The outsider in the novels of Naguib Mahfouz

The novels of Najib Mahfūz, or — to use the more familiar Western spelling of his name, Naguib Mahfouz — offer a progressive study of the outsider in relation to Egyptian middle‐class society. In the early novels it was poverty which set the character outside the gale of a normally functioning community. The poverty of Mahjub in Modern Cairo (al‐Qahira al‐jadida) (1945) and of Hasanayn in A Beginning and an End (Bidaya wa‐nihaya) (1949) is the cause of their isolation in those novels.

The Trilogy (i: Bayn al‐Qasrayn; ii: Qasr al‐shawq: iii: al‐Sukkariyya) (1956–7) offers a large‐scale study of an alienated personality. It is Kamal, who, with the house in Bayn al‐Qasrayn, provides the link between the three generations depicted in the Trilogy. Alienation here is rooted in disappointment and frustration brought about by the mere process of growing up and disillusionment, religious, social and emotional.

The post‐realistic novels after the Trilogy offer bold sketches of a series of outsiders and exiles: the outlaw in The Thief and the Dogs (al‐Liss wa‐1‐kilab) (1961), the disgraced politician in Autumn Quail (al‐Summan wa‐1‐kharif) (1962) , and a group of social and political exiles in a small pension called ‘Miramar’ in Miramar (1967).

In the late seventies Mahfouz was still writing short novels on outsiders, but the wheel has come full circle. They are the young men who have obtained their degree, got the standard government or public sector jobs, been accepted by the sweetheart and her family and are formally engaged, but still cannot find themselves a place in a society highly inflated with petrol dollars and mushrooming wealth, where it is near impossible for a young couple to afford the huge sums necessary for any new accommodation.     

Reforming policy roles in the Jordanian policy‐making process

The aim of this diagnostic analysis is to identify the weaknesses in the process of reforming policy in Jordan. This study will first present a diagnostic analysis of the characteristics of administrative reform in Jordan. Following this, weaknesses will be identified with a focus on policy roles in the policy‐making process. Administrative reform has long been an area of interest and development in Jordan since the early 1980s. Conferences were held, political and technical committees formed, and expertise and resources invested. The outcomes of these programs have been below expectations, with inadequate impact. This investigation paid attention on how Jordan can best invest its resources to maximize efficiency in the public sector, specifically the process of reforming policy. This study concludes that the primary factor impacting efficiency, accountability, and responsiveness is the degree of authority at both national and organizational level. Recent efforts in Jordan to tackle these issues could create more conflicts that threaten the Jordanian government's stability. Other resources have been dedicated to reviewing the rules and values that govern the relationship between state and society.     

Strategic port classification: International clustering‐based approach for decision‐making optimization

This comprehensive study aims to identify from a strategic perspective a new port classification approach based on port features and characteristics. Data of 3,685 ports worldwide have been collected, and 25 dimensions with 62 factors have been identified and utilized to analyze and classify ports worldwide. The K‐means clustering technique has been utilized to conduct the port classification process at several levels. First, ports have been classified into two general clusters (low capabilities and moderate‐to‐high capabilities). Then only ports with moderate‐to‐high potentials were classified and taxonomized. In addition to identifying and classifying ports with moderate‐to‐high capabilities, findings of the second round demonstrate the existence of three main clusters. The new port classification has been used to provide new insights about the top 50 terminal ports as a real case study. This innovative approach is valuable for most port‐related decision‐making situations and facilitates the global supply chain management processes.     

A structural equation modeling analysis of marital bullying scale

Bullying has received increasing research interest, whether bullying among students in schools and universities, or bullying among employees. There is still no accordance regarding to bullying between the couple. This study aimed to investigate the construct validity and psychometric properties of the marital bullying scale with advanced statistical procedure, structural equation modeling, and exploratory factor analysis. The researchers prepared the marriage bullying scale consisting of 25 self‐report items and applied it in a random sample consisting of (760) married individual, and then, the researchers extracted the psychometric characteristics of this scale. The finding indicated that the scale has psychometric properties with a high validity and reliability. In order to ensure the validity of the structure of this scale, the researchers developed a measurement model for marital bullying. The results of the exploratory factor analysis pointed to the saturation of the items of the scale (25) on five factors and accounted for 80.815% of the total variance of the scale. The first factor was verbal bullying that accounted for 37.658%, the second factor was physical bullying that accounted for 16. 249 %, the third factor was psychological bullying that accounted for 12.850 %, the fourth factor was social bullying that accounted for 8.584 %, and the fifth factor was family bullying that accounted for (5.475 %) of the total variance of marital bullying. And then by using confirmatory factor analysis, results showed that the structure of the proposed measurement model of marital bullying has good fitness with the data collected from the sample of the study, which enhances confidence in the ability of the scale to assess marital bullying. The findings shed new light on the underlying theory behind marital bullying and proved the usefulness of structural equation modeling framework in scale development.     

