Silver Lining: Eman Alshafai

In this project, students were asked to produce 10-by-16-inch digital posters responding to the challenge and stress of the COVID-19 pandemic. After reading Professor Misty Thomas-Trout’s handwritten letter, the students used the design tools Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign to highlight positive messages coming from the present circumstances. “You have one meta-objective with this project: Focus on the positive messages only. If negativity is weaved in or comes across your thoughts, jot this down somewhere. Be aware of that thought, but continue to block it out with positivity.”https://ecommons.udayton.edu/stu_vad_covid19/1032/thumbnail.jp

Evaluation of industrial development in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)

Following the discovery of oil, the economic development process in the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council adopted individually plans for industrial development to support the diversification in the economy. In 1998, the group has set a unified industrial development strategy with several common objectives, to achieve a proper exploitation of available natural resources other than oil and gas. This study will examine the situation of industrial development in the GCC countries at two different periods; before and after the adoption of the industrial strategy. This is to show signs of progress in the GCC in general and the differences among the countries. The study will evaluate the development in four main elements; share of the GDP, employment opportunities, local resources utilization and the regional development. The national, regional as well as international data will be used to describe the real situation and to analyze the progress during the studied period. There are two types of industrial movements in societies; the first one is without state' orientation (always private) , while the second is the state plan orientation which is divided into three ownerships; private sector, public sector and mixed sector. In General, in the case of GCC countries the first movement is owned by local investors, while the second type might be owned by non-nationals

Final Project: Eman Alshafai

This poster was the final project in the spring 2020 semester of Graphic Design I (VAD 411), taught by Misty Thomas-Trout, assistant professor of art and design. Following the transition to all-remote learning on March 23, 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, students in the class drew from data, health information, news coverage, personal reflections and other sources to create this work.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/stu_vad_covid19/1018/thumbnail.jp

Data Visualization: Eman Alshafai

This data visualization project draws from Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec’s book Dear Data: A Friendship in 52 Weeks of Postcards. After thorough research and note-taking from given and discovered resources, students were asked to respond to the novel coronavirus and the outbreak of its affiliated illness, COVID-19. As designers, students were given the responsibility to deliver information about the current culture while also acting as a participant to history — a primary” source. The object was to document history while also allowing for moments of positivity in the midst of such anxiety and uncertainty. Students gathered data about every time they heard or read the words “coronavirus” or “COVID-19.” They were told to keep a sketchbook handy at all times. Each time they heard or read one of the phrases, they noted when it happened; what they were doing; whom they were with; and other details. From this, they created data visualizations inspired by the examples in Dear Data. ”You are actually creating a primary source of history for others to rely on in the future,” said Misty Thomas-Trout, assistant professor of art and design. “Try to enjoy this.”https://ecommons.udayton.edu/stu_vad_covid19/1001/thumbnail.jp

Multi-ancestry genome-wide association analyses improve resolution of genes and pathways influencing lung function and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease risk

Lung-function impairment underlies chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and predicts mortality. In the largest multi-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis of lung function to date, comprising 580,869 participants, we identified 1,020 independent association signals implicating 559 genes supported by ≥2 criteria from a systematic variant-to-gene mapping framework. These genes were enriched in 29 pathways. Individual variants showed heterogeneity across ancestries, age and smoking groups, and collectively as a genetic risk score showed strong association with COPD across ancestry groups. We undertook phenome-wide association studies for selected associated variants as well as trait and pathway-specific genetic risk scores to infer possible consequences of intervening in pathways underlying lung function. We highlight new putative causal variants, genes, proteins and pathways, including those targeted by existing drugs. These findings bring us closer to understanding the mechanisms underlying lung function and COPD, and should inform functional genomics experiments and potentially future COPD therapies

