Search results for: Tallal Abdel Karim Bouzir

Authors: Nihal Abdel Hamid Taha

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Crack evaluation of flexure reinforced concrete (RC) member is considered an important step in the design process, since the formation of concrete cracks depends on the possibility of exposure to various conditions(pollution, humidity,..etc.). Because of the disparity between different grades of steel in the service load stresses, this affects the cracking behavior. This paper is concerned with the crack pattern and cracking load for concrete beams with T-section reinforced with two different grades of steel at the service load levels stages up to ultimate load. A practical program has been put up to investigate the difference between reinforced steel bars with yield strength 420 N/mm2 and 500 N/mm2 through six T-section reinforced beams. The beams were tested under static- monotonic two– point service loading up to ultimate failure under flexural stresses. The influence of parameters such as clear concrete cover and concrete compressive strength are considered for each of the two grades of steel used. Cracking load, spacing and width were determined. The experimental results demonstrated that increasing the concrete strength results in both of cracking and ultimate load increase, while no significant difference in yield load for the two steel grades used. It has also become obvious, that the number of cracks was more for the lower steel strength, which is followed by decrease in crack width and spacing.

Keywords: RC beams, cracking behavior, steel stress, crack width, crack spacing

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Authors: Hala M. Abdel Mageed, Eman M. Hosny, Adel S. Nada

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Solar radiation test is one of the essential tests performed on electricity meters that is carried out using solar simulators. In this work, the (MKF-240) climatic chamber has been modified to act as a solar simulator at the Egyptian national institute of standard, NIS. Quartz Tungsten Halogen (QTH) lamps and an Aluminum plate are added to the climatic chamber to realize the solar test conditions. Many experimental trials have been performed to reach the optimum number of lamps needed to fulfil the test requirements and to adjust the best uniform test area. The proposed solar simulator design is capable to produce irradiance up to 1066 W/m2. Its output radiation is controlled by changing the number of illuminated lamps as well as changing the distance between lamps and tested electricity meter. The uniformity of radiation within the simulator has been recognized to be 91.5 % at maximum irradiance. Three samples of electricity meters have been tested under different irradiances, temperatures, and electric loads. The electricity meters’ accuracies have been recorded and analyzedfor eachsample. Moreover, measurement uncertainty contribution has been considered in all tests to get precision value. There were noticeable changes in the accuracies of the electricity meters while exposed to solar radiation, although there were no noticeable distortions of their insulationsand outer surfaces.

Keywords: solar radiation, solar simulator, climatic chamber, halogen lamp, electricity meter

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Authors: Karim Kheloufi, El Hachemi Amara

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In the present study, a three-dimensional transient numerical model was developed to study the temperature field and cutting kerf shape during laser fusion cutting. The finite volume model has been constructed, based on the Navier–Stokes equations and energy conservation equation for the description of momentum and heat transport phenomena, and the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method for free surface tracking. The Fresnel absorption model is used to handle the absorption of the incident wave by the surface of the liquid metal and the enthalpy-porosity technique is employed to account for the latent heat during melting and solidification of the material. To model the physical phenomena occurring at the liquid film/gas interface, including momentum/heat transfer, a new approach is proposed which consists of treating friction force, pressure force applied by the gas jet and the heat absorbed by the cutting front surface as source terms incorporated into the governing equations. All these physics are coupled and solved simultaneously in Fluent CFD®. The main objective of using a transient phase change model in the current case is to simulate the dynamics and geometry of a growing laser-cutting generated kerf until it becomes fully developed. The model is used to investigate the effect of some process parameters on temperature fields and the formed kerf geometry.

Keywords: laser cutting, numerical simulation, heat transfer, fluid flow

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Authors: Sami Ali Metwally, Bedour Helmy Abou-Leila, Hussien I.Abdel-Shafy

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The work was carried out at the greenhouse of National Research Centre, Pot experiment was carried out during of 2020 and 2021 seasons aimed to study the effect of two types of water (two recycling gray water treatments((SMR (Sequencing Batch Reactor) and MBR(Membrane Biology Reactor) and three watering intervals 15, 20 and 25 days on Syangonium plants growth. Examination of data cleared that, (MBR) recorded increase in vegetative growth parameters, osmotic pressure, transpiration rate chlorophyll a,b,carotenoids and carbohydrate)in compared with SBR.As for water, intervalsthe highest values of most growth parameters were obtained from plants irrigated with after (20 days) compared with other treatments.15 days irrigation intervals recorded significantly increased in osmotic pressure, transpiration rate and photosynthetic pigments, while carbohydrate values recorded decreased. Interaction between water type and water intervals(SBR) recorded the highest values of most growth parameters by irrigation after 20 days. While the treatment (MBR)and irrigated after 25 days showed the highest values on leaf area and leaves fresh weight compared with other treatments.

