Qassim University
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Item Restricted A New Characterization of Catalan Numbers Related to Hankel Transforms and Fibonacci Numbers(Saudi Digital Library, 2019) Alharbi, Ahmed Mohammed Bader; Bouras, BelgacemThe Hankel determinant of order n ≥ 1 of a sequence A = {ao, a1, a2,...} of real numbers, denoted by hn, is the determinant given by h = det[ai+jlosij≤n-1. Many authors have studied Hankel determinants containing combinatorial numbers (See [2][4][7][9][10][15]). Of special in- terest are Hankel determinants consisting of the sequence of Catalan numbers defined by Cn (3) 2n n+1 (2n)! n!(n + 1)!' n≥ 0. Cvetković, Rajković, and Ivković proved that the Hankel deter- minant of the sequence of sums of two successive Catalan num- bers is the sequence of Fibonacci numbers with odd indices. Later on, T. Benjamin, Cameron, Quinn, and Yerger extended this result and proved that if we remove by one term this se- quence of sums then the Hankel transform is the sequence of Fibonacci numbers with even indices. It is naturel, then, to ask the following question: Is the Catalan number sequence the unique nonnegative integer sequence sat- isfying this property? The aim of this project is to answer this question. The first chapter contains notations and preliminary results on the theory of orthogonal polynomials that we will use in the sequel such as calculus on the forms, orthogonality of polynomials, regularity of forms, classical polynomials, etc. In the second chapter, we present some combinatoric interpre- tations of Catalan numbers. Then, we prove that the Catalan number sequence is the unique nonnegative integer sequence fulfilling the mentioned property.8 0Item Restricted A survey on the Mellin transform and its applicationsA survey on the Mellin transform and its Applications(Saudi Digital Library, 2018) Alqsair, Ikbal Suliman Mohammed; Bettaibi, N´ejiThe Mellin transform is one of the most popular transforms which was initiated by Hjal- mar Mellin in the end of the nineteenth century. D. E. Knuth, together with De Bruijn, introduced it in the orbit of discrete mathematics in the mid 60's, however, Flajolet's school systematized and applied the Mellin transform to a myriad problems of analytic combinatorics and analysis of algorithms. Recently, the Mellin transform has found its way into information theory. The popularity of this transform stems from two properties. It allows the reduction of certain functional equations to algebraic ones, and it provides a direct mapping between asymptotic expansions of a function near zero or infinity and the set singularities of the transform in the complex analysis. The latter asymptotic property is crucial for applications in discrete mathematics, analysis of algorithms, analytic combinatorics and analytic information theory (see [5, 6, 7, 16]). The main idea in this project is to give a little survey on the Mellin transform and its applications80 0Item Restricted Al Bayhaqi Method At Justification of Difference Through His Book Controversies "Al-Khelafeat" Applied Theory Study(Qassim University, 1444-07-09) الردادي، عايدة بنت حسن; العبدلي، بندر بن نافعمنهج البيهقي في الإعلال بالاختلاف من خلال كتابه الخلافيات، دراسة نظرية تطبيقية. رسالة مقدمة لنيل درجة الدكتوراه في السُّنَّة وعلومها، إعداد الباحثة: عايدة بنت حسن بن غانم الردادي، إشراف الأستاذ الدكتور: بندر بن نافع العبدلي. يهدف البحث إلى: بيان منهج الإمام البيهقي في الإعلال بالاختلاف، وذلك من خلال دراسة الأحاديث التي أعلها البيهقي بالاختلاف في كتابه «الخلافيات»، وقد اشتملت الدراسة على مائة وستين حديثًا، منها: مائة وأربعون حديثًا أعلّ أسانيدها، وعشرون حديثًا أعلّ متونها. وقد اشتمل البحث على: التعريف بالاختلاف، وأهمية معرفته، وأثره في إعلال الأحاديث، وعلى التعريف بالإمام البيهقي ، وبكتابه «الخلافيات»، وبيان منهج البيهقي في عرض الاختلاف، وبيان الوجه المعلول، وقرائن الترجيح التي يوازن بها عند الاختلاف، في كلا قسمي الاختلاف، وتخريج ودراسة الأحاديث التي أعلها بالاختلاف في الإسناد، والمتن، دراسة حديثية من حيث جمع الطرق، وبيان أوجه الاختلاف على الراوي، وبيان الوجه الراجح من المرجوح، والحكم على الحديث من وجهه الراجح. والخاتمة، وفيها أبرز النتائج، ومنها: - إن كتاب الخلافيات ليس مرجعًا من مراجع كتب العلل الأصلية، إلا أنه احتوى على الكثير من الأحاديث المعلة. - أظهرت الدراسة موافقة الإمام البيهقي للأئمة النقاد في ترجيحاتهم بين أوجه الاختلاف، ولم يخالفهم إلا في حديثين، وقد رجحهما من باب قبول زيادة الثقة. - لم يلتزم البيهقي بطريقة مطردة في عرض أوجه الاختلاف، وفي بيان الوجه المعلول، فأحيانًا يطيل في بعض الأحاديث، وأحيانًا يختصر، وقد يُعِلّ الإسناد فقط، وقد يعل المتن فقط، وقد يعل الإسناد والمتن معًا، وقد يذكر نوعًا من أنواع الاختلاف، وقد يذكر أكثر من نوع من أنواع الاختلاف في الحديث الواحد، وكل ذلك بحسب ما وقع في الحديث من علل. - تنوُّع قرائن الترجيح التي استعملها البيهقي في الترجيح بين أوجه الاختلاف، وأكثر القرائن التي استعملها: الترجيح بالكثرة، والترجيح بالحفظ، والاختصاص بالراوي، ووجود متابع للمدار، أو للراوي عن المدار.89 0Item Restricted Al2O3/ GaN/ AlGaN دراسة انتشار الشوائب في المركب غير المتجانس(Saudi Digital Library) أسماء عبدالله الهويرينيتم تحضير طبقات التركيب غير المتجانسة GaN و AlGaN باستخدام ترسيب البخار الكيميائي المعدني العضوي (MOCVD) عند الضغط الجوي18 0Item Restricted AN ANALYSIS OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT IN THE BANKING SECTOR OF SAUDI ARABIA(Saudi Digital Library, 2017) Ahmad, Fozan; Hasaballah, Abdel HafiezThe growing competition in the financial markets worldwide is indicator for the need of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems in baking sector to gain and sustain the competitive advantages. There are different factors affecting the successful implementation of CRM in Saudi Banking sector. The basic aim of the research is to investigate and highlight the success factors and status of the CRM implementation in Saudi Banking Sector. The questionnaire was adopted from previous studies with some modifications according to banking sector. 