Religious Iconography in Twilight : Veneration and Fandom

The mysterious and dark atmosphere, the overwhelming focus on the main characters, and the constant contrast of dark and light in Twilight (2009) recall traditional Christian religious imagery. But more that that, this paper will argue that Twilight, the first of the romantic fantasy films adapted from the successful book series by Stephenie Meyer, draws explicitly on traditional Catholic religious imagery and ceremony to engender religious devotion in its fans. Images from the first Twilight film suggest that the creators of Twilight used religious imagery to captivate their audience. Christian constructs such as Eden’s eternity, Edward’s Christ-like abstinence, and Bella’s wonder and submission, like the Virgin Mary’s, all parallel traditional Catholic art and reinforce the story line, while also providing a twenty-first century audience with a new spiritual experience. Twilight uses well-known Catholic tropes to subconsciously encourage viewers to venerate the images, and the story. Recent work on the Gothic literature of the twenty-first century strongly contends that the Gothic’s supernatural is a new spiritual movement for secular society, and Twilight’s iconography uses this new trend to market itself

Numerical Solution for Linear State Space Systems using Haar Wavelets Method

في هذا البحث، تم استخدام طريقة الموبجات الشعرية لإيجاد حل تقريبي لأنظمة فضاء الحالة الخطية. وان تقنية الحل هي تحويل أنظمة فضاء الحالة الخطية إلى نظام من المعادلات الخطية للفاصل الزمني من 0 إلى . كما يمكن تعزيز دقة متغيرات الحالة عن طريق زيادة دقة موجات هار ويفلت. تم تطبيق الطريقة المقترحة لأمثلة مختلفة وتم توضيح نتائج المحاكاة بالرسوم البيانية ومقارنتها بالحل الدقيق.In this research, Haar wavelets method has been utilized to approximate a numerical solution for Linear state space systems. The solution technique is used Haar wavelet functions and Haar wavelet operational matrix with the operation to transform the state space system into a system of linear algebraic equations which can be resolved by MATLAB over an interval from 0 to . The exactness of the state variables can be enhanced by increasing the Haar wavelet resolution. The method has been applied for different examples and the simulation results have been illustrated in graphics and compared with the exact solution

Historical Development of Settlements near Fallujah in the Light of Archaeological Evidence and Cuneiform Writing Sources

This study focuses on the historical development of urban settlements in the third millennium BCE, using archaeological evidence and sources of the Cuneiform Torah, and considers the importance of these centers to modern-day Fallujah. The history of Fallujah cannot be separated from the history of Mesopotamia. The area in which Fallujah is situated has seen a number of important settlements at different points in history, since man first came to the region, owing to its prime position at the juncture of internal and external transport routes in Mesopotamia and its involvement in the distribution of water through irrigation channels. The role of these early settlements was inherited by later cities, many of which have had a substantial political and economic impact on the history of Mesopotamia. This study was based on two hypotheses. The first concerns the siting of the settlements along transport routes, and the second concerns their establishment on the basis of irrigation canals and irrigation technology. Keywords: Archaeological, Fallujah, Joha, Cuneiform, Settlement

Study of water injection with evaporation in a heterogeneous highly degraded nuclear reactor core

Severe accidents arising from the fusion of a nuclear reactor core must be anticipated to enhance the efficiency of their mitigation. Such accidents have occurred at TMI-2 (1979) and Fukushima (2011). Following a loss of coolant accident, core heating and oxidation of the fuel cladding followed by reflooding (injection of water) may lead to the collapse of fuel rods and formation of porous debris bed in the core. Steam produced upon reflooding may activate the exothermic oxidation of Zircaloy leading to partial melting of materials. Such evolution generates zones with reduced porosity limiting coolant penetration and/or impermeable blocked zones. In this situation, the efficiency of injecting water into the core to stop the progress of degradation and prevent the reactor core melting may be significantly reduced. In this scope, IRSN launched PEARL program to investigate the thermal hydraulics of reflooding of hot debris beds surrounded by a more permeable zone simulating the presence of intact or less damaged zones in the core. The PEARL experiments were modeled and simulated using ICARE/CATHARE code to assess the evolution of a bottom reflooding of a superheated debris bed surrounded by a bypass of larger permeability. The thermal hydraulics of the quenching process has been analyzed and the effect of each of the initial conditions on the reflooding behavior was assessed. The effect of pressure was investigated and related to the entrainment of injected water at quench front level into the bypass. An analytical model was then developed to investigate thoroughly the reflooding of a superheated heterogeneous porous medium, composed of two layers of contrasting permeability and porosity, and to describe the water entrainment in the bypass. This model computes the main variables characterizing the reflooding process such as quench front velocity, water-to-steam conversion ratio, and the flow rate of water entrained in the bypass. It provides good qualitative and quantitative results for the two-phase flow redistribution as compared to experimental results. This model has several advantages. It is written in a rather general form including the Forchheimer correction terms and non-zero cross-terms in the generalized Darcy-Forchheimer momentum equation. Variations of proposed momentum equations including changes in correlations andinterfacial friction laws can be tested easily and efficiently. Comparison of the calculations against experimental results indicated that it is necessary to include an interfacial friction law to obtain good predictions. This model allows performing fast evaluations of the efficiency of cooling bycomputing the fraction of the injected flow rate that participates in cooling. Upscaling to the reactor scale is straightforward and calculations were performed to assess the impact of geometric parameters of the debris bed (particle size, porosity, dimensions) as well as thermal hydraulic conditions (temperature, pressure, injection flow rate) on the reflooding process. Thus the model is very useful to estimate the total quenching time and the maximum temperature that could be reached by the hot debris bed at large scales. This allows assessing the probability of a successful quenching of a hot debris bed formed during a hypothetical accidental scenario

