Gendered nationality gendered nation: analyzing gender equality within the 2004 nationality law reform in Egypt

Nationality law holds a particular political agenda; it has the ability to dictate our membership within a nation and our relationship with the state. Essentially, it is through nationality law that we are extended membership within the enlarged community of the nation. As such, the law carries with it the ability to create the insider while in turn creating the outsider. This distinction becomes blurred when negotiating belonging for women who fall within this gap of the internal/external divide. Women, when forced to negotiate with the nationality law, find themselves as partial members. Their nationality is of a conditional one, finding that their completion within a patriarchal hegemony is ultimately through a male counterpart, obstructing her ability to place herself at equal standing. Further, we see how law dictates a limited membership for women when their right to filiation and family unity is provisioned with the inclusion of a male member. This shows true in the case of women in Egypt, where nationality law has conditioned her membership as an unequal one. Therefore, at a moment in history where states are re-evaluating laws and reforming national membership, it is essential to examine the 2004 law reform in Egypt, which can serve as a litmus test towards understanding the limitations the reform has had in achieving equality for women. Therefore, by demonstrating its inability to achieve gender equality by realizing that the Egyptian woman’s membership is limited, and her rights to forming a family unit, the freedom to choose a marriage partner without the fear of excluding family members are provisional. As such, the aim here is to shed light on the 2004 reformed nationality law in Egypt which has drawn approving attention for its positive move towards gender equality. Instead, it is important to deconstruct the various aspects of the 2004 nationality law that will then demonstrate the continued disadvantage and inequality imposed upon the Egyptian woman despite the reform

GATED COMMUNITIES IN THE UAE: FROM A SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY BARRIER TO A CATALYST

Gated communities are commonly defined as residential areas with restricted access, where commonly public spaces are privatized. The main characteristic of gated communities, based on the physical aspect of the development, involves gates, walls, guards, and closed-circuit surveillance. Scholarly studies have focused on the phenomenon of gated communities through covering its implications on the society and the city, where the benefits of this type of development have been frequently questioned. Gated communities have been linked with their negative impacts on the communities as socially segregated areas form the surrounding urban context. Nonetheless, several other studies advocated paradoxical theories related to social bonding, sense of safety, and sense of community that gated communities might provide for its residences. The question that poses itself is: what is the balance point, if any, for gated communities to satisfy the social sustainability for both the communities within the gate and the community outside it? This study seeks to explore the potential for such a balance point through investigating the different aspects and attributes of the case in the context of the UAE with the aim to understand the impact of gated communities on social sustainability within and outside the ‘gates’ of these communities. The Case Study method was used to examine the data closely within the defined urban context through mixed methodological quantitative and qualitative tools. The utilized qualitative research tools included field surveys, interviews, and spatial analysis for relevant maps. Meanwhile, the quantitative research tools included questionnaires and the Space Syntax DepthmapX software for spatial analysis. The research has revealed that it is difficult to reach a ‘perfect’ balance point in-between to satisfy the social sustainability for both communities within the ‘gate’ and the community outside it because ‘safety’ has proven to be more preferable to the interviewed residents of gated communities than ‘connectivity’ with the surrounding urban context. However, some sort of a ‘balance’ could be achieved if local services of the gated communities could be utilized and exploited as the social integration link between the local communities within and outside of the gates. This would convert these services into social nodes for both communities in a way that maintains ‘safety’ while encouraging social ‘connectivity’

Improvement of Healthy Diet Related Knowledge among a Sample of Egyptian Women in Three Upper Egypt Governorates Using a Community Based Intervention

BACKGROUND: Fostering a community-based approach is one of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) strategies to empower the public with the knowledge and tools required for improving the nutritional status. AIM: The current study was conducted to assess the knowledge of mothers/caregivers towards a healthy, safe, and affordable diet and to cover the detected knowledge gap using a community-based approach. METHODS: A pre-posttest experimental design was carried out at a community level at three Upper Egypt governorates: Assiut, Qena, and Sohag over six months from September 2017 till February 2018. In the preparatory phase, 22 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were selected per governorate, and 15 trainers were prepared at the central level to train 40 trainees from each governorate. In the implementation phase, 11,000 women were approached, 6548 of them agreed to participate in the baseline knowledge assessment: 1774 women from Assiut, 2337 from Qena, and 2437 from Sohag. RESULTS: A significant improvement in the participants’ subtotal and total knowledge scores in all dimensions of nutrition education which are: food economics, food safety, and a healthy diet. The highest percent change was in Assiut 77.1 (69.3: 109.9), followed by Qena 54.9 (27.2: 93.3), and then Sohag 43.7 (31.6: 61.4) which was noticed among the participants from the 3 governorates. CONCLUSION: This community-based approach was a successful intervention to deliver effective health education messages; thus, improving participants' knowledge regarding food safety, healthy diet, and food economics. It represented the success of NGOs to enhance health and nutrition literacy among the participating women living in underprivileged areas. It is recommended to encourage collaboration with NGOs to move the community towards healthy behaviours

