Abstract

The proper management of biological waste in laboratory settings is a critical aspect of biosafety in microbiological and biomedical laboratories. Beyond protecting lab workers, biological waste management safeguards public health, protects the environment, and ensures compliance with legal and regulatory frameworks. Segregation, decontamination of liquid waste, decontamination of solid waste, and techniques for inactivating toxins are all main aspects of biological waste management that will be outlined, aligned, and summarized with the main institutional biosafety protocols for biological waste management, published by major authorities, including CDC and WHO. This research found that the information from the two institutions complements each other. Therefore, this brief review aimed to compile and unify information from both institutions to construct a single, coherent text that provides a practical summary for medical laboratory professionals seeking to enhance the implementation of international, harmonized protocols that strengthen biosafety, environmental stewardship, and regulatory compliance

Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (AST) is essential for guiding appropriate antibiotic therapy. The disk diffusion method is widely used in Libya due to its low cost, yet deviations from standardized protocols can compromise result accuracy, affecting clinical decisions and patient outcomes. This study evaluated the performance of the disk diffusion AST method in medical laboratories in Gharyan, Libya, using EUCAST guidelines (version 12.0) as a benchmark. Seventy-five AST plates representing 122 clinical specimens were randomly collected from three pathology centers between September and November 2025. Plates were analyzed for the type of culture media, number of specimens per plate, number of antibiotic disks, and readability of results. All plates were 90 mm in diameter. Nutrient agar was used for 118 specimens, and blood agar for two; none used Mueller-Hinton agar as recommended. Only 17% of plates tested a single specimen per plate; the majority tested one specimen on half or a quarter of a plate. The number of antibiotic disks per specimen often exceeded EUCAST limits (up to 20 disks per plate), and only 8% of plates yielded readable results. Widespread deviations from EUCAST protocols—including inappropriate media, specimen overloading, and excessive disks—compromise AST reliability. These errors may lead to incorrect antibiotic prescriptions, delayed recovery, and increased antimicrobial resistance. Strict adherence to standardized guidelines is urgently required to ensure accurate, clinically meaningful AST results. Moreover, raising awareness of the importance of following standard guidelines is crucial for correcting the course

تقدم هذه الورقة بحثاً حول إطار عمل يعتمد على التعلم العميق للتصنيف متعدد الملصقات لأمراض الصدر باستخدام صور الأشعة السينية وبنية EfficientNet. يعالج هذا الإطار تحدي تشخيص الحالات المتعددة التي تتشابه في المظهر وغالباً ما تحدث معاً. يستخدم إطار العمل تقنية التعلم بنقل الخبرة (Transfer Learning)، مع إجراء ضبط دقيق لعدة متغيرات من نموذج EfficientNet (من B0 إلى B4) باستخدام مجموعة بيانات NIH ChestX-ray14. كما يوظف البحث تقنيات Focal Loss و Stochastic Weight Averaging لمعالجة اختلال توازن البيانات وتحسين قدرة النموذج على التعميم. يعتمد هذا النهج على آليات الانتباه (Attention Mechanisms) وتقنية Grad-CAM لجعل النتائج أكثر قابلية للتفسير، مما يثبت أن التوقعات تستند إلى ميزات سريرية هامة. حقق النموذج درجات عالية في مقياس ROC-AUC للحالات الأكثر وضوحاً مثل الانصباب (0.8545)، وتضخم القلب (0.8003)، والاسترواح الصدري (0.7820). ومع ذلك، واجه النموذج صعوبة أكبر في تصنيف الحالات الأكثر دقة مثل الارتشاح، والعقيدات، والالتهاب الرئوي. يؤدي إطار العمل بشكل يضاهي أو يتفوق على العديد من نماذج الشبكات العصبية التلافيفية (CNN) القائمة من حيث الدقة والكفاءة. يوفر هذا البحث سير عمل قوياً وقابلاً للتكرار لتطبيقات الأشعة، مع إمكانية استخدامه في مهام تشخيصية أخرى. كما تشير الدراسة إلى بعض المعوقات، مثل اختلال توازن الفئات والحاجة إلى دعم أفضل لاتخاذ القرارات السريرية، وتقترح تحسينات مستقبلية مثل تقنيات أفضل لتعزيز البيانات ونمذجة عدم اليقين.

Abstract: 

This study presents a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of the construction of political identity 

during periods of revolutionary crisis. It examines the dichotomous representation of Muammar 

Gaddafi in February 2011 through two primary data streams: his first major public address 

following the uprising (February 22, 2011) and the contemporaneous visual and textual 

coverage in three newspapers—The Sun (UK), The Daily News (a prominent US tabloid-style 

outlet), and Alshourouq (Egypt). Employing Fairclough’s (1992) three-dimensional model of 

CDA, Halliday’s (1978) Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), and Kress and van Leeuwen’s 

(2006) grammar of visual design, the analysis reveals a profound disjuncture between Gaddafi’s 

linguistic self-fashioning and his mediated portrayal. Findings indicate that Gaddafi’s speech 

strategically deployed lexical choices, transitivity, and modality to construct identities of a 

rightful leader, paternal protector, and historical embodiment of Libya. Conversely, the selected 

newspapers, despite ideological nuances, converged on a representational framework depicting 

Gaddafi as weak, cowardly, and delegitimized, primarily through specific visual framing, 

camera angles, and captions. This study argues that the conflict between these representations 

is not merely descriptive but deeply ideological, reflecting the struggle for discursive hegemony 

during the Arab Spring, where control over narrative became a key battleground alongside 

military confrontation.