A field study to restricted poisonous wild plants grown in Al-Kharj region, Saudi Arabia

This study was aimed to define and collect different poisonous plant species that grow in Al-Kharj region, Saudi Arabia and are detrimental to human and livestock. A total of 16 plant species belonging to 12 families were recorded in the current study. These plants were met through surveys conducted by herbalists and smart citizens with skills and experience in the field of toxic plants in the region. For each species reported, botanical and vernacular names, families, and toxic principles are recognized. The most dominant and widespread toxic flowering plants reported in the studied area were the clan of Calotropis procera and Rhazya stricta. Other less widespread poisonous plants such as Citrullus colocynthis, Heliotropium bacciferum, Cassia italica, Alhagi maurorum, Capparis spinosa, Tribulus terrestris and Euphorbia helioscopia as well as Convolvulus arvensis, Zygophyllum coccineum were also observed

Memory Efficient Scheduling for Multicore Real-time Systems

Modern real-time systems are becoming increasingly complex and requiring significant computational power to meet their demands. Since the increase in uniprocessor speed has slowed down in the last decade, multicore processors are now the preferred way to supply the increased performance demand of real-time systems. A significant amount of work in the real-time community has focused on scheduling solutions for multicore processors for both sequential and parallel real-time tasks. Even though such solutions are able to provide strict timing guarantees on the overall response time of real-time tasks, they rely on the assumption that the worst-case execution time (WCET) of each individual task is known. However, physical shared resources such as main memory and I/O are heavily employed in multicore processors. These resources are limited and therefore subject to contention. In fact, the execution time of one task when run in parallel with other tasks is significantly larger than the execution time of the same task when run in isolation. In addition, the presence of shared resources increases the timing unpredictability due to the conflicts generated by multiple cores. As a result, the adoption of multicore processors for real-time systems is dependent upon solving such sources of unpredictability. In this dissertation, we investigate memory bus contention. In particular, two main problems are associated with memory contention: (1) unpredictable behavior and (2) hindrance of performance. We show how to mitigate these two problems through scheduling. Scheduling is an attractive tool that can be easily integrated into the system without the need for hardware modifications. We adopt an execution model that exposes memory as a resource to the scheduling algorithm. Thus, the theory of real-time multiprocessor scheduling, that has seen significant advances in recent years, can be utilized to schedule both processor cores and memory. Since the real-time workload on multicore processors can be modeled as sequential or parallel tasks, we also study parallel task scheduling by taking memory time into account

Expansion dataset COVID-19 chest X-ray using data augmentation and histogram equalization

The main important factor that plays vital role in success the deep learning is the deep training by many and many images, if neural networks are getting bigger and bigger but the training datasets are not, then it sounds like going to hit an accuracy wall. Briefly, this paper investigates the current state of the art of approaches used for a data augmentation for expansion the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) chest X-ray images using different data augmentation methods (transformation and enhancement) the dataset expansion helps to rise numbers of images from 138 to 5520, the increasing rate is 3,900%, this proposed model can be used to expand any type of image dataset, in addition, the dataset have used with convolutional neural network (CNN) model to make classification if detected infection with COVID-19 in X-ray, the results have gotten high training accuracy=99

A Survey on Cache Management Mechanisms for Real-Time Embedded Systems

© ACM, 2015. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in ACM Computing Surveys, {48, 2, (November 2015)} http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2830555Multicore processors are being extensively used by real-time systems, mainly because of their demand for increased computing power. However, multicore processors have shared resources that affect the predictability of real-time systems, which is the key to correctly estimate the worst-case execution time of tasks. One of the main factors for unpredictability in a multicore processor is the cache memory hierarchy. Recently, many research works have proposed different techniques to deal with caches in multicore processors in the context of real-time systems. Nevertheless, a review and categorization of these techniques is still an open topic and would be very useful for the real-time community. In this article, we present a survey of cache management techniques for real-time embedded systems, from the first studies of the field in 1990 up to the latest research published in 2014. We categorize the main research works and provide a detailed comparison in terms of similarities and differences. We also identify key challenges and discuss future research directions.King Saud University NSER

Will novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic impact agriculture, food security and animal sectors?

