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This study explores the best strategies for regional economic development to attract highly skilled populations, regardless of whether the region is a multisector or unisector economic hub. It also determines the development variables affecting the success of integrated regional economic hubs to achieve spatial equality, enhance economic productivity and attain environmental sustainability.

In addition to a qualitative analysis, this study employed quantitative techniques using SPSS software. This allowed amplification of the most significant explanatory variables affecting the weaknesses and strengths of economic hubs.

The results highlight approaches that can be used to achieve socio-economic sustainability in regional hubs. These include multisectors or main centralised hubs (smart economic regional capital), which provide new services to regions and act as a unidevelopment sector or as a regional, economic capital.

The study analyses the effect of economic strategies and integration of natural resources and the required core services in regional economic development.

Case studies of successful economic hubs are discussed. The most important services proposed in such hubs promote human development and increase the standard of living.

Integration between the hubs in a region is fundamental to attracting direct investments that can benefit the local population.

The results could help governments, economists and planners implement multisector developmental hubs to achieve sustainable development.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel technique for the pre-design of a printed circuit board (PCB) of a DC-DC power converters where the placement of electric components can cancel the electromagnetic emissions through subtractive coupling and in this sense to minimize the stray magnetic and electric fields at a specific location. For this work the location of interest is a current transducer used for control purposes positioned in the center of a DC-DC Cuk converter board as a constrain.

The methodology of design is based on the development of an interface software platform through MatLab script coding which interconnects the solution of a numerical analysis software and an optimization technique. The numerical analysis software is based on finite element calculations where quasi-static field analysis are performed to calculate the radiated electric and magnetic fields. The optimization technique is conducted by genetic algorithms (GAs).

The results for the proposed procedure for PCB design show a significant reduction in radiated electromagnetic (EM) field at the susceptible device in the PCB. Even when the optimization procedure is applied only for the sensor center, the field reduction is extended for a wide region around the sensor. The proposed technique not only reduces the fundamental field component but also all the harmonic contents for the electromagnetic field. It is demonstrated that it is possible to cancel the emissions by means of varying the location and orientation of the passive elements avoiding the utilization of electromagnetic interference filters and complex modulations.

The novelty of the design procedure falls in the fitness function programming where an interface software platform is built through MatLab scripting to connect a 3D-FE analysis and the GA. The finite element analysis address the radiated EM calculation while the GA focus in the minimization of it. This computational platform has the flexibility to be easily adapted for the PCB design of any power electronic converter where the radiated EM compliance is required as well as extended to perform emissions minimization outside or/and inside the PCB.

In this paper, modeling of the XLPE cable for electromagnetic signature study at a far distance is proposed. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Due to the very small ratio of the dimensions of cables to the dimensions of the whole system, using actual geometry of the cables with all layers in this study causes deformation of the cable's model. Therefore, multi-dipole modeling is used for modeling the cables.

This model includes specific voltages and currents in lines and nodes, respectively. Radiated electric and magnetic fields at a far distance are selected as the index of appropriateness of the model.

In order to investigate the accuracy of the model, various configuration of the cable is studied. Additionally, coupling of the cable with an electrical machine is investigated. They all show that the equivalent models can be used in place of the actual model for signature studies.

This paper seeks to present a fully digital, real‐time (RT) hardware‐in‐the‐loop (HIL) simulator on PC‐cluster, of electric systems and drives for research and education purposes; to use the developed system to conduct several motor drives implementation and to evaluate the motor and the control algorithm performance in RT.

This simulator was developed with the aim of meeting the simulation needs of electromechanical drives and power electronics systems while solving the limitations of traditional RT simulators. This simulator has two main subsystems, software and hardware. The two subsystems were coordinated together to achieve the RT simulation. The software subsystem includes MATLAB/Simulink environment, a C++ compiler and RT shell. The hardware subsystem includes FPGA data acquisition card, the control board, the sensors, and the controlled motor.

The complexity of RT implementation of motor drives is greatly reduced by utilizing this simulator. The detailed operation and implementation of this simulator are presented, together with test results and comparisons with simulated virtual environment for a permanent magnet dc and induction motors (IM). The simulator performance is adequate for both open and closed loops motor drives. The simulation time step is limited by the system Master/Target CPU's speed, the communication network type, and the complexity of the control algorithm.

A typical application for this system is to select and evaluate the performance of electric motors for a hybrid electric vehicle in a real vehicle environment without actually installing that component in the real vehicle.

The use of the developed RT simulator to achieve HIL simulation allows rapid prototyping, converter‐inverter topologies testing, motors testing, and control strategies evaluation. The transition from simulated virtual environment to the HIL mode can be performed by replacing the model of the physical system (e.g. motor) with the DAQ blocks to represent the channels connected to the physical system sensors. The use of a single environment for both simulation and HIL control provides a quick experimentation and performance comparison between the real and simulated systems.

The purpose of the paper is to showcase the significant achievements of Egypt's scientists in the 20th century across various fields of study such as medicine, physics, chemistry, biology, math, geology, astronomy and engineering. The paper highlights the struggles and successes of these scientists, as well as the cultural, social and political factors that influenced their lives and work. The aim is to inspire young people to pursue careers in science and make their own contributions to society by presenting these scientists as role models for hard work and dedication. Ultimately, the paper seeks to promote the importance of science and its impact on society.

The purpose of this review is to present the scientific biographies of Egypt's most distinguished scientists, primarily in the field of Natural Sciences, in a balanced and comprehensive manner. The work is objective, honest and abstract, avoiding any bias or exaggeration. The author provides a clear and concise methodology, including a brief introduction to the scientist and their field of study, an explanation of their major contributions, the impact of their work on society, any challenges or obstacles faced during their career and their lasting legacy. The aim is to showcase the important achievements of these scientists, their impact on their respective fields and to inspire future generations to pursue scientific careers.

