A Qualitative Inquiry into Female International Doctoral Students Challenges and Stressors

Objective: A qualitative inquiry to explore the challenges and stressors female international doctoral students experience. Background: Student challenges and stress result in attrition and non-completion of doctoral programs. Using Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory framework, the study connected the theory subsystems to the challenges and stressors female international doctoral students experience. Method: The study analyzed the lived experiences of five female international doctoral students at an Illinois research institution, using a qualitative approach (phenomenology). The participants were interviewed using themed theoretical framework questions. Results: The results identified concerns related to all subsystems. Academic (microsystem and mesosystem) challenges included a lack of academic skills, time management, and English as a second language. Psychological (exosystem) challenges comprised workload, family commitments, and financial issues. Psychological (exosystem) stressors included headaches, stomachaches, nightmares, and weight loss. Physiological (macrosystem) challenges included cultural responsibilities, a non-family-friendly environment, and an inadequacy to support children. Physiological stressors were anxiety, irritable, sleep deprivation, and lack of social support. All participants considered their advisor and faculty to be the most important factor shaping their doctoral experience (chronosystem) and had concerns with feedback, guidance, communication, and encouragement. Conclusion: Female international students encounter many obstacles on their doctoral journal that should be considered by institutions. Application: Higher education institutions should further support students to reduce attrition rates

Integral Design Thinking: A Novel Cross-national Framework for Sustainability Management

This study attends to those involved in driving organisational sustainability agendas and the various obstacles they confront in implementing change. There is little evidence of holistic strategies that incorporate all the various sustainability elements, and a large percentage of sustainability leaders have implemented initiatives in a singular and isolated manner, which then fails to evolve adoption to the next level. Thus, there is a need for a holistic strategic framework that aids in the evolution of building agile, adaptive, and innovative organisations for sustainability/environmental social and governance (ESG) adoption. This research aims to create a framework that will aid in advancing sustainability in organisations at a faster rate and find the main area of concentration on which sustainability leaders need to focus to embed sustainable behaviour into the organisational culture. It further intends to understand the challenges and barriers to sustainability leadership, the successful sustainability measures that have been put in place, and how design thinking methodologies may improve adoption. The methodology utilised to aid in the process is design science research with action research and holistic design thinking methodology cycles of learning for action. The study takes qualitative research approaches and includes case studies and semi-structured interviews with sustainability leaders in the UK and the US. The findings reveal that the US sustainability sector is in constant evolution, causing pressures on organisations from both external and internal factors. These leaders are implementing change management processes, but they are not enough, as sector evolution has made it necessary for organisations to be agile and innovative. These leaders’ major challenges and the downfall of all change initiatives are the lack of a holistic strategy, leadership support, and cultural barriers. This study developed an integral design thinking holistic strategy framework, a tool that enables those in the sustainability management field to develop holistic strategies for the faster adoption and implementation of sustainability in their organisational culture

The time structure Within of the stream of consciousness For Anisa Abboud and Ghada Assaman

 This research highlights on the presence of the time in the stream of consciousness and clarifies its role in making the mind full of bright ideas and thoughts clarifying the complex human relation with time and how the human mind smashes this logical sequence of time displaying various sides of times according to invisible content hard to be understood bylletraditional way of writing and this forces a new reasoning explains the interferes of several time dimensions. And it is known to everyone that this has a great effect in knowing what secrets self covers as well as confirming the self-understanding of the time and proving that time isn't existed far from the self that realizes it

