Arab Spring or Arab Autumn: A Case Study of Eygpt and Syria

This study aims to identify causes and consequences of Arab Uprising in Egypt and Syria. The main objective of this research is to understand the terminologies that have been used to define the situation and major implications that have influenced the outcome of the revolution. Primary data has been generated to solve research problem. The methods used in this study to collect data were qualitative method and semi-structured interview. The findings of the study indicate that the term of ―Arab Spring is wrongly used in Syria and Egypt. Instead, the study found the best terminology that should be used in describing Arab Uprising is ―Arab Nightmare or ―Arab Autumns since the happiness of the people and prosperity of the country has fallen off. Also, the life of citizens after uprising become miserable and both countries have fallen in major aspects. The study also determined the factors that have caused the emergence of riots and protests in Egypt and Syria including unemployment, inflation, poverty, the lack of public services, the lack of freedom, domination, political exploitation, segregation, abusing power and corruption. The consequences of the uprising are the death of more than 140,000 Syrians, and more than 7000 others in Egypt despite the economic, social and political downturn. The study founds negative international role and indicates that international community failed to stop bloodshedding in Syria and military involvement in Egypt. In all, the study founds negative involvement of some countries such as Russia and Iran that are responsible for the killing of thousands in Syria. The findings of this study also identifies other factors that caused the failure of opposition groups in toppling Assad down from presidency other than Iran and Russia including Jihadist, Al-Qaeda affiliated groups and division between opposition groups. In conclusion, based on the consequence of the revolution and respondents, the Arab Autumn can become the most relevant terminology to define the uprising

The mediating and moderating effects on the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance: Organizational commitment and employee empowerment as mediator and Islamic culture as moderator

The main objective of this study is to examine the mediating role of organizational commitment and employees’ empowerment as well as the moderating role of Islamic culture on the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance of academicians in public universities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The problem arises when the Saudi government restructured the higher education system. As a result, new job requirements lower the level of satisfaction, organisational commitment and decrease the performance of academic staff. Data were collected from five public universities in the Kingdom using a cross-sectional study design. There were 384 respondents selected using cluster random sampling. The study used survey and the questionnaires were personally-administered. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the hypotheses in this study. The findings reveal that job performance depends on the degree of job satisfaction and employees’ empowerment. In contrast, the finding does not support the moderating effect of Islamic culture on the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance among the academicians. The results further show that organization commitment mediates between job satisfaction and job performance among the academicians. Furthermore, external job satisfaction does not have any significant influence on the job performance of the academicians. The results provide important insights to owners-managers, policy-makers and researchers to have a greater understanding on the effects of employee empowerment, job satisfaction and organizational commitment on organization performance. The policy makers of universities should emphasize on employees’ empowerment, job satisfaction and organizational commitment. It is also important to note that an over-concentration on Islamic culture may result in lower job performance. Policy-makers should encourage academicians to improve their organizational commitment and provide opportunities to the latter since employees’ empowerment encourages their job performance. Limitations of the present study and avenues for future research are also being discussed

Biometric of Intent: A New Approach Identifying Potential Threat in Highly Secured Facilities

yesBiometric of Intent (BoI) is a Computer Vision (CV) automation, using Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques, which presents a new approach that extends the reach of the classic biometric identification process. It provides an efficient mechanism which deters the threats raised by unknown individuals who have deceitful intentions and who aim to deploy unlawful operations such as terrorist attacks. In this context, our proposed BoI model is based on a framework constructed upon an automated machine learning facial expression analysis system which can assist law enforcement agencies who intend to deploy a systematic preventive security approach that aims to reduce the risk of potential unlawful attacks by rogue individuals through the evaluation of their emotional state in relation to their malicious intent

Head and Neck Surgery: A Differential Diagnosis in Otolaryngology

Introduction: In otolaryngology of the head and neck surgery; differential diagnosis is a practical and comprehensive guide that is organized uniquely by signs and symptoms instead of by diseases. Aim: This study will describe the keys to diagnostic evaluation and differential diagnosis of presenting symptoms for problems affecting each otolaryngology organ system.Methods: Each symptom opens with the patient’s presentation followed by an easily accessible list of potential diagnoses and supplementary data on the features of the different diseases to help correctly identify the problem. And identify features labeled by signs and symptoms, not by disease, and then enable quick clinical reference In-depth coverage of the diagnostic and treatment evaluation of all ENT disorders.