100 questionnaires were received from the employees of banks and response rate remain 83%. Data were obtained from 3 larger banks (Al Rajhi, Alahli and Samba bank) and 4 other banks in Al Qassim, Saudi Arabia. The responses were collected on five point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagrees to strongly agree. The SPSS software used to analyse the data. Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient 0.73 shows the acceptable reliability for items in scale. Three hypotheses (H1, H2 and H3) were developed and tested using multi regression analysis. The proposed model is proved with acceptance of all hypotheses. Regression analyses were performed to check the cause and effect relationship between dependent variable (Implementation of CRM) and independent variables (top management support, customer attitude and training of staff). The positive correlation and significant relationship exists between the successful implementation of CRM (dependent variable) and top management support, customer attitude and training of staff (independent variables). There are some limitations in the study due to shortage of time and culture of the country. From the analysis and findings researcher recommended theoretical and managerial implications5 0Item Restricted An Analysis of Intonational Patterns in Qassimi Arabic (QA): An Acoustic Study(Qassim University, 2023-04-27) الجمعان، لمياء عيد مبارك; Aljamaan, Lamya Eid Mubarak; الجطيلي, محمد; Aljutaily, MohammadThe world's languages and dialects depend heavily on intonation for the formation of meaning, and different intonations can convey different ideas or meanings. This thesis employs the autosegmental-metrical (AM) framework to examine the intonational patterns of declarative sentences and yes/no questions as spoken in Qassimi Arabic (QA) to determine the general intonational patterns in this dialect and whether generalizations about them are possible. The participants were 20 Qassimi Arabic speakers aged 20–40 years. Participants were introduced to a story written in QA, followed by two types of sentences (declarative sentence and yes/no question) that they were asked to read. Praat software was used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that, in declarative sentences, QA speakers tended to have a final low boundary tone as L-L%, L%, while in yes/no questions, QA speakers tended to have a final high boundary tone as L-H%, H%, and H-H%. ANOVA analysis confirmed that there were significant differences between the F0 values of the declarative sentences and yes/no questions, such that the F0 of yes/no questions had higher values than the declarative forms in all participants regardless of their gender. These findings are similar to those in many studies of Arabic varieties, including ones of Farasani Arabic, Hijazi Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, and Lebanese Arabic. However, there were some unexpected patterns in the results as well. First, in declarative sentences, some statements ended with high tone, as H%, L-H%, while others showed a rising intonation and then a lowering tone, as in H*+L%, and H-L%. Second, in yes/no questions, the unexpected intonational patterns were H-L%, L-L%, and L%. These unexpected patterns occurred because participants read the stimulus as if they were reading a paper or were accidental and unrepeated. Nevertheless, these unexpected patterns were not frequent, which is why two repetitions were implemented to ensure that the results were not produced by accident.72 0Item Restricted An Enhanced Framework for Integrating Wireless Sensor Networks with Secure Cloud Environments(Saudi Digital Library) [Habibah Lefa Jardan AL-Harbiشبكة الاستشعار اللاسلكية (WSN) هي شبكة تحتوي على أجهزة استشعار موزعة في أماكن متفرقة لمراقبة الظروف المادية والبيئية القاسية مثل درجة الحرارة والضغط وما إلى ذلك. تنتشر شبكات الاستشعار اللاسلكية في العديد من التطبيقات الأساسية التي تتطلب تفاعل بين المستخدمين والعالم المادي. من المهام الأساسية والحاسمة في شبكات الاستشعار اللاسلكية هي توفير بنية تحتية فعالة للاتصالات. تستخدم البيئات السحابية بشكل رئيسي لتخزين ومعالجة البيانات. وهي تتيح للمستخدمين الوصول إلى موارد الحوسبة المختلفة مثل التخزين والتطبيقات من أي مكان عند الطلب عبر شبكة الإنترنت. الدمج بين شبكات الاستشعار اللاسلكية والحوسبة السحابية يقدم منصة مرنة وقابلة لإعادة التشكيل والتي تساعد في توفير إدارة آمنة للبيانات التي تم جمعها من عقد الاستشعار المتصلة عن بعد. تهدف هذه الرسالة إلى تقديم إطار عمل يوفر تدفق بيانات آمن بين عقد الاستشعار ومنصات الحوسبة السحابية من خلال بيئة متكاملة. كما يتم دراسة ومناقشة العديد من الأطر المتعلقة بدمج شبكات الاستشعار اللاسلكية والحوسبة السحابية. إن الإطار المقترح والقائم على السحابة سوف يوفر قابلية عالية للتوسع والتوافر للتطبيقات التي تعتمد على أجهزة الاستشعار اللاسلكية. لبناء وتنفيذ هذا الإطار، سوف نستخدم أجهزة استشعار ثابتة قادرة على الإتصال بمنصات الحوسبة السحابية الخاصة بجامعة القصيم. يتم جمع بيانات المستشعر وتخزينها في خادم قاعدة البيانات، ومن ثم نقوم بالتحقق من سلامة البيانات من خلال اختبار دقة البيانات. وأخيرًا نقوم بتقييم سلوك موازن التحميل باستخدام الاختبارات الموزعة عن بُعد للتحقق من قابلية التوسع وتوافر الخدمات.8 0Item Restricted Antimicrobial resistance of bacteria isolated from local and imported ground meat(Saudi Digital Library, 2020) Alzaben, Feras Abdullah; Elbehiry, Ayman; Fat'hi, ShawkatBackground: Worldwide, food borne illness is often associated with consumption of meat sold at retail markets. A study on the bacteriological status of local and imported ground meat was carried out to determine antimicrobial resistance of bacteria isolated from local and imported ground meat. Methodology: A total of 280 samples of local and imported chilled ground meat, were collected from different retail supermarkets in Buraydah City, Saudi Arabia. The samples were examined for the presence of bacterial contaminants using standard microbiological isolation and identification procedures by Mass Peptide Fingerprinting technique, with antimicrobial susceptibility test performed using the Microscan Walkaway System. In addition, isolated strains of Staphylococcus aureus were identified by using the qPCR System for identifying the nuc and mecA genes as well as for the fliC of the Escherichia coli. Results: Out of 280 chilled ground meat samples, 40.33% were harboured S. aureus, 36.13% E. coli, 7.56% Hafnia alvei, 6.72% Pseudomonas spp., 5.88% Salmonella spp. and 3.36% Aeromonas spp. while a large number of bacteria were isolated from imported beef 34.45% and mutton 42%. All S. aureus strains (100%) were resistant to beta‐lactam penicillins (ampicillin), beta‐lactam/beta‐lactam inhibitors (amoxicillin-clavulanic acid), 1 st generation cephalosporins (cephalothin) and quinolone (nalidixic acid). A total of 87.5%, 39.6%, 39.6%, 31.2%, 22.9% and 12.5% of S. aureus isolates were resistant to 4th generation cephalosporins (cefepime), beta-lactam penicillins (piperacillin), 2 nd generation cephalosporins (cefoxitin), norfloxacin (fluoroquinolone), ciprofloxacin (fluoroquinolone) and tetracyclines (tetracycline) respectively. Likewise, concerning the E. coli strains, the percentage of resistance was 100% for beta-lactam penicillins (ampicillin), beta-lactam/beta-lactam inhibitors (amoxicillin-clavulonic acid), 1st generation cephalosporins (cephalothin) and 2 nd generation cephalosporins (cefoxitin). In contrast, all strains of E. coli appeared strongly activity (100%) against sulfonamides (cotrimoxazole) and carbapenem (imipenem). Moreover, 58.1% and 53.5% of E. coli strains were susceptible to nitrobenzenes (chloramphicol) and quinolone (nalidixic acid), respectively. In contrast, the sensitivity of S. aureus was 100% for carbapenem (imipenem), 58.3% for Sulfonamides (Cotrimoxazole) and 41.7% for Nitrobenzenes (Chloramphenicol). Conclusion: The bacteriological status of imported chilled ground meat revealed variable degrees of contamination with S. aureus and E. coli. The study also demonstrated that the isolated bacteria from imported ground meat resist a large number of antibiotics more than local ground meat. Therefore, in order to reduce the risk represented by zoonotic agents to the consumer health, it is necessary to avoid the contamination of the carcasses during the slaughter and transportation operations. Consequently, maintaining the conditions of slaughtering and marketing them to keep the quality of preserving them is therefore of great importance for meat production.7 0Item Restricted Application of Heteroaryl Chalcone on The Synthesis of Different New Heterocyclic Compounds(Saudi Digital Library, 2020) Alshubramy, Maha Abdurrahman Saad; Mohammed, Marwa Abdel-MotaalChalcones are the common name of 1,3-diaryl-2-propen-1-one. Chemically, they are two aromatic rings linked by aliphatic three-carbon α,β-unsaturated ketones belonging to the flavonoid family. Chalcones persist significant synthetic transitional applicant, mainly as construction units for the production of several heterocyclic structures such as pyrimidine and pyridine ring systems which are very important classes of compounds owing to their wide-spectrum of biological activities. Molecular modeling is a powerful tool in drug discovery, which has been utilized to design many drug candidates that exhibit biological effect in many diseases by simulation interaction between a small compound and a receptor.19 0Item Restricted Applying Machine learning Techniques to Opinions in Tweets(Saudi Digital Library, 2021) Alassaf, Manar Abdullah; Qamar, Ali MustafaSentiment analysis can be applied in many domains given the abundance of views in social networks, including the education sector that reflects how cultures and nations grow and develop. In this context, aspect-based sentiment analysis with its two main subtasks: aspect detection and aspect-opinion classification, might provide an accurate picture of many educational institutions’ strengths and weaknesses. In this study, a real-world Twitter dataset was collected, containing 7,934 Arabic tweets related to Qassim University in Saudi Arabia. One of the problems that are usually faced is the high dimensionality of the feature space in the text classification task. Accordingly, this experimental study aims to investigate the effectiveness of using a hybrid feature selection method in improving the results of aspect-based sentiment analysis by reducing the number of features. The proposed feature method consists of a one-way analysis of variance to examine the relationship between each feature and target classes, and the regularization method that calculates the importance of features together during the learning phase. Various experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of the proposed feature selection method in enhancing the results of different supervised machine learning classifiers. The experimental study has confirmed that the proposed feature selection method has successfully improved the results of