Identity and its political manipulation in Syria

This research takes a social constructivist approach in order to analyze how identity is used as a political tool, leading to the current civil war in Syria. Identity plays a great role in the political scene in Syria ever since the French Mandate, in which the state was broken into an ethnofederal system. Subsequently the French employed a divide and conquer tactic in order to prevent the unity of Syria therefore making it easier to establish control. Later on, after multiple coups, Hafiz Al-Assad rose to power along with a select group of trusted individuals from his family, tribe, and sect. He then proceeded to create a system whereby the minority Alawites ruled the country. Despite his use of Pan-Arabism, as a means of uniting the country behind a Ba’th ideology which advocated equality amongst the sects, he ensured that the state’s coercive apparatuses remained loyal to the Alawite regime. His son, Bashar Al-Assad, did not change the system in place and he actually reinforced. Both Hafiz and Bashar used identity through framing the situation as either an Alawite regime or a radical Islamist regime, therefore gaining the support of other minorities. Furthermore, both used favoritism policies enabling a select few Sunnis and other sects to gain economic privileges even though such a tactic caused resentment within sects and between the different sects. The Arab Spring has provided an opportunity for the local identities to be reactivated. Years of political maneuvering have resulted in a conflict which evolved into a sectarian conflict driven by anger, fear and resentment. The collapse of the Syrian state has caused a fall of the patronage networks, thus reinforcing the individual reliance on the local identity for basic services. This conflict has been further exacerbated through the involvement of international powers fighting a proxy war as a means of furthering their own interests through aiding certain groups and thus creating an imbalance in the political scene

Health Care System Based on Semantic Web and XML Technologies

The purpose and the goal of the paper is using a semantic web and XML (the Extensible Markup Language) technologies for managing medical information during a diagnostic process is studied. Following a steady international move towards optimization of health care delivery, the latest development in information technology has drawn the health care industry decision makers’ attention. The introduction of proper information technology innovations within the health care processes should provide the necessary optimization. In this manner can be proposed an approach to manage medical data during the whole diagnostic process using the semantic Web and XML technologies. The purpose of the Semantic Web is to bring structure to the content of Web pages allowing software agents to carry out intelligent tasks for the user. This opens a new set of opportunities that can be utilized to improve health care management on a personal and health care provider level. The aim of this paper in progress is to identify the needs and match them to the services possible with the Semantic Web. In this paper, presented an ontology-based framework that successfully combines both Semantic Web and XML technologies to enable the integrated access to biological data sources. The main goal is the seamless integration and application of these technologies in such a way that their deficiencies are over come and their utility maximized. Keywords: Health Care, Semantic Web, Ontology, XM

Synthesis and Photocatalytic Activity of Single Crystal Titanate: Part-1

Single crystal TiO2 nanotubes (TNTs) were prepared using modified hydrothermal method by treatment of prepared TiO2 with NaOH aqueous solution and characterized by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), thermogravimetric (TG) analysis, BET surface area analysis, Raman spectroscopy, FTIR and UV–vis/DR spectroscopy. Detailed study for the effect of calcinations temperature on the morphology, textural properties, adsorption amount and photocatalytic activity of TiO2 nanotubes was performed. The results showed that the calcinations temperature remarkably altered the phase composition. HRTEM showed that the high-purity nanotubes can be produced through the hydrothermal treatment of TiO2, calcinated at 250 ?C.  It was found that the obtained high-purity TNTs have outer diameter of the tubular structures around 15 nm and the length is around 70 nm, the wall of nanotube is 2 layers in one side whereas it is 3 layers in another side and the interlayer spacing is about 1–1.5 nm. The prepared TiO2 nanotubes show enhanced catalytic activity in photocatalytic phenol degradation compared with TiO2 nanoparticles which show lower catalytic activities. Keywords: Titanate, Single Crystal, hydrothermal metho

Effectiveness of a national quality improvement programme to improve survival after emergency abdominal surgery (EPOCH): a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial

Background: Emergency abdominal surgery is associated with poor patient outcomes. We studied the effectiveness of a national quality improvement (QI) programme to implement a care pathway to improve survival for these patients. Methods: We did a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial of patients aged 40 years or older undergoing emergency open major abdominal surgery. Eligible UK National Health Service (NHS) hospitals (those that had an emergency general surgical service, a substantial volume of emergency abdominal surgery cases, and contributed data to the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit) were organised into 15 geographical clusters and commenced the QI programme in a random order, based on a computer-generated random sequence, over an 85-week period with one geographical cluster commencing the intervention every 5 weeks from the second to the 16th time period. Patients were masked to the study group, but it was not possible to mask hospital staff or investigators. The primary outcome measure was mortality within 90 days of surgery. Analyses were done on an intention-to-treat basis. This study is registered with the ISRCTN registry, number ISRCTN80682973. Findings: Treatment took place between March 3, 2014, and Oct 19, 2015. 22 754 patients were assessed for elegibility. Of 15 873 eligible patients from 93 NHS hospitals, primary outcome data were analysed for 8482 patients in the usual care group and 7374 in the QI group. Eight patients in the usual care group and nine patients in the QI group were not included in the analysis because of missing primary outcome data. The primary outcome of 90-day mortality occurred in 1210 (16%) patients in the QI group compared with 1393 (16%) patients in the usual care group (HR 1·11, 0·96–1·28). Interpretation: No survival benefit was observed from this QI programme to implement a care pathway for patients undergoing emergency abdominal surgery. Future QI programmes should ensure that teams have both the time and resources needed to improve patient care. Funding: National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research Programme

Effectiveness of a national quality improvement programme to improve survival after emergency abdominal surgery (EPOCH): a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial

BACKGROUND: Emergency abdominal surgery is associated with poor patient outcomes. We studied the effectiveness of a national quality improvement (QI) programme to implement a care pathway to improve survival for these patients. METHODS: We did a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial of patients aged 40 years or older undergoing emergency open major abdominal surgery. Eligible UK National Health Service (NHS) hospitals (those that had an emergency general surgical service, a substantial volume of emergency abdominal surgery cases, and contributed data to the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit) were organised into 15 geographical clusters and commenced the QI programme in a random order, based on a computer-generated random sequence, over an 85-week period with one geographical cluster commencing the intervention every 5 weeks from the second to the 16th time period. Patients were masked to the study group, but it was not possible to mask hospital staff or investigators. The primary outcome measure was mortality within 90 days of surgery. Analyses were done on an intention-to-treat basis. This study is registered with the ISRCTN registry, number ISRCTN80682973. FINDINGS: Treatment took place between March 3, 2014, and Oct 19, 2015. 22 754 patients were assessed for elegibility. Of 15 873 eligible patients from 93 NHS hospitals, primary outcome data were analysed for 8482 patients in the usual care group and 7374 in the QI group. Eight patients in the usual care group and nine patients in the QI group were not included in the analysis because of missing primary outcome data. The primary outcome of 90-day mortality occurred in 1210 (16%) patients in the QI group compared with 1393 (16%) patients in the usual care group (HR 1·11, 0·96-1·28). INTERPRETATION: No survival benefit was observed from this QI programme to implement a care pathway for patients undergoing emergency abdominal surgery. Future QI programmes should ensure that teams have both the time and resources needed to improve patient care. FUNDING: National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research Programme

Simultaneous Enhancement of Contrast and Power of Femtosecond Laser Pulses by Nonlinear Interferometer

We showed that the nonlinear Mach–Zehnder interferometer may be used not only for enhancing temporal contrast, as proposed earlier, but also for increasing pulse power due to efficient pulse compression. The interferometer introduces into the output pulse a nonlinear phase equal to π/2. This allows increasing laser power by a factor of 1.5 only by means of a chirped mirror. Use of an additional nonlinear plate leads to a multi-fold power increase retaining the contrast enhancement

Simultaneous Enhancement of Contrast and Power of Femtosecond Laser Pulses by Nonlinear Interferometer

We showed that the nonlinear Mach–Zehnder interferometer may be used not only for enhancing temporal contrast, as proposed earlier, but also for increasing pulse power due to efficient pulse compression. The interferometer introduces into the output pulse a nonlinear phase equal to π/2. This allows increasing laser power by a factor of 1.5 only by means of a chirped mirror. Use of an additional nonlinear plate leads to a multi-fold power increase retaining the contrast enhancement