Keywords: grey water, water intervals, Syngonium plant, recycling water, vegetative growth

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Authors: Abdel Ghany F. Shoair, Mai M. A. H. Shanab

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The basic aqueous systems NiSO4.6H₂O / K₂S₂O₈ (PH= 14) or NiSO₄.6H₂O / KBrO₃ (PH = 11.5) were ‎investigated ‎for the ‎catalytic conversion benzyl alcohol and ‎some para-substituted benzyl ‎alcohols to their ‎corresponding ‎acids in 75-97 % yield at room ‎temperature. The active species ‎was isolated and characterized by scanning ‎electron ‎microscopy (SEM), ‎‎transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray ‎powder diffraction, EDX and ‎‎FT-IR ‎techniques and identified as NiO₂ nanoparticles (NPNPs). The SEM and ‎TEM images of nickel peroxide samples show a fine spherical-like ‎aggregation of ‎NiO₂ molecules with a nearly homogeneous partial size and confirm the ‎aggregation's size ‎to ‎be in the range of 2-3 nm. The yields, turnover (TO) and turn ‎over frequencies (TOF) were calculated. ‎It was noticed ‎that the aromatic alcohols ‎containing para-substituted electron donation groups gave better ‎‎yields than ‎those having electron-withdrawing groups. The optimum conditions for this ‎‎catalytic reaction ‎were studied using benzyl alcohol as a model. The mechanism ‎of the ‎catalytic conversion reaction was ‎suggested, in which the produced ‎(NPNPs) convert alcohols ‎to acids in two steps through the formation of the ‎‎corresponding aldehyde. The produced ‎NiO, because of this conversion, is ‎converted again to (NPNPs) by ‎an excess of K₂S₂O₈ or KBrO₃. This ‎catalytic cycle continues ‎until all the substrate is oxidized.

Keywords: Nickel, oxidation, catalysts, benzyl alcohol

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Authors: Mustapha Bouhoun Ali, Ahmed Yacine Badjah Hadj Ahmed, Mouloud Attou, Abdel Hamid Elias, Mohamed Amine Didi

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The extraction of uranium(VI) from aqueous solutions has been investigated using 1-hydroxyhexadecylidene-1,1-diphosphonic acid (HHDPA) and 1-hydroxydodecylidene-1,1-diphosphonic acid (HDDPA), which were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis and by FT-IR, 1H NMR, 31P NMR spectroscopy. In this paper, we propose a tentative assignment for the shifts of those two ligands and their specific complexes with uranium(VI). We carried out the extraction of uranium(VI) by HHDPA and HDDPA from [carbon tetrachloride + 2-octanol (v/v: 90%/10%)] solutions. Various factors such as contact time, pH, organic/aqueous phase ratio and extractant concentration were considered. The optimum conditions obtained were: contact time = 20 min, organic/aqueous phase ratio = 1, pH value = 3.0 and extractant concentration = 0.3M. The extraction yields are more significant in the case of the HHDPA which is equipped with a hydrocarbon chain, longer than that of the HDDPA. Logarithmic plots of the uranium(VI) distribution ratio vs. pHeq and the extractant concentration showed that the ratio of extractant to extracted uranium(VI) (ligand/metal) is 2:1. The formula of the complex of uranium(VI) with the HHDPA and the DHDPA is UO2(H3L)2 (HHDPA and DHDPA are denoted as H4L). A spectroscopic analysis has showed that coordination of uranium(VI) takes place via oxygen atoms.

Keywords: liquid-liquid extraction, uranium(VI), 1-hydroxyalkylidene-1, 1-diphosphonic acids, HHDPA, HDDPA, aqueous solution

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Authors: Abdul Karim Zulkarnain, Marchaban, Subagus Wahyono, Ratna Asmah Susidarti

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Mahkota Dewa contains phalerin which has activity as sun screen. In this study, 13 formulations of cream oil in water (o/w) were prepared and tested for their physical characteristics. The physical characteristics were then used for determining the optimum formula. This study aimed to explore the physical stability of optimized formulation of cream, its sun protecting factor (SPF) values using in vitro and in vivo tests. The optimum formula of o/w cream were prepared based on Simplex Lattice Design (LSD) method using software Design Expert®. The formulation of o/w cream were varied based on the proportion of cetyl alcohol, mineral oil and tween 80. The difference of physical characteristic of optimum and predicted formula was tested using t-test with significant level of 95%. The optimum formula of o/w cream was the formula which consists of cetyl alcohol 9.71%, mineral oil, 29%, and tween 80 3.29. Based on t-test, there was no significant difference of physical characteristics of optimum and predicted formulation. Viscosity, spread power, adhesive power, and separation volume ratio of o/w at week 0-4 were relatively stable. The o/w creams were relatively stable at extreme temperature. The o/w creams from mahkota dewa, phalerin, and benzophenone have SPF values of 21.32, 33.12, and 42.49, respectively. The formulas did not irritate the skin based on in vivo test.

