Digital Commons Network^™

The Impact Of Violent Content Media Exposure On Behavioral Outcomes: The Mediating Role Of Media Engagement, Melissia Emad Eskander

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores how repeated exposure to violent content in films, television series, and video games may influence behavioral outcomes among Egyptian media consumers. Drawing on the General Aggression Model, Social Learning Theory, and Cultivation Theory, it examines how individual interpretation, emotional involvement, and narrative absorption mediate the effects of media violence. It also considers how personality traits shape audience responses, specifically aggression, empathy, and narrative immersion.

A mixed-methods approach was adopted. A structured survey of 200 Egyptians aged 18 and above assessed media exposure, aggression, empathy, narrative engagement, and behavioral outcomes. In parallel, a content analysis of Egyptian films …

Under The Guardianship: Experiences Of Mothers In Egypt’S El Nayaba El Hesbaya, Hana Khayry

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the intersectional lived experience of El Nayaba El Hesbaya in Egypt. El Nayaba El Hesbaya, operating under Law 119/1952, is the administrative and judicial body responsible for overseeing the financial and legal affairs of minors whose father or mother had passed. Hundreds of thousands of mothers in Egypt have (had) children under the guardianship of El Nayaba El Hesbaya. This research delves into the experience of mothers whose children are or were under the guardianship of El Nayaba El Hesbaya, examining how it shape(s/d) their everyday life as women, mothers, widows or ex-wives, citizens, and legal subjects. …

Greenhouse Gas Emissions And Stock Market Volatility In The Eurozone: Evidence From Sectoral Structure And Climate Policy, Toulin Mohamed Albostany

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the relationship between greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and stock market volatility in the Eurozone from 2000 to 2023. The analysis is driven by increasing concerns regarding climate related financial risks, investigating whether various types of emissions induce financial market instability and whether this relationship is influenced by the economic frameworks and climate policy contexts. Utilizing annual panel data from 20 Eurozone countries, stock market volatility is assessed by a Dynamic Conditional Correlation Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (DCC-GARCH) framework, which accounts for time-varying volatility and inter-market dependence. The empirical strategy integrates pooled OLS, fixed-effects models, and instrumental-variables Generalized …

In Her Words: The Silent Battles Of Egyptian Women With Breast Cancer, Nada Mohamed Ahmed Hassan Nh

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the emotional, social, and economic difficulties encountered by Egyptian women from middle- to working-class origins after a breast cancer diagnosis. Despite being a worldwide health concern, local cultural, institutional, and economic circumstances have a significant impact on the lived consequences of breast cancer. Women's post-diagnosis experiences in Egypt are greatly exacerbated by deeply ingrained gender stereotypes, stigma associated with cancer, and systemic injustices in the healthcare system. This research emphasizes women's situated knowledge and views their bodily experiences as crucial sources of insight into larger societal power relations. It is based on feminist perspective theory, especially the …

Securing Or Securitizing? Unveiling The Role Of Securitization “Audience” In Israel’S 2007 Bombing Of The Syrian Nuclear Site., Dunia Essam Hassanin

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the 2007 Israeli bombing on Syria's Al-Kibar nuclear reactor through the lens of securitization theory, concluding that intelligence served as crucial audiences in legitimizing the operation. Building on the Copenhagen School's paradigm, which defines securitization as the process by which actors build issues as existential threats necessitating extreme measures, this study fills a critical theoretical gap: the underdeveloped role of the audience. While classic formulations focus on public approval, this study suggests a more sophisticated notion of the Political Intelligence Audience: intelligence agencies that validate and operationalize securitization moves. The concept contends that groups such as the …

Exploring Academic Note Taking Practices Of Multilingual University Students: Perceptions And Practices, Alice M. Findlay Ms.

