Transient natural convection flows in closed containers technical report no. 2

Measurements and calculations of natural flow convection and thermal stratification in closed container

Transient, laminar, free-convection heat and mass transfer in closed, partially filled, liquid containers technical report no. 1

Two-dimensional, laminar, transient, natural- convection heat and mass transfer in closed, partially filled liquid container

Application of the Asymptotic Iteration Method to a Perturbed Coulomb Model

We show that the asymptotic iteration method converges and yields accurate energies for a perturbed Coulomb model. We also discuss alternative perturbation approaches to that model.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl

Exact solutions for vibrational levels of the Morse potential via the asymptotic iteration method

Exact solutions for vibrational levels of diatomic molecules via the Morse potential are obtained by means of the asymptotic iteration method. It is shown that, the numerical results for the energy eigenvalues of $^{7}Li_{2}$ are all in excellent agreement with the ones obtained before. Without any loss of generality, other states and molecules could be treated in a similar way

Women and Entrepreneurship in the Contemporary Middle East

The purpose of this paper is to assess the nature of relative female entrepreneurship in the contemporary Middle East, using data from the seven Middle Eastern countries that participated in the GEM Consortium in 2016 (GEM Global Report, 2016). This data will show that while some of these countries are approaching parity in terms of gender shares in new business start-up’s, in others the rate of female early stage entrepreneurship is a half or even less of the rate for males. Interestingly it is the richer Middle Eastern countries that are closest to parity, even though this includes some of the traditionally more conservative and patriarchal Gulf countries. There are important lessons for the development of policy here – some countries are foregoing substantial opportunities to increase the pool of new female-owned businesses and their subsequent economic development impacts. The data analysis will include statistical tests for significant differences between countries, and will introduce a new methodology for comparing the ratios of sample proportions. The literature on entrepreneurship evidences a continuing debate on the nature of female early-stage entrepreneurial activity, and whether female owned and run businesses grow more slowly and are less profitable than male owned businesses, (see for example Minniti and Naude 2010 & 2011). While GEM data says little about the actual performance of new businesses, that performance may be closely related to the plans and expectations of the entrepreneur, an area that is specifically addressed by GEM. Hence this paper will assess differences in attitudes and expectations by gender, including job creation and international orientation, as well as differences in opportunity and necessity entrepreneurship. The paper will conclude with some lessons for policy development

Changing Patterns of Entrepreneurship in Lebanon

Despite some significant enterprise initiatives, relatively little is known about the level, pattern and distribution of entrepreneurship in Lebanon. Whilst Lebanon is typically regarded as entrepreneurial, and there is no shortage of Lebanese role models, there is a shortage of hard evidence about who are the entrepreneurs, and how the level of entrepreneurship varies by gender, across age groups, by level of educational attainment and by location. This paper will address these issues head-on, providing comprehensive survey data on the pattern of entrepreneurship across Lebanon and how that pattern is changing over time. However the paper will go beyond simply describing the level of entrepreneurship – it will also offer some evidence-based conjecture as to why that pattern is changing, and how policies may be adapted to encourage further growth. The research instrument for this evidence is the annual GEM survey of 2000+ adults in Lebanon, asking about their entrepreneurial activities, as well as their perceptions and demographics. In the past decade, Lebanon has participated in GEM in three years, (2009, 2015 & 2016), allowing patterns and trends to be established. The level of total early stage entrepreneurial activity, (TEA, or those actively starting or running a new business), increased from 15% in 2009 to 30% in 2015, before falling to 21% in 2016. However these averages are very blunt measures, which the detail of GEM allows to be unpicked. There are reasons to expect the level of TEA to have increased fastest in young people, given the emphasis on enterprise education and growth in entrepreneurial finance for hi-technology start-ups. There is some evidence for this – between 2009 and 2015, TEA for 18-24 year olds increased from 10% to 27%, before falling to 19% in 2016 – still almost twice the level of 2009. However, TEA for 45-54 year olds almost trebled between 2009 and 2015, (from 11% to 31%), before falling to 15% in 2016. In 2009, 45-54 year olds had been more entrepreneurial than 18-24 year olds. By 2016 this had reversed, with the younger age group being almost a third more likely to be starting or running a new business than the older age group. This paper will explore a number of key relationships with entrepreneurship, testing changes for their statistical significance and using results to develop evidence-based recommendations for the development of early-stage entrepreneurship in Lebanon