Keywords: cream, stability, In vitro, In vivo

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Authors: Ghzlan Mahmoud Abdel Aziz

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This case study aims to identify the intrastate conflicts between the nation state and armed groups. Nowadays, most wars weaken states against armed groups. Thus, it is very important to negotiate with such groups in order to reinforce the law for the protection of victims. These armed groups are the cause of conflicts and they are related with many of humanitarian issues that result out of conflicts. In this age of rivalry; terrorists, insurgents, or transnational criminal parties have surfaced to the top as a reaction to these armed groups in an effort to set up a new world order. Moreover, the intra state conflicts became increasingly treacherous than the interstate conflicts, particularly when nation state systems deal with armed groups which try to influence the state. The unexpected upraising of the Arab Spring during 2011 in parts of the Middle East and North Africa formed various patterns of conflicts. The events of the Arab Spring resulted in current and long term change across the region. Significant modifications in the level, strength and period of armed conflict around the world have been made. Egypt was in the center of these events. It has fought back the armed groups under the name of terrorism and spread common disorder and violence among civilians. On this note, this study focuses on the problem of the transformation in the methods of organized violence within one state rather than between two state or more and analyzes the objectives, strategies, and internal composition of armed groups and the environments that foster them, with a focus on the Egyptian case.

Keywords: armed groups, conflicts, Egyptian armed forces, intrastate conflicts

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Authors: Guity Karim, Valiollah Ayareh

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Probiotic dairy products are those that contain biologically active components that may affect beneficially one or more target functions in the body, beyond their adequate nutritional effects. As far as chocolate milk is a popular dairy product in the country especially among children and youth, production of a symbiotic (probiotic + peribiotic) new product using chocolate milk, Bifidobacterium lactis (DSM, Netherland) and inulin (Bene, Belgium) would help to promote the nutritional and functional properties of this product. Bifidobacterium Lactis is used as a probiotic in a variety of foods, particularly dairy products like yogurt and as a probiotic bacterium has benefit effects on the human health. Inulin as a peribiotic agent is considered as functional food ingredient. Experimental studies have shown its use as bifidogenic agent. Chocolate milk with different percent of fat (1 and 2 percent), 6 % of sugar and 0.9 % cacao was made, sterilized (UHT) and supplemented with Bifidobacterium lactis and inulin (0.5 %) after cooling . A sample was made without inulin as a control. Bifidobacterium lactis population was enumerated at days 0, 4, 8 and 12 together with measurement of pH, acidity and viscosity of the samples. Also sensory property of the product was evaluated by a 15 panel testers. The number of live bacterial cells was maintained at the functional level of 106-108 cfu/ml after keeping for 12 days in refrigerated temperature (4°C). Coliforms were found to be absent in the products during the storage. Chocolate milk containing 1% fat and inulin has the best effect on the survival and number of B. lactis at day 8 and after that. Moreover, the addition of inulin did not affect the sensorial quality of the product. In this work, chocolate has been evaluated as a potential protective carrier for oral delivery of B. lactis and inulin.

Keywords: chocolate milk, synbiotic, bifidobacterium lactis, inulin

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Authors: Reda Abdel-Aziz

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Agricultural activities in Egypt generate annually around 35 million tons of waste. Composting is one of the most promising technologies to turnover waste in a more economical way, for many centuries. Composting has been used as a mean of recycling organic matter back into the soil to improve soil structure and fertility. Field experiments were conducted in two governorates, Giza and Al-Monofia, to find out the effect of compost with different rates of chemical fertilizers on growth and yield of corn (Zea mays L.) during two constitutive seasons of 2012 and 2013. The experiment, laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD), was carried out on five farmers’ fields in each governorate. The treatments were: unfertilized control, full dose of NPK (120, 30, and 50 kg/acre, respectively), compost at rate of 20 ton/acre, compost at rate of 10 ton/acre + 25% of chemical fertilizer, compost at rate of 10 ton/acre + 50% of chemical fertilizer and compost at rate of 10 ton/acre + 75% of chemical fertilizer. Results revealed a superiority of the treatment of compost at rate of 10 ton/acre + 50% of NPK that caused significant improvement in growth, yield and nutrient uptakes of corn in the two governorates during the two constitutive seasons. Results showed that agricultural waste could be composted into value added soil amendment to enhance efficiency of chemical fertilizer. Composting of agricultural waste could also reduce the chemical fertilizers potential hazard to the environment.

Keywords: agricultural waste, compost, chemical fertilizers, corn production, environment

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Authors: Abdel Rahman Altakhaineh

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This paper has analysed the conceptual relations between the elements of NN compounds in Arabic and compared them to those found in English based on the framework of Conceptual Semantics and a modified version of Parallel Architecture referred to as Relational Morphology. The analysis revealed that the repertoire of possible semantic relations between the two nouns in Arabic NN compounds reproduces that in English NN compounds and that, therefore, the main difference is in headedness (right-headed in English, left-headed in Arabic). Adopting RM allows productive and idiosyncratic elements to interweave with each other naturally. Semantically transparent compounds can be stored in memory or produced and understood online, while compounds with different degrees of semantic idiosyncrasy are stored in memory. Furthermore, the predictable parts of idiosyncratic compounds are captured by general schemas. In compounds, such schemas pick out the range of possible semantic relations between the two nouns. Finally, conducting a cross-linguistic study of the systematic patterns of possible conceptual relationships between compound elements is an area worthy of further exploration. In addition, comparing and contrasting compounding in Arabic and Hebrew, especially as they are both Semitic languages, is another area that needs to be investigated thoroughly. It will help morphologists understand the extent to which Jackendoff’s repertoire of semantic relations in compounds is universal. That is, if a language as distant from English as Arabic displays a similar range of cases, this is evidence for a (relatively) universal set of relations from which individual languages may pick and choose.

