Enabling service-level agreement renegotiation through extending WS-Agreement specification

WS-Agreement is a language and protocol designed for creating service-level agreements (SLAs) based on initial offers, and for monitoring those offers at runtime. The definition of WS-Agreement protocol is very general and does not contemplate the possibility of changing an agreement at runtime. This paper presents extensions of the WS-Agreement specification to support the dynamic nature of SLAs by allowing the possibility of SLA renegotiation at runtime. The extended WS-Agreement specification has been implemented and tested. Within this implementation, the concept of renegotiation is demonstrated through the ability to create more than one SLA at runtime. An evaluation is conducted to examine the profits a service provider may gain through renegotiation, as well the savings resulting from rescuing the SLA from violations as a consequence of avoiding paying penalties. The results show that making the SLA terms adaptable and changeable is a viable mechanism that provides flexibility to the service provider and service consumer

Sea Level Variation Along the Western Coast of the Arabian Gulf

Observed hourly tidal heights from six stations during the period 1980-1987 were used in the analyses. Daily readings of the pressure at mean sea level from three meteorological stations were also used. The variations of the observed daily mean sea level were studied at the six stations, giving low values in the winter season, and high ones in summer and spring seasons. The monthly mean sea level showed higher values during July and August and lower ones in the winter season. As the Arabian Gulf is generally considered a shallow sea, the meteorological conditions are the main cause of the sea level variation. This was shown by the variation of the daily mean sea level residual at the six stations. From the analyses of the coherence of several parameters, the pressure difference over the Gulf area did not give a noticeable effect with either the daily observed sea level or the daily sea level residual. Generally speaking, the important factor affecting the sea level variation in the Arabian Gulf is the pressure system covering the area either during the summer or the winter seasons

Regularized Neural Network to Identify Potential Breast Cancer: A Bayesian Approach

In the current study, we have exemplified the use of Bayesian neural networks for breast cancer classification using the evidence procedure. The optimal Bayesian network has 81% overall accuracy in correctly classifying the true status of breast cancer patients, 59% sensitivity in correctly detecting the malignancy and 83% specificity in correctly detecting the non-malignancy. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (0.7940) shows that this is a moderate classification model

Experimental Results of a Wind Energy Conversion System with STATCOM Using Fuzzy Logic Controller

This paper describes a complete implementation of the experimental voltage regulation of a wind energy conversion system using STATCOM. Firstly conventional control technique is used which is proportional plus integral controller. The control technique is performed using a PC computer through a suitable interfacing and opt-isolating facilities. Secondly fuzzy logic controller is facilitated in this scheme to improve the performance of the experimental setup. Several efforts are done to choose the suitable gains of the fuzzy controller to achieve superior performance of the wind system. Experimental results of the system show the effectiveness of the proposed technique in regulating the output voltage. Thanks to the operation of the STATCOM in controlling the reactive power of the system to fix the output voltage at the desired value regardless of the wind speed

Experimental Results of a Wind Energy Conversion System with STATCOM Using Fuzzy Logic Controller

This paper describes a complete implementation of the experimental voltage regulation of a wind energy conversion system using STATCOM. Firstly conventional control technique is used which is proportional plus integral controller. The control technique is performed using a PC computer through a suitable interfacing and opt-isolating facilities. Secondly fuzzy logic controller is facilitated in this scheme to improve the performance of the experimental setup. Several efforts are done to choose the suitable gains of the fuzzy controller to achieve superior performance of the wind system. Experimental results of the system show the effectiveness of the proposed technique in regulating the output voltage. Thanks to the operation of the STATCOM in controlling the reactive power of the system to fix the output voltage at the desired value regardless of the wind speed

Review of the Arabian Crematogaster Lund (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), synoptic list, distribution, and description of two new species from Oman and Saudi Arabia

The genus Crematogaster is one of the most species-rich and widespread groups of ants. Despite their often-high local abundance and important ecological interactions, the taxonomy of the genus is fragmentary and in great need of modern revisionary studies. As a first step towards a revision for the Arabian fauna of Crematogaster, a review of all known species with synoptic species accounts is provided. Seventeen species are recognized and illustrated from the Arabian Peninsula, of which two new species are described: C. jacindae Sharaf & Hita Garcia, sp. nov. from the Dhofar Governorate, Oman, and C. gryllsi Sharaf & Hita Garcia, sp. nov. from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) based on the worker caste. Crematogaster jacindae sp. nov. is easily separated from the remainder of the Arabian Crematogaster fauna due to its complete lack of propodeal spines, slit-shaped propodeal spiracles, and its distinct bicoloration, whereas C. gryllsi sp. nov. is readily distinguished by its unlobed postpetiolar dorsum. Furthermore, new country records are presented: C. acaciae Forel for the KSA and Yemen, and C. delagoensis Forel and C. jehovae Forel for the KSAC. antaris for Qatar, whereas C. luctans Forel is excluded from the Arabian fauna. In addition, on the basis of morphological examination of original type material, C. affabilis Forel is proposed as junior synonym of C. chiarinii Mayr, and C. striaticeps is elevated to species rank stat. nov. Furthermore, a new identification key for the Arabian species is provided, as well as distribution maps for all species