Family-based investigation of the genetics and epigenetics of obesity in Qatar

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), copy number variations (CNVs) and DNA methylation patterns play a role in the susceptibility to obesity. Despite the alarming figures of obesity in the Arab world, the genetics of obesity remain understudied in Arabs. Here, I recruited ten multigenerational Qatari families segregating obesity, and generated genome-wide SNP genotyping, whole genome sequencing and genome-wide methylation profiling data using Illumina platforms to investigate the role of rare mutations, CNVs, and DNA methylation patterns in the susceptibility to obesity. For the identification of obesity mutations, I first identified candidate obesity regions through linkage and run of homozygosity analyses, and then investigated these regions to detect potential deleterious mutations. These analyses highlighted putative rare variants for obesity risk at PCSK1, NMUR2, CLOCK and RETSAT. The functional impact of the PCSK1 mutation on obesity was previously demonstrated while for the other candidates further work is needed to confirm their impact. For the identification of common obesity CNVs, I performed a genome-wide CNV association analysis with BMI and identified a common duplication of ~5.6kb on 19p13.3 that associates with higher BMI. Moreover, I investigated large (≥500kb) rare CNVs and identified a ~618kb deletion on 16p11.2 in the most extremely obese subject in my samples, which confirms the contribution of the previously reported 16p11.2 deletions to severe obesity beyond European populations. For the identification of DNA methylation changes in obesity, I attempted to replicate known associations with BMI from large EWASs. I replicated the associations at ABCG1 (P-value=6.3X10-3) and CPT1A (P-value=8.7X10-5) and compared the effects observed to the TwinsUK cohort through a meta-analysis. I observed low heterogeneity between the two studies, and that increased the associations at ABCG1 (P-value=2.5x10-13) and CPT1A (P-value=1.9x10-15). In conclusion, the work represents the first genetic and epigenetic study of obesity in an Arab population. I replicated known genetic and epigenetic obesity susceptibility loci and also discovered novel potential loci.Open Acces

The phenomenon of domestic servants in the State of Qatar

Of new phenomena that emerged in the State of Qatar, and on a large scale in the post-oil era (after 1950) is domestic servant's phenomenon. Historically, the phenomenon was presented in the pre-oil and limited to the homes of the royal families, pearls' merchants, senior traders and tribal leaders. However, today the phenomenon exists in all Qatari families, under the name of maids, drivers, educators, nurses and others, recently; it began spreading in non-citizenship families as well. Based on the results of the general census of the State of Qatar (2010), the number of house servants reached 200 thousand, from different nationalities, mostly, India, Philippine, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Nepal. This paper aims to recognize the status of the phenomenon of domestic servants in Qatar, to what extent it is spreading in families, the characteristics of these families such as income and educational level, and what difficulties families are facing with this phenomenon. According to the criticism from local and international people, the research is also measuring to how extent the society is accepting the alternatives provided in order to prevent the problems created. In addition to outsourcing of scientific research and data available describing and analyzing the problem, a questionnaire has been prepared to achieve the goals and purposes of this paper. It contains more than 50 questions covering all dimensions to be tested, and have been distributed to the appropriate ratio of different categorized families in the Qatari society

The Non-petroleum large scale industries in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC)

Since the early 1970s, the GCC countries have adopted the industrial development strategy as a way to achieve the economic diversification instead of depending on the oil and gas exporting; the main source of their revenues. The most known large scaled industries in the region are the petroleum linked industries such as refineries, petrochemicals and fertilizer. However, the industrial map of the six countries shows now that the non-petroleum industries have been established in all GCC countries. These include very heavy industries such as iron and steel, aluminum, cement industries and others. This research paper presents a picture of the status of the non-petroleum industries in the region. Also, the paper will discuss the encouraged factors, the policies and the sequences of the non-petroleum industries. These all will direct us to measure the importance ratio of this group comparing to other main existed industries

The Impact of North Field natural gas produvtion on Mesaieed city's industries in the State of Qatar

Mesaieed is the first industrial city in the state of Qatar, established in early 1970s. The strategy was to adapt large scale industries, especially the petroleum in order to achieve the diversity of the national economy. Beside the steel and iron industry, many petroleum industries are located in the city, such as chemical fertilizers, petrochemicals, NGL plants and the oil refinery. The North Field’ huge reserves of free natural gas, through many of its development stages since 1980s has played an important role in the positive economic movement of the state of Qatar. This paper analysis the data of Mesaieed’ large scale industries to investigate if they have been effected and to what extent, this will demonstrated by following the changes during the last 10 years on the Changes of productions, capacities, and new extensions