Enhancing the Quality of Urban Life in Urban Poverty Areas through a Strategy of Integral Multi Approaches: Public Spaces as Arena for Change

Urban poverty areas (UPA) in the main cities of the emerging and developing countries are representing the product of a chaotic urban-isation process. This process started through the recent decades as a result of the economic reform in many Emerging countries, mainly in Asia, South America, and some cases in Africa such as Egypt and South Africa. Under the umbrella of the term UPA, there are many other terms such as slums, shantytowns and informal urbanism. In this study, the focus is on a special case of UPA which exist in the main cities of the emerging countries and some cases of developing countries. These UPA have some of the slums characteristics, which indicate the low quality of the urban life such as the pollution of the urban environment, the high density of built up area and the lack of social spaces. However, these areas mainly consist of permanent buildings which were built in most cases by the dwellers themselves due to their basic socio-economic needs, also in most of the cases the basic infrastructure are available. The study hypothesis is discussing the possibility of enhancing the quality of urban life in those UPA through a strategy of integral mul-ti approaches based on the potential opportunities of public spaces. In other words, the key to a successful strategy is “integration”, meaning that all approaches, policies, and projects are considered in relation to one another. This includes the using of new approaches such as green infrastructure (GI) through an integration framework with the other prevalent urban approaches such as participatory, towards innova-tively interactive urban communities. An analytical comparative study was done based on qualitative methods by studying various case studies of UPA in main cities of emerging and developing countries that were up-graded through a strategy of integral multi approaches. These rely on the public spaces as a medium for change, as well the using of quantitative and qualitative methods through actual case studies. The results represent lessons from practice. Based on actual cases, the cumulative urban experiences through various selected cases of upgrading UPA showed that the success depends on the using of an integral approach (multi-disciplinary) that relies on livable innovative public spaces. The new approaches such as GI cannot stand alone, but the strategies can be efficient by using integral an multi approach strategy. The cases also showed that public spaces in UPA are cen-ters of the daily socioeconomic activities, which is why these areas can act as arenas for change, towards better quality of urban life

Le dialogue de La surprise de l’amour entre dissensus et consensus

Dans une perspective de « rhétorique interactionnelle » et de « dialectique éristique » aux frontières confondues, cette recherche se propose d’examiner un cas constitué par le dialogue des personnages de La surprise de l’amour de Marivaux, le but étant de tenter de voir dans quelle mesure la notion de polémicité — qui se traduit le plus souvent en termes d’agressivité, de violence et de passions — peut s’étendre au champ littéraire et constituer un outil de travail ou d’analyse probant. Autrement dit, si l’on s’éloigne de la littérature de combat et des discours épidictiques de blâme dont la visée suprême est de réduire l’autre au silence en le disqualifiant ou en le convertissant, comment peut-on pertinemment utiliser la notion de polémique dans un contexte et dans des « entretiens » qui auraient dû être normalement régis par la galanterie, la politesse et la civilité?In a perspective of interactional rhetoric and eristic dialectic within confounded frontiers, this research suggests an examination of a case of constituted dialogue of the characters in La surprise de l’amour by Marivaux. The study aims to examine in what sense the notion of polemic (argument, controversy) which is often manifested in terms of aggression, violence, and passion can be applied to the field of literature as a convincing (relevant, adequate) tool of analysis. In other words if we distance ourselves from the literature of combat and epidictic (criticizing) discourse of blame whose sole aim is to reduce (confine) the other to silence through disqualifying or converting him, how can we use pertinently the notion of polemic in dialogues where normally gallantry, politeness and civility should prevail

Globalising employee engagement: myths and reality; a Middle East perspective.

