Search results for: Khaled Saad Eldin Mohamed Ragab

Authors: Eid Nasr Saad Nasr

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Although human rights protection in the industrial sector has increased, human rights violations continue to occur. Although the government has passed human rights laws, labor laws, and an international treaty ratified by the United States, human rights crimes continue to occur and go undetected. The growing number of textile companies in Bekasi is also leading to an increase in human rights violations as the government has no obligation to protect them. The United States government and business leaders should respect, protect and defend the human rights of workers. The article discusses the human rights violations faced by garment factory workers in the context of the law, as well as ideas for improving the protection of workers' rights. The connection between development and human rights has long been the subject of academic debate. Therefore, to understand the dynamics between these two concepts, a number of principles have been adopted, ranging from the right to development to a human rights-based approach to development. Despite these attempts, the precise connection between development and human rights is not yet fully understood. However, the inherent interdependence between these two concepts and the idea that development efforts must respect human rights guarantees has gained momentum in recent years. It will then be examined whether the right to sustainable development is recognized.

Keywords: sustainable development, human rights, the right to development, the human rights-based approach to development, environmental rights, economic development, social sustainability human rights protection, human rights violations, workers’ rights, justice, security

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Authors: Khawla Saad Albalawi

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The aim of this research was to explore the effectiveness of the internet counseling in reducing social shyness among the university's students. The sample consisted of 40 students and was divided into two groups: an experimental group and a control group. The social shyness scale (SSS) was administered to both groups before applying the counseling to the experimental group (as a pre-test). After that, the internet counseling was applied to the experimental group. Next, the SSS was administered to both groups (as a post-test). Finally, the SSS was administered to the experimental group (as an iterative application). Results suggest that: 1. There is a significant difference between the two groups in the post-test in all dimensions and the total score of the (SSS) in favor of the experimental group in all cases. 2. There is a significant difference between the pre- and the post-test of the experimental group in all dimensions and the total score of the (SSS) in favor of the post-test in all cases. 3. There is no significant difference between the post-test and the iterative application of the experimental group in all dimensions and the total score of the (SSS). The above results were discussed in light of previous research. Recommendations and future researches were suggested.

Keywords: internet psychological clinics, social interaction disorders, shyness, Twitter, Facebook

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Authors: Adnan Bekhit, Eskedar Lodebo, Ariaya Hymete, Hanan Ragab, Alaa El-Din Bekhit

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Malaria and leishmaniasis have emerged as serious universal health problems throughout history of mankind. According to the WHO 2008 malarial report, half of the world population is at risk of malarial infection with an estimate of 1 million deaths occurring annually mainly in the African region. Furthermore, 12-15 million people are infected with Leishmaniasis worldwide. Despite the continuous introduction of a large number of agents for the treatment of malaria, there is still unmet medical needs due to the emergence of resistance. Resistance has occurred for almost all therapeutic agents approved for the treatment of malaria. Accordingly, it was the aim of this work to design and synthesis a group of antimalarial-antileshmanial agents that would show inhibitory activity against chloroquine-resistant strain of Plasmodium falciparum. The synthesized compounds were designed to contain a pyrazolylpyrazoline moiety having an aromatic group (p-tolyl or p-chlorophenyl) at N1-position of one pyrazoline ring due to the reports of promising activities of such compounds. A formyl or acyl substituent was introduced at the N1-position of the other pyrazoline ring, to investigate the effect of bulkiness of acyl substituents at this position. The synthesized compounds were evaluated for their in-vivo antimalarial activity against Plasmodium berghei infected mice at dose levels of 20 and 30 mg/Kg. the two most active compounds were evaluated for their antimalarial activity against chloroquin-resistant strain (RKL9) of Plasmodium falciparum. In addition, the synthesized compounds were tested for their in-vitro antileshmanial activity against Leishmania aethiopica promastigotes and amastigotes. For both antimalarial and antileishmanial activities, compounds having an N1-p-tolyl group at the first pyrazoline ring did not require bulkiness at the second pyrazoline ring nitrogen where the compound bearing an acetyl group proved to be the most active of the whole series. On the other hand, bulkiness at the N1-position of the second pyazoline ring was necessary in case of compounds carrying the p-chlorophenyl group, where the two derivatives having an N1-butanoyl and an N1-benzoyl moieties at the second pyrazoline showed the best activity. Furthermore, the toxicity of the active compounds were tested and were proved to be non-toxic at 125, 250 and 500 mg/Kg. In addition, docking of the most active compound (having a p-tolyl group at the first pyrazoline-N and an acetyl moiety on the other pyrazoline-N) was performed against dihydrofolate reductase enzyme.

