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Filling The Vacant Space: A Close Reading Of Kant’S Dialectic Of Pure Practical Reason, Mae Ashraf Ali Saafan

Theses and Dissertations

The main aim of this thesis is to explore Kant’s central notion of rational belief. Kant’s account of rational belief could be viewed as the ground on which rational moral agents assent to propositions that enable them to avoid any practical incoherence as they engage in their moral duty.

The paper will offer a close reading of the dialectic of pure practical reason, particularly the doctrine of the postulates of practical reason. In this doctrine, Kant argues that although there is no theoretical proof for or against freedom, God, and the immortality of the soul, rational moral agents ought to …

Is State Feminism The Key To Gender Equality?, Nadine Mohamed Kamaly

Theses and Dissertations

“The male point of view forces itself upon the world as a way of apprehending it. Perspectives from the male standpoint enforces a woman's definition, encircles her body, circumlocutes her speech, and describes her life” (Mackinnon, 1983, 636). How the world views women is sometimes out of their hands. Ogasawara (1999) explains that “there is a multiplicity of socially acceptable images of Japanese women today” (pg.87). Throughout this thesis, I will explore the several, but limited, images that Japanese society has rendered acceptable for women. I will also examine how Japanese State Feminism aims to give women the opportunity to …

Poverty Depiction In Egyptian Films Across The Decades: A Comparative Content Analysis Of Framing Poor Characters In Egyptian Cinema Between 1955 And 2010, Moustafa Abdelfadil Daly

Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the framing of poverty in Egyptian film productions during a 55-year period from 1955 to 2010. It uses a qualitative analysis to identify and analyze main characters depicted to be poor in films produced under three political eras; Gamal Abdel-Nasser, Anwar El Sadat, and Hosny Mubarak. It analyzes the frequency of featuring poor characters and whether the depiction of poor people was favorable or unfavorable based on three constructs; accountability of poverty, heroism, and honesty. Out of 41 main characters studied, 22 were found to be poor, with Nasser's era witnessing the highest representation of poverty. Most …

The Egyptian National Action Plan Of Antimicrobial Resistance: Governance Mechanism And Public Awareness, Aalaa Afdal Mogheith

Theses and Dissertations

This research aimed primarily to understand the governance mechanism adopted for improving the public awareness on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) as the first goal of the Egyptian National Action Plan (NAP) for curbing AMR. The secondary purpose was to assess the public awareness, and to identify areas for improvement on raising awareness on AMR. A mixed approach was adopted; firstly, eight in-depth interviews with different stakeholders` representatives involved in the NAP development were held to understand the governance of the NAP. Secondly, a public awareness survey was conducted on 565 respondents to assess their knowledge and awareness on AMR and antibiotic …

Measuring Citizens’ Acceptance And Usage Of E-Government Services: Applying The Technology Acceptance Model (Tam) In Egypt, Rana Khamis

Theses and Dissertations

The significance of public services delivery has been realized by all governments worldwide. An overarching tool to enhance government productivity and enabling citizen-centric public services, especially in developed countries, has proven to be the electronic government (e-Government).

While many scholars focused on the supply side of e-government, few researches studied e-government adoption from the citizens’ perspective. To contribute to filling this research gap, this study aimed at measuring the perceptions of citizens towards the adoption of e-government services in Egypt. Using Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the main objective of this research was gaining a better understanding of the factors affecting …

Exploring The Implementation Challenges And Achievements Of The 2016 Civil Service Law In Egypt: A Study, Nahla Tarek

Theses and Dissertations

The American University in Cairo

School of Global Affairs and Public Policy

Department of Public Policy and Administration

Abstract

This study aims to understand the implementation challenges and achievements of the Egyptian Civil Service Law (CSL), particularly in the areas of appointments, organizational structure, creation of the new position “permanent secretary” in government institutions, and the provision of incentives arrangement. In order to achieve the research aim, the study employed the qualitative methodology to gather data by performing semi-structured interviews with civil servants of different grades and positions. The interviewees collectively painted a holistic picture of how the CSL is …