Theses and Dissertations

Note taking is a fundamental academic skill that records information and supports the identification, selection and organization of information for understanding and knowledge creation, yet it is often overlooked in higher education. Research has explored the role of note taking in supporting learning and examined similarities and differences between L1 and L2 note taking. However, few studies have focused on multilingual students in English Medium Instruction (EMI) contexts despite the additional cognitive challenges of managing information across languages and navigating Western-centric academic conventions. This study investigates how multilingual students at an Egyptian EMI university take notes in their learning contexts. …

Sustainable Construction Materials In The Middle East: Model Development For Materials Selection, Taha Ahmed Omar Madu

Theses and Dissertations

The construction industry, a major driver of economic development in the Middle East, is simultaneously a leading contributor to carbon emissions, resource depletion, and environmental degradation. Amid rapid urbanization in countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, the adoption of sustainable construction materials has emerged as a critical strategy for mitigating environmental and societal impacts while advancing regional development objectives. This thesis is organized along two interrelated directions: first, it delivers a comprehensive assessment of the current adoption, challenges, and opportunities associated with the use of sustainable construction materials across the three target countries; second, it …

The Effectiveness Of Public-Private Partnerships In Addressing Residential Urban Development Challenges In Greater Cairo, Sara Nagy Abdelmessih

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores the effectiveness of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in tackling the residential urban development challenges facing Cairo today. In the past two decades, PPPs have emerged as a dominant mode of housing production, positioned as collaborative ventures between state agencies and private developers. They have become integral to the expansion of Greater Cairo, producing vast new urban extensions under the promise of mobilizing private capital, technical expertise, and delivery capacity. Yet, questions remain about whether these arrangements genuinely address Egypt’s most urgent housing needs, or whether they reproduce market-driven logics that leave large segments of the population excluded.

The …

Perceptions Of Healthcare Access Barriers Among Eritrean, Sudanese, And Somali Refugees And Asylum Seekers In Cairo., Ayan Musa Mohamed

Theses and Dissertations

As the world witnesses an increase in different displacements of individuals for various reasons, ranging from wars, civil conflicts, human rights violations, and natural disasters, refugees and asylum seekers, who are among those forcibly displaced, continue to face challenges in access to health care services in host countries. The topic of barriers to health care has been widely researched, with a large body of literature on refugees' interactions with health care systems. However, there is limited literature on the perceptions of Eritrean, Sudanese, and Somali refugees and asylum seekers' experience with healthcare access in host countries. Therefore, this thesis aims …

Assessing Knowledge, Attitudes, And Practices (Kap) Towards The One Health Approach In Governmental Officers In Egypt, Nour Elsersawy

Theses and Dissertations

Background: the one health (OH) approach emphasizes the interconnectedness among human, animal, and environmental health and requires multisectoral collaboration to address complex health challenges. Egypt faces significant threats at the human-animal-environment interface, including endemic and emerging zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), food safety challenges, and vector-borne diseases. Despite established coordination mechanisms and the launch of the One Health National strategic framework (2023-2027) of Egypt, the extent to which oh principles are understood, embraced, and practiced by governmental officers responsible for implementation remains incompletely understood. Objectives: this study assessed and evaluated the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding the one health …

Groove Goes The Distance: An Initial Inquiry Into Jazz Music In Egypt, Farida Gohar

Theses and Dissertations

Jazz music has been a historically contentious site of social, cultural, and political signification. From the violent subjugation that characterized its origins and aspirational freedom that animated its practice, to its transformation into a distinctly “American” music instrumentalized by the US State Department to counter Soviet influence, jazz’s capacity for the inscription of meaning is vast and regularly cause for debate. The particular configuration of jazz music in Egypt is no less complicated although seldom studied. This thesis ventures an initial mapping of the dynamics and negotiations that historically defined the initiation of “Egyptian” jazz, as well as the ones …

Proposed Modifications To The Egyptian Concrete Code Based On A Comprehensive Sustainability Assessment Of Portland Cement Alternatives For Climate Change Mitigation, Yasmin Elhakim

Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is a major challenge facing planet earth today. This phenomenon is foreseen to continue to represent a major concern for decades to come. The construction industry is one of the most polluting sectors worldwide and is considered one of the top greenhouse gas emitters. Egypt, in particular, is one of the most vulnerable countries to the adverse effects of climate change. The construction sector plays a major role in Egypt’s economy, contributing significantly to the national GDP, yet it also represents one of the country’s largest greenhouse gas emitters. However, the Egyptian Concrete Code does not enforce the …

