Analysis of the Architectural heritage of El-Mansoura city, Egypt: towards urban conservation approach

Mansoura city is one of the Egyptian intermediate cities in the Nile delta, The city center heritage are in mostly the European Mediterranean style because of the presence of the foreigners in the city spatially Greek and Italian communities during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. As many other Egyptian intermediate cities, the city heritage suffers from lack of maintenance and the absence of organized conservation programs. El-Mansoura architectural heritage are divided into main five zones around the city center. The first is the “private palaces and villas zone” in the west of the city center, it was the residence of the aristocratic Egyptians. The second is the “Northern city center” on the Nile, it was the administration zone near the old port. The third is the “Commercial center” with high concentration of commercial activities. The fourth is “El-Mokhtalat neighborhood” in the east of the city center, it was the residence of the foreigners and elite Egyptians. The last one is “Torel neighborhood” it is a combination of private villas in a grid of perpendicular street. Their are some trials to preserve and restore some building of the city heritage but normally they are individual trails and some times without professional procedures and studies, Now there is some projects to make urban development of the city valuable zones in collaboration between “El-Dakahlia’ governorate and “Mansoura university, Department of architectural engineering” and that will lead to effective restoration and rehabilitation projects in the future

THE CHALLENGES OF SUSTAINABLE HISTORICAL CENTERS: THE CASE OF ROSETTE, EGYPT

Historical centers of many Egyptian cities managed to survive as living cities in spite of physical decline and economic depression. Their fabric carries out the spiritual and cultural messages that communicate with their present citizens. The heritage of these historic city centers are not only Material character, but much more. Generally, the conservation of historic centers is fundamentally different from conservation of single monument. While a single monument can be kept on a chosen state of evolution, the historic centers cannot be preserved in particular state \u201cwith exception of the small areas conserved for tourist purposes\u201d. The historic centers, as living cities must meet the varying needs of citizens with sustainable transformations. The challenge is not how to preserve, but how to create dynamic living spaces and places that produce rich in cultural traditions that lead organically from the past to the future. The research will study and analyze the historical center of \u201cRosetta\u201d, which is one of the intermediate cities in northern Egypt that has a particular architectural heritage and many urban problems. The city of Rosetta (Rashid in Arabic) is located on the west bank of the Rosetta branch of the Nile, approximately 65km east of Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast. Today it is best known for the Rosetta stone, which was discovered in the Qayitbay castle in 1799. The city history passed over many periods of increase and decrease in its importance due to economical and political reasons. Its architectural heritage reveals the influence of various ages, but the most unique are merchant houses and mosques from the ottoman period. The city also has a particular suburban landscape of agricultural land and palm groves that are of great importance. Although Rosetta is no longer a leading commercial center, its citizens are employed in various typical activities, which are mainly agriculture, stocking and processing rice from the Delta, fishing and building ships and yachts. The main problem that faces the historic buildings of Rosetta is moisture from the soil, caused by an excess of underground salt water. The historic merchant houses have been the subject of many restoration projects over the past 20 years, but many of them have regularly been re-damaged by water and humidity and are currently under re-restoration. Unfortunately, some have even collapsed or were demolished. However, there are a number of activities that may take place in the historic buildings no longer used, maintaining the characteristics, such as crafts centers, libraries and cultural places that serve the local communities. Rosetta's historic center future must include renovation and modernization of basic infrastructure and development of traditional production sectors, based on the exploitation of this natural and cultural heritage to promote tourism locally and internationally. Physical restoration of the buildings is not enough to keep the historic center of the city alive, but a project for rehabilitation based on sustainability should be initiated. Not only to preserve and restore the outer shell, but inside the shell should insert some activities, social and economic dynamics that can make best use of resources and potential. The revitalization of Rosetta provides a mix of cultural, social, economic, technical and institutional that needs coordinated investments by the government. Must involve residents, landowners and all those have interest to ensure the careful maintenance and replacement of the elements of the built environment. This does not only depend on the availability of funding but also the specific technical and social skills that make up the traditional know-how. Unfortunately, many historical cities, especially the intermediate cities in Egypt suffer from lack of funds and local expertise. But the main problem is the lack of cooperation between the authorities who make the decisions

