UAEGSRC’16 (27-28 April 2016) UAE University Campus, Al-Ain, … · 2017-03-23 · 1 UAEGSRC’16 (27-28 April 2016) UAE University Campus, Al-Ain, UAE Detailed Program e ng ng

1

UAEGSRC’16 (27-28 April 2016)

UAE University Campus, Al-Ain, UAE

Detailed Program

Tim

e

Atr

ium

, Cre

scen

t B

uild

ing

Au

dit

ori

um

, Cre

scen

t

Bu

ildin

g

Au

dit

ori

um

, Ro

om

G0

20

(Mal

e Si

de)

, Bu

ildin

g E1

Exh

ibit

Hal

l & L

ob

by

(Mal

e

Sid

e), B

uild

ing

E1

Lob

by

(Mal

e Si

de

), B

uild

ing

E1

Rec

reat

ion

Hal

l, R

oo

m G

03

2

(Mal

e Si

de)

, Bu

ildin

g E1

Ro

om

10

03

(Fe

mal

e Si

de)

Ro

om

10

05

(Fe

mal

e Si

de)

Ro

om

10

21

(M

ale

Sid

e)

Ro

om

10

23

(M

ale

Sid

e)

Ro

om

10

27

(M

ale

Sid

e)

Ro

om

10

28

(M

ale

Sid

e)

Ro

om

10

36

(M

ale

Sid

e)

Ro

om

10

38

(M

ale

Sid

e)

Ro

om

10

58

(Fe

mal

e Si

de)

Ro

om

10

60

(Fe

mal

e Si

de)

Wednesday, April 27

08:00-

09:00

Registration

(Conference

Reception)

09:00-

09:30

Welcome and

Opening

Ceremony

09:30-

10:15

Keynote:

Communicati

on! Industry,

Innovation

and the 21st

Century

Graduate by

Dr. Alexandra

Bush, Senior

Consultant

ISIS

Innovation of

the University

of Oxford (UK)

10:15-

10:30 Transport: Transport to the College of Information Technology Building (E1)

10:30-

11:00

Projects &

Posters

Exhibit &

Coffee

Break

11:00-

13:00

D1SA1: D1SB1: D1SC1: D1SD1: D1SE1: D1SF1: D1SG1: D1SH1:

Elec

tric

al &

Ele

ctro

nic

Eng

inee

rin

g

Ener

gy

& P

etro

leu

m

Hu

ma

nit

ies

an

d S

oci

al

Scie

nce

s

Mec

ha

nic

al

Eng

inee

rin

g

Co

mp

ute

r &

Info

rma

tio

n S

cien

ce

Hea

lth

an

d L

ife

Scie

nce

s

Eart

h &

En

viro

nm

enta

l

Eng

inee

rin

g

Med

ica

l & H

ealt

h

Scie

nce

s

13:00-

14:00 Lunch

2

Tim

e

Atr

ium

, Cre

scen

t B

uild

ing

Au

dit

ori

um

, Cre

scen

t

Bu

ildin

g

Au

dit

ori

um

, Ro

om

G0

20

(Mal

e Si

de)

, Bu

ildin

g E1

Exh

ibit

Hal

l & L

ob

by

(Mal

e

Sid

e), B

uild

ing

E1

Lob

by

(Mal

e Si

de

), B

uild

ing

E1

Rec

reat

ion

Hal

l, R

oo

m G

03

2

(Mal

e Si

de)

, Bu

ildin

g E1

Ro

om

10

03

(Fe

mal

e Si

de)

Ro

om

10

05

(Fe

mal

e Si

de)

Ro

om

10

21

(M

ale

Sid

e)

Ro

om

10

23

(M

ale

Sid

e)

Ro

om

10

27

(M

ale

Sid

e)

Ro

om

10

28

(M

ale

Sid

e)

Ro

om

10

36

(M

ale

Sid

e)

Ro

om

10

38

(M

ale

Sid

e)

Ro

om

10

58

(Fe

mal

e Si

de)

Ro

om

10

60

(Fe

mal

e Si

de)

14:00-

15:40

Forum on

Graduate

Education

in the UAE

(By

Invitation

Only)


Elec

tric

al &

Ele

ctro

nic

Eng

inee

rin

g

Ch

emis

try

& C

hem

ica

l

Eng

inee

rin

g

Hu

ma

nit

ies

an

d S

oci

al

Scie

nce

s

Mic

ro/N

an

o S

yste

ms

Co

mp

ute

r &

Info

rma

tio

n

Scie

nce

Hea

lth

an

d L

ife

Scie

nce

s

Eart

h &

En

viro

nm

enta

l

Eng

inee

rin

g

Ener

gy

& F

uel

s

15:40-

16:00

Coffee

Break

16:00-

18:00


Elec

tric

al &

Ele

ctro

nic

Eng

inee

rin

g

Ch

emis

try

& C

hem

ica

l

Eng

inee

rin

g

Info

rma

tio

n S

ecu

rity

Mec

ha

nic

al

Eng

inee

rin

g

Co

mp

ute

r &

Info

rma

tio

n S

cien

ce

Hea

lth

an

d L

ife

Scie

nce

s

Sust

ain

ab

ility

in B

uilt

Envi

ron

men

t

Ener

gy

& F

uel

s

Thursday, April 28

08:00-

09:00

Registr

ation &

Coffee

09:00-

11:00

D2SA1: D2SB1: D2SC1: D2SD1: D2SE1: D2SF1: D2SG1: D2SH1: D2SI1: D2SJ1:

Elec

tric

al &

Ele

ctro

nic

Eng

inee

rin

g

Ch

emis

try

& C

hem

ica

l

Eng

inee

rin

g

Info

rma

tio

n S

ecu

rity

Mec

ha

nic

al

Eng

inee

rin

g

Co

mp

ute

r &

Info

rma

tio

n S

cien

ce

Bio

med

ica

l

Eng

inee

rin

g

Wa

ter

Eng

inee

rin

g

Ro

bo

tics

&

Au

tom

ati

on

Mic

ro/N

an

o S

yste

ms

Ma

teri

als

Sci

ence

11:00-

12:00

Projects &

Posters

Exhibit &

Coffee

Break

3

Tim

e

Atr

ium

, Cre

scen

t B

uild

ing

Au

dit

ori

um

, Cre

scen

t

Bu

ildin

g

Au

dit

ori

um

, Ro

om

G0

20

(Mal

e Si

de)

, Bu

ildin

g E1

Exh

ibit

Hal

l & L

ob

by

(Mal

e

Sid

e), B

uild

ing

E1

Lob

by

(Mal

e Si

de

), B

uild

ing

E1

Rec

reat

ion

Hal

l, R

oo

m G

03

2

(Mal

e Si

de)

, Bu

ildin

g E1

Ro

om

10

03

(Fe

mal

e Si

de)

Ro

om

10

05

(Fe

mal

e Si

de)

Ro

om

10

21

(M

ale

Sid

e)

Ro

om

10

23

(M

ale

Sid

e)

Ro

om

10

27

(M

ale

Sid

e)

Ro

om

10

28

(M

ale

Sid

e)

Ro

om

10

36

(M

ale

Sid

e)

Ro

om

10

38

(M

ale

Sid

e)

Ro

om

10

58

(Fe

mal

e Si

de)

Ro

om

10

60

(Fe

mal

e Si

de)

12:00-

13:00

Plenary

Session:

Research in

Semiconduc

tor: the

Roles of

Universities

by Dr. Kwok

Ng, Senior

Science

Director,

Semiconduc

tor

Research

Corporation

Research

Triangle,

NC (USA)

13:00-

14:00

Lunch

14:00-

15:40 D2SA2: D2SB2: D2SC2: D2SD2: D2SE2: D2SF2: D2SG2: D2SH2: D2SI2: D2SJ2:

Elec

tric

al &

Ele

ctro

nic

Eng

inee

rin

g

Ch

emis

try

& C

hem

ica

l

Eng

inee

rin

g

Hu

ma

nit

ies

an

d S

oci

al

Scie

nce

s

Ind

ust

ria

l & C

om

mu

nic

ati

on

s

Eng

inee

rin

g

Info

rma

tio

n S

ecu

rity

Elec

tric

al &

Ele

ctro

nic

Eng

inee

rin

g

Aer

osp

ace

En

gin

eeri

ng

Ro

bo

tics

& A

uto

ma

tio

n

Mic

ro/N

an

o S

yste

ms

Civ

il En

gin

eeri

ng

15:40-

16:15 Coffee

Break

16:15-

17:00 Closing

Ceremony

4

Wednesday, April 27

Wednesday, April 27, 08:00 - 09:00

Registration (Conference Reception)

Room: Atrium, Crescent Building


Welcome and Opening Ceremony

Room: Auditorium, Crescent Building

Welcome: H.E. Dr. Ali Rashid Al Noaimi, Vice Chancellor, UAEU


Keynote: Communication! Industry, Innovation and the 21st Century Graduate by Dr. Alexandra Bush,

Senior Consultant ISIS Innovation of the University of Oxford (UK)

Dr. Alexandra Bush, Senior Consultant ISIS Innovation of the University of Oxford (UK)

Room: Auditorium, Crescent Building

Abstract:

The topic of the importance of communication between industry and universities is not new, yet still we see more

and more publications on how and why it is necessary to understand each other's needs and outputs. Just as in

building any solid foundation for a fruitful relationship - is the critical need for academics and graduates to

understand the common ground where the research institution of today meets the needs of modern industry. Both

sides have to understand each other and by having two-way communication that is open (while protecting

intellectual property) and honest (realistic) creates the most successful innovation ecosystem. These positive

communications between industry and academic institutions, where today’s graduates are being developed for our

future, are leading to more open innovation, alliances and stronger networks than ever before; delivering impact for

the benefit of society.

About the presenter:

Alexandra has almost 20 years of experience in various organizations, holding a variety of positions in the areas of

product development, business development and commercialization of innovative technologies. She has an in

depth understanding of strategic foresight and planning, including business planning led by strategic objectives and

measurable targets to deliver the plan, business development in private sector global company and in Government

funded organizations, including start-ups and project management of materials testing ensuring profit margins. As

a Senior Consultant in Isis Enterprise, Alexandra provides support in the UK and globally on IP policy issues,

knowledge transfer and innovation management. Her previous roles include working with the Australian Red Cross

Blood Service, InnovationXchange Australia, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, and

5

Johnson Matthey, UK. Alexandra has a PhD in Chemistry from Queen Mary, University of London and did

postdoctoral research at Imperial College London. She gained a Masters in Science and Technology

Commercialization from the Entrepreneurship, Commercialization and Innovation Centre at the University of

Adelaide.