The group of outstanding scientists in 20th century Egypt were shaped by various factors, including familial upbringing, education, society, political and cultural atmosphere and state support for scientific research. These scientists made significant contributions to various academic disciplines, including medicine, physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and engineering. Their impact on their communities and cultures has received international acclaim, making them role models for future generations of scientists and researchers. The history of these scientists highlights the importance of educational investments and supporting scientific research to foster innovation and social progress. The encyclopedia serves as a useful tool for students, instructors and education professionals, preserving Egypt's scientific heritage and honouring the scientists' outstanding accomplishments.

The encyclopedia preserves Egypt's scientific heritage, which has been overlooked for political or other reasons. It is a useful tool for a variety of readers, including students, instructors and education professionals, and it offers insights into universally relevant scientific success factors as well as scientific research methodologies. The encyclopedia honours the outstanding scientific accomplishments of Egyptian researchers and their contributions to the world's scientific community.

The practical implications of this paper are several. First, it highlights the importance of education, family upbringing and societal support for scientific research in fostering innovation and social progress. Second, it underscores the need for continued funding and support for scientific research to maintain and build upon the accomplishments of past generations of scientists. Third, it encourages young people to pursue scientific careers and make their own contributions to society. Fourth, it preserves the scientific heritage of Egypt and honors the contributions of its outstanding scientists. Finally, it serves as a useful tool for students, instructors and education professionals seeking to understand the factors underlying scientific success and research methodologies.

The social implications of the paper include promoting national pride and cultural identity, raising awareness of the importance of education and scientific research in driving social progress, inspiring future generations of scientists and researchers, reducing socioeconomic disparities and emphasizing the role of society, politics and culture in shaping scientific researchers' personalities and interests.

The paper's originality/value lies in its comprehensive documentation of the scientific biographies of Egypt's most prominent scientists in the 20th century, providing unique insights into the factors that contributed to their development and their impact across various academic disciplines. It preserves Egypt's scientific heritage and inspires future generations of scientists and researchers through the promotion of educational investments and scientific research. The encyclopedia serves as a useful tool for education professionals seeking to understand scientific success factors and research methodologies, emphasizing the importance of supportive and inclusive environments for scientific development.

Al-Qaeda is conventionally portrayed as a monolithic, hierarchical organization whose activities – coordinated by the network's leader Osama bin Laden – are the source of international terrorism today. Al-Qaeda is considered a radical tendency within the broader Islamist Salafi movement, legitimizing its terrorist operations as a global Islamist jihad against Western civilization. Al-Qaeda's terrorist activity today is considered, “blowback” from long finished CIA and western covert operations in Afghanistan.

The conventional wisdom is demonstrably false. After the Cold War, Western connections with al-Qaeda proliferated around the world, challenging mainstream conceptions of al-Qaeda's identity. Western covert operations and military – intelligence connections in strategic regions show that “al-Qaeda” is a network whose raison d’etre and modus operandi are inextricably embedded in a disturbing conglomerate of international Western diplomatic, financial, military and intelligence policies today. US, British, and Western power routinely manipulates al-Qaeda through a complex network of state-regional and human nodes. Such manipulation extended directly to the 9-11 hijackers, and thus to the events of 9-11 itself.11This paper advances an original argument based partially on research in Ahmed (2005), supplemented here with significant new data and analysis. Also see Ahmed (2002).

The purpose of this paper is to study the financial facilitators who provide financial muscle to terrorists.

The methodology adopted is based on the available materials on two major terrorists groups: Al Qaeda and LTTE, who have terrorized the global community in the last two decades.

The key findings are that most financial facilitators are knowledgeable, literate and suave and who are kin of the top leadership or part of the clan/sect. Kinship is an important factor for trust worthiness, which leads to their association with the top level leadership for a decade or so, to handle aspects related to a terror group. Also, illegal fund raising/moving aspects are controlled by financial/operational heads of groups, while legal fund raising methods are handled by sympathizers.

The methodology is based on descriptive analysis of existing materials gathered from different writings of different persons in different places, as none of the traditional approaches to the study is possible. The only possible method for analysis is a behavioural approach, and that too on a selective basis, not in total.

Government intelligence agencies need to strive to identify such facilitators, who in turn may lead them to the top leadership, as happened in the cases of Osama bin laden and Hambali.

There is no previous systematic approach which has attempted to study the financial facilitators who provide financial muscle to terrorists. The value of this paper lies in its originality of presentation of facts in a systematic fashion.

Current facility management (FM) practices are inefficient and ineffective, partially because of missing information and communication issues. Information and communications technologies (ICT) are asserted to provide a promising solution for managing and operating facilities. However, the impact of ICT applications on current FM practices needs to be validated and the perception of FM professionals on ICT-based FM needs to be understood. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the impacts and the perception of ICT application on FM practice and further develop an ICT-based integrated framework for smart FM practices.

To achieve the objective, the research starts with reviewing several promising ICT for FM, including building information modeling, geographic information systems, unmanned aerial vehicle and augmented reality. On this basis, a conceptional framework was synthesized in consideration of the benefits of each technology. A survey questionnaire to FM professionals was conducted to evaluate the proposed framework and identify the challenges of adopting ICT in the FM industry. Furthermore, return on investment and strength, weakness, opportunities and threats analysis have been used in this paper as evaluation methods for ICT industry adoption.

The survey results are validated by FM professionals for the future engagement of the integrated ICT applications. Also, the proposed framework can assist the decision-makers to have comprehensive information about facilities and systematize the communication among stakeholders.

This research provides an integrated framework for smart FM to improve decision-making, capitalizing on the ICT applications. Apart from this, the study sheds light on future research endeavors for other ICT applications.