The Organization Of Islamic Cooperation (Oic): Opportunities And Challenges For Practicing Culturally-Sensitive Mediation In Intra-Muslim Conflicts, Nirvana Ahmad

Theses and Dissertations

Established in 1969, the OIC sat a unique paradigm in the international order as an intergovernmental organization that claims a religious identity and mandate: working for Muslim unity and interests. In that pursuit, it has assumed the function of the peaceful settlement of disputes as one of its primary roles. Over half a century of its existence, not only did the OIC drift away from its founding principles and commitments; it is now condemned for turning into an arena for polarization among Muslims, where unchecked geopolitical competition has aroused rampant violence of all sorts.
The literature on the OIC extensively …

Electrochemical Sensors And Biosensors Of Biomarkers And Therapeutic Agents Detection, Mahmoud Abdelhakem

Theses and Dissertations

Electrochemical sensing is a pioneering tool amongst all other sensing techniques even though it had been started in the early 20th century. Due to their cost efficacy, accuracy, and real-time measurement, electrochemical sensing has been utilized in a vast of biomedical applications in therapeutic drug monitoring and biomarker detection. This thesis work concerned the monitoring of three therapeutic agents in spiked plasma, urine, dosage form, and interstitial skin fluid with high specificity and accuracy. Two of our sensing platforms utilized nanomaterials for sensing (sensors) of Cilostazol and Velpatasvir utilizing α-MnO2-V2O5 (metal oxide nanorods) and NH2- MIL-53 (Aluminum-based metal organic frameworks), …

Azimuthal Anisotropy Of Different Quark-Flavored Particles In High Energy "Simulated" Proton-Proton Collisions, Mahmoud Rateb

Theses and Dissertations

Anisotropic flow in high energy heavy-ion collisions is taken as a key evidence for the formation of QGP for brief seconds right after the collisions. Hydrodynamic models including QGP formation are accurate at predicting the azimuthal anisotropy of the produced particles at low transverse momenta. At high momenta however, hydrodynamic models predict no azimuthal anisotropy for particles of different masses and quark-flavors; the logic being that because of their high momenta, the particles pass through the media without having any time to have any reactivity. This is contrary to results from experiments where measurements of particles of different quark flavors …

Skeleton-Based Hand Gesture Recognition Using Data-Level Fusion, Oluwaleke Yusuf

Theses and Dissertations

Hand Gesture Recognition (HGR) is a form of perceptual computing that allows artificial systems to capture and interpret human gestures. HGR has applications in human-machine interaction, virtual reality, augmented reality, and human behavior analysis. The human hand can assume a near-infinite number of poses and orientations to form myriad gestures, thus increasing the difficulty of the HGR task.

The hand skeleton of connected joints effectively describes the hand’s geometric shape and thus contains richer semantic gesture information while eliminating noise from individual differences in physical hand characteristics. The efficacy and computational efficiency of skeleton-based HGR frameworks can be significantly enhanced …

The Causal Effect Of Firm Productivity On Climate Change: Evidence From The Mena Region, Shahd El Azhary

Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between firm productivity and climate change matters importantly to sustainable growth goals. The MENA region is very vulnerable to desertification because of an increase in temperature. The purpose of this study is to assess the productivity of firms, by sector, on climate change through a panel VAR (PVAR) model to investigate firms’ total factor productivity (TFP) on temperature increases on the region. The positive relationship between both variables for most sectors, except for the financial and basic materials sectors, demonstrates the need for policy makers to formulate harsher regulations against climate change.

