RE-HUMANISATION OF THE ARAB CITIESTHE CASE OF ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT

Urban revolution is bringing about a qualitative transform which can be linked to globalization of economy and of technologies. This in turn makes transformations to the “human face” of city. The traditional Islamic city, with its humanisation features, has a cultural, social, political, economic and ecological logic in terms of physical fabric, layout, and uses. This can provide a lesson for modern planning and design practices. Time has come to re-create the conditions that will restore to the metropolises of today their role as centers of cultural influence and democracy. Fight against intolerance, poverty, injustice, social and cultural exclusion, affirmation of solidarity as a fundamental value of democracy and human rights, promotion of a culture of peace and education for citizenship are just few of the challenges still to be taken up along the road to the humanisation city. Consequently, decline of concept and form in contemporary urban planning around the Arab world is discussed through studying the impact of modern Western urbanization on the urban forms in recent decades. Onslaught has affected modern Arab cities that have become culturally, environmentally, and socially inhuman as they lack to strategies and solutions to meet challenges of reducing or repairing damages brought forth. This study discussed the human principles shaping traditional Islamic city, forces that affect modern Arab cities and inhuman aspects of these cities. Furthermore, a case study of human face of Alexandria, the second capital of Egypt, was presented. The study aims at answering questions such as: “What is the meaning of “humanising the city”, and what are its requirements?”, Do planning and urban design in our cities respond to human needs?”, Could principles of traditional Islamic cities be adapted to meet modern functionality and living standards maintaining its high congruence with our natural, religious and socio-cultural environment?”, etc. This study uses a combination of design research methods that combine quantitative and qualitative approaches by including both qualitative and quantitative data. The study concludes that absence of any correlation between humanisation principles and morphological characteristics of the modern Arab cities is the main reason of social, ecological and identity crisis of the urban communities. Some principles of traditional Islamic cities could be adapted to meet modern cities. It is still very relevant and viable to today\u27s urban requirement of our society. Moreover, there is an urgent need to apply these principles in a modern context to bring our cities back to its humanisation feature

High-voltage pulse generators incorporating modular multilevel converter sub-modules

Recent research established the effectiveness of applying a pulsed electric field to deactivate harmful microorganisms (such as bacteria and E. coli). Successful deactivation is achieved by lethal electroporation; a process that produces electric pores in the biological cell membrane of the harmful microorganisms when subjected to high-voltage (HV) pulses. The HV pulses are designed to create pores beyond a critical size at which the biological cell can reseal.;In contrast when applying non-lethal electroporation, the cell-membrane survives after the electroporation process. This is required, for example, when inserting protein cells in the cell-membrane. In both lethal and non-lethal electroporation, HV pulses in the kilo-Volt range (1-100 kV) with durations ranging between nanoseconds and milliseconds are required.;This thesis proposes nine pulse generator (PG) topologies based on power electronic devices and modular multilevel converter sub-modules. The proposed topologies are divided into two main groups namely: PGs fed from a HV DC supply and PGs fed from an LV DC supply. The first group presents a new family of HV DC fed topologies that improve the performance of existing HV DC fed PGs, such as flexible pulse-waveform generation and full utilisation of the DC link voltage.;The second group is dedicated to a new family of LV DC fed PG topologies which have flexible pulse-waveform generation, controlled operation efficiency, and high voltage gain.;All the proposed PG topologies share the important aspect in the newly developed HV PGs, that is modularity, which offers redundancy and robust pulse generation operation.;The presented PG topologies are supported by theoretical analysis, simulations, and experimentation.Recent research established the effectiveness of applying a pulsed electric field to deactivate harmful microorganisms (such as bacteria and E. coli). Successful deactivation is achieved by lethal electroporation; a process that produces electric pores in the biological cell membrane of the harmful microorganisms when subjected to high-voltage (HV) pulses. The HV pulses are designed to create pores beyond a critical size at which the biological cell can reseal.;In contrast when applying non-lethal electroporation, the cell-membrane survives after the electroporation process. This is required, for example, when inserting protein cells in the cell-membrane. In both lethal and non-lethal electroporation, HV pulses in the kilo-Volt range (1-100 kV) with durations ranging between nanoseconds and milliseconds are required.;This thesis proposes nine pulse generator (PG) topologies based on power electronic devices and modular multilevel converter sub-modules. The proposed topologies are divided into two main groups namely: PGs fed from a HV DC supply and PGs fed from an LV DC supply. The first group presents a new family of HV DC fed topologies that improve the performance of existing HV DC fed PGs, such as flexible pulse-waveform generation and full utilisation of the DC link voltage.;The second group is dedicated to a new family of LV DC fed PG topologies which have flexible pulse-waveform generation, controlled operation efficiency, and high voltage gain.;All the proposed PG topologies share the important aspect in the newly developed HV PGs, that is modularity, which offers redundancy and robust pulse generation operation.;The presented PG topologies are supported by theoretical analysis, simulations, and experimentation

