Air pollution and health indicators in a rapidly developing industrial port in the Sultanate of Oman

Background and Aims: Sohar Industrial Port (Sultanate of Oman), started to operate in 2006, containing many industries that may adversely contribute to the air quality and hence to the health status of the residents in its proximity. The study aim is to assess the health effects of air quality of the population living in the residential area around the industrial port. Methods: Health data for the area were obtained between January 1st 2006 and December 31st 2011 from the Ministry of Health, Oman. Exposure to air pollution was classified into exposure zones according to mixture methods such as, proximity, dispersion models and wind roses. Four exposure zones were developed, from High, Intermediate, Sohar city and Control zones. Age and gender standardized rates were calculated for respiratory, cardiovascular and allergic diseases in each exposure zone. Results: The crude rate ratios of respiratory diseases in the high, the intermediate and Sohar city were (1.91, 95% CI, 1.87, 1.95), (1.18, 95% CI, 1.15, 1.21) and (0.18, 95% CI, 0.18,0.19), respectively. For dermatitis, these rates were (2.16, 95% CI, 1.91,2.45) for the high exposure zone, (1.05, 95% CI, 0.91, 1.23) for the intermediate zone and (0.20, 95% CI, 0.17,0.23) for Sohar city. In addition, the high exposure zone showed an increasing yearly trend of the incidence rate from 2007 to 2009 in both respiratory diseases and dermatitis. Conclusion: Evidence of adverse health effects was found in the high and intermediate exposure zones. More rigorous modeling is underway, which will involve other diseases and confounders

Comparing Omani Student-teachers’ Expressions of Identities in Traditional EFL Classrooms and Digital Contexts

Abstract: This paper aims to investigate how virtual social spaces facilitate the expression of female and male Omani student-teachers’ identities, as compared to classroom contexts. The study follows a qualitative research design that is grounded in an interpretivist/constructivist paradigm. Focus group discussions and Language Learning Histories were used for data collection. Fourteen Omani EFL student-teachers participated in this study. The findings are discussed in relation to Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System (2009), the Self-Determination Theory (2002), and Yashima’s International Posture (2009). The research data support the tripartite motivational model, with the expression of Omani-Islamic identity as a powerful motivation for Omani learners to participate in social media. Significantly, the findings reveal that participants’ online identity relates to their actual identity and, thus, bringing their offline identity to the digital context. In a sense, what they consumed offline fed into their online identity. Their online identity was filtered through the lens of English which facilitated their participation in virtual social spaces. The paper argues that social and cultural platforms afford wealthy exposure to and participatory involvement in multicultural-oriented spaces, promoting extensive research of the digital context. The findings of the research are topical as they resonate with the current thinking in the realm of motivation

Startegi Peningkatan Prestasi Belajar Siswa SD X di Salatiga Ditinjau dari Motivasi Belajar dan Kedisiplinan

Pendidikan formal dimulai dari tahap sekolah dasar dimana seorang anak mendapatkan semua informasi yang dialami dalam kehidupan sehari-hari. Luas wilayah Indonesia yang sangat luas menjadi salah satu faktor kurangnya kemerataan kualitas, mutu dan sumberdaya yang ada. Kualitas pendiidkan dapat dilihat dari hasil belajar siswa. Salah satu faktor yang mempengaruhi hasil belajar adalah motivasi belajar dan kedisiplinan. Kedua hal tersebut memiliki keterkaitan satu sama lain terhasap hasil belajar. Oleh karena itu, dilakukan sebuah penelitian tentang apa strategi yang dilakukan untuk meningkatkan prestasi belajar siswa SD X di Salatiga ditinjau dari motivasi belajar dan kedisiplinan. Untuk mendapatkan jawaban dari pertanyaan di atas maka dilakukan sebuah penelitian dengan teknik pengumpulan data berupa wawancara dan pengambilan nilai sebagai hasil belajar siswa. Setelah data dianalisis dapat diketahui bahwa data tersebut normal sehingga dilakukan tindak lanjut dengan medan ggunakan uji normalitas data menggunakan metode stepwise. Uji tersebut menghasilkan faktor yang paling mempengaruhi hasil belajar siswa adalah disiplin. Berdasarkan hasil analisis yang dilakukan, maka perlu dilakukan treatment khusus pada disiplin siswa sehingga dapat berpengaruh juga pada hasil belajar

Health and industrial development in Oman: epidemiological analysis of the health effects in a population living near a major industrial park in Oman