Thermal Analysis of a Hybrid Air Conditioning System with Geothermal Energy

Hybrid air conditioning systems can allow significant energy saving and emissions reductions with respect to conventional air-conditioning systems. Thermal analysis of a desiccant wheel, a heat exchanger, a ground source circulation system, and a solar collector for a hybrid air conditioning system is performed in this study. The effects of these parameters have been studied: Inlet air temperature, Inlet air humidity ratio, wheel speed, regeneration temperature, regeneration mass flowrate, heat exchanger effectiveness, ground source circulation effectiveness, and solar radiation on the behavior of the outlet air temperature and the outlet air humidity ratio from the desiccant wheel, the area of solar air collector, the solar collector efficiency, the cooling coil load, and the coefficient of performance. The hybrid system is more efficient than the vapor compression system. The hybrid system significantly decreases the cooling coil load, the cooling coil load of the hybrid system is approximately 48 % lower than the vapor compression system

Effect of extreme low and high temperatures on the almond moth, Ephestia cautella (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

he different immature stages of the almond moth, Ephestia cautella (Walker) were exposed to low temperature of -5ºC for different exposure times. Exposure of eggs to 240 to 360 minutes is sufficient to achieve 100% mortality for this stage. Exposed early larval instar to -5ºC for 180 minutes is sufficient to achieve 100% mortality. Exposure of the late larval instars to 300 and/or 360 minutes is effective to achieve a complete mortality for the late larval instars of the pest. The calculated LT50 and LT95 were 113.73 and 208.64 minutes. Exposure of pupae to 300 minutes or more is effective to get a complete mortality for the pupal stage. High temperatures of 45º, 50º, 55º and 60ºC were tested against egg, late larval instars and pupal stages of E. cautella. Mortality tended to be increased with the increasing of temperature and exposure time. Exposure time for more than one hour at 45ºC, 15 minutes at 50ºC and 10 minutes at 55ºC were more effective and led to more than 95% mortality for the egg stage of E. cautella. Exposure of the late larval instars for more than 97.22, 72.17, 17.65 minutes at 45, 50 and 55ºC is sufficient to achieve more than 95% mortality for the late larval instars as indicated by LT95 values. Exposing the pupae to 25 minutes at high temperatures of 50ºC and to 15 minutes at 55ºC is an effective to get complete mortality for the pupal stage. Thus exposure times for more than 90 minutes at high temperature of 45ºC; 33 minutes at 50ºC and/or 11.67 minutes at 55ºC were more effective to achieve more than 95% mortality of the pupal stage of E. cautella.

Potentiometric Determination of Ketotifen Fumarate in Pharmaceutical Preparations and Urine Using Carbon Paste and PVC Membrane Selective Electrodes

This study compares between unmodified carbon paste (CPE; the paste has no ion pair) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) membrane selective electrodes that were used in potentiometric determination of ketotifen fumarate (KTF), where sodium tetraphenylborate (NaTPB) was used as titrant. The performance characteristics of these sensors were evaluated according to IUPAC recommendations which reveal a fast, stable, and linear response for KTF over the concentration range of 10−7 to 10−2 mol L−1. The electrodes show Nernstian slope value of 52.51 ± 0.20 and 51.51 ± 0.25 mV decade−1 for CPE and PVC membrane electrodes at 30°C, respectively. The potential is nearly stable over the pH range 3.0–6.0 and 2.0–7.0 for CPE and PVC membrane electrodes, respectively. Selectivity coefficient values towards different inorganic cations, sugars, and amino acids reflect high selectivity of the prepared electrodes. The electrodes responses at different temperatures were also studied, and long operational lifetime of 12 and 5 weeks for CPE and PVC membrane electrodes, respectively, were found. These are used for determination of ketotifen fumarate using potentiometric titration, calibration, and standard addition methods in pure samples, its pharmaceutical preparations (Zaditen tablets), and biological fluid (urine). The direct potentiometric determination of KTF using the proposed sensors gave recoveries % of 98.97 ± 0.53 and 98.62 ± 0.74 with RSD 1.42 and 0.63% for CPE and PVC membrane selective electrodes, respectively. Validation of the method shows suitability of the proposed sensors for use in quality control assessment of KTF. The obtained results were in a good agreement with those obtained using the reported spectrophotometric method