Keywords: pyrazoline derivatives, in-vivo antimalarial activity, docking, dihydrofolate reductase

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Authors: Ahmed E. Hodaib, Mohamed A. Hashem

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Dissimilar to pneumatic tyres, airless tyres or flat-proof tyres (also known as tweel) is designed to have poly-composite compound treaded around a hub of flexible spokes. The main advantage of this design is its robustness as airless tyres are impossible to deflate or to blowout at highway speeds like conventional tyres so the driver does not have to be restless about having a spare tire. A summary of the study on manufacturing of airless tyres’ mold is given. Moreover, we have proposed some advantages and disadvantages of using tweel tyres.

Keywords: airless tyres, tweel, non-pneumatic tyres, manufacturing

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Authors: Shakir H. Mohammed Al-Alwany, Saad Hasan M. Ali, Ibrahim Mohammed S. Shnawa

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The study was aimed to define the percentage of detection of high-oncogenic risk types of HPV and their genotyping in archival tissue specimens that ranged from apparently healthy tissue to invasive breast cancer by using one of the recent versions of In Situ Hybridization(ISH) 0.2. To find out rational significance of such genotypes as well as over expressed products of mutants P53 and RB genes on the severity of underlying breast cancers. The DNA of HPV was detected in 46.5 % of tissues from breast cancers while HPV DNA in the tissues from benign breast tumours was detected in 12.5%. No HPV positive–ISH reaction was detected in healthy breast tissues of the control group. HPV DNA of genotypes (16, 18, 31 and 33) was detected in malignant group in frequency of 25.6%, 27.1%, 30.2% and 12.4%, respectively. Over expression of p53 was detected by IHC in 51.2% breast cancer cases and in 50% benign breast tumour group, while none of control group showed P53- over expression. Retinoblastoma protein was detected by IHC test in 49.7% of malignant breast tumours, 54.2% of benign breast tumours but no signal was reported in the tissues of control group. The significance prevalence of expression of mutated p53 & Rb genes as well as detection of high-oncogenic HPV genotypes in patients with breast cancer supports the hypothesis of an etiologic role for the virus in breast cancer development.

Keywords: human papilloma virus, P53, RB, breast cancer

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Authors: Abderrahim Bouftou, Kaoutar Aghmih, Fatima Lakhdar, Saâd Oukkass, Sanaa Majid

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Biodegradable and renewable-based polymeric packaging like cellulose acetate (CA) is an alternative to petroleum-based polymers, in the way of low cost and also creates a positive outcome on both environmentally. The objective of the present research was to develop bioactive packaging films from cellulose acetate incorporated with a low-cost cypress essential oil (EO). We prepared cellulose acetate films via solvent casting method incorporating 0, 10, 30, and 60 % (w/w) of EO, with the purpose of evaluating the possible changes caused by the cypress essential oil on the properties of the packaging. The films were characterized using FTIR, TGA, XRD and other analysis technologies. The mechanical, antibacterial and antioxidant properties of the films were analyzed. FTIR and XRD analysis indicated that cypress EO was homogenously distributed on the film. Meanwhile, TGA analysis demonstrated that the addition of EO had an impact on thermal properties. The impact of EO on mechanical and optical properties was explored. The results displayed that antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus increased as cypress essential oil percentage increased in cellulose acetate films. Moreover, free radical scavenger activity by DPPH of cellulose acetate films improved by increasing the cypress essential oil concentration. These results indicate that the films of cellulose acetate containing cypress essential oil have potential for use as active packaging for foods.

Keywords: cellulose acetate, essential oil, active packaging, antibacterial, antioxidant

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Authors: Ahmed Atwa, Ashraf Hafez, Mohamed Abdelhameed, Adel Nabeeh, Mohamed Dawaba, Tamer Helmy

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Introduction and Objective: Tumour staging and grading do not usually reflect the future behavior of Wilms' tumor (WT) regarding mortality. Therefore, in this study, P53, Ki67 and cyclin A immunohistochemistry were used in a trial to predict WT cancer-specific survival (CSS). Methods: In this nonconcurrent cohort study, patients' archived data, including age at presentation, gender, history, clinical examination and radiological investigations, were retrieved then the patients were reviewed at the outpatient clinic of a tertiary care center by history-taking, clinical examination and radiological investigations to detect the oncological outcome. Cases that received preoperative chemotherapy or died due to causes other than WT were excluded. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens obtained from the previously preserved blocks at the pathology laboratory were taken on positively charged slides for IHC with p53, Ki67 and cyclin A. All specimens were examined by an experienced histopathologist devoted to the urological practice and blinded to the patient's clinical findings. P53 and cyclin A staining were scored as 0 (no nuclear staining),1 (<10% nuclear staining), 2 (10-50% nuclear staining) and 3 (>50% nuclear staining). Ki67 proliferation index (PI) was graded as low, borderline and high. Results: Of the 75 cases, 40 (53.3%) were males and 35 (46.7%) were females, and the median age was 36 months (2-216). With a mean follow-up of 78.6±31 months, cancer-specific mortality (CSM) occurred in 15 (20%) and 11 (14.7%) patients, respectively. Kaplan-Meier curve was used for survival analysis, and groups were compared using the Log-rank test. Multivariate logistic regression and Cox regression were not used because only one variable (cyclin A) had shown statistical significance (P=.02), whereas the other significant factor (residual tumor) had few cases. Conclusions: Cyclin A IHC should be considered as a marker for the prediction of WT CSS. Prospective studies with a larger sample size are needed.

