The Hijab in the Quran and its Effects on Muslim Women in the Western Society

The purpose of this thesis is to present the contextualization of the hijab in the Quran, present the experiences of some Muslim women who wear the hijab, and analyze them through the frameworks of choice feminism and standpoint theory. This thesis consists of two main parts: the documentary and the thesis reflective writing. The writing portion is broken down into two parts: contextualization of the hijab and documentary analysis. The documentary is mostly made up of the responses from the three interviews that were conducted virtually through Zoom. The documentary analysis portion then analyzes the experiences of the three women, Alia Alshammari, Nadeen AlOstaz, and Yasmeen Sedeek, in relation to statistics and literature. The results I found were that, Muslim women who wear the hijab are following the commands of their religion and should have the freedom of choice to dress the way they want based on their choice of faith. Moreover, due to their choice, there is a high potential for them to experience forms of discrimination and various stereotypes. Finally, stereotypes and inaccuracies arise partly due to the low level of knowledge on the subject of the hijab in the Western society which, in turn, can lead to negative effects on the Muhajabats lies

Soft Skills Training Strategy and Its Effect on Nurse Interns' Civil Behavior

Contents: Soft skills are socio-emotional skills, essential for personal development and workplace success. While civility is defined as having respect for others, and it is necessary to bring attention to the importance of soft skills and civility and discuss its impact on teaching, learning, and patient outcomes.Aim: This study aimed to assess the effect of soft skills training strategies on nurse interns' civil behavior. Methods: The study was conducted at Ain-Shams University Hospitals, where nurse interns have their training, namely; Ain-Shams University Hospital, El-Demerdash hospital, Pediatrics Hospital, and Cardiovascular Hospital using a quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design. The subjects of this study included all available nurse interns having their training in the settings mentioned above during the data collection period (the academic year 2017-2018). The study sample was 90 nurse interns, 35 males, and 55 females. The data were collected by using two tools, namely the soft skills elements questionnaire and the workplace civility index. Results: The study revealed a highly statistically significant improvement in nurse interns' total knowledge in the post and follow-up phases p<0.01 as compared to the pre-intervention phase. Also, there was a highly statistically significant improvement in nurse interns' soft skills in the post and followed-up phases p<0.01 as compared to the pre-intervention phase. In addition to a highly statistically significant improvement in nurse interns' civil behavior in the post and follows up phases p<0.01 as compared to the pre-intervention phase. Conclusion: Implementing a soft skills training strategy for nurse interns is effective to improve their civil behavior. Based on the study findings, it was recommended that soft skills training strategy should be applied in all nursing curricula. The faculty of nursing should be supplied with all the learning resources needed in the educational system to support the students’ soft skills development, and further studies should be developed to handle the barriers of implementation of soft skills training strategy in nursing education

The Extent of Practicing Crisis Management by Jordanian Secondary School Principals in the Light of the Contemporary Educational Challenges

The present study aimed to explore the extent of practicing crisis management by Jordanian secondary school principals in the light of the contemporary educational challenges. The study’s population consists from the principals and teachers who at Jordanian secondary schools. The sample consists from 1000 principals and teachers who work at Amman. To meet the study’s goals, a descriptive approach was adopted.  It was found that the extent of practicing crisis management by Jordanian secondary school principals is moderate in the light of the contemporary educational challenges. It was found that practicing crisis management by Jordanian secondary school principals in the light of the contemporary educational challenges is highly significant. Therefore, it’s necessary to identify the contemporary educational challenges and the crisis derived from such challenges. The researchers suggested several recommendations. For instance, they recommend activating the role of crisis management in the light of the contemporary educational challenges. Keywords: crisis management, Jordanian secondary school principals, contemporary educational challenges DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-15-16 Publication date:May 31st 202

Use of Phenols, Peroxidase and Polyphenoloxidase of Seed to Quantify Resistance of Cotton Genotypes to Damping-off Incited by Fusarium oxysporum

A greenhouse test was conducted in 2011 and 2012 growing seasons at Giza Agricultural Research Station to evaluate the reaction of six cotton genotypes to damping-off incited by Fusarium oxysporum. Damping-off incidence on the genotypes ranged from 70-88%. In general, the genotypes could be divided into highly susceptible, susceptible, and moderately susceptible. Data for damping-off incidence and level or activity of some biochemical components (phenols, peroxidase, and polyphenoloxidase) were entered into a computerized linear regression analysis. The analysis contrasted seven predictive models by using the biochemical components, singly or in combination, as biochemical predictors. It was evident that models nos. 2 and 6 were the best models for predicting incidence of damping-off. The superiority of these models was attributed to their high RІ values (0.748 and 0.902, respectively) and the significance of their F. values (P = 0.026 and P = 0.031, respectively). The results of the present study suggest that peroxidase alone or both peroxidase and polyphenoloxidase, which may or may not parts of damping-off resistance mechanisms, can be used as biochemical markers to predict resistance to damping-off incited by F. oxysporum

