Perspectives of Syrians in the Diaspora on the Foundational Factors Contributing to the Assad Regime of State Repression (2000-2011)

Researchers from different social science backgrounds have studied the various practices of state repression but seldom acknowledge that state repression is a rival system between the government regimes and their dissidents. However, rival systems can lead to competing forces that will serve either the interest of the regime or their dissidents. Researchers also have not often used the perspectives of opposition groups in the diaspora to study state repression. Focusing on the rise and entrenchment of the Assad regime in Syria (from 2000-2011), this study aimed to discover and explore the various perspectives of Syrians in the United States about the state repression of the Assad regime. Using the systems theoretical framework, this qualitative study contains three levels of examination: the individual, the domestic, and the external. The study contained 15 participants. The data were collected through in-depth interviews via purposeful sampling and analyzed with the modified van Kaam method. The results of the study suggest the Syrian state repression has become a legacy of the continuation of the rival system between the regime and dissidents. The regime successfully invested in the national resources to oversight public loyalty, generate popular support, violate human rights, and rely on external support for power survival. The Syrians in the U.S. diaspora may benefit from the results of this study by engaging with various forms of American civic engagement to generate regime reforms and prevent potential practices of state repression in Syria leading to positive social change

Theory of Current-Driven Domain Wall Motion: A Poorman's Approach

A self-contained theory of the domain wall dynamics in ferromagnets under finite electric current is presented. The current is shown to have two effects; one is momentum transfer, which is proportional to the charge current and wall resistivity (\rhow), and the other is spin transfer, proportional to spin current. For thick walls, as in metallic wires, the latter dominates and the threshold current for wall motion is determined by the hard-axis magnetic anisotropy, except for the case of very strong pinning. For thin walls, as in nanocontacts and magnetic semiconductors, the momentum-transfer effect dominates, and the threshold current is proportional to \Vz/\rhow, \Vz being the pinning potential

Impacts and social implications of landuse-environment conflicts in a typical Mediterranean watershed

In coastal watersheds, services and landuse favour coastal tourism and urbanization, depriving rural upstream of infrastructure and attention. This unbalanced management leads to an intensification of socioeconomic changes that generate a structural heterogeneity of the landscape and a reduction in the livelihoods of the rural population. The incessant dissociation between the objectives of the stakeholders triggers landuse-environment-economy conflicts which threaten to mutate large-scale development programs. Here, we used multi-assessment techniques in a Mediterranean watershed from Morocco to evaluate the effects of landuse change on water, vegetation, and perception of the rural population towards environmental issues. We combined complementary vegetation indexes (NDVI and EVI) to study long-term landuse change and phenological statistical pixel-based trends. We assessed the exposure of rural households to the risk of groundwater pollution through a water analysis supplemented by the calculation of an Integrated Water Quality Index. Later, we contrasted the findings with the results of a social survey with a representative sample of 401 households from 7 villages. We found that rapid coastal linear urbanization has resulted in a 12-fold increase in construction over the past 35 years, to the detriment of natural spaces and the lack of equipment and means in rural areas upstream. We show that the worst water qualities are linked to the negative impact of anthropogenic activities on immediately accessible water points. We observe that rural households are aware of the existence and gravity of environmental issues but act confusedly because of their low education level which generates a weak capacity to understand cause and effect relationships. We anticipate the pressing need to improve the well-being and education of the population and synergistically correct management plans to target the watershed as a consolidated system. Broadly, stakeholders should restore lost territorial harmony and reallocate landuse according to a sustainable environment-socioeconomic vision

Rainfall distribution and trends of the daily precipitation concentration index in northern Morocco: a need for an adaptive environmental policy

A national priority at the Moroccan level is to understand the spatiotemporal rainfall irregularity to anticipate suitable strategies for water and agriculture management. The most northern mountainous region shows intense sensitivity to extreme hydroclimatic hazards which may compromise the future of socioeconomic acceleration and further weaken environmental balances. However, planning and decision making require accurate data, on a detailed scale and with good spatial distribution which is not the case in several south-Mediterranean countries where rainfall data and/or well- established hydro-meteorological network is lacking. In this paper, abundant rain gauge measurements combined with time-series open data (1958-2015) were used to study the rainfall variability. Results show an annual rainfall increase trend since 1996 with frequent, intense and abundant rains causing violent torrents and floods. This humid trend alter- nates with short but severe dry periods. Spatial distribution shows a rainfall increase from eastern to western area and from the coastal plains to high mountains. Based on a continuous daily rainfall dataset (from 1988 to 2012) from six scat- tered stations, it appears that the pattern of heavy and extreme wet days takes the form of an irregular interannual cycle. Trends of the annual precipitation daily concentration indicate a significant positive trend in the center than in the East of the study area. Considering these observations, a review of water needs/obligations priorities seems crucial so that a new conscious and adaptative environmental policy would approve new procedures for a sustainable management

