La aparición de la esfera pública Abbasí: el caso de al-Mutanabbī y tres mecenas de extracción social media

The tenth century in Iraq and Syria saw an unprecedented rise in the number of canonical poets who were delivering glorious praise hymns (madīḥ) to middling members of society. Scholars have posed many theories in the past 30 years to explain the function and purpose of praise hymns for royalty and rulers, but why would ordinary men who had no hope of rulership pay painful sums to commission praise hymns in their favor? This article examines the emergence of a new kind of sociability and patronage in the tenth century that enabled middling people to form alliances and exercise influence in shaping ideals of government, leadership and manhood. Examples are given of poems to patrons of middle rank who gain glory and influence via the artistic endorsement of al-Mutanabbī (d. 965): The first ode restores the public dignity of a nineteen-year-old soldier who lost his face in battle; in the second ode, the poet glorifies and defends a state clerk who had little-known Sufi leanings; in the third ode, the poet vindicates an unmasked pseudo- Muslim who was in private a Christian. Using J. Habermas’s theory of the “Public Sphere,” I show the way these odes illustrate how middling members of society gained influence in a public sphere of participation and took measures to preserve that influence.En el siglo X, y en la zona de Siria e Iraq, el número de poetas canónicos que dedicaron panegíricos (madīḥ) a miembros no destacados de la sociedad experimentó un incremento sin precedentes. A lo largo de los últimos treinta años, especialistas en este campo han formulado diversas teorías sobre los himnos de alabanza dedicados a la realeza y a los gobernantes, pero ¿qué llevó a personas corrientes, sin ninguna aspiración de llegar a gobernar, a pagar grandes cantidades de dinero por himnos de alabanza en su honor? Este artículo plantea la aparición de un nuevo tipo de sociabilidad y un nuevo patronazgo en el siglo X. Ambos elementos habrían permitido a miembros de las categorías sociales inferiores formar alianzas y tener influencia a la hora de dar forma a los ideales del gobierno, el liderazgo y la propia hombría. El artículo presenta, a modo de ejemplos, poemas dirigidos a personas corrientes que adquirieron gloria e influencia gracias al apoyo artístico de al-Mutanabbī (m. 965). El primer poema le devuelve la dignidad pública a un soldado de diecinueve años cuyo rostro había quedado desfigurado en combate; en el segundo, el poeta glorifica y defiende a un funcionario del gobierno con inclinaciones sufíes poco conocidas; en el tercero, el poeta limpia el nombre de cierto pseudo-musulmán que era cristiano en privado. A partir de la teoría de la “esfera pública” de J. Habermas, el artículo describe el modo en el que estos poemas ilustran cómo miembros comunes de la sociedad adquirieron influencia en la esfera pública de participación y usaron los medios a su alcance para conservar esa influencia

External Debt and Economic Growth: Case of Jordan (1990-2011)

External debt is considered a significant source of income for less developed countries. Jordan, as one of these countries, relied much on external debt to finance its saving investment gap and balance of payment deficit. The main objective of this paper is to explore the relationship between external debt and economic growth in Jordan during the period of 1990-2011, using time series econometric techniques. This paper shows that there is a positive and significant relationship between external debt and economic growth. Debt servicing has a negative and significant relationship with economic growth. Keywords: Economic Growth, External Debt, Ordinary Least Squares, Fully Modified Least Squares

Factors Affecting Transfer Of Training

Training today is a crucial part of an organization's activities. The global and the domestic market are becoming more competitive. To survive and keep their existing on the market, companies should acquire competitive advantages. Skilled employees and workers is one of the most important advantages that companies can take over their competitors. Training is on of the ways that companies follow to improve their employees' skills. Training is costly, and generally speaking, training programs does not achieve theirs goals, due to many problems and barriers. The present study looks at the effect of supervisors support and co-workers support on transfer of training, and the moderating effects of educational background, working experience, and duration of training on the relationship between supervisors support and co-workers support and transfer of training

Generating Test Cases for LearningZone

The increment of web-based applications in all over the internet increase the concern about quality of these web-applications, which requires testing the designs (both black and white boxes) of these systems and generating new methodologies and tools for testing. This research is concern about the applications that are related to Learning Management Systems (LMS) and precisely Modular Objected Oriented Dynamic/Distributed/Development Learning Environment (Moodle), an open source software. Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) has named its Moodle as LearningZone which still lacks of testing. Therefore, a suitable testing approach for deriving test cases to evaluate this open source application has been identified. This application represents the case study of this research which focuses mainly on student functionalities of LearningZone. Such an objective can be achieved through identifying the suitable UML diagram for the research's case study. Later on, applying the generation of the test cases from the chosen UML diagram. Finally, the generated test cases have to be evaluated in terms of accuracy and system's errors. This will ensure the suitability of the usage of that diagram for LearningZone as a result of this research