The impact of foreign direct investment on the growth of the tourism sector in Jordan (1980–2016)

The study aimed at measuring and analyzing the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the growth of the Jordanian tourism sector during the period 1980–2016. In order to test the stationarity of the variables of the study model, the augmented Dickey–Fuller and the Philips Perron tests were applied. The results showed that the variables were not stationary at their levels, but they become so when taking the first difference with the intercept. The study also found a positive long‐run relationship between the ratio of FDI to gross domestic product (GDP) and the ratio of tourism revenues to GDP according to the cointegration test used, which was the Granger causality test. The test showed a one‐way causal relationship between the ratio of FDI to GDP and the ratio of tourism revenue to GDP. According to the estimation results, the error correction model showed that there is a positive impact of FDI on the growth of the tourism sector. Based on the results reached, the study recommended the need to pay attention to the tourism sector, enhance its role in economic development, and work to provide an optimal investment environment by providing all necessary means for and assistance in establishing such investments. All obstacles that limit the flow of the FDI in the Jordanian tourism sector should be removed.     

Origin and development of forensic medicine in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The medicolegal death investigation system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is unique in the world. It is exclusively derived from Islamic judiciary based on Shari'ah law, which is the definitive Islamic law or doctrine. This law is applied on Saudi citizens as well as foreigners. This is different from other Islamic countries, which have a combination of Islamic and other judiciary systems.The forensic medicine centers in KSA are related administratively to the Ministry of Health (MOH) and its subdivisions in the different governorates. They are concerned with forensic medical examination and autopsy, as well as the clinical forensic medical examination of sexual assault cases, and those injured in civil and criminal cases. The assisting laboratories (forensic histopathology, microbiology, serology, forensic chemistry) are working independently under the funding of MOH, whereas the DNA laboratory and other departments of forensic sciences, for example, counterfeiting and forgery unit are related administratively to the Ministry of Interior represented by the Administration of Criminal Evidences. Efforts concerning crime scene investigations are shared with Administration of Criminal Evidences' crime scene investigators.Forensic medicine education in KSA developed in the past few years after the foundation of Saudi specialty certificate in forensic medicine. The certificate is a postgraduation qualification equivalent to a doctorate degree in forensic medicine and requires completion of a 4-year training program in both MOH- and Ministry of Interior-related departments, as well as passing annual evaluation and examination.This review is aimed at providing in the next decade the medicolegal centers with national forensic specialists throughout the kingdom and granting skillful headships for the next generations. Moreover, this review suggests more scientific associations with the academic universities in the various fields of forensic sciences through academic cooperation.     

Micro-enterprise development initiatives and entrepreneurial competencies,innovativeness, and social capital in Malaysia

This article examines the effect of participation in development programmes designed for women micro-entrepreneurs on the development of entrepreneurial competencies, innovativeness, and social capital. The study employed a cross-sectional design and quasi-experimental approach, and collected data from 417 women micro-entrepreneurs in Malaysia. Findings reveal that the participants possess a significantly higher level of social capital, innovativeness, and entrepreneurial competencies. Development organisations should therefore focus on redesigning their policies and programmes to improve the breadth and depth of the development programmes that they offer, which ultimately lead to an improvement in the social-economic condition of low-income households in Malaysia.     

Youth’s Experiences of the Devaluing of Their Contributions Due to Their Ethnicity and Gender

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - The message that one’s contributions are devalued can be a significant way that youth experience marginalization during the transition into adulthood....     

A Century in Thirty Years: Sheikh Zayed and The United Arab Emirates

Following are excerpts from an April 20, 1999, conference convened by the Middle East Policy Council. The papers these presentations are drawn from will be published as a book, forthcoming in 1999.     

Entrepreneurial citizenship in urban regeneration in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands, active citizenship in the context of urban regeneration of deprived neighbourhoods seems to have evolved into ‘entrepreneurial citizenship’. The concept of entrepreneurial citizenship combines top-down and bottom-up elements. National and/or local governments promote an ideal citizen with entrepreneurship skills and competencies to create more responsible and entrepreneurial citizens’ participation in government-initiated arrangements. At the same time, bottom-up behavioural practices from citizens who demand more opportunities to innovatively apply assets, entrepreneurial skills, strategies and collaboration with other stakeholders are initiated to achieve their goals and create societal-added value. The aim of this paper is to better understand the origins of ‘entrepreneurial citizenship’, and its meaning in the Dutch context of urban regeneration. To do this, we will review the relevant international literature and combine insights from studies on governance, active citizenship, social and community entrepreneurship and urban neighbourhoods. We will also analyse how entrepreneurial citizenship can be locally observed in the Netherlands as reported in the literature.