Effect of flour particle size on beta-glucan and polyphenol content of three Moroccan oat varieties

Food industries have been increasingly interested in oat grain thanks to its bioactive compounds with confirmed functional properties. This study aims to explore the effect of oat flour particle size of 425 µm, 560 µm, 670 µm, 1000 µm, whole flour and bran on beta-glucan and polyphenol content. The six flour fractions from three Moroccan oat varieties, of which one is naked grain, were investigated. The three oat varieties have beta-glucan contents respectively of 4.08 %, 3.42 % and 2.49 % and polyphenols contents of 351.0, 360.7 and 560.1 µg EAG/g. Results showed high contents of these two compounds in the bran fraction and the fraction with a particle size smaller than 1000 µm and greater than 670 µm. The beta-glucan content showed the largest variation, from 6 % in both fractions to 1.3 % in the fraction with particles smaller than 425µm. Mastering the process of oat flour fractionation could generate quality dense oat fractions adapted to the manufacturers' requirements and investigating other fractionation protocols is highly recommended.  Keywords: oat, fractionation, particle size, beta-glucan, polyphenol

Re-negotiating Social Reproduction, Work and Gender Roles in Occupied Palestine

This article uncovers the crisis of social reproduction in Occupied Palestine in the context of severe economic and political turmoil by specifically highlighting the ways in which impacts have been felt differently by men and women. It does so by considering the interactions of production and reproduction. The article confirms that, as a result of economic hardship, women, particularly married women, are increasingly participating in the formal and informal labor market. These women have been forced to renegotiate their domestic and caring responsibilities alongside paid work, within a context of very limited state or private sector provision of care services. While time-use survey findings suggest little change in men and women’s time-use between 1999/2000 and 2012/13 in general, qualitative interviews provide a more nuanced picture. Furthermore, the narrative that responsibility for managing care of children and elderly relatives as well as domestic work lies solely with the wife/mother is near universal. Respondents also did not voice demands for greater investment in child and elder care services by private firms or by the state, suggesting a strong individualization of responsibility for social reproduction in Occupied Palestine today. What remains to be seen is a) how representative these findings are for other groups, particularly poorer, rural families in Palestine and b) what the longer-term consequences of these changes might bring for societal gender norms in Palestine and in other contexts

How Can Health Systems Better Prepare for the Next Pandemic? Lessons Learned From the Management of COVID-19 in Quebec (Canada)

The magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic challenged societies around our globalized world. To contain the spread of the virus, unprecedented and drastic measures and policies were put in place by governments to manage an exceptional health care situation while maintaining other essential services. The responses of many governments showed a lack of preparedness to face this systemic and global health crisis. Drawing on field observations and available data on the first wave of the pandemic (mid-March to mid-May 2020) in Quebec (Canada), this article reviewed and discussed the successes and failures that characterized the management of COVID-19 in this province. Using the framework of Palagyi et al. on system preparedness toward emerging infectious diseases, we described and analyzed in a chronologically and narratively way: (1) how surveillance was structured; (2) how workforce issues were managed; (3) what infrastructures and medical supplies were made available; (4) what communication mechanisms were put in place; (5) what form of governance emerged; and (6) whether trust was established and maintained throughout the crisis. Our findings and observations stress that resilience and ability to adequately respond to a systemic and global crisis depend upon preexisting system-level characteristics and capacities at both the provincial and federal governance levels. By providing recommendations for policy and practice from a learning health system perspective, this paper contributes to the groundwork required for interdisciplinary research and genuine policy discussions to help health systems better prepare for future pandemics

Financial Aspects of Arab Power Development

The contents of this paper are the author’s sole responsibility. They do not necessarily represent the views of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies or any of its MembersCopyright © 200

