Digital Commons Network^™

A Meta-Analytical Comparison Of Depression Prevalence In Gcc Countries, Christin Camia, Ayesha Omran Alhallami

All Works

Depression is a highly prevalent mental disorder that prevents individuals to live a rewarding life. Cross-sectional research observed especially high prevalence rates of depression in female and younger individuals of the Middle East even though these results lack systematic validation. Aiming to systematize previous research on depression, this meta-analysis gathered depression mean scores and prevalence of severity categories in 18,717 adult citizens (Mage = 26.43 years, SD = 9.98, range 19.30 – 54.17) assessed by Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI-II) in the GCC countries in the last twenty years. Results showed similar and stable prevalence and severity of depression across and …

2-Uniform Covering Groups Of Elementary Abelian 2-Groups, Dana Saleh, Rachel Quinlan

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This article is concerned with the classification of Schur covering groups of the elementary abelian group of order (Formula presented.), up to isomorphism. We consider those covering groups possessing a generating set of n elements having only two distinct squares. We show that such groups may be represented by 2-vertex-colored and 2-edge-colored graphs of order n. We show that in most cases, the isomorphism type of the group is determined by that of the 2-colored graph, and we analyze the exceptions.

Synthesis Of N-Doped Tio2 Nanoparticles With Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity For 2,4-Dichlorophenol Degradation And H2 Production, Javed Ali Khan, Murtaza Sayed, Noor S. Shah, Sanaullah Khan, Ashfaq Ahmad Khan, Muhammad Sultan, Ammar M. Tighezza, Jibran Iqbal, Grzegorz Boczkaj

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Nitrogen-doped titanium dioxide (N-TiO2) nanoparticles were prepared using a modified sol-gel method. The as-prepared nanoparticles were characterized by state-of-the-art techniques for their optical, structural and morphological properties. The crystallite size, surface area and bandgap energy of reference TiO2 and N-TiO2 nanoparticles were found to be 16.1 and 10.9nm, 83.6 and 131.8 m2 g−1 and 3.23 and 2.89eV, respectively. The photocatalytic activities, in terms of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) degradation, of reference TiO2 and N-TiO2 were found to be 46.9 and 65.4% at 120min of treatments under UV light irradiation and 21.5 and 77.6% at 240min of treatment under visible light irradiation, employing …

Conceptualizing And Reimagining The Future Of Inclusive Education In The Uae, Lawrence Meda, Efthymia Efthymiou, Muna Alhammadi, Cara Williams, Mohamed Fteiha

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The current study explored how students in various universities across the United Arab Emirates (UAE) conceptualized inclusive education and views of the future with participation from twenty-one pre-service teachers from different universities within the UAE. Data collection consisted of an open-ended questionnaire and semi-structured interviews analyzed using a qualitative case study within an interpretive paradigm. Results indicated that students unanimously conceptualized inclusion from a holistic point of view and projected the future to be associated with a higher level of differentiated instruction. However, the conditions of the Education Act and the results were not in agreement with the premise of …

Epidemiology Of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci In The United Arab Emirates: A Retrospective Analysis Of 12 Years Of National Amr Surveillance Data, Jens Thomsen, Najiba M. Abdulrazzak, Hussain Alrand, Godfred Antony Menezes, Carole Ayoub Moubareck, Dean B. Everett, Abiola Senok, Andreas Podbielski

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Introduction: Enterococci are usually low pathogenic, but can cause invasive disease under certain circumstances, including urinary tract infections, bacteremia, endocarditis, and meningitis, and are associated with peritonitis and intra-abdominal abscesses. Increasing resistance of enterococci to glycopeptides and fluoroquinolones, and high-level resistance to aminoglycosides is a concern. National antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance data for enterococci from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and the Gulf region is scarce. Methods: A retrospective 12-year analysis of N = 37,909 non-duplicate diagnostic Enterococcus spp. isolates from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was conducted. Data was generated by routine patient care during 2010–2021, collected …

3d Indoor Modeling And Game Theory Based Navigation For Pre And Post Covid-19 Situation, Jaiteg Singh, Noopur Tyagi, Saravjeet Singh, Babar Shah, Farman Ali, Ahmad Ali Alzubi, Abdulrhman Alkhanifer

