Impact of Programming Features on Code Readability

Readability is one important quality attributes for software source codes. Readability has also significant relation or impact with other quality attributes such as: reusability, maintainability, reliability, complexity, and portability metrics. This research develops a novel approach called Impact of Programming Features on Code Readability (IPFCR), to examine the influence of various programming features and the effect of these features on code readability. A code Readability Tool (CRT) is developed to evaluate the IPFCR readability features or attributes. In order to assess the level if impact that each one of the 25 proposed readability features may have, positively or negatively on the overall code readability, a survey was distributed to a random number of expert programmers. These experts evaluated the effect of each feature on code readability, based on their knowledge or experience. Expert programmers have evaluated readability features to be ordered then classified into positive and negative factors based on their impact on code readability or understanding. The survey responses were analyzed using SPSS statistical tool. Most of proposed code features showed to have significantly positive impact on enhancing readability including: meaningful names, consistency, and comments. On the other hand, fewer features such as arithmetic formulas, nested loops, and recursive functions showed to have a negative impact. Finally, few features showed to have neutral impact on readability

Assessing the Psychological and Social Impacts of the Refugee Crisis on Members of the Refugees-Hosting Community: A Survey Study of the Jordan Community

ملخص: هدف البحث الحالي إلى تقييم الآثار النفسيّة والاجتماعية النّاتجة عن أزمة اللجوء لدى أفراد المجتمعات المستضيفة للاجئين، وقد تكوّنت عيّنة الدّراسة من (3152) فرداً، تمّ اختيارهم بالطريقة المتيسرة.ولتحقيق هدف الدراسة، تم تطوير مقياس الآثار النفسية والاجتماعية الذي تألف من (42) فقرة بحيث وزّعتْ على مجالين هما: (الآثار النفسية، والآثار الاجتماعية).وأظهرت نتائج الدراسة أنّ مستوى الآثار النفسية كان منخفضاً؛ بينما جاء مستوى الآثار الاجتماعية بدرجة متوسطة، كما أظهرت النتائج وجود فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية في الآثار النفسية تعزى لمتغيرات الجنس، العمر، وطبيعة العمل، وعدم وجود فروق دالة إحصائيًا تعزى لمتغير مستوى التعليم. في حين أظهرت النتائج وجود فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية للآثار الاجتماعية تعزى لمتغيرات الجنس، والعمر، وعدم وجود فروق دالة إحصائيًا تعزى لمتغيرات مستوى التعليم، وطبيعة العمل. وأوصى الباحثون بضرورة تبني نهج مؤسسي تخصصي للاهتمام بالصحة النفسية لأفراد المجتمع الأردني، والعمل على استحداث برامج للتأهيل المهني والاجتماعي للباحثين عن عمل.Abstract: The current research aimed to assess the psychological and social impacts on Jordanian. The Convenience sample consisted of (3152)To achieve the aim of the study, measure were developed to the psychosocial and social impact scale, which consists of (42) items, The results shown that the psychological effects are low, and social effects are moderate. The results also shown a significance difference on psychological effects to gender and age and work, but there were no significance differences on education level. The results also shown a significance difference on social effects to gender and age, but there is no a significance differences on education level and work. So, The researchers recommend to adopting a specialized institutional approach to take care of Jordanian's mental health, and working on rehabilitating the unemployed individuals functionally, psychologically and socially

Numerical study of nonlinear heat transfer from a wavy surface to a high permeability medium with pseudo-spectral and smoothed particle methods

Motivated by petro-chemical geological systems, we consider the natural convection boundary layer flow from a vertical isothermal wavy surface adjacent to a saturated non-Darcian high permeability porous medium. High permeability is considered to represent geologically sparsely packed porous media. Both Darcian drag and Forchheimer inertial drag terms are included in the velocity boundary layer equation. A high permeability medium is considered. We employ a sinusoidal relation for the wavy surface. Using a set of transformations, the momentum and heat conservation equations are converted from an (x, y) coordinate system to an (x,η) dimensionless system. The two-point boundary value problem is then solved numerically with a pseudo-spectral method based on combining the Bellman–Kalaba quasi linearization method with the Chebyschev spectral collocation technique (SQLM). The SQLM computations are demonstrated to achieve excellent correlation with smoothed particle hydrodynamic (SPH) Lagrangian solutions. We study the effect of Darcy number (Da), Forchheimer number (Fs), amplitude wavelength (A) and Prandtl number (Pr) on the velocity and temperature distributions in the regime. Local Nusselt number is also computed for selected cases. The study finds important applications in petroleum engineering and also energy systems exploiting porous media and undulating (wavy) surface geometry. The SQLM algorithm is shown to be exceptionally robust and achieves fast convergence and excellent accuracy in nonlinear heat transfer simulations

Past, present and future mathematical models for buildings (i)

This is the first of two articles presenting a detailed review of the historical evolution of mathematical models applied in the development of building technology, including conventional buildings and intelligent buildings. After presenting the technical differences between conventional and intelligent buildings, this article reviews the existing mathematical models, the abstract levels of these models, and their links to the literature for intelligent buildings. The advantages and limitations of the applied mathematical models are identified and the models are classified in terms of their application range and goal. We then describe how the early mathematical models, mainly physical models applied to conventional buildings, have faced new challenges for the design and management of intelligent buildings and led to the use of models which offer more flexibility to better cope with various uncertainties. In contrast with the early modelling techniques, model approaches adopted in neural networks, expert systems, fuzzy logic and genetic models provide a promising method to accommodate these complications as intelligent buildings now need integrated technologies which involve solving complex, multi-objective and integrated decision problems

Past, present and future mathematical models for buildings (ii)

This article is the second part of a review of the historical evolution of mathematical models applied in the development of building technology. The first part described the current state of the art and contrasted various models with regard to the applications to conventional buildings and intelligent buildings. It concluded that mathematical techniques adopted in neural networks, expert systems, fuzzy logic and genetic models, that can be used to address model uncertainty, are well suited for modelling intelligent buildings. Despite the progress, the possible future development of intelligent buildings based on the current trends implies some potential limitations of these models. This paper attempts to uncover the fundamental limitations inherent in these models and provides some insights into future modelling directions, with special focus on the techniques of semiotics and chaos. Finally, by demonstrating an example of an intelligent building system with the mathematical models that have been developed for such a system, this review addresses the influences of mathematical models as a potential aid in developing intelligent buildings and perhaps even more advanced buildings for the future

Healthy dietary patterns decrease the risk of colorectal cancer in the Mecca Region, Saudi Arabia: a case-control study

Abstract Background Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the first most common cancer in males and the third most common cancer in females in Saudi Arabia. Dietary habits are strongly associated with the inhibition or proliferation of malignancy. Therefore, this study is aiming to investigate the risks and protective benefits of dietary factors affecting CRC in the Mecca region of Saudi Arabia. Methods A case-control study was conducted from June 2014 to March 2015. One hundred thirty-seven patients with colon and/or rectal cancer were recruited in the case group, while 164 healthy participants were recruited in the control group. A questionnaire was completed with the help of trained dietitians to study the effects of several dietary patterns on the risk of CRC. Results Dairy product intake of 1–5 servings/day, legume intake of 3–5 servings/week, leafy vegetables intake of 1–5 servings/week, olive oil intake of 1–5 servings/week, black tea intake of three or more cups/day, and coffee intake of one or more cups/day was found to decrease the risk of CRC in participants. Conclusion This study highlights the importance of changing dietary habits to decrease CRC incidence in the Mecca region