Web 2.0: A Movement within the Learning Community

Web 2.0 technologies provide members of the learning community with new and innovative ways to create disseminate and share information both individually and collaboratively. This phenomenon has been termed e-Learning 2.0. However, e-Learning 2.0 is more than the application of these technologies in the learning community; it is a movement that is beginning to transform the nature of learning. In this paper we present and explain four Web 2.0 technologies - blogs, wikis, podcasts, and social networks - and look at how these technologies are currently being used by staff. We consider the use of Web 2.0 technologies by students to find and share information and to form support communities and then we explore a Web 2.0 pedagogical model that would connect students - tomorrow’s professionals - with today’s professionals in order to enhance student education through providing collaborative learning opportunities together with ready access to multiple sources of information and expertise

The Death Penalty in Contemporary Egypt: States, Murderers, and State Murderers

This thesis is an ethnography of the encounters between figures of the state and some death row detainees and their family members. The project explores what it means to be sentenced to death and executed in contemporary death row cases, what fantasies encounters with the ‘state’ imply or satisfy, and how time unfolds throughout the murder. As such, in exploring the genealogy and bureaucratization of murder, this ethnography problematizes the official discourses of abstraction, efficacy, and sanitization around the penalty. Instead, it focuses on the everydayness of the penalty within the legal and penal systems, and draws heavily on the details and nuances of encounters with state personnel in courtrooms, prisons, and morgues. In doing so, I ask who kills the bodies? How do they become killable? When do they (not) die? Whose are they? Where do they go? Starting with the body, and the networks in and through which the body moves, the project nevertheless expands on possibilities of presence despite the absence of the physical body, thereby pointing to the intricacies of and between life/death, human/nonhuman, and memory/future

The ultras in Egypt: political role before and after January 25th, 2011

Since the formal inception of the “Ultras” groups in Egypt in 2007, there has been a rise in the conflict between the Egyptian security apparatus and the soccer fans. And despite their anti-political stance in the early days, the Ultras began to participate in dissent and engage in a confrontational relationship with the state authorities ever since their inception. This was culminated in the critical role they played during the eighteen days in January and February 2011 and in more events to follow since. However, despite this important role and the support they have among Egyptian youth, the Egyptian Ultras have been the subject of fairly little academic research. This research seeks to study and compare the political role played by the Ultras before and after January 25th, 2011 through analyzing repertoires of contention, mobilizing structures, and political opportunities and threats through an examination of primary sources. These will include Ultras founder/member Mohamed Gamal Bashir’s (also known as Gemyhood) The Ultras Book: When the Fans Go Beyond the Normal, interviews with Ultras members and leaders, and analysis of key messages in Ultras’ produced materials such as chants, graffiti and banners that attempt to document the Ultras political engagement between 2007-2013; as well as project on the future role of the soccer fan groups in Egyptian politics and social change. Using the political processes model of social movements as a theoretical framework, this proposed research argues that the international ideological framework of the Ultras groups naturally drove them into dissent since their inception and placed them as a confrontational opponent to Egyptian security authorities, who always attempted to impose limits on the groups’ collective claim-making ability. However, it was changes that happened in several dimensions of the political opportunity and mobilizing structures with January 25th 2011 that rendered the political system as more vulnerable to challenge by the Ultras groups, and led to shaping their revolutionary and political role, change their repertoire of contention vis-à-vis state institutions, and allowed them to collectively act outside the stadia as a meaningful opposition to the repressive Egyptian regime and security apparatus in the years to follow

META-analysis of microarray data to assess gender biased differential gene expression in hepatic tissue

