'We are still here': The stories of Syrian academics in exile

Purpose The purposes of this paper are twofold: to generate insight into the experiences of Syrian academics in exile in Turkey, and to explore approaches to collaboration and community building among academics in exile and with counterparts in the international academic community. Design/methodology/approach The study employs a hybrid visual-autobiographical narrative methodology, embedded within a Large Group Process (LGP) design Findings Findings are presented in two phases: The first phase presents a thematic analysis of narrative data, revealing the common and divergent experiences of twelve exiled academics. The second phase presents a reflective evaluation of undertaking the LGP and its implications for community building and sustaining Syrian academia in exile. Research limitations While this is a qualitative study with a small participant group, and therefore does not provide a basis for statistical generalisation, it offers rich insight into Syrian academics’ lived experiences of exile, and into strategies implemented to support the Syrian academic community in exile. Practical implications The study has practical implications for academic development in the contexts of conflict and exile; community building among dispersed academic communities; educational interventions by international NGOs and the international academic community; and group process design. Originality/value The study makes an original contribution to the limited literature on post-2011 Syrian higher education by giving voice to a community of exiled academics, and by critically evaluating a strategic initiative for supporting and sustaining Syrian academia. This represents significant, transferable insight for comparable contexts

Effect of nocturnal hypoxemia on glycemic control among diabetic Saudi patients presenting with obstructive sleep apnea

BackgroundObstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a prevalent disease that is associated with an increased incidence of type II diabetes mellitus (DM) if left untreated. We aimed to determine the association between glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels and both nocturnal hypoxemia and apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) among a Saudi patients with OSA.MethodsA cross-sectional study that enrolled 103 adult patients diagnosed with DM and confirmed to have OSA by full night attended polysomnography between 2018 and 2021. Those who presented with acute illness, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)/restrictive lung diseases causing sleep-related hypoxemia, or no available HbA1c level within 6 months before polysomnography were excluded from the study. Univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses between HbA1c levels and parameters of interest were tested.ResultsSixty-seven (65%) of the studied population had uncontrolled DM (HbA1c ≥7%). In univariate regression analysis, there was a significant positive association between HbA1c, and sleep time spent with an oxygen saturation below 90% (T90), female gender, and body mass index (BMI) (p<0.05) but not AHI, or associated comorbidities (p>0.05). In the multivariate analysis, HbA1c was positively associated with increasing T90 (p<0.05), and ODI (p<0.05), but not with AHI (p>0.05).ConclusionNocturnal hypoxemia could be an important factor affecting glycemic control in patients with OSA suffering from DM irrespective of the severity of both diseases

Building a Secure Image Cryptography System using Parallel Processing and Complicated Dynamic Length Private Key

A method of color images cryptography will be introduced, programmed, and tested. The proposed method is based on using a digital color image as an image key; this image is to be kept secret without transmission. The proposed method will provide a high level of images protection based on the complicated and complex private key used in cryptography, this key will be changed when replacing the image key, or changing the data block size, or changing the color channel. The proposed method will be compared with other standard methods of data cryptography, and it will be shown how this method will improve the efficiency of data cryptography by minimizing the encryption-decryption time, the obtained results will be compared with the standard method of data cryptography to show the speedup achieved by the proposed method. It will be shown how to execute the proposed method in parallel, 2, 4, and 8 threads will be used to execute the method and the associated speedup will be calculated. The proposed method will protect the data by providing a high level of security, this can be achieved by using a variable-length private key, the private key length and content will depend on the selected image key, selected color matrix, and the selected block size. The block size used in the proposed method will be variable and it will be shown that the proposed method will satisfy the quality requirements by providing good value for Mean Square Error (MSE), and Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR

DataSheet_1_Effect of nocturnal hypoxemia on glycemic control among diabetic Saudi patients presenting with obstructive sleep apnea.docx

BackgroundObstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a prevalent disease that is associated with an increased incidence of type II diabetes mellitus (DM) if left untreated. We aimed to determine the association between glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels and both nocturnal hypoxemia and apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) among a Saudi patients with OSA.MethodsA cross-sectional study that enrolled 103 adult patients diagnosed with DM and confirmed to have OSA by full night attended polysomnography between 2018 and 2021. Those who presented with acute illness, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)/restrictive lung diseases causing sleep-related hypoxemia, or no available HbA1c level within 6 months before polysomnography were excluded from the study. Univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses between HbA1c levels and parameters of interest were tested.ResultsSixty-seven (65%) of the studied population had uncontrolled DM (HbA1c ≥7%). In univariate regression analysis, there was a significant positive association between HbA1c, and sleep time spent with an oxygen saturation below 90% (T90), female gender, and body mass index (BMI) (p0.05). In the multivariate analysis, HbA1c was positively associated with increasing T90 (p0.05).ConclusionNocturnal hypoxemia could be an important factor affecting glycemic control in patients with OSA suffering from DM irrespective of the severity of both diseases.</p