Die Rolle der Frau bei der Entwicklung der kuwaitischen Literatur

Bislang wurde die arabische Literatur in der Golfregion sowohl im arabischen Raum als auch in der westlichen Orientalistik nur sehr marginal behandelt. Dies gilt ganz besonders für das Gebiet der Frauenliteratur. Denn obwohl die Rolle der Frau in dieser Region weiterhin sehr von Traditionen geprägt ist, konnten Schriftstellerinnen einen bedeutenden Anteil an der Fortentwicklung der Literatur leisten. Die vorliegende Arbeit gibt einleitend einen Überblick über die arabische Literaturgeschichte in den unterschiedlichen politischen Perioden. Sodann wird ein Abriß der kuwaitischen Literaturgeschichte gegeben, wo unter anderem auf die ersten literarischen Werke von Bedeutung eingegangen wird. Danach folgt ein Abschnitt über die Frauenliteratur in der arabischen Welt im Allgemeinen und in Kuwait im Besonderen. Hier wird auch auf die Probleme und Hürden, welche die Schriftstellerinnen zu überwinden hatten, eingegangen. Es erfolgt auch eine Einbindung in die politische und gesellschaftliche Situation unter Berücksichtigung der äußeren Umstände, welche diese beeinflussten und der Frau zudem vermehrt Gelegenheit einräumten, sich am kulturellen Leben zu beteiligen. Unter anderem verfolgt die vorliegende Arbeit das Ziel, durch die Untersuchung literarischer Beispiele in Form von Prosa und Lyrik eine Brücke zwischen der kuwaitischen Literatur, und zwar insbesondere jener der Frau, und westlichen sowie arabischen Lesern aufzubauen. Die kuwaitischen Frauen waren immer wieder mit ihrer benachteiligten Situation unzufrieden und kämpften dagegen an. Die Frauenliteratur ist einem großen Schrei vergleichbar, welcher den Ruf nach Freiheit zum Ausdruck bringt. Die von Frauen verfasste Literatur reflektiert daher den Kampf um ein Ende der Einschränkung der Freiheit. Die Untersuchung zeigt auch, wie diese literarischen Werke auch jenen berühmter männlicher Autoren gleichen und demzufolge ihre Befähigung nachgewiesen wird, diese auf dem gleichen Niveau wie Männer zu verfassen. Sie bedient sich derselben Gedichtformen, und zwar unter anderem des Ghazals und des Trauer- und Lobgedichts. Genauso hat sie sich zu politischen Themen geäußert, wie z. B. zu Kriegsereignissen, und damit gezeigt, dass sie diese ebenso genau und rational wie Männer darstellen kann. Die vorliegende Arbeit bietet eine Analyse der arabischen Literatur in Kuwait und insbesondere des Weges, welchen die kuwaitische Frau beschritten hat und welche Rolle sie im Fortschritt derselbigen eingenommen hat. Anders ausgedrückt ist die vorliegende Arbeit ein Blick auf die kuwaitische Literatur auf Basis des kulturellen Hintergrunds von Beginn an bis zur Moderne.So far, Arabic literature of the Gulf region, especially women's literature, has found only marginal interest only both in the Arab world and Western Oriental Studies. Although the role of women in the society of the Gulf region is still a very traditional one, female authors made an important contribution to the development of its literature. This doctoral thesis begins with an overview of the history of Arabic literature during the different political eras. It goes on with a brief summary of the history of Kuwaiti literature that includes among other things the first important literary works. The next section is about Arabic women's literature in general and Kuwaiti women's literature in particular. Moreover it deals with problems and difficulties female authors had to overcome. Furthermore, it connects Kuwaiti literature with the political and social situation, considering the influence of the external circumstances which gave women the opportunity of taking part in cultural life. One of the objectives of this thesis is building a bridge between Kuwaiti literature, primarily women's literature, and its Arabic and western readers by analysing examples of Kuwaiti prose and lyric. Again and again, Kuwaiti women were dissatisfied with their situation and fought against discrimination. Literature written by women can be compared with a loud cry that expresses the call for freedom. Therefore, women's literature reflects the struggle to end the restriction of freedom. The analysis mentioned above also shows how these literary works are similar to those written by famous male authors and confirms that the literary works of women are at the same level as those of men. They work with the same poetic forms such as ghazal and comment on politic issues as well, which shows that they can describe them as rationally and precisely as men. This doctoral thesis presents an analysis of Arabic literature in Kuwait, how it evolved and how the role of the women has been changing during this process. In other words, this thesis shows Kuwaiti literature from its beginning in 1880 to the 21st century based on its cultural background

