The return of the sacred: Collective action of Copts during Muslim Brotherhood rule

The outbreak of the Arab Spring and the subsequent overthrow of Mubarak in 2011 gave ‎way to the rise of Islamists to power. The Muslim Brotherhood’s regime was perceived ‎by the Coptic community, in particular, as a real threat to Copts’ collective identities. In ‎response, ordinary Christians started to organize around religion as well as the religious ‎group to which they belong in order to manage perceived as well as real fears and ‎uncertainties prevailing at the time. This has eventually incited new patterns of ‎communal political activism among Christians, who seemingly embarked on “street ‎politics” rather than “electoral politics” in resisting the incumbent, which was ‎noticeably seen in the massive protests of June 30th, 2013. This thesis is an engagement with the underlying causes and mechanisms that were ‎motivating collective action of Copts during the Brotherhood’s rule. Broadly, it seeks to ‎establish a linkage between religion and politics. Utilizing a social identity theory and a ‎mixed-method consisting of both qualitative and quantitative indicators, I argue that ‎communal behavior of Copts was basically shaped by growing religious fears shared by ‎Coptic constituencies at the time while the Islamists were in office. Dynamics which ‎were transforming religious worries into real action are further discussed. The current ‎thesis contributes to literature on transition through its emphasis on the causes and ‎mechanisms that construct and reconstruct identities of “subaltern” religious minorities ‎‎(i.e., Egypt’s Copts) during times of sociopolitical transformation.

Compact Gas Sensor Using Silicon-on-Insulator Loop-Terminated Mach–Zehnder Interferometer

In this paper, we propose a compact optical gas sensor based on the widespread silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology, operating in the near-infrared (NIR) region around the 1.55 µm wavelength. The sensor employs a loop-terminated Mach–Zehnder interferometer (LT-MZI) with a slot waveguide and a strip waveguide for the sensing arm and the reference arm, respectively. For the same arm length, the LT-MZI can achieve a detection limit two times lower than that of the conventional MZI. Different sensor components were designed, and the optimum dimensions were obtained using finite-difference eigenmode (FDE) and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) solvers. With a sensing arm length of only 150 μm, our sensor achieves a device sensitivity of 1070 nm/RIU and a figure-of-merit (FOM) as high as 280.8 RIU−1 at the 1.55 μm wavelength. Higher values of FOM can be attained by employing a longer sensing arm. The whole sensor is subjected to air cladding; thus, there is no need for oxide deposition and a further lithography step for sensing-area patterning. The sensor is well suited for low-cost fabrication and large-scale production. Finally, the same LT-MZI device with strip and slot arms but with oxide cladding was fabricated and characterized. The measurements were in good agreement with the electromagnetic (EM) simulation results, ensuring the reliability of our proposed design

Methyldopa versus labetalol or no medication for treatment of mild and moderate chronic hypertension during pregnancy: a randomized clinical trial

Objective: to assess the maternal and fetal outcome in women with mild to moderate chronic hypertension on antihypertensive drug (methyldopa or labetalol) therapy compared to no medication. Methods: This multicenter randomized clinical study was conducted at Menoufia University hospital, Shibin El-kom Teaching hospital at Menoufia governorate, Egypt.486 pregnant women with mild to moderate chronic hypertension were randomized into three groups; methyldopa group (n = 164), labetalol group (n = 160), and control or no medication group (n = 162) who were followed from the beginning of pregnancy till the end of puerperium to record maternal and fetal outcome. Results: There was a highly significant difference between treatment groups (methyldopa and labetalol) and control group regarding the development of maternal severe hypertension, development of preeclampsia, renal impairment, presence of ECG changes, placental abruption, and repeated admission to hospital for blood pressure control (p < 0.001) with higher occurrence in the control (no treatment) group. Neonates in the labetalol group were more prone for the development of small for gestational age (SGA), neonatal hypotension, neonatal hyperbilirubinemia, and admission to NICU than their counterparts in the methyldopa and control groups (p < 0.001). The rate of prematurity was significantly higher in the control group than the treatment groups (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Treatment of mild to moderate chronic hypertension during pregnancy is beneficial in decreasing both maternal and fetal morbidity. The use of labetalol was associated with higher rates of SGA, neonatal hypotension, and neonatal hyperbilirubinemia compared to methyldopa or no medication

Methyldopa versus labetalol or no medication for treatment of mild and moderate chronic hypertension during pregnancy: a randomized clinical trial

Objective: to assess the maternal and fetal outcome in women with mild to moderate chronic hypertension on antihypertensive drug (methyldopa or labetalol) therapy compared to no medication. Methods: This multicenter randomized clinical study was conducted at Menoufia University hospital, Shibin El-kom Teaching hospital at Menoufia governorate, Egypt.486 pregnant women with mild to moderate chronic hypertension were randomized into three groups; methyldopa group (n = 164), labetalol group (n = 160), and control or no medication group (n = 162) who were followed from the beginning of pregnancy till the end of puerperium to record maternal and fetal outcome. Results: There was a highly significant difference between treatment groups (methyldopa and labetalol) and control group regarding the development of maternal severe hypertension, development of preeclampsia, renal impairment, presence of ECG changes, placental abruption, and repeated admission to hospital for blood pressure control (p < 0.001) with higher occurrence in the control (no treatment) group. Neonates in the labetalol group were more prone for the development of small for gestational age (SGA), neonatal hypotension, neonatal hyperbilirubinemia, and admission to NICU than their counterparts in the methyldopa and control groups (p < 0.001). The rate of prematurity was significantly higher in the control group than the treatment groups (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Treatment of mild to moderate chronic hypertension during pregnancy is beneficial in decreasing both maternal and fetal morbidity. The use of labetalol was associated with higher rates of SGA, neonatal hypotension, and neonatal hyperbilirubinemia compared to methyldopa or no medication