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Objective: Gene polymorphisms CDKAL1 (rs7754840) have been related to type 2 diabetes mellitus, which may partially define the common genetic background with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). The aim of this study is to investigate the association between CDKAL1 polymorphism and susceptibility to GDM. Methods: In this study and meta-analysis, we conducted a systematic search in electronic databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane, EMBASE, and Google scholar. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to evaluate the association between CDKAL1 (rs7754840) polymorphisms and susceptibility to GDM in four genetic models. Statistical analysis was performed by Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) v3.7z software. Results: A total of 13,307 participants from 11 original study were included in this study. We identified a significant relationship between the CDKAL1 (rs7754840) gene polymorphism and GDM in the study population through allelic models (C vs. G: OR = 1.29, 95% CI = 1.16–1.44, p = 0.00), homozygous genetic models (CC vs. GC: OR = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.28–1.75, p = 0.00), recessive models (CC vs. GG + GC: OR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.57–0.79, p = 0.00), and dominant genetic models (CC + GC vs. GG: OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.17–1.56, p = 0.00). On the contrary, there is no significant association between the CDKAL1 gene polymorphism and susceptibility to GDM in heterozygous models (GC vs. GG: OR = 1.01, 95% CI = 0.92–1.12, p = 0.82). Conclusion: The results provided evidence that CDKAL1 (rs7754840) gene polymorphism is associated with the susceptibility of GDM in women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine disorder that primarily affects women of reproductive age. It is recognized as the leading cause of infertility due to anovulation. This research aims to evaluate the diagnostic potential of oxidative stress biomarkers, including advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP), malondialdehyde (MDA), uric acid (UA), and nitric oxide (NO), in identifying PCOS. Methods: A literature search was conducted in the EMBASE, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Scopus databases. The standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were employed to assess the correlation between free radical product and PCOS. Moreover, the presence of heterogeneity among the studies was assessed utilizing the I2 statistic and Cochran Q test. The methodological rigor of the incorporated studies was assessed through the application of the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Furthermore, the presence of publication bias was determined via Begg and Egger tests. Results: This meta-analysis reviewed 38 observational studies, including 17,845 women. The results revealed a significant association between PCOS in women and alterations in free radical levels. The study revealed that the PCOS group had significantly higher levels of AOPP (SMD = 3.193; 95% CI, 2.86 to 3.25), UA (SMD = 0.68; 95% CI, 0.24 to 1.13), and MDA (SMD = 1.16; 95% CI, 0.77 to 1.56) compared to the healthy control group. Furthermore, the analysis found a significantly lower level of NO (SMD = (− 0.59); 95% CI, − 1.15 to − 0.03) in the PCOS patient. Conclusion: Screening of specific biomarkers associated with free radical products could provide valuable benefits in the prognosis and diagnosis of PCOS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Objective: Aluminum (Al) is used in different industries to produce cosmetics, supplements, drugs, food packaging, toothpaste, kitchen utensils, and antiperspirants. Uterine fibroid (UF) is women's most prevalent benign tumor during the reproductive ages. Since Al can accumulate in the body's organs, it may play a role in the pathogenesis of UF. This study aimed to measure Al levels in serum and uterine samples (normal uterine tissue of control and UF patients, and leiomyoma of UF patients). Materials & Methods: In this descriptive study, we included ten women who underwent hysterectomy (five women due to UF and five women for a reason other than UF). Samples were obtained from serum, normal uterine tissue, and leiomyoma. Tissue and serum samples were digested with nitric acid (HNO3) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Eventually, the Al levels in samples were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). Results: Al level was higher in the serum of the control group compared with UF patients (326.8 ± 360.8 µg/L vs. 211.2 ± 56.4 µg/L, P =0.310). Al level was higher in the control group compared with the normal tissue of UF patients (410.2 ± 244.7 µg/L vs. 300 ± 138.0 µg/L, P=0.465). Besides, leiomyoma had a higher Al level compared with the normal tissue of UF patients (1482.2 ± 2062.9 µg/L vs. 300 ± 138.0 µg/L, P =0.138). Conclusion: The results showed that Al levels of tissue and serum samples in various groups differed, but these differences were not statistically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radio over free space optics (Ro-FSO) systems have previously relied on the signal intensity, wavelength and polarization for multiplexing data streams in order to increase to the signal quality and achievable link range. This work leverages on optical space division multiplexing by using novel three-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF) mode group multiplexers