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The effectiveness of professional learning communities (PLCs) in schools depends significantly on the extent of fostering teacher learning. In this explanatory case study, 16 female teachers from a...

The article discusses craniological materials from the crypt burial site Tsoi-Pede dating back to the late Middle Ages (XIII – XVIII centuries). The population that used the tombs of Tsoi-Pede apparently originated from anthropologically different groups who had been living together for quite a long time, and are probably the ancestors of modern Vainakh peoples.

Although personal resilience and supervisory support are known to reduce the impact of burnout and quitting intention, there is limited data available to explore these relationships among healthcare professionals (HCPs) in Saudi Arabia. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of burnout and explore its association with resilience, supervisory support, and intention to quit among Saudi Arabian HCPs. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was distributed to a convenience sample of HCPs between April and November 2022. Participants responded to socio-demographic questions, the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey for Medical Personnel (MBI-HSS (MP)), the Connor-Davidson resilience scale 10 (CD-RISC 10), and the Perceived of Supervisor Support Scale (PSS). Descriptive, inferential, correlation, and logistic regression tests were performed for data analyses. Results: Of the 1174 HCPs included in the analysis, 77% were presented with high burnout levels: 58% with emotional exhaustion (EE), 72% with depersonalization (DP), and 66% with low personal accomplishment (PA). Females were associated with increased odds of burnout (OR: 1.47; 95% CI: 1.04–2.06) compared to males. Burnout and its subscales were associated with higher intention to leave practice, with 33% of HCPs considering quitting their jobs. Furthermore, HCPs reported a low resilience score overall, and negative correlations were found between EE (r = −0.21; p < 0.001) and DP (r = −0.12; p < 0.01), and positive correlation with low PA (r = 0.38; p < 0.001). In addition, most HCPs perceived supervisory support as low, and it is associated with increased burnout and quitting intention. Conclusion: Burnout is common among HCPs across all clinical settings and is associated with higher intention to quit and low resilience and supervisory support. Workplace management should provide a supportive workplace to reduce burnout symptoms and promote resiliency.

Background Knowledge about oral anticoagulant treatment can impact treatment outcomes in patients with atrial fibrillation. However, evidence is scarce regarding the knowledge of oral anticoagulants among Saudi patients with atrial fibrillation. Hence, this study aimed to assess the level of anticoagulation knowledge among patients with atrial fibrillation taking oral anticoagulants. Methodology A survey using a cross-sectional study design was conducted among patients with a confirmed diagnosis of atrial fibrillation in a tertiary care setting. The Oral Anticoagulation Knowledge Tool (AKT), a 33-item, self-administered questionnaire, was used to assess the knowledge of anticoagulation. Results A total of 290 patients with a median age of 67 years participated in the survey. More than half of those surveyed (56.2%) were females. Overall, 195 (67.2%) patients had an overall adequate anticoagulation knowledge. The median knowledge score of participants on warfarin was significantly higher than those on direct-acting oral anticoagulants (p < 0.001). Only age was found to be a predictor of AKT. Increasing age was associated with fewer odds of adequate AKT. For every one-year increase in age, the knowledge score decreased by 0.08 (95% confidence interval: -0.13 to -0.04). Conclusions This study found significant knowledge gaps among Saudi patients with atrial fibrillation taking oral anticoagulants. Advancing age was inversely associated with oral anticoagulation knowledge.

Produced water is a byproduct of the production cycle that often creates problems for handling and disposal. In Khafji Joint Operation (KJO), thousands of BWPD were being produced every day and disposed of by pumping the water back into the A formation. This formation is sandstone and has a permeability range over one Darcy. To improve the economics of this project, KJO set an injection target rate of 30,000 B/D per well at a maximum of 1,500-psi wellhead injection pressure due to surface facility constraints. Several completion and stimulation methods were selected to enhance the injectivity rate of these disposal wells. A pilot project was conducted to understand the best methods for injector well development. The well was drilled slanted across the reservoir to increase the reservoir contact area. Openhole and preperforated liners with different upper completion tubing sizes (i.e., 5-in. and 7-in. tubing) were compared to set the baseline of injectivity. Coiled tubing matrix acidizing and hydraulic fracturing were performed in this pilot well to enhance the injectivity. In each different methodology, a series of injection and surveillance tools was deployed to quantify the results. Upon completion with the 5-in. tubing, the pilot well could not achieve the target injectivity rate without well stimulation. An improvement after acid stimulation via coiled tubing was observed, although it was not able to achieve the injectivity target. Completing the well with 7-in tubing improved the injectivity rate slightly, but the injection pressure was still relatively high. Finally, and despite the combination of all challenges in this well, the first channel fracturing in a preperforated injector well in the Middle East was successfully performed. The post-fracturing evaluation shows that channel fracturing is the optimal stimulation method, increasing the injectivity index in this well ninefold compared to matrix acidizing. These results suggest that the implementation of effective fracturing design and operations improves the economics of the project. The results also demonstrate the importance of surveillance activities and their analysis to guide the technical decision and technology deployment. To overcome the challenges, a clear and robust workflow and solution execution and surveillance methods were developed. The pilot project illustrates the importance of having the right data to guide decisions and a rigorous QA/QC approach before, during, and after fracturing to achieve successful delivery.

