Analysis on Globalization and the Impact of Its Outcomes on Social Sciences

Continuing the critique of Western social scientific thought set in motion in the 1960s, postmodern thinkers of this decade have promoted descriptions of the uniqueness and complexity of human life by focusing on identities and group affiliations (See Bolough and Mell, 2004; Mato, 2006; Seidman, 2010; Sztompka, 2009; Zavarzadeh and Morton, 2004). The critique of logical positivism in the social sciences, which sought general truths about the social world, ultimately resulted in a discourse that rejected, to use the language of postmodern thinkers, totalizing and essentializing master narratives of the dominant canon (Martinez, 2010). Keywords : globalization, social sciences, outcomes, impac

Optimization of Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) Using Vivado High Level Synthesis (HLS)

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) represents a fundamental building module of many network security protocols to ensure data confidentiality in various applications ranging from data servers to low-power hardware embedded systems. In order to optimize such hardware implementations, High-Level Synthesis (HLS) provides exibility in designing and rapid optimization of dedicated hardware to meet the design constraints. In this paper, we present the implementation of AES encryption processor on FPGA using Xilinx Vivado HLS. The AES architecture was analyzed and designed by loop unrolling, and inner-round and outer-round pipelining techniques to achieve a maximum throughput of the AES algorithm up to 1290 Mbps (Mega bit per second) with very significant low resources of 3.24% slices of the FPGA, achieving 3 Mbps per slice area

Controlling electrical conduction through noble metal thin films by surface plasmon resonance

The collective oscillations of surface charges (surface plasmons) induced by light-matter interactions were predicted in the 1950s to influence electrical conduction in 2D noble metals. Primarily two mechanisms were predicted and later by Frohlich which could affect the electron transport in metals; (1) Umklapp electron-electron scattering and (2) attractive interaction between free electrons in transition metals because of screening of the d-band electrons by the s-band electrons. [1] However, there is no experimental evidence to date on how such oscillations might influence the electrical conductivity of 2D metals. We have conducted in-situ measurements of the surface plasmons and electrical resistivity of thin film gold. We observe striking correlations between the electrical resistivity of noble metal thin films and surface plasmon resonanc

Clinical pattern of pediatric ocular trauma in a tertiary referral center

Background: Pediatric ocular trauma may be a major source of lifelong visual morbidity and disability. Objective: To report on the different types of ocular injury in children in a tertiary referral center. Participants and settings: Children presenting with ocular trauma to the casualty department of the pediatric ophthalmology unit of Alexandria Main University Hospital in Alexandria, Egypt. Methods: The study was conducted from June to December 2018. Upon admission, thorough history was obtained from the attending person(s), and thorough ophthalmic examination was performed. Appropriate treatment was subsequently provided to every case (though not the scope of the current study). Results: A total of 146 children (from a total of 436 patients, 33.5%) (103 males, 70.5%) presented with various types of ocular injuries. The mean age ± standard deviation of the injured children was 98.1 ± 56.4 months. Study participants were almost equally distributed between within and outside of the city of the study locale, with a predominance of patients from urban areas in Alexandria (30%) and from rural areas outside of Alexandria (35.6%). Seventy percent of the care providers of the study children were manual workers. The places of the incidents were almost equally distributed between household (40%) and external environment with a slight predominance of the later (50%). Conclusions: Ocular injuries represent one-third of all ocular injuries in the study locale. Ocular injuries in children occur with an almost equal distribution in both urban and rural areas and in both household and external environments. Mechanical trauma was the most common cause of trauma

Decay Rates of Plasmonic Elliptical Nanostructures via Effective Medium Theory

This paper investigates the spontaneous decay rate of elliptical plasmonic nanostructures. The refractive index was analyzed using the effective medium theory (EMT). Then, the polarizability, spontaneous radiative, non-radiative decay rate, and electric field enhancement factor were characterized for the targeted elliptical nanostructures at different aspect ratios. All of the optical analyses were analyzed at different distances between the excited fluorescent coupled atom and the plasmonic nanostructure (down to 100 nm). This work is promising in selecting the optimum elliptical nanostructure according to the required decay rates for optical conversion efficiency control in energy harvesting for solar cells and optical sensing applications

