Effects of formula milk packaging design on breastfeeding Palestinian women’s purchasing decisions

Background: Although the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes states that ‘labels should be designed to provide the necessary information about the appropriate use of the product so as not to discourage breast-feeding’, baby formula manufacturers do not ignore the promotional role of packaging, and consequently use various packaging elements to intensively advertise their products, with the aim of attracting more customers.Objective: This study aims to identify the effect of formula milk packaging design, including visual and verbal packaging elements, on the purchasing decisions of Palestinian women who breastfeed. No previous research has examined the issue in Palestine.Method: The study was based on a cross-sectional survey, as a primary source. The survey targeted breastfeeding women in the Gaza Strip, who were reached through health institutions, between November and December 2016. A stratified sampling technique was used to select 384 study participants. In addition, face-to-face interviews were conducted using structured questionnaires to collect data from respondents. A high response rate of 94.8% was achieved, with 364 completed and usable questionnaires. The data were analyzed using a binary logistic regression model to identify the effect of formula milk packaging design on the purchasing decisions of Palestinian women who breastfeed. The statistical tool employed in this study was factor analysis. Twenty-three variables related to formula milk purchase decisions were identified.Results: The findings prove that the visual packaging design of breast-milk substitutes has a positive effect on the breastfeeding Palestinian women’s purchasing decisions. It was revealed that breastfeeding women in GS are four times more likely to purchase formula milk when visual and verbal packaging is used. Packaging that incorporates attractive colors, shapes and other visual characteristics seem to be effective in influencing mothers’ decisions.Conclusions: Visual and verbal packaging design affect the breastfeeding Palestinian women’s purchasing decisions. This indicates that baby formula companies are breaching the spirit of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, at least in the Palestinian context. [Ethiop.J. Health Dev. 2019; 33(1):59-61]Keywords: Visual packaging design, verbal packaging design, breast-milk substitutes, breastfeeding women’s purchasing decisions, Palestin

TDMA Slot Reservation in Cluster-Based VANETs

Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) are a form of Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) in which vehicles on the road form the nodes of the network. VANETs provide several services to enhance the safety and comfort of drivers and passengers. These services can be obtained by the wireless exchange of information among the vehicles driving on the road. In particular, the transmission of two different types of messages, safety/update and non-safety messages. The transmission of safety/update message aims to inform the nearby vehicles about the sender\u27s current status and/or a detected dangerous situation. This type of transmission is designed to help in accident and danger avoidance. Moreover, it requires high message generated rate and high reliability. On the other hand, the transmission of non-safety message aims to increase the comfort on vehicles by supporting several non-safety services, from notifications of traffic conditions to file sharing. Unfortunately, the transmission of non-safety message has less priority than safety messages, which may cause shutting down the comfort services. The goal of this dissertation is to design a MAC protocol in order to provide the ability of the transmission of non-safety message with little impact on the reliability of transmitting safety message even if the traffic and communication densities are high. VANET is a highly dynamic network. With lack of specialized hardware for infrastructure and the mobility to support network stability and channel utilization, acluster-based MAC protocol is needed to solve these overcomes. This dissertation makes the following contributions: 1. A multi-channel cluster-based TDMA MAC protocol to coordinate intracluster communications (TC-MAC) 2. A CH election and cluster formation algorithm based on the traffic flow and a cluster maintenance algorithm that benefits from our cluster formation algorithm 3. A multi-channel cluster-based CDNIA/TDMA hybrid MAC protocol to coordinate inter-cluster communications I will show that TC-MAC provides better performance than the current WAVE standard in terms of safety/update message reliability and non-safety message delivery. Additionally, I will show that my clustering and cluster maintenance protocol provides more stable clusters, which will reduce the overhead of clusterhead election and re-clustering and leads to an efficient hierarchical network topology

Investimento estrangeiro direto e crescimento econômico na Jordânia: uma pesquisa empírica que utiliza o teste de limites de cointegração

