The Effect of Core Eccentricity on the Structural Behavior of Concrete Tall Buildings

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of core eccentricity on the structural behavior of concrete tall buildings.Concrete buildings of 55 floors with plan dimensions 48.0×48.0 m2 were investigated.Three cases of main core locations are studied:centric(A),eccentric by one sixth(B)and one third(C)of building width.The three-dimensional finite element method has been used in conducting structural analysis through ETABS software.Gravity and lateral(wind and seismic)loadings are applied to all building cases.It has been concluded that the core location is the prime parameter governing the structural behavior of tall buildings.Although the first two cases(A,B)have acceptable and similar structural behaviors conforming to code limits,in the third case(C),the building behavior came beyond code limits.The author introduced remedial action by adding two secondary cores in the opposite direction of the main core(C-R)to restore the building behavior to the code limits.The results of this action were satisfactory.

Seroepidemiology of hepatitis A virus in Kuwait

AIM: To fi nd the current seroepidemiology of hepatitis A virus (HAV) in Kuwait.METHODS: A total of 2851 Kuwaitis applying for new jobs were screened.RESULTS: HAV-positive cases were 28.8%; 59% were males and 41% were females. The highest prevalence was in the Ahmadi area. High prevalence was among the group of non-educated rather than educated parents. This is the fi rst study in Kuwait demonstrating the shifting epidemiology of HAV.CONCLUSION: This study reflects the need of the Kuwaiti population for an HAV vaccine.

The extent of voluntary disclosure in an emerging capital market： The case of Jordan

This study evaluates the extent of voluntary disclosure in the annual reports of non-financial companies listed at the Amman Stock Exchange （ASE） for the year 2006. The study adopts the disclosure index suggested by Haddad, AI-Shattarat ＆ Nobanee （2009） and evaluates the voluntary disclosure for the Jordanian companies for the year 2006 at three levels： the first provides a description and analysis of the overall voluntary disclosure; the second covers the extent to which each individual item of information is disclosed; the third covers the type of information （e.g., financial information, historical information, management discussion）. The results of the study reveal that there was a considerable variation in the disclosure of the index items and also among the listed companies. On average, a company disclosed about 28.95% of the items applicable to it, and only six out of the 53 companies received disclosure scores greater than 50%. It was also found that 50 items out of 62 items included in the index had a disclosure below 50%, and 10 items had disclosure of less than 10%. With respect to the evaluation of different types of information, the analyses indicated that the category of the background information, the category of financial ratios and the category of management discussions were better disclosed in corporate annual reports than the other types of information.

Retraction: An Improved Approach of Surface Meshes

The article has been retracted due to the authors’ strong personal reason about the indexing databases of Applied Mathematics.

3-D Modeling of Axial Fans

In this paper we present a full-geometry Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling of air flow distribution from an automotive engine cooling fan. To simplify geometric modeling and mesh generation, different solution domains have been considered, the Core model, the Extended-Hub model, and the Multiple Reference Frame (MRF) model. We also consider the effect of blockage on the flow and pressure fields. The Extended-Hub model simplifies meshing without compromising accuracy. Optimal locations of the computational boundary conditions have been determined for the MRF model. The blockage results in significant difference in pressure rise, and the difference increases with increasing flow rates. Results are in good agreement with data obtained from an experimental test facility. Finally, we consider Simplified Fan Models which simplifies geometric modeling and mesh generation and significantly reduce the amount of computer memory used and time needed to carry out the calculations. Different models are compared in regards to efficiency and accuracy. The effect of using data from different planes is considered to optimize performance. The effect of blockage on simplified models is also considered.

The Politicisation of Arab Theatre： Sa＇d Allah Wannus

The political theatre in the Arab world emerged from rough seas of opposition and state monitoring schemes. Some critics may claim that political tendencies in Arab theatre can be traced to the early contributors to Arab theatre Others attribute the emergence of this theatre to the revolution of Egypt＇s Nasir. However, the Syrian playwright Sa＇d Allah Wannus may be viewed as the true representative of this kind of theatre in the Arab world. Shocked by the defeat of the Arabs by Israel in 1967, he began what he coined ＂theatre of politicization＂, aiming to attack Arab governments and blaming them for the defeat, and at the same time, insighting his audience to revolt against existing political ideas. In this kind of theatre, the audience assumed ever-increasing importance. Wannus wrote several plays, the aim of which was to develop a mentality and strengthen a collective consciousness in an Arab historical context. This article aims to exploring the concept of theatre of politicization and the impact of that on Arab political theatre