Transport: Transport to the College of Information Technology Building (E1)


Projects & Posters Exhibit & Coffee Break

Room: Exhibit Hall & Lobby (Male side), Building E1


D1SA1: Electrical & Electronic Engineering

Room 1003 (Female side)

D1SA1.1 11:00 AC-DC Converter for Energy Harvesting Start-up Systems

Maisam Wahbah (Khalifa University, UAE); Mohammad Alhawari (Khalifa University of Science,

Technology and Research, UAE); Baker Mohammad (Khalifa University, UAE); Hani Saleh (Khalifa

University of Sciente, Technology & Research, UAE); Mohammed Ismail (Khalifa University, UAE)

This paper presents optimized AC-DC converters designed in 65 nm low power process. Two AC-DC

converters have been designed: Bias-Flip rectifier and Voltage Doubler. The design is part of a piezo

electric harvesting system targeting wearable electronics. Voltage doubler and full-bridge rectifier are

fabricated to support start-up mechanism where no control circuit is required, while the bias-flip rectifier

supports higher efficiency for normal operation mode. Experimental results revealed that voltage doubler

is more efficient than full-bridge rectifier by 71%. The experiment uses MIDE piezo electric harvester

with 25 Hz resonance frequency. However, the harvester was used at 4.5 Hz (human frequency) which

degrade the energy extracted from the harvester. If another harvester was designed to tune to lower

frequency, higher energy level can be extracted. The combined bias-flip rectifier and voltage doubler

support energy autonomous system where no start-up power is needed.

D1SA1.2 11:20 Novel PI Controllers Tuning for a Grid-Connected Voltage Source Converter

Wesam Taha and Abdul Rahiman Beig (The Petroleum Institute, UAE); Igor Boiko (Petrolum Institute,

UAE)

Tuning approach stands as a critical issue when dealing with the voltage oriented control (VOC)

topology as it ultimately defines the system performance. This paper proposes a systematic PI-tuning

approach for a grid-connected voltage source converter (VSC) system. The approach involves an analytic

solution based on the approximation of the plant dynamics by first-order-plus-time-delay (FOPTD)

models. It is demonstrated that the system performance using the analytic tuning formulas is similar to

that of the optimal ones and yield a robust system against disturbances. Therefore, analytic PI-controller

tuning rules which yield optimal disturbance rejection, in terms of system parameters, can be formulated.

D1SA1.3 11:40 A 1-V 8-Bit Low-Power Clock Gated SAR ADC for Biomedical Applications

Tasnim Nazzal and Soliman Mahmoud (University of Sharjah, UAE)

In this paper, a 1-V 8-bit 10KS/s low-power clock gated successive approximation register (SAR)

analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is implemented for biomedical (low-frequency) applications. It is

6

based on gating the clock signal in the SAR controller logic when there is no data switching activity.

Therefore, any redundant transitions will be avoided which reduce the power consumption. The proposed

SAR ADC are simulated on LT Spice IV using 90nm CMOS technolgy. According to the simulation

results, the proposed SAR ADC consumes 0.84 uW from 1V power supply. It has signal-to-noise ratio

(SNR) of 56.2 dB, peak spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) of 49.5 dB, and a signal-to-noise-and

distortion ratio (SNDR) of 46.2 dB for a 250Hz full scale input sine wave. In addition to that, the SAR

ADC has effective number of bits (ENOB) of 7.3-bits, and a figure of merit (FOM) of 0.53

pJ/Conversion step.

D1SA1.4 12:00 Fifth Order Dual-Notch Low Pass Filter Oriented to EEG Detection System

Aisha Alhammadi and Soliman Mahmoud (University of Sharjah, UAE)

This paper presents the design of fifth order dual-notch low pass filter for Electroencephalogram (EEG)

detection system. The proposed filter stems from doubly terminated LC ladder network where inductors

and resistors are emulated using digitally programmable operational transconductance amplifiers

(OTAs). This filter is utilized to diminish the effect of power line interference at 50Hz. Also, it cuts out

frequencies beyond 100Hz, which works as low pass filter for EEG systems. The transconductance value

of OTA is fixed at 3nA/V for designing both inductors and resistors. PSpice results using 0.25µm CMOS

process operating under +/-0.8V voltage supply are given. The dual-notch low pass filter provides total

harmonic distortion (THD) of 1.17% for 20μVpp at 100Hz sinusoidal input, input referred noise density

of 36.971μV/sqrt(Hz) at the passband frequencies, total standby power consumption of 28.583μW, and

notch depth of 45.631dB attenuation at 52Hz and 62.727dB attenuation at 112Hz.

D1SA1.5 12:20 The impact of Emirati household occupants on energy consumption; exploratory investigation

Amna Moh'd Al Gabshi Al Ameri and Kheira Anissa Tabet Aoul (UAEU, UAE)

This paper reports on an exploratory qualitative study that aims to investigate nationals' behavior and its

impact on energy consumption in their detached houses (villa) in Al Ain city (Abu Dhabi Emirate). The

methodology is based on semi-structured interviews, addressing occupants' daily energy usage patterns,

cultural aspects and their awareness level of energy consumption in their homes. Housing data and

electricity bills have been considered. A pilot study with a small number of units was run first and the

main investigation was carried out in 20 units. This paper presents preliminary results of this

investigation, where the expected findings will contribute to a better understanding of Emirati energy

consumption patterns in relation to their culture, way of life and behavior and potentially open

appropriate venues to address energy use reduction in the UAE residential sector.

