Factors Affecting The Investment Climate For An International Financial Center In Kuwait

In recent years, an increasing worldwide interest in developing a competitive international financial center (IFC) raises the important issue of identifying the factors or elements of the investment climate of an IFC. Drawing on the theories and literature of financial intermediation, innovation, governance, social relationships, and information in IFCs, the authors develop five hypotheses and examine them using a survey of 200 MBA students at a private university in Kuwait. The findings obtained from conducting a hierarchical linear regression indicate that finance and innovation are positively and significantly related to the investment climate in an IFC. Implications for theory and practice, and areas of further research are made

Anti-Metastatic and Anti-Tumor growth effects of carnosol on breast cancer

Our lab has previously showed that carnosol, a naturally occurring polyphenol, exhibits anti-cancer activity by promoting cell cycle arrest at G2 phase, and induces reactive oxygen species (ROS) dependent apoptosis and beclin-1 independent autophagy in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell line (MDA-MB-231). Here, we extended our study by investigating the potential effect of carnosol on migration, invasion and tumor growth of these cells. Our findings demonstrated that carnosol, at non-cytotoxic concentrations, exerted a potent anti-metastatic and anti-tumor growth activity against the highly invasive TNBC cell line, MBA-MB-231. Carnosol inhibited the migration and invasion of MDA-MB-231 cells. Moreover, carnosol suppressed the expression and activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9. Remarkably, our investigation revealed that TNF-α and STAT3 proteins that are involved in invasion and metastasis signaling were inhibited in MDA-MB-231 cells in response to carnosol. Furthermore, we demonstrated that carnosol significantly inhibited tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. In conclusion, our findings identify carnosol as a promising chemo preventive and chemotherapeutic candidate that modulate breast cancer growth and metastasis. Hence, carnosol deserves further study and exploration to identify its downstream mechanism(s) of action

Simplified Irregular Beam Analysis and Design

This paper presents simple method to estimate the strength design of reinforced concrete beam sections based on structural safety and reliability. Irregular beam shaped sections are commonly used nowadays in the construction industry. This study reveals the simplified method to analyze and design the different irregular shaped beam sections. In this study, the selected irregular beam shaped sections are divided mainly into three groups, beams with straight edges, beams with sloped edges and circular beams. Each group contains the most commonly used beam shaped sections in that category. Six beams sections (B-1 to B-6) are selected for group-1 whereas five beam sections (B-7 to B-11) and a circular beam section (B-12) are chosen for group 2 and 3 respectively. Flexural beam formulas for three groups of reinforced concrete beams are derived based on section geometry and ACI building code of design. This study also analyzed numerical examples for some of the sections in each group category using the proposed simplified method to determine the strength design of the irregular beams. The results obtained using simplified method for all of the three groups are compared with the finite element software (SAP v2000). The percentage difference of simplified method with the finite element software ranges within 5% to 10%. This makes the simplified method for irregular shaped beam sections quite promising

Pregnant & Lactating Mothers’ Attitudes and Practice of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding at King Fahd Hospital of University (KFHU) – Khobar, Saudi Arabia: Appraisal of Baby Friendly Hospital Initiatives

Background: World Health organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have been recommended the application of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) in order to promote & support breastfeeding. The aim of this study was to assess pregnant and lactating mothers' attitudes and practice of ten steps to successful breastfeeding at KFHU. Methods: Data was collected using interview questionnaire sheet from pregnant ladies in the third trimester (N=73) and lactating mothers (N=84) who are delivered and have infants from 6 hours up to 6 months of life at KFHU. Results: more than two thirds of the sample has secondary or university education. Majority of mothers breastfed their previous children but 36.9% of them discontinued breastfeeding before 6 months. Health education addressing breastfeeding was given only for 16.6% of the total sample. Mothers agree to feed their babies on demand (74.5%), day and night (82.8%), to continue breastfeeding up to 2 years (75.8%), while 47.8% were agree to exclusive breastfeeding up to 6 months.Conclusion: Although there was a clear agreement about the steps to successful breastfeeding among pregnant & lactating mothers, the actual practice of these steps are obviously incongruent with BFHI criteria for accreditation. Recommendation: health education, training and support for all pregnant and lactating mothers are crucial elements to promote breastfeeding, as well as the hospital policy taking into consideration to turn the BFHI into practice for the purpose of accreditation. Keywords: Breastfeeding, attitudes, practice, Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative

Heuristic and Exact Algorithms for the Two-Machine Just in Time Job Shop Scheduling Problem

