A Framework for the Reasons of the Gap between the Graduates Qualifications of the Private Higher Education and Job Requirements of the Private Sector in Egypt

The current research is designed to analyze and design a framework of the reasons of the gap (miss-fit) between the outcome characteristics of the private higher education and the job requirements in the private sector in Egypt. In this research, the reasons are divided into four main groups: Reasons related to the universitiesReasons related to the businessmenReasons related to the communityReasons related to the graduates After an explanatory analysis, the researcher concluded that the reasons of the gap related the universities are: The Policies of the higher education system, the qualifications of the academic staff members, the higher education techniques, the availability of resources and capabilities, and the fit between the academic courses and the labor market requirements. The reasons related to the businessmen are: effective selection of human resources, preparation and training before practicing the job, supervision during practicing the job, designing and analyzing the job, career planning. The reasons related to the community are measured using one variable which is: The private higher education perspective in Egypt. The reasons related to the students are measured using one variable which is: the benefits of the private higher education to its graduates. In this study, the questionnaires are designed, data are collected, the variables are measured, hypotheses are formulated and a conceptual framework is designed. Further researches are needed to statistically test the effect of these variables on the gap

Reasons of the Gap between Outcome Characteristics of Private Higher Education, and Job Requirements of the Private Sector in Egypt (Reasons Related to Universities)

Universities present one of the main sources that society rely upon  to get the qualified staff which represents the source of human power needed for achieving the society's goals. So, higher education recently receives an exclusive concern all over the world, especially in Egypt. Nowadays, Egypt is highly concerned about increasing the number of Universities, especially the private ones, because they play a great role in establishing qualified humans. Also, it cares about developing and updating academic courses and teaching techniques in universities to cope with the new era requirements that are rapidly changed, and development in all fields. As for the important role of universities in preparing and qualifying the human resources, it was also important to find out the reasons that hinder universities from performing their effective role, which leads to their failure to fulfill the labor market requirements. The exploratory research has shown that the reasons which are related to university could be divided into five groups: 1. Reasons related to the policies of the higher education system. 2. Reasons related to the qualifications of the academic staff member. 3. Reasons related to the higher educational techniques. 4. Reasons related to the availability of resources and capabilities. 5. Reasons related to the fit between the academic courses and labor market requirements. The current research is designed to measure reasons of the gap (misfit) between the outcome characteristics of the private higher education and the job requirements in the private sector in Egypt. The study will be applied in the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport in the following colleges: (a) College of management and technology (b) College of engineering and technology (c) College of maritime transport and technology. Based on the interviews with the academic staff members and some businessmen, the study concluded that regarding the effect of the policies of the private higher education system on the gap between the outcome characteristics of the private higher education and job requirements in the private sector in Egypt, the main causes for the above mentioned gap are the admission method, which is based on high school grades only, and the major selection method. With respect to the qualifications of the academic staff members, it was observed that the isolation of the academic staff members when they establish the academic courses from the labor market, and the weakness of communication between the academic staff members and the students are also considered as causes of the gap. Concerning the higher education techniques and tools, it was found that the inability to use modern methods of education and the dependence on the traditional methods of lecturing are considered as causes of the gap. With respect to the availability of resources and capabilities, this was not considered among the causes of the gap. For the fit between the academic courses and the labor market requirement, it was observed that the inconvenience of educational materials to the labor market requirements, the concentration on theoretical issues more than applications, and the use of old materials are considered causes of the gap.

Evidence to Support a Putative Role for Insulin Resistance in Chronic Kidney Disease

Introduction: The primary cause of morbidity and mortality in the renal patient is a cardiovascular event. Insulin resistance (IR) contributes to this event by increasing cardiovascular disease (CVD) and accelerating rates of decline in kidney function. Here we review the historical background of IR in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and present evidence for a role of IR in accelerating cardiovascular and renal diseases. Review: The high prevalence of IR in CKD patients is well documented. It is suggested that increased IR in the renal patient is caused by uremia as well as by other known factors in the general population. Patients with CKD have an alarmingly high risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. There is overwhelming evidence to support a role for IR in increased CVD morbidity and mortality in the general population, which is likely to extend to CKD patients. Some of the traditional treatment measures for IR, such as metformin, may not be applicable to the renal patient. Other options include weight reduction, exercise, treatment of anemia to improve exercise tolerance, treatment of vitamin D deficiency, thiazolidinediones, and dialysis. IR is estimated by studying the relationship between blood glucose and the concomitant insulin level. Such measurement may help identify patients at increased risk for future cardiovascular events and guide treatment measures. Conclusion: Sufficient evidence supports the increased prevalence of IR in kidney patients. Treating IR may retard the progression of CKD and decrease the incidence of cardiovascular events in this high risk population. Keywords: chronic kidney diseass, cardiovascular disease, insulin resistanc

