Molecular characterization of staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec and virulence encoding genes in methicillin-resistant staphylococci at a medical center in Lebanon

Background: Methicillin-resistant staphylococci (MRS) are major human pathogens accounting for most hospital-acquired (HA) and community acquired (CA) infections worldwide. The recent increase in MRS in a medical center in Lebanon elicited the determination of SCCmec types, genotypes, and prevalence of Panton-Valentine leucociden (PVL) and toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1) among the MRS isolates.   Methods: Thirty-six MRS isolates collected between October 2010 and September 2011 at a medical center, Lebanon were typed using phenotypic and genotypic methods. Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined using the disk diffusion agar method. SCCmec typing was performed by multiplex PCR and sequence analysis. The prevalence of the genes encoding PVL and TSST-1 virulence factors and their transcription levels, were determined respectively by PCR and semi-quantitative real-time PCR. The genomic relatedness of the isolates was assessed by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis.Results: Antimicrobial susceptibility revealed three distinct antibiotypes. The predominant SCCmec type found among the MRS isolates was type IVa (51%). Twenty-nine percent harbored SCCmec type III and 14% harbored SCCmec type II. One isolate harbored SCCmec type IVc, and another  harbored SCCmec type I. All methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates were negative for the gene encoding for PVL, and two were positive for the gene encoding for TSST-1. RAPD analysis demonstrated high genomic diversity among the MRS isolates.Conclusion: This study demonstrated the SCCmec types and the clonality of the MRS strains, allowing the differentiation between HA and CA-MRS strains. CA-MRS have  increased  in the hospital environment and rendered highly resistant to erythromycin and clindamycin

Game-based student e-learning experience: Empirical evidence from private universities in Jordan

This study investigates the impact of game-based (gamification) e-Learning techniques on students' engagement, thereby, their satisfaction with e-learning in Jordanian private universities. A conceptual model was developed based on existing empirical evidence from the literature. Data was then collected through a self-administered questionnaire survey from 198 private university students, who were conveniently selected for the study. The data was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with smart PLS 23. Data analysis revealed a positive effect of gamification on both student engagement and satisfaction, suggesting that incorporating gaming elements into the e-learning process in Jordanian private universities led to higher levels of student engagement, thereby greater student satisfaction with the e-learning experience. A mediating role was also found for student engagement on the effect of gamification on student satisfaction. The findings provide insights to practitioners on how gamification can be utilized as an effective strategy to deliver a more enjoyable and interactive e-learning experience. Research findings were discussed, and conclusions and implications were lastly provided

The Effect of Strategic Prowess on Job Performance—A Sample of the Directors of the Iraqi Media Network

The current research aims to identify the nature of the Iraqi media network’s practice of strategic prowess and job performance, as well as to test the correlation of the impact of strategic prowess as an independent influencing variable in job performance as a dependent variable directly affected, and given the scarcity of studies that attempted to identify and identify the nature of the correlation between the three research variables in their form direct and indirect in the Iraqi environment, add to this the researcher’s attempt to examine and address a real and realistic problem that directly affects the Iraqi media network.However, the research adopted the intentional stratified sampling method for a population of network managers 250 individuals. The researcher utilized the Thompson equation and Mascheran’s table for small samples. The size of the research sample was 160, and the questionnaire was distributed to them, from which the researcher retrieved 146 which was valid for statistical analysis with a response rate 91.25%, And for this purpose, statistical tools and methods were utilized in analyzing the practical part of the search (arithmetic mean, standard deviation, Pearson correlation coefficient, simple and multiple regression method, path analysis, Sobel test), and they were analyzed by the statistical program (SPSS V.26 & AMOS V 26), in addition to the descriptive and analytical approach through polling opinions and interviews, so it was the main tool in data collection (the questionnaire), and the research reached the most prominent results represented by the existence of direct correlation between strategic prowess and job performance, and the research contributed to providing the Iraqi and Arab library with the theoretical part In an attempt to bridge the knowledge gap in the interpretation of variables.