and hexagonal mid-gapped tiered PCF mode group equalizers for improving the signal quality and increasing the achievable link range in a rural environment. At the transmitter, a three-core PCF mode group demultiplexer converts the fundamental mode into three distinct mode groups used as carriers for independent transmission of three radio frequency signals. At the receiver, the three PCF successfully equalizes the power from the received signal, with the channel impulse responses showing an improvement in the signal quality. An increment between 13.6% and 31.1% in the achievable link range for all channels is evident under medium and heavy fog conditions at the same bit error rate level, using the designed PCF mode group multiplexers and equalizers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout the requirements engineering phase, the process of giving precedence to one requirement over another is beneficial to accomplish projects on a predefined schedule. This process is referred to as requirements prioritization. Although plenty of research has been dedicated to proposing various approaches to perform the requirements prioritization, only a small number of prioritization approaches have been recently reported with the aim of considering both functional and non-functional requirements during the prioritization stage. However, it is not a straightforward task to decide which of these approaches could be selected for a given prioritization problem unless the main properties of these approaches are well-evaluated. Hence, a detailed evaluation of the recently proposed approaches in an empirical manner would be needed. In this paper, we performed two successive controlled experiments with the aim of evaluating the current requirements prioritization approaches. In the first experiment, we compared the integrated prioritization approach (IPA) with the other approach, called AHP-based approach, whereas in the second experiment, IPA was compared with the other state-of-the-art alternative, named HAM-based approach. In the experiments, evaluation was based on measuring three properties: actual time-consumption, accuracy of results, and ease of use. Statistical analysis of the results obtained from the two experiments showed a better performance of IPA on all the measured properties compared to both AHP-based approach and HAM-based approach. The findings would be useful for practitioners to choose the most appropriate approach for a given prioritization problem, and also could be used as a guideline by interested researchers for identifying trends before conducting a study in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The standard software development life cycle heavily depends on requirements elicited from stakeholders. Based on those requirements, software development is planned and managed from its inception phase to closure. Due to time and resource constraints, it is imperative to identify the high-priority requirements that need to be considered first during the software development process. Moreover, existing prioritization frameworks lack a store of historical data useful for selecting the most suitable prioritization technique of any similar project domain. In this paper, we propose a framework for prioritization of software requirements, called RePizer, to be used in conjunction with a selected prioritization technique to rank software requirements based on defined criteria such as implementation cost. RePizer assists requirements engineers in a decision-making process by retrieving historical data from a requirements repository. RePizer also provides a panoramic view of the entire project to ensure the judicious use of software development resources. We compared the performance of RePizer in terms of expected accuracy and ease of use while separately adopting two different prioritization techniques, planning game (PG) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The results showed that RePizer performed better when used in conjunction with the PG technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During diagenetic stages, the aragonitic skeletons and the inter/intra-corallite cement of the upper Jurassic corals of Hanifa Formation either dissolved or subjected to diagenetic alterations including cementation, micritization, recrystallization, silicification, dolomitization and dedolomitization. The proposed sequence of diagenetic stages is as follows: early marine diagenesis, early meteoric and mixing zone diagenesis, late meteoric diagenesis, and shallow burial diagenesis. Each stage is characterized by certain diagenetic processes. The source of sulfate solutions for dedolomitization in the studied corals is the dissolved anhydrite deposits of the Arab-Hith Formations, sometime before their erosion. A possible source of silica, needed for the formation of chert and chalcedony, is the sponge spicules dispersed in many carbonates of the Hanifa Formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Providing an apical stop in open apex roots is one of the endodontic challenges. The aim of present study was to compare the surface hardness of both mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) and calcium-enriched mixture (CEM) cement at different setting situations. Materials and Methods: A total of 40 freshly extracted human teeth with a single root and normal apex and no obvious caries or curvatures were selected. The teeth were sectioned horizontally from the cement enamel junction and 2 mm above the apex. Standard