An Estimated New Keynesian Model for the Egyptian Economy

This paper aims to identify the drivers of Egypt’s aggregate macro fluctuations during the period 2002-2013. In particular, the paper will empirically investigate the effects of the unexpected shocks to consumers’ preference, cost-push, technology, and monetary policy on the dynamic behavior of output growth, inflation, and short-term nominal interest rate. The paper estimates a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model with sticky prices for Egypt within a New Keynesian framework. The paper uses maximum likelihood, with quarterly data of key macroeconomic variables: GDP, inflation rate, and nominal interest rate from year 2002q1 until 2013q4. We have found that preferences shocks are a major source of instability in output growth. Cost-push shock is the most important contributor to movements in inflation and short-term nominal interest. It appears to be that the preference, cost-push, and monetary policy shocks are more important than the technology shock in explaining the dynamic behavior of the macroeconomy

Assessing L2 Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) Learners’ Intercultural Communicative Competence

This study assesses L2 Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) Learners\u27 Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC). The study participants were 19 L2 (ECA) learners who completed one semester at least in Egypt. The participants were only from two proficiency levels; the advanced and high-intermediate levels. The current study used a mixed methodological approach for data collection, beginning with an ICC test and concluding with a series of follow-up semi-structured interviews with ten participants. The ICC test employed in the current study was created based on a model that includes ten features of the ICC. The current study\u27s findings revealed that although high-intermediate learners slightly outperformed their peers at the advanced level, there was no significant statistical difference between both levels. Results also detected an incompatibility between the two groups in several ICC features. This study suggests using the employed model/framework as a starting point for decision-makers in the TAFL field to design curricula that improve learners\u27 ICC. It also signifies that further research is required to include students from additional proficiency levels and heritage learners in addition to the foreign learners. Furthermore, additional research with a broader range regarding learners\u27 nationalities will enrich the field

Clean waste management: Egypt's way to sustainability

Today Egypt is in an enormous energy conflict; it faces choices about what energy sources it will use in the future. Conventional fuels are becoming increasingly expensive and there is recognition that these fuel resources are finite. Some estimates indicate that native natural gas and oil reserves, on which Egypt's electricity generation currently relies, will run out in about 30 or 40 years, making the transition to alternative energy sources a pressing need to avoid stagnant economic development. Renewable energy technologies are slowly being introduced in rural communities to promote alternative sources of energy from biomass, which are abundantly produced. The calculated potential for biomass resources in Egypt is expected to reach 40 million tones per year. According to the New and renewable Energy Authority (NREA) the contribution of biomass to primary energy may reach more that 3.6 million tones of equivalent energy. Furthermore, biodiesel and biofuel production technologies for domestic use are currently in the research and development phase. Bio-fuels are major source including the municipal solid waste reforming process. Municipal solid wastes have been inadequately managed for many years in the country. Waste collection systems have left large areas (up to 70 percent in some cases) of towns and cities unserviced or under-serviced. Large amounts of wastes piled up in streets and vacant areas between buildings, in addition to the spread of informal dumpsites in a number of central areas. Open burning as a means of waste disposal has become one of the main sources of air pollution in Egypt. The government had, therefore, to take action to find a suitable solution for this aggravating problem and to implement the integrated waste management. This paper discusses the waste management in Egypt and has initially started in the city of Alexandria, the second city in Egypt that has some positive contributions sustainable development, in co-operation with the French company “ONYX” since 2000. This innovative initiative is the first of its kind in Egypt. It covers the full spectrum of waste management activities from street cleaning to collection and treatment of all the household and commercial waste generated in the city. Further step is the transformation of waste into energy through a Refused drive Fuel (RDF) process, using some complicated machinery. This is being introduced to the government for implementation in the near future