The purpose of this research was to investigate if selected cultural and national aspects had an effect on employee engagement drivers. Another aim was to find out if applying global engagement tools in different cultures would provide an accurate engagement report. Finally, a new tool was proposed and examined in this study by companies operating in the Middle and Near East regions. Employee engagement has been of growing concern to business leaders as well as occupational psychologists, since it was claimed to relate to organisational productivity and long term success. Despite this growing concern and various consultancy solutions provided, few academic researches tackled cross cultural employee engagement aspects. In this research, both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies were used. The qualitative research data consisted of two in-depth interviews with employees working in the Middle and Near East regions. The quantitative research data was gathered with the aid of two questionnaires. One hundred and eighty nine responses were received out of two hundred and seventeen questionnaires sent. The response rate was eighty seven per cent. This research produced a number of key findings: (a) Cultural, national and organisational factors affect engagement drivers. (b) Engagement drivers change over time, at least in priority. (c) Measuring engagement through a globally designed fixed tool is not likely to produce accurate results that management can use to plan for actions. The main conclusion drawn from this research was that current approaches to measuring employee engagement are taking engagement drivers as common for granted, and this concept should be revised. The author recommends that leaders should investigate and run an analysis of engagement drivers before any engagement survey is undertaken. A new tool has been presented by the research and was tested by a number of organisations. This tool takes into account building engagement questionnaires based on key drivers analysed from specific work cultures

POS-1 Regulation of Endo-mesoderm Identity in C. elegans: A Dissertation

How do embryos develop with such poise from a single zygote to multiple cells with different identities, and yet survive? At the four-cell stage of the C. elegans embryo, only the blastomere EMS adopts the endo-mesoderm identity. This fate requires SKN-1, the master regulator of endoderm and mesoderm differentiation. However, in the absence of the RNA binding protein POS-1, EMS fails to fulfill its fate despite the presence of SKN-1. pos-1(-) embryos die gutless. Conversely, the RNA binding protein MEX-5 prevents ectoderm blastomeres from adopting the endo-mesoderm identity by repressing SKN-1. mex-5(-) embryos die with excess muscle at the expense of skin and neurons. Through forward and reverse genetics, I found that genes gld-3/Bicaudal C, cytoplasmic adenylase gld-2, cye-1/Cyclin E, glp-1/Notch and the novel gene neg-1 are suppressors that restore gut development despite the absence of pos-1. Both POS-1 and MEX-5 bind the 3’UTR of neg-1 mRNA and its poly(A) tail requires GLD-3/2 for elongation. Moreover, neg-1 requires MEX-5 for its expression in anterior ectoderm blastomeres and is repressed in EMS by POS-1. Most neg-1(-) embryos die with defects in anterior ectoderm development where the mesoderm transcription factor pha-4 becomes ectopically expressed. This lethality is reduced by the concomitant loss of med- 1, a key mesoderm-promoting transcription factor. Thus the endo-mesoderm identity of EMS is determined by the presence of SKN- 1 and the POS-1 repression of neg-1, whose expression is promoted by MEX-5. Together they promote the anterior ectoderm identity by repressing mesoderm differentiation. Such checks and balances ensure the vital plurality of cellular identity without the lethal tyranny of a single fate

Carotid Artery Stenting in High-Risk Patients for Stenting

Certain subgroups of patients are at higher risk for CAS. The identification of those patients could improve the decision-making and hence the outcome. This chapter covers factors that are associated with poor outcome during CAS based on the previously reported literature: (1) CAS in female patients, (2) CAS in octogenarians, (3) CAS in patients with difficult aortic arch configuration (type II, III, and bovine arch), (4) CAS in patients who have tortuous common carotid artery (CCA), angulated internal carotid artery (ICA) origin, and/or angulated distal ICA, (5) CAS in high-grade carotid stenosis, (6) CAS for long lesions (≥15 mm), (7) CAS for ostial-centered lesions, (8) CAS in the presence of calcified aortic arch and/or heavily calcified lesions, (9) CAS in the presence of contralateral carotid occlusion, (10) CAS in the presence of vertebral artery occlusion and/or stenosis, and (11) CAS in chronic kidney disease patients

Pharmacogenomics In Pharmacy Practice: Current Perspectives.

Pharmacogenomics (i.e., the application of genetic information in predicting an individual's response to drug therapy) plays an increasingly important role in drug development and decision-making regarding precision medicine. This has been shown to reduce the risk of adverse events and improve patient health-care outcomes through targeted therapies and dosing. As the field of pharmacogenomics rapidly evolves, the role of pharmacists in the education, implementation, and research applications of pharmacogenomics is becoming increasingly recognized. This paper aims to provide an overview and current perspectives of pharmacogenomics in contemporary clinical pharmacy practice and to discuss the future directions on advancing pharmacogenomics education, application, and research in pharmacy practice