The Role Of Microcredit Financing On Women Empowerment In Malaysia

Microcredit has become a buzzword in the credit markets as an effective tool to deliver financial services to deprived women in the absence of conventional credit markets. The underlying logic is that through extending microcredit, women will be able to participate in economic market through forming their micro and small businesses. Consequently, they will gain incomes and contribute to their household supports to reduce their vulnerability and empower them. Although microfinance has reached the peak of momentum, recent literature documented conflicting evidence and demonstrated that empowerment may not or may only be partially achieved, especially in the Muslim community. Therefore, this study examines the effect of microcredit on Malay Muslim women empowerment in urban Selangor and Melaka. An explanatory mixed method was employed for the study. In the first step, a cross-sectional survey was distributed to 500 respondents to examine the effect of microfinance on women livelihood and decision-making process in intra-household as well as business. A multi-stage random sampling was used to collect data from urban areas in Selangor and Melaka. The time of joining AIM scheme was used to determine the type of treatment and control members, where 360 of current clients who spent three years in the AIM scheme are referred to as the treatment group and 140 of new clients who just joined the AIM scheme and have not yet used their loans are referred to as the control group. In the second step, 32 semi structured interviews were performed to deeply explain how access to AIM affects women empowerment. The logistic regression result shows that AIM has positive effect on women livelihood and decision-making process and resources controlling in intra-household as well as business. The finding of qualitative content analysis also confirms the impact of AIM on women empowerment. It also explains how access to microfinance shifts the strategy of decision-making process from solely husband or family base to self or jointly decision-making base. Moreover, the content analysis results show how access to microfinance empowers women in their community. Despite the significant impact of AIM on women empowerment, there are internal as well as external challenges faced by women borrowers which impede their sustainability and growth that need to be addressed by future researches. Therefore, this research recommends the policymakers to continue support poor and low income women and protect their micro and small businesses from massive competition and market monopoly as well as diversify their product and redesign microcredit disbursement and repayment proces

Development of antiproliferative nanohybrid compound with controlled release property using ellagic acid as the active agent

An ellagic acid (EA)–zinc layered hydroxide (ZLH) nanohybrid (EAN) was synthesized under a nonaqueous environment using EA and zinc oxide (ZnO) as the precursors. Powder X-ray diffraction showed that the basal spacing of the nanohybrid was 10.4 Å, resulting in the spatial orientation of EA molecules between the interlayers of 22.5° from z-axis with two negative charges at 8,8′ position of the molecules pointed toward the ZLH interlayers. FTIR study showed that the intercalated EA spectral feature is generally similar to that of EA, but with bands slightly shifted. This indicates that some chemical bonding of EA presence between the nanohybrid interlayers was slightly changed, due to the formation of host–guest interaction. The nanohybrid is of mesopores type with 58.8% drug loading and enhanced thermal stability. The release of the drug active, EA from the nanohybrid was found to be sustained and therefore has good potential to be used as a drug controlled-release formulation. In vitro bioassay study showed that the EAN has a mild effect on the hepatocytes cells, similar to its counterpart, free EA

QTc prolongation with concurrent use of azithromycin and diltiazem in an old female patient: a case report

Azithromycin is widely prescribed for the treatment of respiratory tract infections. Incidence of corrected QT interval (QTc) prolongation and cardiac arrest has not been reported after concomitant administration of azithromycin and diltiazem. Here we present a 69-year-old female patient who developed profound QTc prolongation and cardiac arrest after three days of concomitant administration of azithromycin and diltiazem. The patient was successfully resuscitated, intravenous magnesium was given and azithromycin therapy was discontinued. The QTc interval dropped to 412 ms 24 hours after azithromycin discontinuation. One week later, the patient was discharged home after full recovery. This case illustrates a possible drug interaction between azithromycin and P-glycoprotein inhibitor drugs and/or drugs having an effect on cardiac repolarization

Concept innovant d'échangeur/réacteur multifonctionnel par contrôle dynamique passif par générateurs de vorticité flexibles

