The Effect of Financial Liberalization on Economic Growth: The Case of Egypt and Saudi Arabia

Hoda MANSOUR,Soliman HASSAN 한국유통과학회 2021 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.8 No.11

Theoretically, economic growth necessitates financial liberalization. Thus, the current research examines the effect of financial liberalization on economic growth in emerging nations, with a particular focus on Egypt and Saudi Arabia. To determine this effect, the study employs a model that uses Gross Domestic Product growth as the dependent variable and the following macroeconomic variables as financial liberalization indices: Broad money as a percentage of GDP, Domestic bank credit to the private sector as a percentage of GDP, Monetary sector credit to the private sector as a percentage of GDP, Net inflows of foreign direct investment as a percentage of GDP. All data is annual data of Egypt and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the period 1970–2018 obtained from the World Bank open data website. The empirical investigation employs the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach. The findings indicate that, after more than three decades of implementation, both countries’ financial and external liberalization policies do not have a favorable effect on their economies’ growth rates. Additionally, this study has led us to conclude that any financial liberalization policy in both countries must be preceded by the strengthening of these countries’ financial development and institutional frameworks, as well as the achievement of macroeconomic stability.

Biology of the mason bee Osmia latreillei (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) under artificial nesting conditions in Egypt

Mohamed A. Shebl,Hanan A. Hassan,Soliman M. Kamel,Mohamed A.M. Osman,Michael S. Engel 한국응용곤충학회 2018 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.21 No.3

The mason bee Osmia (Helicosmia) latreillei Spinola is one of the dominant species of bees throughout Egypt, and can be found commonly in the Suez Canal Region. The species visits numerous plant species of the family Asteraceae and is considered the most important pollinator of certain crops such as sunflower. This species and some other solitary cavity nesting bees are threatened by fragmentation of their nesting habitats. Several attempts were made to establish and propagate O. latreillei, and success was achieved for re-nesting it in various artificial materials such as wood and polystyrene with rolled paper straws. These artificial nests were established at the conservation area of the Bee Research Centre, Suez Canal University, in order to study the nesting behavior and biology of O. latreillei under artificial conditions and to document their natural enemies. Biologically, there was no significance difference between the life cycle of O. latreillei under natural and artificial nesting conditions. This solitary bee was univoltine, individuals active only during Spring, and attacked by diverse enemies, with Stelis (Stelis) murina Pérez and chrysidid wasps considered the two most major pests of this wild bee species.

Effects of Ultrasound, Laser and Exercises on Temporomandibular Joint Pain and Trismus Following Head and Neck Cancer

Hany Mohamed Elgohary,Hadaya Mosaad Eladl,Ashraf Hassan Soliman,Elsadat Saad Soliman 대한재활의학회 2018 Annals of Rehabilitation Medicine Vol.42 No.6

Objective To compare the effects of low intensity ultrasound (LIUS), traditional exercise therapy (TET), low level laser therapy (LLLT) and TET on temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain and trismus following recovery from head and neck cancer (HNC). Methods Sixty participants following, who had experienced HNC, were randomly allocated to three groups of 20 people each. Each group received different therapy. Group A received LIUS and TET; group B received LLLT and TET; while group C received TET. All 60 participants were evaluated under the visual analog scale (VAS), the University of Washington Quality of Life questionnaire (UW-QOL) and the Vernier caliper scale (VCS) at the beginning of the therapies and after 4 weeks. Results ANOVA test revealed significant improvements across all three groups with outcomes of p<0.05. The results of the UW-QOL questionnaire showed a significant difference between groups A, B and C in favor of group A (p<0.05). The VAS results showed a more improvement in group A as compared to group B (p<0.05), while there was no statistical difference between groups B and C (p>0.05). The VCS results showed more improvement for the individuals in group B as compared to those in group C (p<0.05), while there was minimal difference between groups A and B (p>0.05). Conclusion The LIUS and TET are more effective than LLLT and/or TET in reducing TMJ pain and trismus following HNC.

Peritoneal cancer index as a predictor of survival in advanced stage serous epithelial ovarian cancer: a prospective study

Alaa A. Elzarkaa,Waleed Shaalan,Doaa Elemam,Hassan Mansour,Mahmoud Melis,Eduard Malik,Amr A. Soliman 대한부인종양학회 2018 Journal of Gynecologic Oncology Vol.29 No.4

OBJECTIVE: A numerical score, the peritoneal cancer index (PCI), was developed to reflect the extent of tumor growth in gastric and colorectal cancers and to tailor treatment. This study aimed to examine the value of the PCI score in advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) regarding completeness of surgical cytoreduction and survival. METHODS: This was a prospective observational cohort study. Patients with primary serous EOC at International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stages IIIB or higher were included. Patients with FIGO stage IVB as well as those assigned to receive neoadjuvant treatment were excluded from the study. The PCI was obtained and registered intraoperatively. RESULTS: In the study period we recruited 96 patients with serous EOC stage IIIB-IVA. A PCI score cut-off value of 13 was calculated using a receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve, above which worse survival is expected (area under the curve [AUC]=0.641; 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.517-0.765; sensitivity and specificity 80.6%, 45.0%, respectively; p=0.050). A multivariate analysis determined that suboptimal surgical cytoreduction was the only independent predictive factor for recurrence (odds ratio [OR]=7.548; 95% CI=1.473-38.675; p=0.015). A multivariate analysis determined that only suboptimal surgical cytoreduction (hazard ratio [HR]=2.33; 95% CI=0.616-8.795; p=0.005), but not PCI score >13 (HR=1.289; 95% CI=0.329-5.046; p=0.716), was an independent predictive factor for death. CONCLUSION: We conclude from this study that the PCI score is a reliable tool helping to assess the extent of disease in advanced serous EOC patients and may help predicting complete surgical cytoreduction but cannot qualify as a predictor of survival.