Polyethersulfone Thin-Film Nanocomposite Membrane Embedded With Amine-Functionalized Graphene Oxide For Desalination Applications, Ahmed Bahaeldin

Theses and Dissertations

Thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) desalination membranes were prepared based on a polyethersulfone (PES) support, where the polyamide (PA) layer was embedded with amine-functionalized graphene oxide (GO). The effect of adding various concentrations of functionalized and un-functionalized GO on the desalination performance, hydrophilicity, and morphology of the membranes was additionally assessed throughout this work. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measurements were used to assess the morphology of the membranes in combination with Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis. Contact angle measurements were used to gauge the hydrophilicity of the synthesized membranes. The membrane with the best desalination performance contained 1x10^-3 wt/vol% of functionalized GO in …

An Artificial Intelligence Framework To Contractor Financial Prequalification, Salah Elgamal

Theses and Dissertations

Financial distress in the construction industry always causes major disruptions that

usually result in a rippling effect on the economy. Avoiding such defaults is a top priority for employers to meet their demands. Artificial Intelligence (AI) models have provided increased accuracy in predicting financial distress compared to statistical, fuzzy and logistic regression models, and other classification models. The main objective of this work is to support project employers in pre-qualifying contractors by predicting the status of construction contractors during a bid analysis to disqualify contractors with a high probability of experiencing financial distress during the project duration. Eight financial indicators …

An Analysis Of The Ash’Ari-Mu’Tazilite Conflict In The Ḥāshiya Of Ibn Al- Munayyir In Al-Kashshāf By Al-Zamakhsharī, Nabil Haskanbancha

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I analyze the Sunni Ash’ari response to the Mu’tazilite Qurʾan commentary al- Kashshāf written by al-Zamakhsharī (d.538/1144), and the significant role of the gloss commentary (hashiyā) in highlighting the theological debates between Ash’ari and Mu’tazilite scholars. Alongside the main commentary, this thesis demonstrates the pivotal role of the hashiyā in Islamic studies through its intersection with theology and philology, uncovering active debates on the critical interpretations of the text by exegetes. Al-Kashshāf is the most commented text in the tafsir genre despite its Mu’tazilite influence, mostly receiving criticisms from conservative Sunni scholars. The first Ash’ari scholar to …

Estimating Solar Energy Production In Urban Areas For Electric Vehicles, Shaimaa Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

Cities have a high potential for solar energy from PVs installed on buildings' rooftops. There is an increased demand for solar energy in cities to reduce the negative effect of climate change. The thesis investigates solar energy potential in urban areas. It tries to determine how to detect and identify available rooftop areas, how to calculate suitable ones after excluding the effects of the shade, and the estimated energy generated from PVs. Geographic Information Sciences (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) are used in solar city planning. The goal of this research is to assess available and suitable rooftops areas using …

Alternative Child Care Governance: The Kafala Family-Based Care Arrangement In Egypt, Heba El Azzazy

Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decade, Egypt has witnessed several changes in relation to its alternative care system for orphans and children without parental care. Starting 2014, the Egypt government along with Civil Society actors started to adopt the UN General Assembly guidelines on Alternative Care; which call on States to take solid actions to develop their respective deinstitutionalization strategy that aims towards the progressive elimination of institutional cares and prompting family-based care approaches for children deprived of parental care. According to the current situation, kafala is the main alternative family- based care option practiced in Egypt. Generally, there is very limited …

How Do The Environmental Aspects Affect The Oil Drilling And Extraction Sector? Evidence From Firm-Level Data, Nadine Amr Hosny

Theses and Dissertations

There will and always be a tradeoff between achieving profitability and maintaining sustainability. This complex problem is especially portrayed in the Oil sector. MENA region countries dominate more than half of the Oil reserves globally. Therefore and due to their dominance, such oil firms may suffer from several adverse consequences from their oil drilling and extraction activities. Accordingly, the main objective of the thesis is to examine the impact of the changes in environmental conditions on the financial performance of selected oil drilling and extraction firms. The selected countries that were chosen are: Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia & Gabon. The results …

Tiktok Battlefield: Comparative Analysis Of English And Arabic Language Representations Of The 2022 Russian Ukrainian Conflict On Tiktok, Dina Magdeldin Mahmoud Elhawary