Obesity is associated with insulin resistance and components of the metabolic syndrome in Lebanese adolescents

adolescents has been reported to range between 18–42%, depending on country of origin, thus suggesting an ethnicbased association between obesity and MS. Aim: This study aims to investigate the magnitude of the association between obesity, insulin resistance and components of MS among adolescents in Lebanon. Subjects and methods: The sample included 263 adolescents at 4 th and 5 th Tanner stages of puberty (104 obese; 78 overweight; 81 normal weight). Anthropometric, biochemical and blood pressure measurements were performed. Body fat was assessed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Results: According to International Diabetes Federation criteria, MS was identified in 21.2 % of obese, 3.8 % of overweight and 1.2 % of normal weight subjects. The most common metabolic abnormalities among subjects having MS were elevated waist circumference (96.2%), low HDL (96.2%) and hypertriglyceridemia (73.1%). Insulin resistance was identified in all subjects having MS. Regression analyses showed that percentage body fat, waist circumference and BMI were similar in their ability to predict the MS in this age group. Conclusions: MSwas identified in asubstantial proportion of Lebanese obese adolescents, thus highlighting the importance of early screening for obesity-associated metabolic abnormalities and of developing successful multi-component interventions addressing adolescent obesity

Integral Design Thinking: A Novel Cross-national Framework for Sustainability Management

This study attends to those involved in driving organisational sustainability agendas and the various obstacles they confront in implementing change. There is little evidence of holistic strategies that incorporate all the various sustainability elements, and a large percentage of sustainability leaders have implemented initiatives in a singular and isolated manner, which then fails to evolve adoption to the next level. Thus, there is a need for a holistic strategic framework that aids in the evolution of building agile, adaptive, and innovative organisations for sustainability/environmental social and governance (ESG) adoption. This research aims to create a framework that will aid in advancing sustainability in organisations at a faster rate and find the main area of concentration on which sustainability leaders need to focus to embed sustainable behaviour into the organisational culture. It further intends to understand the challenges and barriers to sustainability leadership, the successful sustainability measures that have been put in place, and how design thinking methodologies may improve adoption. The methodology utilised to aid in the process is design science research with action research and holistic design thinking methodology cycles of learning for action. The study takes qualitative research approaches and includes case studies and semi-structured interviews with sustainability leaders in the UK and the US. The findings reveal that the US sustainability sector is in constant evolution, causing pressures on organisations from both external and internal factors. These leaders are implementing change management processes, but they are not enough, as sector evolution has made it necessary for organisations to be agile and innovative. These leaders’ major challenges and the downfall of all change initiatives are the lack of a holistic strategy, leadership support, and cultural barriers. This study developed an integral design thinking holistic strategy framework, a tool that enables those in the sustainability management field to develop holistic strategies for the faster adoption and implementation of sustainability in their organisational culture

Influence of acid–base properties of Mg-based catalysts on transesterification: role of magnesium silicate hydrate formation

International audienceThe transesterification reaction assisted through heterogeneous basic catalysis was thoroughly studied because of its importance in transforming biomass, as for biodiesel production or lactone opening. As catalysts with the strongest basic properties are not always the most efficient ones, a series of magnesium-based materials, exhibiting a large range of acido–basic properties, was investigated. Moreover, in order to compare gas and liquid phases operating conditions, a model reaction (transesterification of ethyl acetate with methanol) was chosen. It appears that gas phase transesterification (at 393 K) requires strong basic sites, whereas magnesium silicate, exhibiting moderate basicity together with acidic properties, is a very reactive catalyst in the liquid phase (at 333 K) depending on its preparation method. The set of experimental data (XRD, XPS, DRIFTS, MEB, 29Si and 25Mg NMR) demonstrated that a magnesium silicate hydrate structure (MSH) is formed at the surface of the most active silicates. It is thus concluded that different mechanisms operate under gas and liquid conditions, and that among the magnesium silicate materials, the MSH phase exhibits specific acido–basic properties beneficial to this kind of reaction

Spirostrain-Accelerated Chemiexcitation of Dioxetanes Yields Unprecedented Detection Sensitivity in Chemiluminescence Bioassays.