Keywords: wilms’ tumour, nephroblastoma, urology, survival

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Authors: Khaled M. Alhawiti

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This research study aims to present a retrospective study about speech recognition systems and artificial intelligence. Speech recognition has become one of the widely used technologies, as it offers great opportunity to interact and communicate with automated machines. Precisely, it can be affirmed that speech recognition facilitates its users and helps them to perform their daily routine tasks, in a more convenient and effective manner. This research intends to present the illustration of recent technological advancements, which are associated with artificial intelligence. Recent researches have revealed the fact that speech recognition is found to be the utmost issue, which affects the decoding of speech. In order to overcome these issues, different statistical models were developed by the researchers. Some of the most prominent statistical models include acoustic model (AM), language model (LM), lexicon model, and hidden Markov models (HMM). The research will help in understanding all of these statistical models of speech recognition. Researchers have also formulated different decoding methods, which are being utilized for realistic decoding tasks and constrained artificial languages. These decoding methods include pattern recognition, acoustic phonetic, and artificial intelligence. It has been recognized that artificial intelligence is the most efficient and reliable methods, which are being used in speech recognition.

Keywords: speech recognition, acoustic phonetic, artificial intelligence, hidden markov models (HMM), statistical models of speech recognition, human machine performance

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Authors: Baiyeri R. M, Oloriegbe Y. A., Saad A. O., Yusuf, K. O.

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Most farmers that produce food crops in Nigeria live in rural areas where potable water is not available. The farmers in some areas have problem of water borne diseases which could affect their health and could lead to death. This study was conducted to determine the impact of incorporating Granular Activated Carbon(GAC) and Magnetic Field(MF) in Slow Sand Filter(SSF) on the purification of water for rural dwellers. The SSF was developed using PVC pipe with diameter 152.4 mm and 1100 mm long, with layers of fine sand with size 0.25 mm and 350 mm depth, followed by GAC 10 mm size and 100 mm depth, fine sand 0.25mm with 500 mm depth and gravel grain size 10-14 mm and 100 mm depth. The SSF was kept moist for 21 days for biofilm layer (schmutzdecke) to fully develop, which is essential for trapping bacteria. Two SSFs fabricated consist of SSF+GAC as Filter 1, SSF+GAC+MF as Filter 2 and Control (Raw water without passing through filter. Water samples were collected from the filter and analyzed. The flow rate of Filter was 25 litres/h Total bacteria counts(TBC) for Filter 1 and Filter 2 and control were 2.4, 4.6 and 8.1 cfu/mg, respectively. Total coliform count for Filter 1 and Filter 2 and control were 1.7, 3.0 and 6.4 cfu/100mL, respectively. The filters reduced water hardness, turbidity, lead, copper, electrical conductivity and TBC by 53.13-73.44% but increased pH from 5.8 to 7.1-7.3. SSF is recommended for water purification in the rural areas.

Keywords: magnetised water, sow sand filter, portable water, activated carbon

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Authors: Hassan. A. Abas, Saad A. Aiban

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Soil improvement by means of stone column method is used to improve sabkha soils in order to limit total and differential settlement and to achieve the required bearing capacity. Full-scale plate test was performed on site to confirm the achievement of required bearing capacity at the specified settlement. Despite the fact that this technique is widely used to improve sabkha soils, there are no studies focusing on the behavior of stone columns in such problematic soils. Sabkha soils are known for its high compressibility, low strength and water sensitivity due to loss of salt cementation upon flooding during installation of stone columns. Numerical modeling of plate load test assist to understand complicated behavior of sabkha – stone column interaction. This paper presents a three-dimensional Finite element model, using PLAXIS 3D software, to simulate vertical plate load tests on a stone column installed in sabkha. The predicted settlement values are in reasonable agreement with the field measure values and the field load - settlement curve can be predicted with good accuracy.

