Omani Inventors Badr al Habsi & Nabris al Shukaili Create Remote Foetus Monitor ‘Pulse’

 Two Omanis have created a device that can enable a doctor to check the heartbeat of a foetus sitting anywhere in the world.

Called Pulse, the innovative device was developed by Badr al Habsi and Nabris al Shukaili. They participated and won the third place and 100,000 QAR in Challenge and Innovation Forum (CIF) Qatar  2021 recently for the device.

Pulse was appreciated by many investors who welcomed the project and were ready to support it. “We are currently working on producing commercial quantities of the device and sell it in Oman and abroad,” Habsi said. Pulse will be prized around US$50.

source/content : muscatdaily.com

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OMAN

Egyptian-American Dr. Sherif Zaki : Founder & Chief of the Infectious Disease Pathology Branch – Coordinating Centre for Infectious Diseases (CDC), Atlanta, Georgia (1955-2021)

Sherif Zaki (1955-2021): ‘CDC’s secret weapon’. Pathalogist. Legendary Disease Detective. Infectious Disease Expert.

Prominent pathologist Doctor Sherif Zaki, founder and chief of the Infectious Disease Pathology Branch in the Coordinating Centre for Infectious Diseases in Atlanta, Georgia, passed away on 21 November, 2021.

Dr. Zaki was renowned for cracking medical mysteries by finding signatures of pathogens in diseased cells.

Through the application of classic and new technologies, Dr. Zaki and his team have made significant contributions to advancing the understanding of the pathogenesis and epidemiology of emerging infectious diseases.

Moreover, for his leadership, scientific contributions and commitment to Centre for Disease Control’s (CDC) public health mission, Dr. Zaki has been widely recognised and awarded, including receiving the US Health and Human Services Secretary’s Awards for Distinguished Service – the department’s highest honour – nine times.

Dr. Zaki and his staff were the first to identify the Hanta virus, later called the Sin Nombre virus, that caused the deaths of several people in the Navajo nation in the Southwest in 1993.

He also helped discover the Zika virus in the brain tissue of babies stricken with the mosquito-borne virus in Brazil, proving that it could be transmitted during pregnancy.

Dr. Zaki also helped identify the mechanisms that made Ebola and SARS so contagious and lethal.

Sherif Ramzy Zaki was born 24 November 1955, in Alexandria, Egypt.

He spent the first six years of his life in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where his father was attending graduate school.

Dr. Zaki received his medical degree from Alexandria University in 1978, before earning a master’s degree at his alma mater in pathology.

He earned a doctorate in experimental pathology from Emory University in Atlanta in 1989.

Dr. Zaki’s data on Scopus database showed that Zaki had published in the neighborhood of 400 scientific papers and had an advanced “H score” of 102 thus placing his impact on the field way above the 35-70 range for Noble Prize hopefuls.

source/content: english.ahram.org.eg

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (USA) / EGYPT / EGYPTIAN AMERICAN / ARAB AMERICAN

‘Inspirational’ Saudi Alumni Honoured by UK at ‘7th Study UK Alumni Awards Ceremony’ Riyadh : October 21st, 2021

 The British Embassy and British Council announced the recipients of the Study UK Alumni Awards 2020-2021 in Saudi Arabia at an awards ceremony hosted by British Ambassador in Riyadh, Neil Crompton.

UK alumni from Jeddah, Riyadh, Dhahran, Qassim and Thuwal were recognized for their outstanding achievements as business professionals, entrepreneurs and community leaders, and for their important contributions in strengthening collaborative ties between the UK and Saudi Arabia.

7th Study UK Alumni Award Ceremony:

“This prestigious international award celebrates UK higher education and the achievements of outstanding Saudis who studied in the UK and are using their education to make a positive impact.

The award received around 1,300 applications from international UK alumni in more than 100 countries, representing more than 120 UK higher education institutions across the UK. Following interviews with a judging panel, recipients were selected for the three award categories: Professional achievement, entrepreneurial, and social impact.

The professional achievement award, which recognizes alumni who have displayed exemplary leadership in their professional field, was presented to Dr. Roua Alsubki , alumna of University College London. 

Roua is vice dean of skills and development deanship at King Saud University, the first woman to hold this position.

The social impact award, which acknowledges alumni who have made an exceptional contribution to creating positive social change, was presented to Dr. Bandar Alosaimi for establishing COVIDAT, a website that provides scientific information on COVID-19 in Arabic. 

He saw a need to translate developments in medical research to the everyday Arabic reader to avoid misinformation and misconceptions about the coronavirus. 

A graduate of University of Manchester and University of Salford, where he earned his master’s and Ph.D degrees, Alosaimi is assistant professor of virology at the faculty of medicine, the head of the virology research team and chairperson of Research Laboratories at King Fahad Medical City.