some classifiers such as Support Vector Machine and Naïve Bayes in terms of F1-score. As further evidence, the hybrid feature selection method with Support Vector Machine represented a good combination in the Arabic benchmark dataset since its result outperforming other studies’ results.9 0Item Restricted Assessment of Impulse Asymptote for Full Blast Load History(Qassim University, 2024-02-06) Alarfaj, Nasser; Alawad, OmarThe pressure-impulse (P-I) curve is used as a design technique that allows the assessment of a component's dynamic behavior when subjected to blast loading. The P-I curve has two asymptotes, which draw the lower limits of a structural component's level of protection. The P-I curves are typically constructed considering a simplified version of the blast loading history where only the positive phase is considered. This simplification often ignores the tilting (toward the right) of the pressure-impulse curve in the impulsive region, thus altering the impulse asymptote representation. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of including the negative phase when constructing the P-I curve for reinforced concrete panels subjected to full-blast loading. The goal is achieved by obtaining the tilting angle of the P-I curves in the impulsive region. The study also aims to derive a new impulse asymptote equation considering the tilting in the full blast loading P-I curve. According to the findings, all examined cases exhibited an angle of tilting, which led to an increase in the margin of safety for the impulsive region compared with the P-I curve of the positive phase blast load alone. The angle of tilting ranges from 0.86 to 15.26 degrees. The regression line equations representing the tilted asymptote were developed, with 79% of the examined cases having an error of less than +/- %15.44 0Item Restricted Association of Nephrotoxicity with Non-adherence to Therapeutic Drug Monitoring Guidelines of Antibiotics B(Saudi Digital Library, 2021) Abushomi, Hamidah Qasim; Alqahtani, SaeedPurpose: The main objective of this study was to evaluate therapeutic drug monitoring services of antibiotics at King Saud University Medical City (KSUMC) and investigate the association between non-adherence to therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) guidelines and development of adverse effect. Method: This was a retrospective study conducted using electronic health records (HER), included all hospitalized patients who received antibiotics (vancomycin, gentamicin, and amikacin) with requested TDM over a one-year. The adherence to the TDM guidelines was measured by reviewing all the following: appropriate indication, sampling time (based on medication), results reports, and clinical pharmacist intervention. Descriptive analysis was performed for all variables within the study. All information analysis was conducted using SPSS for Windows (Chicago, Inc.). Results: A total of 1179 patients who have TDM requests during 2017 were included in our study, of that 65 % were male. The TDM service was the most commonly requested for vancomycin 72%, followed by gentamycin and amikacin with almost 14%. Over 25% of the patients in this study have sepsis, 11% endocarditis and 10 % pneumonia. Upon assessment of the appropriateness of sampling times, we found that around 15% were withdrawn at the wrong time, and over 40% of the TDM services did not adhere to the guidelines. Although the physicians accepted most of the pharmacists’ intervention related to TDM service, the pharmacist did not provide any recommendation in more than onethird of the cases. Nephrotoxicity was the most common adverse reaction, and it is observed in 20% of the patients. We detected a significant negative association between nephrotoxicity and guideline adherence (OR = 1.47; p 0.014). Conclusion: A reliable TDM service depends on the collaboration between the health care teams, including; doctors, nurses, clinical pharmacists, and lab staff. TDM service offers a great opportunity in improving clinical practice, optimizing treatment outcomes and minimize drug-related problems like toxicity, and prolong hospitalization. Improving TDM, service in this hospital would result in avoiding unnecessary costs to the patient and the health care system10 0Item Restricted Automatic Generation Control Strategies in Interconnected Power Systems under Deregulated Environment(Saudi Digital Library, 2021) Alharbi, Ibrahim Abdullah; Hasan, NaimulThe electric power system is one of the oldest infrastructures and operates mostly in vertically integrated utility (VIU). The new transformation of power system from VIU to deregulated and restructured utilities has brought the sea changes in structure and operation. The availability of power to industries and others is important for the development of nation. The per capita consumption of electrical energy has been considered as the prime index to evaluate the overall development of any country. The power engineers and the government agencies along with public sectors are continuously putting their best efforts to improving infrastructure and minimize this gap. Due to best efforts, this gap has been narrowed down to great extent, but still a gap exists. The installed capacity in Saudi Arabia has increased about more than five times from 2005 until 2021 and peak load demand expected to increase at rate of six percent per year over the coming 10 years. The transmission and distribution network in Saudi Arabia have also expanded to the population accordingly [1]. The decomposition of the power system is indispensable for efficient