Assessment of the Environmental Impact of Re-Injecting Oil-Field Water into the Miocene Clastic Sediments on the Shallow Aquifer in the Bu Hasa Oil Field, United Arab Emirates

The Bu Hasa oil field is located about 200 km southwest of Abu Dhabi City in the U.A.E. Oil production from the field started in 1965 and a water injection program was initiated in 1970. This research is focused on the assessment of the environmental hazards to the Quaternary Liwa aquifer from either the re-injection of oil-field water into the Miocene Clastic aquifer or surface dumping into unlined pits. Well logs, core samples, structure and isopach contour maps, stratigraphic cross sections, and water chemistry analyses were utilized in this study. Moreover, a detailed hydrogeological aquifer assessment was conducted and a classification scheme for the various brines was established. Iso-salinity contour maps over the Bu Hasa field area indicate a general increase in salinity from 2,000-3,000 mg/1 in 1964 to 5,500 mg/1 in 1996. Stable isotopic analysis of water samples from the Liwa and Bu Hasa areas suggests that the oil-field water and water of the Quaternary Liwa aquifer have different signatures. This result implies the lack of fluid communication between the Miocene Clastic and the Liwa aquifer. This observation is further supported by the presence of an effective sealing interval represented by the Miocene evaporites that isolate the two aquifers. Integrated geologic, hydrogeologic, hydrochemical and stable isotope analyses, indicate that the disposal of oil-field waste water into the Miocene Clastic aquifer in the Bu Hasa area does not contaminate the shallow Quaternary aquifer. In contrast, the same analyses demonstrate that the disposal of brines in unlined pits is the practice that has a definite adverse effect on the Quaternary Liwa aquifer in the Bu Hasa area

Characteristics of Hepatitis B Infection in a Sample of Omani Patients

Objectives: This study aimed to describe the demographic and virological characteristics of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in a sample of Omani patients, and indirectly assess the efficacy of hepatitis B vaccination programmes and catch-up strategies. Methods: A retrospective study was undertaken of all patients with chronic HBV infections evaluated and followed-up at the Hepatology Clinic of the Armed Forces Hospital (AFH), Muscat, Oman, between January 2009 and April 2011. Results: A total of 154 patients met the inclusion criteria. The mean age of infected patients was 33 years with 72.7% being over 27 years. Females constituted 47.7% of the patients. Half of the cohort was referred either from the AFH’s Obstetric Clinic (29.2%) or its Blood Bank (22.1%). A family history of chronic HBV infection was present in 70% of patients. A total of 95% had positive hepatitis B surface antigens, while only 5% had isolated total hepatitis B core antibodies. Most patients (96%) were hepatitis B e-antigen-negative. The majority (77.9%) had low HBV dioribonucleic acid levels of <2,000 IU/ml. Radiological features of liver cirrhosis were observed in 5%. Patients requiring treatment were in the minority (9%). Conclusion: Almost 50% of the infected patients were female, the majority being of childbearing age. Medical authorities in Oman should consider enforcing a screening policy for all pregnant women using complete hepatitis B serological testing

Causitivity in English and Arabic: A Linguistic Syntactic Study

    The principal goal of this paper is to investigate and contrast the linguistic syntactic phenomenon of causitivity in English and Arabic. It also shows the differences and similarities regarding causitivity in the two languages. This paper comprises nineteen sections. They are as following:  an introduction ,objectives of the study, questions of the study, significance of the study, limitation of the study , data collection , methodology, causitivity ,English causitivity , the lexical process, the prefixation process , the suffixation process, the causative verbs in Arabic, the Arabic basic causitives, the Arabic derived causitives, the form ?famala , the form ? ist famala , analysis, conclusion, references and an appendi

The impact of specialized loans of agricultural banks for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on the financial returns of the banks in Iraq

The financial development of a country cannot be considered complete without the financial sustainability of its financial institutions, which can be achieved by producing funds from strong investment plans and loans. Policymakers and future researchers must prioritize this element. Therefore, the current study investigates the effect of specialized loans from agricultural banks to SMEs, such as project loans, objective loans, commodity loans, and liquidity loans, on the financial performance of agricultural banks in Iraq. The study retrieved data from the databases of fifteen agricultural banks from 2011 to 2020. The relationship between variables has been examined using the Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR). The results demonstrated a correlation between project financing, objective financing, commodity financing, and liquidity and the financial performance of agricultural banks in Iraq. The article guides decision-makers in the formulation of strategies to increase financial return through the use of specialty loans.Suraa Alaa Jawad (College of Administration and Economics, University of Babylon), Khalid Hussein Ali Al-marzooge (College of Administration and Economics, University of Babylon)Includes bibliographical reference

