Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) offers small loans with easy repayment system and till now these institutions have served millions of needy people around the globe. This study highlights the hurdles influence the smooth working and growth of Microfinance institution in Egypt. The structured interviews were conducted from the top and mid-level managers of MFI's. This study revealed that interest rate, political and economic conditions, corruption, customer outreach, competition and technology are the important elements for MFI's success. It is evident that lack of use of technology and less importance drawn on customer outreach programs are the main challenges of MFI's in Egypt. This study provides a roadmap for practitioners and strategic policymakers to consider these factors while making policy either at the institutional level or country level.
Air stripping for removal of Trichloroethylene (TCE), Chloroform (CF) and Dichloromethane (DCM) from water were studied in a bubble column (0.073 m inside dia. and 1.08 m height with several sampling ports). The contaminated water was prepared from deionized water and VOCs. The presence of VOCs in feed solution was single, binary or ternary components. They were diluted to the concentrations ranged between 50 mg/l to 250 mg/l. The experiments were carried out in batch experiments which regard the bubble column as stirred tank and only gas was bubbled through stationary liquid. In this case transient measurements of VOC concentration in the liquid phase and the measured concentra
... Show MoreThis study aimed to investigate the feasibility of treatment actual potato chips processing wastewater in a continuously operated dual chambers microbial fuel cell (MFC) inoculated with anaerobic sludge. The results demonstrated significant removal of COD and suspended solids of more than 99% associated with relatively high generation of current and power densities of 612.5 mW/m3 and 1750 mA/m3, respectively at 100 Ω external resistance.
Anaerobic digestion is a technology widely used for treatment of organic waste for biogas production as a source for clean energy. In this study, poultry house wastes (PHW) material was examined as a source for biogas production. The effects of inoculum addition, pretreatment of the substrate, and temperature on the biogas production were taken into full consideration. Results revealed that the effect of inoculum addition was more significant than the alkaline pretreatment of raw waste materials. The biogas recovery from inoculated waste materials exceeds its production from wastes without inoculation by approximately 70% at mesophilic conditions. Whereby, the increase of biogas recovery from pretreated wastes was by 20% higher than its
... Show MoreGlass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) beams have gained attention due to their promising mechanical properties and potential for structural applications. Combining GFRP core and encasing materials creates a composite beam with superior mechanical properties. This paper describes the testing encased GFRP beams as composite Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams under low-velocity impact load. Theoretical analysis was used with practical results to simulate the tested beams' behavior and predict the generated energies during the impact loading. The impact response was investigated using repeated drops of 42.5 kg falling mass from various heights. An analysis was performed using accelerometer readings to calculate the generalized inertial load
... Show MoreBackground: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of in vitro long-term simulation of oral conditions on the bond strength of PEEK CAD/CAM lingual retainers.
Material and methods: The sample consisted of 12 PEEK CAD/CAM retainers each composed of 2 centrally perforated 3x4mm pads joined by a connector. They were treated by 98% sulfuric acid for 1 minute and then conditioned with Single Bond Universal and bonded to the lingual surface of premolar teeth by 3M Transbond TM System. Half of the retainers were artificially aged using a 30-day water storage and 5000 thermocycling protocol before bond strength testing to compare with the non-aged specimens.
Results: The artificially aged retainers showed a marginally
... Show MoreBackground: The ideal force-delivery system must: provide optimal tooth moving forces that elicit the desired effects, be comfortable and hygienic for the patient, require minimal operator manipulation and patient cooperation and provide rapid tooth movement with minimal mobility during orthodontic therapy, the elastomeric chains have the greatest potential to fulfill these requirements. Materials and Methods: This in vitro study was designed to determine the effect of three different mechanisms for canine retraction : (6-3 , 6-5-3 and chain loop ) on the load relaxation behavior of three types of elastomeric chains : (maximum clear , maximum silver and extreme silver) from the same company (Ortho Technology company) with two different bran
... Show MoreThis work deals with thermal cracking of three samples of extract lubricating oil produced as a by-product from furfural extraction process of lubricating oil base stock in AL-Dura refinery. The thermal cracking processes were carried out at a temperature range of 325-400 ºC and atmospheric pressure by batch laboratory reactor. The distillation of cracking liquid products was achieved by general ASTM distillation (ASTM D -86) for separation of gasoline fraction up to 220 ºC from light cycle oil fraction above 220 ºC. The comparison between the conversions at different operating conditions of thermal cracking processes indicates that a high conversion was obtained at 375°C, according to gasoline production. According to gasoline produ
... Show MoreCement-based adhesive (CBA) is used as a bonding agent in Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) applications as an alternative to epoxy-based adhesive due to the drawbacks of the epoxy system under severe service conditions which negatively affect the bond between the CFRP and strengthened elements. This paper reports the results of, an investigation carried out to develop two types of CBA using magnetized water (MW) for mixing and curing. Two magnetic devices (MD-I and MD-II), with different magnetic field strengths (9000 and 6000 Gauss) respectively, were employed for water magnetization. Different water flows with different water circulation times in the magnetizer were used for each device. Compressive and splitting tensile strength te
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