The whole world is in a great danger due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In December 2019, the outbreak of COVID-19 took place in Wuhan, China and then rapidly spread all over the world. The current study provides potential expectations for the adverse impact of (COVID-19). The global infection affected globe on agricultural level such as agriculture, food supplies and animal production sectors. Till today, 29th April 2020, there is no vaccine available for treating novel coronavirus, consequently, the outbreak resulted in closing borders and reducing production following social distancing measures. This short communication illustrates the possible implications and expected outcomes of the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) on agricultural, food security, integrated pest management (IPM), animal productivity; and it predicts, as well, the possible adverse impacts on the economy worldwide. Brazil has one of the most important tropical agriculture in the world, being a leader in soybean production in the world. This chain impacts others such as meat and eggs. The impact of COVID-19 will be positive, encouraging the country to consolidate its leadership in the world market, stimulating exports, the machinery, inputs and fertilizers market, as well as generating employment and income in the country

International Financial Reporting Standards adoption strategies effects on supply chain management, corruption and accounting quality: international evidence

The empirical literature on the effects of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption strategies on supply chain management and accounting quality focuses on more IFRS enforcement strategy. Limited studies have, in particular, examined IFRS modification strategy in relationship with accounting quality. In this regard, this paper investigates the impacts of different IFRS adoption strategies on accounting quality. The mediating effect of control of corruption on the relation between different IFRS adoption strategies on accounting quality is also examined. The paper uses the two step system GMM estimator with a sample of 35 countries for the periods that span from 2013 to 2017. The findings reveal that different IFRS adoption strategies have significant influences on accounting quality. The different IFRS adoption strategies, namely enforcement and modification are positively associated with accounting quality with measure of timely loss recognition (?1 = 0.190, p < 0.001) and (?2 = 0.189, p < 0.001), respectively. These findings are consistent with the prior studies. The findings underline the importance of distinction between different IFRS adoption strategies. Furthermore, control of corruption is found to mediate the associations between different IFRS adoption strategies and quality of accounting, indicating accounting quality is related to control of corruption, which in turn is affected by both IFRS enforcement and modification strategies. Additionally, the accounting quality is strongly improved by IFRS enforcement and modification through the control of corruption as mediation. This implies that the control of corruption in a given nation by consdring the SCM, improves in accounting quality more than IFRS adoption strategies. These findings provide flesh insights to stakeholders and contribute to accounting quality literature

Does shared decision making increase prostate screening uptake in countries with a low prevalence of prostate cancer?

Background: Men over 50 should discuss the benefits and harms of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing with their doctors. Objectives: To investigate whether shared decision making (SDM) increases the uptake of prostate cancer screening practices among Saudi men. Methods: This community-based study recruited men aged 65 50 years between January and April 2019. Sociodemographic characteristics, history, and current medical condition information were collected. SDM information with regards to prostate cancer screening was discussed. Results: In total, 2034 Saudi men, aged between 50 and 88 years, agreed to participate in the current study. Prostate examination for early detection of cancer was recommended for 35.4% (720) of subjects. Of the subjects, 23.3% (473) reported that the physicians discussed the advantages and benefits of PSA testing, whereas only 5.6% (114) stated that the physicians explained the disadvantages and drawbacks of PSA testing. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that less than one fourth discussed the advantages and disadvantages of PSA testing with their physicians; of these, less than one third underwent PSA blood tests. Improvements are needed in SDM for and against PSA screening. SDM does not affect the intensity of PSA testing. Primary health care physicians should be actively involved in the SDM process