The effectiveness of Nedam's Constructive Model in Teaching Technology to Develop Productive Thinking Skills and Technological Awareness among Middle School Students in Palestine

هدفت الدراسة إلى الكشف عن فاعلية استخدام نموذج نيدام البنائي في تدريس التكنولوجيا لتنمية مهارات التفكير المنتج والوعي التكنولوجي لدي طلبة المرحلة المتوسطة بفلسطين، واتبعت الدراسة المنهج شبه التجريبي، ولتحقيق هذه الأهداف تم إعداد أداتي الدراسة وهما اختبار مهارات التفكير المنتج، ومقياس الوعي التكنولوجي، وتكونت مجموعة الدراسة من (90) طالبة، (45) طالبة للمجموعة التجريبية، (45) طالبة للمجموعة الضابطة، من طالبات الصف التاسع الأساسي بمدرسة رامز فاخرة الأساسية للبنات، وقد تم إعداد دليل للمعلم للاسترشاد به في التدريس في ضوء نموذج نيدام البنائي في الفصل الدراسي الثاني للعام 2021/2022، وتم تطبيق أداتي الدراسة قبلياً وبعدياً على المجموعتين، وأشارت النتائج إلى وجود فرق ذات قيمة احتمالية (0.05 ≥ p) بين متوسطي درجات طالبات المجموعة التجريبية، وطالبات المجموعة الضابطة في التطبيق البعدي لكل من اختبار مهارات التفكير المنتج، ومقياس الوعي التكنولوجي، وذلك لصالح طالبات المجموعة التجريبية. كما أن استخدام نموذج نيدام البنائي في تدريس التكنولوجية كان له فاعلية كبيرة في تنمية مهارات التفكير المنتج، والوعي التكنولوجي لدى طالبات الصف التاسع الأساسي. وفي ضوء هذه النتائج أوصت الدراسة باستخدام نموذج نيدام البنائي في تدريس الموضوعات التكنولوجية لما له من أثر فعال.The study aimed to reveal the effectiveness of using Needham's Constructivist Model in teaching technology to develop productive thinking skills and technological awareness among middle school students in Palestine. The study followed the semi-experimental approach. In order to achieve these goals, two study tools were prepared, which are a test of productive thinking skills, and a measure of technological awareness. The sample consisted of (90) female students, (45) students for the experimental group, and the other (45) students for the control group, from the ninth grade students at Ramez Fakhira Basic School for Girls. A teachers’ guideline was developed to guide them in teaching in the light of Needham's Constructive Model in the second semester of the year 2021/2022, and the study tools were applied on the two groups before and after using the guidline, and the results indicated that there is a statistically significant difference with a probability value  (p ≤ 0.05) between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group in the post application of each of the productive thinking skills test and the technological awareness scale, in favor of the students of the experimental group. The use of Needham's Constructivist Model in teaching technology had a great effect on developing productive thinking skills and technological awareness among ninth grade female students. Accordingly, the study recommended the need to use the Needham's Constructivist Model in teaching technological due to its effectiveness

Paraoxonase 1 activity and genotyping in systemic lupus erythematosus and their relationships with cardiovascular complications

Introduction: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is characterized by an enhanced risk of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Human serum paraoxonase 1 (PON1), an antioxidant enzyme closely associated with high density lipoprotein (HDL), has been implicated in the prevention of low density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation, and these may provide HDL-associated protection against atherosclerosis. The Aim: Our objective was to evaluate PON1 activity and genotypes in SLE patients and their relationships to cardiovascular complications and some other risk factors of cardiovascular diseases in those patients. Patient and Methods: Thirty SLE patients, subdivided into patients with CVD and without CVD, and fifteen matched healthy control subjects were studied. Laboratory investigations included lipid profile, lupus anticoagulants (LA), anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL). PON1 activity was determined by paraoxon substrate. PON1 genotyping was conducted by PCR amplification, followed by polymorphism-specific restriction enzyme digestion and gel electrophoresis. Results: Our study revealed that PON1 activity was significantly decreased in SLE patients groups compared to controls and in SLE patients with CVD compared to those without CVD (

Geochemical and biomarker characteristics of crude oils and source rock hydrocarbon extracts: An implication to their correlation, depositional environment and maturation in the Northern Western Desert, Egypt

AbstractOil–oil and oil–source rock correlations are used in this study in order to achieve their relationship, depositional environments and diagenetic processes in the source rocks. Three oil samples and source rock hydrocarbon extracts were analyzed using relative geochemical analyses, and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry are used for this purpose. The results revealed that the extracts of the Alam El Bueib and Khatatba formations are derived from mixed organic sources in which terrestrial dominates marine sources, and deposited in transitional environments under less anoxic conditions. The extracts of Bahariya formation are derived from mixed marine inputs with a limited terrestrial contribution. The Alam El Bueib oil shows more contribution of terrestrial than marine sources. Also, a genetic close relation between them supported the indigenous mixed source of Alam El Bueib oil which related to different sources including the Khatatba, Alam El Bueib and Bahariya formations. Accordingly, the Alam El Bueib formation can be considered as an important source for petroleum generation in the Northern Western Desert