The ‘Ivory Tower’ exposed: The university in Ashour’s Atyaf and Coetzee’s Disgrace

The sub-genre of the campus novel is relatively new, only starting in its recent form in the mid-fifties in England and the United States. There have been attempts for writing campus novels in Arabic modern fiction, but none of them were consciously categorized under this sub-genre; the term is fairly new to the Arabic literary scene. This thesis is a comparative study of Atyaf (Specters) (1999), an Egyptian modern campus novel by writer and professor Radwa Ashour (1946-2014), which ushers this sub-genre in Arabic literature, and Disgrace, by South African writer and Professor J. M. Coetzee (1940- ). Atyaf is semi-autobiographical, with an intersection of the life of a fictional character into the narrator’s own. Creating a double corresponding to the main character is indicative, of double trajectories that could have been undertaken. Disgrace, though fictional, overlaps with Coetzee’s professional career as a professor at Cape Town University. As an academic, Ashour firmly believed in institutional autonomy and academic freedom and struggled against authoritarian surveillance in the university. Coetzee wrote intensively on the importance of establishing institutional autonomy and defending academic freedom. He also had expressed concerns about intellectuals and their role inside the walls of the university. By exposing corruption, revealing issues of lack of intellectual integrity, hypocrisy, abuse, academic life in the so-called ‘Ivory-Tower,’ I attempt to explore how both Ashour and Coetzee expose the reality of the university against its idealistic, utopian picture as woven in the consciousness of the public. The thesis addresses the image, role, function, and social position of the intellectual and the University as presented in theoretical works of Edward Said, touching on definitions by Martin Heidegger, Cardinal Newman, Michel Foucault, Paul Baran, and Taha Hussein

Change Detection of Vegetation Cover Using Remote Sensing Data as a Case Study: Ajloun Area

Remote sensing data in combination with the appropriate multispectral bands such as Landsat OLI/TIR and TM data were used to change detection of vegetation cover using vegetation indices for the periods of 1990 – 2015 in Ajloun area, where this study area has the highest forest cover in Jordan.  The results indicate that overall increase in Unclassified area (urbanization, land degradation and agricultural activities) in the study area between 1990 and 2015 is approximately 146.84 km2. Despite the fact that the cultivation and urbanization caused significant changes in the study area. and the percentages to removal of vegetation in the study area reached up to 5.84 of overall area annually which refer to the risk situation which mean that the study area reach to the high level degradation of the vegetation cover. Keywords: NDVI, Satellite image, Landsat TM, Forest and Classificatio

2,4-Dichlorophenoxy acetic acid, abscisic acid, and hydrogen peroxide induced resistance-related components against potato early blight (Alternaria solani, Sorauer)

AbstractInduction of acquired resistance activates defense-related genes. Current study aimed to (a) initiate potato acquired resistance to the Early Blight disease caused by Alternaria solani through treating potato plants with low and repetitive doses of 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D), abscisic acid (AB), and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and (b) test the success of the use of the chemical inducers along with the application of fungicides. Potato cultivars Nicola and Spunta were treated once per wk for 6wk and challenged 1wk later by in the control of A. solani. Results showed that peroxidase (POD), phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), and polyphenoloxidase (PPO) enzyme activities and gene regulation were significantly increased after 1d of infection and lasted for more than 15d. The 2,4-D and H2O2 inducers significantly increased both enzyme activities and gene expression of PAL, PPO, and POD for more than 15d post inoculation. PAL was the most increased at the enzyme activity and gene expression levels. Incorporation of such in-expensive treatments might reduce management costs and reduce the environmental pollution

Deep Learning for UAV Imagery Segmentation: The Detection of Elymus Athericus Spread in The Hallig Nordstrandischmoor

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial TechnologiesIt has been observed that Athyrics Elymus engulfs smaller species in low marsh habitats in different areas of Europe. To obtain automated segmentation of the Athurics Elymus in Hallig Nordstrandischmoor, a deep learning model based on the transfer learning technique presented in the VGG16 was implemented with a U-Net deep learning architecture and the data augmentation algorithm. In conclusion, the final results were good, and had been grouped into three levels of accuracy. These groups are also characterized by varying levels of diversity in their environments. The wildrye covers the majority of these single images, with a low percentage of other habitats in the first group with an accuracy greater than 96%. In the second group, the accuracy ranged between 91-95%, which included more elements of variation; however, wildrye was still included. Moreover, the third group, with an accuracy rate between 80-90%, did not seem to include wildrye very often, while at the same time including elements not found in the training dataset, such as surface water and dirt roads. Due to this, time and effort are significantly reduced while high accuracy is achieved

Enhancing the Impact of Student-led Entrepreneurial Initiatives in Egyptian Public Universities

Innovation and entrepreneurship are increasingly viewed as key contributors to the creation of sustainable livelihood opportunities for youth and increased socioeconomic resilience. Mindful of this, a noticeable part of the existing literature underscores the essential role played by university-based student-led entrepreneurship clubs in widening students’ engagement in the entrepreneurship ecosystem; increasing their entrepreneurial intention; improving their interpersonal and enterprise skills, and giving them the opportunity to gain hands-on experience through practical learning. This, in turn, improves their self-employment prospects and supports them in the creation of successful future entrepreneurs and employees. Additionally, the student-led entrepreneurship clubs help students bridge the gap between academia and the labor market and prepare them for it. In light of this, the policy paper aims to understand the role of student-led clubs operating inside Egyptian public universities in enhancing the entrepreneurial ecosystem

