Radon-222 Exposure and Dose Concentration Levels in Jordanian Dwellings.

Exposure to high concentrations of radon gas is the leading cause of lung cancer for nonsmokers according to the World Health Organization (WHO) figures. With poor ventilation standards and lack of awareness among Jordanians, constant monitoring of radon concentrations is vital. Multiple efforts have been made since the 1990s in order to create a national radon map of Jordan, by acquiring average values of radon concentrations in major Jordanian cities.

Breast Tumor Classification in Ultrasound Images Using Combined Deep and Handcrafted Features.

This study aims to enable effective breast ultrasound image classification by combining deep features with conventional handcrafted features to classify the tumors. In particular, the deep features are extracted from a pre-trained convolutional neural network model, namely the VGG19 model, at six different extraction levels. The deep features extracted at each level are analyzed using a features selection algorithm to identify the deep feature combination that achieves the highest classification performance.

Residual Strength Prediction of Aluminum Panels with Multiple Site Damage Using Artificial Neural Networks.

Multiple site damage (MSD) cracks are small fatigue cracks that may accumulate at the sides of highly loaded holes in aging aircraft structures. The presence of MSD cracks can drastically reduce the residual strength of fuselage panels. In this paper, artificial neural networks (ANN) modeling is used for predicting the residual strength of aluminum panels with MSD cracks.

Solubility, Solution Thermodynamics, and Preferential Solvation of Amygdalin in Ethanol + Water Solvent Mixtures.

The equilibrium solubility of amygdalin in [ethanol (1) + water (2)] mixtures at 293.15 K to 328.15 K was reported.

Modelling, Analysis, and Optimization of the Effects of Pulsed Electrophoretic Deposition Parameters on TiO Films Properties Using Desirability Optimization Methodology.

Titanium dioxide thin films immobilized over treated stainless steel were prepared using the pulsed electrophoretic deposition technique. The effects of process parameters (deposition time, applied voltage, initial concentration, and duty cycle) on photocatalytic efficiency and adhesion properties were investigated. To optimize the multiple properties of the thin film, a response surface methodology was combined with a desirability optimization methodology.

Using Convolutional Neural Network with Cheat Sheet and Data Augmentation to Detect Breast Cancer in Mammograms.

The American Cancer Society expected to diagnose 276,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer in the USA and 48,530 new cases of noninvasive breast cancer among women in 2020. Early detection of breast cancer, followed by appropriate treatment, can reduce the risk of death from this disease. DL through CNN can assist imaging specialists in classifying the mammograms accurately.

Do Medical Students Experience Writing Anxiety While Learning English as a Foreign Language?

Aim: The study examines English Foreign Language (EFL) writing anxiety among medical students in terms of the levels, types, and causes of writing anxiety.

Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study consisting of 684 first-year medical students from Jordanian universities. The participants responded to an online survey consists of Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI) and Causes of Writing Anxiety Inventory (CWAI), 15 of whom were invited for semi-structured interviews.

Efficient removal of phenol compounds from water environment using Ziziphus leaves adsorbent.

Industrial processes generate toxic organic molecules that pollute environment water. Phenol and its derivative are classified among the major pollutant compounds found in water. They are naturally found in some industrial wastewater effluents.

Performance of a novel vertical flow constructed wetland for greywater treatment in rural areas in Jordan.

Jordan is facing severe challenges in terms of water scarcity and wastewater management. Thus, there is a growing need for adopting innovative approaches to overcome these challenges. Within the framework of this study, a pilot project was implemented to treat household greywater in rural areas in Jordan with a purpose of reuse for irrigation.

Healthcare Engineering: A Lean Management Approach.

This work tries to answer the following question: can healthcare be engineered using lean management tools? Lean is known to achieve successful results when implemented in the manufacturing sector. Typical results are operational cost reduction, cycle time reduction, and higher customer satisfaction. The service sector, however, has seen mixed results.

Corona COVID-19 spread - a nonlinear modeling and simulation.

This paper presents a non-linear model to simulate and predict the spreading of the newly discovered disease caused by a new series of a Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). The mathematical modeling in this study is based on the Susceptible Infected Recovery (SIR) model, where key controlling parameters are considered, namely: human contact factor b, transmit factor (a), health medication factor (m) and initial infected (I0). The simulation results show the effect of these parameters, and their role in spreading the COVID-19.

Breast Cancer Diagnosis in Digital Mammography Images Using Automatic Detection for the Region of Interest.

Background: One of the early screening methods of breast cancer that is still used today is mammogram due to its low cost. Unfortunately, this low cost accompanied with low performance rate also.

Methods: The low performance rate in mammograms is associated with low capability in determining the best region from which the features are extracted.

Preparation of Hybrid Alginate-Chitosan Aerogel as Potential Carriers for Pulmonary Drug Delivery.

This study aims to prepare hybrid chitosan-alginate aerogel microparticles without using additional ionic crosslinker as a possible pulmonary drug delivery system. The microparticles were prepared using the emulsion gelation method. The effect of the mixing order of the biopolymer within the emulsion and the surfactant used on final particle properties were investigated.

