pH-Dependence and Contributions of The Carbonic Species To Co2 Flux Across The Gas/Liquid Interface

The purpose of this article is to expand the available knowledge on CO2 transfer across the gas/liquid interface in two ways: (1) propose a new mathematical model to describe the pH dependence of CO2 flux across the gas/liquid interface; and (2) propose new relationships that quantitatively describe the contributions of each of the carbonate species ( 2 3 H CO , − 3 HCO , and 2− 3 CO ) to total flux across the gas/liquid interface. The new model was based on accounting for the difference between the pH in the liquid phase at any time during gas transfer and the pH of the liquid phase at equilibrium when net gas transfer stops. The article also proposes a correction to the currently in-use mathematical model, which was found to apply in the special change and in unlikely cases in which the initial pH does not change. The theoretical and experimental work presented in this article present clear theoretical and mathematical understanding of the process of gas transfer involving acidbase ionization reactions. Numerous batch and continuous-flow countercurrent reactors CO2 stripping experiments were conducted at different initial pH values to verify the proposed model. The experiments included runs in which the pH was allowed to change as a result of CO2 transfer and experiments involving buffered solutions in which the pH did not change significantly. In all cases, the experimental results matched the theory in an excellent manner

Assessment of Seasonal and Annual Rainfall Trends and Variability in Sharjah City, UAE

Although a few studies on rainfall spatial and temporal variability in the UAE have been carried out, evidence of the impact of climate change on rainfall trends has not been reported. This study aims at assessing the significance of long-term rainfall trends and temporal variability at Sharjah City, UAE. Annual rainfall and seasonal rainfall extending over a period of 81 years (1934–2014) recorded at Sharjah International Airport have been analyzed. To this end, several parametric and nonparametric statistical measures have been applied following systematic data quality assessment. The analyses revealed that the annual rainfall trend decreased from −3 mm to −9.4 mm per decade over the study periods. The decreasing annual rainfall trend is mainly driven by the significant drop in winter rainfall, particularly during the period from 1977 to 2014. The results also indicate that high probability extreme events have shifted toward low frequency (12.7 years) with significant variations in monthly rainfall patterns and periodicity. The findings of the present study suggest reevaluating the derivation of design rainfall for infrastructure of Sharjah City and urge developing an integrated framework for its water resources planning and risk under climate change impacts scenarios

Assessment of Community Needs in Southeast Louisiana Using VIA LINK’s 211 Call Data: 2012-2021

VIA LINK partnered with researchers from the University of New Orleans (UNO) Master of Public Administration (MPA) program to conduct a community needs assessment for southeast Louisiana based on anonymous 211 call data over the past decade. The research team evaluated call data to pinpoint the greatest needs of those seeking VIA LINK’s services and how needs changed over time, including significant changes during the COVID pandemic and Hurricane Ida. The goal was to help VIA LINK and its partners better anticipate and respond to community needs and help fill gaps in regional resources. This report shares findings from the study for public use. It explains the approach and limitations of the research, followed by trends in three areas: who calls 211, what their greatest needs are overall and during disasters, and what resource gaps exist. It concludes with recommendations for VIA LINK as well as its government and nonprofit partners so the data can be turned into action that strengthens our region

A Comparative Earthquakes Risk Assessment Approach Applied to the United Arab Emirates

This paper presents the preliminary results of a long research project on the assessment and mitigation of seismic risk in major cities in the UAE. UAE’s earthquake activity has long been recognized as one of the lowest in the world. All cities have experienced moderate earthquakes in the past, and will again do in the future. Recent earthquakes in Iran (e.g., Bam in 2003, --- in 2005) have killed thousands of people. Because of the different design and construction practices, different population density concentrations and economic activities in the UAE, different damages and losses are likely to be experienced. The impact of an earthquake is not limited to direct losses, such as the loss of life, loss of structures and business interruptions. Earthquakes also cause indirect losses by producing supply shortages and demand reductions in various economic sectors. In a country such as the UAE, which is undergoing an unprecedented constructionbased development with high-rise buildings being the main feature, a large earthquake in a major city can actually cause a considerable economic loss. In this study, a framework for assessing and comparing the risk associated with the adverse consequences of earthquakes in the UAE is presented. The framework is based on a simple risk-characterization model that is used to assess the health risks associated with toxic chemicals. The model: Risk = D × RF × Pop × ER, adopted to fit our purpose of estimating the risk associated with the consequences of earthquakes, the various parameters in the above mentioned model are translated as follows: Dose (D)= seismic “force” at a specific location or weighted for an area; Response Factor (RF) = degree of damage or losses per unit “force”; Population (Pop) = a factor representing exposed population. Equivalent populations may also include exposed environment or exposed infrastructure. Emergency Response (ER) = effectiveness of available emergency response programs to reduce risk immediately as the adverse effects take place. It should be noted that emergency response in this case is different than deliberate risk management. First, the earthquake hazard and risk in the UAE, including the estimation of the amplitudes of the ground motion parameters, is stochastically assessed. Then the comparative risk framework to assess the relative impacts on people and buildings in the seven emirates and the major cities of the UAE is applied. The result is a ranking system for risk that is being integrated within a geographic information system (GIS). The database is intended for detailed development to maximize benefits to the various stake holders in the community

Developing New Technology-Related Bachelor Programs in The Middle East

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the development of five recently launched bachelor programs at the University College of Applied Sciences in Gaza, Palestine. These programs are Technology Education, Business with Technology, Geographic Information Systems, Development Planning, and Building Technology. These programs are non-traditional academic programs where traditional curricula are hybrid with a varying degree of engineering and IT-related technology courses. These programs have been accredited by the local accreditation board and a few hundred students are currently enrolled in these programs, with the first batch of these students have already graduated in the summer of 2010-2011. The paper sheds some details on the curriculum of these programs. Though these engineering and technology-related academic programs were developed with both local and regional interests, universities worldwide could benefit from this experience

Optimization of biodiesel production from waste cooking oil using a green catalyst prepared from glass waste and animal bones.