The Impact of using Computer-Aided Design (CAD) on the Creativity of Architecture Students

The architectural design process is based on imagination where creativity is highly valued. Contemporary goals in higher education and particularly architectural design education include giving students tools to stimulate the search for creative solutions to problems. One of those tools is the Computer-Aided Design (CAD) tool. The use of CAD in the latter stages of the design process for efficiency purposes has become common. However, the integration of CAD into the early, schematic stages of the design process has initiated some debate where empirical evidence regarding the impact of CAD on the creativity of architectural design solutions and the influence on the creative mental process of students is lacking. The aim of this paper is to determine whether the use of CAD effectively enhances students' creative concepts. Other than descriptive-analytic methodology, the study was divided into two stages: an experimental study and a questionnaire. The first stage aimed to examine the effect of using pencil-based and computer-based methods on the creativeness of architectural solutions in the preliminary design phases. The second stage aimed to gather rich descriptions of how CAD is used in architectural design education. The respondents of these two stages were students of the Department of Islamic Architecture, Umm Al-Qura University, KSA.The study concluded that the use of CAD did not significantly inhibit, nor did it enhance creativity in the preliminary design stage compared to the pencil-based design method

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF THREE DIFFERENT IRRIGATING TECHNIQUES ON DEBRIS AND SMEAR LAYER DISTRIBUTION IN ROOT CANALS (AN IN VITRO STUDY)

The aim of this study was to compare, in vitro, the cleaning efficacy of three different irrigation techniques: syringe irrigation (Navitip) using NaOCl, sonic irrigation system (EndoActivator), and passive ultrasonic irrigation system (PUI) on debris and smear layer distribution in the root canal at three different levels. Materials and Methods: Sixty freshly extracted single-rooted human mandibular premolars were decoronated to a standardized length of twenty millimeters. Specimens were shaped to IRace 25 size and irrigated with 3 mL 2.5% NaOCl between instrumentation. Teeth were divided randomly into three equal groups: Group I (n=20): Irrigation manually with a syringe (Navitip) (n=20), irrigation was done with 3 mL 2.5% NaOCl for one minute using 30 gauge needle. Group II (n=20): Final rinse with 3 ml 2.5% NaOCl activated for one minute with passive sonic irrigation system (endoactivator). Group III (n=20): Final rinse with 3 ml 2.5% NaOCl activated for one minute with PUI system. Root canals were then split longitudinally and field emission scanning electron microscopy was used to eval¬uate endodontic smear layer and debris removal from the instrumented root canals. This was done using a scale from 0-5 as described by Hulsmann et al. Results of this study showed that Both (PUI) and (EndoActivator®; Dentsply) have resulted in superior removal of smear layer and debris when compared to needle-and-syringe irrigation. Conclusion: None of the techniques completely removed all the smear layer and debris from root canal walls at the apical part of the canal. However, PUI system showed significantly better cleaning than needle and sonic systems in the entire length of the root canal

A Pervasive Computational Intelligence based Cognitive Security Co-design Framework for Hype-connected Embedded Industrial IoT

The amplified connectivity of routine IoT entities can expose various security trajectories for cybercriminals to execute malevolent attacks. These dangers are even amplified by the source limitations and heterogeneity of low-budget IoT/IIoT nodes, which create existing multitude-centered and fixed perimeter-oriented security tools inappropriate for vibrant IoT settings. The offered emulation assessment exemplifies the remunerations of implementing context aware co-design oriented cognitive security method in assimilated IIoT settings and delivers exciting understandings in the strategy execution to drive forthcoming study. The innovative features of our system is in its capability to get by with irregular system connectivity as well as node limitations in terms of scares computational ability, limited buffer (at edge node), and finite energy. Based on real-time analytical data, projected scheme select the paramount probable end-to-end security system possibility that ties with an agreed set of node constraints. The paper achieves its goals by recognizing some gaps in the security explicit to node subclass that is vital to our system’s operations

Self -Compassion and Self-Efficacy Among Academic Nursing Staff: Relationship Approach

Self-compassion may help academic staff experience the relationship benefits associated with high self- efficacy. Hence, relationship self-efficacy is positively associated with changes in relationship satisfaction.  Aim of the study: This study aimed to assess the relationship between self-efficacy, and self-compassion and socio demographic data among academic nursing staff in Mansoura University, Egypt. Research Design: A descriptive design. Tools of data collection: three tools were used to collect data; 1- Data interview questionnaire .2-Neff self -compassion scale, 2011 3- General self- efficacy scale by (Schwarzer and Jerusalem, 1995). Results: The total mean score of self- compassion was 37.3±7.2. It is also observed that mindfulness subscales obtained a higher mean score X±SD =8.3±6.5, followed by Common-humanity subscale X±SD =6.7±1.6, Self- kindness had a mean score of X±SD = 6.6±1.2.General self -efficacy scale, total mean score was 30.3±4.4. There were significant positive correlation between self- kindness subscale and general self -efficacy P=.000. Also there is statistical significant negative correlation regarding Self- judgment, and general self –efficacy= 0.000. Conclusion: Self -compassion was moderate among academic nursing staff while Self- efficacy was higher among them. Self -efficacy significantly correlated with self- kindness and negatively with self -judgment. Key words: Academic nursing staff, self -compassion, self -efficacy. DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/62-05 Publication date:May 31st 201