Development of an Expert System Tool for Environmental Impact Assessment

In this study, approaches to environmental impact assessment are reviewed and discussed. An expert system tool has been developed via the use of Microsoft Access tool for data management and Visual Basic programming for decision-making. Policies and regulations included in the program are based on the Technical Guidelines # 4 of the Dubai Municipality. The salient features of the program can be summarized as follows: the program allows the EIA applicant to input all the necessary information about his/her company and its activities. All discharges to air, water and land are compared with TG # 4 and status report is issued indicating whether or not the application is in compliance with the current policies and regulations. Also, suggested measures are outlined to mitigate the anticipated adverse impact. The Program is documented and an example is given to highlight its use. It is anticipated that such program could be adapted by Federal Environmental Agency for EIAs throughout the UAE

Development of an Expert System Tool for Environmental Impact Assessment

In this study, approaches to environmental impact assessment are reviewed and discussed. An expert system tool has been developed via the use of Microsoft Access tool for data management and Visual Basic programming for decision-making. Policies and regulations included in the program are based on the Technical Guidelines # 4 of the Dubai Municipality. The salient features of the program can be summarized as follows: the program allows the EIA applicant to input all the necessary information about his/her company and its activities. All discharges to air, water and land are compared with TG # 4 and status report is issued indicating whether or not the application is in compliance with the current policies and regulations. Also, suggested measures are outlined to mitigate the anticipated adverse impact. The Program is documented and an example is given to highlight its use. It is anticipated that such program could be adapted by Federal Environmental Agency for EIAs throughout the UAE

A Review of Enzymatic Transesterification of Microalgal Oil-Based Biodiesel Using Supercritical Technology

Biodiesel is considered a promising replacement to petroleum-derived diesel. Using oils extracted from agricultural crops competes with their use as food and cannot realistically satisfy the global demand of diesel-fuel requirements. On the other hand, microalgae, which have a much higher oil yield per hectare, compared to oil crops, appear to be a source that has the potential to completely replace fossil diesel. Microalgae oil extraction is a major step in the overall biodiesel production process. Recently, supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) has been proposed to replace conventional solvent extraction techniques because it is nontoxic, nonhazardous, chemically stable, and inexpensive. It uses environmentally acceptable solvent, which can easily be separated from the products. In addition, the use of SC-CO2 as a reaction media has also been proposed to eliminate the inhibition limitations that encounter biodiesel production reaction using immobilized enzyme as a catalyst. Furthermore, using SC-CO2 allows easy separation of the product. In this paper, conventional biodiesel production with first generation feedstock, using chemical catalysts and solvent-extraction, is compared to new technologies with an emphasis on using microalgae, immobilized lipase, and SC-CO2 as an extraction solvent and reaction media

Klason Method: An Effective Method for Isolation of Lignin Fractions from Date Palm Biomass Waste

Klason lignin extraction method is one of the robust techniques for isolation of lignin from lignocellulosic palm biomass waste for future production of High Value Chemicals (HVCs). To elucidate the mechanism of hemicellulose and cellulose glycosidic bond distraction, lignocellulos

Use of the Haddon matrix as a tool for assessing risk factors for sharps injury in emergency departments in the United Arab Emirates

We investigated the epidemiology and prevention of sharps injuries in the United Arab Emirates. Among 82 emergency nurses and 38 doctors who responded to our questionnaire, risk factors for sharp device injuries identified using the Haddon matrix included personal factors (for the pre‐event phase, a lack of infection control training, a lack of immunization, and recapping needles, and for the postevent phase, underreporting of sharps injuries) and equipment‐related factors (for the pre‐event phase, failure to use safe devices; for the event phase, failure to use gloves in all appropriate situations). Nearly all injuries to doctors were caused by suture needles, and among nurses more than 50% of injuries were caused by hollow‐bore needles

CFD and statistical approach to optimize the average air velocity and air volume fraction in an inert-particles spouted-bed reactor (IPSBR) system

