THE U.S. FOLKLORE, PROVERBS, AND ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR

Social scientists strongly believe that the cultural values and norms motivate, guide, and influence the behavior of each and every society. However, studying the relationship between culture and behavior, notably economic behavior, is not very popular in the literature, mainly because of the vague and broad definition of the culture. Thereby this paper provides a narrow definition of the culture as “the set of beliefs and values that are often revealed in folklore of the country, where proverbs are the most concise form of the verbal folklore genres.” Using this definition, the paper attempts to relate several types of economic behaviors such as intertemporal choice of consumption, investment, risk taking, work and education, to a set of popular sayings, idioms and proverbs that are circulated in the American society. The paper finds that the observed economic behavior in the U.S. is influenced to an extent by the American proverbs and sayings

THE U.S. FOLKLORE, PROVERBS, AND ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR

Social scientists strongly believe that the cultural values and norms motivate, guide, and influence the behavior of each and every society. However, studying the relationship between culture and behavior, notably economic behavior, is not very popular in the literature, mainly because of the vague and broad definition of the culture. Thereby this paper provides a narrow definition of the culture as “the set of beliefs and values that are often revealed in folklore of the country, where proverbs are the most concise form of the verbal folklore genres.” Using this definition, the paper attempts to relate several types of economic behaviors such as intertemporal choice of consumption, investment, risk taking, work and education, to a set of popular sayings, idioms and proverbs that are circulated in the American society. The paper finds that the observed economic behavior in the U.S. is influenced to an extent by the American proverbs and sayings

A blended learning education policy in Egypt: The road for better access and social inclusion

The quality of public school education in Egypt has been on a declining slope for years, facing many challenges such as poor quality, high dropout rates and a mismatch between the market needed skills and those of students. The purpose of this study is to explore whether blended learning is a viable solution to Egypt’s educational ailments, with improving equity as the focus. With no dominant literature trends on the subject or enough access to public education data, the chosen research method was to conduct in-depth interviews with national and international experts on blended learning. All interviewed experts believe that there is severe lack of equity in the system. They mentioned socioeconomic discrepancy, poorly designed policies and limiting customs and traditions as the biggest contributors to education inequity in the country. Despite being experts on blended learning, the experts have not shown blind trust in its ability to improve equity. They believe that the problems are “much bigger than to be solved by technology” alone, and emphasize several prerequisites for a successful policy: raison d\u27être, changing the “one size fits all” approach, political will, institutional readiness, and pedagogical development. The study concludes that blended learning has potential benefits, but also has potential risks that need to be mitigated and proactively addressed. If the prerequisites mentioned by the experts are tackled and blended learning risks are mitigated, blended learning can be the right policy for improving educational equity

Patterns of technology transfer among the Arab Gulf States: opportunities and challenges

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the incentives, options, and obstacles to transfer technology to the Arab Gulf region. Design/methodology/approach – A validated and reliable instrument was used to gather data from former expatriates who were employed by American-based multinational corporations. Findings – The results indicate that the Arab Gulf States possess a wide range of resources and incentives offered to investors which contribute to the Gulf’s attractiveness. At the same time, however, industrialization efforts, including transfer of technology to the Gulf region, are hampered by lack of industrial management expertise and technical skills among the relatively small national population and by resistance to new forms of technology by local residents. Research limitations/implications – Technology transfer cannot be seen as the only resort for attaining growth rates. Education, innovation, and basic science are necessary to achieve economic development. In addition, the Arab Gulf States must address serious demographic challenges. Originality/value – This exploratory, empirical investigation provides insight into the opportunities and challenges of technology transfer to the Gulf region. It identifies areas that need further investigation

Exploring the teaching skills of the clinical nurse mentors of 4th year undergraduate nursing students in critical care placements.

This study looked at how Clinical Nursing Mentors (CNMs) in Bahrain are prepared to take on the role of teaching undergraduate nursing students (UNSs) in their 4th year through their critical care placement (CCP). The importance of having acute and critical care experience as an undergraduate nursing student has been widely discussed and it has also been noted that this specific environment can offer an opportunity to broaden and strengthen the students’ existing knowledge, prior to application for registration after graduation. This is due to the variety of conditions and complexities that are involved in patient care within the critical care setting (Williams & Palmer, 2013). Nursing practice is an integral part of the UNSs training and development process where the CNMs plays a very important role (Eleigil & Sari, 2008). This qualitative study was designed to investigate, within an Appreciative Inquiry (AI) framework, how CNMs in Bahrain are trained and prepared for their role. 24 CNMs were recruited to take part in workshops and focus groups. The use of the AI framework in collaboration with the focus groups gave the researcher an insight to what the CNMs need regarding their preparation for this role and what they have to offer from their own experiences in regard to UNSs’ preparation. 8 postgraduate nurses from a Medical University in Bahrain, in their first 3 years after graduation were also included in the study to assess their opinion on mentorship in critical care areas and how they felt on becoming clinical nurse mentors. The data provided information that could assist in developing a new approach to the mentorship training provided by the participating training hospitals. The results were consistent with previous anecdotal requests of the clinical nurse mentors for changes to the training which included: formal certification, more teaching and learning modules, how to teach in clinical practice, and more yearly updates. The results will assist the nursing faculty within the university in the preparation of CNMs’ training, which will enhance their teaching skills and encourage student learning in critical care

