Impact of women driving cars on the sustainable development and traffic safety in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - Phase 2 Survey Results -

The aim of this report is to provide the analysis of the descriptive statistics of the second phase of the She Drives KSA survey that took place one year after women started driving. The report first analyses transport-related aspects for the households of the participants. Next, it focuses on the privately employed drivers of the participants’ households. Driving license possession or not of women is analysed next, while information is also provided about the driving schools they attended. Women’s travel behaviour is analysed as well by particularly emphasizing and comparing the travel behaviour of women who drive to those who do not drive. The car preferences of the participant women who have or are about to have a driving license is analysed next. Women and men attitudes and perceptions towards the social, economic, environmental and traffic safety impact that women starting driving may have follows in the analysis. Finally, potential policies to support the transition to women driving in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are presented to conclude the report

Characteristics of the fission fragments induced by the 129Xe + natSn reactions at E = 8–15A MeV

The study of nuclear multifragmentation is important for understanding the reaction mechanisms in heavy-ion collisions. In the present work, we study the nuclear reaction 129Xe + natSn in the energy range E = 8 to 15 AMeV. This experiment was performed at GANIL with the multidetector INDRA. We study the charge distributions produced in this reaction, which are broad and cover a large atomic number range. By using the data of this experiment, we identify four channels differing by the number of fragments: 1, 2, 3 and 4 fragments. In this contribution we will show a method to reconstruct the average size and excitation energy of the primary fission fragments, before their decay. The method employed is based on the fragment-light charged particles relative velocity correlation functions. Preliminary results will be presented

Chemically and thermally stable silica nanowires with a β-sheet peptide core for bionanotechnology

Background: A series of amyloidogenic peptides based on the sequence KFFEAAAKKFFE template the silica precursor, tetraethyl orthosilicate to form silica-nanowires containing a cross-β peptide core. Results: Investigation of the stability of these fibres reveals that the silica layers protect the silica-nanowires allowing them to maintain their shape and physical and chemical properties after incubation with organic solvents such as 2-propanol, ethanol, and acetonitrile, as well as in a strong acidic solution at pH 1.5. Furthermore, these nanowires were thermally stable in an aqueous solution when heated up to 70 °C, and upon autoclaving. They also preserved their conformation following incubation up to 4 weeks under these harsh conditions, and showed exceptionally high physical stability up to 1000 °C after ageing for 12 months. We show that they maintain their β-sheet peptide core even after harsh treatment by confirming the β-sheet content using Fourier transform infrared spectra. The silica nanowires show significantly higher chemical and thermal stability compared to the unsiliconised fibrils. Conclusions: The notable chemical and thermal stability of these silica nanowires points to their potential for use in microelectromechanics processes or fabrication for nanotechnological devices

The ASY-EOS experiment at GSI: investigating the symmetry energy at supra-saturation densities

The elliptic-flow ratio of neutrons with respect to protons in reactions of neutron rich heavy-ions systems at intermediate energies has been proposed as an observable sensitive to the strength of the symmetry term in the nuclear Equation Of State (EOS) at supra-saturation densities. The recent results obtained from the existing FOPI/LAND data for $^{197}$Au+$^{197}$Au collisions at 400 MeV/nucleon in comparison with the UrQMD model allowed a first estimate of the symmetry term of the EOS but suffer from a considerable statistical uncertainty. In order to obtain an improved data set for Au+Au collisions and to extend the study to other systems, a new experiment was carried out at the GSI laboratory by the ASY-EOS collaboration in May 2011.Comment: Talk given by P. Russotto at the 11th International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (NN2012), San Antonio, Texas, USA, May 27-June 1, 2012. To appear in the NN2012 Proceedings in Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS

eHealth and mHealth initiatives in Bangladesh: A scoping study

BACKGROUND: The health system of Bangladesh is haunted by challenges of accessibility and affordability. Despite impressive gains in many health indicators, recent evidence has raised concerns regarding the utilization, quality and equity of healthcare. In the context of new and unfamiliar public health challenges including high population density and rapid urbanization, eHealth and mHealth are being promoted as a route to cost-effective, equitable and quality healthcare in Bangladesh. The aim of this paper is to highlight such initiatives and understand their true potential. METHODS: This scoping study applies a combination of research tools to explore 26 eHealth and mHealth initiatives in Bangladesh. A screening matrix was developed by modifying the framework of Arksey & O’Malley, further complemented by case study and SWOT analysis to identify common traits among the selected interventions. The WHO health system building blocks approach was then used for thematic analysis of these traits. RESULTS: Findings suggest that most eHealth and mHealth initiatives have proliferated within the private sector, using mobile phones. The most common initiatives include tele-consultation, prescription and referral. While a minority of projects have a monitoring and evaluation framework, less than a quarter have undertaken evaluation. Most of the initiatives use a health management information system (HMIS) to monitor implementation. However, these do not provide for effective sharing of information and interconnectedness among the various actors. There are extremely few individuals with eHealth training in Bangladesh and there is a strong demand for capacity building and experience sharing, especially for implementation and policy making. There is also a lack of research evidence on how to design interventions to meet the needs of the population and on potential benefits. CONCLUSION: This study concludes that Bangladesh needs considerable preparation and planning to sustain eHealth and mHealth initiatives successfully. Additional formative and operational research is essential to explore the true potential of the technology. Frameworks for regulation in regards to eHealth governance should be the aim of future research on the integration of eHealth and mHealth into the Bangladesh health system.DFI

