Modified gravity a la Galileon: Late time cosmic acceleration and observational constraints

In this paper we examine the cosmological consequences of fourth order Galileon gravity. We carry out detailed investigations of the underlying dynamics and demonstrate the stability of one de Sitter phase. The stable de Sitter phase contains a Galileon field $\pi$ which is an increasing function of time (\dot{\pi}>0). Using the required suppression of the fifth force, supernovae, BAO and CMB data, we constrain parameters of the model. We find that the $\pi$ matter coupling parameter $\beta$ is constrained to small numerical values such that $\beta$<0.02. We also show that the parameters of the third and fourth order in the action (c_3,c_4) are not independent and with reasonable assumptions, we obtain constraints on them. We investigate the growth history of the model and find that the sub-horizon approximation is not allowed for this model. We demonstrate strong scale dependence of linear perturbations in the fourth order Galileon gravity.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, references added, final version to appear in PR

Prospects of inflation with perturbed throat geometry

We study brane inflation in a warped deformed conifold background that includes general possible corrections to the throat geometry sourced by coupling to the bulk of a compact Calabi-Yau space. We focus specifically, on the perturbation by chiral operator of dimension 3/2 in the CFT. We find that the effective potential in this case can give rise to required number of e-foldings and the spectral index $n_S$ consistent with observation. The tensor to scalar ratio of perturbations is generally very low in this scenario. The COBE normalization, however, poses certain difficulties which can be circumvented provided model parameters are properly fine tuned. We find the numerical values of parameters which can give rise to enough inflation, observationally consistent values of density perturbations, scalar to tensor ratio of perturbations and the spectral index $n_S$.Comment: 7 pages and nine figures; typos corrected, minor comments and clarifications added, revised version to appear in PL

Solar system tests in constraining parameters of dyon black holes

In the present letter we examine the possibility of constraining dyon black holes based on the available observational data at the scale of the Solar system. For this we consider the classical tests of general relativity, viz., the perihelion precession of the planet Mercury and the deflection of light by the Sun. In connection to mathematical analysis we are considering static and spherically symmetric dyon black hole which carries both the electric and magnetic charge simultaneously, which are encoded it by the parameters $\lambda_0$ and $\beta_0$. We constrain these two parameters using the Solar system tests and obtain the permissible range from the observations.Comment: 10 pages, major changes in the text, Accepted in European Physical Journal

Investigating adaptability of stadium precincts post Qatar 2022 world cup: toward an adaptive strategy through public-private partnership (ppp)

Mega Sporting Events have become a way of transforming cities around the world. However, the sustainability of these large-scale transformations is questioned. This thesis aims to investigate the adaptability of stadium precincts post-Qatar 2022 World Cup based on selected case studies from Al Rayyan municipality. The challenges of using large facilities such as iconic stadiums are worth investigating. The thesis aims to find answers to the following questions: To what extent is Qatar 2022 World Cup stadiums is adaptive to its precincts? What impacts the adaptability of Qatar 2022 World Cup stadiums? And How an adaptive strategy through public-private partnership can take place for Post 2022 World Cup? A selection of case studies from Qatar includes Khalifa International Stadium, Qatar Foundation and Al Rayyan Stadiums are examined to answer the research questions. The thesis is based on qualitative case study research with three data collection and analysis tools. The tools used are site assessment (observations), expert interviews, and secondary data that include feedback from Al Rayyan residents toward Al Rayyan stadiums and precincts. The data is analyzed in the light of New Urbanism and the thesis conceptual framework to examine impact factors, opportunities and challenges for adaptability after a mega sporting event. The research findings show that Qatar 2022 stadiums precincts can be very adaptable but can also face many challenges. Challenges include land use regulations, walkability, lack of unified urban design code, lack of housing options, and low building densities. Most of the challenges are beyond the scope of the stadiums’ owners. The extent of Qatar 2022 stadium adaptability to its precincts is promising, especially for stadiums that are within an existing urban development.in addition, factors impacting the stadiums adaptability included the stadium location, the design process and stakeholder’s involvement. However, stakeholder’s involvement also impacted the selection of the stadium location and the design process which emphasize the significance of a public-private partnership

A study of the efficacy of a reliability management system - with suggestions for improved data collection and decision making.

