Owner time and cost contingency estimation for building construction projects in Egypt

Time and cost overruns are an integral part of the construction projects. Both have several associated negative consequences to the project owners. Setting the right time and cost contingency is a major contributing factor to the success of the project as it should minimize/prevent budget and time overruns. Project managers usually tend to allocate project time and cost contingency subjectively based on their previous experience and may not capture all projects specific factors that impact the contingency estimation. The competency of the project manager plays an important role in this case in determining the contingency percentage. The contingency estimation for a given project can hugely vary from one project manager to another. This research presents a fuzzy logic-based model that allows owners predict the project time and cost contingency reliably and accurately in Egypt. The most important factors affecting time and cost contingency have been identified and are defined as input variables for the model. The effect of these factors on the time and cost contingency, the output variables, have been determined and incorporated into the model via fuzzy rules. On the basis of the known effects of these factors, a fuzzy logic model is developed to automate the prediction process using MS Excel software. Several scenarios of the model are developed and subjected to initial testing using 10 actual projects data. Based on the initial testing, the best model was subjected to tuning in order to achieve the optimum model results in terms of accuracy and validity. Finally, the model is tested by applying it on new five actual construction projects which were not used in the initial testing nor tuning. The model results were found to be acceptable having an average validity percent of 84% and 81% for time and cost contingency, respectively. The proposed model allows the owners to [1] understand the effect of the project different factors on the contingency values, which in turn represent the degree of risk involved and accordingly, allows the owner to take necessary measures at the preconstruction stage to reduce the risks, [2] minimize the cost and time overrun through setting the right amount of contingency, [3] avoid tie up of excessive funds for the project, which can be used in others projects or activities, and [4] have higher confidence during the decision making process of whether to proceed or not to proceed with the project

Educating for global citizenship in Egypt's private sector: A critical study of cosmopolitanism among the Egyptian student elite

In an age of globalisation, conflicting identities and cultures continue to remain a source of seemingly intractable conflict. Educative interventions are meanwhile increasing in trend among academics, politicians and multilateral aid organisations. Each regard education as a long-term solution to contemporary social and security issues. Supporting literature on the relationship between education and identity suggests that formal education has a powerful influence on students’ outlook on life, their loyalties and their identities. This premise suggests that when questioned about global issues, Egyptian students who attend international schools within their own country of origin should show more signs of cosmopolitanism and global mindedness than their nationally educated peers. Yet, contrary findings to that of prevailing discourse suggest that education’s ability to shape values and loyalties is likely overemphasised when placed in the context of foreign curricula and international education. At times, students of international schools involved in this study showed more signs of nationalism than their nationally educated counterparts, and presented as equally traditional, conservative and ‘anti-West’ as their compatriots. The thesis thus argues that when education is placed within an international framework, its ability to socialise is significantly weakened, as it is faced with considerable firewalls that are yet to be adequately acknowledged in the discussion of post-national citizenship education. Using a combination of interpretative and critical research methods, rich and original qualitative data was gathered on attitudes and lifestyles of elite Egyptians enrolled at a variety of Egypt’s private international schools. Twenty-two international school educated Egyptian students, and a control group of 21 nationally educated Egyptian students of the same socio-economic background were invited to participate in specially tailored one-to-one interviews to measure their degree of cosmopolitan attitudes. Supplementary participant observations of Egyptian families actively involved in Egypt’s international education community were also conducted to consider the complementarity of the students’ home lives with their school lives. Focus groups were held with students of international schools to determine their views and attitudes towards global issues and other communities. All findings from this research were assessed alongside large-scale values surveys including the World Values Surveys and the Arab Youth Surveys. With the large sample size of pre-existing opinion polls, and the unique isolation of curriculum type as an independent variable in this study, it was possible to assess the transformative impact that an international education plays in the expression of values and beliefs of Egyptian students. The findings of this thesis have multidisciplinary value. For political science readers, the study offers a critical and epistemological analysis of concepts of cosmopolitanism, Westernisation, globalisation and global citizenship. For readers of the Middle East, it is a study into Egyptian youth today and their conflicting identities and loyalties. The Egyptian experience of private international schools and foreign investment is representative of a regional trend, and valuable to those wishing to consider competing narratives for identity in twenty-first century Middle East societies. Finally, it is a study that has an added value to educationists as it explores the role education plays on identity, and more specifically the role of international schools on globalisation and international mindedness. The growing trend of research and analysis that focuses on increased global connectedness and a culturally converging world makes this thesis an important and timely contribution. In an effort to extend the debate beyond the prevailing macro-analyses of change through globalisation, this thesis stresses the importance of looking at global interconnectivity at the micro-level, and particularly how young people navigate and negotiate their identity within the context of increasingly transnational spaces. Through this endeavour, it has reached a critical evaluation of our current understanding of a ‘post-national’ future, through the attitudes and opinions of some of today’s internationally educated generation

A blended learning education policy in Egypt: The road for better access and social inclusion