Keywords: soil improvement, stone column, sabkha, PLAXIS 3D

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Authors: F. M. El-Domyati, A. Atef, S. Edris, N. O. Gadalla, M. A. Al-Kordy, A. M. Ramadan, Y. M. Saad, H. S. Al-Zahrani, A. Bahieldin

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Transcriptome retrieved from SRA database of different tissues and treatments of C. roseus was assembled in order to detect tissue-specific transcription factors (TFs) and TFs possibly related to terpenoid indole alkaloids (TIA) pathway. A number of 290 TF-like transcripts along with 12 transcripts related to TIA biosynthetic pathway were divided in terms of co-expression in the different tissues, treatments and genotypes. Three transcripts encoding peroxidases 1 and 12 were downregulated in hairy root, while upregulated in mature leaf. Eight different transcripts of the TIA pathway co-expressed with TFs either functioning downstream tryptophan biosynthesis, e.g., tdc, str1 and sgd, or upstream vindoline biosynthesis, e.g., t16h, omt, nmt, d4h and dat. The results showed no differential expression of TF transcripts in hairy roots knocked down for tdc gene (TDCi) as compared to their wild type controls. There were several evidences of tissue-specific expression of TF transcripts in flower, mature leaf, root/hairy root, stem, seedling, hairy root and immature/mature leaves. Regulation included transcription factor families, e.g., bHLH, MYB and WRKY mostly induced by ABA and/or JA (or MeJA) and regulated during abiotic or biotic stress. The information of tissue-specific regulation and co-expression of TFs and genes in the TIA pathway can be utilized in manipulating alkaloid biosynthesis in C. roseus.

Keywords: SRA database, bHLH, MYB, WRKY, co-expression

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Authors: AbdelRahman A. Faragalla, Mohamed H. Alqhtani, Mohamed M. M.Ahmed

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Saudi Arabia has currently been beset by a barrage of bizarre assemblages of subterranean termite fauna, inflicting heavy catastrophic havocs on human valued properties in various homes, storage facilities, warehouses, agricultural and horticultural crops including okra, sweet pepper, tomatoes, sorghum, date palm trees, citruses and many forest domains and green lush desert oases. The most pressing urgent priority is to use modern technologies to alleviate the painstaking obstacle of taxonomic identification of these injurious noxious pests that might lead to effective pest control in both infested agricultural commodities and field crops. Our study has indicated the use of DNA fingerprinting technologies, in order to generate basic information of the genetic similarity between 3 predominant families containing the most destructive termite species. The methodologies included extraction and DNA isolation from members of the major families and the use of randomly selected primers and PCR amplifications with the nucleotide sequences. GC content and annealing temperatures for all primers, PCR amplifications and agarose gel electrophoresis were also conducted in addition to the scoring and analysis of Random Amplification Polymorphic DNA-PCR (RAPDs). A phylogenetic analysis for different species using statistical computer program on the basis of RAPD-DNA results, represented as a dendrogram based on the average of band sharing ratio between different species. Our study aims to shed more light on this intriguing subject, which may lead to an expedited display of the kinship and relatedness of species in an ambitious undertaking to arrive at correct taxonomic classification of termite species, discover sibling species, so that a logistic rational pest management strategy could be delineated.

Keywords: DNA fingerprinting, Western Saudi Arabia, DNA primers, RAPD

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Authors: Jan Muhammad, Saad Malik, Fadia W. Al-Azawi, Ali Imran

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In the era of climate variability, rising temperatures are the most significant aspect. In this study PRECIS model data and observed data are used for assessing the temperature change scenarios of Sindh province during the first half of present century. Observed data from various meteorological stations of Sindh are the primary source for temperature change detection. The current scenario (1961–1990) and the future one (2010-2050) are acted by the PRECIS Regional Climate Model at a spatial resolution of 25 * 25 km. Regional Climate Model (RCM) can yield reasonably suitable projections to be used for climate-scenario. The main objective of the study is to map the simulated temperature as obtained from climate model-PRECIS and their comparison with observed temperatures. The analysis is done on all the districts of Sindh in order to have a more precise picture of temperature change scenarios. According to results the temperature is likely to increases by 1.5 - 2.1°C by 2050, compared to the baseline temperature of 1961-1990. The model assesses more accurate values in northern districts of Sindh as compared to the coastal belt of Sindh. All the district of the Sindh province exhibit an increasing trend in the mean temperature scenarios and each decade seems to be warmer than the previous one. An understanding of the change in temperatures is very vital for various sectors such as weather forecasting, water, agriculture, and health, etc.

