Patterns of Democratization and State Controlled Pluralism: Is Egypt Going Anywhere?

Free elections, reform of the constitution, reform initiatives, political prisons, emergency law: the usual ingredients of the Egyptian political scene. Does all this lead to a process of democratization? While the regime is widening, can democracy work without mass participation? Is democracy a procedure or a nationwide project? Can democratization work under emergency laws? Can democratization work from above? This paper aims to provide an in-depth exploration of these questions

Licentious Topographies: Space and the Traumas of Colonial Subjectivity in Modern Egypt

This dissertation explores the history of the counterrevolutionary tradition that characterizes political dissidents as licentious and failed subjects. From a contemporary vantage point shaped by the predominance of this tradition in post 2011 Egyptian counterrevolutionary propaganda, this study provides a genealogy of this tradition that reveals its anchoring in Western philosophical-ideological interventions that trace themselves back to the ancient Greeks, in Western counterrevolutionary rhetoric that harks back to the French Revolution and is consolidated in the attacks on the Paris Commune, and in their deployment in colonial, anti-colonial, and postcolonial settings. Moving across the Egyptian, European, and colonial histories of these ideological and political traditions, this study charts various licentious topographies (the crowd, the political organization, the Satanist cult, the Orient) in which bad subjects are ensconced in accordance with the dominant ideologies of the State since the 19th century, and examines the figures, motifs, and topoi which constitute these bad subjects. In providing a history of the bad subject, the dissertation intervenes in the discussions surrounding subjectivity by positing that in addition to identifying with certain notions, ideals, and ideal images, proper subjectivity is also constituted through identifying against the bad egos and bad imagoes that constitute the bad subject. Paying special attention to the gendering and especially the racializing of the latter, the study exposes the subjective trauma effected by the colonial imposition of this ideological mode of identification

Palladium-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling and Related Reactions of Non-Classical Electrophiles Focusing on Esters

This thesis summarizes work related to the development of mild palladium-catalyzed cross- coupling reactions of phenyl- and benzyl- esters, which undergo different C-O bond cleavage selectivity, the scope of the reactions and applications, and mechanistic understanding of precatalyst activation and the oxidative addition steps. The first chapter of this thesis is an introduction summarizing palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions of non-classical electrophiles. The second chapter focus on the development of mild palladium-catalyzed non- decarbonylative Suzuk-Miyuara and Buchwald Hartwig cross-coupling reactions of phenyl aryl- and alkyl-esters to generate ketenes and amides, respectively. The third chapter is the extension of the Suzuki-Miyuara reactions to phenyl ester derivatives of aspartic acid to synthesize aryl amino ketones. Chapter four describes the development of mild palladium-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyuara reactions of diaryl methyl 2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzoates to synthesize triarylmethanes.The first appendix describes preliminary work on palladium-catalyzed benzylic decarboxylation reactions as a more atom economical method for the synthesis of diarylmethanes. The second appendix describes preliminary work on palladium-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura reactions of activated aziridines and stoichiometric reactions of phosphine ligated nickel complexes with activated aziridines

PCM-to-Air Heat Exchangers for Free Cooling Applications

Applications of PCM-to-air heat exchangers (PAHXs) were discussed in literature for free cooling application due to their latent thermal storage abilities. This paper aims to justify the generalization of a numerical model of PAHX and to compare the thermal performance of two different configurations of PAHX system. A generalized numerical model is developed and validated based on general apparent heat capacity method. The validation results show good agreement of the generalized approach in terms of averaged error with the experimental data. Model potential and limitations are discussed, and further recommendations are proposed to improve model accuracy. The paper ensures the significant potential of a PAHX ventilated façade configuration in free cooling applications

Linguistic phenotype in a sample of Arabic speaking children with Williams and fragile X syndromes

