ASSESSING OF UAE STUDENTS’ INVOLVEMENT IN SCIENCE TEXTBOOK FOR THE 8TH GRADE

The purpose of this research is to identify the level of UAE student involvement in the 8th grade science textbook by reviewing the educational content, graphics, and activities. It was calculated using Romey's Involvement Index, which measures the book involvement factor for the student using a random selection of textbook pages. The findings showed that students’ involvement in the content of science textbook around the minimum value of the acceptable range identified by Romy. The value was at the (0.4) highlighting poor involvement in content that might not allow students to analyse, brainstorm, and draw their own conclusions. A decrease was noticed in students’ involvement in graphics and image and illustrations, (0.14), indicating its poor effect on encouraging students to perform science investigations. It also showed student involvement in activities was (0.31), which is less than the range identified by Romey. Thus, the researchers recommended reviewing the original version of the textbook by the publisher and rewriting the scientific context in an educational format. They also recommended enriching the book with effective content materials, with more attention to image and illustrations and figures, to enhance student opportunities to participate and interact in lessons.  Article visualizations

The extent to which the Social Security Institution in Jordan adheres to the requirements of International Accounting Standard No (19) for employee benefits

This study aimed to identify the extent to which the Social Security Institution in Jordan adheres to the requirements of International Accounting Standard No (19) related to employee benefits. The study population included the Social Security Institution in Jordan. As for the sample, it consisted of (78) respondents from financial managers, department heads and their deputies, and accountants working in the financial and accounting departments in the institution. The study found that the institution adheres to the requirements of International Accounting Standard No (19) for short-term and long- term employee benefits, and is also committed to post-service employee benefits and end- of-service benefits. It turned out that the level of this commitment was at a high level. The study recommended the provision of optional and mandatory burdens to the beneficiary within the framework of individual institutions, and the provision of salaries and wages in exchange for performing the service with the associated social and tax burdens

Early Baldness in Males and Hormonal Changes

Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) or baldness is a common form of hair loss, affecting men more than women .The exact causes and pathogenesis of baldness are not well understood. A search for new drug is still needed. This study aims to evaluate the role of gonadotropins hormones in hair loss in males and its possibility to be used as treatment target. A total of 78 volunteers 43 with baldness and 35 healthy men were participated in this study. Their age ranged between (20-49) years, the studied groups were divided into two categories: firstly according to age (group1: 20-29 year), (group2: 30-39 year),and (group3: 40-49 year).Secondly according to baldness degree. LH and FSH were measured by using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) kits. The results showed a significant decrease (

Vitamin D supplementation as an adjuvant therapy for patients with T2DM : an 18-month prospective interventional study

Background Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with impaired human insulin action, suggesting a role in the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus type 2 (T2DM). In this prospective interventional study we investigated the effects of vitamin D3 supplementation on the metabolic profiles of Saudi T2DM subjects pre- and post-vitamin D supplementation over an 18-month period. Methods T2DM Saudi subjects (men, N = 34: Age: 56.6 ± 8.7 yr, BMI, 29.1 ± 3.3 kg/m2; women, N = 58: Age: 51.2 ± 10.6 yr, BMI 34.3 ± 4.9 kg/m2;) were recruited and given 2000 IU vitamin D3 daily for 18 months. Anthropometrics and fasting blood were collected (0, 6, 12, 18 months) to monitor serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D using specific ELISA, and to determine metabolic profiles by standard methods. Results In all subjects there was a significant increase in mean 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels from baseline (32.2 ± 1.5 nmol/L) to 18 months (54.7 ± 1.5 nmol/L; p < 0.001), as well as serum calcium (baseline = 2.3 ± 0.23 mmol/L vs. 18 months = 2.6 ± 0.1 mmol/L; p = 0.003). A significant decrease in LDL- (baseline = 4.4 ± 0.8 mmol/L vs. 18 months = 3.6 ± 0.8 mmol/L, p < 0.001] and total cholesterol (baseline = 5.4 ± 0.2 mmol/L vs. 18 months = 4.9 ± 0.3 mmol/L, p < 0.001) were noted, as well as a significant improvement in HOMA-β function ( p = 0.002). Majority of the improvements elicited were more prominent in women than men. Conclusion In the Saudi T2DM population receiving oral Vitamin D3 supplementation (2000 IU/day), circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels remained below normal 18 months after the onset of treatment. Yet, this “suboptimal” supplementation significantly improved lipid profile with a favorable change in HDL/LDL ratio, and HOMA-β function, which were more pronounced in T2DM females

A survey on video segmentation for real-time applications

Video object segmentation is to extract moving and static objects from consecutive video frames. It is a prerequisite for visual content retrieval (e.g., MPEG-7 related schemes), objectbased compression and coding (e.g., MPEG-4 codecs), object recognition, object tracking, security video surveillance, traffic monitoring for law enforcement, and many other application

Evaluation of structural behavior of externally prestressed segmented bridge with shear key under torsion