technique was administered for cleaning and shaping of the canals. Open apex root canal was prepared by using Peso reamer. The prepared teeth were randomly divided intofour groups in which two groups were filled by MTA and the other groups were filled by CEM. White MTA and CEM cement plugs were prepared and condensed up to the apical end. In two groups, moistened paper point was placed in the canals and in the other group dried paper points was used. Vickers test was done to evaluate the microhardness and the collected data were analyzed by Kruskal- Wallis and three-way ANOVA tests using SPSS software version 18 at a significant level of 0.05. Results: The highest and lowest surface hardness was observed in CEM group at dried condition with 4 mm thickness indentation (145.10 ± 7.60 kg/mm2) and moist MTA group indented at 8 mm thickness (111.25 ± 5.37 kg/mm2). However, no significant difference was noticed (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Humidity condition might not influence the microhardness properties of both MTA and CEM cement apical plugs at different tested indentation thickness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Testing is a key activity of software development and maintenance that determines the level of reliability. Traceability is the ability to describe and follow the life of software artifacts, and has been promoted as a means for supporting various activities, most importantly testing. Traceability information facilitates the testing and debugging of complex software by modeling the dependencies between code and tests. Actively supplementing traceability to testing enables rectifying defects more reliably and efficiently. Despite its importance, the development of test-to-code traceability has not been sufficiently addressed in the literature, and even worse there is currently no organized review of traceability studies in this field. In this work, we have investigated the main conferences, workshops, and journals of the requirements engineering, testing, and reliability, and identified those contributions that refer to traceability topics. From that starting point, we characterized and analyzed the chosen contributions against three research questions by utilizing a comparative framework including nine criteria. As a result, our study arrives to some interesting points, and outlines a number of potential research directions. This, in turn, can pave the way for facilitating and empowering traceability research in this domain to assist software engineers and testers in test management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arabian Plate is important and unique in many ways. The worker wants to highlight the important features characterizing the Arabian Plate. It is a unique fit of the earth's surface jig saw puzzle, different than all other lithospheric plates. It has the three known main tectonic plate boundaries, divergent, convergent and conservative ones. These boundaries are the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, Zagros-Taurus and Dead Sea, respectively. It has three main well-defined and sharp plate boundaries, and it is surrounded by three major plates, African, Eurasian and Indian plates. The Red Sea and Gulf of Aden form the divergent boundary and spreading center. The Dead Sea Transform Fault (the Gulf of Aqaba Transform Fault) represents the conservative boundary and transform fault system. The Zagros-Taurus Thrust (Zagros-Taurus-Bitlis Thrust and Fold Belt) represents the convergent boundary and collision zone. The Arabian Plate incorporates a wide range and variety and subvariety of all three rock types, igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks, this in addition to all kinds of structures. Among these are folding with major fold belts, faulting, foliation, lineation and diapirism. Transform, transcurrent, normal, graben, reverse, thrust faults are all represented one way or another. The tectonics of the Arabian shield, which forms a major part of the Arabian Plate, has long tectonic history prior to the formation of the Red Sea. After the opening and formation of the latter, the tectonics of the Arabian shield became affected and controlled by its tectonics. The Arabian Plate includes the Arabian Platform which has a relatively different setting of tectonics represented by the Central Arabian Graben. The Arabian Plate contains one of the best representative outcropped ophiolite sequences in the world. The Arabian Plate most importantly incorporates most of world oil reserve. Seismic and volcanic activities are also manifested and affected many areas in the Arabian Plate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective(s): The aim of this study was to improve flowability and compressibility characteristics of starch to use as a suitable excipient in direct compression tabletting. Quasi-emulsion solvent diffusion was used as a crystal modification method. Materials and Methods: Corn starch was dissolved in hydrochloric acid at 80°C and then ethanol as a non-solvent was added with lowering temperature until the formation of a precipitate of modified starch. Flow parameters, particle size and thermal behavior of the treated powders were compared with the native starch. Finally, the 1:1 mixture of naproxen and each excipient was tabletted, and hardness and friability of different tablets were evaluated. Results: Larger and well shaped agglomerates were formed which showed different thermal behavior. Treated starch exhibited suitable flow properties