Inert-particles spouted bed reactor (IPSBR) is characterized by intense mixing generated by the circular motion of the inert particles. The operating parameters play an important role in the performance of the IPSBR system, and therefore, parameter optimization is critical for the design and scale-up of this gas-liquid contact system. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) provides detailed modeling of the system hydrodynamics, enabling the determination of the operating conditions that optimize the performance of this contact system. The present work optimizes the main IPSBR operating parameters, which include a feed-gas velocity in the range 0.5-1.5 m/s, orifice diameter in the range 0.001-0.005 m, gas head in the range 0.15-0.35 m, mixing-particle diameter in the range 0.009-0.0225 m, and mixing-particle to reactor volume fraction in the range 2.0-10.0 vol % (which represents 0.01-0.1 kg of mixing particles loading). The effects of these parameters on the average air velocity and average air volume fraction in the upper, middle, and conical regions of the reactor were studied. The specific distance for each region has been measured from the orifice point to be 50 mm for the conical region, 350 mm for the middle region and 550 mm for the upper rejoin. The selected factors were optimized to obtain the minimum air velocity distribution (maximum gas residence time) and the maximum air volume fraction (maximum interfacial area concentration) because these conditions will increase the gas holdup, the gas-liquid contact area, and the mass transfer coefficient among phases. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to determine the optimum operating conditions. The regression analysis showed an excellent fit of the experimental data to a second-order polynomial model. The interaction between the process variables was evaluated using the obtained three-dimensional surface plots. The analysis revealed that under the optimized parameters of a feed-gas velocity of 1.5 m/s, orifice diameter of 0.001 m, gas head of 0.164 m, mixing-particle diameter of 0.0225 m, and mixing-particle loading of 0.02 kg, the minimum average air velocity and highest air volume fraction were observed throughout the reactor.This work was supported by the ADNOC Refining Research Center , Abu Dhabi, UAE.Scopu

Estimating Combustion Kinetics of UAE Date Palm tree Biomass using Thermogravimetric Analysis

Palm tree consists of different parts among which are the leaflet, rachis and fibers. All these parts constitute lignocellulose biomass components capable of producing value added end products. A kinetic study of thermal decomposition of UAE date palm tree of phoenix dicteylifera species was carried out using thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) at heating rates 10 oC/min, 15 oC/min and 20 oC/min. Most of the lignocellulose material decomposed between 300 oC and 650 oC at each heating rate. The rachis decomposed in three phases while the leaflet and fibers decomposed in two phases. The apparent activation energies increased from 54 to 476 kJ/mol, 55 to 458 kJ/mol and 84 to 329 kJ/mol for leaflet, rachis and fibers, respectively for conversion ranging from 10-% to 80-%. Results from this study are fundamental in optimizing operational conditions of a reactor for production of furfural, levulunic acid, dihydroeugenol, DHE and 2,6-dimethoxy-4-propyl phenol, DMPP as high value chemicals. Key words: UAE Palm tree biomass, Thermogravimetric analysis, Combustion kinetics, Activation energ

Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) Lockdown on Mental Health and Well-Being in the United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates (UAE) has taken unprecedented precautionary measures including complete lockdowns against COVID-19 to control its spread and ensure the well-being of individuals. This study investigated the impact of COVID-19 and societal lockdown measures on the mental health of adults in the UAE. A cross-sectional study was conducted using an English and Arabic online questionnaire between May and June 2020. The psychological impact was assessed by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), and the social and family support impact was evaluated using questions from the Perceived Support Scale (PSS). A total of 4,426 participants (3,325 females and 1,101 males) completed the questionnaire. The mean IES-R score was 28.0 ± 14.6, reflecting a mild stressful impact with 27.3% reporting severe psychological impact. Over 36% reported increased stress from work, home and financial matters. Also, 43–63% of the participants felt horrified, apprehensive or helpless due to COVID-19. Females, younger participants, part-timers, and college or University graduates were more likely to have a high IES-R score (p \u3c 0.05). The majority of participants reported receiving increased support from family members, paying more attention to their mental health, and spending more time to rest and relax. The results of this study demonstrate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health among the UAE residents and highlight the need to adopt culturally appropriate interventions for the general population and vulnerable groups, such as females and younger adults