Numerical study on the rotation capacity of CFRP strengthened cold formed steel beams

Mohammed H. Serror,Essam G. Soliman,Ahmed F. Hassan 국제구조공학회 2017 Steel and Composite Structures, An International J Vol.23 No.4

Currently, CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer) plate bonding is used quite extensively as a strengthening method. In this technique, a composite CFRP plate or sheet of relatively small thickness is bonded with an adhesion material to steel or concrete structure in order to improve its structural behavior and strength. The sheets or plates do not require much space and give a composite action between the adherents. In this study, the rotation capacity of CFRP-strengthened cold-formed steel (CFS) beams has been evaluated through numerical investigation. Studies on different structural levels have been performed. At the beam level, C-section has been adopted with different values of profile thickness, web height, and flange width. At the connection level, a web bolted moment resistant type of connection using through plate has been adopted. In web-bolted connections without CFRP strengthening, premature web buckling results in early loss of strength. Hence, CFRP sheets and plates with different mechanical properties and geometric configurations have been examined to delay web and flange buckling and to produce relatively high moment strength and rotation capacity. The numerical results reveal that CFRP strengthening may increase strength, initial stiffness, and rotation capacity when compared with the case without strengthening.

Optimization, Purification, and Characterization of Haloalkaline Serine Protease from a Haloalkaliphilic Archaeon Natrialba hulunbeirensis Strain WNHS14

( Rania S Ahmed ),( Amira M Embaby ),( Mostafa Hassan ),( Nadia A Soliman ),( Yasser R Abdel-fattah ) 한국미생물생명공학회(구 한국산업미생물학회) 2021 한국미생물·생명공학회지 Vol.49 No.2

The present study addresses isolation, optimization, partial purification, and characterization of a haloalkaline serine protease from a newly isolated haloarchaeal strain isolated from Wadi El Natrun in Egypt. We expected that a two-step sequential statistical approach (one variable at a time, followed by response surface methodology) might maximize the production of the haloalkaline serine protease. The enzyme was partially purified using Hiprep 16/60 sephacryl S-100 HR gel filtration column. Molecular identification revealed the newly isolated haloarchaeon to be Natrialba hulunbeirensis strain WNHS14. Among several tested physicochemical determinants, casamino acids, KCl, and NaCl showed the most significant effects on enzyme production as determined from results of the One-Variable-At-A-time (OVAT) study. The Box- Behnken design localized the optimal levels of the three key determinants; casamino acids, KCl, and NaCl to be 0.5% (w/v), 0.02% (w/v), and 15% (w/v), respectively, obtaining 62.9 U/ml as the maximal amount of protease produced after treatment at 40℃, and pH 9 for 9 days with 6-fold enhancement in yield. The enzyme was partially purified after size exclusion chromatography with specific activity, purification fold, and yield of 1282.63 U/mg, 8.9, and 23%, respectively. The enzyme showed its maximal activity at pH, temperature, and NaCl concentration optima of 10, 75℃, and 2 M, respectively. Phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF, 5 mM) completely inhibited enzyme activity.

An Efficient Technique for Non-Uniformity Correction of Infrared Video Sequences with Histogram Matching

Abbass Mohammed Y.,Sadic Nevein,Ashiba Huda I.,Hassan Emad S.,El-Dolil Sami,Soliman Naglaa F.,Algarni Abeer D.,Alabdulkreem Eatedal A.,Algarni Fatimah,El-Banby Ghada M.,Abdel-Rahman Mohamed R.,Aldosar 대한전기학회 2022 Journal of Electrical Engineering & Technology Vol.17 No.5

Infrared (IR) image sequences are acquired with certain types of cameras. These cameras give the sequence of images according to the heat distribution. With time, some deterioration of the quality of the sequence occurs due the thermal noise eff ect generated in the camera. This thermal noise eff ect leads to some sort of non-uniformity in the obtained image sequence. Hence, it is necessary to perform some sort of non-uniformity correction in the video sequence according to the fi rst frame. This type of non-uniformity correction is scene-based. This paper introduces a scene-based non-uniformity correction technique that depends mainly on histogram matching. The noise eff ect on each frame in the sequence leads to some drift in the histogram of that frame. Hence, the proposed technique depends on the histogram matching concept to correct the histogram of each frame in the sequence based on the histogram of the fi rst frame that is free from the thermal noise eff ect. Diff erent image quality metrics including entropy, contrast, edge intensity, average gradient, and correlation with the fi rst frame are adopted to assess the quality of the obtained frames after adjustment. It is required in the frames to be corrected to reduce entropy, edge intensity and average gradient as these metrics are increased with the presence of thermal noise eff ect on all pixels represented as much details and unnecessary information. In addition, the contrast of the video sequences should be increased to determine objects in a better way. The correlation of the corrected frames with the fi rst one should be increased to reduce the noise eff ect. Simulation results reveal enhanced quality of the obtained video sequences after processing with the proposed technique.