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SEBASTIAN FAULKS’ HUMAN TRACES:A JOURNEY INTO THE DEPTHS OF THE HUMAN PSYCHE
Get PDFSebastian Faulk’s novel, Human Traces (2006), embarks on a new trend in contemporary English fiction. Through its representations of two main protagonists, pioneers in the field of psychology between the 1870s and 1918, Faulks traces the formative years of the development of the young discipline of psychiatry. Even though Faulks works in the realist traditions of Charles Dickens and George Eliot, yet he delves into such major questions as the role of unconscious motivations in human individual behaviour, the causes of mental illness, and the very attempt to understand the nature of the human being. The time frame of the novel expands from the portrayal of the struggles and relationships of a handful of individuals, to encompass the entire sweep of human evolution. Thus, Faulks in Human Traces introduces a radically new dimension in the development of the novel. This paper offers an attempt at evaluating the innovative thematic and technical achievement of a major work of modern fiction
THE EFFECT OF CHANGING THE MONEY VALUE ON THE CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS
Get PDFIn periods of crisis, financial obligations become a continuing issue, mainly with regard currency depreciation or high inflation. Recently, a financial obligation has been defined as a legal obligation to pay a sum of a certain amount of money. However, these obligations can be flawed in terms of unfairness towards one of the two contracting parties. Therefore, the French, German and Anglo-Saxon jurisdictions have proposed incorporating an indexation clause called the monetary valuation principle.” This means that the sum of returned money must be reevaluated on the return day according to indices stipulated previously in the contract between the two signatory parties. In this article, we are discussing this issue from the perception of Kuwaiti law
CALCULATING VANDALISM RISK ASSESSMENT FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDINGS WITHIN HERITAGE BUILDINGS: THE CASE OF AL-ATTAR HISTORICAL MOSQUE IN TRIPOLI LEBANON
Get PDFA heritage building is a genuine witness for the past and it mostly correlates with communities’ collective memory. It involves a considerable economical asset for cultural tourism in addition to other emotional values. However, building archeology is slightly exposed when handling historical buildings; it is subject to reburial to minimize potential risks and to keep it for future generations. The aim of this research is to explore the validity of exposing an archeological feature by establishing an estimation for vandalism risk through an assessment for society’s attitude concerning the new image given to a historic mosque with exposed archeological features. This research handles the ABC calculation method for vandalism risk assessment, and it concludes the risk magnitude by analyzing the social impact for the existence of an archeological feature within Al-Attar historic mosque in Tripoli by performing focus group research targeting persons in direct relation with the subject. The research will open doors for further studies basing on risk magnitude assumption, risk potential sources and different perspectives when handling archeological features; the findings will lead to significant implications for similar cases in Lebanon and in other global similar cases
TOWARD SUSTAINABLE SMART CITIES: CONCEPTS & CHALLENGES
Get PDFThe world’s urban population is growing enormously, increasing of energy usage, air toxicity, and traffic congestion in urban areas which need a furthermost effective way for solutions. Smart city as a solution is expected to solve the functionality of urban systems. It needs to improve ICT infrastructure as an authoritative, adaptable, accessible, secure, and flexible one, and improve the quality of daily lifetime, refine citizen’s healthiness as well to achieve economic growth and develop the physical infrastructure services to promote sustainable development. This research is a narrative review, kind of methodological approach presented as open research and structured as follows: First section presents the smart city concept by reviewing the definitions, characteristics, and its dimensions. Based on the creation of smart cities, the research aims to identify and investigate the main challenges that smart cities development will face in the coming years by analysing, estimating, and evaluating the available data. It also includes a various assortment of challenges classified under; infrastructure challenges, theoretical, urban design, interdisciplinary, hackers challenges, urban land use, disability of the elderly challenges, the Big Data, technology trap, cultural and democracy challenges, budgetary and cost constraints, and regulations challenges. Besides, it is important to be conscious of security and privacy risks when implementing new systems. One example specifically discussed, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia smart city practices, provides a general overview of the Saudi Vision 2030. It is enlightened by a brief about “the most recent smart city project in Saudi Arabia”, NEOM and illustrates the smart city practices of Makkah, in the light of the six dimensions of the smart city, also studied the city of Amsterdam as it considered one of the first smart cities at the global level. Finally, the research ends with the conclusions and recommendations
