MANGROVE GROWTH PROMOTION BY ENDOPHYTIC ACTINOBACTERIA AND SEAWEED EXTRACT

In this study, I aimed to determine the impact of the application of a commercial seaweed extract (SWE) bio-stimulant and endophytic actinobacterial isolates on growth performance and endogenous hormonal levels of mangroves. Therefore, I isolated endophytic plant growth promoting (PGP) actinobacteria (PGPA) from mangrove roots; and evaluated their potential as biological inoculants on mangrove seedlings under greenhouse and open-field nursery conditions. Seven salt tolerant isolates had the ability to produce different levels of in vitro plant growth regulators (PGRs) and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase (ACCD), and to solubilize phosphorus. Accordingly, only one isolate, Streptomyces tubercidicus UAE1 (St), was selected based on its relative superiority in displaying multiple modes of action and in successfully colonizing mangrove tissues for 15 weeks. In the greenhouse experiments, plants treated with either St or SWE significantly (P\u3c0.05) improved dry biomass by 40.2 and 55.1% in roots and 42.2 and 55.4% in shoots, respectively compared to seawater-irrigated non-treated mangrove plants (control). However, St+SWE caused a greater significant (P\u3c0.05) increase in dry weight of roots (67.6%) and shoots (65.7%) than control plants. Following the combined treatment of St+SWE, in planta PGR levels were found to be greatly enhanced over the non-treated control or treated plants grown in sediments inoculated with St or supplied with SWE only. This was evident from the significant (P\u3c0.05) increases in the photosynthetic pigments and production of PGRs, as well as the reduction in the endogenous ACC levels of plant tissues compared to those in other treatments. Tissue nutrient contents of seedlings also increased by at least two-fold in St+SWE treatment compared to control. Similar effects were observed on all growth parameters under natural open-field nursery conditions. This report is the first in the field of marine agriculture that uses SWE as a nutrient base for actinobacteria capable of producing PGRs and ACCD. By combining St with SWE, this does not only stimulate plant growth but also potentially has additive effects on mangrove ecosystem productivity in nutrient-impoverished soils in the Arabian coastal areas

Evaluation of the Impact of Antibiotic Stewardship Program on Antibiotics Utilization As Surgical Prophylaxis at a Secondary Hospital in United Arab Emirates

Background: Overuse or misuse of antibiotics, especially broad-spectrum antibiotics, may result in nosocomial infections, leading to increased mortality rate, extended hospital stay, and cost. The antibiotic stewardship program (ASP) is introduced to combat the irrational use of antibiotics. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of the newly implemented surgical antibiotics prophylaxis (SAP) guidelines. Materials & Methods: This study was a retrospective, hospital-based study conducted over five years (2017 to 2022), one year before and four years after implementation of ASP at Dibba hospital, United Arab Emirates. The study included adult patients who undergo surgical operations during the study period. Results: Out of 3290 patients included in the study,1756 received SAP. The percentage of patients who received SAP improved from pre-ASP 53.6% to 56.7% four years post-ASP. The most frequently used SAP in pre-ASP was amoxicillin with clavulanic acid (decreased from 44% to 0%), in contrast to Cefazolin (increased from 0% to 83%). The appropriate selection of SAP was improved from 42% to 97%, appropriate SAP timing increased from 81% to 98%, appropriate SAP duration was noticeably enhanced from 46% to 98%. The incidence of surgical site infection (SSI) decreased from 34.82% in pre-ASP to 7.99%, 17.91%, 5.40%, and 3.71% in the first, second, third, and fourth post-ASP years, respectively. Conclusions: Four years Implementation of SAP guidelines have significantly improved the rational use of antibiotics resulting in improved clinical outcomes

Mediating Role of Training Engagement Between Service Quality, Interface Quality, and Employee Creativity in Workforce of Ministry of Interior Abu Dhabi, UAE

Purpose: Employee creativity is vital for the success of any organization. Organizations conduct trainings and engagement of employees in the trainings helps organizations to get successful results.   Theoretical framework:  Employee creativity is highly dependent on service quality and interface quality. Therefore, this study is tailored to identify the mediating role of training engagement between service quality, interface quality and employee creativity. In order to test the framework developed on the basis of new website quality assessment model by the supporting role of engagement theory and investment theory of creativity.   Design/methodology/approach: For testing the model, adopted questionnaires have been used and structural equation modeling has been applied. The findings revealed that training engagement significantly mediate the relationship between service quality, interface quality and employee creativity.   Findings:  The findings are significant for the policy makers to stress on engagement of employees in the training activities and by improving the service quality and interface quality to develop creativity among employees to get fruitful results.   Research, Practical & Social implications:  provides basics for understanding effectiveness e-learning, training engagement over employee creativity. As a result, it is revealed that training engagement in the presence of information qualities, system qualities, service qualities, interface qualities, and emotional qualities have a significant effect on employee creativity.   Originality/value: the current research focuses on the importance of service quality and interface quality over training engagement and its interaction together over employee creativity

The Psychological Impact of Isolation on Hospitalised Patients with COVID-19 Infection in the UAE

Infection prevention and control measures for COVID-19 may include immediate admission to an isolation facility for the infected. However, the mental health impact of this isolation worldwide is not fully documented. This study aims to contribute to global data on the psychological impact of COVID-19 and to be the first study to assess psychological distress among hospitalised patients with COVID-19 in the UAE. Using a cross-sectional study design on 132 hospitalised patients, we found that 90% of participants scored within the normal levels for psychological distress. The length of stay was associated with higher levels of psychological distress and those aged 41–60 years had lower levels of psychological distress compared to the 31–40 years group. Our results contributed to global data on the psychological impact of COVID-19 and may help to identify those at risk for psychological distress due to COVID-19 hospitalisation for targeted prevention and future pandemic preparedness plans

