Modelling Hydrocarbons Transport in the Aquifer of Bu Hasa Field and Evaluation of Remediation Alternatives

The release of non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) to groundwater reservoirs is a serious and widespread environmental problem. In 2000, free phase hydrocarbon was discovered in Liwa aquifer under Bu Hasa Liquid Recovery Plant (LRP). Liwa aquifer is a shallow unconfined aquifer and represents the main water supply in the camp area of Bu Hasa field. Dissolved benzene is observed in at least one observation well in the site. This research is conducted to simulate the fate and transport of the dissolved benzene plume in the groundwater of Liwa aquifer using the finite element model (METABIOTRANS). The mam objective of this thesis is to mInImIZe the flux of the dissolved contaminant into the nearest production well downstream of contaminated Liwa aquifer in the camp area. A sensitivity analysis study was performed to assess the sensitivity of the dissolved plume migration to several physical and biological parameters. Results of the sensitivity analysis show that the plume migration is more sensitive to changes in microbial growth rate and substrate half saturation constant and less sensitive to microbial yield factor and dispersion. Different remediation scenarios were performed in which electron acceptor are injected to enhance biodegradation. Remediation scenario with minimum hydrocarbon flux into the camp production wells downstream of the source zone will be suggested as remediation option. The results of the remediation scenarios assured that highest biodegradation rate occurs at injection wells located near the center of the plume where higher contaminant concentrations exist. Placing an injection well near the source zone helps in stimulating the bacterial growth for longer time and therefore, enhances biodegradation. Increasing electron acceptor flux in a well located near the source zone enhances the plume core biodegradation

A FRAMEWORK FOR THE DEPLOYMENT OF TRAFFIC SAFETY TECHNOLOGIES IN ABU DHABI HIGHWAYS

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2016There has been a good effort made in Abu Dhabi for the last couple of years between government stakeholders to develop a road safety strategy, define rules and responsibilities, and gain a fully coordinated and integrated framework to deal with road safety. According to my point of view, the challenges that might be seen as a problem for the future development of Abu Dhabi can be the management and the usage of traffic safety technologies to reduce serious road traffic accidents. This study focused on the relationship between the use of traffic safety technologies and serious road traffic accidents on Abu Dhabi Highways. The motivation for this research is to implement correctly the traffic safety technologies in Abu Dhabi highways as a part of the need to adopt plans, programmes, and preventive measures to reduce or prevent the occurrence of traffic accidents in order to ensure the safety of individuals and property, in addition to preserving the security of the state and its human and economic components. The overall approach to this study is a mixed methodology, which combines quantitative and qualitative methods. A questionnaire is one method used in this regard, and is designed to be quantitative. In the quantitative method, comparing statistics of fatalities and injuries before and after installation of the speed cameras is used. As a result of this study and by making the connectivity between reviewing the results and findings of the literature review, identifying the questionnaire results, and exploring the before and after statistics led to findings which were used to develop a decision support framework that can be used to advise the regional safety strategy to be sustainable. The design framework was also validated through Abu Dhabi highways by a panel of experts, which was carried out using the focus group method, which was qualitative in nature. It is recommended from this research to invest much in traffic safety technologies, focus more on driver support systems and rapid response systems, improve driver behaviour as a priority in Abu Dhabi highways using traffic safety technologies, and integrate the compatibility of all of the above through an integrated system and specific performance indicators that are measured and followed up on an ongoing basis, and supported by geographic information systems (GIS).UAE’s Governmen