ARCHITECTURAL REPRESENTATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Get PDFThe United Nations defines the Human Rights as the rights of all human beings, regardless of race, gender, language, religion, nationality, or any other status. These rights include all claims to live freely, to educate and work in equality, and to inhabit humanistic urban and architectural spaces. Throughout the history of architecture, civilisations have generated different perspectives towards respecting the human rights. Temples of Ancient Egyptian Architecture crushed the human scale to introduce religious experiences to their visitors. Tibetan temples over mountains enforced people to make anti-humanistic journeys to reach them. After thousands of years, the mega-scale palaces and cathedrals in the Gothic era underestimated the human scale due to the powerful rule of Church in Europe. On contrary, pioneers of Renaissance Era made an intellectual revolution to respect humanism through humane proportions. After a while, the Industrial Revolution employed all materials, machines, and sciences to serve humanism. Architectural projects therefore fulfilled the physical without covering the spiritual and emotional human needs. This remained until 1960s when the postmodern architecture emerged. Nowadays, several architectural projects have unfortunately neglected achieving equality for all categories of users. Critics, such as Jane Jacobs 2000, have pointed out that a number of starchitects - pioneers of the architectural world - have designed anti-humanistic spaces. Within the onslaught of digitization, deconstruction, and free forms, some architects have celebrated the power of building technology in designing non-traditional compositions, disregarding the humane essence. These uncanny forms have missed the feeling of humane dimension. This research aims to investigate the relationship between architecture and human rights, trying to propose a new architectural manifestation putting the human rights as the first priority. In order to achieve this aim, the paper followed scientific methods, starting by literature review defining the meaning of human rights, its values, and its relation to the humane architecture. To collect this data, the authors depended on desk research and reviewed previous readings to highlight the examples that put the humane factor at the first place as the main design-concept. A deep analysis for two case studies has been conducted, based on observations, photos, and documentation. Authors experienced these two projects during personal site visits. The analysis detected the architectural representations of humane design in both projects. A comparison between the case studies presented the most important elements and features that their architects were keen to apply. The research concludes that architecture and human rights are inseparable, and the design of human space needs a symphony of multiple tasks and elements including specific materials, meaningful spaces, and advanced technology
ROLE OF KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY IN ECONOMIC GROWTH: “AN EMPIRICAL STUDY” ON SELECTED ARAB COUNTRIES
Get PDFDespite the mounting importance of the knowledge economy in diversifying Arab economies, the knowledge transition in these countries is still in its early stages, with a long road ahead. The study’s main aim is to examine the role of the knowledge economy in economic growth and to recognize the most influential knowledge pillar for a sample of 11 Arab countries during the period 2000–2020, namely: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia. The panel generalized least squares model, with its two methods (fixed-effects model and random-effects model), was performed using an extended version of Chen and Dehlman’s (2004) empirical framework. The fixed regression findings confirmed the positive and significant role of knowledge in stimulating economic growth. The estimated results of the random regression revealed that knowledge pillars like innovation, information and communication technology, economic and institutional regimes, and the socio-economic sustainability index have a positive and significant impact on Arab economic growth, whereas education has a significant negative relationship with GDP. This can be attributed to poor quality, unequal access, and infrastructure, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a negative impact on education. The results also showed that, in comparison to the other four pillars, the socio-economic sustainability index, which was added to the benchmark Knowledge Economy Index, was the most notable pillar that participated in the examined relationship. As a result of these findings, this study contributes to broadening the scope of Arab countries through investing in key knowledge pillars that promote economic growth and where policies should place a greater emphasis on developing education. Furthermore, because of their critical and significant role in exploring the knowledge-growth relationship, sustainability dimensions must be explicitly included in the knowledge framework