D1SB1: Energy & Petroleum


D1SB1.1 11:00 Simulating Fracture Initiation and Propagation of Preexisting Cracks in Rocks Subject to

Internal Hydraulic Pressure and Vertical Stress

Oraib Al-ketan (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Rashid Abu Al-Rub (Masdar

Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

This study highlights the effect of varying the hydraulic pressure inside pre-existing cracks on new-crack

evolution for several geometrical crack arrangements using coupled elasto-plastic-damage model. The

model contains two damage evolution laws, and uses a yield criterion that accounts for the distinct tensile

and compressive behavior of rocks. Results show that the ratio of internal hydraulic pressure (HP) to the

vertical load (VL) (i.e., HP/VL) affects both initiation sites and patterns of the newly propagated cracks.

Both the absolute value of HP and VL affect the size, extent of newly formed cracks, and whether

coalescence will occur or not. Both initial crack inclination and bridge angles affect the mechanism of

7

crack coalescence for a certain HP/VL ratio.

D1SB1.2 11:20 Reflection Seismic Data Processing of the Offshore United Arab Emirates: Unveil the

Underground Mysteries

Yi Guo, Mohammed Ali and Muhammad Tanveer (The Petroleum Institute, UAE)

The first deep seismic study was conducted in the offshore United Arab Emirates, aiming to understand

the collision tectonics and ophiolite emplacement mechanism. However, unwanted noise and multiples

cover the real appearance of the underground structure. Seismic processing can increase the confidence

to use the data for subsequent processing and interpretation. With an effective processing sequence, five

seismic lines in northern Fujairah area were processed. Final PSTM stacks indicate some impressive

structures.

D1SB1.3 11:40 Understanding the Complexities of Thick Carbonates Capillary Pressure Transition Zones is a

key to Recovery Optimization

Abdessamia Jebbouri (The Petroleum Institute, UAE); Hadi Belhaj (Hadi Belhaj, UAE)

The aim of this work is supposed to highlight the understanding of the effect of the different rock types

of the addressed transition zone of the carbonate reservoir on fluids saturation distribution and to be later

used for reservoir modeling and to help in optimization IOR techniques.

D1SB1.4 12:00 Optimization of Multilateral Well Productivity in Carbonate Reservoirs

Temitope Ajayi and Mohamed Hossni (THE PETROLEUM INSTITUTE ABU DHABI, UAE)

The merits of the application of multilateral wells are well documented in the literature however, an

understanding of the best operating conditions for the use of multilateral wells is rare thus we answer

cogent questions related to the optimization of multilateral wells under different reservoir conditions and

well design parameters. Design of Experiment (DOE) and Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was

utilized. Selected factors to be optimized were chosen based on literature search, perceptions and

deliberations while the objective functions are the cumulative oil production and water cut. Several

experiments were conducted using three dimensional numerical simulations and the Box-Behnken RSM

was used to derive the response surfaces. Single effects and interaction plots are made to show the

interactions between parameters and the effect of these parameters and interactions on the objective

function. This study provides a template for decision making in field development operations thereby

reducing uncertainties and maximizing gains.

D1SC1: Humanities and Social Sciences

Room 1021 (Male side)

D1SC1.1 11:00 The impact of classroom density on teachers' performance& students' achievement in Al-Ain

schools

Saif Alamnei (UAE, UAE); Sultan Alsuwaidi (UAEU, UAE)

This research study aimed to investigate the students' and teachers' perceptions about the impact of

classroom density on teacher's performance and student's achievement in Al-Ain Schools. The study

addressed the two research questions (a). To what extent classroom density impact teacher's performance

in Al-Ain Cycle Three Schools? (b) To what extent classroom density impact students' achievement in

Al-Ain Cycle Three Schools? To have an in-depth understanding of whether class density impacted

teaching and learning students, a quantitative method and a causal comparative design were conducted to

collect data via two questionnaires; one for teachers, and another one for grade 12students. The findings

8

revealed that classroom density impacted both the teacher's performance and students' achievement

inappropriately. The study recommended reducing classroom students to foster the effectiveness of

teachers and increase the achievement of students.

D1SC1.2 11:20 The American Canon and Narratives by Enslaved African American Muslims

Muna Al Badaai (UAEU, UAE)

The narratives of enslaved African American Muslims originate between 1734 and 1867. Even though

some scholars recognize similarities between narratives by enslaved non-Muslim and Muslim African

Americans, the latter have not been included in the American canon. This paper aims to review critical

approaches of canonization and advance the argument for including narratives of enslaved African

American Muslims in the American canon. The inclusion of Muslim narratives would reflect the

American multiethnic nature and provide new literary perspectives on the study of the slave narrative. It

also would highlight the contribution of enslaved African American Muslims in the American literary

history.

D1SC1.3 11:40 An Investigation of the Diversity of Cultural Dimensions within the UAE

Abir Ashrafi and Hazim El Baz (American University of Sharjah, UAE)

The UAE, one of the most rapidly developing countries, has been known for its wide cultural diversity

and its ability to preserve its past while working towards the future. The interest in global expansion had

attracted different international organizations, each carrying its own culture. The key success was to

understand the different cultures. For that, this research focused on creating a cultural model consisting

of ten cultural dimensions based on past research. The model was tested against the existing culture of

the UAE through a survey constructed and distributed to employees of different age, gender, working

sector and residency years. From the results, a cultural profile for the UAE was created showing the

similarities and differences in behavior of the local culture against other regional nationalities. All

individuals, regardless of their backgrounds, showed a behavioral change directed towards a common

base and influenced by the local culture.