and tablets made by the treated powder had relatively high hardness. Conclusion: It was found that recrystallization of corn starch by quasi emulsion solvent diffusion method could improve its flowability and compressibility characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the budgetary deadlines and time to market constraints, it is essential to prioritize software requirements.The outcome of requirements prioritization is an ordering of requirements which need to be considered first during the software development process. To achieve a high quality software system, both functional and nonfunctional requirements must be taken into consideration during the prioritization process. Although several requirements prioritization methods have been proposed so far, no particular method or approach is presented to consider both functional and nonfunctional requirements during the prioritization stage. In this paper, we propose an approach which aims to integrate the process of prioritizing functional and nonfunctional requirements.The outcome of applying the proposed approach produces two separate prioritized lists of functional and non-functional requirements.The effectiveness of the proposed approach has been evaluated through an empirical experiment aimed at comparing the approach with the two state-of-the-art-based approaches, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and hybrid assessment method (HAM). Results show that our proposed approach outperforms AHP and HAM in terms of actual timeconsumption while preserving the quality of the results obtained by our proposed approach at a high level of agreement in comparison with the results produced by the other two approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paleozoic successions in Saudi Arabia are exposed around and bordering the south, north, and northeastern edge of the Arabian shield. They are represented by the Wajid group in the south and by the Taymah, Tabuk, Qalibah, Huj, and Buraydah groups in the north and northeast. The Wajid group includes Dibsiyah, Sanamah, Khusayyan, and Juwayl formations. The Taymah group includes Siq, Amai'er, Quweira, Saq, and Qasim formations. The Tabuk group includes Zarqa, Sara, and Hawban formations. The Qalibah group includes Baq'a, Qusaiba, and Sharawra formations. The Huj group includes Tawil, Jauf, and Jubah formations. The Buraydah group includes Berwath, Unayzah, and Khuff formations. The Wajid group form one block in the south and the other groups form another block in the north, and they can be correlated. There are similarities between the northern belt which consists of the Cambro-Ordovician formations of the Tayma and Tabuk groups and the southern belt which consists of the Dibsiyah and Sanama formations of the Wajid group. Similarities include sandstone composition, sedimentary environment, paleocurrent directions, unconformities, tectonic events, and influence of Gondwana glaciations. These formations and probably some or all the rest of the Paleozoic formations used to form one block but later separated after erosion caused by gradual tectonic growth, uplift, and prominence of the Arabian shield. During early Paleozoic time, the process started by poststabilization then sedimentation and at a later stage the growth and uplift of the shield occurred gradually. Growth of shields is a fact and it is the only way to explain the exposure of the Wajid sandstone on top of the highest mountain of the shield which exceeds 3,000 m in As Sawdah in Asir area in southwestern Saudi Arabia. The sandstone sediments of these outcrops were deposited on a low lying basin before been raised to this elevation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Topical spironolactone may be effective for the treatment of acne patients with increased sebum secretion. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of 5% spironolactone gel in the treatment of mild to moderate acne vulgaris. Methods: This study was a double-blind clinical trial, performed randomly in two demographically equivalent groups. In this study, 78 patients with mild to moderate acne vulgaris participated. The patients, as groups of cases (38 patients) and controls (40 patients), took 5% spironolactone gel and placebo, respectively. The response to treatment was evaluated by the total acne lesions (TLC) and acne severity index (ASI). Results: The mean age of the case patients was 21.5 ± 4.2 years and of the control patients was 22.2 ± 4.06 years. The difference in TLC was statistically significant between the two groups ( p == 0.007), but no statistically significant difference was seen between the two groups for ASI ( p == 0.052). Conclusion: The 5% spironolactone topical gel resulted in a decrease in the TLC in acne vulgaris, while it had no significant efficacy in the ASI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refrigeration systems needs efficient refrigerant to perform it's determined objective, so, an optimum refrigerant, must have a good and desirable characteristics as compared with other refrigerants as well as a high coefficient of performance for the working cycle, which results for minimizing operating power to attain determined refrigeration capacity. A variety kinds of improved refrigerants had been appeared within the last twenty years, and many countries did large efforts to phaseout some refrigerants, or at least reduce it's usage, that's for it's ozone layer depletion and it's bad influence on environment and climate. This research deals with a comparative