Effect of calcium chloride post-harvest treatment in combination with plant natural substance coating on fruit quality and storability of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) fruits during cold storage.

In this study, the impact of postharvest treatments with calcium chlo-ride (CaCl2) in-combination with postharvest coating treatments with plant natural substance arabic gum or cactus mucilage on the qua-lity and storage life of tomato fruits during cold storage (10 ± 1 °C, RH 85% ± 3) was evaluated. Results of dipping tomato fruits in 6% CaCl2 for 10 minutes combined with postharvest coating treatments with either 10% Arabic gum or 50% cactus mucilage for 3 minutes showed significant (p<0.05) higher value of fruit firmness, titratable acidity, reduce the percentage of weight loss and percent of decayed fruits. Treated fruits took longer to change color from pink to red compared with non-treated fruits. This study showed that dipping to-mato fruits in 6% CaCl2,orcoating with different natural substances alone or in combination with CaCl2, enhances tomato fruits’ physical and chemical properties. Moreover, preserving tomato fruits can be preserved for a longer time compared with control fruits and main-tain the overall fruit quality

A Bridged Cybersecurity Curriculum with Embedded Stackable Credentials

Supported by a federal grant, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) streamlined the Bachelor of Science in Cyber Security (BSCS) and Master of Science in Informatics (MSIN) whereby each degree is broken down into embedded stackable credentials, with a fast-track 4+1 option for students to complete both degrees in 5 years. This paper provides a blueprint of the bridged undergraduate and graduate curriculum integrated to provide embedded stackable credentials with fast-track 4+1 option bridging the two degrees. Most of the major-core of BSCS is divided into three embedded stackable credentials, namely, Cyber Security Basics Certificate, Cyber Security Systems Certificate, and Cyber Security Advanced Certificate. After completing the three credentials, a student needs only 9 hours to complete the major-core for the BSCS degree. Similarly, most of the MSIN is divided into two embedded stackable credentials, namely, Graduate Certificate in Cyber Security and Graduate Certificate in Informatics. After completing the two graduate credentials, a student needs only 6 hours of thesis for the thesis route, or 6 hours of designated electives for the coursework option to earn an MSIN degree. A BSCS student with an overall 3.5 GPA or higher and having a GPA of 3.25 or higher in cyber security benchmark courses, is allowed to opt for the fast-track 4+1 option which allows a student to be simultaneously admitted into the Graduate School to take 12 hours of graduate courses from MSIN degree applicable towards completing BSCS, leaving one year\u27s worth of graduate work to earn an MSIN degree. As part of the grant, the curriculum of BSCS degree is aligned with the national standard of National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education - Workforce Framework for Cybersecurity (NICE-WFC) for the students to have an edge in the job market. The three undergraduate certificates and the two graduate certificates are referred to as embedded stackable credentials since each credential is embedded in its respective degree and serves as a stack towards earning the degree. This approach is advantageous for students since one or more credentials may be earned without completing the respective degree which allows a student to have a few credentials targeted for the job market in case the student needs to take hiatus from education and work for a while. Furthermore, a professional already working in the cyber security or informatics field can earn one or more credentials without committing to complete a degree

The Effect of Green Certificates on the Purchasing Decisions of Online Customers in Green Hotels: A Case Study from Saudi Arabia

[EN] Customers are becoming more concerned about the use of green practices in the hotel industry. Managers are therefore starting to recognise the significance of green practices for clients' purchasing decisions and levels of satisfaction. This study aims to investigate how customers' decisions to book green hotels online and make purchases are impacted by green certificates. Two variables, namely the intentions to return and to pay a premium price, are used to measure customer satisfaction and purchasing behaviour towards green hotels. SmartPLS has been employed to analyse data gathered from 161 individuals from two hotels in Saudi Arabia. The results suggest that green certifications, environmental considerations, and green brand perception have a significant impact on online customers' satisfaction and purchase choices in the hotel sector. This paper provides a comprehensive framework that illustrates the connection between hotels' aspirations towards environmental concerns and customers' willingness to revisit and pay a premium price.This research was supported by two conference grants from Christian Heritage College.Qubbaj, AI.; Peiró Signes, A.; Najjar, M. (2023). The Effect of Green Certificates on the Purchasing Decisions of Online Customers in Green Hotels: A Case Study from Saudi Arabia. Sustainability. 15(7):1-15. https://doi.org/10.3390/su1507589211515

