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Achieving the Saudi Kingdom's vision 2030 in the higher education sector requires higher education institutions to make a significant simultaneous change in their current practices. This encompasses the transitioning of government-funded educational institutions to be financially independent. Therefore, a prompt, agile transition is required while maintaining a positive socioeconomic impact, entrepreneurship and innovation, and high-quality education. This necessitates the transition to lean processes and the review of current practices. One of the most vital processes in educational institutions is student admission/enrollment capacity planning. This study puts forward a capacity planning decision support system (DSS)-based framework for university student enrollment. The framework was applied to the case of KAU, where current practice and challenges are presented, and from which data were collected. A top-down/bottom-up approach was followed and applied using the goal programming technique and a developed mathematical model, respectively. Results show that the proposed framework effectively affects student admission/enrollment capacity planning on strategic and operational levels. Moreover, it can be used in other planning aspects of higher education in universities, such as human resources planning, teaching load planning, faculty-to-student ratios, accreditation, quality requirements, lab capacity planning, equipment/teaching aids procurement, and financial planning, to mention a few. The implications of this study include assisting decision-makers in higher education institutions in matching their admission/enrollment capacity of student numbers between the macro-strategic and the micro-operational level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detection of alpha-l-fucosidase has been shown to have relevance in diagnosing hepatocellular carcinoma. Few assays have been developed to measure this enzyme, with most relying on colorimetric techniques involving the enzyme's kinetics. While these assays are facile and quick, the sensitivity is not always sufficient for early tumor detection. To improve upon previous assays for alpha-l-fucosidase, a fluorescence based immunoassay was produced implementing an alpha-l-fucosidase specific antibody (FUCA2). The immobilization of the alpha-l-fucosidase-specific antibody onto a quartz slide was investigated with several bioconjugation approaches and an immunoassay for detection of alpha-l-fucosidase was produced. The immunoassay was utilized to produce calibration curves for quantifying alpha-l-fucosidase concentrations in both PBS and human blood serum. A detection limit of 10 nM was found using human blood serum, which is well below the diagnostic cutoff point of 80 nM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alpha-l-fucosidase is a known biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma that has shown great potential in diagnostics. Most of the focus for this enzyme has been on the free form found in serum; however, little is known of the properties of the minor portion of membrane-bound alpha-l-fucosidase. To better understand the properties of membrane-bound alpha-l-fucosidase, this enzyme was surveyed at the air-water interface. Alpha-l-fucosidase is able to form a stable Langmuir monolayer, which was confirmed through surface-pressure and surface-potential area isotherms, as well as infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (IRRAS). Furthermore, an interaction between the alpha-l-fucosidase Langmuir monolayer and a specific antibody for this enzyme, FUCA2, was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because accidents, disease and aging compromise the structural and physiological functions of bones, the development of an in vivo bone imaging test is critical to identify, detect and diagnose bone related development and dysfunctions. Recent advances in fluorescence instrumentation offer a new alternative for traditional bone imaging methods. However, the development of new in vivo bone imaging fluorescence materials has significantly lagged behind. Here we show that carbon dot nanoparticles (C-dots) with low quantum yield (“dark”) bind to calcified bone structures of live zebrafish larvae with high affinity and selectivity. Binding resulted in a strong enhancement of luminescence that was not observed in other tissues, including non-calcified endochondral elements. Retention of C-dots by bones was very stable, long lasting, and with no detectable toxicity. Furthermore, we found C-dots to be a suitable carrier to deliver fluorescein to bones. These observations support a novel and revolutionary use of C-dots as highly specific bioagents for bone imaging and diagnosis, and as bone-specific drug delivery vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current work deals with the mixed micellization phenomena of surface active promazine hydrochloride (PMZ) drug with cationic hydrotropes (para-toluidine hydrochloride and ortho-toluidine hydrochloride) in absence and occurrence of 50 mmol kg 1 NaCl at five different temperature (293.15-313.15 K). PMZ is an amphiphilic phenothiazine drug and employed for the cure of mania and schizophrenia. Conductometry measurement was employed to gain a detailed picture of the interactions between drug and hydrotrope molecules. The experimental data were analyzed according to different mixing models within the outline of the pseudophase separation model. The evaluated values of critical micelle concentration (cmc) were found to be inferior than cmcid values signifying attractive interactions involving the both components in the solutions. NaCl further reduces the cmc of pure amphiphiles and their mixed systems as a result of screening of the electrostatic repulsion between the polar head groups. The micellar mole fractions (X1) of hydrotropes evaluated by various proposed models were constantly more than ideal values (Xid 1) signifying high involvements of hydrotrope in mixed micelles. Activity coefficients (fRub 1 and fRub 2) were always below one in all cases signifying synergism in mixed micelles. Thermodynamic parameters favor the process of micellization which is found to be entropy driven. The negative values of free energies of mixing demonstrated the stability of the mixed systems of drug and hydrotrope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrooxidation of ethanol and acetaldehyde on Pt/C has been studied by using in situ IR spectroscopy. To identify the species formed during the electrooxidation reactions accurately, the IR spectra were collected in both HClO4/H2O and HClO4/D2O electrolytes. The results shown herein reveal that ethanol adsorbs on Pt at low potentials in a series of dehydrogenative steps that lead to η2-acetaldehyde prior to the scission of the C−C bond, which takes place at potentials higher than 150 mV. At potentials of approximately 220 mV, the Pt surface is fully covered by COad (and C1,ad) species, which thus impede further ethanol adsorption. At higher potentials, when OHad species are nucleated, COad is oxidized to CO2, which releases Pt sites for further ethanol adsorption and oxidation. However, due to the presence of OHad species, ethanol oxidation to acetic acid is the preferred reaction pathway. In contrast, the C−C bond of acetaldehyde is broken at 50 mV, which leads to the formation of a full monolayer of CO and CH x adsorbed species on Pt. The IR spectra collected in an electrolyte that contained D2O show no evidence for the formation of acetyl species prior to the scission of the C−C bond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient and novel method for the synthesis of a series of 11-aryl-10,12-dihydrodiindino[1,2-b',2',1'-e]pyridine via one-pot multicomponent reactions of aldehydes, indan-1-one and ammonium acetate has been delineated. All prepared compounds were structurally elucidated by IR, UV-Vis, 1H and 13C NMR and X-ray diffraction techniques. The molecules adopted monoclinic crystal system with P21/c space group and almost similar unit cell dimensions. The X-ray molecular geometries of the studied compounds were in excellent agreement with those computed by B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory. The energies of the frontier orbitals calculated by B3LYP/6311++G(d,p) level of theory enabled monitoring the reactivity and stability of the title molecules. The non-linear optical properties (NLO) and pNA were also computed and discussed. Compounds have shown broad spectrum cytotoxic activity against some human tumour cell lines; two of them rendering the most profound effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protected amino/peptide thioacids have been synthesized in pure form in excellent yields and with retention of chirality by using protected aminoacyl- and peptidoylbenzotriazoles as active intermediates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]