The Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Egypt: A Gendered Perspective

This study aims to investigate the Egyptian entrepreneurial ecosystem from a gendered perspective, focusing on women entrepreneurs and experts’ views of the ecosystem and its effect on women entrepreneurs and their ventures. The study uses a qualitative approach incorporating semi-structured interviews with fourteen women entrepreneurs and experts with long experience in the field of entrepreneurship. The analysis shows that the pillars of the ecosystem namely policy, culture, finance, education and training, and networking have impactful influences on women entrepreneurs in Egypt, affecting their entrepreneurial journey across the different levels of venturing. Women entrepreneurs are at a disadvantage within the ecosystem due to the high prevalence of gendered stereotypes and prejudices surrounding them, lack of coordination among the players within the ecosystem, scarcity of information on available resources, and lack of understanding of the significance of women entrepreneurship and its benefits to the economic and social conditions of the country at large. The study highlights the paradox between an increasing number of available resources and services to entrepreneurs and the low number of women-owned businesses established and enhanced after receiving these services. Findings showed that these services lack quality and depth, and are not accommodating to women entrepreneurs’ needs. Ultimately, the study concluded that women need more support within the ecosystem, where they are provided with the same range of opportunities and benefits, and allowed a fair business journey on par with their male counterparts. The study contributes to the available literature on women entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurship ecosystem alike, where it highlighted the main challenges and shortcomings of the ecosystem’s pillars. It explains how it impacted women entrepreneurs’ journeys and ventures and allows for recommendations that would create a healthier and more inclusive ecosystem for women entrepreneurs

Implementation of the norms regarding prohibition of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment during criminal proceedings in Azerbaijan

https://www.ester.ee/record=b543826

Diagnosis of Sjögren’s syndrome

Universitatea de Stat de Medicină şi Farmacie „Nicolae Testemiţanu”, Chişinău, Republica MoldovaBackground. Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) is a chronic autoimmune disorder characterized by the inflammation and dysfunction of the exocrine glands, primarily affecting the salivary and lacrimal glands. The disease may also affect other parts of the body, including the joints, skin, and organs. Early and accurate diagnosis of SS is crucial for optimizing patient outcomes and providing appropriate management strategies. Objective of the study. The objective of this study is to enhance understanding of the diagnostic strategies employed in SS, focusing on the assessment of clinical signs, laboratory tests, and imaging techniques. Materials and Methods. Were selected and analyzed dates from the scientific literature using databases such as PubMed, NIH, during 2010-2022. Results. Diagnosis of SS involves a combination of clinical evaluation, serological markers, and imaging studies. Key clinical features include dry eyes, dry mouth, and systemic symptoms such as fatigue and joint pain. Laboratory tests play a vital role in confirming the diagnosis, with the detection of specific autoantibodies such as anti-SSA (Ro) and anti-SSB (La) being highly indicative of SS. Additionally, salivary gland biopsy can be performed to evaluate glandular inflammation and lymphocytic infiltration. Imaging techniques, such as salivary scintigraphy or ultrasound, may aid in assessing glandular function and structural abnormalities. Conclusion. A comprehensive evaluation, including clinical assessment, serological markers, and imaging studies, enables healthcare providers to establish the diagnosis of Sjögren’s syndrome. Further research and advancements in diagnostic techniques may enhance the prehospital diagnosis of SS, leading to better patient care and outcomes

The UAE English Teachers’ perspectives on the multi-dimensional role of cooperative learning

This study explores teachers’ perspectives on the role of the structured application of cooperative learning in enhancing ESL students’ learning engagement, social awareness, and cultural responsiveness. The main objective of this thesis is to investigate English teachers’ perceptions on the way cooperative learning can foster learning engagement, social awareness, cultural understanding and the application of differentiation in the ESL classroom. To answer the research questions, the researcher employed a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to gain deeper insight into the topic. The initial stage of the study involved the collection of the quantitative data from the Cooperative Learning Questionnaire (CLQ) responses of English teachers (n=200). The subsequent stage featured the collection of the qualitative data through the semi-structured interviews conducted with few participants (n=8) chosen from the initial sample of the first stage of the study. The obtained results suggest that English teachers find cooperative learning an effective teaching tool in creating learning motivation and engagement, instilling social values and cultural understanding, and facilitating the implementation of differentiated instruction. The research findings will facilitate further research on cooperative learning and differentiated instruction in the UAE. The study throws light on paramount issues in the field of cooperative learning in the English classroom, and it further provides comprehensive recommendations for refining the application of cooperative learning in terms of theory and practice

Intestinal epithelial responses to Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis: Effects on intestinal permeability and ion transport

Salmonella infection of chickens that leads to potential human foodborne salmonellosis continues to be a major concern. Chickens serve as carriers but, in contrast to humans, rarely show any clinical signs including diarrhea. The present investigations aimed to elucidate whether the absence of diarrhea during acute Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis (Salmonella Enteritidis) infection may be linked to specific changes in the electrophysiological properties of the chicken gut. Immediately after slaughter, intestinal pieces of the mid-jejunum and cecum of either commercial broiler or specific pathogen-free (SPF) chickens were mounted in Ussing chambers in 2 separate experimental series. Living Salmonella Enteritidis (3 × 109) or Salmonella Enteritidis endotoxin (20 mg/L), or both, were added to the mucosal side for 1 h. In both experimental series, the Salmonella infection decreased the trans-epithelial ion conductance Gt (P < 0.05). In the jejunum of SPF chickens, there was also a marked decrease in net charge transfer across the epithelium, evidenced by decreased short-circuit current (Isc, P < 0.05). Interestingly, the mucosal application of Salmonella endotoxin to the epithelial preparations from jejunum and cecum of SPF chicken had an effect similar to living bacteria. However, the endotoxin had no additional effect on the intestinal function in the presence of bacteria. The decreasing effect of Salmonella and or its endotoxin on Gt could be partly reversed by serosal addition of histamine. To our knowledge, this is the first study to address the functional response of native intestinal epithelium of chicken to an in vitro Salmonella infection. For the first time, it can be reported that intestinal ion permeability of chicken decreases acutely by the presence of Salmonella. This type of response could counteract ion and fluid secretion and may thus, at least in part, explain why chickens do not develop overt diarrhea after Salmonella infection