Familiarity with Collocations in EFL Context and Strategies Utilized in Translating Them into Arabic

This paper aims at examining the familiarity of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners at Najran University with English collocations and the strategies being used when translating them into Arabic. The data of this study are collected from 40 female EFL learners of the English Department at Najran University. The participants’ familiarity with English collocations is measured by means of a two-part test adopted from Gyllstad (2007). A translation test consisting of 48 collocations in both short texts and short sentences has been used to determine the participants’ familiarity with translation strategies when translating English collocations into Arabic. Results show that Najran University EFL learners’ knowledge of collocations is unsatisfactory and below what is expected from them as English language major students. The results of the Pearson correlation test indicate a positive relationship between the learners’ familiarity with English collocations and their ability to translate them into Arabic using different translation strategies

A Study In Relationship Orientation And Prioritization Of Alumni Association Preferences With College Seniors In Higher Education

Higher education institutions need to create a relationship with their alumni; however, often this outreach is done without adequate data on which to base decisions.  To gain a better understanding of what activities future alumni may regard as both important and enjoyable for their participation as alumni, a survey of current senior-status undergraduate students of a medium-sized public southern university was conducted. The research consisted of an exploratory questionnaire with 108 senior-level students who participated in the survey.  The survey consisted of information collected regarding their attitudes towards what the priorities of the university’s alumni association should be and personal recommendation of the university to their friends and relatives.  The survey’s findings help identify the needs and preferences of those who are soon to be alumni, and point to a number of areas that can be pursued further in an attempt to improve the relationship between the university and its alumni

Intrapreneurial Workplaces And Job Satisfaction: The Case Of Thai Employees

Today’s competitive workplace requires that employees think creatively and take personal responsibility for their work as if they owned the business. Such ideal and perceived ownership can lead to higher productivity and better job satisfaction levels in the workplace. The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and organizational performance and overall job satisfaction. Using the responses of 450 employees who work in private companies in Thailand, the study found differences in corporate entrepreneurship and overall job satisfaction based on various demographic variables, namely education, occupation, and position. Regarding autonomy/work discretion, there are differences in autonomy/work discretion and demographic profile, which include gender, education level, salary, type of company, and type of business. Implications for practice and recommendations for future research are presented

Associations of Vitamin D Receptor Polymorphism rs1544410 with Adiposity Phenotypes

Background: Vitamin D receptor (VDR) is present on adipocytes, and many studies were performed to investigate the association between polymorphisms in VDR gene with obesity. However, in the Arab Gulf populations, whereas obesity prevalence is increasing dramatically, only a few studies were addressed this relation with obesity based only on body mass index. This study aimed to find the association between three different VDR polymorphisms BsmI (rs1544410), ApaI (rs7975232) and TaqI (rs731236) BsmI, with the adiposity phenotypes (BMI, body fat BF% and waist circumference (WC) as a marker of visceral obesity. Method: In this study, 142 young female subjects from Qatar University were recruited. The study subjects were classified into 88 control subjects (BMI <24.9 kg/m2) with a mean age of 21.65 years and 54 overweight/obese subjects (BMI ≥25 kg/m2) with a mean age of 22.79 years. Blood samples and anthropometric measurements were evaluated. TaqMan assay was used to examine the genotyping of the three SNPs BsmI, ApaI, and TaqI using RT-PCR. In addition, vitamin D and insulin levels were measured using ELISA kits. The adiposity phenotypes were evaluated by anthropometric measurements of body weight, height, waist circumference and BF% were assessed by Body composition analyzer. Results: The results showed that 80.3% of the study subjects were vitamin D insufficient/deficient. The main finding of the current study revealed that the carrier for the minor allele (A) in the BsmI of VDR have significantly higher BMI, WC and BF% values with p-values of 0.009, 0.015 and 0.04, respectively. In addition, it was found that increased WC is associated with lower (suboptimal) vitamin D level with an odds ratio of 3.12 and 95% CI of (1.01-9.63) with a p-value of 0.048. Conclusion: The adiposity phenotype indicators including BMI, WC, and BF% were significantly associated with the minor allele (A) for BsmI (rs1544410); suggesting the possible relation of VDR polymorphism with obesity in Qatar. Vitamin D deficiency could affect the BF% in overweight and obese subjects.Qatar university grant #supported this study QUST-CAS-FALL-15/16-23