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The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected human behavior, creating a need for individuals to be more cautious about health and safety protocols. People are becoming more aware of their surroundings and the importance of minimizing the risk of exposure to potential sources of infection. This shift in mindset is particularly important in indoor environments, especially hospitals, where there is a greater risk of virus transmission. The implementation of route planning in these areas, aimed at minimizing interaction and exposure, is crucial for positively influencing individual behavior. Accurate maps of buildings help provide location-based services, prepare for emergencies, and manage infrastructural …

Harvesting Publication Data To The Institutional Repository From Scopus, Web Of Science, Dimensions And Unpaywall Using A Custom R Script, Yrjo Lappalainen, Nikesh Narayanan

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Institutional repositories are established tools for archiving and increasing the visibility and availability of academic outputs. Although the potential benefits of institutional repositories are well researched and many funders and institutions already mandate open access publishing via gold or green open access routes, institutional repositories often struggle with lack of growth and sustained workflows for content recruitment. Institutions have come up with various (and often creative) workflows for populating their repositories, including institutional open access mandates, library-mediated self-archiving, fully or partially automated content harvesting and integrations between repositories and Current Research Information Systems (CRIS). Zayed University launched the ZU Scholars …

Harnessing Customer Mindset Metrics To Boost Consumer Spending: A Cross-Country Study On Routes To Economic And Business Growth, Ahmed Shaalan, Gomaa Agag, Marwa Tourky

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The relationship between customer mindset metrics (CMMs) and consumer spending has been extensively investigated at the consumer and firm level, but little is known about it at the national level, nor about how it differs between countries. Drawing on five publicly available datasets gathered in 10 European countries over 20 years, our study traces the connections between three CMMs – customer satisfaction, perceived service quality and loyalty intentions – and consumer spending, as well as examining the moderating cross-country effects of culture, socioeconomic factors, economic structure and political–economic elements. The results show that the CMMs significantly influence consumer spending in …

Forecasting Energy Consumption Demand Of Customers In Smart Grid Using Temporal Fusion Transformer (Tft), Amril Nazir, Abdul Khalique Shaikh, Abdul Salam Shah, Ashraf Khalil

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Energy consumption prediction has always remained a concern for researchers because of the rapid growth of the human population and customers joining smart grids network for smart home facilities. Recently, the spread of COVID-19 has dramatically increased energy consumption in the residential sector. Hence, it is essential to produce energy per the residential customers' requirements, improve economic efficiency, and reduce production costs. The previously published papers in the literature have considered the overall energy consumption prediction, making it difficult for production companies to produce energy per customers' future demand. Using the proposed study, production companies can accurately have energy per …

Reliable Machine Learning Model For Iiot Botnet Detection, Fatma Taher, Mahmoud Abdel-Salam, Mohamed Elhoseny, Ibrahim M. El-Hasnony

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Due to the growing number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, network attacks like denial of service (DoS) and floods are rising for security and reliability issues. As a result of these attacks, IoT devices suffer from denial of service and network disruption. Researchers have implemented different techniques to identify attacks aimed at vulnerable Internet of Things (IoT) devices. In this study, we propose a novel features selection algorithm FGOA-kNN based on a hybrid filter and wrapper selection approaches to select the most relevant features. The novel approach integrated with clustering rank the features and then applies the Grasshopper algorithm …

The Impact Of Covid-19 Quarantine On Lifestyle Indicators In The United Arab Emirates, Sharifa Alblooshi, Maryam Alfalasi, Zainab Taha, Farid El Ktaibi, Alia Khalid

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Introduction: COVID-19 is a virus that has spread rapidly and brought economic and social crises all around the world. The current study aimed to investigate the impact of COVID-19 quarantine on dietary habits, physical activity, food purchasing, smoking, and sleeping patterns in the United Arab Emirates. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online questionnaire between November 1st, 2020 and the end of January 2021. Citizens and residents of the UAE aged ≥ 18 years old were asked to complete an anonymous electronic questionnaire created via Google Forms and distributed on various platforms, such as WhatsApp, Twitter, and email. …

Exploration Of In-Service Teachers' Preparedness And Perceived Challenges About Inclusive Education In The United Arab Emirates, Lawrence Meda, Areej Elsayary, Laila Mohebi