Measuring the Impact of Service Quality Dimensions and Product Quality on Customer Satisfaction: The Case of Retail Market in Egypt

Customer satisfaction importance is increasing, as it is a key factor in any business success story. Retailers are very careful regarding the customer satisfaction factor, as it is a key determinant in customer’s decision whether to continue or discontinue their association with the retailer. In the recent years, the number and size of retailers in Egypt increased due to the swift growth in Egyptian population. Foreign hypermarkets such as Spinneys, Carrefour, Lulu, Makro, Panda,etc.have created a severe competition with the local modern hypermarkets and traditional markets. Retailers need for a reliable measure or model to test their service quality and product quality and their impact on customer satisfaction to ensure asustainable competitive advantage. Therefore, theaim of this researchisto measure the impact of service quality dimensions (physical aspects, reliability, personal interaction, policy, and problem solving) and product quality on customer satisfaction in the hypermarket sector in Alexandria, Egypt. In order to achievethis aim, a questionnaire has been created and distributed over a sample of 450 respondents to hypermarket buyers in Alexandria, Egypt. 390 questionnaires were collected with 86.7% response rate from the participants and were analysed by using the SPSS. The results of this research showed that there is a significant positive impact offive variables (physical aspects, personal interaction, policy, problem solving, and product quality) on customer satisfaction. Particularly, the hypermarket policy has the strongest impact on customer satisfaction in hypermarket sector followed by personal interaction, product quality, and physical aspects, where problem-solving factor has the least effect on customer satisfaction. Keywords: Service quality dimensions, product quality, retail market, hypermarket sector, customer satisfaction, Egyp

Arbitrage Pricing Model; Determining the Number of Factors and Their Consistency Across Markets

Purpose - The discovery of a true financial equilibrium model that could explain the prices of stocks has long been a sought after challenge and a vital area of research in modern financial theory. The concept is based on the fact that the price of the stock is affected by the present value of the future cash flows from the stock, and anything that will affect the discount rate of these future cash flows. Many brokerage firms, financial institutions and financial consulting firms use multi-index models to aid in the investment process Thus the APT model is becoming increasingly popular and has been a subject of several empirical studies. These models have been tested on both developed and developing markets. The purpose of this research is to analyze the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT) introduced by Ross (1976), which is a more simplified, multifactor model, with fewer relative assumptions to other models, across different representative markets, giving particular attention to the number of factors. Design/methodology/approach – The research is quantitative in nature and principal component analysis will be used to determine the ideal number of factors that should be included in the model, as well as the identity of these factors. Findings - Results indicate that the ideal number of factors vary from four to five factors across markets, with their identity differing across markets. Findings provide valuable insights for professionals in the market as well as academics who want to gain further knowledge on the number of factors. Research limitations/implications –The application of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is based only on a sample of stocks and not on the whole population in the stock market, and thus there remains a question of how accurate these approximations actually are. Practical implications –The APT is a popular multi-index model that should be used by financial analysts to allow risk to be more tightly controlled and allow investors to protect against specific type of risk to which he or she is particularly sensitive or to make specific bets on certain types of risks. Originality/value – No research has yet been carried out across different markets for the same time period as will be carried out in this research, and thus the empirical study in this research aims to add knowledge on whether the number of factors will be consistent across borders or will change from market to market. Keywords Arbitrage Pricing Theory, Number of factors, Emerging markets Paper type Research Pape

Targeted infection of HIV-1 Env expressing cells by HIV(CD4/CXCR4) vectors reveals a potential new rationale for HIV-1 mediated down-modulation of CD4