Este artículo investiga las elasticidades a largo y corto plazo entre el producto interno bruto y la IED en Jordania. El estudio utiliza datos anuales para analizar la relación entre la IED y el crecimiento económico para el periodo de 1992-2013. Los datos para las variables IED y PIB se obtuvieron de los Indicadores del Desarrollo Mundial y del Banco Mundial, y se utilizó el enfoque ARDL. Los resultados muestran elasticidades de largo y corto plazo en la IED y el PIB. En general, los responsables políticos de Jordania centran sus esfuerzos para atraer más IED a la economía jordana. Esto se debe a que se espera que más IED en la economía jordana conduzca a una disminución de los obstáculos económicos (por ejemplo, disminución de la tasa de desempleo y mayor nivel de inversión).Este artigo pesquisa sobre as elasticidades em curto e longo prazo entre o produto interno bruto (PIB) e o investimento estrangeiro direto (IED) na Jordânia. Este estudo utiliza dados anuais para analisar a relação entre a IED e o crescimento econômico para o período de 1992-2013. Os dados para as variáveis IED e PIB foram obtidos dos Indicadores do Desenvolvimento Mundial e do Banco Mundial, e foi utilizada a abordagem Autorregressiva com Defasagens Distribuídas (ARDL). Os resultados indicam elasticidades de curto e longo prazo no IED e no PIB. Em geral, os responsáveis políticos da Jordânia focam seus esforços para atrair mais IED à economia jordana. Isso se deve a que se espera que mais IED na economia jordana leve a uma diminuição dos obstáculos econômicos (por exemplo, diminuição da taxa de desemprego, maior nível de investimento).This paper investigates both long-run and short-run elasticities between gross domestic product and foreign direct investment (FDI) in Jordan. Annual data have been used in order to explore the relationship between foreign direct investments (FDI) with economic growth for the period 1992-2013. Data were collected for both variables (FDI and GDP) from the World Bank and World Development Indicators, and the Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model (ARDL) approach was used. The results show long-run and short-run elasticities in foreign direct investment (FDI) and GDP. The results indicate that Jordanian policy makers focus their efforts to attract more FDI to Jordanian economy. This is because more FDI is expected to lead to a decrease in economic obstacles in Jordan (e.g., increased level of investment, decreased unemployment rate)

The Role of Training Program in Administrative Creativity Achievement among Schools Principals of Directorate of Education in Tafila Governorate from Their Perspective

The study aimed to recognize the role of training program in administrative creativity achievement among schools principals of directorate of education in Tafila Governorate from their perspective. The population and the sample consisted of (83) male and female principals. The survey descriptive approach was used, and a questioner for data collection was used after checking validity and reliability. The result indicated that the role of training program in administrative creativity achievement among schools principals of directorate of education in Tafila Governorate from their perspective. Came with a high degree with mean of (3.54), and there are no statistically significant difference due to the variables of experience, gender, and training course. The result also showed that there are no statistically significant differences attributed to the variable of school level in favor of secondary school. The research recommended that the ministry of education should intrude qualitative training programs for principals to enable them in administrative creativity achievement and to keep up with development

Educational corner of the issueBasic concepts of medical genetics, pathogenetics, part 3

The Egyptian Journal of Medical Human Genetics (2013) 14, 209–21

Characteristics of Accounting Information Systems and their Impact on the Development of Corporate Financial Performance: Evidence from Jordan

The objective of this study was to uncover the characteristics of accounting information systems and their impact on the development of corporate financial performance evidence from Jordan. In order to achieve the objective of this study, the researcher applied the study tools: Measurement of the characteristics of accounting information systems and the measure of development of corporate financial performance. To confirm their psychometric properties, on a random sample of (271). The results of the study showed that the characteristics of accounting information systems as well as the development of corporate financial performance came at (average) level. The results of the study showed a positive effect on the characteristics of the accounting information systems (TA, TB, TC, TD) on the development of financial performance in the Jordanian industrial companies by (55%). The effect is in the order (TD, TB, TC and finally TA) Keywords: Financial Performance, (AISs), Jordanian industrial Shareholding Companies.