Multiple factors contribute to obesity among Kuwaiti college women

There is a need to understand gender-dependent lifestyle habits of different ethnic groups in order to comprehend the risk factors associated with the development of obesity. It has been suggested that diet and physical exercise are two primary determinants of health. We examined the dietary habits and physical activity levels of Kuwaiti college women in order to understand these gender-specific factors contributing to obesity. A total of 304 female students were grouped as obese or non-obese as defined by their body mass index (BMI). Our study identified three factors that contributed to obesity: 1) consumption of more calories;2) having obese parents and relatives;and 3) engagement in activities that consume less energy. Therefore, individually targeted weight management programs including healthy eating and active lifestyle interventions with a specific focus on female-friendly physical activity should be promoted within university settings inKuwait.

Analysis of intervention effectiveness using early outbreak transmission dynamics to guide future pandemic management and decision-making in Kuwait

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)is a World Health Organization designated pandemic that can result in severe symptoms and death that disproportionately affects older patients or those with comorbidities.Kuwait reported its first imported cases of COVID-19 on February 24,2020.Analysis of data from the first three months of community transmission of the COVID-19 outbreak in Kuwait can provide important guidance for decision-making when dealing with future SARS-CoV-2 epidemic wave management.The analysis of intervention scenarios can help to evaluate the possible impacts of various outbreak control measures going forward which aim to reduce the effective reproduction number during the initial outbreak wave.Herein we use a modified susceptible-exposed-asymptomatic-infectious-removed(SEAIR)transmission model to estimate the outbreak dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Kuwait.We fit case data from the first 96 days in the model to estimate the effective reproduction number and used Google mobility data to refine community contact matrices.The SEAIR modelled scenarios allow for the analysis of various interventions to determine their effectiveness.The model can help inform future pandemic wave management,not only in Kuwait but for other countries as well.

Migration of existing software systems to mobile computing platforms:a systematic mapping study

Mobile computing has fast emerged as a pervasive technology to replace the old computing paradigms with portable computation and context-aware communication.Existing software systems can be migrated(while preserving their data and logic)to mobile computing platforms that support portability,context-sensitivity,and enhanced usability.In recent years,some research and development efforts have focused on a systematic migration of existing software systems to mobile computing platforms.To investigate the research state-of-the-art on the migration of existing software systems to mobile computing platforms.We aim to analyze the progression and impacts of existing research,highlight challenges and solutions that reflect dimensions of emerging and futuristic research.We followed evidence-based software engineering(EBSE)method to conduct a systematic mapping study(SMS)of the existing research that has progressed over more than a decade(25 studies published from 1996–2017).We have derived a taxonomical classification and a holistic mapping of the existing research to investigate its progress,impacts,and potential areas of futuristic research and development.The SMS has identified three types of migration namely Static,Dynamic,and State-based Migration of existing software systems to mobile computing platforms.Migration to mobile computing platforms enables existing software systems to achieve portability,context-sensitivity,and high connectivity.However,mobile systems may face some challenges such as resource poverty,data security,and privacy.The emerging and futuristic research aims to support patterns and tool support to automate the migration process.The results of this SMS can benefit researchers and practitioners-by highlighting challenges,solutions,and tools,etc.,-to conceptualize the state-of-the-art and futuristic trends that support migration of existing software to mobile computing.

Positive Solutions for Singular Quasilinear Schrodinger Equations with One Parameter, II

We establish the existence of positive bound state solutions for the singular quasilinear Schrodinger equation iψ/t=-div（ρ（｜ψ｜^2） ψ）＋ω（｜ψ｜62）ψ-λρ（｜ψ｜^2）ψ,x∈Ω,t〉0,where ω（τ^2）τ→∞ as τ→ 0 and, λ 〉 0is a parameter and Ω is a ball in ^RN. This problem is studied in connection with the following quasilinear eigenvalue problem with Dirichlet boundary condition -div（ρ（｜ ψ｜^2） ψ）=λ1ρ（｜ψ｜^2）ψ=λ1ρ（｜ψ｜^2）ψ,x∈Ω.Indeed, we establish the existence of solutions for the above Schrodinger equation when A belongs to a certain neighborhood of the first eigenvahie λ1 of this eigenvalue problem. The main feature of this paper is that the nonlinearity ω｜ψ｜^2 is unbounded around the origin and also the presence of the second order nonlinear term. Our analysis shows the importance of the role played by the parameter A combined with the nonlinear nonhomogeneous term div （ρ（｜ ψ｜^2） ψ） which leads us to treat this prob- lem in an appropriate Orlicz space. The proofs are based on various techniques related to variational methods and implicit function theorem.