Exploring the factors affecting women's intention to drive in Saudi Arabia

Women's choice to drive is a topic that has not attracted much interest in the academic literature, due to the fact that this is every citizens’ right around the world. Saudi Arabia was the only country left, where women were not allowed to drive. In September 2017, a royal decree was issued, which reinstated the right for women to drive (activated in June 2018). This research aims to identify the key characteristics of women that affect their choice to drive, in order to seek policy inspirations for encouraging more women to drive. To our knowledge, this is the first research, exploring such a sensitive topic. An advanced behavioural econometric model, integrated choice and latent variable (ICLV) model, is developed to take into account both directly observable and unobservable characteristics of women to yield broader insights. Specifically, two latent variables, “Current mobility satisfaction” and “Driving importance for women”, are studied, and the policy opportunities attached on them are explored. The data come from the national project SHE Drives KSA, and the sample used for analysis consists of 10,508 women from all over the Kingdom. The model estimation results show that younger and single women, those who have studied abroad and are employed, and those who live in provinces that are more affluent and have more economic opportunities are more willing to drive

Women's modal switching behavior since driving is allowed in Saudi Arabia

The objective of this paper is to explore if and how the primary transport mode of women in Saudi Arabia changed since they are allowed to issue a driving license and drive, and what the factors affecting modal switch behavior are. A survey was launched as part of the national project She Drives KSA a year after the activation of the decree on allowing women drive. 20,504 women participated in the survey. Data analysis shows that modal shifts happened to several directions. A significant percentage of women (22.7%) has switched from “household car-as a passenger” to “household car-as a driver”. In total, 37.7% of the participants have switched to household car-as a driver. A nested logit model is developed and the model estimation results indicate that employed women, women in the age groups of 18 to 29 and 30 to 39, women with high educational level, and single women are more likely to change from “household private car-as a passenger”, “ridehailing” and “other” to “household private car-as a driver”. Women who are unemployed, with low educational level and from households with low monthly income, are more likely to not change their primary transport mode. To our knowledge, this is the first research investigating such a unique and sensitive topic that is expected to significantly affect women's travel behavior

Synthesis and Characterization of New Amino Acid-Schiff Bases and Studies their Effects on the Activity of ACP, PAP and NPA Enzymes (In Vitro)

In this study, two new Schiff base compounds derived from the condensation reaction of L-glycine and L-tryptophan with 4-methylbenzal-dehyde have been synthesized. The Schiff base compounds were characterized by FT-IR, UV and 1H NMR spectroscopy. Their effects on the activity of total (ACP), prostatic (PAP) and non prostatic (NPA) acid phosphatase enzymes were studied. The Schiff base derived from L-glycine (A) demonstrated inhibition effect on the ACP and NPA activities and activation effect on PAP activity. The Schiff base derived from L-tryptophan (B) demonstrated semi fixed inhibition effects on the ACP and NPA activities at high concentrations (5.5×10-2, 5.5×10-3 and 5.5×10-4 M) and activator effect at low concentration (5.5×10-5 M) while it was exhibits as activator on PAP activity

Organo Opto-Electronics Study of Optical properties of Alpha and Nd:YAG Laser Irradiated Cellulose Nitrate Polymer

Abstract: Samples from cellulose nitrate ( CN-85) sheets of 0.3 mm thickness irradiated with low and high doses of alpha particles have been post exposed to Q-switched pulsed Nd:YAG laser. In this present work, the effect of laser irradiation on the structural properties of CN-85; have been investigated using absorption and fluorescence. The absorption spectra of only alpha irradiated and Nd:YAG laser irradiated samples are studied and optical band gap energy of the samples are calculated. Optical band gap energy measurements for high doses are more significant as compared to low doses. The increase in the band gap energy might be due to hardening of material which happens as a result of crosslinking of the polymer