Occurrence and sources of natural and anthropogenic lipid tracers in surface soils from arid urban areas of Saudi Arabia

Soil particles contain a variety of natural and anthropogenic organic components, and in urban areas can be considered as local collectors of pollutants. Surface soil samples were taken from ten urban areas in Riyadh during early winter of 2007. They were extracted with dichloromethane-methanol mixture and the extracts were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The major compounds were unresolved complex mixture (UCM), plasticizers, n-alkanes, carbohydrates, n-alkanoic acids, hopanes, n-alkanols, and sterols. Vegetation detritus was the major natural source of organic compounds (24.0 ± 15.7%) in samples from areas with less human activities and included n-alkanes, n-alkanoic acids, n-alkanols, sterols and carbohydrates. Vehicular emission products and discarded plastics were the major anthropogenic sources in the soil particles (53.3 ± 21.3% and 22.7 ± 10.7%, respectively). The anthropogenic tracers were UCM, plasticizers, n-alkanes, hopanes and traces of steranes. Vegetation and human activities control the occurrence and distribution of natural and anthropogenic extractable organic matter in this arid urban area.Keywords: Petroleum residues, Biomarkers, Soils, Lipids, Plasticizer

Enhanced of Maltenes -Asphalt Blends Specifications via Thermal Catalytic Processes

Abstract: In this article the effects of using maltenes, which have been pre-separated recently from paraffinic base asphalt to modify asphalt pavement in variety of percentages has been investigated. Further modification has been performed by applying chlorine gas using ultra violet and ferric chloride as catalyst at certain temperature in order to increase the homogeneity and performance of paving asphalt. Characterization of asphalt blends has been performed according to ASTM standards. The results showed that addition of 1% of maltenes increases the softening point for the blends from catalytic chlorination, which reflects the benefit of this treatment. The penetration index for blends obtained by catalytic chlorination has also improved compared to unchlorinated samples and to those obtained from treating the asphalt with maltenes alone. Finally the specific gravity of catalytic chlorinated blends increased, thus indicating the influence of chlorination on the improvements of asphalt blends

Examine the Perceived Risk of Falls Among Patients Receiving Acute Care

Purpose: In an effort to lower the number of falls that occur among hospitalized patients, several facilities have begun introducing various fall prevention programs. However, the efficacy of fall prevention programs is diminished if patients do not consider themselves to be at risk for falls and do not follow recommended procedures. The goal of this study was to characterize how patients in four different acute care specialist services felt about their risk of falling while in the hospital. Methods: One hundred patients admitted to the study hospital with a Morse Fall Scale score of 45 or higher were given the Patient Perception Questionnaire, a tool designed to assess a patient's perception of their own fall risk, fear of falling, and motivation to take part in fall prevention efforts. Scores on the Morse Fall Scale were gathered through a historical assessment of medical records. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and independent sample t tests were used to examine the data. Results: The average age was 65, and around half (52%) were men and half (48%) were women. Based on their ratings on the Morse Fall Scale, all 100 participants were classified as being at high risk for falls. However, only 55.5% of the individuals agreed with this assessment. The likelihood that a patient would seek assistance and the degree to which they feared falling both declined as their faith in their mobility improved. Patients hospitalized after a fall exhibited considerably lower confidence scores and greater fear scores than patients who had not been injured in a fall. Conclusions: Patients who have a high fall risk assessment score may not believe they are at risk for falls and may not take any steps to reduce their risk. The prevalence of falls in hospitals might be mitigated by the creation of a fall risk assessment technique that takes into account both objective and subjective factors

Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) among Healthcare Workers in Saudi Arabia: Comparing Case and Control Hospitals

