Understanding the development and use of musical instruments in prehistory is often hampered by poor preservation of perishable materials and the relative rarity of durable examples. Here, the authors present a pair of third-millennium BC copper cymbals, excavated at Dahwa, Oman. Although they are the only well-contextualised examples from Arabia, the Dahwa cymbals are paralleled by contemporaneous examples from the Indus Valley and images in Mesopotamian iconography. Not only do the cymbals add to the body of evidence interpreted in terms of Indus migrants in Early Bronze Age Oman, they also suggest shared musical and potentially ritual practices around the Arabian Gulf at that time.

To date, implantation is the rate-limiting step for the success of in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment. Accumulating evidence suggests that immune cells contribute to embryo implantation, and several therapeutic approaches have been proposed for the treatment of recurrent implantation failure (RIF). Endometrial immune modulation with autologous activated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) is one of the most widely used protocols. However, the effect of intrauterine insemination of mixed paternal and maternal-activated PBMCs has not yet been attempted and studied. The aim of our study is to test the effect of the addition of paternal lymphocytes on the implantation rate in RIF patients. Mononuclear cells were isolated from the peripheral blood of 98 RIF patients and cultured for 72 h before insemination into the endometrial cavity 48 h before embryo transfer. Our patients were divided into 4 groups according to the type and number of PBMCs inseminations. Our study shows that activated PBMCs promoted clinical pregnancy rates (CPR) in all groups. Moreover, we found that the groups injected with more than 2 million cells showed a better clinical outcome and, more interestingly, patients inseminated with both paternal and maternal activated PBMCs showed the highest CPR, reaching 47.2%, in addition to the highest implantation rate 31. 2% and the live birth rate 41.39%. Our work demonstrates the importance of administering a large number of activated PBMCs with the addition of paternal activated PBMCs to immunomodulate the endometrium for the success of in vitro fertilization in RIF patients.

We show that the conceptual distance between any two theories of first-order logic is the same as the generator distance between their Lindenbaum–Tarski algebras of concepts. As a consequence of this, we show that, for any two arbitrary mathematical structures, the generator distance between their meaning algebras (also known as cylindric set algebras) is the same as the conceptual distance between their first-order logic theories. As applications, we give a complete description for the distances between meaning algebras corresponding to structures having at most three elements and show that this small network represents all the possible conceptual distances between complete theories. As a corollary of this, we will see that there are only two non-trivial structures definable on three-element sets up to conceptual equivalence (i.e., up to elementary plus definitional equivalence).

The intercalation of kaolinite through the insertion of ions or molecules amongst the structural aluminosilicate layers is a vital process in numerous clay-based applications and products. Layer neutrality and hydrogen bonding limits direct intercalation into kaolinite, other than for small molecules. Synthesizing zirconia-intercalated kaolinite is not a straightforward matter. To overcome this barrier, raw Egyptian kaolin (UnK) or its acid-activated product (HK) was sonicated and impregnated in aqueous ZrOCl2·8H2O solution followed by thermal treatment at various temperatures (100, 200, 300, and 500°C). The intercalation process was confirmed using various spectroscopic and analytical techniques. The direct intercalation of ZrO2 into the kaolinite layers was observed even through a mild thermal treatment (100, 200, and 300°C). The mechanism of intercalation was suggested to occur by binding ZrO2 to the Si/AlO groups with a preference for the acid-activated HK, causing variable enlargements of the basal spacing and producing very perturbed layers. Interestingly, the surface area increased by 250% as a result of zirconia intercalation. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed a remarkable improvement in the stacking order of the kaolinite particles. The impact of ZrO2 intercalation into kaolinite also enhanced its adsorption efficiency for Pb2+, Cu2+, and Cd2+ ions. Preliminary investigations showed that the zirconia-intercalated HK demonstrated a removal efficiency, which is three times greater than that of pristine HK. The adsorption tendency toward Pb2+ ions was greater than those of Cu2+ and Cd2+ and followed the order: Pb2+ >> Cu2+ > Cd2+. The study suggests that the chemical modification of kaolin by zirconia via a direct intercalation technique, which greatly improves its functionality as demonstrated by the selective sorption of heavy metal ions, is worthy of further study.

Ziziphus lotus is an underappreciated natural genetic resource widespread in Algeria. This study aimed to compare the fruit phytochemical composition of nine populations of Z. lotus from different areas to highlight its diversity. Fruits were harvested from the semiarid, dry steppe and Saharan stages. Primary and secondary metabolites and minerals contents were determined. Significant variations in the fruit phytochemical composition between populations of Z. lotus and between pulp and seeds were recorded. Z. lotus is dry fruit with 8.768 ± 0.449 to 13.468 ± 1.303% water in pulp and 6.7 to 12.12% in seeds. Significantly higher values were recorded in the fruit pulp for sugar (35.25 to 48.87%), phosphorus (63.114 to 155.269 mg 100−1g), sodium (34.8 to 56.91 ppm), calcium (91.78 to 382.69 ppm), β-carotene (36.4 to 46 μg g−1), lycopene (59.15 to 100.25 μg g−1) and chlorophyll a (3.6 to 7.2 μg g−1) contents. Seeds had much higher protein (8.37 to 27.75%), lipid (35.39 to 48.01%), potassium (125.874 to 325.408 mg. 100−1 g), polyphenol (439.465 to 1349.46 mg.GAE.100 g−1), flavonoid (83.908 to 98.259 mg.QE.100 g−1), tannins (55.268 to 277.94 mg.GAE.100 g−1) and chlorophyll b (11.2 to 30.4 μg g−1) contents. Bougtob, Boghar and Mougheul populations had higher primary metabolites and mineral values. Oued Nougued, Maarif and Mougheul populations were the richest in phenolic compounds. Oued Nougued, Maarif and Mougheul populations had more liposoluble pigments. This research is the beginning of investigating the variety of Z. lotus as phylogenetic sources. Further comparative investigations over a larger distribution region and further study of variations in the composition in fruit composition using GC-MS are needed.