Management of the diverse workforce : job satisfaction among culturally diverse workforce in the United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a capital rich country, which has achieved spectacular economic growth in the last three decades. To make up for its limited indigenous human resource, the country has traditionally recruited its required manpower from other countries of the world to maintain its development. The presence of a large culturally diverse workforce has recently become a matter of great concern to the planners and policy makers in the country. Despite efforts to nationalise the workforce, the UAE has kept relying substantially on expatriate workers, and workplaces are likely to remain full of workers from different national backgrounds, offering a cross-cultural human resource environment. The present study has been undertaken to fill an existing gap in academic research in the UAE context with threefold objectives. First, to develop a better understanding of the demographic composition and workforce nature in the UAE. Second, to understand the social, political and economic issues and implications resulting from the existence of workers from different national backgrounds in the UAE labour market. Finally, to establish a better understanding of job satisfaction among workers from UAE, Arab, Asian and other national backgrounds within the UAE unique work environment. Within this country case study, a multi-method approach was undertaken to facilitate the descriptive analysis of the UAE labour market and its special economic characteristics. No difference was found in job satisfaction among workers from different ethnic and national groups in the UAE. This was true for all of the four examined aspects of job satisfaction. Also, the level of job satisfaction was moderate across all of the examined workers, regardless of their national origin. The study finds that among the examined workers from UAE, Arab and Asian backgrounds, the reward factors that influenced job satisfaction were the most significant among all of the examined variables. This conclusion reinforces the perspective that the UAE represent an economy and labour market with special characteristics in the global economy. This supports the view that globalisation must be understood as a diverse set of processes, in which competitive advantage may accrue to a "region state" with unique characteristics

Examining the direct effect of the use of traffic safety technologies in Abu Dhabi highways on other traffic safety dimensions

his paper presents the findings of a study, implemented in Abu Dhabi, which aimed to examine the direct effects of the use of traffic safety technologies on the mitigation of risks associated with traffic accidents. The study adopted the use of a questionnaire-based survey with traffic safety experts in Abu Dhabi Emirate. The views of more than a hundred respondents were collected on areas such as the status of existing traffic safety technologies in Abu Dhabi’s highway network, the impact of traffic safety technologies on enforcement, existing highway design practices, effects of driver education on safety and the impact of safety technologies on the efficiency of emergency responses. Factor analysis and Freidman tests were employed for the interrogation of the data in order to extract findings from the views of different experts on the aforementioned areas. The analysis showed that the deployment of traffic safety technologies has a positive impact on the efficiency of enforcement practices and improvements on traffic safety, and on enhancing operators’ efficiency and capability in taking appropriate and prompt action in situations calling for emergency responses. Moreover, speed cameras and VMS deployment are highly favoured in addressing engineering design shortfalls. Also, training and awareness enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of traffic safety technologies

Partnership for Compiling Official Statistics About Higher Corporation for Specialized Economic Zones (ZonesCorp) in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi

To reduce the dependence on oil resources and implement economic reform, the Government of Abu Dhabi implemented a wide range of plans, including initiatives to encourage and facilitate foreign investment into the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Many initiatives were implemented to accomplish these objectives, including establishing Free Zones (FZ), which offers businesses some flexibility regarding ownership rights while they are exempt from taxes on inputs and outputs of their production activities. The success of FZ in attracting businesses to implement new technologies and create job opportunities in the local economy is an important element in efforts to create new industrial infrastructure and employment opportunities in the Emirate.  Measuring the success of FZ in attracting foreign investments that contribute to the economic diversification efforts, requires accurate statistical information about all business operations in these areas.   To support government decision makers in their effort to measure the contribution and success of FZ in the economy, Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi (SCAD) started conducting surveys of all businesses in the Emirate’s FZ.  The Higher Corporation for Specialized Economic Zones (ZonesCorp) requested SCAD to conduct a comprehensive statistical survey of its foreign investment establishments. The survey project was initiated and completed within 18 months while financial and logistical data were collected from all economic establishments under their management. This paper will discuss aspects of cooperation between ZonesCorp and SCAD while producing new statistical outputs. Keywords: Statistical Centre of Abu Dhabi (SCAD); Free Zones (FZ); Higher Corporation for Specialized Economic Zones (ZonesCorp); New Statistical Outputs; Logistical Data DOI: 10.7176/JESD/10-18-10 Publication date:September 30th 201