Keywords: PRECIS Model, real observed data, Arc GIS, interpolation techniques

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Authors: Khaled Nagaty, Heba Nagaty, Gerard McKee

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A signature is a behavioral biometric that is used for authenticating users in most financial and legal transactions. Signatures can be easily forged by skilled forgers. Therefore, it is essential to verify whether a signature is genuine or forged. The aim of any signature verification algorithm is to accommodate the differences between signatures of the same person and increase the ability to discriminate between signatures of different persons. This work presented in this paper proposes an automatic signature verification system to indicate whether a signature is genuine or not. The system comprises four phases: (1) The pre-processing phase in which image scaling, binarization, image rotation, dilation, thinning, and connecting ridge breaks are applied. (2) The feature extraction phase in which global and local features are extracted. The local features are minutiae points, curvature orientation, and curve plateau. The global features are signature area, signature aspect ratio, and Hu moments. (3) The post-processing phase, in which false minutiae are removed. (4) The classification phase in which features are enhanced before feeding it into the classifier. k-nearest neighbors and support vector machines are used. The classifier was trained on a benchmark dataset to compare the performance of the proposed offline signature verification system against the state-of-the-art. The accuracy of the proposed system is 92.3%.

Keywords: signature, ridge breaks, minutiae, orientation

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Authors: Khaled Sandjak, Boualem Tiliouine

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Structural analysis of flexible pavements has been and still is currently performed using multi-layer elastic theory. However, for thinly surfaced pavements subjected to low to medium volumes of traffics, the importance of non-linear stress-strain behaviour of unbound granular materials (UGM) requires the use of more sophisticated numerical models for structural design and performance of such pavements. In the present work, nonlinear unbound aggregates constitutive model is implemented within an axisymmetric finite element code developed to simulate the nonlinear behaviour of pavement structures including two local aggregates of different mineralogical nature, typically used in Algerian pavements. The performance of the mechanical model is examined about its capability of representing adequately, under various conditions, the granular material non-linearity in pavement analysis. In addition, deflection data collected by falling weight deflectometer (FWD) are incorporated into the analysis in order to assess the sensitivity of critical pavement design criteria and pavement design life to the constitutive model. Finally, conclusions of engineering significance are formulated.

Keywords: FWD backcalculations, finite element simulations, Nonlinear resilient behaviour, pavement response and performance, RLT test results, unbound granular materials

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Authors: Tahseen Saad, Halim Ceylan, Jonathan Weaver, Osman Nuri Çelik, Onur Gungor Sahin

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A new concept of uniform delay offset dependent mathematical optimization problem is derived as the main objective for this study using a differential evolution algorithm. To control the coordination problem, which depends on offset selection and to estimate uniform delay based on the offset choice in a traffic signal network. The assumption is the periodic sinusoidal function for arrival and departure patterns. The cycle time is optimized at the entry links and the optimized value is used in the non-entry links as a common cycle time. The offset optimization algorithm is used to calculate the uniform delay at each link. The results are illustrated by using a case study and are compared with the canonical uniform delay model derived by Webster and the highway capacity manual’s model. The findings show new model minimizes the total uniform delay to almost half compared to conventional models. The mathematical objective function is robust. The algorithm convergence time is fast.

Keywords: area traffic control, traffic flow, differential evolution, sinusoidal periodic function, uniform delay, offset variable

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Authors: Mohamed Boly

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This paper investigates the link between foreign aid and environmental protection, specifically CO2 emissions, in aid recipient countries. Conflicting results exist in the literature regarding the environmental impact of foreign aid. We come to reconcile them, using Project-Level Aid Data with environment codes, over the 1980- 2010 period. The disaggregation of aid according to the environmental codes, show why the results of previous literature remain very mixed. Moreover, we find that the effect of environmental aid is conditioned by some specific characteristics of the recipient country, independently of the donor.

Keywords: foreign aid, green aid, interactive effects, pollution

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Authors: Ebitisam K. Elberkawi, Mohamed M. Elammari

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Graphical User Interface (GUI) is essential to programming, as is any other characteristic or feature, due to the fact that GUI components provide the fundamental interaction between the user and the program. Thus, we must give more interest to GUI during building and development of systems. Also, we must give a greater attention to the user who is the basic corner in the dealing with the GUI. This paper introduces an approach for designing GUI from one of the models of business workflows which describe the workflow behavior of a system, specifically through activity diagrams (AD).

Keywords: activity diagram, graphical user interface, GUI components, program

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Authors: Khaled Soliman, Abdullah Alrushoud, Abdulrahman Alkhalifah, Raed Albathi, Salman Altymiat

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Radiation dose received by patients undergoing Computed Tomography (CT) examination of the cervical spine was evaluated using Gafchromic XR-QA2 films and CT-EXPO software (ver. 2.3), in order to document our clinical dose values and to compare our results with other benchmarks reported in the current literature. Radiochromic films were recently used as practical dosimetry tool that provides dose profile information not available using the standard ionisation chamber routinely used in CT dosimetry. We have developed an in-house program to use the films in order to calculate the Entrance Dose Length Product (EDLP) in (mGy.cm) and to relate the EDLP to various organ doses calculated using the CT-EXPO software. We also calculated conversion factor in (mSv/mGy.cm) relating the EDLP to the effective dose (ED) from the examination using CT-EXPO software. Variability among different types of CT scanners and dose modulation methods are reported from at least three major CT brands available at our medical institution. Our work describes the dosimetry method and results are reported. The method can be used as in-vivo dosimetry method. But this work only reports results obtained from adult female anthropomorphic Phantom studies.