Theses and Dissertations

This study extends the growing political communication research on TikTok platform through studying the representation of a major political conflict in modern history; the 2022 Russian Ukrainian conflict. The study is providing a cross cultural comparison by studying the perspectives of English and Arabic speakers about the conflict. The study is based on the analysis of the 500 most liked TikTok videos - in one month duration that starts with the day of the Russian invasion - with top hashtags about the conflict in order to find the common message themes. The study uses a multi-dimensional analysis approach of connective …

The Family Values: Is It Really About The Family? Analyzing The Family In The Egyptian Discourse Through A Sociological Lens, Taher Sabala

Theses and Dissertations

The Egyptian state has put on its shoulders the responsibility of protecting the family and its values. But how this family, in a massive society like Egypt, can be defined? In this paper, I argue that it has never been about protecting the family. However, it is an attempt to shape the citizens into small separate hives which give the State the power to gain access to the intimate details of its citizens’ lives through which they can be easily monitored, managed, and controlled. By analyzing Michel Foucault’s work on government, power, sexuality, and family, I travel through a historical …

Computational Identification Of Circulating Micrornas Associated With The Early Stage Of Ovarian Cancer, Ahmed Abdelrahman El Hosseiny

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death among gynaecological malignancies. Its high fatality rate is due to the difficulty of early detection. Current screening methods are inadequate, and therefore, a new less-invasive early detection method is urgently needed. MicroRNAs are promising biomarker candidates for cancer detection, however, their potential for early detection use is understudied. Aim of the work: We sought to identify sensitive and selective microRNA markers for early diagnosis of ovarian cancer from blood serum samples through computational analysis. Methods: In this investigation, we used bioinformatic methods to analyze MicroRNA-Seq data obtained from public databases for …

Cognitive Assessment Of Health-Care Workers Exposed To Ionizing Radiation And The Assessment Of Radiation Safety Awareness In Different Radiation Oncology Hospitals In Egypt, Basma M. Saleh

Theses and Dissertations

The increase in cancer cases and subsequent increase in chemotherapy and radiotherapy sparked worries over hospital workers' health and safety. There is a global trend towards routine assessment of awareness, safety measures, and radiation protection culture among healthcare workers. There is also a trend towards monitoring the various associations between radiation exposure and different health outcomes. In low- and middle-income countries, the use of advanced techniques and biomarker tests to track the health status of the workers is hard to achieve. This is due to the scarce resources and economic instabilities and that is why using a survey as a …

An Artificial Intelligence Tool For The Selection Of Delay Analysis Technique In Construction, Mostafa Farouk

Theses and Dissertations

The increasing complexity and magnitude of projects impose greater impact of delays on stakeholders. Construction delays are a major source of disputes in construction projects. Since a construction project depends on interactions and shared responsibilities among parties, research works were directed toward identifying delay causes, quantifying their impacts, and proposing ways to deal with them. Several delay analysis techniques (DATs) are available, but when applied to the same project’s delays provide different results. Thus, the selection of the DAT to use in evaluating delays becomes vital. Reviewing the literature, it has been realized that often there are disagreements, which lead …

In-Field Solar Panel Assessment And Fault Diagnosis, Muhammad Elgamal

Theses and Dissertations

Photovoltaic energy is a green energy that suit from small houses to high-power stations spanning large areas. In such large areas, monitoring individual panels can be a tedious task, especially if it was required to identify operational faults of these panels. Photovoltaic 4.0 technology depend on collecting data from each station and feeding them to a central processing system that can analyze operation data and hopefully locate when a fault happens. In such method, it is crucial to be accurate as much as possible and for measuring device to be accurate as well to have a clear judgement. In this …

Price Prediction Models Of Metals Considering International Crises, Haidy Ghali

Theses and Dissertations

Steel, copper, and aluminum are essential raw materials in the construction industry and are used in any construction project whether commercial, industrial, or mega projects. During normal market conditions, the prices of these metals normally fluctuate due to general inflation in the economy; however, during crises, the prices of these metals significantly fluctuate exposing both contractors and suppliers to an unexpected financial risk. Various researchers have developed metal prediction models for normal market condition and did not consider testing it on the crises time; also, the developed models are devised using past metal prices or macroeconomic indicators of trading countries …