Efficient corner extraction and matching for image registration

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

TOWARDS AUTOMATION OF ALUMINUM CELL RAMMING PROCESS

Newly installed cathode blocks in an aluminium reduction cell, expand due to a rapid increase of temperature when passing a high current at the start-up of the cell. High thermal stresses may result if cathode blocks are lined without gaps, and this can lead to cracking of the cathodes and failure of the cell. On the other hand, leaving gaps would cause failure due to molten metal infiltration in the gaps. To overcome these problems carbon-based ramming material is used to fill these gaps. Currently ‘Filling’ is carried out manually or partially automated, but this needs to be fully automated in line with Industry 4.0. Automation here means the making of an apparatus, a process, or a system to operate with minimum inputs from humans and produce consistent filling of the ramming paste. The main objective of this project was to establish the needed characteristics of ramming paste under different conditions so that one can make decisions to optimize the life of the carbon paste in the cell while designing the automatic system. Experimental analysis was carried out to visualize and investigate the manual compaction of ramming paste in the gaps and identify forms and defects after the compaction. Building on this, characterization of ramming paste was carried out under different conditions by varying applied pressure. At room temperature, it had the ability to bond and solidify under pressure with increasing young’s modulus value as pressure increases. But it was observed that over-compaction initiated internal cracks in the solidified sample. Then, characterization was carried out by varying the baking temperature, so blocks were fabricated to be heated to different temperatures and then investigate their behaviours, the baking temperatures were from 200˚C to 600˚C. The achieved yield strength of 200˚C was high however similar strength was achieved at room temperature for unbaked samples as well, on the other hand, it was observed that the higher the temperature with the presence of oxygen the more fragile the ramming paste became. Further, to achieve a consistent flow of the ramming paste into the filling, the Principle of Fused Deposition Modelling was tested to extrude ramming paste using a nozzle with different nozzle profiles and various applied loads. This set of experiments concluded that ramming paste cannot be extruded using a nozzle as it gets compacted at the nozzle exit and compaction builds up on the top layers. The paste does not flow because of its strong bonding nature and the resulting consolidation under pressure. Based on the findings a machine was designed and built to extrude ramming paste using a two-stage process comprising of, firstly a screw conveyor to positively convey the material and secondly a roller to compact the material coming out from the screw conveyor. Test runs were carried out with the machine and the results show that the machine can produce ramming paste flow, at the desired density in a consistent fashion. Based on the findings of this research and the prototype machine, industry scale machines automating the ‘Aluminum Cell Ramming Process’ can be built

The infrastructure development success model for public-private partnership in UAE

Public private partnerships (PPPs) have been used internationally as a strategy to develop infrastructure projects. In general, an expanded usage of the PPP strategy can be clarified in terms of its planned advantages such as exposure to private financing for program expansion; effective control and distribution of risk; simpler project targets; new concepts and flexibility; enhanced tendering preparation and incentives; and greater value for money (VfM) for public initiatives. In the last couple of decades, PPP has become a major approach in delivering infrastructure projects. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries was the largest market for public-private partnerships in the last decade. PPPs are currently used more and more for the rapid evolution of the UAE projects for infrastructure. However, the success factors for adopting a similar approach for infrastructure projects in the UAE are not widely understood. The objective of this research is to identify, assess and evaluate the impact of PPP formula factors and the development of infrastructure in UAE. A questionnaire survey was carried out among experts working in government institutions in Abu Dhabi in UAE. A total of 295 questionnaires were collected and found valid. Analysis of Moment Structural Equation Modelling (AMOS-SEM) model was developed based on 5 groups related to the important factors of formulation factors of PPP which are: Trust; Formulation of PPP; Transparency; Governance; and success of infrastructure development. The findings from the important Formulation factors of PPP through path analysis using structural model indicate that the critical Formulation factors of PPP have a significant effect on infrastructure development success. The implication of this research is that decision and policy makers can enhance and further strengthen PPP through focusing on trust, formulation of PPP and transparency to enhance the success of infrastructure development

EVALUATING DIFFERENT DENSITIES OF LETTUCE (Lactuca sativa L) WITH VARYING LEVELS OF FEEDING REGIMES ON TILAPIA FISH (Oreochromis niloticus L) IN AQUAPONICS SYSTEM

Aquaponics uses waste generated by fish as plant nutrients within a re-circulating system that returns clean water back to the fish. The purpose of this study was to cultivate the high quality of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) and Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus L.) production in an integrated aquaponic system with recirculating aquaculture system in the UAE climatic condition on three different densities and feeding regimes. An experiment was conducted under greenhouse conditions in the United Arab Emirates in 2016 (from April to August). The evaluation of the production was based on three parameters viz., head of the lettuce production, total weight, and leaf number under three different densities of lettuce (12, 18, and 28 in foam) and three different feeding regimes (1, 2, and 3 per day). Based on the results, the total fresh weight and head weight showed a significant increase. The finding of leaf number proved that different densities do not impact the number of leaves. Control densities (18 plants) showed the best results on total fresh weight and head weight, compared to other densities. However, the feeding frequency regime (3 times a day) had no significant effect on plant production. The results also showed both Ca and Na had no significant differences under different plant densities. The outcomes of Fe and Mo elements showed no significant differences among all treatment densities although, the feeding regime has been changed among them. The level of pH showed a marginal decrease during the period of the experiment. The current aquaponic system has been established for the lettuce/tilapia fish integration and concluded that the low feeding frequency (one time a day) is optimum for the aquaponics system in the UAE climatic conditions for better productivity. However, future studies on other crop and/or fish system combinations in aquaponics to determine how crop yields are affected by operating at specific pH levels of water for the long-term sustainability of production