The quality of public school education in Egypt has been on a declining slope for years, facing many challenges such as poor quality, high dropout rates and a mismatch between the market needed skills and those of students. The purpose of this study is to explore whether blended learning is a viable solution to Egypt’s educational ailments, with improving equity as the focus. With no dominant literature trends on the subject or enough access to public education data, the chosen research method was to conduct in-depth interviews with national and international experts on blended learning. All interviewed experts believe that there is severe lack of equity in the system. They mentioned socioeconomic discrepancy, poorly designed policies and limiting customs and traditions as the biggest contributors to education inequity in the country. Despite being experts on blended learning, the experts have not shown blind trust in its ability to improve equity. They believe that the problems are “much bigger than to be solved by technology” alone, and emphasize several prerequisites for a successful policy: raison d\u27être, changing the “one size fits all” approach, political will, institutional readiness, and pedagogical development. The study concludes that blended learning has potential benefits, but also has potential risks that need to be mitigated and proactively addressed. If the prerequisites mentioned by the experts are tackled and blended learning risks are mitigated, blended learning can be the right policy for improving educational equity

La fouille du Boubasteion d’Alexandrie : présentation préliminaire

Rescue excavations conducted in 2009-2010 by the Supreme Council of antiquities under the supervision of Dr. Abd El Maksoud, have produced surprising results of great importance by revealing the existence of a sanctuary dedicated to Boubastis and by underlining the popularity of this goddess in Alexandria over the long term (from the first wave of immigration to the Roman period). Prior to this discovery, no-one had supposed the existence of a sanctuary dedicated to Boubastis in Alexandria. Furthermore, the offerings to the goddess shed new light on the population of Alexandria at the beginning of its existence

Molecular detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its relationship to histopathological diagnosis in paraffin-embedded lymph node tissues

Background: Tuberculous lymphadenitis (TBL) is one of the most common forms of extra pulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) worldwide, with difficulty in its diagnosis. And since in the Sudan, the routinely used method for diagnosis is conventional histopathology, the aim of this study was to confirm the histopathological diagnosis by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).Methods: In this study 718 lymph node (LN) biopsies were retrieved, of which 161 were diagnosed as TBL (histopathological evidences). PCR technique was performed for all 161 positive samples to detect the IS6110 sequence of M. tuberculosis as well as to obtain the sensitivity and specificity of morphological diagnosis.Results: Out of 161 specimens 135 (84%) were found to be positive with PCR, the remaining 26 (16%) were negative.Conclusions: Although PCR indicated high sensitivity it can’t be a substitute for conventional histopathology in the diagnosis of tuberculous lymphadenitis in tissue

Deciphering the enzymatic target of a new family of antischistosomal agents bearing a quinazoline scaffold using complementary computational tools.

A previous phenotypic screening campaign led to the identification of a quinazoline derivative with promising in vitro activity against Schistosoma mansoni. Follow-up studies of the antischistosomal potential of this candidate are presented here. The in vivo studies in a S. mansoni mouse model show a significant reduction of total worms and a complete disappearance of immature eggs when administered concomitantly with praziquantel in comparison with the administration of praziquantel alone. This fact is of utmost importance because eggs are responsible for the pathology and transmission of the disease. Subsequently, the chemical optimisation of the structure in order to improve the metabolic stability of the parent compound was carried out leading to derivatives with improved drug-like properties. Additionally, the putative target of this new class of antischistosomal compounds was envisaged by using computational tools and the binding mode to the target enzyme, aldose reductase, was proposed

Screening of a PDE-focused library identifies imidazoles with in vitro and in vivo antischistosomal activity

We report the evaluation of 265 compounds from a PDE-focused library for their antischistosomal activity, assessed in vitro using Schistosoma mansoni. Of the tested compounds, 171 (64%) displayed selective in vitro activity, with 16 causing worm hypermotility/spastic contractions and 41 inducing various degrees of worm killing at 100 μM, with the surviving worms displaying sluggish movement, worm unpairing and complete absence of eggs. The compounds that did not affect worm viability (n = 72) induced a complete cessation of ovipositing. 82% of the compounds had an impact on male worms whereas female worms were barely affected. In vivo evaluation in S. mansoni-infected mice with the in vitro ‘hit’ NPD-0274 at 20 mg/kg/day orally for 5 days resulted in worm burden reductions of 29% and intestinal tissue egg load reduction of 35% at 10 days post-treatment. Combination of praziquantel (PZQ) at 10 mg/kg/day for 5 days with NPD-0274 or NPD-0298 resulted in significantly higher worm killing than PZQ alone, as well as a reduction in intestinal tissue egg load, disappearance of immature eggs and an increase in the number of dead eggs

Efficacy and Safety of Artemether in the Treatment of Chronic Fascioliasis in Egypt: Exploratory Phase-2 Trials

Fasciola hepatica and F. gigantica are two liver flukes that parasitize herbivorous large size mammals (e.g., sheep and cattle), as well as humans. A single drug is available to treat infections with Fasciola flukes, namely, triclabendazole. Recently, laboratory studies and clinical trials in sheep and humans suffering from acute fascioliasis have shown that artesunate and artemether (drugs that are widely used against malaria) also show activity against fascioliasis. Hence, we were motivated to assess the efficacy and safety of oral artemether in patients with chronic Fasciola infections. The study was carried out in Egypt and artemether administered according to two different malaria treatment regimens. Cure rates observed with 6×80 mg and 3×200 mg artemether were 35% and 6%, respectively. In addition, high efficacy was observed when triclabendazole, the current drug of choice against human fascioliasis, was administered to patients remaining Fasciola positive following artemether treatment. Concluding, monotherapy with artemether does not represent an alternative to triclabendazole against fascioliasis, but its role in combination chemotherapy regimen remains to be investigated