A Captive’S Subjectivity, Rebeca J. Blemur

Theses and Dissertations

The project discusses the effects of Haiti’s colonization as the space transitions from Hispaniola to Saint-Domingue and later to the free state of Haiti. This is done by studying the concept of the right to conquest and the absurdities that exist around the first appearances of international law. The project focuses on the pre-revolutionary period starting around the 1750s, the revolutionary period that began in the 1790s, the French oligarchical class’s attempt for social equality, and the war for ultimate colonial conquest between the French, Spanish, and British. The project will display how legally objectifying a human being manifests subjects …

Students’ And Teachers’ Perceptions Of Using Memes In Esl Classrooms, Fadwa Youssef

Theses and Dissertations

Using humor in the language classroom has proven to be an effective pedagogical teaching tool that builds rapport between students and teachers. It also reduces anxiety and affective filter as well as increases students’ performance and willingness to communicate in class using their L2 (Azizinezhad & Hashemi, 2011; Banks, 2014; Soares, 2015). Previous studies used humor broadly starting from humorous comments in class to funny TV shows, movies, or songs. Some studies went further using funny memes in class and fewer studies went all the way making students create memes as part of their class requirements (Purnama, 2017). Results of …

Differential Transcriptional Alterations In Detoxification Genes In Parkinson’S Disease In Egypt, Nourhan Shebl

Theses and Dissertations

PD is the most common motor neurodegenerative disease worldwide. The underlying cause of PD is still unknow, owingthis to the complexity of the disease. Often, genetics and environmental factors are collaborating in the initiation of the disease. Despite the diversity of its genetical and environmental profiles, the Egyptian population is one of the mostunderrepresented population in terms of PD research. In this study, we investigated PD through various perspectives tohighlight the complexity of the disease in Egypt, taking into consideration the diversity of the Egyptian population. We recruited PD patients and reference controls from 4 governorates: Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, and …

Impact Of Social Media  On Public Perception Of Government Covid-19 Response Efforts, Taher Taher

Theses and Dissertations

This research aims to understand this phenomenon to provide insights into how governments can perform better in times of crisis regarding social media and its impact on public opinion. This research aims to understand how social media impacts public perception of government COVID-19 response efforts by studying Facebook comments, likes, and reactions (emoticons).

The study was based on data gathered from Facebook comments on the daily infographic COVID-19 statistics from the official site of the Ministry of Health and Population. The sampling frame is the 52 weeks of 2020, January to December, through random sampling resulting in 546 comments. The …

What Is A Child? The Conception Of Childhood Viewed Primarily Through The Funerary Culture From The Predynastic Era To The Middle Kingdom, Courtney Mcrae

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses an interdisciplinary analysis of the theories involving cultural ideas of childhood, as well as archaeological approaches to studying the funerary material culture related to children, in an attempt to determine the role of children in ancient Egypt. To achieve this, the author examines grave goods in relation to child burials from the Predynastic (5000-3200 BC) to the Middle Kingdom (2055-1650 BC) to examine the correlation between funerary material cultures with different stages of childhood. The author used these time periods in order to properly conduct an in depth analysis of early Egyptian culture. The author also analyzes …

Lignin Nanoparticles Comparative Study For Their Emulsifying, Antibacterial And Antioxidant Properties, Matta Asaad Mesak Ebaid

Theses and Dissertations

Converting lignin, the second most natural abundant polymer on earth, into lignin nanoparticles (LNPs) form has potential applications. LNPs’ emulsifying, antibacterial and antioxidant properties of three different lignins, softwood kraft lignoboost (LB), hardwood birch (BB) and alkali protobind 1000 (PB) were evaluated in a comparative study at different pH and concentrations. Lower ionic strength of 5 millimole (mM) citric acid (CA) and pH of 7 were found to be the most optimum conditions for emulsion formation. Comparison among the two homogenization techniques revealed that microfluidizer is favored in case of BB- and PB-LNPs based emulsions, while ultrasonication is optimum in …