The problem addressed in this paper is the two-machine job shop scheduling problem when the objective is to minimize the total earliness and tardiness from a common due date (CDD) for a set of jobs when their weights equal 1 (unweighted problem). This objective became very significant after the introduction of the Just in Time manufacturing approach. A procedure to determine whether the CDD is restricted or unrestricted is developed and a semirestricted CDD is defined. Algorithms are introduced to find the optimal solution when the CDD is unrestricted and semirestricted. When the CDD is restricted, which is a much harder problem, a heuristic algorithms proposed to find approximate solutions. Through computational experiments, the heuristic algorithms\u27 performance is evaluated with problems up to 500 jobs

Associating Technology Innovation Domains with Quality Service Performance of Public Health Care Organizations

This paper has presented the modelling of three technology innovation domains namely Organization Innovation Capabilities; Potential Absorptivity Knowledge; and Interaction with Technology affecting the UAE Health Care organisation performance construct. The modelling processes was conducted in SmartPLS software using 398 data gathered through questionnaire survey amongst employees of UAE public health care organization. Results from the modelling analysis found that model fitness criteria, which are Chi-Square value and NFI (Normed Fit Index) have an acceptable fit index. The model also has excellent predictive relevance for independent constructs that have fully account for the variance in dependent construct. however, one of the three paths was found not significant which is the path from OIC to OP. In term of path strength, paths from the construct OP to IWT has coefficient value of 0.3; to OIC has coefficient value of 0.1; and to PAK has coefficient value of 0.4. It is hope that the findings from this study have contributed to the knowledge of the relationship between the technology innovation dimension affecting the UAE public health care organization.

Cadmium, Lead and Mercury Concentrations in the Hooded Rock Oyster Saccostrea Cucullata (Born, 1778) From the Oman Coast of the Arabian Sea

The concentrations of cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg) were estimated in the soft tissue of the hooded rock oyster Saccostrea cucullata from four sites in Dhofar on Oman coast, that were collected monthly from June 2009 to July 2010. The mean concentrations in µg/g dry weight of Pb, Hg and Cd were: 0.013±0.004, 0.015±0.001 and 3.41±0.15 (±SD), respectively. The concentrations of Hg and Pb were close to background levels, indicating no anthropogenic contamination, while concentrations of Cd exceeded the permissible level by approximately 3.4 times. Comparison between concentrations of heavy metals in different sites by ANOVA and Turkey post hoc tests, indicated significant differences between some sites for Cd, while differences for Hg and Pb were not significant. Meanwhile, no significant seasonal differences were reported in concentrations of the studied heavy metals. Generally,  metal concentrations in the soft tissues of the examined oyster in Dhofar were found to be lesser than in other regions of the Indian Ocean and in previous surveys in Oman. Keywords: Saccostrea cucullata, heavy metals, concentration, Oman

Evaluation of treated wastewater irrigation on the productivity of wheat

The major objective of this research work is to propose the initial environmental impact assessment concerning the utilization of treated wastewater for two different varieties of wheat production. The study analyzed the soil chemical composition before and after irrigation at two different depths (0-30 cm & 30-60 cm). Water chemical composition is also analyzed for controlled water, treated water of Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. Wheat plant chemical composition present in the head, root, and shoot for both the varieties is analyzed. The levels of Ca, Mg, Na and CI in soil have increased after irrigation with controlled water. The presence of cations and anions in the soil are slightly higher in the treated water of Abu Dhabi. Ca, Na, CI and SO4 are found to be significantly higher after irrigation with treated wastewater of Al Ain.  The plant chemical composition of head, root and shoot ND fiber, AD fiber, Crude protein and Macro elements have shown no significant differences across the three types of water and two varieties of wheat production. The correlations between RBS limits and the three types of water considered in the study are negative. The results revealed that the differences in chemical composition between RBS limits, controlled, treated wastewater of Abu Dhabi and Al Ain are statistically significant with particular reference to trace and heavy metals. Concerning water chemical composition, the study concludes that the correlation between controlled water and treated wastewater of Al Ain is strong when compared to Abu Dhabi

Effect of treated wastewater irrigation on plant growth and biochemical features of two wheat cultivars under elevated level of CO2 and UV-B radiation