A snapshot of summer 2020

Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.The study aim was to understand the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) and the levels of anxiety, depression, and burnout of healthcare workers (HCWs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study was an online‐based, cross‐sectional survey during July and August 2020. Participants were eligible from the entire country, and 1290 agreed to participate. The majority of HCWs were females aged 30–39 years old, working as nurses, and 80% considered PPE to be available. Twelve percent of respondents tested positive for SARS‐CoV‐2. Half of HCWs considered themselves physically tired (52.2%), reported musculoskeletal pain or discomfort (54.2%), and perceived moderate‐to‐high levels of burnout on at least one of three burnout domains (52.8%). A quarter of HCWs reported anxiety (26.3%) or depression (28.1%). HCWs reporting not having musculoskeletal pain, having performed physical activity, and higher scores of available PPE reported lower scores of anxiety, depression, and burnout. UAE HCWs experienced more access to PPE and less anxiety, depression, and burnout compared with HCWs in other countries. Study findings can be used by healthcare organizations and policymakers to ensure adequate measures are implemented to maximize the health and wellbeing of HCWs during the current COVID‐19 and future pandemics.publishersversionpublishe

Types of tobacco consumption and the oral microbiome in the United Arab Emirates Healthy Future (UAEHFS) Pilot Study

© 2018, The Author(s). Cigarette smoking alters the oral microbiome; however, the effect of alternative tobacco products remains unclear. Middle Eastern tobacco products like dokha and shisha, are becoming globally widespread. We tested for the first time in a Middle Eastern population the hypothesis that different tobacco products impact the oral microbiome. The oral microbiome of 330 subjects from the United Arab Emirates Healthy Future Study was assessed by amplifying the bacterial 16S rRNA gene from mouthwash samples. Tobacco consumption was assessed using a structured questionnaire and further validated by urine cotinine levels. Oral microbiome overall structure and specific taxon abundances were compared, using PERMANOVA and DESeq analyses respectively. Our results show that overall microbial composition differs between smokers and nonsmokers (p = 0.0001). Use of cigarettes (p = 0.001) and dokha (p = 0.042) were associated with overall microbiome structure, while shisha use was not (p = 0.62). The abundance of multiple genera were significantly altered (enriched/depleted) in cigarette smokers; however, only Actinobacillus, Porphyromonas, Lautropia and Bifidobacterium abundances were significantly changed in dokha users whereas no genera were significantly altered in shisha smokers. For the first time, we show that smoking dokha is associated to oral microbiome dysbiosis, suggesting that it could have similar effects as smoking cigarettes on oral health

Patterns of tobacco use in the United Arab Emirates healthy future (UAEHFS) pilot study

© 2018 Al-Houqani et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Introduction Self-reported tobacco use in the United Arab Emirates is among the highest in the region. Use of tobacco products other than cigarettes is widespread, but little is known about specific behavior use patterns. There have been no studies that have biochemically verified smoking status. Methods The UAE Healthy Future Study (UAEHFS) seeks to understand the causes of non-communicable diseases through a 20,000-person cohort study. During the study pilot, 517 Emirati nationals were recruited to complete a questionnaire, provide clinical measurements and biological samples. Complete smoking data were available for 428 participants. Validation of smoking status via cotinine testing was conducted based on complete questionnaire data and matching urine samples for 399 participants, using a cut-off of 200ng/ml to indicate active smoking status. Results Self-reported tobacco use was 36% among men and 3% among women in the sample. However, biochemical verification of smoking status revealed that 42% men and 9% of women were positive for cotinine indicating possible recent tobacco use. Dual and poly-use of tobacco products was fairly common with 32% and 6% of the sample reporting respectively. Conclusions This is the first study in the region to biochemically verify tobacco use self-report data. Tobacco use in this study population was found to be higher than previously thought, especially among women. Misclassification of smoking status was more common than expected. Poly-tobacco use was also very common. Additional studies are needed to understand tobacco use behaviors and the extent to which people may be exposed to passive tobacco smoke. Implications This study is the first in the region to biochemically verify self-reported smoking status