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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact globally, and understanding the relationship between inflammatory markers and disease progression is crucial for effective management. This retrospective study aimed to examine the association between various inflammatory markers, such as C-reactive protein (CRP), the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), D-dimer, ferritin, and procalcitonin (PCT), and the characteristics of disease progression and outcomes in individuals affected by COVID-19. Methods: This study collected raw data from 470 patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 using RT-PCR. Results: The logistic regression analysis revealed that elevated LDH levels were associated with male gender, ICU admission, low oxygen saturation (O2 < 93%), the need for mechanical ventilation, death, and the presence of lung infiltrates. Higher D-dimer levels were associated with older age, diabetes mellitus, cardiac disease, and low oxygen saturation. Ferritin levels were significantly associated with older age, ICU admission, low oxygen saturation, mechanical ventilation, and lung infiltrates. In contrast, CRP was only significant regarding lung infiltrates and procalcitonin levels were not significantly associated with any of the examined factors. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of monitoring key inflammatory markers, such as LDH, D-dimer, and ferritin, as they are significantly associated with the severity of COVID-19 illness. These findings can inform clinical decision-making and guide the development of targeted interventions to improve patient outcomes.

Noting the limitations of the macroanalytic approach in the study of politics, a group of political scientists have focused their attention on individual members of the society—their systems of political belief, expectations, and aspirations. This group is concerned with the individual's “cognitive,” “affective,” and “evaluative” orientations toward the system.But unlike the United States, where numerous authoritative writings focus on the belief system of the individual, there has been only limited research investigating the belief system of Arabs in general and Kuwaiti Arabs in particular.

Multiframe super-resolution is the problem of reconstructing a single high-resolution (HR) image from several low-resolution (LR) versions of it. We assume that the original HR image undergoes different linear transforms that can be approximated as a set of linear shift-invariant transforms over different subregions of the HR image. The linearly transformed HR image is then downsampled, resulting in different LR images. Under the assumption of linearity, these LR images can form a basis that spans the set of the polyphase components (PPCs) of the HR image. We propose sampling diversity, where a reference PPC, of different sampling, is used to make known portions (subpolyphase components) of the PPCs of the HR image. To estimate the reference PPC, LR images are acquired using two imaging sensors with different sensor densities. This setup allows for blind reconstruction of the polyphase components of the HR image by solving a few small linear systems of equations where the number of unknowns is equal to the number of available LR images. The parameters we estimate are the expansion coefficients of the PPCs in terms of the LR basis, using the subpolyphase components. Both synthetic and real data sets are used to test the algorithm. The major features of our approach arc: (1) it is blind, so that unknown motion and blurs can both be incorporated; (2) it is fast, in that only small linear systems of equations need to be solved; and (3) it is robust, in that it avoids the problem of system model errors by treating the LR images as basis for reconstructing the polyphase components of the HR image.