operation and control. The desired state of operation is normal state but depending upon the loads and generation health the other states may be like; preventive state, emergency state and restorative states. The time hierarchy of execution of control functions in power system arises because of the extremely wide range of response time inherent in power system operation and control. Time decomposition is always carried out to subdivide a difficult problem into smaller sub problems and automatic generation control (AGC) action initiates within seconds. The electrical power system structure is operationally connected to many control areas spreading over a large electrical area. This has made the controlling aspect of power system a huge concern for all power engineers. Today’s life is dominantly reliant on the electrical energy and the increasing power demand is to be balanced by the generation of power. The AGC strategy is imperative in balancing the power in the network and takes care of frequency maintenance and tie-line flows. The conventional power structure transforming into the market oriented model and splitting the entire single central entity to different operational business modules. This deregulated and restructured power system has separate module entities like generation transmission and distribution companies and also the retail wheeling of power. However, this transition has posed many new technical issues and challenges to the operation of deregulated power systems. Therefore, the existing fundamental principles of operational and control philosophies are to be modified to handle new power system environment. In the present work, the conventional proportional integral derivative (PID) controller and optimal controller are designed for AGC for new structured power system for the different case studies. The AGC regulator also designed based on genetic algorithm (GA) tuning techniques. The deregulated power system model is considered with various possible market transactions. For the bilateral contracts and bilateral contract violations, the power exchanges have been noticed between the control areas. The comparative study for the designed controllers is presented in this thesis. The state space model of restructured power system is developed for AGC implementation and the controller based on the control theory concepts are designed. The dynamic responses have been compared for both controller design and tuning techniques and stability analysis has been carried out. The MATLAB software and associated tools have been utilized to perform computation work and the results so obtained have been investigated.28 0Item Restricted Behavior of Hybrid Mechanically Stabilized Earth Walls Subjected To Traffic Loadings(Saudi Digital Library, 2020) Alluhaybi, Abdullah Fahad; Elkholy, SherifThe view of the new leadership in Saudi Arabia, as outlined in 2030 Vision, is to go in a clear direction to adopt the recent and advanced developments and technologies in all fields. All the government agencies and sectors have been trying to go along with this vision in all infrastructure projects in order to contribute to the achievement of the sustainable economic plans in the country. Qassim University was keen to hold with the direction of the Saudi leadership through the educational approach of research and scientific courses to strengthen the concept of the 2030 Vision for students and society. One of these technologies is Mechanically Stabilized Earth Walls. This technology is somewhat new in the Saudi construction market. Therefore, a study to investigate the behavior of these walls was the need of time in order to obtain a safe and optimal structural design, as the cases of collapse of this type of walls still exist, especially in the case of changing the engineering dimensions of the wall and mechanical properties. Mechanically Stabilized Earth walls (MSEW) have been showing improved performance and acceptance level among engineers and contractors recently particularly when used to widen roads to accommodate large traffic or as ramps for bridges. MSEWs have a number of advantages over traditional reinforcement concrete walls; they can reach more heights at a reasonable cost. The need for higher retaining walls requires the tendency for new techniques. One of such techniques is the use of large geogrid spacing. In such a case, there is a number of solutions such as the use of wire mesh to prevent local failure at the face of the wall due to the large spacing. Our aim in this research is to study the behavior of MSE walls with various forms of reinforcement in bridge abutments under traffic loading using numerical. Several cases related to the behavior of the Mechanically Stabilized Earth Walls were studied including the change of the friction angle of the reinforced fill soil and the study of the influence of loads on the MSEW as well as the change of the geogrid properties. The results of these cases were discussed, including the results of the tensile forces in the geogrid and the wires mesh, the vertical and horizontal displacement of the facing wall and finally shear strain increment. Results show that the maximum tensile force in the geogrids increases as the strength of the soil is reduced by decreasing the friction angle. The maximum tensile force in the geogrid varies with the geogrid vertical position within the wall. Rankine failure surface angle with the facing panels increases as the friction angle decreases. The maximum tensile force in the geogrid was found at around one-third of the wall height. The horizontal