Epidemiological study of risk factors in pediatric asthma

Background: Childhood asthma is a major public health problem in Egypt and worldwide. Epidemiologic, physiologic, and social factors appear to be associated with an increased risk of asthma. Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the most frequent risk factors of childhood asthma exacerbation and severity in our community. Methods: This cross sectional study involved 206 asthmatic children, 5 to 15 years old. They were enrolled from the School Students Health Insurance facility of El-Matareya Teaching Hospital and from the Pediatric Outpatient Clinic of Saint Mark Charity Hospital representing several social and residential classes. They were assessed clinically and by peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). Parents of children were interviewed for symptoms and some demographic, social, environmental, housing and familial data as well as asthma triggers through a comprehensive detailed questionnaire. Results: Residential distribution and social status were significantly associated with asthma severity as most moderate persistent asthmatics lived in semi-urban areas (70.8%) and belonged to the low-level segment of social classification (47.9%). In the majority of the study population (69.9%), a family member or more had a positive history of bronchial asthma, and this was especially evident in moderate persistent cases (70.8%). Passive smoking and dust triggered exacerbations in 48.6% and 65% of the studied sample respectively and in most moderate persistent asthmatics (83.4% and 93.7%). Most houses of moderate asthmatics were infested with cockroaches (91.7%) and domestic animals were present in 56.2%. Recurrent chest infections and cold/flu attacks were strongly associated with asthma exacerbation and severity (93.8% and 93.7% of moderate persistent cases respectively). Most moderate persistent asthmatics (91.7%) reported exercise-induced asthma while 64.6% stated that emotional stress triggered their symptoms. Indoor pollutants such as insecticides, household chemicals and odors were strongly associated with asthma severity and exacerbation especially in moderate persistent cases (triggered symptoms in 66.7%, 52.1% and 58.3% of cases respectively). Conclusion: Smoking, emotional stress and dust were the most significant triggers of asthma exacerbation and severity in our series. Identification and avoidance of risk factors for persistent asthma, combined with early institution of pharmacologic and other intervention strategies, may lead to a better outcome.Keywords: asthma severity; asthma triggers; children; residence; risk factors; smoking; social statusEgypt J Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2007; 5(1): 11-1

A New Generalized Family of Distributions for Lifetime Data

A new class of continuous distributions called the generalized Burr X-G family is introduced. Some special models of the new family are provided. Some of its mathematical properties including explicit expressions for the quantile and generating functions, ordinary and incomplete moments, order statistics and Rényi entropy are derived. The maximum likelihood is used for estimating the model parameters. The flexibility of the generated family is illustrated by means of two applications to real data sets

Epidemiological study of school performance and asthma medications among asthmatic Egyptian school children

Background: Childhood asthma is a major health problem in Egypt and worldwide. Barriers to reducing the burden of asthma include symptom-based rather than disease-based approaches, tendency of care to be ‘‘acute’’ rather than “regular” and cultural attitudes towards drugs and drug delivery systems. Objective: To measure the disease effect on school performance and to map asthma medications with respect to types, routes and course of use. Methods: This cross sectional study involved 206 Cairene asthmatic school children, enrolled from the school students’ health insurance facility of El-Matareya Teaching Hospital and the pediatric outpatient clinic of Saint Mark Charity Hospital representing different social classes and residential locations. Their ages ranged between 5 and 15 years and they comprised 100 males and 106 females. They were assessed clinically and by peak expiratory flowmetry. Parents or caregivers were interviewed about disease symptoms, school achievement and attendance and medications used including relievers and controllers, route and course of use, whether continuously, intermittently and/or during attacks. Results: Asthma had a strong impact on school achievement and school absence; 77.3% of study population reported school absence due to asthma and 41.3% reported weak to average school achievement. School performance was associated with asthma severity; the majority of moderate asthmatics (64.6%) had average and weak school performance. Number of days of school absence demonstrated highly significant relation with asthma severity; 43.6% of moderate asthmatics had 5-6 absent days/month and 33.4% had 3-4 absent days/month. Combined β2-agonists and xanthines was the most commonly used (54.8%) reliever therapy followed by β2-agonists alone (44.2%) while corticosteroids were the most common controllers used (97.6%). Therapy was taken mainly by oral than inhalation route. Other medications like cromolyns, anti-histamines, anti-leukotrienes and anti-cholinergics were rarely used. Both rectal and injection routes were rarely used also. Conclusion: Asthma has a social burden on asthmatic children as it affects both school achievement and school attendance. Medical management of asthma in Egyptian children still lags behind available medical knowledge. Patients’ and health care givers’ education is a cornerstone in improving the current status of asthma management in Egypt.Keywords: asthma medications; asthma severity; children; school performanceEgypt J Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2009;7(1):23-3