Information from dual-zone drill-stem tests (DSTs) and vertical interference tests, especially between oil and water zones, is very valuable for reservoir characterization under dynamic conditions. Despite the critical information that can be gathered for field development decisions, it is also an uncommon test type at a DST scale because of the advanced downhole test string design and operational complexity. This paper describes the objective-driven test design for a multi-layered carbonate reservoir and how the test sequence was modified in real-time to increase the value of information. An unconventional multi-zone well test with flexible on-demand control functionality was executed to resolve vital reservoir uncertainties for field development, including vertical interference between zones, individual zone characteristics and to confirm reservoir boundaries. Reservoir simulations were performed to decide the test sequence to create interference between different reservoir layers, while considering other test objectives, simultaneously. A DST string with wirelessly-activated downhole tools and flexible control options allowed to modify the test program on the fly, based on real-time data analysis and performance of each zone. One of the zones was also tested and characterized without flowing fluids to surface by making use of real-time downhole data. This complex, unorthodox well test operation was chosen to resolve multiple reservoir uncertainties in a single DST run, which would have normally required multiple different DSTs. Operations included flowing different zones individually, including acidizing operations, and the sequence was monitored and modified on the fly to maximize the value of data. Vertical interference between oil and water zones were also monitored to determine test conditions. Reservoir simulation studies helped choose the optimum test sequence to create the required interference by avoiding any disturbance in the interference data from other pressure transients during the test. During the test, downhole and surface testing data was transmitted to town in real-time and analyzed by the petro-technical team to guide the operational procedures. Downhole equipment was controlled wirelessly by acoustic commands to change the test design, depending on the data analysis. This thick carbonate formation was tested pre- and post-acid, to evaluate stimulation efficiency. Also, by testing the well at different flowrate and pressure conditions, information regarding future production well behavior was obtained. A low-pressure water zone was also tested without bringing fluids to surface, using a type of closed chamber test which was made possible by analyzing real-time downhole data from different depths. Multiple crucial objectives for field development decisions were planned and successfully obtained using an engineered DST string design. The confirmed reliability of complex DST string and wireless telemetry in difficult environment enabled well test efficiency gains to solve multiple challenging dynamic reservoir evaluation problems, simultaneously. These novel solutions bring new types of data and information to the exploration and appraisal teams to answer connectivity questions in a cost and time effective manner.

The current study was conducted to investigate the proximate minerals composition and microbial assessment of smoked hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) with salt, lemon leaves extract, lemon juice and peel treatments under laboratory conditions. A total of 50 fresh hilsa fishes were collected from Meghna River, Bangladesh and were used for this study, with five treatments: T0 (control treatment, raw hilsa), T1 (8% salt), T2 (20% lemon leaves extract), T3 (20% lemon juice) and T4 (20% lemon peel with 8% salt). Proximate composition was analyzed, right after the smoking and 15 days later, for moisture, protein, fat, ash, calcium, magnesium, iron and phosphorous. It can be said that T3 (20% lemon juice) was the best among the four treatments. Smoked hilsa treated with salt and lemon juice may be a future food item for consumption in global markets.

Many of the power cuts in the electricity system in the last decade indicate that there is much work to be done to address the voltage instability and subsequent collapse. This study presents a method to find and select the optimum location of FACTs device using the hybrid line stability index (HLSI) that is appropriate for the prediction voltage collapse in power system networks. Such the HLSI was obtained by deriving expressions basics equivalent Line Stability Index (Lmn), and Fast Voltage Stability Index (FVSI) and mix theirs through a switch logic based on the voltage angle difference Where indicate the nearness voltage collapse. The HLSI has tested in Iraqi National Super Grid System (INSGS) it gives the same results as the other indicators (Lmn & FVSI). For the base state, INSGS was found to be stable with all the three indicators have approximately equal values least than 1 for all lines. The contingency state detects that ranks of bus 24 the weakest bus in the system with the lower maximum allowable reactive load of (490.371 Mvar) and the line critical concerning bus 24, the line connecting bus 20 to bus 24. The values the three indicators, Lmn, FVSI, and HSLI, approximately equal, increasing the accuracy of HLSI.