Keywords: conceptual semantics, morphology, compounds, arabic, english

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Authors: Asma Karim

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Fish taxonomy plays a fundamental role in the study of biodiversity. However, traditional methods of fish taxonomy rely on morphological features, which can lead to confusion due to great similarities between closely related species. To overcome this limitation, modern taxonomy employs DNA barcoding as a species identification method. This involves using a short standardized mitochondrial DNA region as a barcode, specifically a 658 base pair fragment near the 5′ ends of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) gene, to exploit the diversity in this region for identification of species. To test the effectiveness and reliability of DNA barcoding, 25 fish specimens from nine different fish species found in various rivers of Pakistan were identified morphologically using a dichotomous key at the start of the study. Comprising nine freshwater fish species, including Mystus cavasius, Mystus bleekeri, Osteobrama cotio, Labeo rohita, Labeo culbasu, Labeo gonius, Cyprinus carpio, Catla catla and Cirrhinus mrigala from different rivers of Pakistan were used in the present study. DNA was extracted from one of the pectoral fins and a partial sequence of CO1 gene was amplified using the conventional PCR method. Analysis of the barcodes confirmed that genetically identified fishes were the same as those identified morphologically at the beginning of the study. The sequences were also analyzed for biodiversity and phylogenetic studies. Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that DNA barcoding is an effective and reliable method for studying biodiversity and conducting phylogenetic analysis of different fish species in Pakistan.

Keywords: DNA barcoding, fresh water fishes, taxonomy, biodiversity, Pakistan

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Authors: Ahmed F. Abdel Qader

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Viral marketing has resulted in a lot of excitement recently as a novel technology in the field of marketing. The need of porting institutions to attract new customers for sporting products and services has increased, especially as many international and Arab clubs rely on them for most of their funding. These organizations, especially clubs, have outlets for selling their products and services; therefore, they are in need for new approaches that are related to modern communication and innovative distribution methods that can depend on the present audience in conveying e-ads to other users in light of the increase in social media users in the Arab world. This study aims at developing a marketing plan for sporting products and services through viral marketing of social media users. The researcher used the descriptive method. The sample consisted of 1991 social media users in 13 Arab countries. The questionnaire consisted of five themes and 42 items. Allan Dib 'one-page marketing plan' was used to develop the sporting products and services marketing plan. The study found that participants reported watching e-ads of sporting products and services that appeared during browsing social media pages; Facebook was the most used means for receiving ads about sporting products and services; sharing the product’s ad depends on the availability of incentives; purchasing sporting products and services takes place after a recommendation by a relative or a friend; and their evaluation of sporting products and services depends on the experiences of other people. The study recommends that the proposed plan should be used in marketing sporting products and services.

Keywords: viral marketing, sporting products, social media, Arab world

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Authors: Teh Raihana Nazirah Roslan, Siti Zulaiha Ibrahim, Sharmila Karim

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A warrant is a financial contract that confers the right but not the obligation, to buy or sell a security at a certain price before expiration. The standard procedure to value equity warrants using call option pricing models such as the Black–Scholes model had been proven to contain many flaws, such as the assumption of constant interest rate and constant volatility. In fact, existing alternative models were found focusing more on demonstrating techniques for pricing, rather than empirical testing. Therefore, a mathematical model for pricing and analyzing equity warrants which comprises stochastic interest rate and stochastic volatility is essential to incorporate the dynamic relationships between the identified variables and illustrate the real market. Here, the aim is to develop dynamic pricing formulations for hybrid equity warrants by incorporating stochastic interest rates from the Cox-Ingersoll-Ross (CIR) model, along with stochastic volatility from the Heston model. The development of the model involves the derivations of stochastic differential equations that govern the model dynamics. The resulting equations which involve Cauchy problem and heat equations are then solved using partial differential equation approaches. The analytical pricing formulas obtained in this study comply with the form of analytical expressions embedded in the Black-Scholes model and other existing pricing models for equity warrants. This facilitates the practicality of this proposed formula for comparison purposes and further empirical study.

Keywords: Cox-Ingersoll-Ross model, equity warrants, Heston model, hybrid models, stochastic

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Authors: Fazlul Karim, Esa Al-Islam

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Many problems in oceanography and environmental sciences require the solution of shallow water equations on physical domains having curvilinear coastlines and abrupt changes of ocean depth near the shore. Finite-difference technique for the shallow water equations representing the boundary as stair step may give inaccurate results near the coastline where results are of greatest interest for various applications. This suggests the use of methods which are capable of incorporating the irregular boundary in coastal belts. At the same time, large velocity gradient is expected near the beach and islands as water depth vary abruptly near the coast. A nested numerical scheme with fine resolution is the best resort to enhance the numerical accuracy with the least grid numbers for the region of interests where the velocity changes rapidly and which is unnecessary for the away of the region. This paper describes the development of a boundary fitted nested grid (BFNG) model to compute tsunami propagation of 2004 Indonesian tsunami in Southern Thailand coastal waters. In this paper, we develop a numerical model employing the shallow water nested model and an orthogonal boundary fitted grid to investigate the tsunami impact on the Southern Thailand due to the Indonesian tsunami of 2004. Comparisons of water surface elevation obtained from numerical simulations and field measurements are made.