Study of the Physico-Chemical Properties of Sol-Gel (Er, Yb) Doped TiO2 Nanoparticles Prepared with a Novel Protocol

This paper describes the systematic preparation of doped and undoped TiO2 with Er and/or Yb nanoparticles by hydrothermal-assisted sol-gel method using supercritical drying of ethanol followed by systematic calcination steps at 500°C, 800°C and 1000°C for 2/h. The structural study of these powders with XRD reveals that our samples are crystalline with a tetragonal structure and anatase phase, which is well crystallized at 500°C. The annealing at 800°C reveals a transformation of the anatase phase to the rutile phase, which is well crystallized at 1000°C. The XRD analysis clearly indicates that the dopants are incorporated into the TiO2 network without any phase segregation-taking place in these nanoparticles. The study of the grain sizes has shown that they are nanometric in size of around 8-12 nm and that their sizes decrease with Er and/or Yb doping. The elemental analyses with micro-EDX using SEM confirmed the presence of chemical elements of TiO2 nanoparticles with expected atomic ratios. The analysis of the SEM images confirmed the XRD observations. In addition, they attest that the nanoparticles are spherical in shape. The optical analysis with excitation at 488 nm shows the presence of three emission bands in the green zone and the red zone. The heat treatment improves the optical, structural and spectroscopic properties and eliminates the contaminations that are due to the preparation conditions

Endurance and Resistance Training in Radically Treated Respiratory Cancer patients: A Pilot Study

Introduction. Respiratory cancer and its treatment are known to contribute to muscle weakness and functional impairment. Aim. To assess the effects of rehabilitation in patients with respiratory cancer. Methods. Radically treated respiratory cancer patients were included in a 12-week multidisciplinary rehabilitation program. Results. 16 patients (age: 61 ± 7 years; FEV1: 57 ± 16% pred.) showed a reduced exercise tolerance (VO2max: 56 ± 15% pred.; 6 MWD: 67 ± 11% pred.), muscle force (PImax: 54 ± 22% pred.; QF: 67 ± 16% pred.), and quality of life (CRDQd: 17 ± 5 points; CRDQf: 16 ± 5 points). Exercise tolerance, muscle force, and quality of life improved significantly after rehabilitation. Conclusion. Radically treated patients with respiratory cancer have a decreased exercise capacity, muscle force, and quality of life. 12 weeks of rehabilitation leads to a significant improvement in exercise capacity, respiratory muscle force, and quality of life

Multivariable modeling of an innovative hybrid solar-gas dryer

[EN] The main goal of this paper, is to propose a multivariable control model (MM) issued from CFD study of an innovative hybrid solar-gas dryer to simulate the drying chamber temperature in three modes of operation: Solar mode, Gas mode and hybrid mode. There is an indirect heating of drying air instead of direct heating inside the drying chamber. The air temperature obtained by CFD is still closed to one obtained by multivariable model (MM) with an RMSE under 2.31. the proposed multivariable model leads to a quick output parameters estimation related to each clilmate conditions and so, to an easy control of a hybrid solar dryer.This work was supported by the research institute for solar energy and new energies (IRESEN) as part of the project SSH and all of the authors are grateful to the IRESEN institute for its cooperation.Zoukit, A.; Elferouali, H.; Salhi, I.; Doubabi, S.; Abdenouri, N. (2018). Multivariable modeling of an innovative hybrid solar-gas dryer. En IDS 2018. 21st International Drying Symposium Proceedings. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 371-378. https://doi.org/10.4995/IDS2018.2018.7523OCS37137

Обучение английскому языку как иностранному на основе сторителлинга

The relevance of the study is determined by a high effectiveness of using storytelling for teaching, especially with young learners who always enjoy listening to stories. Stories have the ability to make the children use their imagination and dive in it. It helps the learners to develop their skills (listening, speaking, reading comprehension and writing). The method has a great impact in motivating learners to be more active in their learning process. So, teaching through storytelling can give learners a fun language learning experience. There considered the theoretical background of the problem studied and showed the importance of storytelling while teaching English as a foreign language giving some proving examples.Представлена эффективность использования сторителлинга в процессе обучения. Показано, что истории помогают детям задействовать воображение, что способствует развитию навыков аудирования, говорения, чтения и письма. Описано влияние метода на мотивацию младших обучающихся к участию в учебном процессе. Представлено теоретическое обоснование проблемы, показана важность применения сторителлинга при обучении английскому языку как иностранному, приводятся примеры