displacement in facing of the wall decreases with increasing friction angle. With traffic loads placed above the wall, the tensile forces in the geogrid and wires were not affected due to the increased friction angle.1 0Item Restricted Biochemical and molecular detection of Pasteurella species associated with ovine pneumonia and their antibiogram(Saudi Digital Library, 2021) Alarawi, Fayez Ayed; Saeed, Elhassan Mohammed AliPneumonic pasteurellosis caused by Pasteurella species is believed to be one of the most common and economically important types of ovine pneumonia. No previous study about the disease in Al Madinah Region, Saudi Arabia. Thus, this study was conducted to determine the association rate of Mannheimia haemolytica and Pasteurella multocida with pneumonia in sheep and to update data about their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns. A total of 100 samples (57 nasal swabs and 43 lung tissues) were collected from live diseased and animals suspected to have died of pneumonia. Samples were subjected to bacteriological examination, biochemical identification of isolates by VITEK 2 system, direct molecular identification by real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and antibiotic sensitivity test of the isolates. The results showed an overall (isolation and molecular) detection rate of 31% (31/100) for M. haemolytica (25%) and P. multocida (6%). The isolation method indicated that only six isolates (6%, 6/100) were confirmed by VITEK 2 as M. haemolytica, with excellent identification (probability reached 99%). While, direct molecular method (for samples other than those from which isolates were obtained, n=94) revealed that 19 (20.2%, 19/94) samples were positive for M. haemolytica and six (6.4%, 6/94) for P. multocida specific 16S rRNA genes. M. haemolytica isolates were found sensitive to oxytetracycline, nitrofurantoin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, ciprofloxacin, cefoxitin, ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, imipenem, and tigecycline, in order. While, they were found completely resistant to ix cloxacillin, streptomycin, and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid. In conclusion, the detection rate of M. haemolytica emphasized its role as a major cause of ovine pneumonia, whereas P. multocida is rare. In addition, these results invigorated the role of direct molecular detection and recommend it for laboratory differential diagnosis. The isolates were resistant to limited antimicrobial agents, nevertheless, the antimicrobial susceptibility test is important for proper treatment.8 0Item Restricted Biochemical and molecular identification of Clostridium perfringens toxinotypes associated with suspected enterotoxemia in sheep(Saudi Digital Library, 2021) Alsaab, Fehaid Hamoud; Saeed, ElhassanEnterotoxemia caused by Clostridium perfringens toxinotypes is an often fatal disease of sheep in all ages, with a substantial economic loss to the sheep industry. This study was conducted to isolate C. perfringens from suspected cases of enterotoxemia in sheep at central part of Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia; and to determine the prevalent toxinotype by detecting alpha (cpA), beta (cpB) and epsilon (etX) toxin genes; a step might help in the control of the disease locally. A total of 93 samples were collected from sheep suspected to have enterotoxemia (50 rectal swabs from live animals and 43 intestinal contents from recently died animals); in addition to 20 samples from apparently healthy ones (10 rectal swabs from live animals and 10 intestinal content samples from one of the local abattoirs) during the first half of 2020. Samples were subjected to bacteriological examination, biochemical analysis of isolates by VITEK 2, and molecular toxinotyping of isolates by LightCycler® real-time PCR (RT-PCR). A total of 40 C. perfringens-suspected isolates were obtained from samples of the suspected enterotoxemia cases and no isolate was obtained from samples of apparently healthy animals. The results revealed that only 14 isolates were confirmed by VITEK 2 as C. perfringens, with excellent identification, probability bettween 95% and 97%. Toxinotyping showed that all of the isolates possessed both cpA and etX toxin genes, while cpB toxin gene was not detected in any of the isolates. This finding indicated that C. perfringens type D is the only toxinotype found in the central part of Qassim Region at the time of this study. Only 15% (14/93) of suspected cases were confirmed to be due to C. perfringens infection, a result highlighted the importance of clinical and laboratory differential diagnosis of enterotoxemia in sheep.7 0Item Restricted Blowing up Solutions for an Elliptic Problem Arising in Chemotaxis(Saudi Digital Library, 2021) Alkharraz, Modhi Yousef; Khalil, JiyidThis thesis is devoted to study an elliptic Neumann problem with critical nonlinearity. −∆u + µu = u N+2 N−2 +ε , u > 0 in Ω; ∂u ∂n = 0 on ∂Ω, where Ω is a smooth bounded domain in R N , N ⩾ 4, ε is small real number and µ is a constant positive function. We prove that for ε positive small, there exists a nontrivial solution which blows up to a point a ∈ ∂Ω which achieves the upper bounded of the boundary mean curvature. We also prove that when ε is negative small and Ω is not convex, there exists a nontrivial solution which blows up to a point a ∈ ∂Ω which achieves the lower bound of the boundary mean curvature. Lastly, we consider the critical case, i.e ε = 0, and µ is a small positive constant and we investigate numerical positive radial solutions on