D1SC1.4 12:00 The Planning System of Sharjah City

Inshirah Shublaq (American University of Sharjah & American University of RAK, UAE)

This paper explores the different aspects of the planning system of Sharjah City. It uses the limited

available publications and manuals that are dedicated for this field of study. Due to the fact that there is a

lack of educational materials and resources that are directed to emphasize the systematic developing

approach of the city of Sharjah, the challenge in writing this paper was the limited resources. This made

the surveys and interviews to be the most reliable pillars to lean on. The main purpose of writing such a

paper was the clear intention for the city to have a published paper that will guide the interested

individuals into the whole planning system in Sharjah. Multiple interviews were taken place with

different employees in different expertise and departments, in both "Sharjah Urban Planning Council"

known as SUPC and "Directorate of Town Planning and Survey in Sharjah" known as DTPS.

D1SC1.5 12:20 How Can Hospital Social Workers Support Families of Children with Disabilities in the UAE?

Nouma Hammach (United Arab Emirates University, UAE)

Families of disabled children need psychosocial support to provide their children with better care. An

exploratory descriptive research, using a mixed-method (qualitative and quantitative model) was used to

explore the current situation of these families and the hospital social workers' support to them. Results

revealed that these families face hardships on the psychological, social and financial levels, yet there is

lack of formal support despite the families' desire to have more social services such as counseling,

referral to support groups, home visits, and respite care. So far, there is no hospital service dedicated to

families of disabled children in the UAE. Theoretically, having a hospital family support center that

provides counseling, referral to community organizations, and facilitation of support groups can

9

empower these families and help improve their quality of life.

D1SD1: Mechanical Engineering


D1SD1.1 11:00 Assessment of Variable Refrigerant Flow for Indoor Comfort Control at Masdar City Eco-Villa

Roba Saab (Masdar Institute for Science and Technology, UAE); Mohamed I Ali (Masdar, UAE)

This paper presents the energy and exergy analysis of the variable refrigerant flow air conditioning

systems. The performance of this system is assessed among other conventional systems. Mathematical

and thermodynamic modelling of the system is done on engineering equation solver (EES) software.

Experimental verification of the models is to be carried on the VRF system that will be implemented in

Masdar City Eco-Villa located in Abu Dhabi.

D1SD1.2 11:20 Water Dynamic Behavior in PEMFC Microchannel with Transport through Gas Diffusion Layer

Asif Muhammad Bin Adam Soopee (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Tariq Shamim

(Masdar Institute of Science & Technology, UAE)

A 2D model was implemented to investigate the dynamic behavior of liquid water droplets emerging

from the gas diffusion layer (GDL) into the cathode flow channel of a proton exchange membrane fuel

cell using the volume of fluid method and porous model. Numerical simulations with conclusive

validations were performed by varying two critical parameters; temperature and permeability of the

porous region, representing the GDL. The results demonstrate how diffusion of air through the GDL is

affected by the development stages of the water bubble in the flow channel. The water bubble

deformation is reduced by the temperature increase, which increases the air mass flow rate through the

GDL layer during the early stages of the water bubble development; with the reverse effect in the later

stages. Furthermore, an increase in the permeability of the GDL causes less flooding of the flow channel.

D1SD1.3 11:40 Mechanical Properties of 304 Stainless Steel Under Elevated Temperature

Shaohong Luo and Abdullah Mohiuddin (Khalifa University, UAE)

304 stainless steel is the common material that make up of large-size thin-wall container such as oil

storage tank. It is necessary to perform the research on mechanical properties of 304 stainless steel after

oil storage tank is subjected to fire accident. In this paper, tensile behavior of 304 stainless steel under

elevated temperature is studied. The variance in Young's modulus, yield stress and tensile strength with

the change in temperature is revealed. The relationship between these mechanical quantities and

temperature is represented by using least square fitting method.

D1SD1.4 12:00 Experimental Investigations on the Mechanical Properties of New Type of Interpenetrating

Phase Composites Based on Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces

Fatma AlShowab (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Oraib Al-ketan (Masdar Institute

of Science and Technology, UAE); Rashid Abu Al-Rub (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology,

UAE); Toufic Mezher (Masdar, UAE)

This research study aims to explore and investigate several forms of advanced architectural multiphase

composites using additive manufacturing technology (3D printing) in an attempt to provide a thorough

experimental analysis of their effective mechanical performance under uniaxial compressive loading. The

composites under study are constructed using the novel mathematically-known triply periodic minimal

surfaces (TPMS) which are used as 3D reinforcements within a matrix, creating new interpenetrating

phase composites (IPCs). The architecture of the TPMS structure and their respective volume fractions

significantly affect the effective mechanical properties of the IPCs under study. Such composites can be

effectively used in damage-tolerant structural systems.

D1SD1.5 12:20 Comparison of Terrestrial and Martian Dust-devil vortices

Abdullah Mohiuddin and Shaohong Luo (Khalifa University, UAE)

Dust devil vortices are the atmospheric vortices, frequently observed in dessert environment. This paper

10

initially provides a review of the methods used by researchers to extend the understanding of dust devil

vortices. Researchers performed field observations, laboratory modeling, and numerical simulations for

lab-scale and dust-devil scale. These studies were focused on the investigation of general characteristics

of terrestrial dust devils, such as velocity, temperature fields, dust lifting capabilities and electrostatic

behavior. This paper however includes the results from a numerical model of a lab apparatus that mimics

dust devil vortices. Moreover the ability of this numerical model to incorporate physical conditions of

Martian surface is exploited to make a comparison between terrestrial and Martian dust devil vortices. It

was found that in similar conditions Martian dust devil would be stronger than terrestrial dust devil in

absence of dust.

D1SD1.6 12:40 Analysis of design of Perforated Muffler: Effect of Temperature on Transmission Loss

Shahid Rabbani (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

Noise emissions from the auto mobiles have always been a hurdle in making pollution-free environment.