The aim of this study is to investigate the use of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) to improve heat transfer and mixing performances in multi-functional heat exchangers/reactors, and to evaluate configuration designs where the main target is to produce and maintain self-sustained oscillations of flexible vortex generators. At first, two dimensional laminar flow studies are numerically investigated. The results show that a minimum of three alternating flaps is needed to produce an instability that leads to large displacement oscillations. However, the introduction of two co-planar flaps upstream destabilizes the flow by creating periodic forces that act on the alternating downstream flaps. Hence, this results in artificially increasing the reduced velocity that will induce the alternating flaps to be in a lock-in state. Thus in this case, large displacement amplitudes are created with two alternating flaps only. The free flaps oscillations produce vortices of higher strength which have a positive impact on heat transfer and mixing. Secondly, a three dimensional HEV configuration with flexible trapezoidal vortex generators inclined with an angle of 45◦ with respect to the wall and reversed opposite to the flow direction is numerically investigated. Fast Fourier Transformation is applied on the temporal variation of the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) coefficientswhich displays a dominant peak in the flow and corresponds to the vortices periodic formation and detachment. This dominant frequency synchronizes well with the structural oscillation frequency and the fundamental frequency of the tabs reaching a lock-in state and leading to large oscillation amplitudes.Le but de cette étude est d’étudier l’utilisation d’interactions fluide-structure (FSI) pour améliorer le transfert de chaleur et les performances de mélange dans des échangeurs-réacteurs multifonctionnels, et d’évaluer des configurations pour lesquelles l’objectif est de produire et de maintenir un régime dynamique auto-entretenu d’oscillations des générateurs de tourbillons flexibles. Dans un premier temps, deux études numériques ont été réalisées pour des écoulements laminaires bidimensionnels. Les résultats montrent qu’un minimum de trois générateurs de tourbillons alternés est nécessaire pour produire une instabilité qui engendre les oscillations de larges amplitudes. L’ajout de deux promoteurs coplanaires en amont déstabilise l’écoulement en créant des forces périodiques agissant sur les générateurs de tourbillons en aval. Il en résulte une augmentation de la vitesse réduite qui impose un blocage en fréquence des oscillations des générateurs de tourbillons en aval. Dans cette configuration, des oscillations de larges amplitudes sont obtenues pour uniquement deux générateurs de tourbillons en aval. Les oscillations des générateurs de tourbillons produisent une vorticité intense qui a une incidence positive que le transfert de chaleur et sur le mélange. Dans un second temps, une configuration tridimensionnelle HEV incluant des générateurs de tourbillons trapézoïdaux flexibles orientés a 45◦ vers l’amont est étudiée par simulations numériques. Une analyse FFT réalisée sur les coefficients issus d’une analyse POD montre un pic fréquentiel correspondant aux formations et lâchers tourbillonnaires périodiques. Cette fréquence dominante correspond bien au mode propre d’oscillation des générateurs de tourbillons et engendre ainsi de larges amplitudes d’oscillations

Preparation of hippurate-zinc layered hydroxide nanohybrid and its synergistic effect with tamoxifen on HepG2 cell lines

Samer Hasan Hussein Al Ali1, Mothanna Al-Qubaisi2, Mohd Zobir Hussein1,3, Zulkarnain Zainal1, Muhammad Nazrul Hakim41Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science; 2Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Science; 3Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology Laboratory, Institute of Advanced Technology; 4Department of Biomedical Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, MalaysiaBackground: A new simple preparation method for a hippurate-intercalated zinc-layered hydroxide (ZLH) nanohybrid has been established, which does not need an anion-exchange procedure to intercalate the hippurate anion into ZLH interlayers.Methods: The hippuric acid nanohybrid (HAN) was prepared by direct reaction of an aqueous suspension of zinc oxide with a solution of hippuric acid via a one-step method.Results: The basal spacing of the nanohybrid was 21.3 Å, indicating that the hippurate anion was successfully intercalated into the interlayer space of ZLH, and arranged in a monolayer fashion with the carboxylate group pointing toward the ZLH inorganic interlayers. A Fourier transform infrared study confirmed the formation of the nanohybrid, while thermogravimetry and differential thermogravimetry analyses showed that the thermal stability of the nanohybrid was markedly enhanced. The loading of hippurate in the nanohybrid was estimated to be about 38.7% (w/w), and the release of hippurate from the nanohybrid was of a controlled manner, and therefore the resulting material was suitable for use as a controlled-release formulation. HAN has synergistic properties with tamoxifen toward a HepG2 cell line, with an IC50 value of 0.35 compared with hippurate. In the antiproliferative assay, the ratio of viable cells account for cells treated by the combination tamoxifen with HAN to untreated cells was sharply reduced from 66% to 13% after 24 and 72 hours, respectively.Conclusion: The release of hippuric acid anions from HAN occurred in a controlled manner, and the resulting material is suitable for a controlled-release formulation.Keywords: hippuric acid, nanohybrids, zinc oxide, zinc-layered hydroxide, synergistic effec

Controlled release and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition properties of an antihypertensive drug based on a perindopril erbumine-layered double hydroxide nanocomposite.

The intercalation of perindopril erbumine into Zn/Al-NO3-layered double hydroxide resulted in the formation of a host-guest type of material. By virtue of the ionexchange properties of layered double hydroxide, perindopril erbumine was released in a sustained manner. Therefore, this intercalated material can be used as a controlled-release formulation. Results: Perindopril was intercalated into the interlayers and formed a well ordered, layered organic-inorganic nanocomposite. The basal spacing of the products was expanded to 21.7 Å and 19.9 Å by the ion-exchange and coprecipitation methods, respectively, in a bilayer and a monolayer arrangement, respectively. The release of perindopril from the nanocomposite synthesized by the coprecipitation method was slower than that of its counterpart synthesized by the ion-exchange method. The rate of release was governed by pseudo-second order kinetics. An in vitro antihypertensive assay showed that the intercalation process results in effectiveness similar to that of the antihypertensive properties of perindopril. Conclusion: Intercalated perindopril showed better thermal stability than its free counterpart. The resulting material showed sustained-release properties and can therefore be used as a controlled-release formulation