Would Demarketing Strategies Rationalize Household Food Waste Consumption?

The objective of this research was to explore the influence of demarketing strategies on rationalization of household food waste “HFW” in the Gaza Strip “GS”, Palestine. More specifically, this paper concentrated on better understanding of the nature and meaning of demarketing, as well as identifying the factors that drive demarketing and develop a HFW demarketing model. To gather primary data, an empirical research was conducted with 326 questionnaires from the Palestinian citizens in the GS. The findings indicate that there is a relationship between independent variables (product, price, place, and promotion) and the dependent variable (the customer’s behavioral intention towards rationalization of HFW) for a number of reasons that were investigated during the research. The paper then concluded with recommendations for future academic studies and policymakers in Palestine

Data Clustering Analysis of the Factors Affecting Palestinian Customers’ Attitudes Towards SMS Advertising

The aim of this article is to identify the factors affecting customer attitudes toward SMS advertising in the Palestinian banking sector using data clustering. A survey questionnaire was designed and distributed to collect primary data. In total 412 usable questionnaires were analyzed using data clustering. The findings reveal that relevancy, entertainment, informativeness, and creditability have positive impact on the attitudes of the Palestinian customers towards the Banks’ SMS advertising. Data clustering, however, provided empirical evidence that most of the respondents are annoyed by the SMS advertising which requires developing policies and procedures at the bank level to get the customers consent (permission) to receive SMS advertisements prior to sending them to customers

Experimental observation of high field diamagnetic fluctuations in Niobium

We have performed a magnetic study of a bulk metallic sample of Nb with critical temperature $T_{c}=8.5$ K. Magnetization versus temperature (M {\it vs} T) data obtained for fixed magnetic fields above 1 kOe show a superconducting transition which becomes broader as the field is increased. The data are interpreted in terms of the diamagnetic lowest Landau level (LLL) fluctuation theory. The scaling analysis gives values of the superconducting transition temperature $T_{c}(H)$ consistent with $H_{c2}(T)$% . We search for universal 3D LLL behavior by comparing scaling results for Nb and YBaCuO, but obtain no evidence for universality.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, Accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.

A comparative study of high-field diamagnetic fluctuations in deoxygenated YBa2Cu3O(7-x) and polycrystalline (Bi-Pb)2Sr2Ca3O(10)

We studied three single crystals of YBa2Cu3O{7-x} with Tc= 62.5, 52, and 41 K, and a textured specimen of (Bi-Pb)2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 with Tc=108 K, for H//c axis. The reversible data were interpreted in terms of 2D lowest-Landau-level fluctuation theory. The data were fit well by the 2D LLL expression for magnetization obtained by Tesanovic etal., producing reasonable values of kappa but larger values of dHc2/dT. Universality was studied by obtaining a simultaneous scaling of Y123 data and Bi2223. An expression for the 2D x-axis LLL scaling factor used to obtain the simultaneous scaling was extracted from theory, and compared with the experimental values. The comparison between the values of the x-axis produced a deviation of 40% which suggests that the hypothesis of universality of the 2D-LLL fluctuations is not supported by the studied samples. We finaly observe that Y123 magnetization data for temperatures above $T_c$ obbey a universal scaling obtained for the diamagnetic fluctuation magnetization from a theory considering non-local field effects. The same scaling was not obbeyed by the corresponding magnetization calculated from the two-dimensional lowest-Landau-level theory.Comment: 7 pages 5 figures, accept in Journ. Low Temp. Phy

Maternal mortality: a tertiary care hospital experience in Upper Egypt

Background: Maternal mortality is one of the major challenges which face the developing countries throughout the world. The aim of the study is to assess the causes of maternal mortality at Women Health Hospital, Assiut University, Egypt, and to identify the avoidable ones.Methods: Data were collected from records of patients who presented to and/or delivered at Women Health Hospital between 2009 and 2014. Only cases of maternal mortality were included in this study. In our study, we found 213 maternal deaths at our hospital between 2009 and 2014.Results: The maternal mortality ratio decreased progressively from 2009 to 2014 (228 and 89 per 100000 live birth respectively). Moreover, we found that the indirect causes of maternal mortality accounted for 24.9 % of all mortalities. As regards the direct causes of maternal mortality, preeclampsia remained the primary cause and represented 27.7 % of the avoidable causes. The second most frequent cause of direct maternal mortality was postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), which represented 26.8 %.Conclusions: Preeclampsia and PPH, as well as their complications are the leading causes of death in one of the biggest tertiary care university hospitals in Egypt. However, there are other important avoidable predisposing factors that should be dealt with including lack of patient education, delayed transfer from other hospitals, and substandard practice