study between many Refrigerants on the basis of it's characteristics , COP and compressibility factor in ejector refrigeration system to select the optimum to be used in this system. From this study results , the optimum refrigerant is Butane (R - 600), which have a good characteristics , a relatively high compressibility factor values , and a COP value of (0.615) , which is a good result as compared with other refrigerants included the phaseouted for it's bad influence on environment and climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stream programs represent an important class of high-performance computing. The appeal of stream programming comes from its conceptual simplicity. These programs are rich in parallelism and can be naturally targeted to distributed and multi-core architectures. Since computer architectures gradually become multi-core, there is a pressing need to provide an efficient programming language that supports all aspects of parallelism in the streaming applications. This paper has two parts. In the first part, FSPL is introduced. FSPL is a new flexible stream programming language aims to improve programmer productivity and program efficiency within the streaming domain. In the FSPL language, each program is a collection of independent filters which communicate by the means of data channels. This model lends itself naturally to concurrent and efficient implementations on modern multiprocessors. In the second part, we introduce policies for scheduling execution of filters in the FSPL. In order for a schedule to be legal, it must execute filters in a sequence that each program runs completely without any deadlock as well as keeping high performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research deals with making a mathematical model for the design of a dual system for hot water production for industrial purposes as well as cooling using an ejector at a determined operating conditions, by utilizing dissipated thermal energy from a steam boiler and for a cooling capacity of (15) KW. For the system simulation, mathematical relations were presented for each component which were then combined together and programmed using (matlab) version 6.5 to optimize the system performance and design the components at this situation, using refrigerant (R-123) as the working fluid because of it's good characteristics and relatively high efficiency after a comparison study with other suitable refrigerants to be used for this system. Satisfactory results were obtained having good agreement with previous researches and a COP value of (0.667). The results show a suitable size of the designed system such that it can be used in a wide range of cooling and hot water production purposes. Also, the effect of operating conditions variation on the quantity and temperature of hot water and system performance were studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the energy benefits of switchable insulation systems (SIS) are assessed when applied as shades for windows as well as dynamic insulation for exterior walls of residential buildings located in European countries including Belgium and Spain. A series of analyses is performed for detached houses and apartments representing common Belgian residential buildings to determine the energy performance of SIS when deployed to windows and exterior walls and operated using simplified rule-based controls. The analysis results indicate that SIS-integrated windows can achieve significant energy savings for both dwelling types in Belgium, including the elimination of any mechanical cooling and a reduction of up to 44% of heating energy end-use. Moreover, the results show that SIS can offer even more energy efficiency and thermal comfort benefits when deployed to both windows and exterior walls for residential buildings. These energy efficiency benefits are higher, especially for reducing heating needs, for the milder climates of Belgium and Spain. However, it should be noted that the energy performance of SIS could be affected substantially by windows' orientation and occupants' behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the potential energy use and peak demand savings associated with optimal controls of switchable transparent insulation systems (STIS) applied to smart windows for US residential buildings. The optimal controls are developed based on Genetic Algorithm (GA) to identify the automatic settings of the dynamic shades. First, switchable insulation systems and their operation mechanisms are briefly described when combined with smart windows. Then, the GA-based optimization approach is outlined to operate switchable insulation systems applied to windows for a prototypical US residential building. The optimized controls are implemented to reduce heating and cooling energy end-uses for a house located four US locations, during three representative days of swing, summer, and winter seasons. The performance of optimal controller is compared to that obtained using simplified rule-based control sets to operate the dynamic insulation systems. The analysis results indicate that optimized controls of STISs can save up to 81.8% in daily thermal loads compared to the simplified rule-set especially when dwellings are located in hot climates such as that of Phoenix, AZ. Moreover, optimally controlled STISs can reduce electrical peak demand by up to 49.8% compared to the simplified rule-set, indicating significant energy efficiency and demand response potentials of the SIS technology when applied to