Transformational Practices of Academic Leaders in Universities: Suggestions for Improvement

The study aimed to identify the transformational practices of academic leaders in Jordanian universities: proposals for improvement. The qualitative approach was adopted, and interviews were conducted with (30) faculty members from Jordanian universities. The results of these interviews showed that the faculty members presented five proposals to improve the transformational practices of academic leaders. It included: Jordanian universities’ efforts to develop digital infrastructure and activate it within their centers and administrative and organizational structures, and universities’ efforts to provide modern electronic and technical platforms that suit the requirements of workers and suit their current technical skills, and Jordanian universities’ efforts to encourage workers to accept the change taking place in university work environments. It is adopted in all practices without exception, directs universities to increase financial allocations concerned with digital transformation in all its forms, and universities adopt mechanisms that develop the technical skills of workers in Jordanian universities. The study recommended activating and enhancing transformative practices among academic leaders in universities

Performance comparison analysis of SSHMIPv6 and HMIPv6 lost packets using network simulator NS-2

In today’s fast based technological growth the traditional networks are no longer capable of handling the increasing demands with the best Quality of Service (QoS) which depends on the type of service that network devices provide.The target of this study was to simulate different amount of transferred packets to show the performance of Smart Selection Hierarchical Mobile Internet Protocol version 6 (SSHMIPv6) with respect to lost packets. SSHMIPv6 environment has been simulated over NS-2 and used to evaluate the performance of SSHMIPv6 over HMIPv6 and to analyze the effect of adding multiple MAPs to serve each region.A decrease of 33% in lost packets was obtained by using three MAPs in SSHMIPv6 instead of one in HMIPv6.Therefore, the problem of scalability is resolved when the domain handles many MNs

Duration of androgen deprivation therapy with postoperative radiotherapy for prostate cancer: a comparison of long-course versus short-course androgen deprivation therapy in the RADICALS-HD randomised trial

Background Previous evidence supports androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) with primary radiotherapy as initial treatment for intermediate-risk and high-risk localised prostate cancer. However, the use and optimal duration of ADT with postoperative radiotherapy after radical prostatectomy remains uncertain. Methods RADICALS-HD was a randomised controlled trial of ADT duration within the RADICALS protocol. Here, we report on the comparison of short-course versus long-course ADT. Key eligibility criteria were indication for radiotherapy after previous radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer, prostate-specific antigen less than 5 ng/mL, absence of metastatic disease, and written consent. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to add 6 months of ADT (short-course ADT) or 24 months of ADT (long-course ADT) to radiotherapy, using subcutaneous gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogue (monthly in the short-course ADT group and 3-monthly in the long-course ADT group), daily oral bicalutamide monotherapy 150 mg, or monthly subcutaneous degarelix. Randomisation was done centrally through minimisation with a random element, stratified by Gleason score, positive margins, radiotherapy timing, planned radiotherapy schedule, and planned type of ADT, in a computerised system. The allocated treatment was not masked. The primary outcome measure was metastasis-free survival, defined as metastasis arising from prostate cancer or death from any cause. The comparison had more than 80% power with two-sided α of 5% to detect an absolute increase in 10-year metastasis-free survival from 75% to 81% (hazard ratio [HR] 0·72). Standard time-to-event analyses were used. Analyses followed intention-to-treat principle. The trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry, ISRCTN40814031, and ClinicalTrials.gov , NCT00541047 . Findings Between Jan 30, 2008, and July 7, 2015, 1523 patients (median age 65 years, IQR 60–69) were randomly assigned to receive short-course ADT (n=761) or long-course ADT (n=762) in addition to postoperative radiotherapy at 138 centres in Canada, Denmark, Ireland, and the UK. With a median follow-up of 8·9 years (7·0–10·0), 313 metastasis-free survival events were reported overall (174 in the short-course ADT group and 139 in the long-course ADT group; HR 0·773 [95% CI 0·612–0·975]; p=0·029). 10-year metastasis-free survival was 71·9% (95% CI 67·6–75·7) in the short-course ADT group and 78·1% (74·2–81·5) in the long-course ADT group. Toxicity of grade 3 or higher was reported for 105 (14%) of 753 participants in the short-course ADT group and 142 (19%) of 757 participants in the long-course ADT group (p=0·025), with no treatment-related deaths. Interpretation Compared with adding 6 months of ADT, adding 24 months of ADT improved metastasis-free survival in people receiving postoperative radiotherapy. For individuals who can accept the additional duration of adverse effects, long-course ADT should be offered with postoperative radiotherapy. Funding Cancer Research UK, UK Research and Innovation (formerly Medical Research Council), and Canadian Cancer Society