A Holistic Approach for Enhancing Distributed Education with Multi-Campus Course Delivery Methods

To create an emerging research institution, a regional university was created that spans multiple campuses within a radius of more than one hundred miles by merging at least three current institutions. The merge allowed the university to pool its human and technical resources. Students can now pursue new degrees that were not available before at one campus or another, take a newly available technical or specialty courses, and even select their own preferred professor when a course is offered by many faculty. In order to serve students at multiple campuses that are geographically far a part, the university instituted policies to facilitate accessibility of courses to all students while meeting prerequisites and minimum enrollment requirements. This paper chronicles the policies, procedures, and faculty efforts in creating a sustainable framework for implementing a distributed campus course delivery that is acceptable by the university/college administration, the department, the faculty, and most importantly the student. Our experience shows that a successful framework should address many issues, including: - Logistics o Where to offer the courses; one campus, all campuses. o Is transportation provided for student at a convenient time o Etc. - Scheduling o Schedule classes so that student can attend all their classes on-time without conflicts o Coordinate scheduling among campuses - Faculty incentives o Maintain good faculty-to-student ratio o Provide formula for workload computation o Provide teaching/grading assistance o Home campus course Attribution - IT support o Provide Interactive TV with high bandwidth o Allow for faculty-to-student interaction o Provide state-of-the-art class podium o Allow for class recording o Allow for in-office tutorials or Q/A session through collaboration - Course Management System Delivery Methods o Enable many productive tools in the course management system o Allow proper notification for the student - Assessment and student participation o Maintain interaction with student on daily and weekly basis o Compare results from both campuses to avoid any emerging issues. The paper will present our efforts in each of the above areas, showing that despite the challenges faced, a distributed delivery system can be successful when the above issues/factors are adequately addressed. The results from our courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels show that students assessments don’t show any significant difference across campuses or based on where the home campus of the faculty is. By presenting our study, we hope that other institutions who are considering distributed education can benefit from our experience by adopting best practices while avoiding pitfalls

Youth employment in start up ventures in Jordan: an exploratory study

Youth in developing countries are faced with high unemployment rates, even when they possess higher education degrees. In the developing world, small business and entrepreneurial ventures constitute the main drivers of economic development and offer employment opportunities for youth. Nevertheless, when faced with a career decision after their studies, youth seem to prefer careers in established companies over start-ups. As a consequence, start-ups find it more difficult to find and hire the right employees although they are available in the market. This study aims at examining the factors behind youth career decisions to work for a start-up company and provides suggestions for both research and practice. By relying on both entrepreneurship and career decision-making literature, we developed a theoretical model that includes background factors and individual characteristics. Results from a survey on youth graduates from Jordan show that a high school education fostered critical thinking and international exposure, the participation in entrepreneurial events and creativity, which predicted the willingness to work for a start-up