Pressure gradients in molecular dynamics simulations of nano-confined fluid flow

Ein detailliertes Verständnis des Verhaltens von Schmierstoffen in engen Spalten ist für eine Reihe von medizinischen und industriellen Anwendungen entscheidend. Die hydrodynamischen Grundgleichungen bieten genaue Lösungen, sofern die kontaktierenden Körper ausreichend weit voneinander entfernt sind. Unter extremen Belastungsbedingungen werden jedoch Abweichungen von den Navier-Stokes-Fourier-Gleichungen beobachtet. Dies liegt hauptsächlich an der Bedeutung atomare Effekte, die eine homogenisierte Betrachtung im Rahmen von Kontinuumstheorien nicht mehr erlauben, sodass die Flüssigkeit als Ansammlung diskreter Partikel behandelt werden muss. Der multiskalige Charakter des Problems wird im Bereich der Grenzreibung umso deutlicher. In diesem Regime wird das Schmiermittel durch Druckgradienten angetrieben, die sich aus der Variation der Spalthöhe zwischen den kontaktierenden Körpern ergeben. In der atomistischen Modellierung werden üblicherweise Nichtgleichgewichts-Molekulardynamik (NEMD) Simulationen periodischer, repräsentativer Volumenelemente (RVE) verwendet, bei denen der Schmierfilm von flachen Wänden eingeschlossen wird. Aufgrund der Periodizität stellt das Einstellen von Druckgradienten in solchen Modellen eine Hürde dar. In dieser Arbeit wurde die ``Pump\u27\u27-Methode entwickelt, um Druckgradienten in periodischen Systemen einzuführen, indem eine lokale Störung aufgebracht wird, die unter Einhaltung der Impulserhaltung einen druckgetriebenen Fluss des Schmiermittels induziert. Dabei kann sowohl der Massenfluss als auch der Druckgradient, durch Festlegen atomarer Kräfte, als unabhängige Variable gewählt werden. Die Methode wurde für kompressible Fluide mit unterschiedlichen Benetzungseigenschaften und in Verbindung mit verschiedenen Thermostat-Strategien getestet. Dabei werden die thermodynamischen Feldgrößen Druck, Temperatur und Geschwindigkeit des Schmierstoffs in Spalthöhen bis zu drei Moleküldurchmessern gemessen. Die Pump-Methode kann auf Kanäle beliebiger Geometrie angewendet werden, was die Anwendung zur Untersuchung hydrodynamischer Kavitation ermöglicht -- ein Phänomen, welches in der Natur allgegenwärtig ist, jedoch auf molekularer Ebene bisher kaum untersucht wurde. Dazu wurde die Kanalgeometrie anhand einer Sensitivitätsanalyse optimiert. Anschließend wurde die Lebensdauer der Kavitationsblasen, sowie deren Wachstum und Zusammenbruch mit den theoretischen, hydrodynamischen Vorhersagen verglichen. Im Rahmen eines Multiskalenansatzes für Schmierungsprobleme kann die Pump-Methode zur Einstellung der Randbedingungen eines molekularen Systems im Einklang mit Kontinuumssimulationen verwendet werden

The Destruction of Cultural Property in Timbuktu: Challenging the ICC War Crime Paradigm

Cultural property has been destroyed, looted and trafficked throughout history, particularly during conflict situations.2 In many instances, the property that is destroyed belongs to, and / or represents, minority groups and its destruction impacts significantly on minority culture. ISIS, and related jihadist groups, have, in recent times, actively engaged in the deliberate destruction of cultural property in numerous States, including Iraq, Syria, and Mali. This has been described as ‘cultural cleansing’ by the Director-General of UNESCO,3 as jihadist groups aim to eradicate all signs of ‘other’ cultures within its newly formed State. The destruction of cultural property is now a strategy of war, with the objective being to eliminate cultural diversity and pluralism, ‘erase all sources of belonging and identity, and destroy the fabric of society.’4 The International Criminal Court (ICC) recently (2016) heard the case of Prosecutor v Al Mahdi, which focused specifically on the destruction of cultural property in Mali during a non-international armed conflict. The defendant was charged, under Article 8 of the ICC Statute, with the war crime of directing attacks against cultural property.5 Mr Al Mahdi, a member of the fundamentalist Islamic group, Ansar Dine, had been in charge of the Hisbah, the morality brigade set up in Timbuktu. One of his roles was to oversee the destruction of a number of religious monuments and mausoleums in the city..