Analysis of Lightweight Cryptographic Algorithms on IoT Hardware Platform

Highly constrained devices that are interconnected and interact to complete a task are being used in a diverse range of new fields. The Internet of Things (IoT), cyber-physical systems, distributed control systems, vehicular systems, wireless sensor networks, tele-medicine, and the smart grid are a few examples of these fields. In any of these contexts, security and privacy might be essential aspects. Research on secure communication in Internet of Things (IoT) networks is a highly contested topic. One method for ensuring secure data transmission is cryptography. Because IoT devices have limited resources, such as power, memory, and batteries, IoT networks have boosted the term “lightweight cryptography”. Algorithms for lightweight cryptography are designed to efficiently protect data while using minimal resources. In this research, we evaluated and benchmarked lightweight symmetric ciphers for resource-constrained devices. The evaluation is performed using two widely used platform: Arduino and Raspberry Pi. In the first part, we implemented 39 block ciphers on an ATMEGA328p microcontroller and analyzed them in the terms of speed, cost, and energy efficiency during encryption and decryption for different block and key sizes. In the second part, the 2nd-round NIST candidates (80 stream and block cipher algorithms) were added to the first-part ciphers in a comprehensive analysis for equivalent block and key sizes in the terms of latency and energy efficiency

A Survey of Internet of Things (IoT) Authentication Schemes

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the ability to provide everyday devices with a way of identification and another way for communication with each other. The spectrum of IoT application domains is very large including smart homes, smart cities, wearables, e-health, etc. Consequently, tens and even hundreds of billions of devices will be connected. Such devices will have smart capabilities to collect, analyze and even make decisions without any human interaction. Security is a supreme requirement in such circumstances, and in particular authentication is of high interest given the damage that could happen from a malicious unauthenticated device in an IoT system. This paper gives a near complete and up-to-date view of the IoT authentication field. It provides a summary of a large range of authentication protocols proposed in the literature. Using a multi-criteria classification previously introduced in our work, it compares and evaluates the proposed authentication protocols, showing their strengths and weaknesses, which constitutes a fundamental first step for researchers and developers addressing this domain

Openflow and on demand networks

International audienceThe exponential growth of the Internet and the diversity of services delivered to the end users, such as Cloud computing, have catalyzed researches on new generation networks. Hence, several proposals have been made to change the network applications and Internet media; in particular network virtualization is in the center of research interest. It is widely considered given its ability of dynamic programming, energy saving and low cost. This promising paradigm boosts different researches in literature. Openflow, AKARI and 4 ward projects are concrete examples. They follow common approaches of virtualization but with different characteristics. In this paper, we present an analysis and comparison between these projects. We mainly focus on Openflow solution to validate on demand virtual network architecture based on the Mininet simulator. This work is part of the On-Demand research project sponsored by European Regional Development Fund

The implementation of prioritization exercises in the development and update of health practice guidelines: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND:The development of trustworthy guidelines requires substantial investment of resources and time. This highlights the need to prioritize topics for guideline development and update. OBJECTIVE:To systematically identify and describe prioritization exercises that have been conducted for the purpose of the de novo development, update or adaptation of health practice guidelines. METHODS:We searched Medline and CINAHL electronic databases from inception to July 2019, supplemented by hand-searching Google Scholar and the reference lists of relevant studies. We included studies describing prioritization exercises that have been conducted during the de novo development, update or adaptation of guidelines addressing clinical, public health or health systems topics. Two reviewers worked independently and in duplicate to complete study selection and data extraction. We consolidated findings in a semi-quantitative and narrative way. RESULTS:Out of 33,339 identified citations, twelve studies met the eligibility criteria. All included studies focused on prioritizing topics; none on questions or outcomes. While three exercises focused on updating guidelines, nine were on de novo development. All included studies addressed clinical topics. We adopted a framework that categorizes prioritization into 11 steps clustered in three phases (pre-prioritization, prioritization and post-prioritization). Four studies covered more than half of the 11 prioritization steps across the three phases. The most frequently reported steps for generating initial list of topics were stakeholders' input (n = 8) and literature review (n = 7). The application of criteria to determine research priorities was used in eight studies. We used and updated a common framework of 22 prioritization criteria, clustered in 6 domains. The most frequently reported criteria related to the health burden of disease (n = 9) and potential impact of the intervention on health outcomes (n = 5). All the studies involved health care providers in the prioritization exercises. Only one study involved patients. There was a variation in the number and type of the prioritization exercises' outputs. CONCLUSIONS:This review included 12 prioritization exercises that addressed different aspects of priority setting for guideline development and update that can guide the work of researchers, funders, and other stakeholders seeking to prioritize guideline topics