The ports and trade of the Red Sea Basin.

PhD ThesisThis work attempts a systematic study of the physical and economic factors which have influenced the siting, development and trading relations of the important ports of the Red Sea. Comparative analysis forms an important part of the method. The information contained in this work derives mainly from field notes, Italian, English, French and Arabic references, and published or unpublished governmental and official records. Field notes and photographs are the result of about three years' field work in 1958-60, and a return visit from England to the Red Sea ports from May to December, 1961. They include information gained from special studies relating to port studies, settlement, population and water supply. Observations and information cover Egypt, the Sudan, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the northern part of the Yemen as far as time and accessibility would allow. In the course of travelling, more than three thousand miles were covered by all means of transport throughout the area. As an introductory step before embarking on the field work, I made a point of studying the available literature on the Red Sea ports in the United Kingdom and Egypt. This involved a reconnaissance survey, not only of the Red Sea basin, but in some cases of the whole of the Middle East. A major problem throughout the investigation was the lack of relevant statistical information and literature covering the area. To overcome this, field observation was used whenever possible. The important ports were studied in greater detail

The Results of a Case Study to Evaluate the Application of LIS Implemented by CITL Portsaid Branch in Support of Education andIndustry

The territory of the Suez Canal haswitnessed continuous development activitiesthroughoutthe year 2015, in the heart of those developments resets all activities of logistics. In the light of those developments, the authors of this paper presented in previous work a design of a database and built a logistics information system to support various logistics activities. This paper presents the results of evaluating the application of the implemented LIS system in several places. Some of those places are related to the governmental sector and the other belongs to the private sector. Evaluation methodology based on collecting feedbacks from actual system users. The areas of evaluation are reliability, availability, and serviceability, running cost, time and security. The developed system was tested against manual systems that still exist in abundance and sophisticated LIS such as SAP and Oracle ERP

Mechanical design and friction modelling of a cable-driven upper-limb exoskeleton

This paper presents a lightweight and low-inertia cable-driven upper-limb exoskeleton powerful enough to meet the requirements for activities of daily living. It presents the mechanical design, kinematic structure,the underlying actuation system, sensors, other electronic components as well as the controller of the exoskeleton. The extensive effect of friction on cable-driven designs, such as the one presented in this paper, requires proper mathematical modelling for controller design. Thus, we propose a current actuator model that describes the relationship between the motor current, velocity, and external load. The model relies on an underlying Stribeck+Coulomb friction representation and an additional parameter that modifies its Coulomb friction representation with an offset to represent adhesion between a cable and sheath. The model has been validated based on experimental data collected with the exoskeleton. The results show that the proposed model better captures the non-linear behaviour of the exoskeleton’s actuation system, increasing overall descriptive performance by 15%. However, adding the adhesion offset to extend the relation of static friction, does not improve the model

The impact of peripheral arterial disease on patients with mechanical circulatory support.

Background: Left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) are indicated as bridging or destination therapy for patients with advanced (Stage D) heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Due to the clustering of the mutual risk factors, HFrEF patients have a high prevalence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). This, along with the fact that continuous flow LVAD influence shear stress on the vasculature, can further deteriorate the PAD. Methods: We queried the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database (2002-2014) to identify the burden of pre-existing PAD cases, its association with LVAD, in-hospital mortality, and other complications of LVAD. The adjusted odds ratio (aOR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated using the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test. Results: A total of 20,817 LVAD patients, comprising of 1,625 (7.8%) PAD and 19,192 (91.2%) non-PAD patients were included in the study. The odds of in-hospital mortality in PAD patients were significantly higher compared to non-PAD group (OR 1.29, CI, 1.07-1.55, P = 0.007). The PAD group had significantly higher adjusted odds as compared to non-PAD group for acute myocardial infarction (aOR 1.29; 95% CI, 1.07-1.55, P = 0.007), major bleeding requiring transfusion (aOR, 1.286; 95% CI, 1.136-1.456, P \u3c 0.001), vascular complications (aOR, 2.360; 95% CI, 1.781-3.126, P \u3c 0.001), surgical wound infections (aOR, 1.50; 95% CI, 1.17-1.94, P = 0.002), thromboembolic complications (aOR, 1.69; 95% CI, 1.36-2.10, P \u3c 0.001), implant-related complications (aOR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.19-1.80, P \u3c 0.001), and acute renal failure (aOR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.12-1.43, P \u3c 0.001). Conclusion: PAD patients can have high LVAD associated mortality as compared to non-PAD

An Application of the Complier Average Causal Effect Analysis to Examine the Effects of a Family Intervention in Reducing Illicit Drug Use among High‐Risk Hispanic Adolescents

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107494/1/famp12068.pd

Bisphenol A exposure and cardiac electrical conduction in excised rat hearts

BACKGROUND: Bisphenol A (BPA) is used to produce polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins that are widely used in everyday products, such as food and beverage containers, toys and medical devices. Human biomonitoring studies have suggested that a large proportion of the population may be exposed to BPA. Recent epidemiological studies have reported correlations between increased BPA urinary concentrations and cardiovascular disease; yet the direct effects of BPA on the heart are unknown. OBJECTIVES: The goal of our studies was to measure BPA\u27s effect (0.1-100 μM) on cardiac impulse propagation ex vivo, using excised whole hearts from adult rats. METHODS: We measured atrial and ventricular activation times during sinus and paced rhythms using epicardial electrodes and optical mapping of transmembrane potential. Atrioventricular activation intervals and epicardial conduction velocities were computed using recorded activation times. RESULTS: Cardiac BPA exposure resulted in prolonged PR segment and decreased epicardial conduction velocity (0.1 - 100 μM), prolonged action potential duration (1 - 100 μM) and delayed atrioventricular conduction (10 - 100 μM). Importantly, these effects were observed after acute exposure (≤ 15 min), underscoring the potential detrimental effects of continuous BPA exposure. The highest BPA concentration used (100 μM) resulted in prolonged QRS intervals, dropped ventricular beats and eventually resulted in complete heart block. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that acute BPA exposure slows electrical conduction in excised hearts from female rats. These findings emphasize the importance of examining BPA\u27s effect on heart electrophysiology and determining whether chronic in vivo exposure can cause/exacerbate conduction abnormalities in patients with pre-existing heart conditions and other high-risk populations

Successful treatment of <em>Staphylococcus haemolyticus</em> endocarditis in extremely premature baby with daptomycin

Daptomycin is a novel lipopeptide antibiotic with rapid activity against Gram-positive bacteria including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, coagulase-negative Staphylococci, and Enterococci. We are reporting the first case of successfully using daptomycin to treat infective endocarditis in an extremely premature baby