Due to the increasing demand for antibiotic-free livestock products from the consumer side and the ban on the use of antibiotic growth promoters, the poultry feed industry is increasingly interested in developing more alternatives to cope with this problem. Organic acids (butyric acid) have many beneficial effects on poultry health, performance, and egg quality when used in their diet, thus they can be considered for the replacement of antibiotics in livestock production systems. Butyric acid is most efficacious against pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella spp. and Escherichia coli, and stimulates the population of beneficial gut bacteria. It is a primary energy source for colonocytes and augments the differentiation and maturation of the intestinal cells. Collectively, butyric acid should be considered as an alternative to antibiotic growth promoters, because it reduces pathogenic bacteria and their toxins, enhancing gut health thereby increasing nutrient digestibility, thus leading to improved growth performance and immunity among birds. The possible pathways and mechanisms through which butyric acid enhances gut health and production performance are discussed in this review. Detailed information about the use of butyric acid in poultry and its possible benefits under different conditions are also provided, and the impacts of butyric acid on egg quality and osteoporosis are noted.

This study discusses the potentials and challenges of Zoom theatre performances during the lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. It examines the utilization and applicability of videoconferencing software Zoom, and other streaming software compatible with it, in creating a viable performance option for theatre practitioners and audiences during mandatory social distancing. Such software can be a strategy for social inclusion, alleviating the adverse effects of extended quarantine. The article also discusses the technical and performative aspects of Zoom theatre, pointing out its pros and cons. It uses a critical and analytical approach to performances of two Zoom plays, Pandemic Therapy and Corona Chicken (Part Two), revealing how the playwright, dramaturg, and actors manage to present a live theatrical experience capable of engaging audiences and promoting social interaction. Khaled Mostafa Karam is an Assistant Professor of English Literature at the Suez University in Egypt and a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Cognitive Science, Case Western Reserve University, USA. He has published eleven articles on the interdisciplinary field of cognitive science and drama. Galal Mohamed Naguib is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Suez University and author of several articles in the fields of demographic analysis and the sociology of art.

In the literature, there have been several methods and definitions for working out whether two theories are “equivalent” (essentially the same) or not. In this article, we do something subtler. We provide a means to measure distances (and explore connections) between formal theories. We introduce two natural notions for such distances. The first one is that of axiomatic distance, but we argue that it might be of limited interest. The more interesting and widely applicable notion is that of conceptual distance which measures the minimum number of concepts that distinguish two theories. For instance, we use conceptual distance to show that relativistic and classical kinematics are distinguished by one concept only.

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs)-based techniques have dominated state-of-the-art results in most problems related to computer vision, audio recognition, and natural language processing in the past few years, resulting in strong industrial adoption from all leading technology companies worldwide. One of the major obstacles that have historically delayed large-scale adoption of ANNs is the huge computational and power costs associated with training and testing (deploying) them. In the mean-time, Neuromorphic Computing platforms have recently achieved remarkable performance running the bio-realistic Spiking Neural Networks at high throughput and very low power consumption making them a natural alternative to ANNs. Here, we propose using the Random Neural Network, a spiking neural network with both theoretical and practical appealing properties, as a general purpose classifier that can match the classification power of ANNs on a number of tasks while enjoying all the features of being a spiking neural network. This is demonstrated on a number of real-world classification datasets.

Two administrations of the Coloured Progressive Matrices in Egypt were compared. The first was administered to a large, representative national sample between 2011 and 2013. The second was administered to primary school pupils in villages in Menoufia in northern Egypt in 2017. Adjusting for the Flynn Effect, the IQ of the rural northern Egyptians was shown to be statistically significantly higher than the national average. It is demonstrated that this is consistent with regional socioeconomic differences in Egypt, which strongly imply that northern Egypt has a higher average IQ than southern Egypt.

This study was based on data for a sample of 1756 Egyptian primary school children (863 boys and 893 girls) aged 5–11 years assessed for intelligence with Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM). The results showed that boys obtained a slightly higher IQ than girls and had greater variance.

Glasses doped with rare earth elements (lanthanide series) are the most popular materials used in upconversion devices. The main aspect to develop these devices is to find suitable host materials for rare earth ions. The host material should have a high transmission of the upconverted photons, high thermal stability, good mechanical properties, low price, and easy to manufacture and shaping. Present work is concerned with studying the mechanical and structural properties for the oxide glass system doped with rare earth metal (erbium oxide, Er2O3). Ultrasonic pulse-echo technique is used to measure the sound velocities in the glass system (30%B2O3·30%Bi2O3·20%Li2O·10%BaO·10%Pb3O4·xEr2O3), (x = 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4) mol%. Ultrasound velocities (longitudinal and shear) are measured as a function of the Er2O3 content at a frequency of 4 MHz for longitudinal wave and 2 MHz for the shear wave at a temperature of 300 K. The elastic moduli and some physical parameters, such as Debye temperature, coordination number, and compressibility, were evaluated. Furthermore, the dimensionality of the glass network has been calculated in terms of the d ratio which equals G/B ratio. These parameters beside the x-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) measurements throw more light on the structure of the glass system. The measurements in this study exhibit remarkable anomalous changes in the network structure of the investigated glass doped with Er2O3.