Terrorism and Growth: Evidence from India and Egypt

The impact of terrorism is different in developed and developing countries, according to many economists. But what leads to variation in the consequences of terrorism among two developing countries? This paper takes into account two developing countries from two different continents and quantifies the impact of terrorism on GDP per capita. The data is extracted and arranged from the Global Terrorism Index (Humanity, n.d.) for India and Egypt from the years 1975-2018 and 1977-2018, respectively. A set of statistical analyses using the OLS and Newey-West method is used to examine the relationship between the variables. For India, an act of terrorism has no significant impact whereas, for Egypt, terrorism does have growth restricting character. The main reason is the type of regime each country demonstrates. India is a democratic country with a polity score of 9 and on the other hand, Egypt has an authoritarian regime with a polity score of -3

Challenges and Opportunities of Health Care Supply Chain Management in the United States

This article explores current supply chain management challenges and initiatives and identifies problems that affect supply chain management success in the U.S. health-care industry. In addition, it investigates the impact of health care supply chain management (SCM) initiatives on the overall organizational effectiveness. The attitudinal results, as well as the performance results presented in this study support the claim of health care proponents that the SCM allows organizations to reduce cost, improve quality, and reduce cycle time, and leads to high performance

Activité antimicrobienne de produits naturels originaires du Nord de l’Ontario

La multirésistance microbienne pose de grands problèmes au niveau de la santé publique. En fait, il ne reste que peu d’agents antimicrobiens effectifs contre certains microbes multirésistants. Les scientifiques sont donc à la recherche de nouveaux produits antimicrobiens. Cette recherche a évalué l’activité antimicrobienne de substances naturelles provenant de plantes originaires du Nord de l’Ontario. Vingt-cinq extraits, dix fractions et dix-neuf composés purs ont été testés contre des microbes pathogènes, soientEscherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa et Candida albicans. L’activité antimicrobienne des produits naturels a été observée en utilisant la technique de dosage sur microplaque qui emploie le résazurin, et la concentration minimale inhibitrice (CMI) des produits a été déterminée. Afin de démontrer que l’activité antimicrobienne des substances naturelles n’était pas limitée à une seule espèce, certains composés purs ont été testés contre des microbes secondaires, soient Streptococcus lactis, Mycobacterium phlei et Schizosaccharomyces octosporus. Quatre extraits de plantes (Chimaphila umbellata, Betula papyrifera, Rhus typhina et Fraxinus pennsylvanica) et six composés purs (acide gallique, éthyle gallate, acide cafféique, acide synapique, acide gentisique et acide chlorogénique) ont démontré une activité antibactérienne ou antifongique. Ces résultats démontrent que ces produits naturels ont le potentiel d’être développés en nouveaux agents antimicrobiens

Biochemical role of pomegranate molasses in modulation and treatment of hyperlipidemia associated with hyperglycemia

Diabetes, when uncontrolled, causes dyslipidemia often followed by atherogenic abnormalities. The present study was aimed to determine the effect of Pomegranate molasses in diabetes-induced dyslipidemia. Diabetes in male rats induced by streptozotocin which showed increase in the treatment by Pomegranate molasses significantly reduced the elevated blood glucose and lipid profile levels. Thus, our study demonstrates that the consumption of Pomegranate molasses as a potential efficient natural therapeutic against induced type I diabetes accompanied with hyperlipidimic rats. Thirty two waster male rats divided into four equal groups of 8 rats. Group Ι (Control group): received no drugs, Group Π (Pomegranate molasses (PM) group): received (500 mg /kg body weight/day) orally for 21 days. Group IIΙ (Streptozotocin (STZ) group): received intramuscular injection once by STZ (40 mg/kg body weight). Group VΙ :( Streptozotocin+ Pomegranate molasses (STZ+ PM)): received intramuscular injection once by STZ (40 mg/kg body weight) and after 3 days received orally PM (500 mg /kg body weight/day) daily. Treatment in groups for 21 days after diabetes induction blood. Blood samples and pancreatic tissue were collected at 22th day from treatment of PM. The obtained results showed that, rats treated with STZ showed a significant increase in glucose concentration with significant decrease in insulin level and G6PD activity. A significant increase in cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL with significant decrease in HDL levels. Also showed significant increase in MDA level and significant decrease in CAT, GPx, SOD activities and GSH level, where the liver enzymes ALT, AST significantly increased. Urea and creatinine (Kidney function) levels showed no significant changes. Animal's body weight was significantly decreased through experimental period. Histological studies of pancreatic tissue showed atrophy and pancreatic tissue damage in island of Langerhans cells. The data obtained shows that PM is potential antidiabeteic natural products and antihyperlipidemic associated with diabetes