The entrepreneurial award was presented to Dr. Wail Mousa, graduate of the University of Leeds. 

The University of Birmingham on Tuesday signed an agreement with King Saud University, he added.

2022 :

The Study UK Alumni Awards 2022 call for applications is open until Oct. 29, 2021.

source/content: arabnews.com

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Sir Steve Smith, British Ambassador Neil Crompton (from left) with Winners Dr. Bandar Alosaimi, Dr Roua Alsubki and Dr. Wail Mousa. (Supplied) / pix: arabnews.com

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SAUDI ARABIA

Saudi Arabia to Manufacture ‘SkyGuard’ an Aerial Military Drone : 31st, October 2021

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Military Industries announced the signing of a contract with the Saudi Arabian Military Industries for the development and manufacturing of the “SkyGuard” unmanned aerial vehicle.

SAMI also signed an agreement with Prince Sultan Defense Studies and Science Research Center with the aim of further developing the UAV.

“SkyGuard” is “the outcome of numerous research and development efforts, undertaken by the center and geared towards developing a truly local product,” it said, as the Kingdom plans to supply half of its military needs with products made at home.

GAMI has identified 74 investment opportunities, across six domains of the military industries sector.

The authority has launched a digital platform called the Military Industry Marketplace that links local industry projects with investors that are authorized and licensed by the authority.

source/ content: arabnews.com

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pix: arabnews.com

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SAUDI ARABIA

Winners of Egypt’s 1st Female Entrepreneurs Hackathon by ITIDA, Intel : October 28th, 2021

The Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC), an affiliate of Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), announced Thursday the winning teams of the first hackathon for women in Egypt “She Hackathon”, organized in collaboration with Intel, and Digital Egypt Innovation Hubs (Creativa).

“She Hackathon” is the first hackathon for women entrepreneurs in Egypt that aims to empower women by addressing the challenges they face in establishing their companies and businesses.

The first prize was awarded to a team of three young women from Aswan governorate, for a mobile application developed to aid in combating harassment and violence against women, through features of voice distress calls and messages, sharing location, classification of places, according to the degree of safety, in addition to providing psychological support.

The second prize was awarded to “Trisomy” from Ismailia governorate, for a free mobile application to achieve effective communication between parents of children with Down syndrome and help them connect with doctors, nurses, and psychologists in their vicinity.

The third prize was awarded to “Fem Scan” from Mansoura governorate, for presenting an idea and a prototype of an application and a system that helps reduce misdiagnosis and the time it takes to perform X-rays, especially in women’s breast cancer screening cases.

source/content: egypttoday.com

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Winners of the First Prize / pix: egypttoday.com

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EGYPT

Winners of 1st edition of ‘ Hub71’s ‘The Outliers’ Programme : Abu Dhabi, UAE : October 20th, 2021

Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem, today announced the outliers that rose to the challenges set by Hub71 corporate and government partners.

The first edition of Hub71’s The Outliers programme, an annual initiative that bridges entrepreneurs with corporate and government entities to promote innovation and address industry challenges, has gathered exceptional talent from more than 40 countries.

Each startup will benefit from up to AED 100,000 in cash grants to fund the development of their proof of concepts (POCs) that will solve challenges of leading major corporate and government partners in Abu Dhabi.

Hub71 launched The Outliers to facilitate better market access for entrepreneurs worldwide to address challenges set by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH), Etihad Airways, Mashreq Bank, Mastercard and Thales. Each challenge is aimed at startups that have proven products with strong potential to commercialise and go-to-market.

Six challenges were set, and seven startups were selected to build and scale their POCs. Each startup will now work alongside their respective partners to develop their corresponding tech products at Hub71 and take them to market.

At GITEX Future Stars, Hub71 and its partners showcased the winning startups and their innovative solutions that will be developed to solve each challenge.

Jida Itani, Chief Operating Officer at Hub71, said, “We are actively seeking ways to bridge the gap between entrepreneurs and the marketplace through our corporate partners and public sector alliances.”

Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI), ADCB set a challenge to develop an AI predictive engine that enhances recommendations for customers, based on their individual preferences. In response to the challenge, UAE-based, Genify, an AI-specialist for banks, developed a state-of-the-art transformer-based recommendation engine and wrote a detailed roll-out plan, which was selected by the bank.

DoH searched for human ingenuity and advanced technologies to prevent the spread of communicable diseases. The Department selected UAE-based, Alliance Care Technologies, which provides analytical and productivity tools to hospitals, physicians, and patients to improve quality, efficiency, and patient outcomes across the spectrum of care. The startup will deploy its S3 ACT solution comprising early warning pathogen detection, encrypted de-identified patient data extraction, pattern recognition and predicative analytics AI.

In aviation, the UAE’s national airline selected BridgerPay, a SaaS payments intelligence platform from Cyprus, focused on bridging merchants and payment providers with AI technology.