Deep Recurrent Neural Networks for Automatic Detection of Sleep Apnea from Single Channel Respiration Signals.

Sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder that causes repeated breathing interruption during sleep. The performance of automated apnea detection methods based on respiratory signals depend on the signals considered and feature extraction methods. Moreover, feature engineering techniques are highly dependent on the experts' experience and their prior knowledge about different physiological signals and conditions of the subjects.

Effects of metronidazole on the fecal microbiome and metabolome in healthy dogs.

Background: Metronidazole has a substantial impact on the gut microbiome. However, the recovery of the microbiome after discontinuation of administration, and the metabolic consequences of such alterations have not been investigated to date.

Objectives: To describe the impact of 14-day metronidazole administration, alone or in combination with a hydrolyzed protein diet, on fecal microbiome, metabolome, bile acids (BAs), and lactate production, and on serum metabolome in healthy dogs.

Modeling and Economic Analysis of Greywater Treatment in Rural Areas in Jordan Using a Novel Vertical-Flow Constructed Wetland.

Water scarcity in Jordan is becoming more severe with time, which resulted in an indispensable need for economic innovative approaches to maximize the utilization of nonconventional water resources through reuse options. Within the framework of the current study, a novel vertical flow constructed wetland system was implemented for greywater treatment in four different rural areas in Jordan. In this paper, the primary objective was to develop a regression-based nonlinear model to predict BOD effluent concentration from the proposed system.

miRNA target prediction might explain the reduced transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Jordan, Middle East.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNAs that control many functions within the human cells by controlling protein levels through binding to messenger RNA (mRNA) translation process or mRNA abundance. Many pieces of evidence show that miRNAs affect the viral RNA replication and pathogenesis through direct binding to the RNA virus to mediate changes in the host transcriptome. Many previous studies have been studying the interaction between human cells' miRNA and viral RNA to predict many targets along the viral genome.

Multispectral Remote Sensing Utilization for Monitoring Chlorophyll-a Levels in Inland Water Bodies in Jordan.

This study focuses on the utilization of multispectral satellite images for remote water-quality evaluation of inland water body in Jordan. The geophysical parameters based on water's optical properties, due to the presence of optically active constituents, are used to determine contaminant level in water. It has a great potential to be employed for continuous and cost-effective water-quality monitoring and leads to a reliable regularly updated tool for better water sector management.

Multicenter study of pneumococcal carriage in children 2 to 4 years of age in the winter seasons of 2017-2019 in Irbid and Madaba governorates of Jordan.

Streptococcus pneumoniae is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. It disseminates through colonizers and causes serious infections. Aims of this study are to determine pneumococcal carriage rate, resistance, serotype distribution, and coverage of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines from children attending day care centers from Irbid and Madaba in Jordan.

Pharmacokinetics and Bioequivalence Estimation of Two Formulations of Alfuzosin Extended-Release Tablets.

Alfuzosin is a medication approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia symptoms. Bioequivalence studies are demanded by regulatory authorities to evaluate the expected in vivo biological similarity of 2 formulations of a medication. The aim of this study is to assess the bioavailability of the generic (test) and branded (reference) formulations of 10-mg alfuzosin extended-release tablets after oral administration to healthy adults under fed conditions.

An Improved Passivity-based Control of Electrostatic MEMS Device.

It is commonly known that the performance of an electrostatic microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device is limited to a specific range of the full gap distance due to the inherited "pull-in instability" phenomenon. In this work, we design a controller to extend the stabilization range of an electrostatic MEMS device and to enhance its performance. The interconnection and damping assignment-passivity based control (IDA-PBC) method is used and the controller design involves coordinate transformations and a coupling between the mechanical and electrical subsystems of the device.

Optimization of ibuprofen degradation in water using high frequency ultrasound-assisted biological reactor.

Ultrasound (US) is being considered as a promising emerging advanced oxidation process to degrade persistent organic-pollutants. This paper investigated the effect of several operating parameters on the degradation of a recalcitrant pharmaceutical product, namely ibuprofen (IBP), using an ultrasound-assisted biological reactor. The tested operating parameters are the power density (960, 480) W/L, US frequency (1,142, 860, 578) kHz, working volume (500, 250) mL, initial IBP concentration (30, 60) mg/L, and pH (8.

Development, In Vitro Characterization, and In Vivo Toxicity Evaluation of Chitosan-Alginate Nanoporous Carriers Loaded with Cisplatin for Lung Cancer Treatment.

Polysaccharide-based aerogels are promising drug carriers. Being nanoporous with a high specific surface area allows their use as a drug vehicle for various delivery routes. Intratracheal and intravenous administration of free cisplatin causes toxicity in the rat liver, lungs, and kidneys.

Optimal Cluster Head Positioning Algorithm for Wireless Sensor Networks.

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are increasingly gaining popularity, especially with the advent of many artificial intelligence (AI) driven applications and expert systems. Such applications require specific relevant sensors' data to be stored, processed, analyzed, and input to the expert systems. Obviously, sensor nodes (SNs) have limited energy and computation capabilities and are normally deployed remotely over an area of interest (AoI).