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The Coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic led to the deterioration of exclusive pedagogical practices in different learning institutions. This is because the pandemic forced teachers to make an abrupt instructional switch from face-to-face to online learning without having sufficient time to prepare. Various studies have reported that students with special needs in learning have to tolerate the burden of this tumultuous instructional transition. The educational policymakers have requested that in-service teachers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) attend an inclusive education professional development program to equip them with knowledge and skills for teaching and supporting special needs children. The purpose of …

Forum On “The Emotional Landscape Of English Medium Instruction (Emi) In Higher Education”, Sara Hillman, Wendy Li, Özgür Şahan, Kari Sahan, Indika Liyanage, Tiefu Zhang, Rui Yuan, Sarah Hopkyns, Christina Gkonou, Pramod K. Sah

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No abstract provided.

Comment On: Association Between Vitamin D And Cardiovascular Health: Myth Or Fact? A Narrative Review Of The Evidence, William B. Grant, Fatme Al Anouti, Barbara J. Boucher

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No abstract provided.

Of Stances, Themes, And Anomalies In Covid-19 Mask-Wearing Tweets, Jwen Fai Low, Benjamin C.M. Fung, Farkhund Iqbal, Ebrahim Bagheri

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COVID-19 is an opportunity to study public acceptance of a ‘‘new’’ healthcare intervention, universal masking, which unlike vaccination, is mostly alien to the Anglosphere public despite being practiced in ages past. Using a collection of over two million tweets, we studied the ways in which proponents and opponents of masking vied for influence as well as the themes driving the discourse. Pro-mask tweets encouraging others to mask up dominated Twitter early in the pandemic though its continued dominance has been eroded by anti-mask tweets criticizing others for their masking behavior. Engagement, represented by the counts of likes, retweets, and replies, …

Expression Levels Of Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 Protein In Preinvasive And Invasive Cervical Lesions And Its Clinicopathological Association: A North Indian Study, Rekha Sachan, Pushp L. Sachan, Ayushi Shukla, Malti Maurya, Munna L. Patel

Journal of Medicine in Scientific Research

Background Matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) play an important role in development of female genital cancers and metastasis. The aim of this study was to analyze expression levels of MMP2 in various grades of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of cervix and its association with clinicopathological variables. Patients and methods This prospective study was carried out in a tertiary care center in Northern India over a period of 1 year. A total of 664 participants with gynecological complaints and unhealthy cervix were recruited for colposcopy. Of these, 70 biopsy samples were obtained from higher grade colposcopy lesions, where …

Saliva Pcr As A Simple Detector Of Covid- 19 In Patients With Acute Salivary Sialadenitis, Rasha Faisel Abu El Dahab, Mariam Adel Fouad

Journal of Medicine in Scientific Research

Background : Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by (SARS-CoV-2) a novel highly transmissible pandemic disease. It was noticed that there were many cases of acute salivary sialadenitis in the era of COVID -19 and not enough studies were documented. This study aimed to assess if there is a correlation between COVID -19 and acute salivary sialadenitis and assessed saliva PCR as an easy diagnostic test for COVID -19 also compared it with the gold standard nasopharyngeal swab PCR. Methods: A non-random observational study included 30 patients who had acute onset of salivary sialadenitis. They all underwent oropharyngeal, parotid and submandibular …

Angiotensin I-Converting Enzyme Insertion/Deletion Gene Polymorphism And Its Association With Diabetic Nephropathy In Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients: An Egyptian Study, Yasmine M. Amrousy, Tamer M. Soliman, Haythem A. Tolba, Aisha Elshimy

Journal of Medicine in Scientific Research

Background Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is one of the most serious complications associated with type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). With variable allele and genotype frequencies, the angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) insertion–deletion (I/D) gene polymorphism has been suggested as a risk factor for DN. Objective The purpose of the study was to find whether ACE I/D polymorphism is associated with DN in Egyptian T2DM patients and its relation to ACE concentration and C-reactive protein quantitative level. Participants and methods A case–control study of 98 T2DM patients was divided into two groups: group 1, T2DM patients without DN, and group 2, T2DM patients with …

Prevalence Of Upper Limb Musculoskeletal Abnormalities In Type 2 Diabetic Patients And Its Relation To Glycemic Control And Associated Factors, Eslam Elsayed Ali Shohda, Amal Emam El-Maghraby, Hadeer Khaled Youssef Elhamid