Keywords: CT dosimetry, gafchromic films, XR-QA2, CT-Expo software

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Authors: Saad Khalid Niaz, Arif Mahmood Siddiqui, Afzal Haqi

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Background: Estimated prevalence of Hepatitis C in Pakistan is 5% of which 78 % are Genotype 3, in which Response to conventional interferon is reported to be 70%. Objective: To determine the efficacy of pegylated interferon 20 kDa (Unipeg) plus ribavirin (Ribazole) in HCV genotype 3 patients who relapsed to conventional interferon. Methods: This is an ongoing study of 20 enrolled patients. Pegylated interferon alfa-2a 20 kDa 180 mcg weekly with ribavirin, were administered for a period of 24 weeks. Virological Responses were measured by Qualitative HCV RNA at weeks 4, 12, 24 and 48 to determine Rapid Virological Response (RVR), Early Virological Response (EVR), End of Treatment (ETR) and Sustained Virological Response (SVR), respectively. EVR was done for those who didn’t achieve RVR. Results: Males were 12 (60%) and mean age was 38.5 ±7.62 years. Out of 20 recruited patients, all completed 4 weeks therapy; RVR was achieved in 8 (40%) patients. One patient was lost to follow up and one yet to visit at 12 weeks. From 10 patients, 8 (80%) patients achieved EVR. Out of intent-to-treat patients, 15 completed 24 weeks therapy, ETR was achieved in 14 (93%) patients and 9 patients completed post therapy follow-up, of which, 8 (89%) patients achieved SVR. Conclusion: Our interim data demonstrates that Pegylated Interferon alfa-2a 20 kDa 180 mcg (Unipeg) in combination with Ribavirin (Ribazole) has shown promising results in treating HCV Genotype 3 patients who relapsed to conventional interferon. We recommend use of Pegylated Interferon in Relapsers with Genotype 3 when financial constraints limit the use of oral antivirals.

Keywords: pegylated interferon (unipeg), hepatitis c, relapsers, Pakistan

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Authors: Ferhat Mohamed Amine, Boukhatem Mohamed Nadjib, Chemat Farid

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The Lamiaceae family is widely spread in Algeria. Due to the application of Thymus species growing wild in Algeria as a culinary herb and in folk medicine, the purpose of the present work was to evaluate antimicrobial activities of their essential oils and relate them with their chemical composition, for further application in food and pharmaceutical industries as natural valuable products. The extraction of the Thymus vulgaris L. essential oil (TVEO) was obtained by steam distillation. Chemical composition of the TVEO was determined by Gas Chromatography. A total of thirteen compounds were identified. Carvacrol (83.8%) was the major component, followed by cymene (8.15%) and terpinene (4.96%). Antibacterial action of the TVEO against 23 clinically isolated bacterial strains was determined by using agar disc diffusion and vapour diffusion methods at different doses. By disc diffusion method, TVEO showed potent antimicrobial activity against gram-positive bacteria more than gram-negative strains and antibiotic discs. The Diameter of Inhibition Zone (DIZ) varied from 25 to 60 mm for S. aureus, B. subtilisand E. coli. However, the results obtained by both agar diffusion and vapour diffusion methods were different. Significantly higher antibacterial effect was observed in the vapour phase at lower doses. S. aureus and B. subtilis were the most susceptible strains to the oil vapour. Therefore, smaller doses of EO in the vapour phase can be inhibitory to pathogenic bacteria. There is growing evidence that TVEO in vapour phase are effective antiseptic systems and appears worthy to be considered for practical uses in the treatment of human infections oras air decontaminants in hospital. TVEO has considerable antibacterial activity deserving further investigation for clinical applications. Also whilst the mode of action remains mainly undetermined, this experimental approach will need to continue.

Keywords: antimicrobial drugs, carvacrol, disc diffusion, Thymus vulgaris, vapour diffusion

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Authors: Mohamed Almagsoudi

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The aim of this paper is to deal with two issues. One of them is about the theoretical side of codification, and the other is related to the practical side. At first, I have tried to criticize the debate running about codification of Islamic and Saudi Law, through observing and analyzing views of opponents and advocates. I tried to prove a hypothesis that both parties could not completely succeed in reviewing the theoretical base of this topic where discussion would not deal with irrelevant matters. It is a crucial shortcoming that made advocates unable to answer the critical questions addressed by those opponents.