WELLNESS PRACTICES’ CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Get PDFDespite being emphasized as one of the main pillars of global sustainable development, social sustainability has been vastly neglected in research, and its importance has been undervalued. This paper aims to highlight the important role that wellness practices play in enhancing social sustainability by uplifting individuals and progressing communities. In turn, social sustainability strengthens the circular economy, resulting in global sustainable development. The paper also raises questions about future sustainable communities, quality of life, and wellness programs, which open up new avenues for future research and implications
ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF CELLULOSE DEGRADING MICROORGANISMS GENERATING ELECTRICITY USING MICROBIAL FUEL CELL
Get PDFGlobal warming and the accumulation of organic waste constitute a serious environmental problem. Therefore, microbial fuel cells (MFC) are an eco-friendly device that have significant capability for the production of electricity using biodegradable waste as fuel. Microorganisms used as catalysts in the anode compartment, execute a principal function in operating MFCs. The present study was conducted to isolate and to screen potential bioelectricity generating microorganisms from dumpsite soil samples and also to construct a domestic dual-chambered microbial fuel cell (MFC). Streptomyces fimicarius was found to be the best isolate for the degradation of cellulose and the production of bioelectricity. The bacterial isolate was identified based on morphological characteristics, biochemical characteristics and molecular identification using 16S rRNA. Double-chambered MFC was constructed by using two polypropylene plastic containers of 1.4 L volume each. The two chambers were joined by using an agar salt bridge and carbon rods were utilized as electrodes. The generation of electricity by the isolate was compared using glucose and cellulose as sole carbon source in a minimal medium. The maximum voltage was found to be 322 mV in the presence of cellulose used as substrate after 5 days of incubation at room temperature and last for 10 days
THE EFFECT OF THE SYRIAN CRISIS ON THE PROFITABILITY OF THE COUNTRY\u27S PRIVATE BANKING SECTOR
Get PDFThis research analyses the effect of the Syrian crisis on the profitability of local private banks during the period from 2011 to 2018 using fixed effects estimator on panel data. The research studies all of the 14 Syrian private banks and includes bank-specific variables calculated from the published quarterly and annual reports of all the banks, as well as a variable for the Syrian crisis measured by the following macro-economic factors: the number of crisis-related casualties, the number of Syrians who fled the country as refugees or asylum seekers, and the Syrian Pound exchange rate against U.S. Dollar during the studied period. Using return on average assets (ROAA) as the dependent variable, the research results found that bank capital, deposits, and loans to assets all have a statistically significant positive effect on profitability at 1%, while operating efficiency and asset quality have a statistically significant negative effect on profitability at 1% and 5% respectively. Furthermore, the macro-economic variable of the Syrian crisis has a statistically significant negative effect on profitability at 1%. The results of this paper enhance the understanding of profitability determinants during crisis times and provide supervisory authorities and banks with important indicators regarding profitability in economic distress periods
EFFECTS OF BISPHENOL A AND NICOTINE ON CYTOCHROME P450S IN BRAIN AND LIVER OF PREGNANT RATS
Get PDFBisphenol A (BPA), a widely used chemical, is associated with endocrine disruption through its interactions with the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). BPA crosses into the human body mostly through migration from plastic packaging into the daily diet. AhR regulates the expression of drug-metabolizing enzymes (DMEs), including numerous CYP450s, and mediates xenobiotic reactions. This study aims at examining how the expression of CYP450s expression is affected, in the brain and liver of pregnant rats, by exposure to BPA and nicotine. Pregnant female Sprague-Dawley dams were exposed to increasing doses of BPA; 0 (control), 50, 500, and 5000 g/kg/day , or in combination with nicotine; 3000 µg/kg/day, through drinking water. Brain and liver tissues were isolated after 2 weeks of exposure, and western blotting was used to assess the expression of selected protein targets. The results showed that BPA exposure decreased the expression levels of CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 in the brain (by 55% and 79% respectively). It also decreased CYP2E1 levels in the brain (by 42%), but increased its levels in the liver (by 126%). Moreover, BPA exposure decreased levels of CYP19A1 and ARNT in the liver (by 51% and 44% respectively), and decreased those of AhRR (AhR repressor) in the brain (by 28%). On the other hand, nicotine treatment exhibited an inhibitory effect with CYP1A1, CYP1B1, and AhRR in the brain (by 67%, 78%, and 13% respectively), whereas, it inhibited CYP1A1, CYP19A1, and ARNT (AhR Nuclear Translocator) in the liver (47%, 54%, and 63% respectively). In conclusion, adult brain and liver tissues showed BPA sensitivity, which disrupts CYP450s expression, and is modulated by nicotine. The observed effects could be mediated by AhR-ARNT-dependent or independent pathways, which need to be investigated further