Journal of Medicine in Scientific Research

Aim of the study: to investigate the prevalence of upper limb musculoskeletal abnormalities and their correlations to glycemic control and associated factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at diabetes unit and internal medicine outpatient clinic at Al-ahrar teaching hospital, Zagazig, Egypt. 200 type 2 diabetic patient (T2DM) and 200 non-diabetic control patients of ages > 18 years were enrolled. Rheumatological diseases were excluded. Studied upper limb musculoskeletal abnormalities were Limited joint mobility (LJM), Dupuytren’s contracture (DC), Trigger finger (TF), De Quervain’s tenosynovitis (DQT), Lateral epicondylitis (LE), Medial epicondylitis (ME), Rotator’s cuff tendinitis (RCT) and Carpel tunnel syndrome susceptibility diagnosed by …

A Rare Case Of Fahr’S Disease, Kesar Prajapati, Vishakha Vinod, Sumit Bochiwal

Journal of Medicine in Scientific Research

Fahr’s syndrome, a rare syndrome, is characterized by symmetrical and bilateral intracranial calcifications. A 23-year-old male patient presented with generalized tonic–clonic convulsion and muscle cramps for 1 month. The patient’s blood counts, blood sugar levels, serum sodium, and serum potassium were normal. Computed tomography scan of the brain revealed bilateral symmetrical hyperdensities, suggestive of calcification in globus pallidus, putamen, thalami, caudate and dentate nuclei of the cerebellum, and subcortical white matter of both cerebral hemispheres. The findings were suggestive of Fahr’s disease. His serum ionized calcium levels were low with high phosphate levels (with increased parathormone levels), suggesting the association …

Incidence And Severity Of Pulmonary Hypertension Among Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease, Mamdouh Maher

Journal of Medicine in Scientific Research

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major health problem and is closely linked with cardiovascular disease. Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is considered a common comorbidity in CKD patients. In all, 100 patients were included in our study. Transthoracic echo Doppler study was performed to measure pulmonary artery systolic pressure based on tricuspid jet. The prevalence of PH in CKD patients in our study was 60%; prevalence and severity had significant association.

The hemodialyzed group showed a higher prevalence of PH with a more severe PH.

Our study had provided evidence that PH is a common comorbidity in CKD patients and is …

Oral Mucosal And Dental Affection In Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Clinical Survey, Omnia A Abubakr, Ali M Youssef, Mohamed A Mohamed, Mohamed A Hamdy

Journal of Medicine in Scientific Research

Background: SLE is a chronic autoimmune disease predominantly affecting young females. Systemic involvement along with variable clinical presentations characterizes SLE. Various oral and dental manifestations have been described in SLE that include oral ulcerations, candida infection, and periodontal disease. We aimed to detect oral mucosal and dental disease in SLE patients and its relation to demographic features, general disease activity, and the extra-articular manifestation. Patients and Methods: 80 patients with SLE were included in this cross-sectional study. Patients were allocated into 2 groups, 40 patients in each group, according to SLE disease control with immunosuppressive medications: group A included patients …

Outcome Of Suture Annuloplasty (De Vega) Versus Ring Annuloplasty For Functional Tricuspid Valve Regurgitation Concomintant With Mitral Valve Surgery, Tarek Elshazly Omran, Ashraf Zahra

Journal of Medicine in Scientific Research

Background: The optimal surgical technique for functional tricuspid regurgitation (TR) repair is still a topic for ongoing research. The DeVega technique is still used frequently in developing countries. Thus, this study aimed to compare the outcomes of tricuspid valve repair using DeVega vs. ring annuloplasty for managing severe functional TR during mitral valve surgery. Methods: This retrospective chart review included 66 patients. The study included patients with simultaneous tricuspid valve repair during mitral valve intervention. The patients were recruited from 2018 to 2022. The study had two groups: the first group included 50 patients who underwent the DeVega technique (Group …

Yersinia Infection In Acute Appendicitis In Children In Shebin Elkom Teaching Hospital, Salama M. El- Shennawy, Khaled S.A. Elkelany, Mariam A. Fouad, Shimaa M.M Bebars, Faisel Goda, Abdelghany Abdelsattar Aish