Breeding strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa Duch) for adaptability to machine harvest and cytogenetical studies of parent and progeny

Eighteen progenies of the octoploid cultivated strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) and their parental clones were studied, with selection of parental clones based upon phenotypic performance regarding characters related to mechanical harvesting. Matings were made at random between all parents. Progenies and their parents were evaluated, through 4 harvesting periods at 3-day intervals, for yield, concentration of fruit ripening, berry firmness, and easy-cap traits as related to mechanical harvesting;Results indicated that mating of chosen parents affected these characters. Moderate increases in mean yield were obtained in some progenies; however, some progenies were not significantly affected or had lower average number of berries per plant than their own parents. Moreover, concentration of fruit ripening reached a peak during the second and third harvests. It was found that the high yielding genotypes usually concentrated high percentages of berry ripening within a short period of time;Average berry firmness as well as easy-cap traits were also affected by crosses between selected parents. In many cases, average berry firmness and average force required for berry detachment for the progeny exceeded mean averages of both parents. However, other matings decreased berry firmness and average capping force, or showed no differences between the progeny and its parents. Both traits decreased with the progression of the harvest dates. It was found that easy-cap types usually had soft berries and vice versa. These findings are important as criteria for detecting and selecting clones adapted to mechanical harvest;Cytogenetical studies were made on four progenies and their parents. For all genotypes studied, chromosomes were associated as bivalents during diakinesis and metaphase I at high frequency. Secondary associations between bivalents were observed in both stages for all genotypes. During diakinesis, loose bivalents and/or univalents were observed in some pollen mother cells (PMCs), and two nucleoli were observed in a few PMCs. Different numbers of bivalents associated with the nucleolus of the diakinesis were observed. The cytological study of meiosis and mitosis revealed that all genotypes are octoploid with 2n = 56 chromosomes. Two satellite chromosomes were detected for all genotypes. One to 8 nucleoli per nucleus were observed during interphase. This study generally revealed that both meiosis and mitosis of all genotypes studied were normal

Quantifying Safety in Software Architectural Designs

Incorporating safety in the software architectural design decisions is important for the successful applications in safety-critical systems. However, most of the existing software design rationales do not consider the quantitative aspect of the software architectures with respect to safety. As a result, alternative architectures cannot be compared adequately with respect to safety. In this paper, we present an analytical approach for quantifying safety in software architectural designs. We use the concept of architectural service routes to quantify system safety in terms of software architectural attributes. We show how to make appropriate architectural design decisions based on their impacts on safety. We compare different example architectures with respect to system safety

U.S. Newspaper Representation of Muslim and Arab Women Post 9/11.

This study examines U.S. newspaper representation of Muslim-Arab women post 9/11 with an aim of better understanding how women are portrayed in relation to religion, society, politics and the economy. Through a discourse analysis, I examined local articles from across the nation, in addition to international articles, that examine various aspects of Muslim-Arab women’s lives between 9/11/2001 and 9/11/2005. With the increasing focus on the Muslim world in general, and Muslim women in particular, it is necessary to determine how women are portrayed. Muslim-Arab women have increasingly been on the face covers of magazines and front pages of newspapers since 9/11 and all the events that followed; among the major topics covered were the war in Afghanistan, the U.S.-led Iraqi invasion, as well as the elections in both countries. This project aims to provide a comprehensive examination of the diverse stereotypes used by Western reporters to describe Muslim-Arab women, their appearance, status, roles, obligations,responsibilities and aspirations. The analysis also examines the journalistic practices that contribute to distortion and stereotyping

Government regulatory policy towards the Biopharmaceutical sector: regulatory outlook on biosimilars in Egypt.