Elemental and physical effect of carbon from date's frond after activation by phosphoric acid

Date frond, a low-cost agricultural by-product abundant in Saudi Arabia was used as a precursor for the production of porous carbons by chemical activation using phosphoric acid. The developed surface morphology was studied using thermogravimetry analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and single point BET surface area. The result obtained from TGA indicates major weight loss is during heating before 400 °C. In this study, thus this temperature was chosen to carbonize the date frond after the chemical activation using phosphoric acid (H3PO4) at various concentrations. FTIR results show that the sample is successfully converted from raw material to pure high surface area carbon. This study also shows that chemical activation at 60% H3PO4 gives the highest surface area of 1138.0 m2·g-1. Field emission scanning microscope/energy dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (FESEM/EDAX) on the other hand shows that chemical activation will wash away some minerals during activation to create the high surface area activated carbon

COMMON SPORTS INJURIES AMONG TRIATHLON ATHELETES DURING COMPETITIONS AT THE ASIA & WEST ASIA CHAMPIONSHIPS IN JORDAN 2018

تعتبر رياضة الترايثلون من المسابقات الاولمبية والتي ازداد عدد المشاركين بها بشكل كبيروخاصة في الأعوام الاخيرة وخاصة بعد انشاء اتحاد خاص باللعبة، وتعتبر رياضة الترايثلون من الرياضات المعقدة والتي لها متطلبات مختلفة بسبب السباحة، ركوب الدراجات، والجري . على الرغم من شعبية اللعبة الا أن الباحثين – في حدود علمهما - لم يجدا أي دراسة عربية أومرجع عربي يتحدث عن اللعبة مما حذا الباحثان لاجراء هذه الدراسة حول الاصابات الشائعة بهذه الرياضة، حيث يعتبر التعرف على الاصابات هو الطريق الأمثل للوقاية ومن ثم تطوير الأداء . بهدف تطبيق الدراسة قام الباحثان إلى اعداد استمارة جمع بيانات أعدت لهذه الغاية وذلك بعد اجراء التعديلات التي تتناسب وطبيعة الدراسة حيث تم ترجمتها وتطبيقها على عينة تكونت من (36) لاعب من فئة المحترفين المشاركين في ترايثلون العقبة من الذين قبلوا تطبيق الاستبيان، وأظهرت نتائج الدراسة أن سبب الاصابة من وجهة نظر اللاعبين أكثر أسباب حدوث الاصابة لدى لاعب الترايثلون من وجهة نظرهم هو التدريب الزائد، وعدم اجراء الاحماء الكافي، وسوء الاحوال الجوية، بينما أكثر الاصابات شيوعاً فهي تمزق العضلات، السحجات، كدم الأعصاب والعضلات، أما أكثر المناطق تعرضاً للاصابة هي مفصل الركبة، مفصل الكتف، ومفصل الكاحل. ويوصي الباحثان بضرورة اجراء المزيد من الدراسات و الأبحاث حول سباق التراتيلون بشكل عام والاصابات بشكل خاص، الاهتمام بالاستشفاء وتقنين حمل التدريب لتجنب ظاهرة التدريب الزائد، الاهتمام بالقوة العضلية بغرض تقليل التمزقات العضلية، حماية الأجزاء الأكثر تعرضاً للاصابة.Triathlon is on of the Olympics games and the number of players that participate on this competition increasing rapidly during the last years, it is a unique game that consist of swimming, cycling and running. In spite of being an Olympic game and have competition on many Arabic countries and Jordan was one of them, unfortunately the researchers had not found any Arabic references -within the knowledge limits of the researchers – they decided to make this research about the reasons of injury, type and most common body parts affected . The researchers used the description curriculum by applying questioner, a sample of (36) players applied the questioner. Results showed that over training, bad warm up &amp; unsuitable climate were main reasons of injury, types of injury were muscle strain, abrasion, muscle &amp; nerve trauma, the most affected parts were knee, shoulder &amp; ankle. Researchers recommend to more research, take care of recovery, have extra care of strength training