Keywords: Indonesian tsunami of 2004, Boundary-fitted nested grid model, Southern Thailand, finite difference method

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Authors: Barzan Hadi Hama Karim

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In recent years, an increasing number of faculties and colleges of basic education are established by the universities and ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Iraqi Kurdistan to graduate English teachers to teach in the basic and high schools. One central consideration of this study is to what extent graduate teachers receive adequate preparation from these faculties and college of basic education. An important program which is offered in the department of English language in these colleges and faculties is Viewing and Practicing. The purpose of this research is to explore how students of basic education colleges and faculties are using the program of Viewing and Practicing to support the educational process. This study provides a general framework about educational uses of the program as a pedagogical tool to teach English Language in the basic schools and describes the different perceptions of the students at the final stage of their education. A survey is used to collect responses from a group of students to determine their expectations and perceptions about the program. The results display that the program has several aspects of strengths, such as improving English teaching and speaking proficiency, cultivating subject knowledge related to applied linguistics and promoting research engagement. The findings of the study address the following questions: Is Viewing and Practicing Program beneficial for students to experience English language for future career at schools? To what extent do the students prefer teaching English Language in the schools?

Keywords: teaching experience, viewing and practicing, perception, expectation

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Authors: Omid Ataei Nia, Karim Salahshoor

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In this paper, a new precise and reliable sensor network methodology is introduced for unit processes and operations using the Constriction Coefficient Particle Swarm Optimization (CPSO) method. CPSO is introduced as a new search engine for optimal sensor network design purposes. Furthermore, a Square Root Unscented Kalman Filter (SRUKF) algorithm is employed as a new data reconciliation technique to enhance the stability and accuracy of the filter. The proposed design procedure incorporates precision, cost, observability, reliability together with importance-of-variables (IVs) as a novel measure in Instrumentation Criteria (IC). To the best of our knowledge, no comprehensive approach has yet been proposed in the literature to take into account the importance of variables in the sensor network design procedure. In this paper, specific weight is assigned to each sensor, measuring a process variable in the sensor network to indicate the importance of that variable over the others to cater to the ultimate sensor network application requirements. A set of distinct scenarios has been conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed methodology in a simulated Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR) as a highly nonlinear process plant benchmark. The obtained results reveal the efficacy of the proposed method, leading to significant improvement in accuracy with respect to other alternative sensor network design approaches and securing the definite allocation of sensors to the most important process variables in sensor network design as a novel achievement.

Keywords: constriction coefficient PSO, importance of variable, MRMSE, reliability, sensor network design, square root unscented Kalman filter

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Authors: Rihab Idoudi, Karim Saheb Ettabaa, Basel Solaiman, Kamel Hamrouni

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Medical association rules induction is used to discover useful correlations between pertinent concepts from large medical databases. Nevertheless, ARs algorithms produce huge amount of delivered rules and do not guarantee the usefulness and interestingness of the generated knowledge. To overcome this drawback, we propose an ontology based interestingness measure for ARs ranking. According to domain expert, the goal of the use of ARs is to discover implicit relationships between items of different categories such as ‘clinical features and disorders’, ‘clinical features and radiological observations’, etc. That’s to say, the itemsets which are composed of ‘similar’ items are uninteresting. Therefore, the dissimilarity between the rule’s items can be used to judge the interestingness of association rules; the more different are the items, the more interesting the rule is. In this paper, we design a distinct approach for ranking semantically interesting association rules involving the use of an ontology knowledge mining approach. The basic idea is to organize the ontology’s concepts into a hierarchical structure of conceptual clusters of targeted subjects, where each cluster encapsulates ‘similar’ concepts suggesting a specific category of the domain knowledge. The interestingness of association rules is, then, defined as the dissimilarity between corresponding clusters. That is to say, the further are the clusters of the items in the AR, the more interesting the rule is. We apply the method in our domain of interest – mammographic domain- using an existing mammographic ontology called Mammo with the goal of deriving interesting rules from past experiences, to discover implicit relationships between concepts modeling the domain.

Keywords: association rule, conceptual clusters, interestingness measures, ontology knowledge mining, ranking

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Authors: Fatma Abdel Moneim Al Tawil

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Low back pain (LBP) among nurses has been the subject of research studies worldwide. However, evidence of the influence of patients lifting behaviors and LBP among nurses in Saudi Arabia remains scarce. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between LBP and nurses lifting behaviors. LBP questionnaire was distributed to 100 nurses working in Alsadairy Hospital distributed as Emergency unit(9),Coronary Care unit (9), Intensive Care Unit (7), Dialysis unit (30), Burn unit (5), surgical unit (11), Medical (14) and, X-ray unit (15). The questionnaire included demographic data, attitude scale, Team work scale, Back pain history and Knowledge scale. Regarding to emergency unit, there is appositive significant relation between teamwork scale and Knowledge as r = (0.807) and P =0.05. Regarding to ICU unit, there is a positive significant relation between teamwork scale and attitude scale as r= (0.781) and P =0.05. Regarding to Dialysis unit, there is a positive significant relation between attitude scale and teamwork scale as r=(0.443) and P =0.05. The findings suggest enhanced awareness of occupational safety with safe patient handling practices among nursing students must be emphasized and integrated into their educational curriculum. Moreover, back pain prevention program should incorporate the promotion of an active lifestyle and fitness training the implementation of institutional patient handling policies.