The detailed linguistic assessment of children with Williams syndrome (WS) in comparison to typically developing (TD) children and other genetic syndromes such as fragile X syndrome (FXS) could reveal the language specific difficulties and help in better designing of intervention plans. Aim: To investigate the linguistic abilities with detailed syntactic performance in a sample of Egyptian children with WS in comparison to TD and FXS children from the same pool. The participants (n=30) included WS, TD children of similar sex and age of WS group and FXS group matching the WS group for mental age. The linguistic assessment was established using the Wechsler intelligence scale for children-III, Vineland social maturity scale and the standardized Arabic language test. The linguistic abilities of WS group were delayed even in relation to their mental age and when compared to TD children. WS group manifested deficits in past verb tense, manner adverbs and in spatially related syntax. The overall WS group language profile differed from that of FXS group especially regarding Pragmatics. The cognitive assessment revealed differences between the groups. The in depth detailed language assessment supports the presence of certain profile in the Arabic speaking WS participants. Individuals with WS do need language and social intervention plans as early as possible in addition to the original required visuospatial improvement strategies

Development of a new medium containing date syrup for production of bleomycin by Streptomyces mobaraensis ATCC 15003 using response surface methodology

A combined statistical approach of orthogonal design and polynomial regression were applied to optimize the composition and concentration of a liquid fermentation medium for the production of bleomycin (BLM) by Streptomyces mobaraensis. Optimal conditions for maximal productivity were determined based on eight parameters at three different levels. The sources of carbon and nitrogen concentration and their interactions with other precursors were found to be statistically significant factors. When date syrup was used as an additional carbon source, higher BLM amount was obtained in comparison to glucose. It was found that the optimum nitrogen source was achieved with the use of soyabean meal. The combined orthogonal design and response surface methodology predicted optimal conditions for production of BLM to be 138 mg dl-1. A confirmatory experiment of the optimal medium composition produced 142 mg dl-1 in the fifth day fermentation at 30°C. The complex medium containing 40 gml-1 date syrup as additional carbon source enhanced the production of BLM by 73%. The combined statistical approach enabled rapid identification and integration of key medium parameters for optimizing secondary metabolite production and could be very useful in pharma-ceutical screening programs.Keywords: Bleomycin, Streptomyces mobaraensis, orthogonal design, medium optimization, date syrupAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 9(33), pp. 5450-5459, 16 August, 201

International longitudinal registry of patients with atrial fibrillation and treated with rivaroxaban: RIVaroxaban Evaluation in Real life setting (RIVER)

Background Real-world data on non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (NOACs) are essential in determining whether evidence from randomised controlled clinical trials translate into meaningful clinical benefits for patients in everyday practice. RIVER (RIVaroxaban Evaluation in Real life setting) is an ongoing international, prospective registry of patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) and at least one investigator-determined risk factor for stroke who received rivaroxaban as an initial treatment for the prevention of thromboembolic stroke. The aim of this paper is to describe the design of the RIVER registry and baseline characteristics of patients with newly diagnosed NVAF who received rivaroxaban as an initial treatment. Methods and results Between January 2014 and June 2017, RIVER investigators recruited 5072 patients at 309 centres in 17 countries. The aim was to enroll consecutive patients at sites where rivaroxaban was already routinely prescribed for stroke prevention. Each patient is being followed up prospectively for a minimum of 2-years. The registry will capture data on the rate and nature of all thromboembolic events (stroke / systemic embolism), bleeding complications, all-cause mortality and other major cardiovascular events as they occur. Data quality is assured through a combination of remote electronic monitoring and onsite monitoring (including source data verification in 10% of cases). Patients were mostly enrolled by cardiologists (n = 3776, 74.6%), by internal medicine specialists 14.2% (n = 718) and by primary care/general practice physicians 8.2% (n = 417). The mean (SD) age of the population was 69.5 (11.0) years, 44.3% were women. Mean (SD) CHADS2 score was 1.9 (1.2) and CHA2DS2-VASc scores was 3.2 (1.6). Almost all patients (98.5%) were prescribed with once daily dose of rivaroxaban, most commonly 20 mg (76.5%) and 15 mg (20.0%) as their initial treatment; 17.9% of patients received concomitant antiplatelet therapy. Most patients enrolled in RIVER met the recommended threshold for AC therapy (86.6% for 2012 ESC Guidelines, and 79.8% of patients according to 2016 ESC Guidelines). Conclusions The RIVER prospective registry will expand our knowledge of how rivaroxaban is prescribed in everyday practice and whether evidence from clinical trials can be translated to the broader cross-section of patients in the real world