the ball.6 0Item Restricted CAPITAL MARKET LIBERALIZATION: EFFECT OF FOREIGN INVESTORS ON STOCK MARKET PERFORMANCE(Saudi Digital Library, 2019) Almutiri, Abeer Faleh; Khawaja, Muhammad JunaidThis study aims to determine if a cause exists between foreign investors buy and sell and the Saudi stock market performance. The dependent variable is Saudi stock index represented by INDEX while the independent variables are buying for foreign investors, selling for foreign investors namely BUY and SELL. The research period starts from January 2008 to December 2018. Unit root tests with structural breaks based on ADF test and ZAUroot test, Co- integration analysis and Granger causality tests was used to test 4 hypotheses stating no effect on Saudi stock market of foreign buy and sell. Results indicate on the importance of foreign investors BUY and SELL to explain stock market movements. The study will guide Saudi policy makers, analysts, and financial institutions to benefit from the clear link between investors selling and buying and Saudi stock performance paving the way for Wise policies9 0Item Restricted Cellular and humoral immunomodulation studies of Capparis spinosa, Pulicaria undulate and Echinacea purpurea in vitro and in vivo(Saudi Digital Library, 2017) Aldehaili, Fahd Ali; Zaki, Abdelkader Ahmad; Mousa, HassanHerbal medicine is widely used in Saudi Arabia because of their effectiveness, little side effects and low cost, so investigations based on traditional plants has become more important. Although herbal medicine has long been used effectively in treating many immune diseases, the mechanism of action of most of the herbs used still not known precisely. Humoral and cellular immune response of methanolic extract of Capparis spinosa (C. spinosa) and Pulicaria undulate (P. undulata) was the aim of the present study. Rats, rabbits and chickens were used for assessment. The immunomodulation responses of methanolic extracts of the two plants were compared to either positive response of Echinacea purpurea (E. purpurea) or negative response of cyclophosphamide (CY). Animals were divided into seven groups. The first group was challenged with sheep erythrocytes (SRBC) at days 0 and 15 whereas animals of the second group were challenged with SRBC after 3 days of treatment with CY. The third group was challenged with SRBC after two weeks from treatment with standardized dried powder extract of E. purpurea. Animals in the fourth and fifth groups were pretreated with extract of P. undulata and C. spinosa for two weeks then challenged with SRBC. Animals in the last two groups were treated with CY and E. purpurea only. Blood samples were taken prior to challenge or on the fourth day of CY injection or after two weeks of E. purpurea, C. spinosa and P. undulate extracts (day 0) and on days 7, 21, and 42 post-immunization. The sera were obtained and then inactivated at 56°C for 30 min for removal the nonspecific agglutinins. Part of blood samples was used for counting the total leukocytic count (TLC) as well as neutrophil (N), lymphocyte (L) and N/L ratio within one hour after collection. The solid phase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using membrane of sheep red blood cells as antigen was performed to estimate immunoglobulin at days 0 (pre-challenge), 7, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42 (post challenge). Viable splenocytes number and histopathology of spleen were also evaluated. Cellular immune response was done using in vivo and in vitro carbon clearance assay, phagocytosis index and lymphocyte transformation assay using glucose consumption test. Results obtained showed that: The microscopic criteria of the spleen of the control rats, rabbits and chickens groups were within the normal histologic limits. In comparison with such animals, all the remaining experimental groups showed microscopic immunological changes either good (immunostimulation) or adverse (immunosuppression). Generally, these immune reactions were completely similar for each species in relation to any of the tested materials meaning that any of the tested materials induced the same immunologic reaction in the spleen of rats, rabbits or chickens. TLC, N%, L%, spleen cellular viability %, in vivo and in vitro phagocytic index and glucose consumption of phytohemagglutinin (PHA) stimulated blood L of rats, rabbits and chickens challenged with SRBC and treated with CY were significantly decreased than challenged group. TLC and L% in rats, rabbits and chickens pretreated with E. purpurea were significantly increased than challenged with SRBC. Administration of Echinacea was significantly differ from the suppressive effects induced by CY. Rat and rabbit groups pretreated with E. purpurea showed significantly increased spleen cellular viability %, immunoglobulin, phagocytic index and glucose consumption of PHA stimulated blood L than that of the SRBC challenged animals. Generally, Echinacea is thought to create activity in the immune system by stimulating T-cell production, phagocytosis, and lymphocytic activity. The augmentation of the humoral immune response to SRBC by E. purpurea, increased the levels of circulating antibodies in rats, rabbits and chicken indicating the enhanced responsiveness of T and B lymphocyte subsets, involved in the antibody production. TLC and N% in rats or rabbits pretreated with P. undulate were significantly increased than challenged with SRBC. L% of rats pretreated with P. undulate was significantly lower than that of rats challenged with SRBC. At all sampling days, TLC in chickens pretreated with P. undulate