Observation of anisotropic diamagnetism above the superconducting transition in iron-pnictide Ba_(1-x)K_xFe2As2 single crystals due to thermodynamic fluctuations

High resolution magnetization measurements performed in a high quality Ba_(1-x)K_xFe2As2 single crystal allowed to determine the diamagnetism induced above the superconducting transition by thermally activated Cooper pairs. These data, obtained with magnetic fields applied along and transverse to the crystal ab layers, demonstrate experimentally that the superconducting transition of iron pnictides may be explained at a phenomenological level in terms of the Gaussian Ginzburg-Landau approach for three-dimensional anisotropic superconductors.Comment: Final version with minor corrections. 6 pages, 4 figure

Electronic Properties of Graphene in a Strong Magnetic Field

We review the basic aspects of electrons in graphene (two-dimensional graphite) exposed to a strong perpendicular magnetic field. One of its most salient features is the relativistic quantum Hall effect the observation of which has been the experimental breakthrough in identifying pseudo-relativistic massless charge carriers as the low-energy excitations in graphene. The effect may be understood in terms of Landau quantization for massless Dirac fermions, which is also the theoretical basis for the understanding of more involved phenomena due to electronic interactions. We present the role of electron-electron interactions both in the weak-coupling limit, where the electron-hole excitations are determined by collective modes, and in the strong-coupling regime of partially filled relativistic Landau levels. In the latter limit, exotic ferromagnetic phases and incompressible quantum liquids are expected to be at the origin of recently observed (fractional) quantum Hall states. Furthermore, we discuss briefly the electron-phonon coupling in a strong magnetic field. Although the present review has a dominating theoretical character, a close connection with available experimental observation is intended.Comment: 56 pages, 27 figures; published version with minor corrections and updated reference

On the Dynamics of solitons in the nonlinear Schroedinger equation

We study the behavior of the soliton solutions of the equation i((\partial{\psi})/(\partialt))=-(1/(2m)){\Delta}{\psi}+(1/2)W_{{\epsilon}}'({\psi})+V(x){\psi} where W_{{\epsilon}}' is a suitable nonlinear term which is singular for {\epsilon}=0. We use the "strong" nonlinearity to obtain results on existence, shape, stability and dynamics of the soliton. The main result of this paper (Theorem 1) shows that for {\epsilon}\to0 the orbit of our soliton approaches the orbit of a classical particle in a potential V(x).Comment: 29 page

Molecular crystal approach for pi-conjugated polymers: from PPP Hamiltonian to Holstein model for polaron states

Starting from the $\pi$-electron Pariser-Parr-Pople (PPP) Hamiltonian which includes both strong electron-phonon and electron-electron interactions, we propose some strongly correlated wave functions of increasing quality for the ground state of conjugated polymers. These wavefunctions are built by combining different finite sets of local configurations extended at most over two nearest-neighbour monomers. With this picture, the doped case with one additional particle is expressed in terms of quasi-particle. Thus, the polaron formation problem goes back to the study of a Holstein like model.Comment: 27 pages, 6 eps figs, Revtex; enlarged version. Submitted to Journal of Physics: Condensed Matte

Isoflavones-Enriched Soy Protein Prevents CCL4-Induced Hepatotoxicity in Rats

The burden of liver disease in Egypt is exceptionally high due to the highest prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) resulting in rising rates of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aim of the current study was to determine the isoflavones in soy and to evaluate the protective role of soy against CCl4-induced liver damage in rats. Four experimental groups were treated for 8 weeks and included the control group, soy-supplemented diet (20% w/w) group, the group treated orally with CCl4 (100 mg/kg bw) twice a week, and the group fed soy-supplemented diet and treated with CCl4. Blood and liver tissue samples were collected for biochemical analyses and histological examination. The results indicated that protein content was 45.8% and the total isoflavones recorded 167.3 mg/100 g soy. Treatment with CCl4 resulted in a significant biochemical changes in serum liver tissue accompanied with severe oxidative stress and histological changes. Supplementation with soy succeeded to restore the elevation of liver enzymes activities and improved serum biochemical parameters. Moreover, soy supplementation improved the antioxidant enzymes, decreased lipid peroxidation, and improved the histological picture of the liver tissue. It could be concluded that soy-protein-enriched isoflavones may be a promising agent against liver diseases