Master's thesis in Risk ManagementProduct reliability is very important especially in the perspective of new product development. Making highly reliable drilling and well equipment is expensive and time-consuming process. But ignoring the product reliability could prove even more costly. Thus the manufacturers need to decide on the best reliability performance that succeeds to create a proper balance between time, cost and reliability factors to ensure the desired results. A reliability management system is a tool that the manufacturers can use to manage this process to produce reliable equipment. However, if this system is not well structured and lacks some important features, it can affect the outcomes of reliability analysis and decision making. A lot of research has been done on creating a good reliability and maintenance database to improve systems reliability in the petroleum industry. Offshore & Onshore Reliability Data (OREDA) and ISO 12224 are part of such research projects. The main objective of this research is to analyze the existing reliability management system (RMS) in Petroleum Technology Company (PTC) in terms of its structure, features, functionality, and the quality of data being recorded in RMS and how it affects decision making. The research was motivated by following issues 1) Reliability Management System of PTC is not automated in terms of extracting data from other sources within company, 2) PTC is missing a specified platform for failure reporting of their equipment, 3) the activities related to data collection and management are not well-organized hence demanding more effort. To analyze these issues, a literature study is performed to review the existing standards in the industry. ISO14224 and OREDA define a very structured database to get easy access to reliability and maintenance data. OREDA database has well-defined taxonomy, boundaries and database structure. Also, it has a well-organized procedure in place to collect and store reliability data. Quality assessment of the data being collected is done through predefined procedures guideline. OREDA have a very consistent list of codes to store language in coding form in the reliability and maintenance database. By reviewing the existing standard in the industry, a few shortcomings have been identified both in the RMS and PTC failure reporting procedures. It is observed that data from the sources is collected by the responsible person but the collection method is usually not tested and planned. Data collection sources, methods and procedures within company or outside the company lack well-defined criteria and data quality assurance processes. Currently, the company is using Field Service Reports (FSR) and company’s other databases as data sources for RMS. A company cannot access client’s system that contains equipment utilization and process-related information. This can lead to missing information or ambiguous data because the data-entry responsible person needs to make assumptions sometimes to complete the missing operational and environmental data. The RMS database structure lacks well-defined taxonomy, design parameters, and adequate failure mode classification. The Failure modes is an important aspect of the high-quality database since it can help in identifying the need for changes to maintenance periodicities, or the need for additional checks. The Offshore & Onshore Reliability Data (OREDA) project participating companies e.g. Statoil can calculate failure rates for selected data populations of within well-defined boundaries of manufacturer, design and operational parameters. These features are missing in RMS database. It is recommended that PTC consider developing a failure reporting database to handle their failure event data in an organized way. For this purpose, failure reporting, analysis, and corrective action system (FRACAS) technique is suggested. FRACAS data from FRACAS database can be used effectively to verify failure modes and failure causes in the failure mode effect and criticality analysis (FMECA). Failure review board in the FRACAS process includes personnel from mix disciplines (design, manufacturing, systems, quality, and reliability engineering) as well as leadership (technical or managerial leads), to make sure that a well-rounded the discussion is performed for particular failure related issues. The Failure Review Board (FRB) analyzes the failures in terms of time, money required corrective actions. And finally, management makes the decisions on basis of identified corrective action. As data quality has a high impact on the outcomes of reliability analysis through reliability management system. To have a good data quality, data collecting procedures and process management should be well-organized. It is crucial to performed data quality assessment on collected data. A data mining technique is discussed as a part of suggestion to improve data quality in RMS database. Once data is stored in RMS database a data mining method; data quality mining can help to assess the quality of data in a database. This is done by applying a data mining (DM) tool to look at interesting patterns of data with the purpose of quality assessment. Various data mining model is available in the market but PTC needs to select DM model which suits best their business objectives. RMS database is hard-wired so it is difficult to change its features and database structure. However, if PTC emphasize on improving failure reporting procedures and data quality in data sources locating within the company, it will directly and positively affect the data quality in RMS and the results of data analysis in RMS. This, in turn, can improve their decision-making the process regarding new product development and redesigning the existing products

A Comparative Study of Domestic and Hospital Environmental Microbial Populations in Al-Ain (UAE)

