Towards Environmental Retrofitting of Egyptian Transitional Spaces: Courtyard-Building in Alexandria University, Egypt

Consuming huge amount of energy and emitting large amount of heat can be assumed as one of the main problems facing urban environment in the world today. These problems associated with current high urban density and less of vegetation within urban fabric. For instance, in Egypt, Universities are today facing rising problem of offering more educational spaces especially in large cities such as Cairo and Alexandria. The study thus focuses on Revival Egyptian buildings in Alexandria University based on hierarchical transitional spaces. As Egyptian transitional spaces, such as courtyards historically were essential outdoor spaces for multiple uses and purposes. As part of retrofitting research project of existed transitional spaces in Alexandria University, this paper focused on one parameter which is building height. This is by targeting to find the maximum height of courtyard building with minimum negative effect on air and thermal flow. This simulation is done with consideration to the surrounding urban context in Alexandria University. The simulation approach is based on two years of field measurement of thermal conditions and air velocity in the Universityrsquos transitional spaces. The study is usingfield-measurement data for nurturing the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model, and for validating the simulation results. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study is done by introducing four cases of different building heights to investigating the changing air and thermal flow inside the existed courtyard. nbs

Offset Aperture-Coupled Double-Cylinder Dielectric Resonator Antenna with Extended Wideband

YesA compact dielectric resonator antenna for ultra-wideband vehicular communication applications is proposed. Two cylindrical dielectric resonators are asymmetrically located with respect to the center of an offset rectangular coupling aperture, through which they are fed. Optimizing the design parameters results in an impedance bandwidth of 21%, covering the range from 5.9 to 7.32 GHz in the lower-band and a 53% relative bandwidth from 8.72 to 15 GHz in the upper-band. The maximum achieved gain is 12 dBi. Design details of the proposed antenna and the results of both simulations and experiment are presented and discussed

Analysis of Chiral and Achiral Medium Based Coplanar Waveguide Using Improved Full Generalized Exponential Matrix Technique

YesIn this work, an analytical study of the electromagnetic propagation in a complex medium-based suspended three-layer coplanar waveguide (CPW) is carried out. The study aims at a numerical calculation of the dominant hybrid mode complex propagation constant in the CPW printed on a bianisotropic substrate. The herein considered bianisotropy is characterized by full 3×3 tensors of permittivity, permeability and magnetoelectric parameters. The study is based on the numerical derivation of the Green's functions of such a complex medium in the spectral domain. The study is carried out using the Full Generalized Exponential Matrix Technique based on matrix- shaped compact mathematical formulations. The Spectral Method of Moments (SMoM) and the Galerkin's procedure are used to solve the resulting homogeneous system of equations. The effect of the chiral and achiral bianisotropy on the complex propagation constant is particularly investigated. Goo d agreements with available data for an anisotropic-medium-based suspended CPW structure are achieved. Various cases of chiral and achiral bianisotropy have been investigated, and particularly, the effect on the dispersion characteristics is presented and compared with cases of isotropic and bianisotropic Tellegen media.FCT/MEC through national funds and when applicable co-financed by the ERDF, under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement under the UID/EEA/50008/2019 project

Política de estabilização de renda para a agricultura familiar: uma análise de risco.

Os produtores familiares foram prejudicados pelas políticas de substituição de importações e de modernização da agricultura, sofrendo com elevadas transferências de renda para fora do setor. Uma forma de ressarci-los seria implementando uma política de estabilização de renda que asseguraria rentabilidade estável aos produtores. O objetivo deste artigo é determinar os benefícios de uma política de estabilização de renda implementada na agricultura familiar para agricultores e consumidores de arroz, feijão, milho e mandioca, e os custos para agricultores comerciais nesses mercados. Utilizou-se o modelo de Newbery e Stiglitz, que considera a redução do risco com a política de estabilização de renda. A política implicaria aumento de receita para produtores familiares. Os benefícios de transferência superariam os de eficiência para produtores familiares e consumidores. Os benefícios para a agricultura familiar superariam os custos da agricultura comercial com a política nos mercados de feijão, mandioca e milho, e os benefícios totais superariam os custos totais nos mercados de feijão e milho, ao contrário ocorreria nos mercados de arroz e mandioca, embora neste fosse pequena a diferença. Conclui-se que a implementação da política seria viável nos mercados onde a participação da agricultura familiar fosse maior que a da comercial e naqueles importadores

COLT-Cancer: functional genetic screening resource for essential genes in human cancer cell lines

Genome-wide pooled shRNA screens enable global identification of the genes essential for cancer cell survival and proliferation and provide a ‘functional genetic’ map of human cancer to complement genomic studies. Using a lentiviral shRNA library targeting approximately 16 000 human genes and a newly developed scoring approach, we identified essential gene profiles in more than 70 breast, pancreatic and ovarian cancer cell lines. We developed a web-accessible database system for capturing information from each step in our standardized screening pipeline and a gene-centric search tool for exploring shRNA activities within a given cell line or across multiple cell lines. The database consists of a laboratory information and management system for tracking each step of a pooled shRNA screen as well as a web interface for querying and visualization of shRNA and gene-level performance across multiple cancer cell lines. COLT-Cancer Version 1.0 is currently accessible at http://colt.ccbr.utoronto.ca/cancer

Seroepidemiology of hepatitis C in Kermanshah (West of Iran, 2006)

