Governance and Climate Vulnerability Index

Water resources in the Middle East are under enormous stress, due to an increase in population growth and the extensive use of water resources, which exceeds the water demand in this regional bloc. Moreover, climatic changes pose another dimension of stress on water resources; these changes have significant environmental, social, and economic effects. In fact, the governance of these countries has the tendency of increasing this stress or decreasing it, depending on its performance and efficiency in applying policies, legislation and managerial plans towards decreasing the poverty and the vulnerability of the countries specially those suffering from poverty. In this paper, the vulnerability of five countries-Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria??will be assessed based on the extent of climate changes and the type of climate governance and their effects on water resources. This paper will introduce a new index, which will be called the Governance and Climate Vulnerability Index (GCVI). The index will measure the vulnerability of each country vis-à-vis water-related issues, while taking into account governance and climatic indicators. The vulnerability of these countries will also be ranked, for purposes of comparison. This paper concludes with the recommendation for governments to develop appropriate water resources management and to improve their environmental policies, including raising awareness on multiple levels. These strategies are expected to lead to decreased vulnerability to climatic changes.     

Spectral efficiency (SE) enhancement of NOMA system through iterative power assignment

Wireless Networks - This paper studies enhancing non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) spectral efficiency (SE) through optimizing the assigned power to each NOMA user depending on their channel...     

Spiritual struggle related to plasma interleukin-6 prior to cardiac surgery.

Spiritual struggle appeared consistently to predict poor health outcomes, including mortality. Despite surging interest in the health benefits of religion and spirituality, the health hassle of existential conflicts and proinflammatory cytokines as a potential physiological mechanism has been overlooked. Based on psychological and theological assumptions, we argue for the universal nature of spiritual struggle, a crisis-related existential conflict, and for investigating its physiological influence as essential to understanding human nature. Increased levels of inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6) have been linked with adverse health outcomes and negative emotions. This study thus examined spiritual struggle related to plasma IL-6 in 235 adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery, along with positive religious coping, general coping, and optimism, controlling for standardized clinical medical indicators. Multiple regression analysis, following a preplanned sequence, showed that spiritual struggle (p = .011), behavioral coping (p = .013) were positively associated with excess plasma IL-6, controlling for medical correlates (e.g., left ventricular ejection fraction). We conclude that spiritual struggle, indicating the crisis in an existential relation, and behavioral coping strategies are associated with elevated pre-operative plasma IL-6. The interdisciplinary implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Co(II)(l-proline)2(H2O)2 solid complex: Characterization,magnetic properties,and DFT computations. Preliminary studies of its use as oxygen scavenger in packaging films

A solid Co^II complex with l-proline as ligand was synthesized and fully characterized using spectroscopic studies, magnetic data, and DFT calculations. Dioxygen scavenging properties were investigated by UV/Vis spectroscopy and oxymetry techniques. The Co-proline system presented very interesting properties in matter of oxygen absorption capacity both in solution and incorporated in a polymer matrix.     

Engineering behavior of the Lisan Marl as a dyke foundation material: Dead Sea,Jordan

Problems have occurred with dykes constructed on the Lisan Marl to retain brine pumped from the Dead Sea, which is chemically processed to produce potash. In this study the engineering behavior, collapse potential and compressibility of the Lisan Marl were assessed by undertaking laboratory tests with both natural, distilled water and brine as the media. The results showed that the liquid limit and fine particles increased when the soil was mixed with fresh/distilled water compared with brine water. The soil can be classified as highly compressible with a low undrained shear strength. In terms of collapsibility, the soil could be classified as slightly collapsible upon inundation with distilled water and moderately collapsible when soaked in Dead Sea brine. The results are important when determining the height and nature of the dykes.      

European Bronze Age Sheet Metal Objects: 3,000 Years of High-Level Bronze Manufacture

This article focuses on the manufacture and usage of selected sheet metal objects from helmets, a vessel, and two shields from the European Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, which date from the thirteenth to seventh centuries BC. Manufacturing traces on the surface, as well as metallographic investigations and the analyses of the alloy composition with scanning electron microscope–energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, provided an insight into the manufacturing techniques and the production of valuable, high-status objects, and highlighted the potential changes in manufacturing techniques and alloys used during different time periods.