This is the first attempt to estimate biological indoor pollution in the environment of AI-Ain city. The numbers and types of bacteria and fungi in the air and on the surfaces were measured in AI-Ain hospital and three different types of domestic environments. Five different types of wards at AI-Ain hospital, medical, surgical, pediatrics, operating theater, and intensive care unit were studied. Their estimated indoor bioaerosols were compared to indoor bioaerosols in three types of dwelling houses, very good, average, and poor quality houses in AI-Ain city. A bacteriological mechanical air sampler, MK2 (Casella London) was used in this study. The result of this study showed that the same groups of bacteria and fungi isolated from the hospital environment were also found in domestic air samples. The highest number of bacteria in the hospital was found in the pediatric and female medical wards while the lowest were in the operating theater. The number of bacteria in the domestic environment was related to the type of housing; the higher the quality of house the lower the number of micro-organisms. Pathogenic and human related micro-organisms were found to be more prevalent in a hospital environment than in the domestic environment. In general the hospital air microbial counts were comparable to very good quality houses. The commonest species of fungi found in both environments were AsperigiIlus niger. Surface samples in hospital and homes showed that surface micro-organisms originated from air contaminants. A comparison of hospital and domestic bacterial sensitivity was carried out using coagulase negative Staphylococci (CNS). These were also compared to the patients\u27n CNS. The sensitivity pattern of CNS indicated that the environment or the source of the microbes had some effect upon the micro-organisms. Domestic airborne CNS were very sensitive to nearly all the antibiotics tested while patients harbored the most resistant CNS with hospital airborne CNS falling in between. Hospital airborne agents would seem to be a mixture of patients\u27 strains and the environmental strains possibly brought in by visitors to the hospital

The assessment of comprehension skills and development of a programme for enhancing comprehension skills for fourth grade students in the State of Qatar

This study aimed to explore the reading comprehension learning needs of fourth grade pupils in Qatar; to identify and test assessment techniques that may be helpful in studying reading comprehension; and to investigate the effects on reading comprehension of a metacognitive teaching programme.Exploratory interviews with fourth grade teachers showed that they focus on pronunciation, word-recognition and grammar. Pupils are not taught the strategies of comprehension and thinking while they read. A need was identified for innovative assessment activities and interventions to enhance reading comprehension skills.A quasi-experimental research design was chosen to investigate the effect of a metacognitive teaching programme in which two groups of pupils were compared on various measures of comprehension performance, including reading self-awareness and strategy use before and after a three month teaching programme: the standard Qatar reading programme for the control group and the Reading and Thinking Strategy programme for the experimental group.Reading comprehension was measured by a comprehension test and cloze test developed by the researcher. Strategy use and reading awareness were assessed by think-aloud tasks, the Index of Reading Awareness (Paris, Cross and Lipson, 1984), a Self-perception scale (Henk and Melrick, 1998) and metacognitive interviews. The reliability and validity of all measures were tested with classes of 4th grade pupils from three randomly selected schools in Qatar. The reading strategy programme was applied in a single school selected from among the three that had been involved in piloting the instruments. Valid, usable data was collected from 64 pupils: 31 in the control and 33 in the experimental group.The experimental group made significantly greater gains over all measures than the control group in association with the intervention showing the effectiveness of the metacognitive approach. The significant gains in reading awareness experienced by the experimental group extended to individual strategies: evaluation, planning, regulation and conditional knowledge. The metacognitive interviews and think-aloud protocols supported these findings. Following the intervention, the experimental group made more use than the control group of evaluation, self-questioning, monitoring and planning, and unlike the control group, used strategies in combination. It is concluded that, by training pupils in metacognitive skills, teachers can improve reading comprehension and help them to become active learners in the reading process

Seed policy in Pakistan: The impact of new laws on food sovereignty and sustainable development

This paper highlights the challenges that genetically modified (GM) seeds pose for farmers, citizens and the land itself in Pakistan. It explores the history of agricultural policy in Pakistan from the Green Revolution to what is now being dubbed the “Gene Revolution”, and analyzes how harmful effects of both are being amplified by two recently passed laws: the Seed (Amendment) Act 2015 and the Plant Breeders\u27 Rights Act 2016. The analysis of these laws is done from a food sovereignty perspective on sustainable development, where food sovereignty represents “the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through sustainable methods and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.” Finally, the paper offers comparative perspectives on seed policy and activism from Ecuador, Bolivia, India and Europe to suggest ways in which GM seeds have been approached with caution or outright bans, in order to promote health safety, farmers\u27 rights, resistance to corporate monopolies over seed, and preservation of indigenous biodiversity. Ultimately, the paper sheds light on the forms of control and corporatization that patented GM seeds embody, and asks: who owns the seed and want kind of food do we want to leave for our future generations