Measuring the Impact of Higher Education in Promoting Sustainable Development Goals: Analysis of the Arab universities’ performance

Sustainability's global importance has amplified the role of universities in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through research, education, and community engagement. Aim: This study aims to provide valuable insights into the role of Arab universities in promoting sustainability within the context of global higher education. Approach and methods: This study analyzes the performance of 200 universities from 15 Arab countries in the THE IMPACT Rankings. Their performance was compared to 135 universities from three of the leading world-class higher education systems: Canada, UK, and USA. Results: A global demand for sustainable development, Arab universities face challenges in improving their contributions to the SDGs and sustainability rankings. Despite the impressive growth in the participation of Arab universities in THE IMPACT Rankings yet lags in quality and impact of Arab universities contributions towards SDGs. Conclusion: The policy implications underscore the importance of institutional commitment to sustainability in Arab universities, urging the alignment of policies, funding, and curriculum with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Arab universities need to bridge performance gaps, promote green initiatives, and contribute effectively to the achievement of SDGs while recognizing the diverse socio-economic context and priorities of the Arab region.Globalne znaczenie zrównoważonego rozwoju spotęgowało rolę uniwersytetów w realizacji Celów Zrównoważonego Rozwoju (SDG) ONZ poprzez badania, edukację i zaangażowanie społeczności. Cel: Celem tego badania jest dostarczenie cennych spostrzeżeń dotyczących roli uniwersytetów arabskich w promowaniu zrównoważonego rozwoju w kontekście globalnego szkolnictwa wyższego. Podejście i metody: Badanie to analizuje wyniki 200 uniwersytetów z 15 krajów arabskich w rankingach THE IMPACT. Ich wyniki porównano z 135 uniwersytetami z trzech czołowych światowych systemów szkolnictwa wyższego: Kanady, Wielkiej Brytanii i USA. Wyniki: W obliczu globalnego zapotrzebowania na zrównoważony rozwój, uniwersytety arabskie napotykają wyzwania w poprawie swojego wkładu w SDG i rankingi zrównoważoności. Pomimo imponującego wzrostu udziału uniwersytetów arabskich w rankingach THE IMPACT, jest jeszcze wiele do zrobienia w zakresie jakości i wpływu ich wkładu w SDG. Wnioski: Implikacje polityczne podkreślają znaczenie zobowiązania instytucjonalnego do zrównoważonego rozwoju w uniwersytetach arabskich, nawołując do dostosowania polityk, finansowania i programów nauczania do Celów Zrównoważonego Rozwoju (SDG) ONZ. Uniwersytety arabskie muszą zniwelować luki w wynikach, promować inicjatywy zielone i efektywnie przyczyniać się do osiągnięcia SDG, uwzględniając różnorodny kontekst społeczno-ekonomiczny i priorytety regionu arabskiego. &nbsp

القاضي عبد الجبار المعتزلي وآراءه في القياس

: Al-Qâdhî ‘Abd al-Jabbâr's Thought on Qiyâs. Although widely known as a Mu‘tazilite ‘ulamâ who support the supremacy of intellect, al-Qâdhî also well verse in the realm of Islamic legal theory as reflected in his Al Mughnî fî Abwâb al-Tawhîd wa al-‘Adl. In one of his excerpt, he discusses the position of analogy as a base for argument in Islamic law which becomes the focus of this essay. The author maintains that according to al-Qâdhî `illat or cause by itself has a legal effect even though prior to the existence of God's rules provided for a certain case. Such view is in contrast with those of Sunni majority who argue that Divine revelation is required for ‘illat to be legally effective. For example, intoxication in alcoholic drink prior to its divine prohibition is not a cause for its banning nor is it a motive for punishment of the drunken person. Such al-Qâdhî's thought seems to be influenced by his affiliation with Mu‘tazilite creed in which intellect is highly admired for it can determine the good from bad thing, and it also function as a means of performing obligation and avoiding the bad things as well

Mitochondrial Superoxide Dismutase Overexpression and Low Oxygen Conditioning Hormesis Improve the Performance of Irradiated Sterile Males

The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) is a successful autocidal control method that uses ionizing radiation to sterilize insects. However, irradiation in normal atmospheric conditions can be damaging for males, because irradiation generates substantial biological oxidative stress that, combined with domestication and mass-rearing conditions, may reduce sterile male sexual competitiveness and quality. In this study, biological oxidative stress and antioxidant capacity were experimentally manipulated in Anastrepha suspensa using a combination of low-oxygen conditions and transgenic overexpression of mitochondrial superoxide dismutase (SOD2) to evaluate their role in the sexual behavior and quality of irradiated males. Our results showed that SOD2 overexpression enhances irradiated insect quality and improves male competitiveness in leks. However, the improvements in mating performance were modest, as normoxia-irradiated SOD2 males exhibited only a 22% improvement in mating success compared to normoxia-irradiated wild type males. Additionally, SOD2 overexpression did not synergistically improve the mating success of males irradiated in either hypoxia or severe hypoxia. Short-term hypoxic and severe-hypoxic conditioning hormesis, per se, increased antioxidant capacity and enhanced sexual competitiveness of irradiated males relative to non-irradiated males in leks. Our study provides valuable new information that antioxidant enzymes, particularly SOD2, have potential to improve the quality and lekking performance of sterile males used in SIT programs

