Defamation in English and Arabic: A Pragmatic Contrastive Study

Defamation is one of the verbal offences in which the plaintiff is accused of a certain wrongful act by one of the ways of publicity. If that wrongful act is proved, then the accused will be punished by law or lowered by his/her home people. Defamation is surely accusing another person of a wrongful act . Accusing can be done by any spoken or written ways whether truthful or doubtful. The purpose beyond those ways is to make those accusations about the victim true in the people's mind even if they are temporarily made. The aim of this study is to elucidate if there is a similarity or a difference between English and Arabic in terms of defamation. It has been hypothesized that both languages are different from each other in terms of the topic under investigation. This study arrives at: In terms of defamation, English and Arabic are similar to each other in having speech acts, grammatical referencing, conveyed meaning, malicious meaning, and discourse structure and framing with intentionality. English defamation cases include speech acts more than Arabic defamation ones

Development of Stage – Distance – Discharge Relationship and Rating Curve using Least Square Method

For any river, besides the importance of stage – discharge relationship (rating curve), a stage-discharge- distance relationship is of more significance.  The accurate estimation of both relationships along a river reach is considered a key point for various applications of water resources engineering such as operation and management of water resources projects, designing of hydraulic structures, and sediment analysis.  In this paper, both relationships were established for the Shatt Al – Hillah river reach by applying multiple linear regression and simple linear regression using least square method for determining regression equations. Twelve gauging stations including three primary and nine secondary stations were considered for this method. Moreover, for evaluating the performance of both regressions, statistical measures such as coefficient of determination, root mean square error, mean square error, and Thiel's factor were used. The study results generally indicate a superior performance of both modeling techniques. MLR model was able to predict and mimic the stage-discharge-distance relationship with a coefficient correlation of about 0.932, while SLR model was able to predict three rating curves for the three primary stations with coefficient correlation of about 0.960, 0.943, and 0.924 respectively

ISO 9126 Quality Model For Evaluating of Student Portal: Al-Madinah International University (Case study)

E-learning is a teaching system that involves electronic resources such as computers and the Internet, and the student portal is an essential tool that supports learning in universities. However, there is a limited evaluation model for educational websites. Therefore, a framework is required to guide the creation of such a model. The study conducted evaluates the quality of the student portal at Al-Madinah International University based on ISO 9126 quality model from the student's perspective, and the results show a good quality portal. Nonetheless, students suggest improvements to enhance its effectiveness, ease of use, and learning process. Keywords: ISO 9126; Al-Madinah International University; Quality Model; Student Portal. eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2023. The Authors. Published for AMER and cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under the responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), College of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia DOI:  https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v8iSI15.510

Effect of the thickness on the optical properties of nanostructure CuS thin films

At this work, nanostructure copper sulfide (CuS) thin films at different temperature of substrate and thickness (120,200,750) nm have been acquired by chemical spray pyrolysis method. The X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) measurements of all films appeared polycrystalline structure and possessed a hexagonal phase with strong crystalline orientation (103) with crystal size equals approximately 80 nm by using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The linear optical measurements showed that nanostructure CuS thin films have direct energy gap. The energy gap was decreased with increasing thin films thickness. Nonlinear optical properties experiments were performed using Q-switched 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser Z-scan system. The nonlinear refractive index (n2) and nonlinear absorption coefficient (?) were estimated at different thicknesses of nanostructure CuS thin films for different intensities of laser. n2 and ? were decreased with increasing intensity of incident laser beam . Also they were reduced with increasing the nanostructure CuS thin films thicknesses. Also the type of ? were two and three photon absorption , type of n2 were positive nonlinear reflective index and n2 were self-focusing nonlinear refractive index  for all samples

An overview of multi-filters for eliminating impulse noise for digital images

An image through the digitization process is referred to as a digital image. The quality of the digital image may be degenerating due to interferences on the acquisition, transmission, extraction, etc. This attracted the attention of many researchers to study the causes of damage to the information in the image. In addition to finding cause of image damage, the researchers also looking for ways to overcome this problem. There are many filtering techniques that have been introduced to deal the damage to the information in the image. In addition to eliminating noise from the image, filtering techniques also aims to maintain the originality of the features in the image. Among the many research papers on image filtering there is a lack of review papers which are an important to facilitate researchers in understanding the differences in each filtering technique. Additionally, it helps researchers determine the direction of research conducted based on the results of previous research. Therefore, this paper presents a review of several filtering techniques that have been developed so far