Ever increasing focus on noise reduction and relevant regulations have compelled the automotive firms to

reduce the engine noise. The main parameter which determines the noise reduction capability and

effectiveness of the muffler is Transmission Loss. In order to achieve good Transmission Loss, reactive

type mufflers with perforations have proved to be very effective in damping sound. In this study a

reactive muffler was designed in 3D using CAD software and effect of different parameters on

performance of muffler were investigated numerically. Transmission loss which determines the

attenuation of power intensity of sound, were analysed using COMSOL .Since sound enters the muffler

at inlet temperature depending on the exhaust gases of engine, therefore effect of different inlet

temperature on performance of muffler and determination of Eigen frequency of muffler have also been

included in analysis

D1SE1: Computer & Information Science


D1SE1.1 11:00 Early Features-Fusion over 3D face for Face Recognition

Claudio Tortorici and Naoufel Werghi (Khalifa University, UAE)

In this paper, a novel approach for fusing shape and texture Local Binary Pattern (LBP) for 3D Face

Recognition is presented. Using the recently proposed mesh-LBP [1], it is now possible to compute LBP

directly on a mesh manifold, allowing Features Early-Fusion to enhance face description power.

Compared to its depth image counterpart, the proposed method is distinguished by a) inherits the intrinsic

advantages of mesh surfaces, b) can accommodate partial or rotation matching, c) allows early-level

fusion of texture and shape descriptors. An experimentation of early-fusion techniques over Bosphorus

database is presented.

D1SE1.2 11:20 Peak Demand Minimization in the Smart Grid

Zaid Almahmoud and Khaled Elbassioni (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

Smart grid is emerging as the future power grid, with smart techniques to optimize power consumption

and electricity generation. Minimizing the peak power consumption under a fixed delay requirement is a

significant problem in the smart grid. For this problem, all appliances must be scheduled within a given

finite time duration. We consider the problem of minimizing the peak demand under appliances

constraints by scheduling power jobs with uniform release dates and deadlines. As the problem is known

to be NP-Hard, we propose two versions of a greedy approximation algorithm for solving this problem.

Our theoretical analysis and experimental results show that our proposed heuristics outperform existing

methods by providing a better approximation to the optimal solution.

D1SE1.3 11:40 Persuasive Social Influence for Career Attainment in Higher Education

11

Eman AbuKhousa (UAEU, UAE); Yacine Atif (University of Skovde, Sweden)

Social influence and persuasive technology have been applied widely in commercial and healthcare

promotions, but not so much for educational purposes. Social context is crucial in educational

environments to define important properties of persuasion power that could lead to increasing retention

of learning and behavioral skills. In this paper, we propose a Behavioral Change Support System for

Career-Adoption (BCSS-CA) to encourage learners in higher education to adopt desired career behaviors

according to current local market needs. We designed a social network analysis (SNA) method to extract

the most influential nodes in a SN using different strategies; which then are used as an initial set for

influence diffusion models to compare their social influence performance. The results revealed that nodes

of highest "coreness" value have the highest impact in influencing other nodes under both models. These

nodes in the are then "hired" as "persuasive agents" in our BCSS-CA.

D1SE1.4 12:00 Convolutional Neural Networks for Detection of Defect Patterns in Semiconductor Wafer Maps

Ghalia Tello (Khalifa University, UAE)

Abstract—Detection of defective chips on wafers is a crucial issue to semiconductor manufacturing

companies in order to track back the root of the failure. Different machine learning approaches have been

applied for detecting defect patterns in semiconductor wafer maps. This paper applies a more advanced

machine learning algorithm (deep learning) using a convolutional neural networks (CNN) to detect the

defect patterns. Moreover, it considers more realistic setting by adding composite or mixed defect

patterns to the dataset. CNN achieves accuracy of 85%, which confirms better performance than the fully

connected neural networks, such as Multilayer perceptron (MLP) and Radial based function network

(RBF).

D1SE1.5 12:20 Comparison of skin detection algorithms for tracking Applications

Emad Ibrahim (Khalifa University, UAE)

Human detection within a scene can be implemented based on an algorithm by Peer et al [1]. This

algorithm detects the skin color in RGB images by checking some pixel conditions, any pixel value

satisfying those conditions will be labeled as skin. Mahalanobis distance [2]; on the other hand, is also

used for skin detection. Mahalanobis distance depends on the mean (m) and covariance (c) of pixel

values representing skin. This paper examine and compares these two methods in terms of methodology

and qualitative assessment.

D1SF1: Health and Life Sciences


D1SF1.1 11:00 Sequence and Structural-functional Bioinformatics Analysis of HA Binding Domain of Human

CD44

Kinana Al Adem and Suryani Lukman (Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research, UAE)

CD44, a transmembrane protein presented on the surface of many immune cells and cancer cells, plays a

crucial role in cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions. The principal ligand for CD44 is the ubiquitous ECM

glycosaminoglycan, Hyaluronic acid (HA). The interaction between CD44 and HA is implicated in

various physiological and pathological processes including inflammation and cancer progression,

respectively. The HA binding domain of CD44 is termed the link module, a domain that is conserved

among HA-binding proteins. This paper investigated the conservation of this domain by conducting

multiple sequence analysis across mammalian species where it was found that this domain is highly

conserved as the similarity between the species exceeded 80%. Moreover, this study addressed the

structural-functional analysis of HA-binding domain of human CD44 by predicting the potential disulfide

bridges and N-linked glycosylation sites and relating it to the tertiary structure of HA-binding domain of

12

CD44.