GENETIC DIVERSITY ASSESSMENT OF IN VITRO IRRADIATED TOMATO (LYCOPERSICON ESCULENTUM MILL.) USING SCOT MARKERS

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is considered the major and important globally vegetable crops especially in Egypt. Tissue culture techniques have facilitated the induction of mutant which helps in crop improvement. The mutation induction in vegetative crops through tissue culture may be the optimal method to improve these crops. Tomato explants of Idkawy Egyptian cultivar were cultured in vitro on MS medium supplemented with 0.2 mg/L BAP. The resulted plantlets were irradiated with different gamma radiation doses (50, 100, 150, 200 or 250 Gy) and the survival and mean of shoot length decreased as gamma radiation doses increased. The survival percentages of irradiated plantlets were ranged from 78.75% with 50 Gy dose to 18.75% with 250 Gy dose, while the shoot length values were decreased by a rate of 2.71 cm for dose 50 Gy and 1.2 cm for 250 Gy dose. The ten SCoT primers amplified a total of 114 amplicons with a range from 4 with SCoT-4 primer to 18 amplicons with SCoT-5  primer with an average of 11.4 amplicons per primer, The radiation specific markers were ranged from one fragment with SCoT-1 and SCoT-2 primers, SCoT- 5 two fragments with primer to five fragments with SCoT-3 and SCoT-33 primers

Authoritarianism, Populism, and the Global Retreat of Democracy: A Curated Discussion

To the surprise of many in the West, the fall of the USSR in 1991 did not lead to the adoption of liberal democratic government around the world and the much anticipated “end of history.” In fact, authoritarianism has made a comeback, and liberal democracy has been on the retreat for at least the last 15 years culminating in the unthinkable: the invasion of a democratic European country by an authoritarian regime. But why does authoritarianism continue to spread, not only as an alternative to liberal democracy, but also within many liberal democracies where authoritarian leaders continue to gain strength and popularity? In this curated piece, contributors discuss some of the potential contributions of management scholarship to understanding authoritarianism, as well as highlight a number of directions for management research in this area.publishedVersio

The Limits of Water Maser Kinematics: Insights from High-Mass Protostar AFGL 5142-MM1

Multi-epoch VLBI observations measure 3D water maser motions in protostellar outflows, enabling analysis of inclination and velocity. However, these analyses assume that water masers and shock surfaces within outflows are co-propagating. We compared VLBI data on maser-traced bowshocks in high-mass protostar AFGL 5142-MM1, from seven epochs of archival data from the VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA), obtained from April 2014 to May 2015, and our newly-conducted data from the KVN and VERA Array (KaVA), obtained in March 2016. We find an inconsistency between the expected displacement of the bowshocks and the motions of individual masers. The separation between two opposing bowshocks in AFGL 5142-MM1 was determined to be $337.17\pm0.07~\rm{mas}$ in the KaVA data, which is less than an expected value of $342.1\pm0.7~\rm{mas}$ based on extrapolation of the proper motions of individual maser features measured by VERA. Our measurements imply that the bowshock propagates at a velocity of $24\pm3~\rm{km~s^{-1}}$, while the individual masing gas clumps move at an average velocity of $55\pm5~\rm{km~s^{-1}}$, i.e. the water masers are moving in the outflow direction at double the speed at which the bowshocks are propagating. Our results emphasise that investigations of individual maser features are best approached using short-term high-cadence VLBI monitoring, while long-term monitoring on timescales comparable to the lifetimes of maser features, are better suited to tracing the overall evolution of shock surfaces. Observers should be aware that masers and shock surfaces can move relative to each other, and that this can affect the interpretation of protostellar outflows.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Accepted by Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on 28 November 202

Expression Profile of Glossina pallidipes MicroRNAs During Symptomatic and Asymptomatic Infection With Glossina pallidipes Salivary Gland Hypertrophy Virus (Hytrosavirus)

The Glossina pallidipes salivary gland hypertrophy virus (GpSGHV) infects tsetse flies predominantly asymptomatically and occasionally symptomatically. Symptomatic infections are characterized by overt salivary gland hypertrophy (SGH) in mass reared tsetse flies, which causes reproductive dysfunctions and colony collapse, thus hindering tsetse control via sterile insect technique (SIT). Asymptomatic infections have no apparent cost to the fly’s fitness. Here, small RNAs were sequenced and profiles in asymptomatically and symptomatically infected G. pallidipes flies determined. Thirty-eight host-encoded microRNAs (miRNAs) were present in both the asymptomatic and symptomatic fly profiles, while nine host miRNAs were expressed specifically in asymptomatic flies versus 10 in symptomatic flies. Of the shared 38 miRNAs, 15 were differentially expressed when comparing asymptomatic with symptomatic flies. The most up-regulated host miRNAs in symptomatic flies was predicted to target immune-related mRNAs of the host. Six GpSGHV-encoded miRNAs were identified, of which five of them were only in symptomatic flies. These virus-encoded miRNAs may not only target host immune genes but may also participate in viral immune evasion. This evidence of differential host miRNA profile in Glossina in symptomatic flies advances our understanding of the GpSGHV-Glossina interactions and provides potential new avenues, for instance by utilization of particular miRNA inhibitors or mimics to better manage GpSGHV infections in tsetse mass-rearing facilities, a prerequisite for successful SIT implementation