Engaging architects and architectural students in global warming awareness

Today, Global warming is a major dilemma facing our globe that has changed the world concerns to reconsider the pollution sources affecting planet earth. This along with the tremendous increase in carbon dioxide emissions all over the world in the last decade has simulated the EDRG (Environmental Design Research Group, at the Architectural Engineering and Environmental Design Department) at the AAST (Arab Academy for Science and Technology) to setting the Environmental awareness campaign in the Schools of Alexandria, Egypt. The campaign is run mainly by Architecture professors, and both graduates and postgraduates of the architecture department and this is where the novelty of this campaign mainly lies and will be discussed in this paper. Environmental issues are not properly integrated in curricula of secondary schools in Egypt, and attract quite a little attention there. Continuous research carried out by the EDRG founded by the authors of this paper highlighted the problem of local environmental awareness in Egypt and that it was one of the main obstacles behind lessening pollution rates in this region and saving the environment. Therefore, this campaign has set this awareness program as today’s kids are the aim of proper development in Egypt. This project has two main objectives to fulfil; one is to engage the architectural students in raising sustainable and environmental awareness in our non-sustainable societies and second is to raise environmental awareness of school children and the youth by using artistic means, and to encourage them to participate in solution of environmental problems in their communities. Theatre, movie, painting and social role-plays are perceived as an interactive method to speak up global environmental problems in understandable and creative way. The campaign promotes and aware students within all education levels about the main reasons behind global warming, climate change and pollution and the proper use of renewable energy technologies, ecological and sustainable approaches to decrease carbon dioxide emissions all over the world and save our planet earth. The paper considers the role of environmental awareness at an early stage in the proper application of alternative energy sources in our built environment. The environmental awareness campaign is discussed along with its main aims and outcomes in this paper. The paper also contemplates the role of Architects and Architecture students in social interaction and in awareness of their communities

BACH ARRAY LINEAR GENERATOR FOR WAVE ENERGY CONVERTERS

linear generators have been proposed as a proper power takeoff system for direct-drive wave energy conversion. Coupled directly to a reciprocating wave energy device, it was declared that linear generators could be a valuable replacement for hydraulic and pneumatic systems. In this paper, the design and performance evaluation of permanent magnet linear generator that implements Halbach array arrangement is established. The designed generator is suitable for direct energy extraction from sea waves at small wave amplitude. The electromagnetic design is performed using finite element method and space harmonic analysis. A comparative study is performed between Halbach array and conventional air-cored linear generators to show the effectiveness of the proposed design. The equivalent circuit based model is utilized to investigate the dynamic performance of the Halbach array generator. The simulated dynamic performance of the designed generator clarifies that the implementation of Halbach array arrangement would improve energy extraction and voltage waveform

Energy Efficient Design for Deep Sub-micron CMOS VLSIs

Over the past decade, low power, energy efficient VLSI design has been the focal point of active research and development. The rapid technology scaling, the growing integration capacity, and the mounting active and leakage power dissipation are contributing to the growing complexity of modern VLSI design. Careful power planning on all design levels is required. This dissertation tackles the low-power, low-energy challenges in deep sub-micron technologies on the architecture and circuit levels. Voltage scaling is one of the most efficient ways for reducing power and energy. For ultra-low voltage operation, a new circuit technique which allows bulk CMOS circuits to work in the sub-0. 5V supply territory is presented. The threshold voltage of the slow PMOS transistor is controlled dynamically to get a lower threshold voltage during the active mode. Due to the reduced threshold voltage, switching speed becomes faster while active leakage current is increased. A technique to dynamically manage active leakage current is presented. Energy reduction resulting from using the proposed structure is demonstrated through simulations of different circuits with different levels of complexity. As technology scales, the mounting leakage current and degraded noise immunity impact performance especially that of high performance dynamic circuits. Dual threshold technology shows a good potential for leakage reduction while meeting performance goals. A model for optimally selecting threshold voltages and transistor sizes in wide fan-in dynamic circuits is presented. On the circuit level, a novel circuit level technique which handles the trade-off between noise immunity and energy dissipation for wide fan-in dynamic circuits is presented. Energy efficiency of the proposed wide fan-in dynamic circuit is further enhanced through efficient low voltage operation. Another direct consequence of technology scaling is the growing impact of interconnect parasitics and process variations on performance. Traditionally, worst case process, parasitics, and environmental conditions are considered. Designing for worst case guarantees a fail-safe operation but requires a large delay and voltage margins. This large margin can be recovered if the design can adapt to the actual silicon conditions. Dynamic voltage scaling is considered a key enabler in reducing such margin. An on-chip process identifier to recover the margin required due to process variations is described. The proposed architecture adjusts supply voltage using a hybrid between the one-time voltage setting and the continuous monitoring modes of operation. The interconnect impact on delay is minimized through a novel adaptive voltage scaling architecture. The proposed system recovers the large delay and voltage margins required by conventional systems by closely tracking the actual critical path at anytime. By tracking the actual critical path, the proposed system is robust and more energy efficient compared to both the conventional open-loop and closed-loop systems