Keywords: Codification, Saudi Law, Islamic law, Sharia

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Authors: Sanaa K. Bardaweel, Mohammad M. Hudaib, Khaled A. Tawaha, Rasha M. Bashatwah

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Eucalyptus species are well reputed for their traditional use in Asia as well as in other parts of the world; therefore, the present study was designed to investigate the antimicrobial and antioxidant activities associated with essential oils from different Eucalyptus species. Essential oils from the leaves of six Eucalyptus species, including: Eucalyptus woodwardi, Eucalyptus stricklandii, Eucalyptus salubris, Eucalyptus sargentii, Eucalyptus torquata and Eucalyptus wandoo were separated by hydrodistillation and dried over anhydrous sodium sulphate. DPPH, ferric reducing antioxidant power, and hydroxyl radical scavenging activity assays were carried out to evaluate the antioxidant potential of the oils. The results indicate that examined oils exhibit substantial antioxidant activities relative to ascorbic acid. Previously, these oils were evaluated for their antimicrobial activities, against wide range of bacterial and fungal strains, and they were shown to possess significant antimicrobial activities. In this study, further investigation into the growth kinetics of oil-treated microbial cultures was conducted. The results clearly demonstrate that the microbial growth was markedly inhibited when treated with sub-MIC concentrations of the oils. Taken together, the results obtained indicate a high potential of the examined essential oils as bioactive oils, for nutraceutical and medical applications, possessing significant antioxidant and anti microbial activities.

Keywords: antimicrobial, antioxidants, essential (volatile) oil, Eucalyptus

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Authors: Khaled Alkadamani

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Using the simultaneous equations model, this paper examines the impact of capital requirements on bank risk-taking during the recent financial crisis. It also explores the relationship between capital and risk decisions and the impact of economic instability on this relationship. By analyzing the data of 20 Islamic commercial banks between 2004 and 2014 from four Middle East countries, the study concludes a positive effect of regulatory pressure on bank capital in Saudi Arabia and UAE and a negative effect in Jordan and Kuwait. Moreover, the results show a negative impact of regulatory pressure on bank risk taking in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and UAE. The findings reveal also that banks close to the minimum regulatory capital requirements improve their capital adequacy by increasing their capital and decreasing their risk taking. Furthermore, the results show that economic crisis negatively affects bank risk changes, suggesting that banks react to the impact of uncertainty by reducing their risk taking. Finally, the estimations show a negative correlation between banks profitability and capital adequacy ratio (CAR), implying that as more capital is set aside as a buffer for banks safety; it affects the performance of Islamic banks.

Keywords: bank capital, bank regulation, crisis, Islamic banks, risk taking

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Authors: Sameh Ahmed, Khaled Galal

Abstract:

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) sandwich panels are increasingly making their way into structural engineering applications. One of these applications is the blast mitigation. This is attributed to FRP ability of absorbing considerable amount of energy relative to their low density. In this study, FRP sandwich panels are numerically studied using an explicit finite element code ANSYS AUTODYN. The numerical model is then validated with the experimental field tests in the literature. The inner core configurations that have been studied in the experimental field tests were formed from different orientations of the honeycomb shape. On the other hand, the conducted numerical study has proposed a new core configuration. The new core configuration is formulated from a combination of woven and honeycomb shapes. Throughout this study, two performance parameters are considered; the amount of the energy absorbed by the panels and the peak deformation of the panels. Following, a parametric study has been conducted with more variations of the studied parameters to examine the enhancement of the panels' performance. It is found that the numerical results have shown a good agreement with the experimental measurements. Furthermore, the analyses have revealed that using the proposed core configuration obviously enhances the FRP panels’ behavior when subjected to blast loads.

Keywords: blast load, fiber reinforced polymers, finite element modeling, sandwich panels

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Authors: Kaoutar Lamrini Uahabi, Mohamed Atounti

Abstract:

In the present work, we consider one category of curves denoted by L(p, k, r, n). These curves are continuous arcs which are trajectories of roots of the trinomial equation zn = αzk + (1 − α), where z is a complex number, n and k are two integers such that 1 ≤ k ≤ n − 1 and α is a real parameter greater than 1. Denoting by L the union of all trinomial curves L(p, k, r, n) and using the box counting dimension as fractal dimension, we will prove that the dimension of L is equal to 3/2.