Hybrid branch prediction for pipelined MIPS processor

In the modern microprocessors that designed with pipeline stages, the performance of these types of processors will be affected when executing branch instructions, because in this case there will be stalls in the pipeline. In turn this causes in reducing the Cycle Per Instruction (CPI) of the processor. In the case of executing a branch instruction, the processor needs an extra clocks to know if that branch will happen (Taken) or not (Not Taken) and also it requires calculating the new address in the case of the branch is Taken. The prediction that the branch is T / NT is an important stage in enhancing the processor performance. In this research more than one method of branch prediction (hybrid) is used and the designed circuit will choose different types of prediction algoritms depending on the type of the branch. Some of these methods were used are static while the other are dynamic. All circuits were built practically and examined by applying different programs on the designed predictor algorithm to compute the performance of the processor

THE COMPELLING NECESSITY OF HOUSING AS A MEANS OF TERMINATING THE LEASE

This study deals with the compelling necessity of housing as a means of terminating the lease, which is a permit or a means granted by the legislator or the judiciary to the owner to repossess their property as a result of the realization of an emergency circumstance. To meet the aim of the current study, a comparative analytical approach is taken into account. Given the results,  the right of the owner to repossess the property by compelling necessity is restricted by not to abuse the right in order to preserve the rights of the tenant for the purposes of housing. In fact, these restrictions, which violation constitute an abuse, are represented in the absence of the intent of abusement, that the desired benefit of the act is illegitimate and that the benefit from the same is not commensurate with the harm that afflicts others in addition to not going beyond the status established by the customs and traditions

An Improved Solar Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (IS-LEACH) Technique

in the recent years, the Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) has grown dramatically in many fields such as military applications, environmental applications, and health assistant applications. However, there are numerous problems associated with applying the WSNs. Such problems are related to power consumption, performance, reliability, installation cost, and hardware cost. Thus, many algorithms in the WSNs context have been considered to propose an improved solar Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) technique for maximizing the lifetime, increasing the performance, increasing the reliability, and decreasing the costs. This proposed technique improves the selecting Cluster Heads (CHs) process and powering it with a renewable energy (solar cell). The OMNeT++ tool has been employed to simulate such technique. After many scenarios have taken place with different data sets, this study finds that the lifetime of WSNs has been maximized, the performance has been improved, the reliability has also been improved, and finally the cost has been decreased

Obesity and hyperlipidaemia in adult males in a Semi-urban community in Jordan

Objective:  To describe the relationship between obesity and hyperlipidaemia. Methods: Cluster sampling technique-probability of households from Sareeh area. A total of 400 apparently healthy adult males aged 30-50 years were invited to participate in the study, of whom 306 completed the study. A pilot tested interview questionnaire was designed in the study to collect  the dietary history. Height, weight, waist circumference, triglycerides (TRIG) and total cholesterol (CHOL) were measured.  Obesity was categorized into three groups as indicated by BMI-C based on WHO (1997) for generalized obesity and for classifications of central obesity using waist circumference categories based on (Lean et al, 1995). Results: The means of plasma triglycerides and total cholesterol increased significantly with increasing levels of waist circumference and BMI categories (P<0.05).  There was an increase in the prevalence rates (PRs) of hypertriglyceridaemia and hypercholesterolaemia with increasing levels of obesity and its duration. The proportion ratios of hypertriglyceridaemia and hypercholesterolaemia for subjects with high and moderate obesity levels compared with subjects with normal levels were (10.1-11.6) and (6.7 -8.1) times respectively; whereas for subjects with duration of overweight>20 years compared with subjects with duration of obesity <10 years ranged (2.11-2.96) times.  Also odds ratios (ORs) of hypertriglyceridaemia and hypercholesterolaemia after controlling for confounded factors were increased with increasing levels of obesity and its duration, the highest (OR) in high obesity levels ranged (11.59-19.18, 95% CI, P<0.001) whereas for duration of obesity >20 years ranged (16.78-20.94, 95% CI, P<0.001). Central obesity had a potential risk on hypertriglyceridaemia and hypercholesterolaemia more than generalized obesity.  Conclusions: amount of body fat, location and duration are the major risk factors on hyper- trigly ceridaemia and hypercholesterolaemia which emphasizes the need for concentrated e-ffort  to prevent and treat obesity rather than just any associated co-morbidities