Healthcare workers (HCWs) stand at the frontline for fighting coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This puts them at higher risk of acquiring the infection than other individuals in the community. Defining immunity status among health care workers is therefore of interest since it helps to mitigate the exposure risk. This study was conducted between May 20th and 30th, 2020. Eighty-five hospitals across Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were divided into 2 groups: COVID-19 referral hospitals are those to which RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients were admitted or referred for management (Case-hospitals). COVID-19 nonaffected hospitals where no COVID-19 patients had been admitted or managed and no HCW outbreak (Control hospitals). Next, seroprevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 among HCWs was evaluated; there were 12,621 HCWs from the 85 hospitals. There were 61 case-hospitals with 9379 (74.3%) observations, and 24 control-hospitals with 3242 (25.7%) observations. The overall positivity rate by the immunoassay was 299 (2.36%) with a significant difference between the case-hospital (2.9%) and the control-group (0.8%) (P value <0.001). There was a wide variation in the positivity rate between regions and/or cities in Saudi Arabia, ranging from 0% to 6.31%. Of the serology positive samples, 100 samples were further tested using the SAS2pp neutralization assay; 92 (92%) samples showed neutralization activity. The seropositivity rate in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is low and varies across different regions with higher positivity in case-hospitals than control-hospitals. The lack of neutralizing antibodies (NAb) in 8% of the tested samples could mean that assay is a more sensitive assay or that neutralization assay has a lower detection limits; or possibly that some samples had cross-reaction to spike protein of other coronaviruses in the assay, but these were not specific to neutralize severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

Epithelial lacrimal gland tumors: A comprehensive clinicopathologic review of 26 lesions with radiologic correlation

Aim: To study the prevalence, clinicopathological and radiological correlations of epithelial lacrimal gland tumors and compare these with similar published literature. The study was also designed to look at the natural history of benign mixed tumors (BMT) in regard to recurrence and malignant degeneration. Methods: This was a retrospective study of all suspected epithelial tumors of the lacrimal gland surgically excised at King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital (KKESH) for the period: 1983–2008. Exclusion criteria included structural lesions (dacryops) and inflammatory lesions. We included 26 cases of epithelial lacrimal gland tumors (from 24 patients). The histopathologic slides and the radiologic findings were reviewed. The corresponding demographic and clinical data were obtained by chart review using a data sheet. Results: BMT accounted for 12/26 of the lesions while malignant lesions including adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) were more common (14/26). The mean age was 44.27 years (range 12–75). Commonest clinical presentation was proptosis. Median duration of symptoms in the BMT cases was 30 months and 7 months in the ACC group. The 12 BMT cases were primary in 9 and recurrent in 3 patients. The 11 ACC cases showed mostly cribriform pattern and low histopathologic grade. We had 2 cases of malignant mixed tumor (MMT) one of which arising in a recurrent tumor. One case of primary mucoepidermoid carcinoma with histopathologic grade 2 was noted. Radiologically, a well-defined appearance with bone remodeling was observed in BMT in contrast to invasive appearance with destruction in malignant lesions. Conclusion: Our series information indicated a different distribution of benign and malignant epithelial lesions with a slightly higher rate of malignancy. BMT was the commonest benign tumor where recurrence was a squeal of incomplete surgical excision. ACC was the commonest malignant tumor with shorter duration of symptoms and radiologic evidence of invasiveness that correlated with the histopathologic features. Keywords: Lacrimal gland, Tumor, Carcinoma, Adenoma, Adenocarcinom

Report on the second season (2009) of the Madâ'in Sâlih Archaeological Project

This volume is the report on the results of the second excavation season, 2009, of the Saudi-French Archaeological Project at Madâ'in Sâlih, Nabataean Hegra in northwest Saudi Arabia (MAEE, SCTA, CNRS, Univ Paris 1, IFPO). Apart from the results obtained in the different excavation areas (both in the residential area, in the monumental tomb IGN 117 and in various areas south of the Jabal Ithlib), the reader will find reports on the archaeobotanical remains (Ch. Bouchaud), on the pottery (C. Durand et Y. Gerber) and on the restoration of Area 7Ce volume constitue le rapport sur les résultats de la deuxième campagne de fouilles (2009) de la Mission archéologique franco-saoudienne de Madâ'in Sâlih, l'ancienne Hégra des Nabatéens, dans le nord-ouest de l'Arabie Saoudite (MAEE, SCTA, CNRS, Univ. Paris 1, IFPO). Outre les résultats obtenus dans les différents chantiers (dans la zone résidentielle, dans le tombeau monumental IGN 117 et dans différents secteurs au sud du Jabal Ithlib), le lecteur trouvera des rapports sur les macro-restes végétaux (Ch. Bouchaud), la céramique (C. Durand et Y. Gerber) et la restauration de la Zone