Energy Efficient QoS Routing Protocol for Handling Hidden Nodes in in Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks

Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSNs) are comprised of sensor nodes that form the momentary network and do not rely on the support of any orthodox centralized infrastructure or administration. Such a given situation mandates every sensor node to get the support of other sensor nodes to advance the packets to the desired destination node, and specifically to the sink node. In this poster, we introduce energy efficient quality of service protocol for WMSNs, in this work the focus will be to study hidden node problems in WMSNs (Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks) and how it can affect the network performance

Jordanian Women’s Political Participation: On the Verge of Arab Spring

Recent decades in Jordan have witnessed considerable changes in women’s roles in the political sphere and in the community. Jordan has passed, modified, or adopted legislation that fosters the rights of women and the abolition of discrimination against them. Women experienced real visibility in higher leadership positions with 10.8% in the lower house and 11.7% in the senate. Yet, while women earn higher levels of education, their participation in the labor market is relatively low, and those who want to join the labor force meet higher levels of unemployment. Although women have made real progress in the public sphere, their participation is still modest and needs to be fostered and enhanced. More needs to be done to educate Jordanian women on political participation, and on overcoming various obstacles that hinder their efforts towards more visible and effective roles

An Optimized Hidden Node Detection Paradigm for Improving the Coverage and Network Efficiency in Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks

Successful transmission of online multimedia streams in wireless multimedia sensor networks (WMSNs) is a big challenge due to their limited bandwidth and power resources. The existing WSN protocols are not completely appropriate for multimedia communication. The effectiveness of WMSNs varies, and it depends on the correct location of its sensor nodes in the field. Thus, maximizing the multimedia coverage is the most important issue in the delivery of multimedia contents. The nodes in WMSNs are either static or mobile. Thus, the node connections change continuously due to the mobility in wireless multimedia communication that causes an additional energy consumption, and synchronization loss between neighboring nodes. In this paper, we introduce an Optimized Hidden Node Detection (OHND) paradigm. The OHND consists of three phases: hidden node detection, message exchange, and location detection. These three phases aim to maximize the multimedia node coverage, and improve energy efficiency, hidden node detection capacity, and packet delivery ratio. OHND helps multimedia sensor nodes to compute the directional coverage. Furthermore, an OHND is used to maintain a continuous node– continuous neighbor discovery process in order to handle the mobility of the nodes. We implement our proposed algorithms by using a network simulator (NS2). The simulation results demonstrate that nodes are capable of maintaining direct coverage and detecting hidden nodes in order to maximize coverage and multimedia node mobility. To evaluate the performance of our proposed algorithms, we compared our results with other known approaches.http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s1609143

The Environmental Changes And The Adoption Of New Strategies In The International Organizations: A Study On The Islamic Development Bank

In 1975 the Islamic Development Bank was established in Jeddah-Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in order to foster economic development and social progress of the member countries and the Muslim communities in non-member countries in accordance with the principles of the Islamic Shariah. Pada tahun 1975, Bank Pembangunan Islam (IDB) telah ditubuhkan di Jeddah – Kerajaan Arab Saudi untuk pembangunan ekonomi dan perkembangan sosial bagi negara-negara anggota dan komuniti Muslim di negara-negara bukan anggota selaras dengan prinsip-prinsip Shari’ah Islam

Performance Assessment of the First Residential Grid-Tie PV System in Jordan

In Jordan, exploration of energy sources has been initiated due to a sever power shortage. In this paper, a grid-connected photovoltaic solar system to supply a residence in Amman is implemented. The operational performance results of performance ratios are presented to study the effectiveness of the photovoltaic system without battery storage. Online monitoring is employed and real time data is collected to study the feasibility of grid-tied photovoltaic system. Experimental findings show the high efficiency and stability of the grid-connected photovoltaic system. Also the control unit shows a good performance of improving a flexible regulation of power factor using maximum power point tracking. Keywords: grid-tie photovoltaic solar system; maximum power point tracking; single-stage inverter

Examining the moderating effect of individual-level cultural values on users’ acceptance of E-learning in developing countries: a structural equation modeling of an extended technology acceptance model

In this study, we examine the effects of individual-level culture on the adoption and acceptance of e-learning tools by students in Lebanon using a theoretical framework based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). To overcome possible limitations of using TAM in developing countries, we extend TAM to include subjective norms (SN) and quality of work life constructs as additional constructs and a number of cultural variables as moderators. The four cultural dimensions of masculinity/femininity (MF), individualism/collectivism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance were measured at the individual level to enable them to be integrated into the extended TAM as moderators and a research model was developed based on previous literature. To test the hypothesised model, data were collected from 569 undergraduate and postgraduate students using e-learning tools in Lebanon via questionnaire. The collected data were analysed using the structural equation modelling technique in conjunction with multi-group analysis. As hypothesised, the results of the study revealed perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), SN and quality of work life to be significant determinants of students’ behavioural intention (BI) towards e-learning. The empirical results also demonstrated that the relationship between SN and BI was particularly sensitive to differences in individual-cultural values, with significant moderating effects observed for all four of the cultural dimensions studied. Some moderating effects of culture were also found for both PU and PEOU, however, contrary to expectations the effect of quality of work life was not found to be moderated by MF as some previous authors have predicted. The implications of these results to both theory and practice are explored in the paper

A cross-sectional assessment of metabolic syndrome in HIV-infected people of low socioeconomic status receiving antiretroviral therapy