Keywords: low back pain, lifting behaviors, nurses, team work

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Authors: Ammal M. Metwally, Ghada A. Abdel-Latif, Walaa A. Fouad, Thanaa M. Rabah, Amira Mohsen, Fatma A. Shaaban, Iman I. Salama

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The study aimed at determining the impact of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection on patients’ Quality of Life (QoL) , its relation to geographical characteristics of patients, awareness of the disease, treatment regimen, co-morbid psychiatric or other diseases. 457 patients were randomly selected from ten National Treatment Reference Centers of Ministry of Health hospitals from four community locations representing Egypt. Health related QoL assessment questionnaire with the 36-item Short Form used for assessment of the enrolled patients. The study showed no significant difference between HCV patients in different governorates as regards total QoL. Females, illiterate patients and those had bilharziasis, diabetes mellitus, hypertension or were depressed had significantly the lowest QoL score. HCV patients who knew the danger of the disease had significant lower mean score of physical and mental health components. Optimal care of overall well-being of HCV patients requires adequate knowledge of their neurological and psychological status. It is important to know that any patient will need to take the time to know that his new physical limitations do not limit him as a person, as soul, no matter what other people are thinking as a positive hopeful attitude is essential for combating HCV.

Keywords: hepatitis C virus chronic infection - physical health component and mental health component of QoL– total quality of life

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Authors: Karim Hajjar, Luis Lillo, Diego Martinez, Manuel Hermosilla, Nicholas Risko

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Objectives: This study examines the relationship between universal health coverage (UCH) and the burden of emergency diseases at a global level. Methods: Data on Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) from emergency conditions were extracted from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) database for the years 2015 and 2019. Data on UHC, measured using two variables, 1) coverage of essential health services and 2) proportion of population spending more than 10% of household income on out-of-pocket health care expenditure, was extracted from the World Bank Database for years preceding our outcome of interest. Linear regression was performed, analyzing the effect of the UHC variables on the DALYs of emergency diseases, controlling for other variables. Results: A total of 133 countries were included. 44.4% of the analyzed countries had coverage of essential health services index of at least 70/100, and 35.3% had at least 10% of their population spend greater than 10% of their household income on healthcare. For every point increase in the coverage of essential health services index, there was a 13-point reduction in DALYs of emergency medical diseases (95% CI -16, -11). Conversely, for every percent decrease in the population with large household expenditure on healthcare, there was a 0.48 increase in DALYs of emergency medical diseases (95% CI -5.6, 4.7). Conclusions: After adjusting for multiple variables, an increase in coverage of essential health services was significantly associated with improvement in DALYs for emergency conditions. There was, however, no association between catastrophic health expenditure and DALYs.

Keywords: emergency medicine, universal healthcare, global health, health economics

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Authors: Mohammad Abdel Fattah Mohammad Kewisha

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Microbial deterioration of ancient materials became one of the biggest problems facing the workers in the field of cultural heritage protection because the microbial deterioration of artifacts causes detrimental effects on the aesthetic value of the monuments due to colonization, whether they are made of inorganic materials such as stone or organic like wood, textiles, wall paintings, and paper. So, the early identification of the bacterial strains that caused deterioration is the most important point for the protection of monument objects. The present study focuses on the Bacillus spp. group, which was isolated from some biodeterioration monuments from different areas of Egypt. The investigated objects in this study were made from organic materials (cellulose), paper, textile, and wood. Isolated strains were identified up to the species level biochemically. Eleven bacterial isolates were obtained from collected samples. They were taken from different archaeological objects, four microbicides, cetrimonium bromide, sodium azide, tetraethyl ammonium bromide, and dichloroxylenol, at various concentrations ranging from 25 ppm to 500 ppm. They were screened for their antibacterial activity against the Bacillus spp. isolates, and detection of Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). It was also necessary to indicate the ideal Minimum inhibitory concentration for each strain for the purpose of biotreatment of the infected monuments with less damaging effect on monument materials.

Keywords: microbial deterioration, ancient materials, heritage protection, protection of monuments, biodeteriorative monuments

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Authors: Mai M. Farid, Mona El-Shabrawy, Sameh R. Hussein, Ahmed Elkhateeb, El-Said S. Abdel-Hameed, Mona M. Marzouk

Abstract:

Asphodelus aestivus Brot. Is a wild plant distributed in Egypt and is considered one of the five Asphodelus spp. from the family Asphodelaceae; it grows in dry grasslands and on rocky or sandy soil. The chemical components of A. aestivus flowers extract were analyzed using different chromatographic and spectral techniques and led to the isolation of two anthraquinones identified as emodin and emodin-O-glucoside. In addition to, five flavonoid compounds;kaempferol,Kaempferol-3-O-glucoside,Apigenin-6-C-glucoside-7-O-glucoside (Saponarine), luteolin 7-O-β-glucopyranoside, Isoorientin-O-malic acid which is a new compound in nature. The LC-ESI-MS/MS analysis of the flower extract of A. aestivus led to the identification of twenty- two compounds characterized by the presence of flavones, flavonols, and flavone C-glycosides. While GC/MS analysis led to the identification of 24 compounds comprising 98.32% of the oil, the major components of the oil were 9, 12, 15-Octadecatrieoic acid methyl ester 28.72%, and 9, 12-Octadecadieroic acid (Z, Z)-methyl ester 19.96%. In vitro cytotoxic activity of the aqueous methanol extract of A. aestivus flowers against HEPG2, HCT-116, MCF-7, and A549 culture was examined and showed moderate inhibition (62.3±1.1)% on HEPG2 cell line followed by (36.8±0.2)% inhibition on HCT-116 and a weak inhibition (5.7± 0.0.2) on MCF-7 cell line followed by (4.5± 0.4) % inhibition on A549 cell line and this is considered the first cytotoxic report of A. aestivus flowers.

Keywords: Anthraquinones, Asphodelus aestivus, Cytotoxic activity, Flavonoids, LC-ESI-MS/MS

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Authors: Shahin A. Abdel-Naby, Asad T. Hassan

Abstract:

Electron-ion recombination data are needed for plasma modeling. The recombination processes include radiative recombination (RR), dielectronic recombination (DR), and trielectronic recombination (TR). When a free electron is captured by an ion with simultaneous excitation of its core, a doubly-exited intermediate state may be formed. The doubly excited state relaxes either by electron emission (autoionization) or by radiative decay (photon emission). DR process takes place when the relaxation occurs to a bound state by photon emission. Reliable laboratory astrophysics data (theory and experiment) for DR rate coefficients are needed to determine the charge state distribution in photoionized sources such as X-ray binaries and active galactic nuclei. DR rate coefficients for NIII and OIV ions are calculated using state-of-the-art multi-configuration Breit-Pauli atomic structure AUTOSTRUCTURE collisional package within the generalized collisional-radiative framework. Level-resolved calculations for RR and DR rate coefficients from the ground and metastable initial states are produced in an intermediate coupling scheme associated with Δn = 0 (2→2) and Δn = 1 (2 →3) core-excitations. DR cross sections for these ions are convoluted with the experimental electron-cooler temperatures to produce DR rate coefficients. Good agreements are found between these rate coefficients and the experimental measurements performed at the CRYRING heavy-ion storage ring for both ions.

Keywords: atomic data, atomic process, electron-ion collision, plasmas

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Authors: Jameela Ali, Hamid A. Jalab, Loay E. George, Abdul Rahim Ahmad, Azizah Suliman, Karim Al-Jashamy

Abstract:

Red blood cells (RBC) are the most common types of blood cells and are the most intensively studied in cell biology. The lack of RBCs is a condition in which the amount of hemoglobin level is lower than normal and is referred to as “anemia”. Abnormalities in RBCs will affect the exchange of oxygen. This paper presents a comparative study for various techniques for classifying the RBCs as normal, or abnormal (anemic) using WEKA. WEKA is an open source consists of different machine learning algorithms for data mining applications. The algorithm tested are Radial Basis Function neural network, Support vector machine, and K-Nearest Neighbors algorithm. Two sets of combined features were utilized for classification of blood cells images. The first set, exclusively consist of geometrical features, was used to identify whether the tested blood cell has a spherical shape or non-spherical cells. While the second set, consist mainly of textural features was used to recognize the types of the spherical cells. We have provided an evaluation based on applying these classification methods to our RBCs image dataset which were obtained from Serdang Hospital-alaysia, and measuring the accuracy of test results. The best achieved classification rates are 97%, 98%, and 79% for Support vector machines, Radial Basis Function neural network, and K-Nearest Neighbors algorithm respectively.

Keywords: K-nearest neighbors algorithm, radial basis function neural network, red blood cells, support vector machine

Procedia PDF Downloads 373

Authors: Ibrahim Abdel Gadir Malik, Dafalla Siddig Dafalla, Abdelazim Ibrahim

Abstract:

Jabal Omar is located in the western side of Makkah city in Saudi Arabia. The proposed Jabal Omar Development project includes several multi-storey buildings, roads, bridges and below ground structures founded at various depths. In this study, geological mapping and site inspection which covered pre-selected areas were carried out within the easily accessed parts. Geological features; including rock types, structures, degree of weathering, and geotechnical hazards were observed and analyzed with specified software and also were documented in form of photographs. The presence of joints and fractures in the area made the rock blocks small and weak. The site is full of jointing; it was observed that, the northern side consists of 3 to 4 jointing systems with 2 random fractures associated with dykes. The southern part is affected by 2 to 3 jointing systems with minor fault and shear zones. From the field measurements and observations, it was concluded that, the Jabal Omar intruded by andesitic and basaltic dykes of different thickness and orientation. These dykes made the outcrop weak, highly deformed and made the rock masses sensitive to weathering.