D1SF1.2 11:20 Structural Analyses of Human CD24 and Its Interacting Protein, Lyn Tyrosine Kinase

Sarah Azzam (Khalifa University of Science, Technology & Research, UAE); Suryani Lukman (Khalifa

University of Science, Technology and Research, UAE)

The CD24 is a small and highly glycosylated cell-surface protein that is linked via glycosyl-

phosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor. An interacting partner of CD24 is Lyn kinase; an intracellular Src-

Family kinase, which is found to interact with the extracellular CD24 molecule via membrane rafts.

Interaction between Lyn and CD24 in some human mutagenesis highlights the importance of analyzing

Lyn structure. In this study, we have examined CD24, Lyn kinase and their possible interactions.

Furthermore, conservational sequence analysis was computationally conducted for CD24 and Lyn kinase

across species. The unavailability of CD24 structure in Protein Data Bank motivated the use of

bioinformatics tools to predict CD24 structure. We performed visual analyses of Dasatinib-Lyn kinase

complex structure, and proposed a suggestion for Dasatinib-based drug optimization. Understanding

CD24 and Lyn kinase structures can assist in probing the functions and therapeutic strategies in cancer-

linked pathways.

D1SF1.3 11:40 Studies on Seed Germination and Seedling Emergence of Cleome brachycarpa: The Effect of

Growing Media and Seed Color

Suzan Shahin and Mohammed Salem (United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), UAE)

Seed germination was always a critical topic for propagating desert plants. Such seeds have limited

access to fresh water resources and exposed to harsh environmental conditions (e.g. high temperatures),

which resulted in developing many survival mechanisms; to adapt the surrounding stressful conditions

and to naturally conserve species availability. Seed germination topic is of great interest, especially while

dealing with medicinal crops, that have great economical values (e.g. pharmaceutical and aroma therapy).

The main purpose of this work is to conduct seed germination studies on testing the effect of growing

media and seed color on seedling emergence of Cleome brachycarpa, indigenous to the United Arab

Emirates (UAE).

D1SF1.4 12:00 Anticonvulsant Effects of Novel Histamine H3 Receptor Antagonists In Different Rat Seizure

Models

Ali Saad (UAEU, UAE); Johannes Schwed (Heinrich Heine University, Germany); Nadia Khan and

Dhanasekaran Subramanian (UAEU, UAE); Lilia Weizel (Goethe University, Germany); Holger Stark

(Heinrich Heine University, Germany); Bassem Sadek (UAEU, UAE)

Epilepsy is a chronic disorder characterized by repetitive seizures. Available AEDs are effective in 60-

80% of patients but associated with diverse side effects. Pitolisant, a H3R antagonist, was effective in

different animal seizure models and in patients with photosensitive epilepsy. In the current study,

pharmacophores of pitolisant were combined with that of safinamide or phenytoin with different spacer

moieties. These novel ligands demonstrated good affinity and selectivity profiles. These agents were also

investigated in different seizure models. Safinamide-related derivatives with bulky substituents

significantly and dose-dependently reduced or fully protect from MES- and PTZ-induced convulsions

with some in-vivo stereochemical preferences.

D1SG1: Earth & Environmental Engineering


D1SG1.1 11:00 On the formation of bio-improved geomaterials and their deformation characteristics

13

Dimitrios Terzis (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne & Laboratory for Soil

Mechanics, Switzerland); Lyesse Laloui (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology & EPFL, Switzerland)

Microbially induced calcite precipitation has emerged as a soil strengthening technique with foreseen

application to a vast range of geo-engineering problems. The technique introduces the bio-cemented

geomaterial which is characterized by a peculiar structure due to the formation of CaCO3 mineral

crystals among the soil grains. This study investigates the effect of the initial porosity and material

intrinsic properties on the formation of the calcite solid matrix which governs the mechanical response.

The same treatment conditions are applied herein to geomaterials of different grain size and porosity. The

obtained bio-improved samples are subjected to drained triaxial shear and improved mechanical

characteristics are obtained. Microstructural observations through scanning electron microscopy and

energy dispersive X-ray analyses are carried out. Results allow obtaining a comprehensive understanding

of the distinct geometrical and spatial characteristics of the newly formed structure and associate these

characteristics with the obtained mechanical response and with the initial material properties.

D1SG1.2 11:20 Long-term Seasonal and Daily Temporal Changes in Horizontal Surface Visibility in Abu Dhabi

Amal Aldababseh (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Marouane Temimi (Masdar

Institute, Tunisia)

Visibility has become an important environmental issue receiving great attention from both the scientific

community and the public. Using hourly long term meteorological data for Abu Dhabi International

Airport from the U.S. National Climatic Data Center, to analyze long-term seasonal and daily temporal

changes in horizontal surface visibility from 1982 to 2015. The months were stratified based on visibility

range to hazy and non-hazy seasons, and to three classes per day (morning, noon and afternoon).

Seasonally, the analysis showed that the averaged range of monthly visibility was the lowest in the

autumn and summer, with 875m visibility range difference between hazy and non-hazy seasons. Low

visibility occurred in the morning and the maximum visibility occurred in the afternoon period. Visibility

range enhanced during the day by 2.6% in hazy-seasons, and by 3.6% in non-hazy seasons.

D1SG1.3 11:40 On the role of Hyper-arid Regions within the Virtual Water Trade Network

James Aggrey and Annalisa Molini (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

Sustainable development of arid regions is interlocked with global water availability and distribution.

