The Stigma of Wasta: The Effect of Wasta on Perceived Competence and Morality

Wasta is an Arabic word that means the use of social connections to obtain benefits that otherwise would not be provided. Wasta plays a very important role in securing of employment in Arab countries. This paper attempts to study the attribution effects of wasta on perceptions of competence and morality. The main hypotheses is that those that use wasta to obtain employment will be perceived as incompetent and immoral irrespective of their true competence and morality. Data gathered from an Egyptian sample supports the hypotheses. Thus, we conclude that wasta may tarnish the image or stigmatize its user.Nepotism, attribution theory

Optimization of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) Fleet Size With Incorporation of Battery Management

An important aspect in manufacturing automation is material handling. To facilitate material handling, automated transport systems are implemented and employed. The AGV (automated guided vehicle) has become widely used for internal and external transport of materials. A critical aspect in the use of AGVs is determining the number of vehicles required for the system to meet the material handling requirements. Several models and simulations have been applied to determine the fleet size. Most of these models and simulations do not incorporate the battery usage of the vehicles and the effect it can have on the throughput and the number of AGVs required for the system. The goal of this research is to develop a simulation model to determine the optimized number of AGVs that is capable of increasing throughput while meeting the material handling requirements of the system. This model incorporates the battery management aspect and issues, which are usually omitted in AGV research. This includes the charging options and strategies, the number and location of charging stations, maintenance, and extended charging. The analysis entails studying various scenarios by applying different charging options and strategies and changing different parameters to achieve improved throughput and an optimized AGV fleet size. The results clearly show that battery management can have a significant effect on the average throughput and the AGV usage. It is important that the battery management of the AGVs is addressed adequately to run an AGV system efficiently

Experimental Assessment of Forward Osmosis Membrane System for Separation of Suspended Colloids

The formation of the stable suspended colloids is well known in many industrial applications, whether you are in the wastewater treatment, dairy, chemical refinery, or food processing and production industry. Always there is one common challenge everyone faces: Total Suspended Solids (TSS). These suspended colloids can be very stable and difficult to separate due to their small size (less than 2?m). Many methods were tested for treating removing such colloidal particles. However, each method has its limitation in capability, depending on the condition and concentration of such colloidal particles. In this study, Forward Osmosis (FO) is used to remove such stable suspended particles without any flocculation and coagulation pretreatment. Forward Osmosis (FO) is an emerging technology in water treatment, which has several applications in different industries, and it has many advantages over other membrane processes. FO treats complex effluents with high rejection rate, has lower fouling/cake formation affinity, and relies on the difference in osmotic pressure across the membrane without the need of high-pressure aids which means minimum energy requirement. The utilization of FO in separating suspended colloids and its performance under different operating conditions. The results showed that FO membrane significantly remove the suspended colloids without having permanent fouling. This study concluded that FO membrane is promising technology for removing stable colloidal particles from wastewater effluent

Retrospective Study on the Unusual Clinical Presentations of Different Surgical Affections of the Digestive System in Large Ruminants

The present study aimed to sort and describe rare surgical affections of the digestive system and those with unusual clinical presentations in large ruminants (cattle and buffaloes). Twenty-three animals with different ages, weight, and sexes were selected from 3225 cases admitted to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Assiut University, in the duration between July 2015 and September 2019. The selected animals had single or multiple lesions. The surgical affections were unusual cases of brachygnathia inferior (1), opened right mouth commissure (1), macroglossia (1), tumor attached to the tongue (1), ectasia of parotid duct (1), supra-orbital sialocele (1), para-esophageal septic hematoma (1), Peri-esophageal abscess (1), peri-esophageal mass (1), diaphragmatic hernia (1), left displacement of abomasum (6), intestinal volvulus (1), segmental stenosis of caudal part of descending colon (1), and umbilical eventration (5). The results of this study revealed that eight affections (12 animals) were congenital, five affections (10 animals) were acquired and one affection could not be determined. The affected animals were 22 cattle (mature and immature), and 1 buffalo calf. They were 17 males and 6 females. Three out of 10 (3/10) treated congenital cases improved and survived, whilst the other seven cases either died or did not improve. Eight out of ten treated animals with acquired affections improved and recovered, while the other two animals died (1 case), and did not improve (1 case). It could be concluded that the unusual affections of the digestive system are common in cattle than buffaloes. The surgical outcomes of the congenital affections of the digestive system were not good, which refer to that the animals might have other covert or inapparent defects. The surgical corrections of acquired cases are feasible

Sharp Foreign Body within the Thorax Concurrent with Pneumomediastinum in an Adult Cow: A Case Report

According to the author knowledge, this report described for the first time pneumomediastinum that was concurrent with sharp foreign body syndrome in an adult recently parturient cow, which was admitted with signs of traumatic reticuloperitonitis. The radiographic examination revealed both sharp metallic foreign body (nail) within the thoracic cavity and pneumomediastinum. The latter is recognized by visualization of the structures, which could not be seen on the radiograph of normal animals. The animal did not receive any type of treatment and its owner was advised with its slaughter