Oil in Egypt, Oman, and Syria : some macroeconomic implications: OIES paper: M30

This study considers the experiences of Egypt, Oman, and Syria in managing their oil and gas sectors. All three countries depend on the technological and financial leadership of international oil companies to deliver output, and displayed openness and flexibility to retain them. Sectoral policies were often amplified by macro-economic policies. In Oman and Egypt, financial and fiscal reforms allowed governments to reduce their vulnerability to oil revenue volatility. Their sectors can rely on a more diversified composition of financial flows. Both are mobilising more local resources and human capital. Syrian output rose successfully without recourse to commercial bank lending, but its government remains vulnerably dependent on oil revenues. Its poor record on technical progress and on financial development constrained both sectoral development and economic growth. All three countries continue to experience sectoral imbalances, particularly in the downstream. Although general, these conclusions reveal a need for focusing on qualitative aspects of oil dependency. Perhaps oil and gas represent an evolving range of opportunities and problems rather than a blessing or a curse

Changing financial structures in the Arab world : some implications for oil and gas: OIES paper: F10

This paper relates changes in Arab financial structures to financing patterns in oil and gas. Until the mid-1990s, inherited financial structures displayed a reliance on external official finance. Since then, governments, who are the main borrowers, have shifted to domestic and private sources of finance, reflecting two broad changes. The first, is a global context where bilateral loans have largely dried up and private finance is more important, though not more reliable. In the medium term, capital flows to developing countries are expected to remain low and volatile, indicating difficulties in credit supplies. Secondly, the region has witnessed a resizing of the role of Arab states, and programmes to deepen and reform financial sectors. Arab oil and gas sectors have changed in a similar direction. In-house finance and export credits remain important for their investment needs, linking the sector to government balances and external debt. Recently, improved and expanded financial structures have facilitated the use of more diverse financing strategies. Domestically, the sector can now tap local savings through voluntary debt instruments and stock markets. This underpinning, though quantitatively small, may be a stabilising force: local investors react less severely to rising uncertainties. Externally, the implicit guarantee offered by hydrocarbon receivables, which had been a key to accessing foreign finance, is now helping the sectors to mobilise new instruments. On the other hand, the use of private sources of fresh finance has re-introduced sensitivity to political and country risk, and added weight to the importance of regulatory and institutional frameworks. Arab oil and gas are therefore more dependent than ever on ‘balanced’ development, i.e. on improvements in all sectors. If financing availability to oil and gas improved in response to financial deepening, it is likely to respond positively to overall development. The current upsurge in oil revenues is an ideal opportunity to finance this development, and to upgrade all resources, including human capital

Egypt's domestic natural gas industry

In just 15 years, Egypt moved from a dependency on oil to using gas for meeting almost half of its energy needs. This paper follows the development of this domestic gas market. It finds that demand creation was linked to upward revisions in reserve availability, but was also driven by domestic concerns about pollution and international finance which supported conversion to gas. Today, gas penetration in power generation is almost complete, and is substantive in heavy and large industries. Despite tripling over the last 10 years, the number of households connected to the gas grid is still only at 18% of households. Private distribution companies, established as part of on-going macro-economic reforms, have been key to delivering this success. Lastly, Egypt is now the world’s eighth largest CNG user, with 50 stations currently operational. The development of this market was effectively financed by sustained and substantial public investments. Related costs have still not been fully amortised, featuring as outstanding debts to the public bodies involved. While these investments have given Egypt a relatively developed gas chain from well head to delivery point, this chain is at best an emerging market. Prices are still centrally controlled, fuel delivery is still a bundled service, and private participation remains limited to a few private distribution companies. Establishing the regulatory and legislative bases of the natural gas market, including a regulator, is very much work in progress

Oil in Egypt, Oman, and Syria : some macroeconomic implications

This study considers the experiences of Egypt, Oman, and Syria in managing their oil and gas sectors. All three countries depend on the technological and financial leadership of international oil companies to deliver output, and displayed openness and flexibility to retain them. Sectoral policies were often amplified by macro-economic policies. In Oman and Egypt, financial and fiscal reforms allowed governments to reduce their vulnerability to oil revenue volatility. Their sectors can rely on a more diversified composition of financial flows. Both are mobilising more local resources and human capital. Syrian output rose successfully without recourse to commercial bank lending, but its government remains vulnerably dependent on oil revenues. Its poor record on technical progress and on financial development constrained both sectoral development and economic growth. All three countries continue to experience sectoral imbalances, particularly in the downstream. Although general, these conclusions reveal a need for focusing on qualitative aspects of oil dependency. Perhaps oil and gas represent an evolving range of opportunities and problems rather than a blessing or a curse