Utilization of Cement Incorporated with Water Treatment Sludge

This study investigated the use of water treatment sludge to replace cement in the production of paving tiles for external use. The study utilized sludge-cement replacement percentages of 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%. Produced tiles were tested for water absorption and breaking (bending) strength. Leaching of sludge metals from tiles was assessed using TCLP. The study showed that all produced tiles exhibited a water absorption ratio of around 10%. The study concluded that produced tiles, except for 50% sludge-cement replacement, comply with the breaking strength requirements of 2.8 MPa for tiles for external use. The TCLP results indicated that metal leaching from tiles is negligible

Artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine, current applications and future role with special emphasis on its potential and promise in pathology: Present and future impact, obstacles including costs and acceptance among pathologists, practical and philosophical considerations. A comprehensive review

Background: The role of Artificial intelligence (AI) which is defined as the ability of computers to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence is constantly expanding. Medicine was slow to embrace AI. However, the role of AI in medicine is rapidly expanding and promises to revolutionize patient care in the coming years. In addition, it has the ability to democratize high level medical care and make it accessible to all parts of the world.Main text: Among specialties of medicine, some like radiology were relatively quick to adopt AI whereas others especially pathology (and surgical pathology in particular) are only just beginning to utilize AI. AI promises to play a major role in accurate diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of cancers. In this paper, the general principles of AI are defined first followed by a detailed discussion of its current role in medicine. In the second half of this comprehensive review, the current and future role of AI in surgical pathology is discussed in detail including an account of the practical difficulties involved and the fear of pathologists of being replaced by computer algorithms. A number of recent studies which demonstrate the usefulness of AI in the practice of surgical pathology are highlighted.Conclusion: AI has the potential to transform the practice of surgical pathology by ensuring rapid and accurate results and enabling pathologists to focus on higher level diagnostic and consultative tasks such as integrating molecular, morphologic and clinical information to make accurate diagnosis in difficult cases, determine prognosis objectively and in this way contribute to personalized care

COMMON SPORTS INJURIES AMONG TRIATHLON ATHELETES DURING COMPETITIONS AT THE ASIA & WEST ASIA CHAMPIONSHIPS IN JORDAN 2018

تعتبر رياضة الترايثلون من المسابقات الاولمبية والتي ازداد عدد المشاركين بها بشكل كبيروخاصة في الأعوام الاخيرة وخاصة بعد انشاء اتحاد خاص باللعبة، وتعتبر رياضة الترايثلون من الرياضات المعقدة والتي لها متطلبات مختلفة بسبب السباحة، ركوب الدراجات، والجري . على الرغم من شعبية اللعبة الا أن الباحثين – في حدود علمهما - لم يجدا أي دراسة عربية أومرجع عربي يتحدث عن اللعبة مما حذا الباحثان لاجراء هذه الدراسة حول الاصابات الشائعة بهذه الرياضة، حيث يعتبر التعرف على الاصابات هو الطريق الأمثل للوقاية ومن ثم تطوير الأداء . بهدف تطبيق الدراسة قام الباحثان إلى اعداد استمارة جمع بيانات أعدت لهذه الغاية وذلك بعد اجراء التعديلات التي تتناسب وطبيعة الدراسة حيث تم ترجمتها وتطبيقها على عينة تكونت من (36) لاعب من فئة المحترفين المشاركين في ترايثلون العقبة من الذين قبلوا تطبيق الاستبيان، وأظهرت نتائج الدراسة أن سبب الاصابة من وجهة نظر اللاعبين أكثر أسباب حدوث الاصابة لدى لاعب الترايثلون من وجهة نظرهم هو التدريب الزائد، وعدم اجراء الاحماء الكافي، وسوء الاحوال الجوية، بينما أكثر الاصابات شيوعاً فهي تمزق العضلات، السحجات، كدم الأعصاب والعضلات، أما أكثر المناطق تعرضاً للاصابة هي مفصل الركبة، مفصل الكتف، ومفصل الكاحل. ويوصي الباحثان بضرورة اجراء المزيد من الدراسات و الأبحاث حول سباق التراتيلون بشكل عام والاصابات بشكل خاص، الاهتمام بالاستشفاء وتقنين حمل التدريب لتجنب ظاهرة التدريب الزائد، الاهتمام بالقوة العضلية بغرض تقليل التمزقات العضلية، حماية الأجزاء الأكثر تعرضاً للاصابة.Triathlon is on of the Olympics games and the number of players that participate on this competition increasing rapidly during the last years, it is a unique game that consist of swimming, cycling and running. In spite of being an Olympic game and have competition on many Arabic countries and Jordan was one of them, unfortunately the researchers had not found any Arabic references -within the knowledge limits of the researchers – they decided to make this research about the reasons of injury, type and most common body parts affected . The researchers used the description curriculum by applying questioner, a sample of (36) players applied the questioner. Results showed that over training, bad warm up & unsuitable climate were main reasons of injury, types of injury were muscle strain, abrasion, muscle & nerve trauma, the most affected parts were knee, shoulder & ankle. Researchers recommend to more research, take care of recovery, have extra care of strength training

