Parental involvement in early childhood literacy: International programs & Egyptian experiences

Research has demonstrated the importance of the early years in children’s literacy skills development and shown how children who acquire some literacy skills before school entry are at more advantage in later conventional literacy acquisition than their peers who haven’t. Moreover, several studies have examined the role parents have in their children’s early literacy development and found the parental involvement factor to be of great significance. In response to such findings and to problems such as scarcity of data about early childhood education and parental involvement in children’s early literacy development in the MENA region and Egypt in particular, this study has been designed with the purpose of initial in-depth examination of perceptions of Egyptian parents from different socioeconomic statuses (SES) when it comes to involvement in their children’s early literacy development. The study used questionnaires as a tool that included both open-ended and close-ended questions to provide qualitative and quantitative data. Participants in the study were 22 parents of kindergartners, 12 mother from a high SES and 10 from a low SES (8 mothers and 2 fathers). The study examined five themes within both SES levels: KG standing in terms of enrollment rates and quality, parental awareness, parental willingness to participate in children’s education and literacy development, parental capabilities, and parents’ views on gender roles when it comes to involvement in children’s educational development. Data findings were thematically analyzed and showed that: 1. Egyptian parents from high and low SES enrolled/want to enroll their children in kindergartens yet parents from low SES find public facility fees as barriers; as for quality, the study showed parents from high SES were more satisfied with the private facilities their children go to than parents from low SES whose children went to public kindergartens. 2. Parents from high and low SES had high awareness and willingness to participate in their children’s early literacy development, yet parents from high SES had significantly higher capabilities than parents from low SES. 3. Parents from high and low SES faced the same reality where mothers were more involved in children’s early literacy, yet parents from high SES were more aware of the importance of both parents (mothers and fathers) participating in children’s education and literacy development

The Egyptian Revolution and Antiquities

On January 25th, Egyptians peacefully demonstrated demanding Hosney Mubarak and his regime to step down. On January 28th, state police withdrew from streets which put the Egyptian Museum and Egypt\u27s antiquities elsewhere at risk

Voltage Security Optimization for Power Transmission Systems

This project proposes an optimization approach for day-ahead reactive power planning to ensure voltage security in transmission networks. The problem is formulated as a voltage-secure multi-period optimal reactive power dispatch (MP-ORPD) problem. The optimization approach searches for optimal set-points of dynamic and static reactive power (var) resources. Specifically, the output includes set-points for switching shunts, transformer taps, and voltage magnitudes at the regulated buses. The primary goal is to maximize the dynamic reactive power reserve of the system, by minimizing the reactive power supplied by synchronous generators. The secondary goal is to minimize changes in the settings of switching shunts and transformer taps, and maximize the reactive power margin at critical buses. The proposed approach requires the following inputs: the network topology, component outage schedule, forecasted active and reactive power load at a substation level, generation schedule, set of critical contingencies, and set of critical buses for each time period. Since the size of MP-ORPD problems significantly increases with the increased number of contingencies and time periods, computational efficiency is crucial for practical applications. In this project, a decomposition technique is used to partition the MP-ORPD problem into a set of subproblems, which can be solved in parallel to reduce the computation time. The proposed MP-ORPD algorithm is applied to various power networks of large electric utility companies in the Eastern interconnection. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in providing preventive control schedules

Burnout Among General Surgeons in Turkey

Aim: Burnout is a syndrome that is very common among surgeons. It is defined by emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and decreased personal success. This study aimed to investigate burnout in general surgeons in Turkey and to determine the risk factors for burnout. Method: Of the total of 4,395 general surgeons in Turkey, 630 were included in this study. Each participant was asked to complete the Sociodemographic Data Form, Maslach Burnout Inventory, and Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) either by face-to-face interview or via electronic questionnaire. Results: Of the 630 participants included in this study, 53 (8.4%) and 577 (91.6%) was female and male, respectively. The highest participation rate was from the Marmara region (36%), while the lowest participation rate was from the Eastern Anatolia region (3.13%). Attending physicians comprised the largest number of participants (72%). Those who perceived themselves as successful, with more work experience and higher academic Mtitles, had decreased EE, personal accomplishment, and DP as well as increased general, external, and internal satisfaction. Conclusion: We observed that most of the general surgeons in Turkey experienced burnout syndrome. To address this, we suggest that health systems and working conditions in Turkey should be reviewed and that the working standards and rights of the healthcare workers should be revised

The evaluation of morbidity in gastrointestinal tumor patients underwent cytoreductive surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC)

Objective: In this study, we aimed to determine the postoperative morbidity rate and identify demographic, clinical, and treatment-related variables that may be potential risk factors for morbidity in gastrointestinal tumor patients undergoing hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) with or without cytoreductive surgery (CRS). Material and Methods: In this retrospective study, 60 patients who had undergone HIPEC due to gastrointestinal tumor between October 2017 and December 2019 were included. Systemic toxicities were graded and evaluated according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 3.0 criteria. Results: Mean age of the patients was 60.43 +/- 12.83. Primary tumor localization was the stomach in 33 patients (55%), colon in 21 (35%), rectum in five (8.3%), and appendix in one patient (1.7%). PCI mean value was 9.51 +/- 10.92. CC-0 was applied in 37 (61.7%) patients, CC-1 in 11 (18.3%), CC-2 in 6 (10%), and CC-3 in six patients (10%). Morbidity was observed in 50 (83.33%) of the 60 patients participating in the study according to NCI-CTCAE v3.0 classification. Mild morbidity rate was 46.6%, severe morbidity rate was 36.6%, and mortality rate was 11.66%. Enteric diversion application, length of stay in the ICU, and length of hospital stay were shown to have a statistically significant effect on the NCI-CTCAE morbidity score (p= 0.046, p= 0.004, p< 0.001). Conclusion: With proven beneficial effects on survival in patients with locally advanced gastrointestinal tumors, CRC and HIPEC are acceptable in these patients despite their increased morbidity and mortality rate. With new studies on this subject, morbidity and mortality rates may be reduced

Bott--Kitaev periodic table and index theory

We consider topological insulators and superconductors with discrete symmetries and clarify the relevant index theory behind the periodic table proposed by Kitaev. An effective Hamiltonian determines the analytical index, which can be computed by a topological index. We focus on the spatial dimensions one, two and three, and only consider the bulk theory. In two dimensions, the $\mathbb{Z}$-valued invariants are given by the first Chern number. Meanwhile, $\mathbb{Z}_2$-valued invariants can be computed by the odd topological index and its variations. The Bott-Kitaev periodic table is well-known in the physics literature, we organize the topological invariants in the framework of KR-theory.Comment: 37 page