Biodiesel as a fuel has been shown to positively impact the environment; replacing or reducing the dependence on fossil fuels while providing a viable alternative. The use of waste oils, such as non-edible or used oils, can reduce competition with food, loss of resources, and the resulting higher prices. In this study, biodiesel was obtained by a transesterification reaction using used cooking oil from fast-food restaurants as the feedstock and catalysts from waste glass and animal bones as the silica and calcium oxide sources, respectively. Utilizing waste or non-edible oils for the production of biodiesel can lessen the competition with food sources while achieving environmental and ethical biofuel standards. Additionally, employing readily available waste oils and catalysts prepared from waste material is an economical and low-cost process compared to the use of conventional expensive feedstock and catalyst. The catalyst characterization for the prepared CaO–SiO2 catalyst was performed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The reaction was optimized using the response surface methodology (RSM) with central composite design (CCD) by varying three parameters: methanol-to-oil ratio, catalyst weight fraction (wt%), and reaction time. The highest biodiesel yield obtained using Design Expert software was 92.3419% at the optimum conditions of a 14.83:1 methanol-to-oil molar ratio, 3.11 wt% catalyst, and 143 min reaction time. This proved that waste cooking oil with CaO–SiO2 catalyst could be used in the transesterification process to produce a high yield of biodiesel, which was shown in the results obtained from the experimental runs

Radar backscatter measurements from Arctic sea ice during the fall freeze-up

Radar backscatter measurements from sea ice during the fall freeze-up were performed by the United States Coast Guard Icebreaker Polar Star as a part of the International Arctic Ocean Expedition (IAOE'91) from Aug. to Sep. 1991. The U.S. portion of the experiment took place on board the Polar Star and was referred to as TRAPOLEX '91 (Transpolar expedition) by some investigators. Before prematurely aborting its mission because of mechanical failure of her port shaft, the Polar Star reached 84 deg 57 min N latitude at 35 deg E longitude. The ship was in the ice (greater than 50 percent coverage) from 14 Aug. until 3 Sep. and was operational for all but 6 days due to two instances of mechanical problems with the port shaft. The second was fatal to the ship's participation in the expedition. During the expedition, radar backscatter was measured at C-band under a variety of conditions. These included measurements from young ice types as well as from multiyear and first-/second-year sea ice during the fall freeze-up. The sea ice types were determined by measurement of the ice properties at several of the stations and by visual inspection on others. Radar backscatter measurements were performed over a large portion of the ship's transit into the Arctic ice pack. These were accompanied by in situ sea ice property characterization by the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) at several stations and, when snow was present, its properties were documented by The Microwave Group, Ottawa River (MWG)

Deep learning detection of types of water-bodies using optical variables and ensembling

Water features are one of the most crucial environmental elements for strengthening climate-change adaptation. Remote sensing (RS) technologies driven by artificial intelligence (AI) have emerged as one of the most sought-after approaches for automating water information extraction and indeed. In this paper, a stacked ensemble model approach is proposed on AquaSat dataset (more than 500,000 images collection via satellite and Google Earth Engine). A one-way Analysis of variance (ANOVA) test and the Kruskal Wallis test are conducted for various optical-based variables at 99% significance level to understand how these vary for different water bodies. An oversampling is done on the training data using Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE) to solve the problem of class imbalance while the model is tested on an imbalanced data, replicating the real-life situation. To enhance state-of-the-art, the pros of standalone machine learning classifiers and neural networks have been utilized. The stacked model obtained 100% accuracy on the testing data when using the decision tree classifier as the meta model. This study has been cross validated five-fold and will help researchers working in in-situ water bodies detection with the use of stacked model classification

Co-pyrolysis for bio-oil production via fixed bed reactor using date seeds and plastic waste as biomass.

The consumption of plastic bottles is relatively high in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Therefore, in this study authors investigated the potential of combined plastic waste and locally available biomass (date seeds) to produce value-added products (bio-oil, bio-char and syngas) via pyrolysis process. The experiments were performed in a fixed bed pyrolizer, operated at different temperatures. Experimental results showed that 500 °C would be a better option for a higher bio-oil yield (59.16%), while lower temperatures (300 °C) produced more bio-char yields (24.97%). A plastic ratio of 70% gives the highest bio-oil content (62.57%), and lowest amounts of bio-char (12.14%). Experiment performed at 400 °C with a plastic waste ratio of 30% have the highest bio-oil density (1.020 g/cm3). The results obtained in this study showed that the co-pyrolysis of plastic waste and date seeds are suitable for bio-oil production as sustainable biofuel in UAE