A Process-Oriented Approach to Knowledge Audit in Project-Based Organizations: A Qualitative Study

Knowledge audit can be considered the first step of knowledge management; thus, taking a process-oriented approach to knowledge audit in project-based organizations would help enrich the content related to the treasures of knowledge. In this research, the identification of components associated with knowledge audit and the design of the knowledge audit process in project-based organizations are performed based on the priorities and characteristics of such organizations. This study can be categorized as applied research. It has been carried out through a qualitative approach by employing documentary, exploratory, and thematic analysis techniques. The knowledge audit process is designed after the components of the knowledge audit have been identified. The semi-structured interview, a qualitative data collection strategy, was used throughout this research study. 13 experts involved with knowledge management in project-based organizations participated in the case study. Knowledge audit can be performed in 3 phases: the pre-audit phase, the audit phase; and, the post-audit phase. The pre-audit phase includes exploring organizational goals, vision, and mission, identifying the key processes and projects, organizing the knowledge audit team, developing the knowledge audit strategy, determining the assessment checklist and weighting the items, and designing the assessment system. In the audit phase, key projects are identified, and the assessment is carried out regarding the effective components of knowledge audit in project-based organizations. The post-audit phase incorporates developing the knowledge audit strategy, re-auditing; and, performing constant revisions. All the models and methodologies that deal with knowledge audit consider first-level processes; thus, they are too general and cannot guide how to undertake knowledge audit activities in different types of organizations practically. The distinguishing aspect of this paper is its focus on the key projects carried out in project-based organizations and preparing the assessment checklist based on the weighted components of knowledge audit determined for the requirements and priorities of such organizations.https://dorl.net/dor/ 20.1001.1.20088302.2022.20.1.12.

Ivermectin-Induced Clinical Improvement and Alleviation of Significant Symptoms of COVID-19 Outpatients: A Cross-Sectional Study

Although several drugs have been proposed and used to treat the COVID-19 virus, but recent clinical trials have concentrated on ivermectin. It appears that ivermectin can potentially act against COVID-19 and stop the development in its infancy. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of ivermectin on the recovery of outpatients with COVID-19. In this cross-sectional study, we compared the symptoms reduction in COVID-19 disease in two groups of patients by administering ivermectin. A total of 347 mild outpatients in the Iranian provinces of Qazvin and Khuzestan with a conrmed PCR were enrolled. The symptoms of outpatients with COVID-19 were analyzed using SPSS (V23). In this cross-sectional study, the sex ratio was 0.64 (female/male: 37.9/59.8) and most patients were under 50 years old (72.8%). The results of this study demonstrated a signicant decrease in several COVID-19 disease symptoms, including fever, chills, dyspnea, headache, cough, fatigue, and myalgia in the group administered ivermectin compared to the control group. In addition, the odds ratio of the above symptoms was signicantly lower in patients who received ivermectin than in patients who did not receive the drug (OR = 0.16, 95% CI = 0.09, 0.27). Keywords COVID-19 Ivermectin Cross-sectional study Outpatients Sympto