The Impact of Corporate Governance Mechanisms on Value Relevance of Accounting Information: Evidence from Jordanian

This paper seeks to examine the relationship between corporate governance and the value-relevance of accounting information in Jordan. This paper uses board, audit committee related variables to proxy for corporate governance. Value-relevance is measured by the adjusted R 2 derived from a regression of stock price on earnings and equity book values following Olson’s accounting-based valuation framework. This study used the multiple regression model. The study sample included the banking sector in Jordan, where the study period was from 2009 to 2016 The results of this study showed that there is a statistical relation between( the book value of the ordinary share, the audit committee, the board of directors' independence, and the size of the board of directors)and value relevance of accounting information. There was no statistical significance between (earnings per share, independence of the audit committee) and value relevance of accounting information. The results of the study showed that the independent variables (book value of ordinary shares, audit committee, board independence, size of the board of directors) were able to explain (81.8%) of changes in the dependent variable (the value relevance of accounting information). the variable (book value per ordinary share) alone could account for (73.8%) of the changes in the dependent variable (value relevance of accounting information), While the rest of the variables were able to interpret (8.0%) changes in the variable (the value relevance of accounting information). Overall, this study found a positive influence of corporate governance mechanisms on value relevance of accounting information for the entire firm in Bank sector in Amman Stock Exchange. Thus, it is recommended that further research be undertaken from different aspects, Different sectors and time periods. Keywords: value relevance, corporate governance, accounting informatio

The Impact of Effective Teaching Strategies and Their Obstacles in Teaching Arabic to Secondary School Students in Karak Governorate

This study aimed to reveal the impact of effective teaching strategies and their obstacles in teaching the Arabic language to secondary school students in Al-Karak Governorate. The study used the descriptive analytical approach, where an observation card and a questionnaire were used to collect data from the study sample consisting of (170) teachers. The study concluded that the degree of using effective teaching strategies and their obstacles in teaching the Arabic language curricula for secondary school students in Karak Governorate is low. In addition, the results indicated that the impact of effective teaching strategies on teaching the Arabic language among secondary school students in Karak Governorate came to a high degree. Moreover, the study found that the obstacles to practicing effective teaching strategies in Karak Governorate were high. Accordingly, the study recommended careful and organized planning for the use of effective teaching strategies, choosing the most appropriate and suitable for the topics of lessons, students' abilities and tendencies, and providing the infrastructure required for the application of effective teaching strategies, such as educational resource rooms, in addition to providing the necessary educational resources and tools for that. Keywords: Effective Teaching Strategies, Obstacles, Teaching Arabic, Secondary School Students and  Karak Governorate DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-33-03 Publication date: November 30th 202

DEVELOPMENT OF SIMULATION-BASED FRAGILITY RELATIONSHIPS FOR THE SEISMIC RISK ASSESSMENT OF BUILDINGS

A number of driving engines are required for earthquake loss estimation and mitigation, including an inventory of exposed systems, seismic hazards of the study area and fragility relationships. The number of existing buildings in the UAE that may be at risk because of insufficient seismic design provisions cannot be underestimated. A crucial role in the recovery period following an earthquake is also played by emergency facilities. Therefore, a systematic seismic vulnerability assessment of a diverse range of reference structures representing pre-seismic code buildings and emergency facilities, in a highly populated and seismically active area in the UAE, has been conducted in this study. Detailed structural design and fiberbased modeling were carried out for nine reference structures. Forty earthquake records were selected to represent potential earthquake scenarios in the study area. Three limit states, namely Immediate Occupancy, Life Safety and Collapse Prevention, were selected based on inelastic analysis results as well as the values recommended in previous studies and code provisions. Over 8000 inelastic pushover and incremental dynamic analyses are performed to assess the lateral capacity and to derive a wide range of fragility relationships for the reference structures. Vulnerability functions were also developed for the buildings that proved to have unsatisfactory performance, and hence proposed to be retrofitted using different mitigation techniques. It was concluded that pre-code structures were significantly more vulnerable than emergency facilities. This is particularly true for low-rise buildings due to their inefficient lateral force resisting systems. Far-field records have much higher impact compared with near-source ground motions. The results reflect the pressing need for the seismic retrofit of pre-code structures to reduce the probability of collapse, and for certain emergency facilities to ensure their continued vii service. Four retrofit approaches are therefore assessed, namely reinforced concrete jacketing, fiber reinforced polymers wrapping, adding buckling restrained braces and installing externally unbonded steel plates. The highest positive impact of retrofit are observed on the pre-code buildings, especially frame structures, since they were only designed to resist gravity and wind loads. The reductions achieved in the vulnerability of the retrofitted structures confirmed the effectiveness of the techniques selected for upgrading the seismic performance of buildings and mitigating earthquake losses in the study area