As a political entity, Kuwait's history dates back to 1756, when Sabah was elected Sheikh of a small colony of traders and seamen comprising Kuwait. Security considerations prompted Kuwait to accept a British protectorate in the treaty signed in 1899. This treaty was abrogated on June 19, 1961. The architect of much of Kuwait's present prosperity, as well as its democracy, was Sheikh Abdulla Al Salem Al-Sabah (Amir 1950-1965) who thoughtfully laid the foundations of Kuwait as a modern welfare state. The oil wealth began pouring in during his leadership and he distributed its benefits to his people directly and indirectly. The present Amir, Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah became the ruler on December 31, 1977.[2] The original second district was composed of Jibla, (Qibla) Murgab and Salhiya, and its residents were mainly Sunni Arabs. This district was the enclave of the old upper class Kuwaitis, the merchants, sea traders and landowners who became an aristocracy of sorts by virtue of being \"aseel\", that is \"original.\" The use of the term was purely geographical in that those families that came originally from Najd were \"aseel\" -- all others were not, and therefore not part of the privileged class. The \"aseel\" claim to have founded Kuwait, and settled there before the oil, unlike the new-comers attracted by wealth. In the last 4 elections, the representatives of this district were all Sunni Arabs of merchant background. The National Assembly was dissolved by Amiri Decree in 1976, and some articles of the constitution were suspended \"for a period of contemplation.\" Some of the reasons prompting the government's decision are obvious. Among the external constraints one might mention the pressure of inter-Arab rivalry. Conflicts between the \"rejectionists\" and \"moderates\" on the Arab-Israeli issue were aired prominently. The Lebanese civil war brought both immigrants and their tensions to Kuwait. Other reasons were related to regional border disputes and oil politics. Internally, however, the assembly was not serving its purpose; instead, it served as a venue of polarization in the society. The sense of national unity was diminished by other affiliations and conflicts: the Shia-Sunni differences, the Bedouin-urban rivalry, the conservative religious vs. the liberal/Western coalition. These differences were not necessarily articulated, but their presence was felt. The Bedouins, who held seats in greater proportion than their percentage of the population would justify, were concerned about the government's failure to respond to their demands. The Arab nationalists, on the other hand, felt that the government's primary role was to nationalize the oil, face Iranian military threats in the Gulf, and aid the Palestinians in Lebanon. The Shia members felt dominated by the Sunnis, who, the Shia felt, were not Islamic enough. Finally, the old established merchant families, the traditional power base, had special economic interests they wanted protected. The interplay of external and internal conflicts led the government to suspend a largely ineffectual forum.

Water and gas injection are the most widely used oil recovery processes. In order to increase the oil recovery efficiency, gas can be injected with water, either simultaneously or as alternating slugs. This process is called Water-Alternating Gas (WAG) and has been applied with success in many oil fields worldwide. However, there is a lack of basic understanding on how the fluids behave within the heterogeneous reservoir rock and its physics is still uncertain. At present there is no petroleum engineering literature on the experimental investigation of the effects of discontinuous shales on fluid displacement in porous media during WAG injection. Most studies are either theoretical or numerical investigations. Therefore the main aims of this research are:• Determine the effect of discontinues shale on oil recovery efficiency of FCM WAG as a function of WAG ratio and slug size; •Determine whether the trapped oil is located downstream or upstream of a shale unit during the WAG injection;Assess the error associated with numerical simulation of tertiary first contact miscible WAG displacements.• Provide a set of benchmark data for tertiary recovery of oil by miscible WAG injection around discontinuous shale.In order to improve our understanding of the effects of discontinuous shales on fluid displacement in porous media during WAG process, a series of wellcharacterized, tertiary, water and solvent displacements were carried out at constant rate and various WAG ratios through visual bead-packs. Both simultaneous and slug injection were investigated. These were modeled by detailed simulation using an IMPES finite difference simulator. The experiments have demonstrated that there is an optimal WAG ratio, for simultaneous injection, at which oil recovery is maximized. For simultaneous and slug injection the predicted oil recovery shows, in general, good agreement with the measured cumulative recovery.The experiments show that, the front is fingered and fluid prefer to flow in segregated paths rather than flowing simultaneously across the whole porous media. In addition, the residual and bypassed oil was mainly located on downstream of the shale. We find from these experiments that the presence of discontinuous shales does not significantly alter oil recovery in contrast to traditional reservoir engineering beliefs.The combination of experiments and simulation enable us to evaluate, for the fist time to our knowledge, fluid interactions within the heterogeneous reservoir rock during miscible WAG displacements. In addition, to providing a better understanding and performance characteristics of the WAG process within presence of discontinuous shales, this study show directions for further research and presents guideline aimed at improving filed scale oil recovery from miscible WAG projects.

IS A BRIEF REPORT ON A STUDY DESIGNED TO DETERMINE THE HIERARCHY OF GROUP AFFILIATIONS OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLAGE CHILDREN IN A MODERNIZING AFRICAN SOCIETY, KUWAIT. THE RESULTS, COMPARED WITH AN EARLIER STUDY, INDICATE CHANGING PRIORITIES - FAMILY LOYALTY IS DECLINING, WHILE CITIZENSHIP RANKED SECOND ONLY TO ISLAM IN THE LISTINGS. THE POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION EFFORTS OF KUWAIT'S REGIME ARE NOTED.