Climate change is a serious problem affecting worldwide agricultural production and encourages researchers to investigate plant responses and grow crops under changed growing conditions. In arid and semiarid regions, treated wastewater is a common alternative source of water for irrigation. The proposed study examined the impact of irrigation with treated wastewater and the effects on the growth of wheat crops of environmental stress factors, including UV radiation and carbon dioxide. The experiment was conducted in a transparent Open Top Chambers facility and the treatments were administered in the hot UAE climate for ninety days. In order to understand the physiological mechanisms of plant adaptation under the conditions given, physiological and biochemical characteristics such as anti-oxidant enzymes have been assessed. The results revealed that the elevated CO2 level increased the growth parameters, whereas when compared to control, the UVB treatment affected plant growth. In the seedling process, established under regulated development, the differential response of antioxidant activity, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and peroxidase (POX) activities were observed among intrinsic biochemical activity in the selected Wheat varieties. Our findings show that wheat varieties are suitable as industrial crops for the production of antioxidants under irrigation with treated wastewater because the quantity and quality of their yield have not been affected. This practice will contribute to a clean environment and the stress on freshwater will be reduced by its reuse

A thermodynamic and economic modelling study of recovering heat from MSF desalination cogeneration plant

PhD ThesisThis study focuses on an actual cogeneration power and MSF desalination plant and models it, analyses it, and proposes enhancements to MSF desalination at different, real operating scenarios. Based on actual data gathered from the plant for a full operating year, the study has identified the major operating scenarios of this cogeneration plant due to seasonal change to provide a real basis for assessing thermal, economic and environmental performance. It is difficult to standardize thermal evaluation of such systems because the net products, electrical power and water, are different in quality. Exergy analysis has achieved worldwide acceptance for thermal system assessment but no study was found in the literature that addressed the evaluation of power and MSF desalination together using exergy analysis. This thesis, therefore, makes an original contribution to this issue in three areas. Firstly, as simulation is the only practical approach to investigate enhancements to complex plants, the simulation models developed for the power and water desalination plant have been validated against actual operating data to substantiate the credibility of this approach. For the power plant model, validation against actual plant data at the three operating scenarios gave differences between the model and actual data varying from 1.0% to 3.7%. The MSF desalination system was modelled and validated against vendor testing data with the highest difference of 3.9%. Secondly, while previously both power production and desalination have been evaluated separately using the exergy approach, this study has applied it in a standardized approach to a specific cogeneration power and water desalination plant, including exergy analysis of the MSF desalination in detail that has not been found in the literature. It has been shown that the specific coupling of MSF desalination with a combined power plant is not a preferable option for thermal performance, which is contrary to the previous studies using Heat Utilization Factor as a performance indicator. The simulation was used to carry out a pioneer attempt of detailed energy and exergy analysis using the latest published thermodynamics properties, assuming that seawater solution is not an ideal solution (assumed in previous studies). Extraction of the hot distillate water from MSF up to stage 8 could enhance exergy efficiency to 14%. Extraction of hot distillate water from MSF stages was found to increase the unit water production up to 2%. Further, utilizing the hot water to heat up the make-up seawater flow through an Internal Heating (IH) caused an increase of brine recirculation temperature and reduced the powering steam by 5% and therefore reduces natural gas consumption and CO2 emissions by 57000 tonnes. Implementation of this modification has a one-year payback period. Thirdly, this study has, for the first time, studied the recovery of low-grade heat from MSF hot distillate water to enhance power or water production through the Absorption Chiller (AC), the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC), and the Single Effect Desalination (SED). There appears to be no literature exploring MSF hot distillates to power AC to cool the gas turbine inlet by AC or dedicated SED (though previous studies have investigated steam powered MED). The temperature of these hot distillate stages was between 65ºC and 100ºC, suitable for low-grade heat recovery technologies and it was confirmed that utilizing part of the heat up to 10ºC temperature difference in the AC, ORC, and SED and reconnected back to IH had no adverse impact on the original MSF performance.Utilizing the heat to produce cooling from a single effect H2O/LiBr AC, the produced cooling load could be used to cool down the gas turbine inlet temperature to augment the electrical power generation. The AC was modelled and validated against manufacturer data. Reducing the GT inlet temperature by AC cooling increased the cogeneration plant electrical power production by 3.8% for every 5ºC reduction, with CO2 emissions reduced by 29000 tonnes and a 2.4 year payback period to implement such a modification. An ORC unit was modelled and validated against an existing plant. From both energy and exergy aspects, it was found that R245fa performs better as a working fluid than R134a in this application. Annually this option could increase plant power generation by 9000 MWh and reduce CO2 emissions by 13000 tonne. The economic assessment of this option showed the payback period was the highest at 5.2 years. Powering of hot water SED from hot MSF distillate water was the fourth heat recovery option studied (for the first time). The SED was modelled and validated against manufacturer published data with a 3.2% difference. The SED was able to produce 240000 tonne/year of water. This hybridization saved 11000 tonnes/year in CO2 emissions. The implementation of the modification has a 1.8 years payback period