Introduceing Technology to Auditing Services in Libyan Banks

This study aims mainly at identifying to what extent introduction and use of electronic banking in improving the auditing services in Libya by means of using technology in auditing, and to identifying to what extent adopting technology may affect promotion of auditing services, and instigate the competition between Libya's electronic banks.As such the study results showed that there is a relationship of a statistical significance between introduction, and the positive effect, of technology in auditing services in Libyan banks, that is, using technology in auditing services leads to improve the auditing effectiveness through abidance by  laws and policies set beforehand

The Impact of Job Satisfaction and Job Characteristics on Turnover Intention in Palestine

The purpose of this research is to determine the relationship between employee job satisfaction, job characteristics and turnover intention. It also tries to identify which among the independent variables are the most important factors that explain turnover intention in one of the hotel organizations in Palestine. The research done by mean of survey, a questionnaire was distributed to 100 randomly selected respondents. The data was analyzed by using SPSS version 16. The findings of the study indicate that there is a significant negative relationship between the five dimensions of job satisfaction and turnover intention. Moreover, the findings from the correlation analysis revealed that a job characteristic is negatively and significantly correlated with turnover intention. It was found that job satisfaction is the most important relates to reduce employee turnover intention

THE EFFECT OF USING DIFFERENT WEIGHTS OF CAUSTIC SODA ON THE WATER-BASE MUD DRILLING FLUID

The main function of the drilling fluid is to keep the rotary drilling system working through the circulation of the fluid continuously down through the drill pipe, out through the bit nozzles and to the surface. The drilling fluid which is called the drilling mud can have several chemical and physical properties depending on the drilling process that is why we have different types of drilling fluids based on their compositions. This study concentrates on just one type of these drilling fluids which is water-base mud. The water-based mud drilling fluid systems are considered the most widely used system in the drilling operations due to its low cost comparing to the other types of the drilling fluid systems. The water base-mud is usually a mixture of water, clay and a few other chemicals such as the caustic soda which is the main concern of this study. The caustic soda is the common name of the sodium hydroxide (NaOH). It is used in most of the water-based mud systems in order to control the PH value and the salinity of the drilling fluid system. During this study the main focus is on the effect of using different weights of caustic soda on water-based mud systems. As the drilling mud can be the first line of defense if any blow out occurs because it has a great effect on the pressure control that prevent any possibilities of loss of well control caused by formation pressure. So the rheology of the drilling mud is very important to identify the drilling mud ability to control the formation pressure. This study is conducted by using the mud balance test and the viscometer equipment on each mud sample to test the rheology. From the findings, the increase of using the weight of caustic soda in the Water-Base Mud drilling fluid leads to increase in the mud density, apparent viscosity, yield point values and the Gel strength values

Autism: A Neurodevelopmental Disorder and a Stratum for Comorbidities

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder which is more common in males than females. It is characterized by social communication disorders and restricted repetitive behaviors. There is wide heterogeneity in its etiology, clinical presentations, management and consequently prognosis. Although the etiology of autism remains unclear, the most currently proven theory is that it is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder that displays “brain network abnormalities”. fMRI studies have shown decreased brain connectivity or functional synchronization between frontal and more posterior cortical regions. Dynamic brain activity through high resolution electroencephalograghy (EEG) has revealed local overconnectivity and long-range underconnectivity. This disrupted connectivity pattern would involve connectivity between hemispheres (corpus callosum), together with axonal and synaptic connectivity within each hemisphere. Inconsistent morphometric changes involving both gray and white matter structure also exist. Clinically, autism is associated with multiple comorbidities (somatic, neurologic and psychiatric); some of which are attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyspraxia, and sensory processing disorders

New photo-luminescent inorganic materials: high-tec application in chemical sensing and labeling