US residential buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the potential energy savings when switchable insulation systems (SIS) are applied to walls of residential buildings located in Belgium and other locations in Europe. The study considers two low-energy prototypical dwellings (an apartment and a detached house) that are representative of post-2010 constructions and renovations in Belgium. Using an 3R2C-based analysis tool, the performance of both dwellings is evaluated with static and dynamic wall insulation systems. First, the switchable insulating system is described along with its associated simple 2-step rule-based control strategy. Then the modeling strategy and simulation analysis tools are presented. In Belgium, it was found that SIS-integrated walls allow energy savings up to 3.7% for space heating and up to 98% for cooling. Moreover, it was found that to further reduce the energy consumption of SIS-integrated buildings in various European climates, thermal mass placement needs to be considered. By optimizing the placement and the parameters of the various wall layers, it is possible to increase the space heating savings by up to a factor of 4 and those of cooling by up to a factor of 2.5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the potential energy savings when switchable insulation systems (SIS) are applied to walls of residential buildings located in Belgium and other locations in Europe. The study considers two low-energy prototypical dwellings (an apartment and a detached house) that are representative of post-2010 constructions and renovations in Belgium. Using an 3R2C-based analysis tool, the performance of both dwellings is evaluated with static and dynamic wall insulation systems. First, the switchable insulating system is described along with its associated simple 2-step rule-based control strategy. Then the modeling strategy and simulation analysis tools are presented. In Belgium, it was found that SIS-integrated walls allow energy savings up to 3.7% for space heating and up to 98% for cooling. Moreover, it was found that to further reduce the energy consumption of SIS-integrated buildings in various European climates, thermal mass placement needs to be considered. By optimizing the placement and the parameters of the various wall layers, it is possible to increase the space heating savings by up to a factor of 4 and those of cooling by up to a factor of 2.5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Upper Cretaceous Aruma Formation is widely distributed in central Saudi Arabia and consists of three members, from base to top, the Khanasir Limestone Member, the Hajajah Limestone Member, and the Lina Shale Member. It disconfomably overlies the Cenomanian Wasia Formation (middle Turonian, the "Wasia-Aruma break"). Two unconformities were recorded within and at the top of the Aruma Formation: (a) "the lower Campanian unconformity" between the Khanasir Limestone Member and the Hajajah Limestone Member and (b) "the pre-Cenozoic unconformity" between the Lina Shale Member and the Paleogene Umm er Radhuma Formation. The comparison between these unconformities and those recorded on the Arabian Plate was emphasized. A lenticular rudist biostrome in the uppermost part of the Khanasir Limestone Member consists mainly of the radiolitids and sparse canaliculated rudists in life position. However, rudists are entirely fragmented in the lower limestone and are very rare in the upper limestone of the Hajajah Limestone Member. Loose right valves of radiolitids from the Campanian Khanasir Member have underwent diagenetic alterations, such as fragmentation and compaction, micritization, bioerosion, and micritic calcite cement, which indicates marine diagenetic stage, while very limited silicification, dolomitization, and dissolution suggest the meteoric diagenetic environments with arid climates. Isopachus and equant calcite cement and neomorphism may be showed the fresh pharetic zone related with subaerial unconformities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the budgetary deadlines and time to market constraints, it is essential to prioritize software requirements. The outcome of requirements prioritization is an ordering of requirements which need to be considered first during the software development process. To achieve a high quality software system, both functional and nonfunctional requirements must be taken into consideration during the prioritization process. Although several requirements prioritization methods have been proposed so far, no particular method or approach is presented to consider both functional and nonfunctional requirements during the prioritization stage. In this paper, we propose an approach which aims to integrate the process of prioritizing functional and nonfunctional requirements. The outcome of applying the proposed approach produces two separate prioritized lists of functional and non-functional requirements. The effectiveness of the proposed approach has been evaluated through an empirical experiment aimed at comparing the approach with the two state-of-the-art-based approaches, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and hybrid assessment method (HAM). Results show that our proposed approach outperforms AHP and HAM in terms of actual time-consumption while preserving the quality of the results obtained by our proposed approach at a high level of agreement in comparison with the results produced by the other two approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]