Antimicrobial resistance among migrants in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are rising globally and there is concern that increased migration is contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Europe. However, the effect of migration on the burden of AMR in Europe has not yet been comprehensively examined. Therefore, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and synthesise data for AMR carriage or infection in migrants to Europe to examine differences in patterns of AMR across migrant groups and in different settings. METHODS: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus with no language restrictions from Jan 1, 2000, to Jan 18, 2017, for primary data from observational studies reporting antibacterial resistance in common bacterial pathogens among migrants to 21 European Union-15 and European Economic Area countries. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to report data on carriage or infection with laboratory-confirmed antibiotic-resistant organisms in migrant populations. We extracted data from eligible studies and assessed quality using piloted, standardised forms. We did not examine drug resistance in tuberculosis and excluded articles solely reporting on this parameter. We also excluded articles in which migrant status was determined by ethnicity, country of birth of participants' parents, or was not defined, and articles in which data were not disaggregated by migrant status. Outcomes were carriage of or infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms. We used random-effects models to calculate the pooled prevalence of each outcome. The study protocol is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42016043681. FINDINGS: We identified 2274 articles, of which 23 observational studies reporting on antibiotic resistance in 2319 migrants were included. The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or AMR infection in migrants was 25·4% (95% CI 19·1-31·8; I2 =98%), including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (7·8%, 4·8-10·7; I2 =92%) and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (27·2%, 17·6-36·8; I2 =94%). The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or infection was higher in refugees and asylum seekers (33·0%, 18·3-47·6; I2 =98%) than in other migrant groups (6·6%, 1·8-11·3; I2 =92%). The pooled prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms was slightly higher in high-migrant community settings (33·1%, 11·1-55·1; I2 =96%) than in migrants in hospitals (24·3%, 16·1-32·6; I2 =98%). We did not find evidence of high rates of transmission of AMR from migrant to host populations. INTERPRETATION: Migrants are exposed to conditions favouring the emergence of drug resistance during transit and in host countries in Europe. Increased antibiotic resistance among refugees and asylum seekers and in high-migrant community settings (such as refugee camps and detention facilities) highlights the need for improved living conditions, access to health care, and initiatives to facilitate detection of and appropriate high-quality treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections during transit and in host countries. Protocols for the prevention and control of infection and for antibiotic surveillance need to be integrated in all aspects of health care, which should be accessible for all migrant groups, and should target determinants of AMR before, during, and after migration. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, and UK National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimictobial Resistance at Imperial College London

Surgical site infection after gastrointestinal surgery in high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries: a prospective, international, multicentre cohort study

Background: Surgical site infection (SSI) is one of the most common infections associated with health care, but its importance as a global health priority is not fully understood. We quantified the burden of SSI after gastrointestinal surgery in countries in all parts of the world. Methods: This international, prospective, multicentre cohort study included consecutive patients undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection within 2-week time periods at any health-care facility in any country. Countries with participating centres were stratified into high-income, middle-income, and low-income groups according to the UN's Human Development Index (HDI). Data variables from the GlobalSurg 1 study and other studies that have been found to affect the likelihood of SSI were entered into risk adjustment models. The primary outcome measure was the 30-day SSI incidence (defined by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for superficial and deep incisional SSI). Relationships with explanatory variables were examined using Bayesian multilevel logistic regression models. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02662231. Findings: Between Jan 4, 2016, and July 31, 2016, 13 265 records were submitted for analysis. 12 539 patients from 343 hospitals in 66 countries were included. 7339 (58·5%) patient were from high-HDI countries (193 hospitals in 30 countries), 3918 (31·2%) patients were from middle-HDI countries (82 hospitals in 18 countries), and 1282 (10·2%) patients were from low-HDI countries (68 hospitals in 18 countries). In total, 1538 (12·3%) patients had SSI within 30 days of surgery. The incidence of SSI varied between countries with high (691 [9·4%] of 7339 patients), middle (549 [14·0%] of 3918 patients), and low (298 [23·2%] of 1282) HDI (p < 0·001). The highest SSI incidence in each HDI group was after dirty surgery (102 [17·8%] of 574 patients in high-HDI countries; 74 [31·4%] of 236 patients in middle-HDI countries; 72 [39·8%] of 181 patients in low-HDI countries). Following risk factor adjustment, patients in low-HDI countries were at greatest risk of SSI (adjusted odds ratio 1·60, 95% credible interval 1·05–2·37; p=0·030). 132 (21·6%) of 610 patients with an SSI and a microbiology culture result had an infection that was resistant to the prophylactic antibiotic used. Resistant infections were detected in 49 (16·6%) of 295 patients in high-HDI countries, in 37 (19·8%) of 187 patients in middle-HDI countries, and in 46 (35·9%) of 128 patients in low-HDI countries (p < 0·001). Interpretation: Countries with a low HDI carry a disproportionately greater burden of SSI than countries with a middle or high HDI and might have higher rates of antibiotic resistance. In view of WHO recommendations on SSI prevention that highlight the absence of high-quality interventional research, urgent, pragmatic, randomised trials based in LMICs are needed to assess measures aiming to reduce this preventable complication