Development and the performance of the Egyptian income tax system

Income Taxation is new in Egypt. The introduction of income taxation in 1939 was aimed at achieving two basic objectives; first, to raise revenue to meet the steady increase in public expenditures, and secondly, to establish an element of equity in the tax system, where indirect taxation, which is regressive in nature, predominates. The main object of this study is to analyse the competence of the income tax system in attaining these objectives

Environmental effects of road pavements stabilized with Class F fly ash

Published ArticleFly Ash is a residue generated by coal combustion and abundantly available, but due to potentially toxic elements found in Fly Ash, is considered harmful to the environment. The objective of this study is to evaluate the environmental effects of fly ash used as a stabilization agent in road pavement construction. Using laboratory-testing specimens of fly ashes namely, Kendal Dump Ash, Durapozz and Pozzfill, stabilized with classified G5 material and 1% AFRISAM and LAFARGE cement respectively and leach testing done to evaluate chemical leach properties over time and the harmful effects it has on the environment. Laboratory leaching sample results have indicated that Fly Ash constituents exhibit limited mobility. The study revealed that Fly Ash is an environmental option and has engineering advantages when used properly for soil stabilization techniques

Optimum strategic management system for Lesotho roads network through RONET model

Published ArticleThe paper presents the application of World Bank's Model RONET to optimize strategic management system for Lesotho roads network. The Lesotho road network condition deteriorated considerably during the 2000s due to underfinancing of operations and maintenance. In recent years, as the financial situation in Lesotho has improved, financing for the road sector has gradually increased, focusing on the most hazardous and highly trafficked parts of the road network. However, the overall budget allocated to the sector remains inadequate to maintain the entire district road network in a stable condition. This research is going to present the application of World Bank's model Road Network Evaluation Tool (RONET) to strategic network level analysis of the Lesotho road network. The goals of the presented study are to obtain the optimum maintenance and rehabilitation strategy and related budget, estimate the impact of different funding levels on the future quality and estimate the economic consequences of budget constraints. The application of RONET model will lead to an optimal maintenance and rehabilitation strategy with a good balance between rehabilitation, periodic and recurrent maintenance. The implementation of optimal maintenance and rehabilitation strategy would cause major improvement compared to current condition of the network. Implementation of higher than optimal maintenance and rehabilitation leads to substantially higher roads directorate costs and consequently lower net benefits, while the implementation of the lower than optimal maintenance and rehabilitation standards would lead to considerably worse network condition for slightly lower agency costs. This means that even minor budget constraints would result in considerably higher total road transport costs in the country's economy

Toxoplasma gondii infection in native village chickens (Gallus domesticus) in Selangor and Melaka, Malaysia

Toxoplasmosis is a worldwide zoonosis caused by the protozoa Toxoplasma gondii which affects human and animals. Village chickens Gallus domesticus) most commonly known as Ayam Kampung or free-range chickens, have been suggested to play a role in the epidemiology of toxoplasmosis. This study determines the presence of T. gondii in the villagechicken populations in two states of Malaysia. A total of 50 serum samples from the chickens from Selangor (n=20) and Melaka (n=30) were collected and analysed using commercial serological kits. T. gondii antigen was detected in 20% (Selangor 30%; Melaka 13%) samplesusing ELISA test and anti-T. gondii antibody was detected in all positive ELISA samples using the indirect haemagglutination test (IHAT). Histopathological examination revealed tissue changes such as inflammation and degeneration in brain and liver of seropositive chickens.This is the first report of T. gondii infection in the village chickens in Malaysia

Modelling the trend and determinants of stunted children age 0-59 months in Nigeria