Epithelial-mesenchymal dynamics in human carcinomas

Carcinomas which are the malignancies of the epithelial tissue are the most common type of cancer. The two model systems studied in this thesis, ovarian and oral squamous cell carcinomas each comprise over 90% of cases diagnosed in their respective cancer groups. The current standing in the clinical management of both carcinomas involves surgical removal of the lesion, combined with adjuvant chemo/radiotherapy. Despite all the progress achieved, the five years survival of the patients is still low, which is largely affected by a high degree of metastatic disease relapse. It has been clearly demonstrated that most epithelial carcinomas including ovarian and oral carcinoma, manifest a large degree of cellular and molecular heterogeneity, with varied degrees of plasticity. Heterogeneity along the epithelial-mesenchymal axis driven by a cellular process called epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a crucial aspect of intratumour heterogeneity which severely affects tumour behaviour and response to treatment. Dissection of molecular pathways underlying this heterogeneity and their dynamics in response to treatment will provide a better understanding of the disease dynamics, facilitating design of novel therapeutic approaches with more promising clinical outcomes and prognosis. In the first part of this research work, the role of BMP signalling pathway in the regulation of ovarian carcinoma cells’ EMT and migration capacity was investigated. Analysing the existing ovarian carcinoma data, we demonstrated that the BMP pathway is enriched in tumours having elevated levels of EMT markers. Functional inhibition of the BMP pathway in ovarian carcinoma cells by a small molecule inhibitor, DMH1, resulted in impaired migration and depressed EMT signatures in both in vitro and in vivo models. On the other hand, ectopic induction of EMT in ovarian carcinoma cells through activation of an independent pathway, TNF-α, resulted in the selective induction of Smad-mediated BMP pathway suggesting it as the pathway of choice for the maintenance of EMT secondary to EMT induction. As the second part of the work, we have used human oral squamous carcinoma cell 3D spheroids as a model to study different aspects of tumour behaviour within epithelial and mesenchymal compartments and their functional roles during response to ionising radiation. We have further analysed the molecular dynamics of tumour spheroids during the course of radiation-induced tumour remodelling and identified the Wnt signalling pathway as a major player in radiation resistance and remodelling along the epithelial-mesenchymal axis. The last part of this thesis is a longitudinal study in which tumour biopsies from a single patient were analysed at different stages of the disease. The correlation between EMT states and the stage of carcinogenesis, radiation exposure and the location of the cells in the bulk of tumour was analysed in these samples. The results revealed that a population of hybrid ECADPos-VIMPos cells emerges and expands as the cancer develops and becomes more advanced. Moreover, by the time the well-differentiated carcinoma develops, another population comprised of ECADLow/Neg-VIMPos cells has come into existence. The number of ECADLow/Neg-VIMPos cells also increases in the relapsed tumour following the course of radiotherapy. Central parts of the well-differentiated OSCC biopsies in comparison to the marginal areas, contain higher numbers of ECADPos-VIMPos cells. The ECADLow/Neg-VIMPos cell population, however, is detectable only in the central but not the marginal areas

Zn capped Al(2)O(3)and TiO(2)nanoporous arrays as pH sensitive drug delivery systems: a combined experimental and simulation study

Drug delivery systems sensitive to pH have been investigated recently as a responsive strategy for tumour targeting in view of the slightly acidic pH environment of most solid tumours. Herein, we report Zn capped Al(2)O(3)and TiO(2)nanoporous arrays for pH sensitive drug release. The nanostructures were fabricated through electrochemical anodisation. Vitamin C as a model drug was loaded into the nanopores; some were then capped using elemental Zn. The release rates of vitamin C were investigated in water or lactic acid using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The amount of drug loaded into the nanostructures was about 7 times higher for TiO(2)compared with Al(2)O(3)and the release was faster from TiO2. Zn capping proved to be quite efficient at preventing release at high pH (7) and not largely hindering the release at low pH (5), making both systems suitable for pH-triggered release. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations showed that the diffusion of vitamin C molecules through the model nanopores is faster for TiO(2)than for Al2O3, consistent with the experimental results. The tremendously stronger H bonding interactions observed for vitamin C molecules and water molecules with the TiO(2)walls compared with Al(2)O(3)are responsible for the observed differences in the calculated number density profiles and radial distribution functions

Encapsulation and Release of Doxorubicin from TiO2 Nanotubes: Experiment, Density Functional Theory Calculations, and Molecular Dynamics Simulation

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanotubes are attractive materials for drug-delivery systems because of their biocompatibility, chemical stability, and simple preparation. In this study, we loaded TiO2 nanotubes with anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) experimentally and in all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The release of doxorubicin from the nanotubes was studied by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and confocal Raman spectroscopy, and drug-release profiles were evaluated under various conditions. The polyethylene glycol (PEG) coating and capping of the nanotubes led to a marked increase in the water contact angles from about 16 to 33 degrees in keeping with reduced wettability. The capping retarded the release rate without decreasing the overall release amount. The MD simulations further show that the DOX molecule diffusion coefficients (Di) are in the order of 10(-10) m(2)/s. The DOX molecules show a plethora of short- and long-range H-bonding interactions with TiO2 nanotube walls and water. Calculated radial distribution functions (RDFs) and combined radial/angular distribution functions (CDFs) allowed gauging the strength of these hydrogen bonds. The strength does not fully correlate with the pKa values of DOX atoms which we assign to the confinement of DOX and water in the tubes. The lifetimes of hydrogen bonds between the DOX atoms and water molecules are shorter than that of the DOX center dot center dot center dot TiO2 interactions, and DOX center dot center dot center dot DOX aggregation does not play an important role. These results suggest TiO2 nanotubes as promising candidates for controllable drug-delivery systems for DOX or similar antiproliferative molecules