Background and Aims: Chronic and serious outcomes of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection impose remarkable economic burden to the health system. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of HCV infection in the general population of Kermanshah in the year 2006. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 1721 residents from Kermanshah were chosen by systematic and cluster sampling in the year 2006. After interview, serum samples were taken and evaluated for HCV-Ab using ELISA method (3rd generation). Positive samples were confirmed by Western Blot (WB) and PCR if necessary. Results: The prevalence of HCV was 0.87 (male: 1.4 vs. female: 0.3). There was 88.2 coordination between ELISA and WB results. Statistical relationship was observed between HCV infection and male sex (P<0.018), history of addiction (P<0.0001), shared needle (P<0.0001), unsafe sexual contact (P<0.008), history of blood and blood products transfusion (P<0.0001), tattooing (P<0.0001), history of incarceration (P<0.0001), and hemophilia (P<0.0001). On the other hand, stepwise logistic regression analysis showed that hemophilia, shared needle, IV addiction, transfusion and addiction were the most important risk factors for HCV infection in a descending order. The rate of HCV infection increased in cases with multiple risk factors. Conclusions: We estimate that among 967196 people, who live in Kermanshah, nearty 8400 individuals may have HCV infection and this will be a major problem in the near future. Addicts especially IV drug users and cases with the history of blood and blood products transfusion are high risk groups who need special attention regarding HCV infection

Analysis of the combinatory effect of uniaxial electrical and magnetic anisotropy on the input impedance and mutual coupling of a printed dipole antenna

YesThe main objective of this work is to investigate the combinatory effects of both uniaxial magnetic and electrical anisotropies on the input impedance, resonant length and the mutual coupling between two dipoles printed on an anisotropic grounded substrate. Three different configurations: broadside, collinear and echelon are considered for the coupling investigation. The study is based on the numerical solution of the integral equation using the method of moments through the mathematical derivation of the appropriate Green’s functions in the spectral domain. In order to validate the computing method and evaluated Matlab® calculation code, numerical results are compared with available literature treating particular cases of uniaxial electrical anisotropy; good agreements are observed. New results of dipole structures printed on uniaxial magnetic anisotropic substrates are presented and discussed, with the investigation of the combined electrical and magnetic anisotropies effect on the input impedance and mutual coupling for different geometrical configurations. The combined uniaxial (electric and magnetic) anisotropies provide additional degrees of freedom for the input impedance control and coupling reduction.This work is part of the POSITION-II project funded by the ECSEL joint Undertaking under grant number Ecsel-7831132-Postitio-II-2017-IA,www. position-2.eu and partly funded by FCT/MCTES through national funds and when applicable co-funded EU funds under the project UIDB/50008/2020- UIDP/50008/2020. This work was also supported in part by the DGRSDT (General Directorate of Scientific Research and Technological Development) - MESRS (Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research), Algeria, and RTI2018-095499-B-C31, Funded by Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Gobierno de España (MCIU/AEI/FEDER,UE)

Compact and Highly Sensitive Bended Microwave Liquid Sensor Based on a Metamaterial Complementary Split-Ring Resonator

YesIn this paper, we present the design of a compact and highly sensitive microwave sensor based on a metamaterial complementary split-ring resonator (CSRR), for liquid characterization at microwave frequencies. The design consists of a two-port microstrip-fed rectangular patch resonating structure printed on a 20 × 28 mm2 Roger RO3035 substrate with a thickness of 0.75 mm, a relative permittivity of 3.5, and a loss tangent of 0.0015. A CSRR is etched on the ground plane for the purpose of sensor miniaturization. The investigated liquid sample is put in a capillary glass tube lying parallel to the surface of the sensor. The parallel placement of the liquid test tube makes the design twice as efficient as a normal one in terms of sensitivity and Q factor. By bending the proposed structure, further enhancements of the sensor design can be obtained. These changes result in a shift in the resonant frequency and Q factor of the sensor. Hence, we could improve the sensitivity 10-fold compared to the flat structure. Subsequently, two configurations of sensors were designed and tested using CST simulation software, validated using HFSS simulation software, and compared to structures available in the literature, obtaining good agreement. A prototype of the flat configuration was fabricated and experimentally tested. Simulation results were found to be in good agreement with the experiments. The proposed devices exhibit the advantage of exploring multiple rapid and easy measurements using different test tubes, making the measurement faster, easier, and more cost-effective; therefore, the proposed high-sensitivity sensors are ideal candidates for various sensing applications.This work was supported by the Moore4Medical project, funded within ECSEL JU in collaboration with the EU H2020 Framework Programme (H2020/2014–2020) under grant agreement H2020-ECSEL-2019-IA-876190, and the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (ECSEL/0006/2019). This project received funding in part from the DGRSDT (Direction Générale de la Recherche Scientifique et du Développement Technologique), MESRS (Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research), Algeria. This work was also supported by the General Directorate of Scientific Research and Technological Development (DGRSDT)–Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MESRS), Algeria, and funded by the FCT/MEC through national funds and, when applicable, co-financed by the ERDF, under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement under the UID/EEA/50008/2020 project

Climbing walls, making bridges: children of immigrants’ identity negotiations through capoeira and parkour in Turin.

Capoeira and parkour are two different body practices which have gained worldwide attention in urban settings in the last few decades. The following paper will explore how capoeira and parkour relate to the construction of identity paths amongst children of immigrants between 12 and 20 in Turin, Italy. It will do so by looking at how such practices are used by young men of migrant origin to negotiate and perform narratives of self-worth, belonging and recognition within marginalising and excluding urban environments. This study acknowledges that social identifications are created, negotiated and (re)produced through bodily and spatial means and within networks of power relations. Following this premise, the insights proposed in this paper suggest that the ambivalent and fluid use of bodies and spaces implied by capoeira and parkour can represent a meaningful lens to understand the embodied and spatial identity negotiations enacted by participants in their daily lives. This theoretical perspective will illuminate the place that active bodies, spaces and leisure practices take in the negotiation of social identities, and dynamics of inclusion/exclusion, enacted by youth of migrant origin within early twenty-first century Turin cityscape