Comparison of ultrasound-guided versus anatomical landmark-guided cannulation of the femoral vein at the optimum position in infants

Background Femoral vein cannulation may be required during major surgery in infants and children and may prove to be life saving under certain conditions. This study compared ultrasound (US)-guided cannulation of the femoral vein in infants with the traditional anatomical landmark-guided technique.Methods Eighty infants who had been prepared for a major elective surgery under general anesthesia were randomly assigned to either group I, in which the femoral vein cannulation was guided by anatomical landmarks in optimally positioned patients, or group II, in which an US-guided technique was used for cannulation.Results The procedure was successful in 35 cases in group I and in all cases in group II. The number of needle passes was higher in group I compared with that in group II [four (1–22) vs. one (1–8); P = 0.001]. First-pass success was achieved in 20 cases in group I and in 35 cases in group II. The time to complete cannulation was significantly shorter in group II compared with that in group I [145 (40–650) s vs. 350 (40–1600) s; P = 0.02]. Three cases of arterial puncture occurred in group I, whereas there were no complications in group II.Conclusion US-guided techniques for femoral vein cannulation are useful as they result in greater success, shorter cannulation times, less number of attempts, and lower complication rates. Keywords: anatomical, cannulation, femoral vein, infants, ultrasoni

Optimal Sizing of Standalone PV-Wind Hybrid Energy System in Rural Area North Egypt

This paper studies the sizing of stand-alone renewable energy system applied in rural areas in the north of Egypt. The available renewable energy sources in these areas are investigated to be integrated to supply the different types of electrical loads. The quality and quantity of these sources over various weather and climate changes are studied to construct a robust energy system. The load demand in such areas is determined according to all activities require electrical energy. This study considers the different economic levels and technologies which affect the load demand value. The technique and economical indices required to obtain the optimal are investigated and applied in the various estimated cases. The genetic algorithm (GA) technique is applied to determine the size and number of photovoltaic panels and wind turbines. The obtained solution takes into account the loss of power supply probability and the minimization of system cost. This study presents an essential phase in the sustainable development of such rural areas

Itinerários acadêmicos

Trata-se de um diário acadêmico dos itinerários percorridos pelo autor desde sua formação em língua espanhola, língua árabe e língua inglesa no Egito, passando pelo mestrado em linguística na Colômbia e terminando pelo doutorado em Estudos Comparados em língua portuguesa na USP

Possible ways in research in portuguese language & its literatures

In this article, we revise possible paths in Luso-Brazilian language and its literatures research between the decade of 1970 until the year of 2020. We start from section of the meanings of linguistic, literary, translational, touristic and educational experiences of human language: signifying, communicating and interacting. The complexity of these experiences in Portuguese Language takes on meaning through interdisciplinary and interculturality, providing a dialogue between various cultural groups that meet through that language, or in studies and researches in this field or in a language learning.Neste artigo, busca-se revisar os possíveis caminhos na pesquisa luso-brasileira em língua portuguesa e suas literaturas entre os anos de 1970 até o ano de 2020. Partimos nesse recorte da nossa experiência no ensino e na pesquisa em língua portuguesa no contexto egípcio, ressaltando os sentidos linguístico, literário, tradutório, turístico e educativo da linguagem humana em três eixos: o significar, o comunicar e o interagir. A complexidade dessas experiências em língua portuguesa ganha relevância por meio da interdisciplinaridade e da interculturalidade, proporcionando um diálogo entre os diversos grupos culturais que se encontram nessa língua, sejam nos estudos e pesquisas do campo ou no aprendizado da língua