48.7% and 48.3%, respectively, which may mean that the extracts have antioxidant activity. HPLC analysis revealed the presence of naringenin and caffeic acid as major products in AQE and EAE, respectively. Indeed, this study showed that the aqueous and ethyl acetate extracts significantly inhibited the pancreatic α-amylase and intestinal α-glucosidase, in vitro. To confirm this result, the inhibitory effect of these plant extracts on the enzymes has been evaluated in vivo. Oral intake of the aqueous extract significantly attenuated starch- and sucrose-induced hyperglycemia in normal rats, and evidently, in STZ-diabetic rats as well. The ethyl acetate extract had no inhibitory activity against the intestinal α-glucosidase enzyme in vivo. The antioxidant and the enzyme inhibitory effects may be related to the presence of naringenin and caffeic acid or their synergistic effect with the other compounds in the extracts

Artemisia absinthium L. Aqueous and Ethyl Acetate Extracts: Antioxidant Effect and Potential Activity In Vitro and In Vivo against Pancreatic α-Amylase and Intestinal α-Glucosidase

Artemisia absinthium L. is one of the plants which has been used in folk medicine for many diseases over many centuries. This study aims to analyze the chemical composition of the Artemisia absinthium ethyl acetate and its aqueous extracts and to evaluate their effect on the pancreatic α-amylase enzyme and the intestinal α-glucosidase enzyme. In this study, the total contents of phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and condensed tannins in ethyl acetate and the aqueous extracts of Artemisia absinthium leaves were determined by using spectrophotometric techniques, then the antioxidant capacity of these extracts was examined using three methods, namely, the DPPH (2, 2-diphenyl-1picrylhydrazyl) free radical scavenging method, the iron reduction method FRAP, and the β-carotene bleaching method. The determination of the chemical composition of the extracts was carried out using high-performance liquid chromatography—the photodiode array detector (HPLC-DAD). These extracts were also evaluated for their ability to inhibit the activity of the pancreatic α-amylase enzyme, as well as the intestinal α-glucosidase enzyme, in vitro and in vivo, thus causing the reduction of blood glucose. The results of this study showed that high polyphenol and flavonoid contents were obtained in ethyl acetate extract with values of 60.34 ± 0.43 mg GAE/g and 25.842 ± 0.241 mg QE/g, respectively, compared to the aqueous extract. The results indicated that the aqueous extract had a higher condensed tannin content (3.070 ± 0.022 mg EC/g) than the ethyl acetate extract (0.987 ± 0.078 mg EC/g). Ethyl acetate extract showed good DPPH radical scavenging and iron reduction FRAP activity, with an IC50 of 0.167 ± 0.004 mg/mL and 0.923 ± 0.0283 mg/mL, respectively. The β-carotene test indicated that the aqueous and ethyl acetate extracts were able to delay the decoloration of β-carotene with an inhibition of 48.7% and 48.3%, respectively, which may mean that the extracts have antioxidant activity. HPLC analysis revealed the presence of naringenin and caffeic acid as major products in AQE and EAE, respectively. Indeed, this study showed that the aqueous and ethyl acetate extracts significantly inhibited the pancreatic α-amylase and intestinal α-glucosidase, in vitro. To confirm this result, the inhibitory effect of these plant extracts on the enzymes has been evaluated in vivo. Oral intake of the aqueous extract significantly attenuated starch- and sucrose-induced hyperglycemia in normal rats, and evidently, in STZ-diabetic rats as well. The ethyl acetate extract had no inhibitory activity against the intestinal α-glucosidase enzyme in vivo. The antioxidant and the enzyme inhibitory effects may be related to the presence of naringenin and caffeic acid or their synergistic effect with the other compounds in the extracts