Factors Affecting Impulsive Buying Behavior with Mediating role of Positive Mood: An Empirical Study

This research which is guided by impulse buying literature and “Stimulus-Organism Response (S-O-R) model”, explores the relationship between individual differences and impulse buying behavior directly and indirectly through the mediating role of positive mood. Survey methodology was conducted in order to collect data from 300 customers in Lahore. Convenience sampling technique was used and the associations between the concepts were analyzed by using PLS based SEM analysis. Results of the study prove that the factors which significantly affect impulse buying behavior are positive mood, impulse buying tendency and fashion involvement while insignificant variables for impulse buying are self-esteem, shopping enjoyment and hedonism. SE, IBT, Hedonism and Self-esteem have a direct significant impact with the mediating variable positive mood whereas FI shows an insignificant relation with PM. Results regarding mediation demonstrated that the relationship between IBB and Shopping enjoyment is completely mediated by positive mood but the relationship between fashion involvement, self-esteem, Hedonism, Impulsive buying tendency and IBB is partially mediated by positive mood. This research paper will prove beneficial for marketing practitioners and researchers by developing a comprehensive knowledge and understanding about customer’s impulse buying behavior and its relationship with its determinants. This study validates and extends the “S-O-R model of Mehrabian and Russell (1974)” by incorporating personal traits’ influences  on impulse buying behavior

Factors Affecting Impulsive Buying Behavior with Mediating role of Positive Mood: An Empirical Study

This research which is guided by impulse buying literature and “Stimulus-Organism Response (S-O-R) model”, explores the relationship between individual differences and impulse buying behavior directly and indirectly through the mediating role of positive mood. Survey methodology was conducted in order to collect data from 300 customers in Lahore. Convenience sampling technique was used and the associations between the concepts were analyzed by using PLS based SEM analysis. Results of the study prove that the factors which significantly affect impulse buying behavior are positive mood, impulse buying tendency and fashion involvement while insignificant variables for impulse buying are self-esteem, shopping enjoyment and hedonism. SE, IBT, Hedonism and Self-esteem have a direct significant impact with the mediating variable positive mood whereas FI shows an insignificant relation with PM. Results regarding mediation demonstrated that the relationship between IBB and Shopping enjoyment is completely mediated by positive mood but the relationship between fashion involvement, self-esteem, Hedonism, Impulsive buying tendency and IBB is partially mediated by positive mood. This research paper will prove beneficial for marketing practitioners and researchers by developing a comprehensive knowledge and understanding about customer’s impulse buying behavior and its relationship with its determinants. This study validates and extends the “S-O-R model of Mehrabian and Russell (1974)” by incorporating personal traits’ influences  on impulse buying behavior

Palm tocotrienols reduce lipopolysaccharide-stimulated inflammatory responses of microglia