Law And The (Re)Production Of Class Hierarchies In Egypt, Ahmad Abdelnaby

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates how Egypt’s legal system, structurally tilted toward the elite and constitutive of inequality, has interacted with the country’s entrenched culture of class-based discrimination to produce a legal culture uniquely comfortable with hierarchy. It contends that class-based discrimination in Egypt has evolved from a social prejudice into a juridical condition, one in which the law does not merely mirror inequality but actively constructs and rationalizes it. By examining the intersection between legal structure and Egypt’s entrenched moral order of class-based discrimination, the study reveals a legal culture that no longer hides its hierarchies behind the veil of neutrality …

Exploring Artificial Intelligence Governance In Higher Education: Policy Design, Implementation And Adaptability In Egypt, Rolane Eissa

Theses and Dissertations

The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education (HE) underscores the need for effective governance frameworks that ensure ethical use and academic integrity. Despite increased policy attention, universities face significant challenges in translating AI governance (AIG) principles and policies into coherent, practical practices within complex organizational settings. Existing research on AIG remains conceptual and focused on the Global North. It offers limited empirical insight into how AI policies are interpreted and enacted at the institutional level, particularly in HE systems in the Global South. This study addresses these gaps by examining AIG in Egyptian universities, thereby providing empirically …

Self-Medication And Pharmaceutical Dispensing In Egypt: Practices, Policies, And Regulatory Challenges, Lobna Fawzy Ali Shaheen

Theses and Dissertations

Access to safe and appropriate medications is a critical component of public health, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. In Egypt, self-medication and informal pharmaceutical dispensing have become deeply embedded practices shaped by systemic, economic, and cultural factors. This research explores the complex interplay between self-medication behaviors, pharmaceutical regulation, and healthcare access in Egypt. Through qualitative interviews with policymakers, pharmacists, physicians, industry professionals, and citizens, the research uncovers widespread informal dispensing of prescription-only medicines, driven by high out-of-pocket costs, limited insurance coverage, and high public reliance on pharmacists as primary care providers. Despite the presence of regulatory frameworks, weak enforcement, …

Investigating Tau Pathology In The Retina And Anterior Segment Structures Of The Eye In A 3-Nitropropionic Acid–Induced Tauopathy Mouse Model, Mohamed Sayed Ahmed Abdel-Kader Qasem

Theses and Dissertations

Background and Objectives: Alzheimer's disease, the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder in older adults, is characterized by accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau and amyloid-beta (Aβ) plaques in the central nervous system. Given the retina's shared embryological origin with the brain, its direct neural connectivity via the optic nerve, and similarities in vasculature and age-related degeneration patterns, retinal pathology may serve as an early, non-invasive biomarker for Alzheimer's disease. This study employed 3-nitropropionic acid (3NP) as a pathway-specific tauopathy model driven by mitochondrial dysfunction. The study particularly aimed to investigate whether retinal and corneal tau pathology reflects underlying tau-related neurodegeneration triggered by …

Metagenomic Profiling Of Gut Microbiome Signatures Across Liver Disease Stages And Hcv-Related Hepatocellular Carcinoma In Egyptian Patients, Marwa A. Zahra

Theses and Dissertations

Dysbiosis in the gut microbiome, particularly concerning the synchronous crosstalk between the gut and the liver, has been associated with various diseases. This study profiles the gut microbiome in liver diseases among Egyptian patients, with a focus on the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), both of which are highly prevalent in Egypt. Utilizing shotgun metagenomic sequencing, we analyzed microbial gene catalogs and taxonomic profiles from 46 Egyptian patients categorized into five groups: healthy individuals, liver disease patients of different etiologies, post-HCV, treated HCV, and HCV-HCC patients. Healthy and treated HCV patients exhibited distinct microbial profiles characterized by …

Scalable And Fault-Tolerant Network Architectures For Real-Time Video Transmission In Industrial Networked Control Systems, Moustafa Awad

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis addresses the challenge of transporting supervisory video alongside time-critical control traffic in industrial Networked Control Systems (NCS) without violating stringent real-time constraints. A simple yet scalable network architecture is developed and evaluated for a plant-level deployment comprising three interconnected workcells with sensors, controllers, actuators, and cameras. The design explicitly accommodates bandwidth-intensive video streams while preserving the responsiveness of watchdog/control traffic. Analytical delay modeling decomposes end-to-end latency into transmission, propagation, processing, and queuing components, and Riverbed-based simulations are used to validate the model under realistic mixed-traffic conditions. A traffic-engineering strategy - phase-shifting supervisory camera transmissions - effectively desynchronizes frame …