BACKGROUND: Efficient targeted gene transfer and cell type specific transgene expression are important for the safe and effective expression of transgenes in vivo. Enveloped viral vectors allow insertion of exogenous membrane proteins into their envelopes, which could potentially aid in the targeted transduction of specific cell types. Our goal was to specifically target cells that express the T cell tropic HIV-1 envelope protein (Env) using the highly specific interaction of Env with its cellular receptor (CD4) inserted into the envelope of an HIV-1-based viral vector. RESULTS: To generate HIV-1-based vectors carrying the CD4 molecule in their envelope, the CD4 ectodomain was fused to diverse membrane anchors and inserted together with the HIV-1 coreceptor CXCR4 into the envelopes of HIV-1 vector particles. Independent of the type of CD4 anchor, all chimeric CD4 proteins inserted into HIV-1 vector envelopes and the resultant HIV(CD4/CXCR4) particles were able to selectively confer neomycin resistance to cells expressing the fusogenic T cell tropic HIV-1 Env protein. Unexpectedly, in the absence of Env on the target cells, all vector particles carrying the CD4 ectodomain anchored in their envelope adhered to various cell types without infecting these cells. This cell adhesion was very avid. It was independent of the presence of Env on the target cell, the type of CD4 anchor or the presence of CXCR4 on the particle. In mixed cell populations with defined ratios of Env(+)/Env(- )cells, the targeted transduction of Env(+ )cells by HIV(CD4/CXCR4) particles was diminished in proportion to the number of Env(- )cells. CONCLUSION: Vector diversion caused by a strong, non-selective cell binding of CD4(+)-vector particles effectively prevents the targeted transduction of HIV-1 Env expressing cells in mixed cell populations. This Env-independent cell adhesion severely limits the effective use of targeted HIV(CD4/CXCR4) vectors designed to interfere with HIV-1 replication in vivo. Importantly, the existence of this newly described and remarkably strong CD4-dependent cell adhesion suggests that the multiple viral efforts to reduce CD4 cell surface expression may, in part, be to prevent cell adhesion to non-target cells and thereby to increase the infectivity of viral progeny. Preventing CD4 down-modulation by HIV-1 might be an effective component of a multi-faceted antiviral strategy

Quantitative shape analysis with weighted covariance estimates for increased statistical efficiency

BACKGROUND: The introduction and statistical formalisation of landmark-based methods for analysing biological shape has made a major impact on comparative morphometric analyses. However, a satisfactory solution for including information from 2D/3D shapes represented by ‘semi-landmarks’ alongside well-defined landmarks into the analyses is still missing. Also, there has not been an integration of a statistical treatment of measurement error in the current approaches. RESULTS: We propose a procedure based upon the description of landmarks with measurement covariance, which extends statistical linear modelling processes to semi-landmarks for further analysis. Our formulation is based upon a self consistent approach to the construction of likelihood-based parameter estimation and includes corrections for parameter bias, induced by the degrees of freedom within the linear model. The method has been implemented and tested on measurements from 2D fly wing, 2D mouse mandible and 3D mouse skull data. We use these data to explore possible advantages and disadvantages over the use of standard Procrustes/PCA analysis via a combination of Monte-Carlo studies and quantitative statistical tests. In the process we show how appropriate weighting provides not only greater stability but also more efficient use of the available landmark data. The set of new landmarks generated in our procedure (‘ghost points’) can then be used in any further downstream statistical analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Our approach provides a consistent way of including different forms of landmarks into an analysis and reduces instabilities due to poorly defined points. Our results suggest that the method has the potential to be utilised for the analysis of 2D/3D data, and in particular, for the inclusion of information from surfaces represented by multiple landmark points

End-of-Life Training in US Internal Medicine Residency Programs: A National Study

Background: End-of-life care is a required and important component of medical training for internal medicine residents; many of whom will go on to provide care for adults at the end-of-life stage. Although a body of past research suggests that physician training in end-of-life care needs significant improvement, a comprehensive national study of end-of-life education within US internal medicine residency programs has never been published. Objective: To determine the status of end-of-life education in internal medicine residency programs in the United States. Method: The study was a cross-sectional, observational study of all internal medicine Residency Program Directors in the US as of May 2015. Postal mail and email were used to disseminate a multi-wave survey to program directors. Results: More than half (52%) of all program directors completed the survey. Although directors strongly believed in the benefits of residents integrating end-of-life care components into clinical practice, only 36% of programs reported having formal end-of-life curriculum in place for more than three years. Of those programs that taught end-of-life topics or skills, the majority did not formally evaluate residents’ competence. Moreover, 24% of residency programs did not have an end-of-life curriculum; 34% did not offer a rotation in hospice care; and 31% did not have structured conference teaching on topics dealing with end-of-life. Conclusions: Although end-of-life training of physicians has improved over the years, deficiencies remain within US internal medicine residency programs