Prevalence of smoking among male secondary school students in Arar City, Saudi Arabia

Introduction: tobacco is one of the leading preventable cause of death worldwide. Tobacco consumption among teenagers is a major public health problem, especially in developing countries. Younger smokers are more liable to smoking complications. The objectives were to evaluate the prevalence of smoking among male secondary school students in the Northern Borders region, KSA. Methods: a cross-sectional study was conducted in Arar city. Four schools were chosen randomly from 21 secondary schools. A total of 240 students responded to the pre-designed questionnaire. The questionnaire included questions on demographic factors, smoking behavior and knowledge about smoking hazards. Results: prevalence of current smoking among male secondary school students is 40.8%. Cigarette smoking was the most common type (67.3%) followed by Shish smoking(22.4%). Few students (2.1%) reported other forms of smoking, example (Hashish). Of the studied group, 39.8% smoke on a daily basis with 29.6% of them smoke more than five cigarettes per day. Conclusion: smoking is a prevalent habit among teenagers. Special concern should be directed to smoking cessation campaigns with behavioral, legal and economic interventions

Evaluation Of Statin Association With Hba1c Control, Cognitive Function And Healthcare Professional's Awareness Of Statin Usage Among Diabetic Patients In Penang

Due to the challenging nature of teaching English as second language (ESL) learners, ESL instructors are constantly looking for fresh idea and innovative teaching materials as one of the means to enhance the teaching and learning. In harmony with today’s technology driven world, the incorporation of video into the lessons is one of the instances. As the leading and web’s largest video sharing website, YouTube is increasingly being used by ESL instructors as a pedagogical resource. In this research, an advocate of this practice was identified and her experience in using YouTube as a resource to facilitate ESL teaching and learning in a Malaysian higher learning institution context was explored. Since her ESL learners were also directly involved, their experiences of undergoing lessons which incorporated YouTube were discovered as well. Conducted in a full qualitative manner, the experiences were uncovered through a series of journal entries by the ESL instructor and seven of her learners as well as in-depth interviews with them. A number of classroom observations of the lessons were also carried out to further examine the implementation. Through thematic data analysis, the findings demonstrated the potential of YouTube incorporation in the lessons in fostering a creative, borderless and authentic ESL teaching and learning. Moreover, the impacts as perceived by the participants indicated the potential of its incorporation in enhancing the ESL learners’ language skills as well as the motivation in learning the language. Unexpectedly, the learners were found to learn not only content based knowledge yet also technological and life related skills. Furthermore, another unique finding is the continuous practice despite the challenges and difficulties faced by the participants. The drawbacks discovered in this very research, in a way, suggested rooms for improvements. The recommendations drawn from the conclusions and implications of the study would hopefully implicate the ESL pedagogical practice and future research positively

Noise-robust preparation contextuality shared between any number of observers via unsharp measurements

Multiple observers who independently harvest nonclassical correlations from a single physical system share the system's ability to enable quantum correlations. We show that any number of independent observers can share the preparation contextual outcome statistics enabled by state ensembles in quantum theory. Furthermore, we show that even in the presence of any amount of white noise, there exists quantum ensembles that enable such shared preparation contextuality. The findings are experimentally realised by applying sequential unsharp measurements to an optical qubit ensemble which reveals three shared demonstrations of preparation contextuality.Comment: H. A. and N. W. contributed equally to this wor

Effects of sowing date and intercropping on yield, yield components and oil content of sunflower and groundnut in a desert environment in northern Sudan