Follow up and comparative assessment of IgG, IgA, and neutralizing antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 between mRNA-vaccinated naïve and unvaccinated naturally infected individuals over 10 months

BackgroundEvidence on the effectiveness of vaccination-induced immunity compared to SARS-CoV-2 natural immunity is warranted to inform vaccination recommendations. AimIn this study, we aimed to conduct a comparative assessment of antibody responses between vaccinated naïve (VN) and unvaccinated naturally infected individuals (NI) over 10 Months. MethodThe study comprised fully-vaccinated naïve individuals (VN; n = 596) who had no history of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and received two doses of either BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273, and naturally infected individuals who had a documented history of SARS-CoV-2 infection and no vaccination record (NI cohort; n = 218). We measured the levels of neutralizing total antibodies (NtAbs), anti-S-RBD IgG, and anti-S1 IgA titers among VN and NI up to ∼10 months from administration of the first dose, and up to ∼7 months from SARS-CoV-2 infection, respectively. To explore the relationship between the antibody responses and time, Spearman's correlation coefficient was computed. Furthermore, correlations between the levels of NtAbs/anti-S-RBD IgG and NtAbs/anti-S1 IgA were examined through pairwise correlation analysis. ResultsUp to six months, VN individuals had a significantly higher NtAb and anti-S-RBD IgG antibody responses compared to NI individuals. At the 7th month, there was a significant decline in antibody responses among VN individuals, but not NI individuals, with a minimum decrease of 3.7-fold (p < 0.001). Among VN individuals, anti-S1 IgA levels began to decrease significantly (1.4-fold; p = 0.007) after two months, and both NtAb and S-RBD IgG levels began to decline significantly (NtAb: 2.0-fold; p = 0.042, S-RBD IgG: 2.4-fold; p = 0.035) after three months. After 10 months, the most significant decline among VN individuals was observed for S-RBD-IgG (30.0-fold; P < 0.001), followed by NtAb (15.7-fold; P < 0.001) and S-IgA (3.7-fold; P < 0.001) (most stable). Moreover, after 5 months, there was no significant difference in the IgA response between the two groups. ConclusionThese findings have important implications for policymakers in the development of vaccination strategies, particularly in the consideration of booster doses to sustain long-lasting protection against COVID-19.This work was made possible by WHO grant number COVID-19-22-43 and grant number UREP28-173-3-057 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors

Burnout among surgeons before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: an international survey

Background: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had many significant impacts within the surgical realm, and surgeons have been obligated to reconsider almost every aspect of daily clinical practice. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study reported in compliance with the CHERRIES guidelines and conducted through an online platform from June 14th to July 15th, 2020. The primary outcome was the burden of burnout during the pandemic indicated by the validated Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure. Results: Nine hundred fifty-four surgeons completed the survey. The median length of practice was 10&nbsp;years; 78.2% included were male with a median age of 37&nbsp;years old, 39.5% were consultants, 68.9% were general surgeons, and 55.7% were affiliated with an academic institution. Overall, there was a significant increase in the mean burnout score during the pandemic; longer years of practice and older age were significantly associated with less burnout. There were significant reductions in the median number of outpatient visits, operated cases, on-call hours, emergency visits, and research work, so, 48.2% of respondents felt that the training resources were insufficient. The majority (81.3%) of respondents reported that their hospitals were included in the management of COVID-19, 66.5% felt their roles had been minimized; 41% were asked to assist in non-surgical medical practices, and 37.6% of respondents were included in COVID-19 management. Conclusions: There was a significant burnout among trainees. Almost all aspects of clinical and research activities were affected with a significant reduction in the volume of research, outpatient clinic visits, surgical procedures, on-call hours, and emergency cases hindering the training. Trial registration: The study was registered on clicaltrials.gov "NCT04433286" on 16/06/2020