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second deadliest cancer globally, and with an estimated 782,000 new cases in 2012, it is the fifth most common cancer in men and ninth in women. HCC is of particular concern in Egypt because of the high prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). Due to its poor prognosis, HCC is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Egypt. A gender disparity is observed in liver cancer cases, with higher prevalence in men by three to five fold. This sex bias is even more pronounced in mouse models of HCC, which was found to be sex hormone-dependent. Some studies have attempted to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of this disparity; but with inconclusive and sometimes contradicting outcomes, they remain largely unresolved. Understanding the natural protective mechanisms in females would allow for the development of preventative and therapeutic strategies for patients at risk for HCC or already inflicted with the disease. In this study, we applied a meta-analysis approach on already available microarray data from human normal liver tissues to identify differentially expressed genes between males and females. Microarray datasets were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database, Robust Multiarray Average pre-processed and analyzed for differential expression. The combination of 2 distinct datasets and analysis using a p-value cut-off of 0.05 and fold change cut-off of 2 revealed male up-regulated genes including RPS4Y1, EIF1AY, CYorf15B, UTY, DDX3Y and USP9Y. Female up-regulated genes included XIST, PNPLA4 and PZP. Our results confirm gender-specific differential expression patterns found in other tissues and call for further investigation using a larger sample size and more sensitive approaches such as RNA-Sequencing and, targeted protein-level studies

Deep Learning-based Polyp Detection in Wireless Capsule Endoscopy Images

Gastrointestinal (GI) system diseases have increased significantly, where colon and rectum cancer is considered the second cause of death in 2020. Wireless Capsule Endoscopy (WCE) is a revolutionary procedure for detecting Colorectal lesions. It was automatically used to detect the polyps, multiple SB lesions, bleeding, and Ulcer. The acquired video by the WCE can be processed using a Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) system. However, such videos suffer several problems, including burling, high illumination. and distortion. These effects obligate the development of image processing techniques of high accuracy in detection using deep learning-based segmentation. In this paper, a transfer learning-based U-Net was proposed to transfer the knowledge between the medical images in the training phase and the subsequent segmentation using transfer learning to achieve better results and high accuracy results compared to other related studies. The improvement is done by using an algorism written in python code The results showed average segmentation accuracy of 98.67

Authenticated Diagnosing of COVID-19 using Deep Learning-based CT Image Encryption Approach

Researchers are motivated to use artificial intelligence in biometrics, medical imaging encryption, as well as cybersecurity due to its rapid progress. An encryption method for CT scans—which are used to diagnose COVID-19 disease—is proposed in this study. The suggested encryption method creates a connection among an individual\u27s face picture and CT image to increase confidentiality. The simple CT picture is first enhanced with a host image. An encryption key is multiplied by the final result. This key is produced by applying a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to recognize characteristics from people\u27s face photographs. Additionally, a straightforward CNN with three convolutional groups is suggested. Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) , batch normalization layer , and convolutional layer make up each group. Finally, Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) is applied on the product of deep facial features and the image resulted from adding the CT image and the host image. Decryption is performed in the reverse order to obtain the original CT image. Furthermore, we examine and assess the effectiveness of the suggested method against three distinct forms of attacks: rotation, Speckle noise, and Salt & Pepper noise. Three scenarios are covered in the studies where decryption is carried out: using the right key, using the right key with a little modification, and using the incorrect key. Metrics including MSE, PSNR, Entropy, CC, histogram analysis, and elapsed time are used to gauge how well the suggested method performs. A maximum of 0.4361 seconds have elapsed

Quality of life among physicians in Egypy and its influencing factors: a cross-sectional study

Doctors have an essential role in healthcare service, and their quality of life (QoL) is crucial for their professional satisfaction and overall well-being. This study assessed the QoL among physicians and explored the influencing factors that affect it. This cross-sectional study was carried out using a self-administered Internet survey. The survey was focused on physicians employed at various hospitals and clinics in Egypt. Data on participants' demographics, work-related factors, and QoL were collected using WHOQOL-BREF. WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire measures a participant's perception of their life quality across various domains, including general health, physical well-being, psychological health, social relationships, and the environment. The scores for each domain are calculated based on participants' responses to specific items, with higher scores indicating a better QoL. The QoL scores were 3.57±1.02 for the general health domain, 12.93±2.49 for physical domain, 12.29±2.67 for psychological domain, 12.87±3.20 for social domain, and 11.00±2.58 for environmental domain. The overall QoL score was 3.64±0.835. The findings indicate a moderate QoL among the participating physicians. The physicians' QoL domains were affected by age, sex, education level, marital status, chronic disease, smoking, speciality, working hours per week, extra working hours, and work experience