    The summer season in the Northern State, Sudan, is characterized by its limited field activities. The present and future expansion of agricultural production is targeted in desert plain soils away from the River Nile bank. This study was conducted during seasons 2014/15 and 2015/16 with the objectives of determining the effects of sowing date and intercropping system on yield, yield components and oil content of sunflower and groundnut. Split-plot design with randomized complete arrangement with four replicates was used. The main plots were assigned to the three sowing date namely: 1st June, 1st July and 1st August. The sub-plots were assigned to intercropping system: viz: sole cropped and intercropping (two rows of groundnut alternate with two rows of sunflower). The interaction between sowing date and intercropping had a significant (p ≤ 0.05) effect on yield component, total yield and oil content of both crops in both seasons. The highest seed yield was obtained by intercropped sunflower and sole groundnut for 1st June and 1st August, respectively. The highest oil content was attained by intercropped groundnut and sole sunflower, respectively, for 1st August.  First June sowing date resulted in the best land equivalent ratio in both seasons. Based on these results, to obtain high seed yield of high oil content, it could be recommended that 1st of June and 1st of August were optimum sowing dates for sunflower and groundnut, respectively in the desert environment of north Sudan. It was also recommended to intercrop sunflower with groundnut and sow them on the first of June for the highest LER.   النشاط الزراعي محدود جدا في الموسم الصيفي بالولاية الشمالية في السودان.  وأن التوسع الحالي والمستقبلي في الرقعة الزراعية يستهدف أراضي السهل الصحراوي والتروس العليا البعيدة عن حوض نهر النيل. نفذت هذه التجربة في المناخ الجاف علي تربة السهل الصحراوي في الولاية الشمالية في الموسم الصيفي 2014/15 و2015/16 بهدف تحديد أثر تاريخ الزراعة ونظام الزراعة البينية علي الإنتاجية ومكوناتها وكمية الزيت لمحصولي زهرة الشمس والفول السوداني. نظمت المعاملات إحصائيا باستخدام تصميم القطع المنشقة مع القطاعات العشوائية الكاملة بأربعة مكررات. حيث وضع في القطع الرئيسية ثلاثة تواريخ زراعة (1/6 و1/ 7 و1/8) وفي القطع الثانوية نظام الزراعة البينية: حيث زرع المحصول الواحد بمفرده والمحصولين مع بعض في زراعة بينية (صفان من الفول السوداني يَتناوبانِ مع صفين من زهرة الشمس). أظهرت النتائج أن التداخل بين تاريخ الزراعة والزراعة البينية كان له تأثير معنوي على مكونات الإنتاج والإنتاجية وكمية الزيت لكلا المحصولين في كلا الموسمين. أعلى إنتاجية بذور تحققت للزراعة البينية لزهرة الشمس ولمحصول الفول السوداني منفردا عند زراعتهما في تواريخ الأول من يونيو والأول من أغسطس على التوالي. أعلى نسبة زيت تحققت لمحصولي زهرة الشمس منفردا وللزراعة البينية للفول السوداني عند ما نفذت الزراعة بتاريخ الأول من أغسطس. قيمة مؤشر نسبة الأرض المكافئ أعلي من الرقم واحد في كل تواريخ الزراعة، وتاريخ أول يونيو أعطي أفضل مكافئ في الموسمين علي التوالي. للحصول على أعلى إنتاجية بذور ونسبة زيت لمحصولي زهرة الشمس والفول السوداني توصي الدراسة بأن الأول من يونيو  والأول  من أغسطس هي الأمثل لزراعة محصولي زهرة الشمس والفول السوداني علي التوالي في البيئة الصحراوية بشمال السودان, كما توصي أيضا بأن الزراعة البينية لزهرة الشمس والفول السوداني في أول يونيو هي الأفضل في استغلال الأرض. &nbsp

Cu, Ni and Zn Phytoremediation and Translocation by Water Hyacinth Plant at Different Aquatic Environments

Abstract: The ability of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms.) to absorb and translocate copper (Cu), nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn) was studied at three different aquatic environments (River Nile, agricultural drain & mixed industrial and agricultural drain). Results showed that at all the studied locations, Cu, Ni and Zn were more accumulated in water hyacinth roots; their concentrations in the roots were 2 to17 times higher than in the shoots. Trace metals accumulation in root tissues was found to be in the order of Zn > Cu > Ni. Maximum values of bioconcentration factor (BCF) for Cu, Ni and Zn in water hyacinth roots were 1344.6, 1250.0 and 22758.6 respectively, indicating that the accumulation potential of Zn by water hyacinth is higher than that for Cu and Ni. Translocation ability (TA) is the ratio between the concentration of a trace element accumulated in root tissues by that accumulated in shoot tissues; a larger ratio implies poorer translocation capability. In this study the ratio results were in the order of Ni > Cu > Zn revealing that Zn is more mobile from roots to shoots than Cu & Ni. Highest concentrations of Cu, Ni and Zn in water were recorded at the mixed industrial and agricultural drain; this was accompanied by the highest accumulation of the three metals in roots of water hyacinths collected from this drain, suggesting that metal content of water hyacinth roots can serve as good bioindicator of metal pollutaion at different aquatic environments. Based on BCF values of the three metals in plant roots, water hyacinth can be primarily utilized as a good phytoaccumulator of Zn followed by Cu then by Ni. Statistical analysis showed positive significant correlations between the trace metals concentrations in ambient water and their accumulation and bioconcentration in roots and shoots of water hyacinth plant

Yarn carrier apparatus for braiding machines and the like

A yarn carrier apparatus particularly suited for use in braiding machinery or the like due to its capability of continuous yarn feeding and retraction of long lengths of yarn. The yarn carrier apparatus comprises a yarn supply spool which is rotatably mounted within the housing, a spring motor also mounted within the housing and operatively connected to the yarn supply spool through a mechanical transmission assembly which is adapted to multiply rotational movement between the first element of the gear assembly operatively connected to the spring motor and the final element of the gear assembly operatively connected to the yarn supply spool. The spring motor is adapted to tension the yarn during both feeding and retraction thereof, and it is further adapted to periodically rotatably slip within the housing and partially unwind so as to allow for continuous withdrawal of a long length of yarn without the spring motor becoming fully wound and preventing further yarn retraction

Deletion and Grammatical Appreciation in the Nouns Mentioned in (Sharh Al-Radi on Al-Kafia, 686 A.H.

The research is to show and clarify the term grammatical assessment by one of the prominent Arab grammarians, namely Al-Radhi in his book ``Sharh Al-Radhi on Al Kafiah,'' which is an explanation of the sufficient text by Ibn Al-Hajeb. Either it is nominative, accusative, or protracted, and here we have devoted our research to studying the grammatical estimation in the accusative nouns only, whether or not he has two rights. Keywords: deletion, appreciation, grammar, Radhi, Shafiy