This thesis describes the potential of various kinds of luminescent nanoparticles with respect to chemical sensing and biosensing. First, fluorescent silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) were prepared by covalent attachment of fluorophores to the amino-modified surface of SiNPs with a typical diameter of 15 nm. The SiNPs were used in novel kinds of Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based affinity assays at the interface between nanoparticle and sample solution. Various labels were employed to obtain a complete set of colored SiNPs, with excitation maxima ranging from 337 to 659 nm and emission maxima ranging from 436 nm to the near infrared (710 nm). The nanoparticles were characterized in terms of size and composition using transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetry, elemental analysis, and dynamic light scattering. The surface of the fluorescent SiNPs was biotinylated, and binding of labeled avidin to the surface was studied via FRET in two model cases. Secondly, the upconverting luminescent nanoparticles (UCLNPs) consist of hexagonal NaYF4 nanocrystals doped with trivalent rare earth ions were synthesized by both the oleic acid (solvothermal) method and the ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (coprecipitation) method. The nanoparticles were codoped using Yb3+ as the sensitizer ion, Er3+, Tm3+, or Ho3+ respectively as the emitting activator ions. An affinity system was demonstrated based on the interaction of two types of nanoparticles. The first type consists of UCLNPs of the type NaYF4:Yb,Er absorbing light in the infrared and showing green luminescence at 521 and 543 nm and red luminescence at 657 nm. The second type consists of gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) with a size of about 50 nm, which absorb the green luminescence of the UCLNPs, but do not influence their red luminescence. A model system for a self referenced affinity system were established by labeling the UCLNPs with avidin and the AuNPs with biotin. In the presence of avidin-modified UCLNPs, the biotinylated Au-NPs can be detected in the range from 12 to 250 µg•mL-1 by rationing the intensity of the red (analyte-independent) emission band to that of the green (analyte-dependent) emission band. All nanoparticles were characterized in terms of size and composition using transmission electron microscopy, thermo-gravimetry, and FTIR spectroscopy. Thirdly, different types of nanoparticles (made from silica, polystyrene and UCLNPs) carrying longwave absorbing and emitting fluorescent labels were prepared by conjugating reactive dyes to the surface of amino-modified particles. The dyes have a reactive chloro group capable of reacting with amino groups and thereby undergoing a change in color, typically from green to blue (the so-called chameleon effect). The latter show the effect of upconversion in that near-infrared laser light is converted into visible luminescence. They also show the unusual property of displaying dual emission, depending on whether their luminescence is photoexcited with visible light or near-infrared light. The amino groups on the surface of nanoparticles were detected via the chameleon effect of the applied amino-reactive dyes. Fourth, the quenching effect of heavy metal ions and halide ions on the luminescence of UCLNPs in aqueous solution was studied. The effect was investigated for the ions Cu(II), Hg(II), Pb(II), Cd(II), Co(II), Ag(I), Fe(III), Zn(II), bromide and iodide, and was found to be particularly strong for Hg(II). Stern-Volmer plots were virtually linear up to 10 – 25 mM concentrations of the quencher, but deviate from linearity at higher quencher concentrations where static quenching caused an additional effect. The UCLNPs display two main emission bands (blue, green, red or near-infrared), and the quenching efficiencies for these found to be different. The effect seems to be generally associated with UCLNPs because it was observed for all particles doped with trivalent lanthanide ions including Yb(III), Er(III), Ho(III), and Tm(III)

The Effect of Twin Birth on Neonatal and Infant Mortality Rates: A Systematic Review

Background and aims: Twin birth may account for higher mortality rates in infants and neonates. To investigate the potential relationship between twin birth and infant and neonatal mortality rates (NMRs), a systematic review was conducted. Methods: To gather the evidence for the relationship between twin birth and its potential effect on mortality during infancy and neonatal periods, a systematic review was conducted. The most important used databases were PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, Cochrane and Springer. Then, the databases were searched by appropriate keywords. After reviewing and evaluating the collected studies, trends in the different countries were compared. Results: A total of 13 790 related studies were found, of which 128 studies were selected in the first step. The studies which were not related to the subject, in addition to repetitive studies, were excluded from the search in the second step based on inclusion and exclusion criteria by reviewing the abstract and, in some cases, the full article. Finally, 7 studies entered the last step. Conclusion: This study showed that the mortality could be higher among twins than among non-twins, especially among boys

Knowledge Guided Automatic Contour Initialization And Segmentation Of Abdominal Structures In CT Images

Computed Tomography (CT) scans are becoming a priceless means of diagnosing abdominal structures. CT scans result in a huge number of 2D slices of the acquired anatomical part in abdominal imaging. CT are more preferred compared to sensitive imaging techniques such as MRI in abdominal imaging owing to their high signal to noise and good spatial resolution. In the area of medical image processing, the current interests are in the automated analysis and visualization of liver, spleen, and kidney to assist in diagnosis, radiation therapy planning and surgical planning. Delineation of these structures which is still an open research problem is the first and fundamental step in all of these studies. Automation of medical image segmentation reduces time-consuming, tedious, subjective human interaction tasks and may aid radiologists, who are normally required to view thousands of images daily. Thus, automatic segmentation is the main focus of several research efforts. In this research, we propose an automatic knowledge-based segmentation framework based on active contour methods. The proposed segmentation system is generic, and employs multiple sources of medical knowledge: medical atlas; expert’s rules; multiple views: axial, coronal and sagittal; image features and image DICOM Meta data. The focus in this research is on level set active contour segmentation methods which provide promising results, robust to dataset variations and do not require extensive prior training. As such, they can be reliably used for segmentation of major structures in abdominal CT scans. The obtained results are very promising showing significant improvements over other methods where the volume measurements error is 7% and the processing time was improved by 68%