Vol. 25 Issue 3

Yacoub Ahmed Batta
The present study conducted to assess the susceptibility of seven local wheat cultivars from Palestine to infection with black stem rust caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici. Two techniques of disease inoculation were applied during bioassays. global inoculation of entire wheat plants with uredospore and localized inoculation with uredospore on wheat leaf-pieces incubated under humid conditions Susceptibility of tested cultivars was evaluated according to based on number and size of typical uredial pustules that appeared after inoculation on entire plants or leaf-pieces. Results obtained on bioassay of susceptibility and disease rating on entire plants indicated that Anbar, Kamatat and Hetiya safra cultivars were the least susceptible to P 8 tritici infection, whereas Debiya beda cultivar was the most susceptible. The other tested cultivars such as Nab-El-Jamal, Debiya sawda and Senf 870 were moderately susceptible. On leaf-pieces, Anbar and Kamatat were the least susceptible cultivars, whereas Debiya beda and Nab-El-Jamal were the most susceptible cultivars. The other tested cultivars such as Debiya sawda, Senf 870 and Hetiya safra were moderately susceptible. Significant reductions were obtained for the size of uredial pustules formed on leaf-pieces when inoculated in an unwounded state compared to the wounded, indicating the importance of wounds during inoculation. The global results indicated the possibility of using the above method of disease inoculating, scaling and rating for evaluation of wheat cultivars susceptibility for the eventual use in breeding program for resistant varieties in Palestine

Mohamed Ahmed Hassnen El-Beheiry
The study analyzes the vegetation along Lake Abha in Southwestern Saudi Arabia. A total of 42 plant species were recorded. The annuals decrease, and the biennials and perennials increase along the moisture gradient form the terraces to the free - water zone. Six vegetation clusters were identified. The most important are clusters which were identified by the presence of the following species: Phragmites australis, Juncus punctorius, Typha domingensis, Cyperus rotundus, Datura innoxia, Cynodon dactylon, Cornulaca monacantha, and Potamogeton nodosus. Each of these communities has been analyzed by classification and ordination techniques and its habitat described and discussed.

Ebrahim Abdulraheem Abdullah Abdulqader
This work is based on an extensive socio-economic survey conducted at all Bahrain landing sites in the period July - November, 2002. Based on boat size and the type of fishing gear used, eight fisheries sectors were determined, these included small boats using wire traps, shrimp trawls, gillnets, hooks and lines, and barrier traps. It also included large boats using wire traps. shrimp trawls, and gillnets The economic and financial performance of these sectors was evaluated. The ratio of net catch flow to total earnings was used to measure the economic performance, while the return over investment was used to measure the financial performance. Higher economic returns (except for gillnet and shrimp trawl fisheries) were found in the case of small boats where smaller investments are found. This indicated that an over-fishing condition exists in Bahrain's fisheries, which is clearly found in the case of the shrimp trawl fishery.

Adnan Ali Enskassi, Peter Edward Mayer, Rafiq Mohamed Choudhry, and Ahmed Mohamed Hassouna
The construction industry is one of the most hazardous industries in developing countries. Understanding the safety climate or culture of a workplace, the perceptions and attitudes of the workforce are important factors assessing safety needs. The construction industry in Palestine, by its inherent nature, is susceptible to potentially conditions that affect the I personnel working in construction projects. This paper reports, based on a questionnaire survey, the perception of owners, consultants, and contractors towards safety in constructions in the Gaza Strip. The results showed that, most of the participants in the survey had accidents in their construction projects. The findings indicated that, the main causes of fatalities and injuries are falling from heights, dropped objects and materials, and being caught under excavations. Carelessness of workers, lack of safety knowledge, and lack of safety training are the main three reasons that contributed to the increase rate of accidents among construction workers in the Gaza Strip. Therefore contractors should prepare safety training programs which help personnel to carry out various accidents accidents preventive activities effectively Training material should discuss the costs of accidents. the influence of good safety performance, and should stress the safety objectives of the company, the relevant laws and legislation, and contractual relationships with clients regarding safety matters.

Husam Alomirah, Hani Al-Mazeedi, Sameer Al-Zenki, Batool Al-Faili, Mohammad Al-Foudary, Abdul-Hay Abuzaid, Ilhan Al-Sayed and Jiwan Sidhu
A total of 238 locally produced and imported eggs, tissue (meat, poultry and aquacultured fish) and feed and feedstuffs samples were collected at different seasonal periods from different farms and retail outlets in Kuwait and screened for the presence of B-lactams, tetracyclines, sulfonamides, streptomycin, macrolides and chloramphenicol (799 tests) using Charm II system. The results indicated that all of the 222 tests performed on table egg samples were negative for the analyzed antimicrobial residues indicating adherence to the guidelines for antimicrobial use and withdrawal. Similarly, all of the 268 tests performed on tissue samples were negative for the analyzed antimicrobial residues except for chloramphenicol. These chloramphenicol positive samples (10.8%) were for chicken parts imported from China. For feed and feedstuff samples, all of the 66 tests performed were negative for B-lactams residues. Out of the 79 feed and feedstuff samples analyzed for tetracyclines residues, 4 broiler diet and concentrate samples (5%) were above the tetracyclines MRL (100 ppb). On the other hand, results have revealed a widespread of sulfonamide residues and to a less extent chloramphenicol in tested feed and feedstuff samples. The Charm II system was reliable for rapid screening of antimicrobial residues. In general, results obtained in our study necessitate more effective and well planned national antimicrobial residues surveillance programs focusing particularly on samples imported from highly risk sources

Abdel Nasser Hussain Zaied and Faraj Al-Khairalla
The movement to e-government is basically about changing the way people and businesses interact with government. Kuwait, like any developing country, is currently launching major e-service projects aiming at improving government processes, connect government to citizens, and build interactions within the civil society The e-services category of e-government applications enables interactions and relationships between the government and citizens, through which the latter gain access to a range of public services. However, the implementation process of e-services involves many factors of risk that could threaten the success of the process. Therefore, an effective risk management process is an important component of a successful information security program. This paper investigates and discusses the possibilities of e-services risk areas and assesses the security and privacy protection issues in some ministries in Kuwait. The results show that the total average percentage of applying security and privacy issues in the studied ministries is moderate. The Ministry of Communications (MoC) has the highest percentage of applications, whereas the Ministry of Trading and Industry (MOTI) has the lowest. Physical security is the highest applied variable, while prevention of unauthorized access is the lowest one.

Ghazi Nazzal Othman Al-Karaki, Yahia Othman and Asadulla Al-Ajmi
The development of technologies to hasten the establishment of grass lawn putting greens would be of a great advantage to landscape turf developers and renovators under dry regions conditions like Arabian Gulf region A field experiment was conducted at Sultan Qaboos Center for Developed and Soilless Agriculture, Arabian Gulf University (Bahrain) to determine the effect of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (AM) fungi inoculation (German BioMycTM Vital inoculum) on water use efficiency and establishment of a lawn mixture of Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass grown on a sandy soil with low P fertilizer level (50% of commonly recommended rate). Root colonization with AM fungi occurred extensively in AM inoculated plants seven weeks after seeding (-88%). Inoculated plots with AM fungi had improved turf coverage, shoot and root growth, clipping yield, and water use efficiency in comparison with uninoculated plots. The results revealed that turfgrass inoculated with AM fungi established more quickly and had more biomass than uninoculated turf which indicate the potential of mycorrhiza in improving utilization of fertilizer and irrigation water to hasten and improve the establishment of grass lawn under Arabian Gulf region conditions.