Externally Prestressed Segmented (EPS) concrete beams are generally used in the construction of bridge structures. External Prestressed technique uses tendons that are placed completely outside the concrete section and attached to the concrete at anchorages and deviators only. Segmented bridge is a bridge built in short sections. Segmented bridge applies smart technique that is a part of an engineering management. EPS bridges are affected by combined stresses i.e., bending, shear, normal, and torsion stresses especially at the segments interface joints. Previous studies on EPS bridges did not include the effect of torsion in the load carrying capacity and other structural behavior. This paper presents an experimental investigation of the structural behavior of EPS bridged under combined bending, shear, normal, and torsion stresses. The aim of this paper is to improve the existing equation to include the effect of torsion in estimating the failure load of EPS bridge. A parametric study was carried out to investigate the effect of different external tendon layouts and different levels of torsion

Experimental study of externally prestressed segmental beam under torsion

Externally prestressed segmental (EPS) concrete beams are widely used in the construction of bridge structures today. The EPS concept has become an attractive tool for rehabilitation and strengthening of existing bridges which have insufficient strength and/or excessive deflection and cracking. EPS bridges are affected by combined stresses (bending, shear, normal, and torsion) at the joint interface between the segments. This paper presents an experimental investigation of the structural behaviour of EPS bridge beams under combined stresses, i.e. bending, shear and torsional stresses. An experimental study of two different external tendon layouts, two types of joint between segments and different levels of torsional force applied at different load eccentricities was conducted. It was concluded that torsion reduced the vertical load and vertical deflection at the onset point of nonlinearity as well as at a failure load. Furthermore, the opening between segments was the reason behind the nonlinear behaviour of EPS beams. Torsion did not only alter the value of the failure load, tendon strain and deflection of the beams but it also altered the failure mechanism. Furthermore, due to the shear key, there was a difference between the onset points of nonlinearity load for the different tendon layouts and joint types

Common investigation process model for internet of things forensics

Internet of Things Forensics (IoTFs) is a new discipline in digital forensics science used in the detection, acquisition, preservation, rebuilding, analyzing, and the presentation of evidence from IoT environments. IoTFs discipline still suffers from several issues and challenges that have in the recent past been documented. For example, heterogeneity of IoT infrastructures has mainly been a key challenge. The heterogeneity of the IoT infrastructures makes the IoTFs very complex, and ambiguous among various forensic domain. This paper aims to propose a common investigation processes for IoTFs using the metamodeling method called Common Investigation Process Model (CIPM) for IoTFs. The proposed CIPM consists of four common investigation processes: i) preparation process, ii) collection process, iii) analysis process and iv) final report process. The proposed CIPM can assist IoTFs users to facilitate, manage, and organize the investigation tasks

Random traveling wave pulse coupled oscillator (RTWPCO) algorithm of energy-efficient wireless sensor networks

Energy-efficient pulse-coupled oscillators have recently gained significant research attention in wireless sensor networks, where the wireless sensor network applications mimic the firefly synchronization for attracting mating partners. As a result, it is more suitable and harder to identify demands in all applications. The pulse-coupled oscillator mechanism causing delay and uncharitable applications needs to reduce energy consumption to the smallest level. To avert this problem, this study proposes a new mechanism called random traveling wave pulse-coupled oscillator algorithm, which is a self-organizing technique for energy-efficient wireless sensor networks using the phase-locking traveling wave pulse-coupled oscillator and random method on anti-phase of the pulse-coupled oscillator model. This technique proposed in order to minimize the high power utilization in the network to get better data gathering of the sensor nodes during data transmission. The simulation results shown that the proposed random traveling wave pulse-coupled oscillator mechanism achieved up to 48% and 55% reduction in energy usage when increase the number of sensor nodes as well as the packet size of the transmitted data compared to traveling wave pulse-coupled oscillator and pulse-coupled oscillator methods. In addition, the mechanism improves the data gathering ratio by up to 70% and 68%, respectively. This is due to the developed technique helps to reduce the high consumed energy in the sensor network and increases the data collection throughout the transmission states in wireless sensor networks

Impact of the deafness problem on clock synchronization in a wireless sensor network

Observations of natural phenomena are considered to be the best information source of spontaneous synchronization. Natural phenomena tend to match wireless sensor network (WSN) responses closely. Such synchronization is vital for the proper coordination of power cycles for energy conservation. A large number of fireflies employ the principle of pulse-coupled oscillators for light flash emission to attract mating partners. With respect to WSNs, the nodes are generally unable to afford packet transmission and reception simultaneously, thus preventing complete network synchronization. This paper presents a literature overview concerning the impact of the deafness problem on clock synchronization in a WSN. Data transmission based on synchronization can also be ensured through the optimization of energy usage periodic data capturing in a WSN. This study serves as a useful information source of clock synchronization to assist WSN researchers and novices in obtaining a better understanding of the impact of the deafness problem on clock synchronization and to enable them to promote effective designs and systems that address this problem