Keywords: rock, slope, stabilization, protection, Makkah

Procedia PDF Downloads 774

Authors: M. Imran Hossen Khan, M. Mahiuddin, M. A. Karim

Abstract:

Drying is a food processing technique where simultaneous heat and mass transfer take place from surface to the center of the sample. Deformation of food materials during drying is a common physical phenomenon which affects the textural quality and taste of the dried product. Most of the plant-based food materials are porous and hygroscopic in nature that contains about 80-90% water in different cellular environments: intercellular environment and intracellular environment. Transport of this cellular water has a significant effect on material deformation during drying. However, understanding of the scale of deformation is very complex due to diverse nature and structural heterogeneity of food material. Knowledge about the effect of transport of cellular water on deformation of material during drying is crucial for increasing the energy efficiency and obtaining better quality dried foods. Therefore, the primary aim of this work is to investigate the effect of intracellular water transport on material deformation during drying. In this study, apple tissue was taken for the investigation. The experiment was carried out using 1H-NMR T2 relaxometry with a conventional dryer. The experimental results are consistent with the understanding that transport of intracellular water causes cellular shrinkage associated with the anisotropic deformation of whole apple tissue. Interestingly, it is found that the deformation of apple tissue takes place at different stages of drying rather than deforming at one time. Moreover, it is found that the penetration rate of heat energy together with the pressure gradient between intracellular and intercellular environments is the responsible force to rupture the cell membrane.

Keywords: heat and mass transfer, food material, intracellular water, cell rupture, deformation

Procedia PDF Downloads 194

Authors: R. E. Fat-Helbary, A. A. Abdel-latief, M. S. Arfa, Alaa Mostafa

Abstract:

The Egyptian Government proposed a general plan, aiming at constructing new settlements for Nubian in south Aswan in different places around Nasser Lake, one of these settlements in Kurkur area. The Nubian habitations in Wadi Kurkur are located around 30 km southwest of Aswan City. This area are affecting by near distance earthquakes from Kalabsha faults system. The shallow seismic refraction technique was conducted at the study area, to evaluate the soil and rock material quality and geotechnical parameters, in addition to the detection of the subsurface ground model under the study area. The P and S-wave velocities were calculated. The surface layer has P-wave, velocity ranges from 900 m/sec to 1625 m/sec and S-wave velocity ranges from 650 m/sec to 1400 m/sec. On the other hand the bedrock has P-wave velocity ranges from 1300 m/sec to 1980 m/sec and S-wave velocity ranges from 1050 m/sec to1725 m/sec. Measuring Vp and Vs velocities together with bulk density are calculated and used to extract the mechanical properties and geotechnical parameters of the foundation material at the study area. Output of this study is very important for solving the problems, which associated with the construction of various civil engineering purposes, for land use planning and for earthquakes resistant structure design.

Keywords: shallow seismic refraction technique, Kurkur area, p and s-wave velocities, geotechnical parameters, bulk density, Kalabsha faults

Procedia PDF Downloads 394

Authors: Mahmoud F. Awad-Allah, Mohammed Rabeih, Eman Abdel Baseer

Abstract:

Soft to very soft soil deposits are widely speared in some areas of Egypt such as East Port Said, Damietta, Kafr El-Sheik, Alexandria, etc. The construction projects in these areas have faced the challenge of the presence of extended deep layers of soft and very soft clays which reach to depths of 40 to 60 m from the ground level. Stone columns are commonly used to support structures overlying soft ground soils and surcharged by embankment type loading. Therefore, this paper introduces a wide comparison numerical study between the ordinary stone columns (OSC) versus the geosynthetic encased stone columns (ESC) installed in soft clay soil deposit using finite element method (FEM). Parametric study of an embankment on soft soils reinforced with stone columns is performed using commercial computer program based on the finite element technique (PLAXIS 2D). The investigation will present the influence of the following parameters: diameter of stone columns, stiffness of geosynthetic encasement, embedded depth of stone column from ground level, and the length encasement of the stone column on the consolidation time, vertical settlement, and lateral displacement of soft clay soil formations.

Keywords: finite element method, geosynthetic, lateral displacement, settlement, soft clay

Procedia PDF Downloads 172

Authors: Grace Rachid, Mutasem El Fadel, Mahmoud Al Hindi, Ibrahim Jamali, Daniel Abdel Nour

Abstract:

This study examines the feasibility of indirect solar desalination in oil producing countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It relies on value engineering (VE) and cost-benefit with sensitivity analyses to identify optimal coupling configurations of desalination and solar energy technologies. A comparative return on investment was assessed as a function of water costs for varied plant capacities (25,000 to 75,000 m3/day), project lifetimes (15 to 25 years), and discount rates (5 to 15%) taking into consideration water and energy subsidies, land cost as well as environmental externalities in the form of carbon credit related to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction. The results showed reverse osmosis (RO) coupled with photovoltaic technologies (PVs) as the most promising configuration, robust across different prices for Brent oil, discount rates, as well as different project lifetimes. Environmental externalities and subsidies analysis revealed that a 16% reduction in existing subsidy on water tariffs would ensure economic viability. Additionally, while land costs affect investment attractiveness, the viability of RO coupled with PV remains possible for a land purchase cost < $ 80/m2 or a lease rate < $1/m2/yr. Beyond those rates, further subsidy lifting is required.

Keywords: solar energy, desalination, value engineering, CBA, carbon credit, subsidies

Procedia PDF Downloads 549