The thesis examines the government regulatory policy towards the pharmaceutical biotechnology sector (Biopharmaceutical), with focus on Similar Biotherapeutic Products (biosimilars). Biosimilars are highly similar but not identical molecules that claim to have similar quality, safety and efficacy of original (innovator/ reference) products. They differ significantly from the chemical based medicines (conventional pharmaceuticals) that the main active substance is usually from a living organism (biological). Such critical products are high on the treatment guidelines recommended for complex diseases with high death and disability burdens. Biosimilars started accessing the Egyptian Market long time before the Government established a proper regulatory structure/pathway to regulate such products. It is expected that Biosimilars will start accessing the Egyptian market with high influx rate during the upcoming years as many originator biopharmaceuticals are losing patent protection between 2013-2020. Such influx requires progressive policy thinking and well-resourced regulatory structures to properly regulate the complex pharmaceutical biotechnology market, ensure protection of public health, prevention of potential regulatory failures and promoting investment in local production for improving access to medicines. The thesis adopts a qualitative methodology using semi structured and in-depth interviews with experts from the concerned governmental regulatory agencies, the biopharmaceutical industry, special interest groups (lobbying bodies), clinicians, civil society and independent researchers. Analytical findings revealed potential for regulatory reforms and policy options were suggested across the three regulatory domains studied (regulatory pathway of biosimilars , pricing policy and intellectual property protection)

Media Discourse Analysis: An Application of Goffman’s Frame Analysis

This paper presents an application of Goffman’s Frame Analysis on media discourse. The paper also presents another study by a Brazilian researcher who conducted a similar study comparing the media coverage of a news theme on a specific day, Christmas day. The media discourse example of this paper is taken from the Oscars awards ceremony 2016; particularly the press interview after the awarding ceremony. The incident at hand is the famous one by the Egyptian journalist who asked the Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio a meaningless question out of context whose video went viral on social media and famous world newspapers. The paper covers various frames that can help analyze the incident on linguistic, social, and even political backgrounds and it also provides possible interpretations of that incident in relation to frame analysis. Keywords: media, discourse ,Goffman, Oscars, frame analysis DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-26-05 Publication date:September 30th 201

Integrated series transformer in cascade converters for photovoltaic energy systems

This paper proposes a novel configuration for photovoltaic applications based on a cascade converter topology. The series connection between modules is achieved through the magnetic core of the integrated series transformer, therefore an inherent isolation is provided without the requirement of a dc-dc conversion stage. Such isolation approach between each module allows operation at high voltage levels without harming the PV panel insulation. The main principles that support this proposal, as well as, simulation results are presented to validate the configuration.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

The Impact of using Computer-Aided Design (CAD) on the Creativity of Architecture Students

The architectural design process is based on imagination where creativity is highly valued. Contemporary goals in higher education and particularly architectural design education include giving students tools to stimulate the search for creative solutions to problems. One of those tools is the Computer-Aided Design (CAD) tool. The use of CAD in the latter stages of the design process for efficiency purposes has become common. However, the integration of CAD into the early, schematic stages of the design process has initiated some debate where empirical evidence regarding the impact of CAD on the creativity of architectural design solutions and the influence on the creative mental process of students is lacking. The aim of this paper is to determine whether the use of CAD effectively enhances students' creative concepts. Other than descriptive-analytic methodology, the study was divided into two stages: an experimental study and a questionnaire. The first stage aimed to examine the effect of using pencil-based and computer-based methods on the creativeness of architectural solutions in the preliminary design phases. The second stage aimed to gather rich descriptions of how CAD is used in architectural design education. The respondents of these two stages were students of the Department of Islamic Architecture, Umm Al-Qura University, KSA.The study concluded that the use of CAD did not significantly inhibit, nor did it enhance creativity in the preliminary design stage compared to the pencil-based design method