Introduction: The potential immunoregulatory effects of tocotrienols, the less studied form of vitamin E, had not been determined for microglia until our last publication showcased primary evidence of palm tocotrienols limiting microglia activation, explicitly by inhibiting nitric oxide (NO) production. Here we further explored the nitrite scavenging activity of the two most potent NO-reducing tocotrienol isoforms - δ-tocotrienol and Tocomin®50% (contains a spectrum of tocotrienols and α-tocopherol) based on their inhibitory effects on NO production and also their effects on CD40 (a microglial co-stimulator molecule) expression of BV2 microglia. Methods: BV2 cells were treated with two different doses of tocotrienols (δ-tocotrienol: 3.96 μg/mL and 19.80 μg/mL; Tocomin®50%:47.50 μg/mL and 237.50 μg/mL) followed by stimulation with 1μg/mL of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). A chemical scavenging assay was conducted to study the nitrite scavenging activity of δ-tocotrienol. Together with Tocomin®50%, we also determined their effects on CD40 expression of BV2 microglia via flow cytometry. Results: We demonstrate that the inhibitory effect of tocotrienols on NO production by microglia is not attributed to their nitrite scavenging activity. Additionally, tocotrienols also reduced the expression of the microglial co-stimulator molecule, CD40. Conclusions: Our data aids the further characterisation of the actions of tocotrienols on microglia, offering insight into the potential modulatory properties of palm tocotrienols on microglial inflammatory responses within the central nervous system (CNS)

Analysis of the Impact of Fintech Firms’ Lending on the Expansion of Service Base Companies in Jordan

The purpose of this research was to analyze the impact of lending by fintech firms on the expansion of service- based companies in Jordan. The studys population included 210 service-based enterprises located in Jordan. The research used a sample size of 136 respondents from registered service-based enterprises in Jordan. The researchers used a structured questionnaire to gather data from the participants. The data acquired in this study were evaluated using a combination of basic percentage calculations and Pearson product moment analysis. The research has reached the conclusion that the lending activities of Fintech firms have a noteworthy impact on the expansion of service-based companies in Jordan. The study suggests that it would be advantageous for the Fintech service provider to engage in advertising efforts aimed at promoting their services, with the goal of increasing the adoption of their mobile money product among a wider range of business professionals. This would lead to an increased number of entrepreneurs using Fintech as a means to augment the expansion of their businesses. The scope of the research was limited to a small number of service-based organizations. However, it is important to include other service-based companies that were not included in this study. To get a comprehensive understanding, a comparison study should be conducted to explore other characteristics that were not addressed in the current research. The field of financial technology (fintech) has seen significant growth in recent years. This growth can be measured by the degree of utilization observed in various fintech applications and services

Fund Family Selectivity Skills and Market Timing Ability: Comparison Study

This study aims to examine fund family performance, in terms of selectivity skills and marketing timing ability, in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Pakistan in 2007–2021. The sample is divided into three levels. First, analysis of the whole sample. Second, analysis by country. Third, analysis of Islamic- and conventional-focused families. The main results are: First, the fund family provides numerous advantages and facilities to managers, for instance diversification opportunities and market research, allowing them to select stocks well. However, their timing ability is still poor. Second, Saudi Arabia has the best performance while Pakistan has the worst performance. Third, as a novel contribution, there are difference in skills and ability between Islamic and conventional family managers due to their difference in main objectives. The findings are important for managers and investors. Managers can position themselves better relative to their competitors, while investors can more effectively allocate their resources to funds that are managed well by fund families

Probability Liquefaction On Silty Sand Layer On Central Jakarta

Indonesia has a strong earthquake risk. The effects of saturated silty sand liquefaction during earthquakes can be very damaging. Liquefaction is the threats to the safety of structures, and the evaluation of liquefaction potential is essential in locations with silty sand layers. Research was performed at BPJS Branch Office building project in Central Jakarta with 7 floors when conducted the substructure or deep foundation design. This research uses cone penetration test (CPT) data to evaluate the potential and probability of liquefaction. At the same time, this research also predicts the bearing capacity (Qu) of single pile embedded on silty sand layer at conditions of Non-Liquefaction (NL) and Liquefaction (L) due to an earthquake. The research results showed that silty sand layers were classified as the susceptible layers to the liquefaction potential after plotted of CPT data into the graphic from Robertson & Campanella method [1] and signed by zone A. However, bearing capacity (Qu) when condition of NL and L was only different around 10 to 11%, it can be considered that the single pile remains stable during occurrence the liquefaction and capable to support the upper structure system. This assumption is also strengthened by the analysis result of probability liquefaction (P[L]) for sand and silty sand layers, the average of (P[L]) based on the maximum earthquake acceleration (PGA) T = 50 years exists in the range < 5 % to 10 % and it can be stated that [P(L)] is very low to low [2] and it can be concluded that the sand and or silty sand layers at study area is hard to category as a liquefiable layer.&nbsp