Chemiluminescence is a fascinating phenomenon that involves the generation of light through chemical reactions. The light emission from adamantyl-phenoxy-1,2-dioxetanes can glow from minutes to hours depending on the specific substituent present on the dioxetane molecule. In order to improve the light emission properties produced by these chemiluminescent luminophores, it is necessary to induce the chemiexcitation rate to a flash mode, wherein the bulk of light is emitted instantly rather than slowly over time. We report the realization of this goal through the incorporation of spirostrain release into the decomposition of 1,2-dioxetane luminophores. DFT computational simulations provided support for the hypothesis that the spiro-cyclobutyl substituent accelerates chemiexcitation as compared to the unstrained adamantyl substituent. Spiro-linking of cyclobutane and oxetane units led to greater than 100-fold and 1000-fold emission enhancement, respectively. This accelerated chemiexcitation rate increases the detection sensitivity for known chemiluminescent probes to the highest signal-to-noise ratio documented to date. A turn-ON probe, containing a spiro-cyclobutyl unit, for detecting the enzyme β-galactosidase exhibited a limit of detection value that is 125-fold more sensitive than that for the previously described adamantyl analogue. This probe was also able to instantly detect and image β-gal activity with enhanced sensitivity in E. coli bacterial assays

Spirostrain-Accelerated Chemiexcitation of Dioxetanes Yields Unprecedented Detection Sensitivity in Chemiluminescence Bioassays

Chemiluminescence is a fascinating phenomenon involving the generation of light through chemical reactions. The light emission from adamantyl-phenoxy-1,2-dioxetanes can glow from minutes to hours, depending on the specific substituent present on the dioxetane molecule. In order to improve the light emission properties produced by these chemiluminescent luminophores, it is necessary to induce the chemiexcitation rate to a flash mode wherein the bulk of light is emitted instantly rather than slowly over time. We report the realization of this goal through the incorporation of spirostrain release into decomposition of 1,2-dioxetane luminophores. DFT computational simulations provided support for the hypothesis that the spiro-cyclobutyl accelerates chemiexcitation as compared to the unstrained adamantyl substituent. Spiro-linking of cyclobutane and oxetane units led to greater than 100-fold and 1000-fold emission enhancement, respectively. This accelerated chemiexcitation rate increases the detection sensitivity for known chemiluminescent probes to the highest signal-to-noise ratio documented to date. A turn-ON probe, containing a spiro-cyclobutyl unit, for detecting the enzyme β-galactosidase, exhibited a Limit-of-Detection value that is 125-fold more sensitive than the previously described adamantyl analogue. This probe was also able to instantly detect and image β-gal activity with enhanced sensitivity in E. coli bacterial assays

Spirostrain-Accelerated Chemiexcitation of Dioxetanes Yields Unprecedented Detection Sensitivity in Chemiluminescence Bioassays

Chemiluminescence is a fascinating phenomenon that involves the generation of light through chemical reactions. The light emission from adamantyl-phenoxy-1,2-dioxetanes can glow from minutes to hours depending on the specific substituent present on the dioxetane molecule. In order to improve the light emission properties produced by these chemiluminescent luminophores, it is necessary to induce the chemiexcitation rate to a flash mode, wherein the bulk of light is emitted instantly rather than slowly over time. We report the realization of this goal through the incorporation of spirostrain release into the decomposition of 1,2-dioxetane luminophores. DFT computational simulations provided support for the hypothesis that the spiro-cyclobutyl substituent accelerates chemiexcitation as compared to the unstrained adamantyl substituent. Spiro-linking of cyclobutane and oxetane units led to greater than 100-fold and 1000-fold emission enhancement, respectively. This accelerated chemiexcitation rate increases the detection sensitivity for known chemiluminescent probes to the highest signal-to-noise ratio documented to date. A turn-ON probe, containing a spiro-cyclobutyl unit, for detecting the enzyme β-galactosidase exhibited a limit of detection value that is 125-fold more sensitive than that for the previously described adamantyl analogue. This probe was also able to instantly detect and image β-gal activity with enhanced sensitivity in E. coli bacterial assays

Disease-Modifying Therapies, Outcomes, Risk Factors and Severity of COVID-19 in Multiple Sclerosis: A MENACTRIMS Registry Based Study

International audienceMultiple sclerosis (MS) patients have been considered a higher-risk population for COVID-19 due to the high prevalence of disability and disease-modifying therapy use; however, there is little data in our Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) identifying clinical characteristics of MS associated with worse COVID-19 outcomes