Meanwhile, Mashreq Bank selected two winners of its challenge to become a Value Added Services partner. The bank selected Zoko from India, which makes it easy for online merchants to conduct sales, marketing and customer support using WhatsApp. The startup has since joined Hub71 to benefit from its new flexible incentives. Mashreq Bank also selected Letswork, a startup dedicated to the future of co-working spaces.

Finally, Thales targeted the services of startups to develop a hands-free voice-activated chatbot to guide experts during radar maintenance procedures. The company selected AR Engineering, a UAE-based company that deploys interactive augmented reality (AR) virtual reality (VR), mixed reality and extended reality (XR) to improve the user experience and bring the physical world closer to a remote setting.

source/content: wam.ae

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pic: entrepreneur.com / @EntMagazineME

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ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E.)

Emirati Engineer Mohammed Hassan Wins Seat in Int’l Electrotechnical Commission Young Professionals Programme (IEC YPP) : October 07th, 2021

Mohamed Hassan. Engieer.

 Mohamed Hassan, Physical Health Engineer at the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation, has won the Asia and the Middle East seat in the International Electrotechnical Commission’s Young Professionals Programme (IEC YPP).

The UAE nominated four candidates in security, services, nuclear energy, oil and gas, renewable energy, industry and telecommunications for the IEC YPP, which was an integral part of the 85th General Assembly of the IEC.

The event was hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology and took place in Dubai between 3rd and 7th October, 2021.

The IEC provides a global institutional framework that encourages global cooperation between 172 countries (89 members and 83 affiliates) and more than 20,000 technical experts, who come together to discuss, shape and enhance the field of standards, specifications and certifications in electrical and electronic devices and systems.

source/content: wam.ae

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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E.)

Nobel Prize for Medicine Awarded to US scientists David Julius and Dr. Ardem Patapoutian : October 04th, 2021

Dr. Ardem Patapoutian. Lebanon born US Scientist.

Lebanese-Armenian scientist Ardem Patapoutian is one of the two winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of receptors for touch, heat and bodily movement

Two scientists who made landmark discoveries about human senses, have won the Nobel Prize for Medicine, beating vaccine pioneers to the prestigious award.

Announcing the winners after balloting behind closed doors on Monday, the Nobel jury said the US duo had broken open a “fundamental unsolved question” about human biology.

Dr Patapoutian, who was born in Lebanon in 1967 and moved to the US as a young man, works at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California. He identified genes that control sensitivity to touch.

The proteins he discovered also play a role in how people sense motion and how the body deals with blood pressure, respiration and bladder control.

He said his research had shone light on fundamental human behaviour which many people rarely question. “In science, many times, it’s the things that we take for granted that are of high interest,” he said

Nobel prize winner Ardem Patapoutian was also awarded Lebanese Order of Merit.

Dr. Patapoutian, who was born to an Armenian family in Beirut, Lebanon in 1967, came to the United States in 1986. “I fell in love with doing basic research. That changed the trajectory of my career,” he said in an interview with the New York Times. “In Lebanon, I didn’t even know about scientists as a career.”

source/content: thenationalnews.com

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pix: youtube.com / Scripps Research

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USA / LEBANON

UAE Pavilion Wins Prestigious Golden Lion Award at Venice Architecture Biennale: August 2021

Wetland, the UAE’s innovative pavilion at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale, has been awarded the prestigious Golden Lion for Best National Participation.

More than 60 nations developed national pavilions, including the UAE’s Wetland exhibition, which was curated by Wael Al Awar and Kenichi Teramoto.

Wetland examines the potential for creating sustainable building materials from the UAE’s salt flats or sabkhas and features an environmentally friendly cement produced with recycled desalinated water.

source/content: thenationalnews.com

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Roberto Cicutto, president of the Venice Biennale, applauds as Italy’s culture minister Dario Franceschini, left, awards the Golden Lion for the Best National Participation to Wael Al Awar, right, curator of the Wetland project presented by the United Arab Emirates at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition. EPA / Andrea Merola / pix: thenationalnews.com

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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E.)

Artworks at Noor Riyadh Festival set Two Guinness World Records : March 2021

“Beacon,” by Polish artist Carolina Halatek, broke the record for the largest LED (light-emitting diode) structure. The sculpture, which was on show at the King Abdul Aziz Historical Center between March 18 and April 3, consisted of 272,160 LEDs.

“Star in Motion,” by Belgian artist Koert Vermeulen, was suspended at a height of 256 meters on the Kingdom Center tower and radiated 1.2 million lumens of light. It set the world record for the brightest suspended ornament.

Noor Riyadh is an initiative of the Riyadh Art Project, which hopes to establish more than 1,000 public artworks throughout the city.

source/content : arabnews.com

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pix: www.guinnessworldrecords.com

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SAUDI ARABIA