Provider-customer perceptions in service quality: A Gap analysis at Ishik University, Sulaimani

It is known that the service quality is the main parameter of every service providing organization to survival. Thus, the organizations must evaluate their service quality periodically and plan for the improvement. While evaluating their service quality, companies shouldn’t rely only on the end users but also the gap between what the customers perceives differ from what the providers do. The study aims to compare the service providing perceptions of department/unit managers and the service quality evaluations of students at private universities. To do this, we have used the ServQual survey questionnaire to all service providing academic and administrative units of Tishk International University (Formerly known as Ishik University). The data has been collected in two phases; first is from all managers and the working staff of the academic/administrative unit and the second is from the students for each unit that they receive service from. Those departments were cafeteria, students’ affairs, dean of students, academic department of student, and accounting unit. Based on the results, we have given some suggestions to the administration

Architecting a System Model for Personalized Healthcare Delivery and Managed Individual Health Outcomes

In recent years, healthcare needs have shifted from treating acute conditions to meeting an unprecedented chronic disease burden. The healthcare delivery system has structurally evolved to address two primary features of acute care: the relatively short time period, on the order of a patient encounter, and the siloed focus on organs or organ systems, thereby operationally fragmenting and providing care by organ specialty. Much more so than acute conditions, chronic disease involves multiple health factors with complex interactions between them over a prolonged period of time necessitating a healthcare delivery model that is personalized to achieve individual health outcomes. Using the current acute-based healthcare delivery system to address and provide care to patients with chronic disease has led to significant complexity in the healthcare delivery system. This presents a formidable systems’ challenge where the state of the healthcare delivery system must be coordinated over many years or decades with the health state of each individual that seeks care for their chronic conditions. This paper architects a system model for personalized healthcare delivery and managed individual health outcomes. To ground the discussion, the work builds upon recent structural analysis of mass-customized production systems as an analogous system and then highlights the stochastic evolution of an individual’s health state as a key distinguishing feature

UTILIZATION OF DYNAMIC RELAXATION METHOD IN SOLVING ORDINARY AND PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS OF RECTANGULAR ENGINEERING STRUCTURES

The method of dynamic relaxation in its early stages of development was perceived as a numerical finite difference technique. It was first used to analyze structures, then skeletal and cable structures, and plates. The method relies on a discretized continuum in which the mass of the structure is assumed to be concentrated at given points (i.e. nodes) on the surface. The system of concentrated masses oscillates about the equilibrium position under the influence of out of balance forces. With time, it comes to rest under the influence of damping. The iterative scheme reflects a process, in which static equilibrium of the system is achieved by simulating a pseudo dynamic process in time. In its original form, the method makes use of inertia term, damping term and time increment. The basics of this research paper stand on the ordinary and partial differential equations, which value the price of an option by using dynamic relaxation (DR) techniques. The study of partial differential equations in complete generality is a vast undertaking. As almost all of them are not possible to solve analytically we must rely on numerical methods, and the most popular ones are the finite differences methods coupled with dynamic relaxation techniques. With this research paper&nbsp; i do not intend to become an expert in few hours in order to solve differential equations numerically, but develop both intuition and technical strength required to survive when such a problem needs to be solved

Campylobacter jejuni colonization promotes the translocation of Escherichia coli to extra-intestinal organs and disturbs the short-chain fatty acids profiles in the chicken gut

For a long time Campylobacter was only considered as a commensal microorganism in avian hosts restricted to the ceca, without any pathogenic features. The precise reasons for the symptomless chicken carriers are still unknown, but investigations of the gastrointestinal ecology of broiler chickens may improve our understanding of the microbial interactions with the host. Therefore, the current studies were conducted to investigate the effects of Campylobacter jejuni colonization on Escherichia coli translocation and on the metabolic end products (short-chain fatty acids, SCFAs). Following oral infection of 14 day old broiler chickens with 1 × 108 CFU of Campylobacter jejuni NCTC 12744 in two independent animal trials, it was found that C. jejuni heavily colonized the intestine and disseminate to extra-intestinal organs. Moreover, in both animal trials, the findings revealed that C. jejuni promoted the translocation of E. coli with a higher number encountered in the spleen and liver at 14 days post infection (dpi). In addition, Campylobacter affected the microbial fermentation in the gastrointestinal tract of broilers by reducing the amount of propionate, isovalerate, and isobutyrate in the cecal digesta of the infected birds at 2 dpi and, at 7 and 14 dpi, butyrate, isobutyrate, and isovalerate were also decreased. However, in the jejunum, the C. jejuni infection lowered only butyrate concentrations at 14 dpi. These data indicated that C. jejuni may utilize SCFAs as carbon sources to promote its colonization in the chicken gut, suggesting that Campylobacter cannot only alter gut colonization dynamics but might also influence physiological processes due to altered microbial metabolite profiles. Finally, the results demonstrated that C. jejuni can cross the intestinal epithelial barrier and facilitates the translocation of Campylobacter itself as well as of other enteric microorganisms such as E. coli to extra-intestinal organs of infected birds. Altogether, our findings suggest that the Campylobacter carrier state in chicken is characterised by multiple changes in the intestinal barrier function, which supports multiplication and survival within the host