Background The Dubas bug, Ommatissus lybicus, is a serious insect pest for the date palm Phoenix dactylifera in Oman and other date palm growing countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Climate is a key factor affecting the insect population dynamics, including O. lybicus. There are limited studies of O. lybicus relating to microclimate. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficiency of the various humid thermal indices (HTIs) and daily accumulation of temperature and humidity to model the relationship with O. lybicus. Results The highly infested locations showed a strong relationship with cumulative daily mean relative humidity (RhCm ), followed by daily minimum temperature (Tmin ) for pooled data over two seasons. The next best regression models for the relationship between the infestation and climate was with the absolute factors, daily maximum humidity (Rhmx ) and daily minimum humidity (Rhmin ), compared with HTIm/m (ratio of mean humidity to mean temperature) for the autumn season. The best regression model for the spring season was daily mean humidity (Rhm ) and daily maximum temperature (Tmax ). Conclusion Daily cumulative temperature was the best predictive model for O. lybicus infestation on date palms, considering the microclimate data at each location separately. The predication model points to the areas that are prone to infestation and need focus for monitoring and allocation of management resources. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.

The Dubas bug, Ommatissus lybicus de Bergevin, is one of the major pests of the date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, in Oman, reducing its production by 28%. In addition to the important annual costs to control this pest nationwide, effort, cost and time are spent surveying and spotting O. lybicus infestations. Several studies have indicated the possibility of using remote sensing technology to identify plants stressed by pest infestation. The aim of the present study is to detect O. lybicus infestations by quantifying reflectance changes of different infestation levels and calculating different vegetation indices (VIs) using high-resolution multispectral (MS) images. An image of an area with different sub-locations that had varying levels of infestation was acquired in March 2017 using the WorldView-3 satellite. The reflectance of 8 bands, 32 spectral VIs and maximum likelihood classification (MLC) were derived from the image, and then the correlation was tested using ground-infestation data. The results revealed that the reflectance decreased in the red edge and near-infrared (NIR) bands as the infestation level increased. High levels of infestation showed a significant difference in three bands, red edge, NIR1 and NIR2, compared to no, low and medium levels of infestation. Nineteen out of 32 VIs showed a significant relation with the infestation levels. The relation ranged between r = −0.12, p

Objective To describe a novel wrist deformity in b-thalassemia major patients, and their radiographic and magnetic resonance imaging findings. Methods 30 patients with b-thalassemia major who were noticed to have ulnar deviation at wrist joint were evaluated for previous history of medications, serum ferritin levels, presence of pain and swelling at the wrist joint, and the duration of iron chelation therapy. Radiographs of wrist and limited magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences were obtained in 30 and 15 patients, respectively. Results Radiographs revealed varying severity of distal ulnar shortening, distal radial slanting and presence of soft tissue distal to the ulna. MRI showed similar deformities along with abnormal marrow signal at distal ulnar ends; in 8 patients, a soft tissue distal to the distal end of ulna was noted. Conclusions Varying severity of radiological abnormalities, predominantly affecting the distal ulna, are present in children and adolescents with b-thalassemia receiving oral chelation therapy.

The South Asia region of the International Society of Nephrology comprises 8 countries (Table 1) with a combined population of 1.77 billion, about 29% of world population in 2016. The World Bank classifies Afghanistan and Nepal as low-income countries; Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka as low-middle-income countries, and the Maldives as an upper middle-income country. Over 65% of the population in the region lives in rural areas.

In this work, the TiO2: PMMA: PVA as a superhydrophilic coating was synthesized on a glasses substrate for self-cleaning application. The coating was prepared from a composite of ranging nanosized particles of titanium dioxide (TiO2), poly(methyl methacrylates) (PMMA), and Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) by using the sol-gel method with an ultrasonic bath and deposited the coating by using rainfall spraying. Two ratios used to prepare the coating were TiO2: PMMA: PVA (1:5:2 and 2:4:2) wt%. The characterization of the synthesized coating was done by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis; also, the superhydrophilic was characterized analysis. The results of XRD showed TiO2-type rutile. The results of AFM images showed the average grain size distribution was (76.6, 79) nm and roughness was (16.998, 11.010) nm for 1:5:2 and 2:4:2, respectively. The water contact angle (WCA) of coated is maintained as low as (5.982°, 7.461°) for 1:5:2 and 2:4:2, respectively. The results showed the surface of the coating was superhydrophilic with good characterizations.