was significantly increased than TLC in chickens challenged with SRBC. P. undulate pretreated groups of rats and rabbits showed significantly increased spleen cellular viability % than that of the SRBC challenged animals. No significant changes were observed on Igs, IgM and IgG in serum. It was found that the phagocytic index and glucose consumption of PHA stimulated blood L of P. undulate pretreated in rabbits and chickens was significantly higher than that of SRBC challenged group. TLC and N% of rats, rabbits and chickens pretreated with C. spinosa were significantly increased than challenged with SRBC. L% in rats pretreated with C. spinosa was significantly decreased than rats challenged with SRBC. Results revealed no significant change in N/L between rats pretreated with C. spinosa and challenged group. L% in rabbits and chickens pretreated with C. spinosa was significantly increased than SRBC challenged group. C. spinosa pretreated rats and rabbits showed significantly lower spleen cellular viability % than that of the SRBC challenged animals. No significant effect of C. spinosa pretreatment on Igs. It was found that in the day 21, 35 and 42 post challenge, IgM of C. spinose pretreated rats was significantly higher than that of SRBC challenged rats. In the day 14 post challenge, IgG in serum of C. spinose pretreated rabbits was significantly higher than that of SRBC challenged rabbits. Results showed that the phagocytic index and glucose consumption of PHA stimulated blood Lof C. spinosa pretreated rats and chickens were significantly higher than that of SRBC challenged group. However, the phagocytic index of C. spinose pretreated rabbits was significantly lower comparing with SRBC challenged group. The administration of Capparis significantly differ from the myelosuppressive effects induced by CY. The effect exhibited by C. spinose under our experimental conditions could be due to its polyphenolic active components, in particular flavonoids, which are known to possess immunomodulatory properties. TLC, N% and L% of E. purpurea treated rats, rabbits and chickens were significantly higher than that of CY treated animals. However, at day 14, E. purpurea treated chickens showed H/L significantly lower than CY treated chickens. SRBC-Igs, IgM and IgG of E. purpurea treated rats, rabbits and chickens were significantly increased than that of CY treated animals at the day 7, 14, 21, 28 and 42 post treatment. Phagocytic index, spleen cellular viability % and glucose consumption of PHA stimulated L of E. purpurea treated rats, rabbits and chickens was significantly increased than that of CY treated groups. On the other hand, in vitro phagocytic index of E. purpurea treated rabbits was significantly lower than that of CY treated rabbits. Finally, it could be concluded that administrations of extract of C. spinosa and to a lesser extent P. undulate significantly increased the TLC and also varied from the suppressive effects induced by CY. Pretreatment of animals with P. undulata and C. spinosa extracts showed a remarkable augmentation in the phagocytic function by exhibiting increase in the clearance rate of carbon particles. An increase in the viability of spleen cellularity % of C. spinosa was observed in the present study, which indicates that the extract may stimulate and increases the number of viable spleen cells and thus enhances the immune system. Also such findings were confirmed by histological studies. The present investigation suggests that extracts used may stimulate both cellular and humoral immune responses. Further studies to elucidate the exact immunostimulatory mechanisms are in progress. It is of interest to note here that extracts used are good candidates for alternative adjuvant chemotherapy and immunomodulatory in reducing the immunotoxicity of CY in animal models. However, clinical studies are needed to confirm the safety and efficacy of these plant components. Results expected may pave the road for further immune improvement for better healthy state. A more in-depth clinical approach is necessary to establish the clinical relevance of these changes. (We need to think differently).4 0Item Restricted Characterization of Polyester Materials Grafted with Functional Polymer(Saudi Digital Library, 2019) Almutairi, Faisal Muteb; Dhaou, Mohamed Houcine; El Ghoul, Yassine AbdelhamidThe field of bio-materials represents the platform technology necessary to propel the progress of emerging strategies such as tissue engineering, nanotechnology and the delivery of bioactive agents. Polymers and recently functional polymers represent the largest and most promising class of biomaterials. The proposed project will deal the study of polyester synthetic biomaterial chemically and physically grafted with a prepared functional polymer. Firstly we will study the influence various parameters involving in the specific grafting process such as temperature, time of curing and concentration of elaborated polymer. Then we will characterize the treated biomaterial to evaluate the efficiency of our functionalization. Spectroscopic, X-ray diffraction and thermal characterizations will be investigated aiming to prove the presence of our functionalization by infrared and TGA/DTA measurements. After the hydrophilicity effectiveness of grafted bio-materials will be studied by evaluating the wettability behavior. In addition, mechanical properties will be investigated. Then morphology and mode of grafted surfaces will be determined by SEM observations. Finally biological effectiveness of functionalized bio-materials will be assessed.11 0