BACKGROUND: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a constellation of symptoms used as a measure to identify patients at increased risk for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and all-cause mortality. The results of prolonged life expectancy and cumulative toxic effects of antiretroviral therapy increase the chance that HIV can cause clinical abnormalities, including MetS. METHODS: We evaluated 89 people living with HIV (PLWH; mean age 48 ± 7 years; mean duration of HIV infection 17 ± 12 years; 47% men; 66% African-American, 22% Hispanic, and 10% non-Hispanic white; and 84% unemployed) enrolled in a community-based exercise training and nutrition education program targeting individuals of low socio-economic status (SES). The prevalence of MetS characteristics and the factors associated with the presence of MetS were analyzed. RESULTS: One in three (33%; 12 men and 17 women) PLWH met ATPIII criteria for MetS. In our cohort, MetS was driven by high waist circumference and elevated blood pressure. In addition, higher use of protease inhibitors, elevated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), greater self-reported daily caloric intake and consumption of carbohydrates, sugar, added sugar, and higher glycemic load were found among the individuals with MetS, compared to those without it. Elevated HbA1c and high total sugar consumption were the strongest predictors and accounted for 30% of the occurrence of MetS. CONCLUSIONS: The overall prevalence of MetS in our PLWH cohort receiving antiretroviral therapy is higher than previously reported in the general population and in other PLWH cohorts. Additional work is needed to determine whether MetS is a more disease dependent or lifestyle dependent condition in PLWH

Susceptibility of Candida albicans isolates to Terbinafine and Ketoconazole

 The prevalence of drug resistance has become an important issue in various yeast infections, which have a significant effects on both human animal health. In this study, an attempt has been made to determine susceptibility pattern of two antifungal agents Terbinafine and Ketoconazole against 45 oral and non oral Candida albicans isolates using broth microdilution method. Under in vitro conditions, results showed that (42/45) 93% of the C. albicans isolates had MIC values indicating susceptibility to Ketoconazole (?0.125 ?g/ml) and MICs ranged from ?0.03125-8.0 ?g/ml. According to Terbinafine, (40/45) 88.9% of isolates had MICs less than 4 ?g/ml and MICs ranged from 0.25-8.0 ?g/ml. This is the first report of in vitro antifungal susceptibility data to be published from Palestine against clinical isolates of Candida albicans. Availability of sensitive and highly accurate antifungal susceptibility testing methods, can permit analysis of data in vitro and with outcome in vivo, important to assist physician for making appropriate drug choices and patient management decision. These data indicated that Terbinafine and Ketoconazole are still active against C. albicans and may therefore have clinical applications against some of these organisms. Key words: C. albicans, Antifungal agents, Terbinafine, Ketoconazole, MIC

Occurrence and molecular characterization of Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Enteritidis isolates from contaminated food samples from Palestine

Salmonella is one of the most frequently isolated foodborne pathogens. It is of major public health concern worldwide. Poultry meat and eggs represent an important source of Salmonellae organism for consumer health. This study aimed to evaluate the occurrence of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium and Enteritidis using multiplex PCR (mPCR) among isolates collected from the local market and to assess genetic relationships between isolates of S. Typhimurium, which was the only serotype isolated from the tested food samples. This was done using virulence factors profiling and fingerprint profiling by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD-PCR) and repetitive sequence PCR (REP-PCR) using enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC-PCR) and interspersed repetitive DNA sequence BOXAIR-PCR. The overall occurrence percentage of S. Typhimurium and S. Enteritidis out of 51 isolates was 54.9% and 0.0%, respectively. Only 13 out of 17 virulence genes were detected in these isolates. The occurrence of the detected virulence genes among these isolates was 100%, 50.0%,46.4%, 39.3%, 35.7%, 35.7%, 32.1%, 25.0%, 25.0%, 17.6%, 14.3%, 14.3%, 3.6% for invA, sopB, prgH, sitC, pefA, tolC, cdtB, msgA, sifA, iroN, spiA, ipfC and pagC, respectively. The remaining virulence genes were absent in all of the isolates. Based on the combination of the presence and absence of virulence genes, eight profiles were detected among these isolates, the most common genetic profile was V5 (each 32.1%). Based on this genetic profile at cut-off point 96.0%, both ERIC and BOX primers allowed for discrimination into 4 and 6 clusters or clones of 16 S. Typhimurium isolates, respectively. Results of PCR typing methods showed that, three strains clustered together using both ERIC-PCR and BOX-PCR typing methods and they had the same virulotype (V1), while other four strains also clustered together by both typing methods and had the same virulotype (V8). Contamination of food with Salmonellae especially with S. Typhimurium was high and indicated a bad microbiological quality of food. This emphasizes the need for rigorous public health and food safety methods to lower the human health hazard and risk associated with Salmonellae infection

Energy, economic and environmental analysis of fuzzy logic controllers used in smart buildings

This article is divided into three parts: the first presents a simulation study of the effect of occupancy level on energy usage pattern of Engineering building of Applied Science Private university, Amman, Jordan. The simulation was created on simulation mechanism by means of EnergyPlus software and improved by using the building’s data such as building’s as built plan, occupant’s density level based on data about who utilize the building throughout operational hours, energy usage level, Heating Ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system, lighting and its control systems and etc. Data regarding occupancy density level estimation is used to provide the proposed controller with random number of users grounded on report were arranged by the university’s facilities operational team. The other division of this paper shows the estimated saved energy by the means of suggested advanced add-on, FUZZY-PID controlling system. The energy savings were divided into summer savings and winter savings. The third division presents economic and environmental analysis of the proposed advanced fuzzy logic controllers of smart buildings in Subtropical Jordan. The economic parameters that were used to evaluate the system economy performance are life-cycle analysis, present worth factor and system payback period. The system economic analysis was done using MATLAB softwar