Improving Plant Growth, Seed Yield, and Quality of Faba Bean by Integration of Bio-Fertilizers with Biogas Digestate

Exploring environmentally eco-friendly approaches to enhance crop growth and productivity are essential for sustainable agriculture. Therefore, a field trial was conducted during two growing seasons to study the effects of synthetic (nitrogen, N; phosphorus, P; and potassium, K), biogas digestate (BioD), bio-fertilizer (BioF), and their combinations on the growth, yield, and seed quality of faba bean (Vicia faba L.). The number of treatments was seven, as follows: control (zero NPK), NPK (30 kg N ha&minus;1; 45 kg P2O5 ha&minus;1: 48 kg K2O ha&minus;1) as the recommended dose, BioD (2 t ha&minus;1), BioF (plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria; 1 kg ha&minus;1), 50% NPK + 50% BioD, 50% NPK + 50% BioF, and 50% BioD + 50% BioF. The results indicated that all fertilizer sources and their combinations improved the growth, seed yield, and quality of faba bean. However, the highest increase in plant height, leaf area, dry leaf weight, and stem dry weight of faba bean was recorded for the combined application of 50% BioD + 50% BioF. Moreover, the BioD +BioF fertilization enhanced the number of branches, number of seeds, 100 seed weight, and seed yield of faba bean. Similarly, BioD + BioF fertilization enhanced the total chlorophyll and N, P, and K contents of faba bean leaves. BioD fertilization also increased seed quality traits such as N, P, protein, and carbohydrate contents. The outcomes of BioD + BioF fertilization on growth yield and quality parameters of faba bean suggest that the concurrent application of biogas digestate with bio-fertilizer can reduce synthetic fertilizers

Nano-Hydroxyapatite and ZnO-NPs Mitigate Pb Stress in Maize

Heavy metals (HMs) stress, particularly lead (Pb) stress, is one of the most hazardous environmental stresses that can negatively affect plants’ growth, yield, and quality. Therefore, the effects of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs; 50 mg L−1), nano-hydroxyapatite (HP-NPs; 50 mg kg−1), and their combination on growth, physiological, and yield traits of maize grown in soil contaminated with Pb (i.e., 100 mg kg−1) were investigated. The results showed that Pb stress significantly reduced plant leaf area by 50.9% at 40 days after sowing (DAS), 55.5% at 70 DAS, and 54.2% at 100 DAS in comparison to the unstressed plants (control). However, the combined application of ZnO-NPs (50 mg L−1) + HP-NPs (50 mg kg−1) reduced the adverse effects of Pb on plant growth in terms of increasing leaf area by 117.6% in plants grown in Pb-contaminated soil (100 mg kg−1). Similarly, the combined application of ZnO-NPs + HP-NPs resulted in increments in the total chlorophyll content by 47.1%, photosynthesis rate by 255.1%, and stomatal conductance by 380% in comparison to that obtained from maize stressed with Pb. On the other hand, antioxidants such as sodium dismutase (SOD; 87.1%), peroxidase (POX; 90.8%), and catalase (CAT; 146%), and proline content (116%) were significantly increased as a result of Pb stress compared to unstressed plants. Moreover, N, P, K, and Zn contents in the whole plant grown under Pb stress were decreased by 38.7%, 69.9%, 46.8%, and 82.1%, respectively, compared to those obtained from the control. Whereas the combined treatment of ZnO-NPs (50 mg L−1) + HP-NPs (50 mg kg−1) resulted in increased uptake of plant nutrients and, consequently, the highest values of ear weight, grain yield, and harvest index were obtained. Furthermore, the combined application of HP-NPs + ZnO-NPs in contaminated soil reduced Pb uptake in plant biomass by 77.6% and grains by 90.21% in plants exposed to Pb stress. In conclusion, the combined application of ZnO-NPs and HP-NPs significantly improved growth, physiological traits, antioxidants, and yield as well as elemental uptake of maize grown under Pb stress