Prevalence of Stunting among under-five children is very high in many developing countries of the World. As step towards reducing the prevalence, there is need to identify the important determinants and the Trend of Stunting in the specific context. This paper examined the general trend and determinants of stunting among children 0-59 months in Nigeria. The anthropometric indices Height for age z-score was used to determine a child’s nutritional status as whether a child is stunted and the impacts of some socioeconomic, Demographic, Community level, Environmental and maternal factors on this are determined. Results from this study shows that Child’s sex, mother’s birth interval, Mother’s and their partner’s educational status, Locality, geopolitical zones of the mother’s, Wealth index, parents source of drinking water among others contributed positively to Stunting among children 0-59 months in Nigeria (p < 0.05). The general results showed that Stunting among less than five years children in Nigeria has significantly improves over time between 1990 and 2003 (p < 0.05). Although following a sinusoidal pattern. Five waves of national data from the Nigerian Demographic and Health Surveys for 1990, 1999, 2003, 2008 and 2013 were employed in the study. Keywords: Stunted, Malnutrition, Anthropometry, Height for Age, Logistic Regression

HypoglycAemic, Phytochemical and other Properties of Allium cepa L.

In the view of the promising potential of hypoglycaemic plants, 19 plants indigenous to Sudan and of common use in Sudanese folk-medicine, were screened for their hypoglycaemic activity. Out of these Allium cepa L being the most active, safe and non toxic, available and affordable, hence it had been selected for further investigation. Allium cepa was subjected to chemical tests and chromatographic procedures for the detection of its active components present.  Conducted tests and procedures confirmed the presence of sulfur compounds.  Comparative chromatographic methods as thin layer chromatography and C–18 high performance liquid chromatography revealed that the aminoacid, cysteine (0.059%) occurs as a major  constituent found in Allium cepa.  Allium cepa alcoholic extract was found to possess its hypoglycemic effect (36.33 mg/dl – reduction of glycemia) through a synergestic action of its similar sulfur phytoconstituents present, since less activity was exhibited by each of it’s fractions (aqueous and organic) obtained when partioned with hexane. We can conclude that the integrated properties of the active medicinal products especially edible plants with their hypoglycaemic activity, make their use for the control and prevention of diabetes mellitus possible and recommendable.  Unstability, similarity in constituents and synergy of their activity give reasons for not to isolate individual compounds from onions and give credits to use them whole as a crude drug or a concentrated extract.  Furthermore, descriptive characters, chemical tests and chromatographic profiles obtained in this study could be used as measures to standardize red onion growing in Sudan.                   &nbsp

New method for characterizing electron mediators in microbial systems using a thin-layer twin-working electrode cell

Microbial biofilms are significant ecosystems where the existence of redox gradients drive electron transfer often via soluble electron mediators. This study describes the use of two interfacing working electrodes (WEs) to simulate redox gradients within close proximity (250 µm) for the detection and quantification of electron mediators. By using a common counter and reference electrode, the potentials of the two WEs were independently controlled to maintain a suitable “voltage window”, which enabled simultaneous oxidation and reduction of electron mediators as evidenced by the concurrent anodic and cathodic currents, respectively. To validate the method, the electrochemical properties of different mediators (hexacyanoferrate, HCF, riboflavin, RF) were characterized by stepwise shifting the “voltage window” (ranging between 25 and 200 mV) within a range of potentials after steady equilibrium current of both WEs was established. The resulting differences in electrical currents between the two WEs were recorded across a defined potential spectrum (between −1 V and +0.5 V vs. Ag/AgCl). Results indicated that the technique enabled identification (by the distinct peak locations at the potential scale) and quantification (by the peak of current) of the mediators for individual species as well as in an aqueous mixture. It enabled a precise determination of mid-potentials of the externally added mediators (HCF, RF) and mediators produced by pyocyanin-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa (WACC 91) culture. The twin working electrode described is particularly suitable for studying mediator-dependent microbial electron transfer processes or simulating redox gradients as they exist in microbial biofilms

Antibiogram of Pseudomonas species: an important tool to combat antibiotic resistance for patient safety in Gombe, Nigeria

