Nuclear energy law in the UAE: An evaluation of issues of potential liability in the country’s nuclear power programme

The increasing responsiveness to the possibility of nuclear energy in meeting global demand for electricity is enormous; more than 8% comes from nuclear power plant. Several countries have utilised nuclear power reactors for their energy supplies. This demand is due to the rapid socio-economic developments. Hence, standards of living of such countries have been enhanced considerably. These can mainly be attributed to stable power generation and supply. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the Middle East, which comprises of seven fast developing emirates, is currently embarking on power generation through a peaceful nuclear energy programme. The country requires tremendous power supplies to meet their demands. The energy needs of the UAE have increased such that the traditional methods of power production do not satisfy the needs of the country. There seems to be an absence of clarity about the responsibilities of the government in terms of liability during incidents of misuse of the nuclear plants. The research therefore considers the determination of the efficacy of the country’s nuclear energy laws in dealing with potential liabilities arising from the energy programme. While determining civil and State liabilities in the UAE’s nuclear energy programme through the analysis of existing local and international laws regarding the programme, the research analyses aspects of liability and requirements for possessing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes through the analysis of the natures and impacts of past Chernobyl, Fukushima, Three Mile Island and Windscale nuclear disasters to identify potential liability issues and their perpetrators. Thus, the lessons of the past will help to shape the future of UAE developments in this area. An analysis of the natures and scopes of existing nuclear energy laws in the UAE and those of the international community is conducted to determine possible flaw(s) and opportunities for the review of liability concerns for relevant parties. The research evaluates the extent to which the new UAE nuclear law addresses potential liabilities and further makes recommendations towards the effective and safe use of nuclear energy by the UAE through compliance with international best practices

A Comparison of Rectangular vs. Circular Radiographic Collimation During Simulated Endodontic Therapy

Rectangular collimation is used in dentistry to reduce radiation by restricting the x-ray beam to approximately the size of a number 2 intraoral film (3.2X4.1 cm). However, this restricted beam size can lead to exposure errors. The aim of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the number of radiographs exposed and the presence of technical errors by the use of traditional circular or rectangular collimators during endodontic therapy on simulated teeth in manikins. A total of 1475 digital radiographs of 84 teeth exposed by 60 dental students were evaluated. Evaluation was done by a board certified endodontist, an endodontic resident, and a dental student. Analysis of the different raters showed no significant differences among the three. Radiographs were randomized and blindly renamed. Repeated-measures mixed-model ANOVA was used to compare the number of radiographs exposed using the different collimators. Although not statistically significant (P\u3c.05), there were 15% more radiographs taken with the rectangular collimator when compared to the circular collimator. Using a repeated-measures logistic regression, there was a significant difference of the proportion of radiographs with cone cuts (P = .0003) taken with a rectangular collimator (59%) compared to radiographs taken with a circular collimator (19%). There was no significant evidence for a collimator difference when considering missed apex (P = .0986) or missed apex due to a cone cut (P = .0631). In order to expose high quality radiographs avoiding cone cuts, a traditional circular collimator may be indicated for use during endodontic therapy

Post-Project Risk Perception and Systems Management Reaction

The objective of this research is to identify whether risk management in projects has any role in risk management in systems. Projects, systems, and risk management are three integral concepts in the management of various enterprises and agencies. Risk management is a common concept in systems and project processes. To avoid failures or crisis during their life cycles, projects and systems managers practice risk management. Projects and systems have well defined life cycles during which the risk is defined, controlled, and managed. Risk management is conducted in each phase of projects and systems. Projects are initiated to close certain operational gaps or to expand the capabilities of the system for better management and operation. The outputs of these projects are to be integrated into larger systems. This research investigates if the risk initiating events during these projects could cause a failure or crises in the system

Multiscale analysis of heterogeneous media for local and nonlocal continuum theories

The dissertation provides new multiscale methods for the analysis of heterogeneous media. The first part of the dissertation treats heterogeneous media using the theory of linear elasticity. In this context, a methodology is presented for bounding the higher order moments of the local stress and strain fields inside random elastic media. Optimal lower bounds that are given in terms of the applied loading and the volume (area) fractions for random two-phase composites are presented. These bounds provide a means to measure load transfer across length scales relating the excursions of the local fields to applied loads. The second part of the dissertation treats heterogeneous media using the peridynamic formulation of nonlocal continuum mechanics. In this context, a multiscale analysis method is presented for capturing the dynamics inside fiber-reinforced composites at both the structural scale and the microscopic scale. The method provides a multiscale numerical method with a cost that is much less than solving the full micro-scale model over the entire macroscopic domain