Die Bedeutung des Faktor XII C46T-Polymorphismus bei Kindern mit arteriellem Schlaganfall im Vergleich zu einem gesunden Kontrollkollektiv

Der bereits in der Literatur bekannte Zusammenhang zwischen dem Faktor XII C46T Polymorphismus bei nt46 der Promotorregion und der Faktor XII-Aktivität im Serum konnte auch in dem hier untersuchten pädiatrischen Kollektiv bestätigt werden. Der homozygote Faktor XII-TT-Genotyp geht mit einer signifikant erniedrigten Faktor XII-Aktivität unterhalb der 10. Perzentile im Serum einher (p-value: <0,0001). Für Kinder im Alter von 0 bis einschließlich einem Jahr zeigte sich ein signifikanter Zusammenhang zwischen dem Auftreten eines arteriellen Schlaganfalles und dem homozygoten Faktor XII-TT-Genotyp im Vergleich zu einem Kontrollkollektiv (p=0,03; signifikant). Für die anderen Altersgruppen zeigte sich keine signifikante Assoziation zwischen dem Genotyp des Faktor XII und dem Ereignis Schlaganfall p=0,75 (n. s.).Dabei ist der Effekt der Variablen homozygote Faktor XII-TT-Mutation unabhängig von anderen etablierten Defekten.<br

Forensic dissection of lip print as an investigative tool in a mixed Egyptian population

Background: Identification is a major problem facing forensic practitioners, DNA and finger prints are highly useful but sometimes aren’t easily collected from the crime scene. Lip print could be useful in this field being unique to each individual.Aim: The current study aimed at detecting the frequency and gender relation of lip print pattern in an Egyptian sample.Methodology: Samples were collected on white copy paper, divided into four quadrants then examined with magnifying lens for pattern distribution.Results: The study showed that pattern IV was the most frequently represented pattern in the study sample, pattern I &amp; II were more prevalent in males and females respectively. Prevalent pattern in Cairo and Lower Egypt was I while it was IV in Upper Egypt.Conclusion: The lip print pattern can differ due to gender and geographical origin in Egyptian subjects.Keywords: Lip print, Egypt, Gender, Geographical distribution, Identification, Anthropology. Gender differenc

Nurses' Perceptions of Patient Safety Culture in Intensive Care Units: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Patient safety culture is a relatively new focus where little is known about its current status in Egypt’s teaching hospitals, mainly intensive care units (ICUs). Therefore, the authors of this study attempted to assess the patient safety culture dimensions from the nurses’ perspective. METHODS: An exploratory cross-sectional study was conducted in two ICUs (pediatric ICU and adult ICU) at the University Hospital over 3 months from October till December 2018. Sixty nurses were interviewed using the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. RESULTS: The current study findings revealed an average positive response to individual items ranging from 6% to 51%. The “Organizational learning†dimension had the highest average percent positive patient safety dimension score (51%) among all respondents, while the “Frequency of events reported†dimension had the lowest one (6%). No statistically significant difference was reported between the pediatric and adult ICUs for all mean scores except for the “Non-punitive response to error†dimension which was reported to be greater in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) compared to adult ICU (P &lt; 0.005). The overall patient safety grade was rated acceptable by 47.5% of the interviewed nurses. CONCLUSION: The current study shows that patient safety is fragile in ICUs, and more effort is recommended to increase the awareness of health care providers. Also, hospital managers need to enhance the performance and practices of patient safety within a non-punitive reporting environment

Quality characterization of burger affected by soybean additives (Natto & protein hydrolysate) and ascorbic acid

Soy protein is a common ingredient added to processed meats to enhance the products' functional characteristics. In our study, soybean products (fermented soy Natto and protein hydrolysate) with or without ascorbic acid were added to burger in order to improve its quality characterization. Results showed that soy additives significantly increased moisture and protein content and reduced (P < 0.05) fat values. Ash content did not affect (P < 0.05) with Natto addition. Color tools, lightness and yellowness were higher (P<0.05) for the samples with added soybean products (with or without ascorbic acid), while redness decreased. Both of protein hydrolysate and ascorbic acid increased the softiness while, Natto additive increased the hardness of samples. Natto & protein hydrolysate additives increased the total volatile basic nitrogen while, samples with ascorbic acid decreased TVBN values at significant levels. On the other hand, soy additives were improved both of cooking quality and sensory evaluation of the burger