Background: Pseudomonas species are responsible for different healthcare-associated infections and are inherently resistant to many commonly used antibiotics. Hospital antibiograms are either absent or not regularly available in most healthcare facilities in Nigeria. The objective of this study is to present the antibiogram of Pseudomonas isolates in Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe (FTHG) in order to guide antibiotic prescription for better patient safety in the hospital.Methodology: The is a hospital-based cross-sectional study. A total of 4309 bacterial isolates were recovered from aerobic cultures of routine clinical specimens including urine, sputum, blood, swabs, aspirates, biopsies, seminal fluids and cerebrospinal fluids at the Medical Microbiology laboratory of the hospital between January and December 2019. Pseudomonas species were identified by colony morphology, Gram-reaction and conventional biochemical tests. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed on each Pseudomonas isolate using the modified Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method on Mueller-Hinton agar and results interpreted according to the guideline of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI). Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSSTM) software version 23.0.Results: Of the total 4309 bacterial isolates, 436 (10.1%) Pseudomonas species were identified, with majority (49.8%) from urine specimens. Antibiotic susceptibility test results revealed average susceptibility rates of 73.8%, 70.1%, 66.2%, 59.5%, and 34.3% to ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, levofloxacin ceftazidime, and carbenicillin respectively. These rates fluctuate only slightly for each of the antibiotic during the 12 months period of survey.Conclusion: Pseudomonas species were most sensitive to ciprofloxacin and gentamicin among the first line antibiotics in FTHG in 2019. Regular updates and presentation of hospital antibiogram especially for intrinsically resistant bacteria such as Pseudomonas involved in healthcare associated infections, is an important tool in combating antimicrobial resistance and ensuring patient safety. Keywords: antibiogram, Pseudomonas, antimicrobial resistance, antimicrobial stewardship, patient safet

PAH concentrations and exposure assessment from house dust retained in air-conditioning filters collected from Greater Doha, Qatar

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) bound in dust retained in air-conditioning unit filters from 13 households in Greater Doha, Qatar, were quantified using GC–MS spectrometry. The median concentrations of ∑16PAH and ∑7PAH were 218.0 ng g−1 (± 125.3) and 112.1 ng g−1 (± 60.2) dry weight, respectively. Results show that except one sample, three- and four-benzene-ring PAHs were dominant in all dust samples. Phenanthrene, anthracene, pyrene, benzene(a)anthracene, and chrysene were dominant in 12 samples with maximum concentrations of 69.7 ng g−1 (± 24.0), 92.9 ng g−1 (± 28.1), 60.4 ng g−1 (± 14.7), 38.6 ng g−1 (± 7.3), and 14.7 ng g−1 (± 3.5), respectively. Benzo(k)fluoranthene has the most abundance of the quantified PAHs in the dust samples accounting for 19% of the total PAHs. Although Kriging interpolation shows a spatial variation of PAHs from north to south of Greater Doha, the mean concentrations in both directions were statically insignificant. Five samples displayed levels of benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) with maximum and median concentrations at 110.8 ng g−1 and 49.9 (± 28.4) dry weight, respectively. Benzo(a)pyrene equivalent approach (BaPE) was applied to assess carcinogenic exposure, and the resulting values (1.3–116.4 ng g−1) indicate that the levels observed were below the values reported for other countries within the region. Estimated daily ingestion (EDI) rates of PAHs retained in ACU filters were assessed for five age-groups  19 years and were 0.39 (± 0.1), 0.33 (± 0.1), 0.20 (± 0.02), 0.07 (± 0.02), and 0.05 (± 0.01) ng kg−1/day, respectively. Source apportionment estimate indicates PAHs bound in dust retained in ACU filters are originated from pyrogenic sources.Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library. We acknowledge QNRF for their continued financial support of NPRP8-202-3-043. We are grateful to the technical staff and management of the chemical analysis laboratory at the Environmental Science Center and Prof Hamad Al Kawari and Mrs., Hajer Al Niami for their support during analysis. Our thanks also go to Mr. Mazen Al Asali and Mrs. Noora Al Shamary for their assistance in the sample analysis. We also are thankful to the families of residents for their participation. Our thanks go to Dr. Jeff Obbard for his support and encouragement in formulating this research. Finally, we are ever grateful to Mark Chatting for his time in reviewing the English language of this article