Antenatal dexamethasone effect on Doppler blood flow velocity in women at risk for preterm birth: prospective case series

Background: Maternal administration of corticosteroids is essential to improve fetal lung surfactant production and hasten the fetal lung maturity in women at risk for preterm birth.Objectives: The current study aims to evaluate the effects of dexamethasone on fetal and uteroplacental circulation in pregnancies at risk for preterm birth after 24 hours of its administration.Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was carried out in a tertiary University Hospital and included 52 pregnant women with singleton pregnancies. Doppler studies were performed on maternal uterine arteries, umbilical artery, fetal middle cerebral artery (MCA) and fetal descending aorta and just before dexamethasone administration and repeated 24 hours after completion of the course.Results: There was a statistically significant difference between all Doppler indices in the umbilical artery (PI= 1.09±0.4 and 1.05±0.39, RI= 0.66±0.14 and 0.63±0.14; p=0.001), fetal MCA (RI= 0.86±0.12 and 0.83±0.13, PI= 2.19±0.72 and 2.15±0.72; p=0.001) and aorta (RI= 0.9±0.55 and 0.87±0.55; p=0.001, PI= 1.91±0.44 and 1.89±0.44; p=0.040) in comparison before and 24 hours after maternal dexamethasone administration respectively. Also uterine artery PI was significantly different (0.9±0.27 and 0.87±0.26; p=0.001).Conclusion: Antenatal dexamethasone for women at risk of preterm birth improves the fetal and uteroplacental blood flow at 24 hours after its administration.Keywords: Doppler; preterm birth; corticosteroids; dexamethasone

HYPOLIPIDEMIC AND ANTI-FATTY LIVER EFFECTS EXERTED BY STANDARDIZED PUNICA GRANATUM L. PEEL EXTRACT IN HEPG2 CELL-LINE AND HIGH-FAT DIET-INDUCED MICE

Objective: Pomegranate, (Punica granatum L., Lythraceae) peel has concentrated amounts of lipid-lowering elements that demonstrated, in various hoary and recent studies, their effects against obesity and hyperlipidemia, which involves elevated rates of lipid and lipoprotein levels in blood and increases risks of cardiovascular diseases.We aim to study expression modulation of genes involved in lipid metabolism by the impact of standardized pomegranate peel extract (PPE) in a comprehensive research on human liver cells and experimental mice.Methods: Using reverse-transcription real-time PCR, an in vitro study harnessing HepG2 cell line was conducted to determine the hyperlipidemia-related gene expression profiles and cytotoxic effects upon treatment with PPE. In another complementary in vivo study, male C57BL/6J mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) or an HFD supplemented with PPE for 14 d to define the expression of lipid metabolism related genes that control obesity. Fatty liver proportions were also estimated after treatment.Results: Higher mRNA expression of LDL receptor (LDL-R) and down-regulation of sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBF-2), (SRBEP-1c), Fatty acid synthase (FAS) and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGCR) upon PPE treatment in HepG2 cell line were significantly recorded. In vivo study indicated significant weight reduction of body and liver, besides amelioration of fatty liver state detected by histological analysis. Moreover, the reverse-transcription real-time PCR assay demonstrated suppression (FAS) expression and up regulation of hormone sensitive lipase (HSL) in mice isolated liver and white adipose tissues.Conclusion: Our study manages to affirm the hypolipidemic and anti-fatty liver influence of Punica granatum L. peel extract, reflected by molecular evaluation above and beyond other physiological assays.Keywords: Pomegranate, Peel extract, Hyperlipidemia, LDLR, SREBP, FAS, HMGCR, HS

Automatic quantification of vocal cord movement symmetry based on fibre-optic nasendoscopy video processing