Journal of Medicine in Scientific Research

Background: Yersinia enterocolotica is being recognized as an important bacterial cause of acute gastrointestinal infection. The association of yersinia entrocolotica infections with acute appendicitis has been suggested (Tae Joon Son et. al, 2009). The aim to ascertain whether yersinia entrocolotica is a possible infectious agent in appendicitis in Shebin Elkom. We try to support or to deny this suggestion. Methods: A prospective randomized study was done to 48 patients admitted to surgical department from outpatient clinic of Shebin Elkom Teaching Hospital over 14 months from January 2020 to March 2021The purpose and nature of the study were explained to all …

Short Term Effects Of Covid-19 Pandemic On Kenya’S International Trade, Maureen Were, Kethi Ngoka

Journal of African Trade

The study sought to examine the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Kenya’s international trade using monthly trade data for 2019 and 2020. The analysis shows that contrary to the global trends observed in 2020, Kenya’s merchandise exports remained resilient and registered a modest growth, largely on account of growth in traditional exports of tea and horticultural products. However, services exports, particularly travel and transport services were severely affected. Exports of apparel and, iron and steel were also negatively affected. On the other hand, Kenya benefited from the low international oil prices that prevailed for most of 2020, leading to a …

The Effect Of Tariff On Import Revenue And Misinvoicing In Sub–Saharan Africa, Eric Osei-Assibey, Edna Owusu Adokoh, Alice Nubuor

Journal of African Trade

This study investigates the effect of import tariffs on import revenue and misinvoicing in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It employs the System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) panel technique, using 37 selected SSA countries from 2003 to 2017. Results from the analysis show that tariff positively affects import revenue. While raising import tariffs boosts import revenue, doing so above a certain threshold has a negative impact on import revenue. The results also reveal that import tariff positively impacts import misinvoicing, suggesting that an increase in the tariff rate induces importers to increase import under-invoicing. Other factors, such as an increase in …

Why The Actual Malice Test Should Be Eliminated, John M. Kang

Faculty Scholarship

Under traditional common law, a plaintiff could recover damages for libel if she could prove that the defendant had published a factual statement about the plaintiff that tended to injure the plaintiff’s reputation. The plaintiff, at most, was required to show negligence to recover damages for libel. While the amount of money that any given plaintiff could recover in damages was uncertain, one thing was clear: the First Amendment would not protect libel. In 1964, in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the Supreme Court radically upended this received view of libel as unprotected speech. According to Sullivan, …

State Sequestration: Federal Policy Accelerates Carbon Storage, But Leaves Full Climate, Equity Protections To States, Gabriel Pacyniak

Faculty Scholarship

Abstract

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—the UN’s expert science panel—has repeatedly found that limiting climate change to prevent catastrophic harms will require at least some use of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), and may entail substantial deployments of this technology. There is significant uncertainty, however, about the level of lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions achievable in practice from varying CCS applications; some applications could even lead to net increases in emissions. In addition, a number of these applications create or maintain other harms, especially those related to fossil fuel extraction and use. For these reasons, many environmental justice advocates …

The Application Of Statistical Modeling To Identify Genetic Associations With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Outcomes, Caroline Schott

Masters Theses

"Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a growing health concern, with millions of TBI diagnoses in the United States each year. The vast majority of TBI diagnoses are mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI), which can be challenging to manage due to variation in symptoms and outcomes. Most individuals with mTBI successfully recover quickly, but a small subset has a delayed recovery. Although the factors that contribute to this variation in recovery are not clearly understood, it is possible that genetic differences may play a role. Very few studies have investigated the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with mTBI outcomes and …

Development And Testing Of A Hyperbaric Aerodynamic Levitator For Containerless Materials Research, Sydney Elizabeth Boland

Masters Theses

"This research focused on the development and testing of a hyperbaric aerodynamic levitator for container less materials research of specimens at temperatures greater than 2000°C and pressures up to 10.3 MPa (1500 psi). The effect of specimen size, specimen density, pressure, and flow rate on the levitation behavior was studied. Lightweight specimens demonstrated two stable levitation regimes that were speculated to be associated with a change in the turbulent wake structure. The hyperbaric aerodynamic levitator was also used to determine the effect of pressure on the heat transfer by studying the melting behavior of a levitated 3.0 mm diameter alumina …