English has for long been one of the most widely used media of communication globally, especially in the Malaysian universities. It has been termed as a Lingua Franca because it is shared with other languages which are considered first languages by different speakers. For this reason, English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) has attracted a number of researchers to investigate its variety via other languages in various communities. The objective of this paper is therefore to establish the strategies which are employing by the international students at the National University of Malaysia/ UniversitiKebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) as an example of one of the Malaysian universities; when they e

Background: Human semen contains high concentrations of fructose, zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) in bound and ionic forms for Zn and Cu. The presence of abnormal levels of fructose and those trace elements may affect spermatogenesis with regard to production, maturation, motility and fertilizing capacity of the spermatozoa.Objective: To evaluate the levels of fructose, Zn and Cu in seminal plasma in different groups of male infertility and to correlate their concentrations with various sperm parameters.Methods: The concentrations of fructose, Zn and Cu were measured in 114 semen samples from normozoospermic, oligozoospermic, astheno-zoospermic, and azoospermic men using the electrothermal-atomic absorption spectrometry for Zn and Cu determinatio

Monitoring lotic ecosystems is vital for addressing sustainability issues. The Al-Shamiyah River is the primary source of water for various daily activities in the Al-Shamiyah district. This study assessed the pollution levels of the river by measuring the concentration and distribution of heavy metals—specifically chromium, cadmium, manganese, copper, zinc, and lead—in both the river's water and sediments. The concentrations of heavy metals in the water ranged from 0.05 to 1.44µg/ L for copper (Cu), 1.57 to 7.25µg/ L for manganese (Mn), 0 to 1.7µg/ L for cadmium (Cd), 0.02 to 1.33µg/ L for lead (Pb), 0.08 to 2.74µg/ L for zinc (Zn), and 0.44 to 1.84µg/ L for chromium (Cr). In the particulate phase, the concentrations ranged from

Recent phosphorus (P) pollution in the United States, mainly in Maine, has raised some severe concerns over the use of P fertilizer application rates in agriculture. Phosphorus is the second most limiting nutrient after nitrogen and has damaging impacts on crop yield if found to be deficient. Therefore, farmers tend to apply more P than is required to satisfy any P loss after its application at planting. Several important questions were raised in this study to improve P efficiency and reduce its pollution. The objective of this study was to find potential reasons for P pollution in water bodies despite a decrease in potato acreage. Historically, the potato was found to be responsible for P water contamination due to its high P sensitivity a

The present study was conducted to determined the action of several levels of cytokinis (N6-benzyladenine (BA),  6-furfurylaminopurine (kinetin), N6-(∆-isopentyladenine) (2,ip) on buds proliferation of Phoenix dactylifera L..3 ml explants of the heart of 3 years old offshoot were cultured on Murashige and Skoog medium (1962) containing 3 mg/L activated charcoal, 10 mg/L Naphthalene acetic acid  proposed by (1) as a control. Other explants were cultured on this medium supplemented with 0.1, 0.5, 1 mg/L BA. 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4 mg/L Kinetin. 0.1, 0.5, 1 mg/L 2,ip. Best number of buds proliferated has occurred on control medium containing 3 mg/L. 2ip.

The objective of this work was to study the effect of oral administration of Cyperus esculentus (CE) and its alcoholic extract on sperm function parameters in prepubertal mice as a model for human .The animals were divided into three groups each contains 6 animals .Group 1 was treated with 150 mg/ kg body weight /day of crude CE, group 2 was treated with same dose of alcohol extract of CE and group 3 regarded as control throughout six weeks period. The results showed a significant (p> 0.05) increase in the mean of sperm concentration ,sperm motility percent and progressive sperm motility between treated groups and control . There was no differences among groups in the mean of sperm normal morphology and sperm viability . No significa

The magnetic properties of a pure Nickel metal and Nickel-Zinc-Manganese ferrites having the chemical formula Ni_0.1(Zn_0.4Mn_0.6)_0.9Fe₂O₄ were studied. The phase formation and crystal structure was studied by using x-ray diffraction which confirmed the formation of pure single spinel cubic phase with space group (Fd3m) in the ferrite. The samples microstructure was studied with scanning electron microstructure and EDX. The magnetic properties of the ferrite and nickel metal were characterized by using a laboratory setup with a magnetic field in the range from 0-500 G. The ferrite showed perfect soft spinel phase behavior while the nickel sample showed higher magnetic loss an

The aim of this study is to identify the effect of particle size and to increase the concentration of Iraqi bentonite on rheological properties in order to evaluate its performance and to know if it can be used as drilling fluid without additives or not. In this study, Iraqi bentonite was carried out by mineral composition (XRD), chemical composition (XRF) and Particle size distribution (PSD), and its rheological properties were measured at different particle size and concentration. The results showed that when the particle size of Iraqi bentonite decreased, and the rheological properties were increased with increased concentration of Iraqi bentonite. Also, Iraqi bentonite was unable to use as drilling fluid without certain additives.