Automatic Quantification of Vocal Cord Movement Symmetry based on Fibre-optic Nasendoscopy Video ProcessingIntroductionClinical subjective assessment of the symmetry of vocal cord movement may lead to variability in diagnosis, particularly in challenging cases. We aimed to enhance diagnostic practices by quantifying vocal cord motion, recorded in nasendoscopy videos, using bespoke image processing to measure vocal cord movement symmetry. Materials & Methods: With patient consent, routine clinical video data of vocal cord motion were recorded using flexible fibre-optic nasendoscopy connected to a 25 frame per second camera. In this study, 3 normal cases and 3 unilateral palsies were examined. A sequence of video frames pertaining to abduction movements were manually selected and input into the custom software for automatic processing. The algorithm executes a novel framework to quantify vocal cord motion, with steps involving glottal area segmentation, estimation of motion between successive frames of delineated vocal cord edges and measurement of movement symmetry. Results: In the normal cases, the horizontal velocity of motion of one vocal cord was at least 80% (±0.58%) of the other. The unilateral paralysed vocal cords were found to achieve only 18% (severe), 58% and 59% motion of the contralateral vocal cord. Conclusion: The results demonstrate a technique to objectively quantify vocal cord movement. Future work involves a comparative study of the results with subjective clinicians’ rating of vocal cord motion, on a discrete 5-point scale. This technique may potentially be used in the diagnosis of subtle vocal cord movement asymmetries and early reduction in vocal cord movement due to pathology, and to aid in the assessment of outcomes of post-surgical interventions

Entrepreneurship games: Overview and their future in the UAE

Numerous research studies have been carried out on the use of computer games in teaching students of all ages in specific subject areas, such as health, business, maths, languages, culture, etc. Many of them recommend integrating such tools into educational curricula as an innovative and creative way to deliver course content. There are also studies that show the drawbacks of using these games in education if they are not used properly and within specific constraints. In this paper, we have considered some of these constraints while testing a game on students at Zayed University in the UAE. One of our aims is to contribute to the research on the effects of using games in teaching in a new area, such as entrepreneurship. Another is to provide empirical data on the use of such an approach in higher education in general

Automatic quantification of vocal cord paralysis - an application of fibre-optic endoscopy video processing

Full movement of the vocal cords is necessary for life sustaining functions. To enable correct diagnosis of reduced vocal cord motion and thereby potentially enhance treatment outcomes, it is proposed to objectively determine the degree of vocal cord paralysis in contrast to the current clinical practice of subjective evaluation. Our study shows that quantitative assessment can be achieved using optical flow based motion estimation of the opening and closing movements of the vocal cords. The novelty of the proposed method lies in the automatic processing of fibre-optic endoscopy videos to derive an objective measure for the degree of paralysis, without the need for high-end data acquisition systems such as high speed cameras or stroboscopy. Initial studies with three video samples yield promising results and encourage further investigation of vocal cord paralysis using this technique

Chemical Composition of the Essential oil of The Leaves of Pimenta diocia (L.) Merr. & Pimenta racemosa (Mill.) cultivated in Egypt and Evaluation of Their in-vitro Antioxidant and Antidiabetic Activities

The aim of the study is to identify and characterize the chemical composition of the essential oil of both leaves of Pimenta diocia (L.) Merr. and Pimenta racemosa (Mill.)  as well as to evaluate their in-vitro antioxidant and anti-diabetic potency. Both leaves essential oil was analyzed by GC-MS analysis. Different in-vitro antioxidant tests were employed, namely, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ferric thiocyanate (FTC), ferric reducing antioxidant power, thiobarbituric acid (TBA) and β-carotene-linoleate bleaching assay. Also, the present work aims to evaluate the α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition as well as glucose uptake by yeast cells of essential oils. Essential oil analysis of the leaves of Pimenta racemosa (Mill.) showed high amounts of eugenol (37.95%), β-Myrecene (21.01%), α-Pinene (17.82%), linalool (6.15%) and limonene (5.93%).  GC-MS data of leaves essential oil revealed the presence of  eugenol (30.17%), limonene (17.24),  α-Pinene (16.78%), linalool (9.71), 1,8 cineole (8.31%) and β-myrecene (5.21%) . Pimenta diocia (L.) Merr. and Pimenta racemosa (Mill.) leaves essential oil having antioxidant effect using various methods. In most of the oil samples and assays the antioxidant activity was higher than the one revealed by the positive control BHT. Both plants essential oil showed potent inhibition of α-Amylase at concentration 2.00 mg as it was inhibited by (75 and 63 %); with IC50 (0.95 and 1.13); respectively as well as inhibition of α-glucosidase enzyme by (61.42 and 53.00%) with IC50 (3.17 and 4.25); respectively. Also the percentage of glucose uptake by Pimenta diocia (L.) Merr. and Pimenta racemosa (Mill.) leaves essential oil at 2.00 mg/ml in the presence of 25 mM glucose is (63.49% and 49.61%); respectively. Conclusion: the present study clearly identified the Egyptian chemotype of Pimenta diocia (L.) Merr. and Pimenta racemosa (Mill.) leaves essential oil, it also displayed safe and promising antidiabetic and antioxidant properties. Therefore the essential oil of both species can be utilized as a natural antioxidant and antidiabetic as well as health benefits