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonBackground and Aims: The Sohar Industrial Zone (SIZ), Oman, which started to operate in 2006, contains many industries that possibly affect the health of the local population. This study was carried out to evaluate the health effects in a population living near SIZ. Methods: Retrospective health care visits for acute respiratory diseases (ARD), asthma, conjunctivitis and dermatitis were collected between 2006 and 2010 for 2 large provinces with geographic proximity to SIZ. Exposure of the surrounding villages was classified using proximity to SIZ. Three exposure zones were defined according to the distances from the SIZ: ≤5, >5-10, ≥20 km representing high, intermediate and control exposure zones respectively. Age and gender-adjusted monthly counts of visits for the selected diseases were modelled using generalised additive models controlling for time trends. The high and intermediate exposure zones were later merged together due to similarity of effects. Exposure effect modification by age, gender and socioeconomic status (SES) was also tested. Results: Living within 10 km from SIZ showed greater association for ARD (RR: 2.5; 95% CI: 2.3-2.7), asthma (RR: 3.7; 95% CI: 3.1-4.5), conjunctivitis (RR: 3.1; 95% CI: 2.9-3.5) and dermatitis (RR: 2.7; 95% CI: 2.5-3.0) when compared to the control zone, for the population of <20 years. For the population of ≥20 years, these risks were: (RR: 2.0; 95% CI: 1.9-2.2), (RR: 3.6; 95% CI: 3.0-4.4), (RR: 2.8; 95% CI: 2.5-3.2) and (RR: 2.1; 95% CI: 1.9-2.4), respectively. Greater exposure effects were observed amongst ages ≥50 years and lower SES groups in the ≥20 years group. Models showed no differences between the gender groups. Conclusion: This is the first study conducted in Oman examining the adverse health effects on the population living near SIZ. We hope that these findings will contribute to building up an evidence-based environmental and public health policy in Oman

Drag-Reducing Polymers as Energy-Saving Agents in Horizontal Two-Phase Oil-Water Dispersed Flow

In this era of scarce and expensive energy, it has become imperative to devise means of reducing energy consumption, particularly in petroleum industries where huge amounts of energy are usually consumed. It is within this context that attempts have been made to reduce the energy consumption during pump-driven fluid transportation by the addition of drag-reducing polymers (DRPs), which mitigate the adverse frictional drag caused by the pipe wall. Hence, this study focused on quantifying the energy savings by the DRPs in dispersed oil-water flow at different Reynolds numbers using twelve DRPs, which possess different combinations of properties such as molecular weight, charge density, and ionic type. The results revealed substantial savings in energy in all cases with the highest saving of about 60.4%. Molecular weight posed a positive and most dominant impact among the three polymer properties investigated. The charge density slightly increased the energy savings at low values while the reverse was the case at high values. Cationic polymers produced slightly better performances than their anionic counterparts of comparable molecular weights and charge densities. Specifically, the energy saving at oil fractions of 0.1 and 0.3 increased from 6.9 to 60.4% and 5 to 51.9%, respectively, indicating the negative impact of the oil fraction. Overall, the use of DRPs has proved to be an efficient and sustainable means of saving substantial amounts of energy required to overcome the frictional drag in pipe flow

Implementing Real-time Visitor Counter Using Surveillance Video and MobileNet-SSD Object Detection: The Best Practice

إن معرفة عدد الأشخاص في المباني والمنشآت يساهم بشكل كبير في المحافظة على سلامة الزائرين وكذلك توفير معلومات مفيدة لإدارة تلك المؤسسات. تهدف هذه الورقة الى استخدام الذكاء الصناعي والاستفادة من كاميرات المراقبة في معرفة عدد الأشخاص المتواجدين في مبنى ما. قام الباحثون ببناء قاعدة بيانات بسيناريوهات مختلفة لتنفيذ تجارب متنوعة لمعرفة افضل ممارسة ممكنة في استخدام هذا النوع من العدادات. ومن خلال تلك التجارب حقق الباحثون نتائج متميزة في السيناريوهات التي تتكون من شخص واحد او شخصين باتجاهين منفصلين حيث وصلة نسبة الدقة الى 100%. Counters that keep track of the number of people who enter a building are a useful management tool for keeping everyone who uses it safe and happy. This paper aims to employ the MobileNet-SSD machine learning approach to implement a best practice for visitor counter. The researchers have to build a different scenario test dataset along with the MOT20 dataset to achieve the proposed methodology. Implementing different experiments in single-user, one-one; two-two users; many-two, and multiple users in different walking directions to detect and count shows varied results based on the experiment type. The best achieved by single-user and one-to-one model; both are scored 100% of detecting and calculating for in or out