Keywords: feasible angles, fractal dimension, Minkowski sausage, trinomial curves, trinomial equation

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Authors: Ghodbane Azeddine, Saad Maarouf, Boland Jean-Francois, Thibeault Claude

Abstract:

This paper proposes a new design of an active fault-tolerant flight control system against abrupt actuator faults. This overall system combines a multiple time scale sliding mode controller for fault compensation and a geometric approach for fault detection and diagnosis. The proposed control system is able to accommodate several kinds of partial and total actuator failures, by using available healthy redundancy actuators. The overall system first estimates the correct fault information using the geometric approach. Then, and based on that, a new reconfigurable control law is designed based on the multiple time scale sliding mode technique for on-line compensating the effect of such faults. This approach takes advantages of the fact that there are significant difference between the time scales of aircraft states that have a slow dynamics and those that have a fast dynamics. The closed-loop stability of the overall system is proved using Lyapunov technique. A case study of the non-linear model of the F16 fighter, subject to the rudder total loss of control confirms the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Keywords: actuator faults, fault detection and diagnosis, fault tolerant flight control, sliding mode control, multiple time scale approximation, geometric approach for fault reconstruction, lyapunov stability

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Authors: Hamed A. El-Serehy, Khaled A. Al-Rasheid, Fahad A. Al-Misned

Abstract:

The composition and distribution of the benthic meiofauna assemblages of the Egyptian coasts along the Red Sea are described in relation to abiotic variables. Sediment samples were collected seasonally from twelve stations chosen along the northern part of the Red Sea to observe the meiofaunal community structure, its temporal distribution and horizontal fluctuation in relation to environmental conditions of the Red Sea marine ecosystem. The meiofaunal assemblage in the area of study was well diversified including 140 taxa. The temperature, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, and redox potential were measured at the time of collection. The water content of the sediments, total organic matters and chlorophyll a values were determined, and sediment samples were subjected to granulometric analysis. A total of 10 meiofauna taxa were identified, with the meiofauna being primarily represented by nematodes (on annual average from 42% to 84%), harpacticoids, polycheates and ostracodes; and the meiofauna abundances ranging from 41- to 167 ind. / 10 cm2. The meiofaunal population density fluctuated seasonally with a peak of 192.52 ind. / 10 cm2 during summer at station II. The vertical zonation in the distribution of meiofaunal community was significantly correlated with interstitial water, chlorophyll a and total organic matter values. The present study indicates that the existing of well diversified meiofaunal group which can serve as food for higher trophic levels in the Red Sea interstitial environment.

Keywords: benthos, diversity, meiofauna, Red Sea

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Authors: Abdulbaset Saad, Adel Younis, Zuomin Dong

Abstract:

For design optimization with high-dimensional expensive problems, an effective and efficient optimization methodology is desired. This work proposes a series of modification to the Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm for solving computation Intensive Black-Box Problems. The proposed methodology is called Radial Basis Meta-Model Algorithm Assisted Differential Evolutionary (RBF-DE), which is a global optimization algorithm based on the meta-modeling techniques. A meta-modeling assisted DE is proposed to solve computationally expensive optimization problems. The Radial Basis Function (RBF) model is used as a surrogate model to approximate the expensive objective function, while DE employs a mechanism to dynamically select the best performing combination of parameters such as differential rate, cross over probability, and population size. The proposed algorithm is tested on benchmark functions and real life practical applications and problems. The test results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is promising and performs well compared to other optimization algorithms. The proposed algorithm is capable of converging to acceptable and good solutions in terms of accuracy, number of evaluations, and time needed to converge.

Keywords: differential evolution, engineering design, expensive computations, meta-modeling, radial basis function, optimization

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Authors: Mahinaz Saad

Abstract:

Little empirical data exists regarding smartphone usage for news consumption in the UAE, and no previous research explored undergraduate female university students’ usage of smartphones. This represents a gap in the professional literature and makes it an important area to examine. Uses and Gratifications theory is used to study the motivations of consumers for adopting a particular type of communication tool. This theory is an audience-centred approach to understanding mass communication that assumes audiences are active consumers of media and explains why and how people seek out specific media to satisfy needs. This theory is particularly relevant given the rapid development of new communication technologies. Situated within this theoretical framework, this study utilised a quantitative research design to explore respondents’ (N=488) how and why respondents use their smartphones. Further, this study explored the relationship between mobile news use and the use of other mediums for news access and how different gratifications predict mobile hard news use and mobile soft news use. Results revealed that smartphones often replace traditional media as a news source and have become students’ primary source of news. Results also revealed that different gratifications can be used as a predictor of mobile hard news and soft news and that most students use their smartphones to access soft news. These results are fundamental in allowing us to predict possible future trends relating to news consumption in the UAE and the myriad ways in which the media landscape is changing.

Keywords: uses and gratifications, smartphones, university students, news consumption

Procedia PDF Downloads 137