The Impact Of Environmental Communication On Consumer Behavior: The Mediating Role Of Ascription Of Responsibility And Attitude, Nada Hussam El-Maghraby

Theses and Dissertations

The current study aims to examine the effect of environmental communication on promoting pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs) in the Egyptian society. The study also tests the mediating roles of ascription of responsibility and attitude toward pro-environmental behavior on the examined relationship. Another aim of the study is to explore intention as a mediator in the relationship between attitude toward pro-environmental behavior and behavior. The research is based on the Norm Activation Theory (NAT) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). A mixed-methods approach was implemented in this study. Quantitatively, a survey was conducted, and 406 responses were collected using convenience sampling …

An Ethnographic Exploration Of The Lived Experiences With Gynecologic Cancers, Norma Naser Aldeen

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This thesis stays close to conversations with nine women who spoke about living with and through gynecologic cancers, from moments of finding out, through treatment, and into what follows. These encounters unfolded primarily through digitally mediated exchanges across Baalbek, Beirut, and other translocal settings shaped by distance and movement. Rather than approaching illness as a bounded biomedical event, this thesis attends to how gynecologic cancer is narrated as something that lingers—pressing into everyday life through bodily sensations, altered rhythms, and ongoing recalibrations of care, responsibility, and what remains possible.

Across these encounters, care rarely appears as a stable system …

Lived Experiences Of Limited Sexual And Reproductive Health Education Among Egyptian Women, Nada Abdelhamid

Theses and Dissertations

In Egypt, sexual and reproductive health (SRH) education remains largely absent from national education and youth policy frameworks, reflecting a broader governance gap at the intersection of education, health, and gender policy. This qualitative study explores how the lack of formal sexuality education shapes women’s knowledge, perceptions, and sexual and reproductive experiences across the life course, drawing on in-depth interviews with twelve Egyptian women from diverse marital backgrounds. The findings point to persistent gaps in basic SRH knowledge, early exposure to shame and stigma, and reliance on informal and often unreliable sources of information, which participants linked to fear of …

Egyptian Feminist Critiques Of Neoliberalism, Asmaa Elmalky

Theses and Dissertations

This research examines Egyptian feminist critiques of neoliberal economic policies through a Third World feminist and feminist political economy framework. It argues that neoliberalism in Egypt has produced controlling power dynamics through restructuring labor markets, social reproduction, and legal systems in ways that disproportionately impoverish women, particularly working-class women. The research maps diverse feminist engagements with neoliberal reforms, including structural adjustment programs, privatization, labor reduction, and legal liberalization. These critiques were influenced by the debates between Third World and transnational feminism, the thesis emphasizes the importance of national specific analysis in understanding how global neoliberal policies are mediated through national …

Refugees In Egypt: State Framing, Ministerial Narratives, And The Politics Of Representation On Social Media, Habiba Kohail

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines Egyptian government discourse on refugees in 2024, a year characterized by heightened regional displacement and the enactment of Egypt’s first Asylum Law (Law No. 164 of

2024). Using a multidisciplinary framework that combines framing analysis with van Dijk's socio-cognitive approach, the study systemically analyzes how the government construct refugees on social

media and sets the boundaries of their inclusion in Egypt.

The thesis analyzes the Egyptian government discourse on refugees across official social media platforms from January 1, 2024, to December 31, 2024, a period that witnessed an increase in the government engagement in the refugee issue …

Digital Public Service Delivery As An Institutional Outcome: Data Governance And Interoperability In The Egyptian Public Sector, Waad Hegazy

Theses and Dissertations

Moving beyond technology-centered theories of digital transformation, this thesis examines the institutional and governance factors shaping digital public service delivery in Egypt. It analyzes how governance structures, data governance arrangements, and interoperability frameworks influence the extent to which digital transformation initiatives result in integrated, scalable, and citizen-facing public services. Using a qualitative research design, the study draws on an analysis of relevant policy and program documents and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders involved in digital transformation initiatives in Egypt. The findings indicate that persistent challenges in digital public service delivery are driven less by technological constraints than by fragmented governance …