Infusing Raspberry Pi in the Computer Science Curriculum for Enhanced Learning

With the advent of cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and mobile computing, CS faculty are continuously revamping the curriculum material to address such burgeoning set of technologies in practical and relatable ways. Raspberry Pi (RPi) devices represent an ideal hardware/software framework that embodies all these technologies through its simple architecture, small form factor (that minimizes the volume and footprint of a desktop computer), and ability to integrate various sensors that network together and connect to the Cloud. Therefore, one of the strategies of Computer Science Department, to enhance depth of learning concepts, has been to infuse Raspberry Pi (RPi) in computer science courses. RPi has been incorporated since 2016 in targeted courses, notably, Computer Organization & Assembly Language, Computer Architecture, Database Management Design & Implementation, Unix/Linux Programming, Internet Programming, and Senior Project. An inexpensive credit card sized computer, an RPi lends itself to allow depth of learning of concepts. From implementing firewalls, intrusion detection systems, scripting, client-server based computing, distributed computing, to interfacing with sensors and actuators, a student is guided to polish concepts taught in a class through RPi Project Based Learning (RPBL). Computer science curriculum already provides breadth of learning. The infusion of RPi in key courses provides depth in targeted concepts. There are peripheral desirable consequences as well, including a student learning prevalently used Linux environment even though a targeted course may have nothing directly to do with Linux. Furthermore, RPi provides an opportunity for students to realize that software programs can be interfaced with sensors and actuators to provide immersed experience in programming. From simply interfacing a switch and a Light Emitting Diode (LED) to getting data from sensors, buffering, and uploading to the cloud, a student already would have touched upon multiple disciplines in computer science. This paper provides a blueprint to infusing RPi in the targeted courses, and how each RPi based project provides depth to a targeted concept

The Mediating Role of Innovative Climate in the Relationship Between the Transformational and Transactional Leadership Styles and Administrative Innovation

This study established the relationship between transformational and transactional leadership styles, an innovative climate, and administrative innovation. where both innovative climate and administrative innovation represent strategic objectives of contemporary institutions, which are required more than ever to enhance and demonstrate their innovativeness in providing services to their broad audience and meeting their expectations. This prompted these institutions to adopt some modern management and leadership methods, especially transformational and transactional leadership styles, and to create and enhance an innovative climate within them. The findings reveal the importance and role of transformational leadership practices as a major reason to create an innovative climate in addition to achieving administrative innovation within governmental institutions. Furthermore, results confirm that there is no significant effect of transactional leadership style in achieving administrative innovation, despite its importance in creating an innovative climate, which requires deepening research to discover the reasons behind this matter and even research into the possibility of modifying those (transactional) practices

An update of preimplantation genetic diagnosis in gene diseases, chromosomal translocation, and aneuploidy screening

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is gradually widely used in prevention of gene diseases and chromosomal abnormalities. Much improvement has been achieved in biopsy technique and molecular diagnosis. Blastocyst biopsy can increase diagnostic accuracy and reduce allele dropout. It is cost-effective and currently plays an important role. Whole genome amplification permits subsequent individual detection of multiple gene loci and screening all 23 pairs of chromosomes. For PGD of chromosomal translocation, fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) is traditionally used, but with technical difficulty. Array comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) can detect translocation and 23 pairs of chromosomes that may replace FISH. Single nucleotide polymorphisms array with haplotyping can further distinguish between normal chromosomes and balanced translocation. PGD may shorten time to conceive and reduce miscarriage for patients with chromosomal translocation. PGD has a potential value for mitochondrial diseases. Preimplantation genetic haplotyping has been applied for unknown mutation sites of single gene disease. Preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) using limited FISH probes in the cleavage-stage embryo did not increase live birth rates for patients with advanced maternal age, unexplained recurrent abortions, and repeated implantation failure. Polar body and blastocyst biopsy may circumvent the problem of mosaicism. PGS using blastocyst biopsy and array CGH is encouraging and merit further studies. Cryopreservation of biopsied blastocysts instead of fresh transfer permits sufficient time for transportation and genetic analysis. Cryopreservation of embryos may avoid ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and possible suboptimal endometrium

Spatiotemporal multi-resolution approximation of the Amari type neural field model

Neural fields are spatially continuous state variables described by integro-differential equations, which are well suited to describe the spatiotemporal evolution of cortical activations on multiple scales. Here we develop a multi-resolution approximation (MRA) framework for the integro-difference equation (IDE) neural field model based on semi-orthogonal cardinal B-spline wavelets. In this way, a flexible framework is created, whereby both macroscopic and microscopic behavior of the system can be represented simultaneously. State and parameter estimation is performed using the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm. A synthetic example is provided to demonstrate the framework