Teacher-Researchers’ Reflective Narratives on Their Experiences at the Language Center Research Committee, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman

The current study reports on findings of using self-narrations by three teacher-researchers, (two of whom are the authors and the narrative inquirers of this study) to reflect on an English as a Foreign Language -based research experience in a newly established Research Committee (RC) in their work place. Narrative frame tool in the form of sentence starters has been utilized to guide the narration and generate data from the three teachers’ previously lived research experiences in the Committee. It is worth noting here that these three teachers had been working and actively engaging in research work before they had their memberships in the RC. Findings of this study are hoped to be significant and useful in learning about and highlighting the expectations of these three teacher-researchers of the research committee work, their learning experiences about research, their challenges and how they defeated them plus their future inspirations. Further, reflecting on these findings can also help the trio with their professional development and growth as well as the ones of their colleagues at the Centre for Preparatory Studies (CPS) that was formerly known as the Language Centre (LC) at the time of their memberships. The study concludes with some pedagogical and practical implications regarding the experience of reflection, narration and learning research

Biosurfactant production by Bacillus subtilis using corn steep liquor as culture medium

In this work, biosurfactant production by Bacillus subtilis #573 was evaluated using corn steep liquor (CSL) as culture medium. The best results were obtained in a culture medium consisting of 10% (v/v) of CSL, with a biosurfactant production of about 1.3 g/l. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report describing biosurfactant production by B. subtilis using CSL as culture medium. Subsequently, the effect of different metals (iron, manganese, and magnesium) on biosurfactant production was evaluated using the medium CSL 10%. It was found that for all the metals tested, the biosurfactant production was increased (up to 4.1, 4.4, and 3.5 g/l for iron, manganese, and magnesium, respectively). When the culture medium was supplemented with the optimum concentration of the three metals simultaneously, the biosurfactant production was increased up to 4.8 g/l. Furthermore, the biosurfactant exhibited a good performance in oil recovery assays when compared with chemical surfactants, which suggests its possible application in microbial enhanced oil recovery or bioremediation.The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Strategic Project PEst-OE/EQB/LA0023/2013 and project ref. RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (project number FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462) funded by Fundacao para aCiencia e a Tecnologia, and from AdI (Agencia de Inovacao, S.A.), through the project BIOCLEAN - "Development of biosurfactant- based products for surfaces cleaning and desinfection in the food industry" (QREN Ref. 30215)

A promising sustainable energy pathway: Bio-hydrogen

Oman's strategic focus on environmental sustainability and reducing the carbon emission of energy sources aligns with the global shift towards net zero. As a clean energy source, green hydrogen is a promising alternative in the energy transition. Green hydrogen production can be achieved through multiple pathways, with desalinated water electrolysis being the most prevalent and widely adopted method. Specifically, water electrolysis is an electrochemical technique that splits water molecules using electricity to generate hydrogen. As technical obstacles and the high Capex cost of electrolysis system, this research focuses on environmentally friendly bio-hydrogen production. In summary, by using Anaerobic digestion of wastewater involves bacteria breaking down organic matter in biosolids in absence of oxygen, producing CH₄ (methane) and other components. The methane is then purified (scrubbing) to separate organic CO₂ and H₂, with the H₂ serving as green hydrogen. The separated CO₂ can further be converted into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), enhancing the process’s overall sustainability. The economic feasibility of using sewage for bio-hydrogen production is enhanced by lower capital costs, as it leverages existing wastewater treatment infrastructure. Operational costs, however, depend on energy prices and scale. Anaerobic digestion (AD) produces biogas with a 55-70% methane, 30-45% CO₂, and trace impurities. Direct hydrogen production is low but can be generated through steam reforming or gas separation processes. Purification methods include Pressure Swing Adsorption, Membrane Separation, and Cryogenic Distillation, achieving up to 99.999% hydrogen purity. Hydrogen production from wastewater is an innovative approach that utilizes organic matter in wastewater as a feedstock. Numerous studies have investigated waste-to-hydrogen generation, with a UK pilot waste-to-biohydrogen plant design achieving 78% gross efficiency at a cost of £71 per MWh. The plant produced 3.1 and 45.3 MW of high purity, grid-quality hydrogen, respectively. This process not only supports sustainable hydrogen generation but also enhances wastewater treatment by reducing organic loads. Moreover, this approach supports circular economy principles and contributes to greenhouse gas reduction, positioning it as a viable option for regions aiming to optimize local resources and minimize environmental impact