What Are The Factors Affecting The Financial Sustainability Of Social Enterprises In Egypt?, Mina Atta Ghaly

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates what factors affect the financial sustainability of social enterprises (SEs) in Egypt, situating them within a constrained MSME, legal and sectoral context marked by informality, weak innovation and recurrent shocks. Drawing on global and Egyptian literature, it identifies ten candidate factors—business model, financial management, founders’ skills and mindset, revenue structure, sector and mission, legal framework and innovative finance, capacity building, investment mechanisms and “the right investor”, adaptability to shocks, and ecosystem conditions—and integrates them into an extended Social Enterprise Model Canvas. Using a qualitative, exploratory design with semi‑structured interviews of social enterprise founders, incubators/accelerators, investors and experts, …

Prephiral Bacterial Infectious Agent Triggers Neuroinflammatory Responses And Neurobehavioral Impairment In Wild-Type Mice, Hadeer Atalah

Theses and Dissertations

Neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, present an increasing global challenge, with chronic neuroinflammation identified as a principal factor alongside genetic, environmental, and infectious influences (Boyd et al., 2022).  Epidemiological data associate bacterial infections with a 40% heightened risk of Parkinson's disease; however, the mechanisms—especially the direct connection between peripheral sepsis and the silent onset of central nervous system pathology absent acute meningitis—are inadequately investigated (Smeyne et al., 2021), particularly concerning common pathogens like Klebsiella pneumoniae in high-burden areas such as Egyptian ICUs, where it constitutes 30% of cases (Alkompoz et al., 2023). This study filled the gap by creating …

Nlp-Based Comparative Assessment Of Clauses Quantifying Risk Transfer In Construction Contracts, Hoda M. Elshamy

Theses and Dissertations

Employers in the construction industry mostly deviate from standard contract forms such as FIDIC and NEC, by introducing alterations to the contract conditions that shift a great portion of risks from the client to the contractor. Originally, these risks were distributed more equitably between all contracting parties in the standards forms. The imbalances in the contractual conditions create fertile ground for conflicts, and if not resolved, will escalate to disputes during the project execution phase, leading to significant cost overruns and time delays. The contractors, therefore, attempt to restore the original balance through making amendments to the communicated contract, through …

Political Party Leaders’ Branding: The Case Of The Uk Conservative & Labour Parties, Dania Akkawi

Theses and Dissertations

Political party branding has become increasingly shaped by digital communication, particularly through social media platforms where voters actively engage with political leaders and one another. This thesis studies “Political Party Branding: The Case of the UK Conservative & Labour Parties”, focusing specifically on the interconnections between Stakeholder Theory and Emotional Branding Theory on voter opinion and voter interest, during the 2024 UK general election. Through a comparative analysis of Rishi Sunak (Conservative Party) and Keir Starmer (Labour Party), the study tests theoretical propositions drawn from the theories to assess how visibility and emotional intensity shape voter opinion and interest. Using …

Navigating Radical Indeterminacy In The Struggle For A Global Collective Consciousness: The Question Of Eco-Justice And Law Or Universalize The Pluriverse: A Manifesto, More Or Less, Omar Auf

Theses and Dissertations

The processes of interpretation, communication, and re-interpretation leads to the emergence of an approximated collective consciousness, for which it may be struggled and contested by hegemonic. The dominant forces of this contest, capitalism and nationalism, lead to an interdivided world: one that possesses the tools to empathize with each other but is instead leading people to keep their heads down and focus on surviving their own contexts, perceived as existing within different historical times on the same timeline. This leads to legal and justice systems that fail their claim to universality and/or impartiality. Incorporating an ecological lens to justice within …

On Education-Occupation And Skill-Occupation Mismatches Among Generation Z In Egypt, Hamsa Mohamed Ebrahim Yousef Ebrahim

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the impact of education-occupation and skill-occupation mismatches, specifically with regard to Generation Z in Egypt, with a focus on prevalence, socioeconomic factors, and their impact on youth employability and human capital utilization. The research examines education and skill mismatches through a quantitative approach, relying primarily on quantitative analysis of the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS) 2023 data using multinomial logistic regression for education mismatches and probit regression for skill mismatches. The results indicate that education and skill mismatches are common among employed Gen Z, with a considerable percentage of 38-45%. This is despite the fact that …