High growth rate coupled with climate dynamics will affect water availability and consumption which is

an already stressed resource. Virtual Water Trade Network (VWTN) has been proposed as a means of

reallocating water resources. Water-Food-Energy nexus implies the availability of low cost food for

water-scarce regions. VWTN evolution connected with trade policies, socioeconomic constraints and

agriculture efficiency has been studied by many authors. However a systematic analysis of the structure

and dynamics of the VWTN conditional to aridity, climatic forcing and energy availability is still

missing. This study analyzes the role of arid and hyper-arid regions within the VWTN under diverse

climatic, demographic and energy constraints contributing to the ongoing Water-Food-Energy nexus

discussion. Particular emphasis on hyper-arid lands of the Arabian Peninsula, their role and assessment of

their specific criticalities, as reflected in the VWTN resilience.

D1SG1.4 12:00 Trends in extreme daily temperature and humidex in the Arabian Gulf region over 1948-2014

Hao-Wen Yang (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Taiwan); Taha Ouarda (Masdar Institute of

Science and Technology, UAE)

This study analyzes the characteristics of extreme temperature events in the Arabian Gulf region during

1948-2014. Trends in the occurrences of heat spells and the diurnal temperature range (DTR) are studied.

Using Humidex could better estimate the effect of heat to the human. Type-A and Type-B heat spells are

defined respectively by daily maximum and minimum temperatures (Humidex). Type-C heat spells are

defined as the joint occurrence of the Type-A and Type-B. In the region, the occurrences of temperature

Type-B and Type-C heat spells have obviously increased. For Humidex, coherently increased activities

of all types heat spells are observed. Major locations in the region show significantly negative DTR

trends in the summer, but positive in the winter. In the UAE, the warming is stronger in minimum

14

temperatures than in maximum temperatures. The UAE has not become hotter, but it has become less

cold during 1948-2014.

D1SG1.5 12:20 Determination of Oil and Ash contents in Karkadeh (Hibiscus Sabdariffa Linn.), Sabar

(Pithecellobium Dulce), Ghaf (Prosopis Cineraria), Neem (Azadirachta Indica), and Ban (Moringa Oleifera)

seeds in Emirate of Abu Dhabi

Saeed AlKhoori and Mette Thomsen (Masdar Institute of Science & Technology, UAE)

Oil content (lipids) and Ash of Hibiscus Sabdariffa Linn., Pithecellobium Dulce, Prosopis Cineraria,

Azadirachta Indica, and Moringa Oleifera seeds were determined and Analyzed using GCMS. The oil

content in the milled seeds (25.08% ± 2.23%, 12.74% ± 0.96%, 2.98% ± 0.67%, 28.96% ± 2.11%, and

36.15% ± 0.85%) respectively, was determined using n-hexane as a solvent in Soxhlet Apparatus. The

Ash content (4.22% ± 0.12%, 2.62% ± 0.32%, 3.15% ± 0.18%, 3.82% ± 0.07%, and 2.23% ± 0.99%) was

determined following AOAC official method 942.05.

D1SH1: Medical & Health Sciences


D1SH1.1 11:00 NAT2 phenotyping and genotyping among Emiratis

Mohammad Alahmad (UAEU, UAE); Yousef M. Abdulrazzaq (UAE University, UAE); Bassam Ali

(United Arab Emirates University, UAE); Naheed Amir, Anne John and Salim Bastaki (UAE University,

UAE)

Background and Purpose: Because of Limited studies on NAT-2 polymorphisms among Emiratis, this

study is to determine NAT2 phenotyping and genotyping of Emiratis. Methods: Five hundred subjects

were asked to consume 300ml of a caffeinated soft drink and provide a buccal swab and a spot urine

sample. PCR-RFLP and HPLC analysis were performed to determine the genotype and phenotype status,

respectively. Results: We found that 82.2, 16.4 & 1.4% of the subjects were slow, intermediate and fast

acetylators, respectively, 78.2, 17.6 & 4.2% were heterozygote for 2 mutant alleles genotyping, and

heterozygote and homozygous for the wild type genotyping, respectively. There is a significant

correlation between phenotypes and genotypes with 0.103 value (P value = 0.022; 95% CI of differences

using Spearman's statistical test). Conclusions: There is a high percentage of slow acetylators among

Emiratis which is directly related to the presence of mutant alleles in NAT2 gene.

D1SH1.2 11:20 The role of glutamate signalling in diabetic neuropathy

Nadia Hussain (UAE University, UAE); Khatija Parekh, Eric Mensah-Brown and Chris Howarth

(College of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University, UAE); Thomas Adrian (United Arab

Emirates University & College of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE)

The majority of diabetics develop neuropathy yet the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms are

poorly understood. Previous studies show glutamate, the most common excitatory neurotransmitter, plays

a role in the pathogenesis of diabetic neuropathy. The study's aim was to identify changes in expression

of genes and their protein products that are involved in glutamate signalling in diabetes. In diabetic rats,

there were marked changes in expression in the dorsal root and sympathetic ganglia. The most prominent

changes included marked upregulation of Gria4 (ionotropic AMPA receptor), downregulation of Grik3

and Grik4 (both ionotropic, kainite receptors) and Grin1 and Grin2A (both ionotropic, NMDA receptors),

activation of all of which has been shown to induce hyperalgesia. In light of these results, it is possible

that changes in glutamate signalling can contribute to these other mechanisms and possibly unify the

different theories surrounding diabetic neuropathy. This can pave the way for future therapeutic

intervention.

15

D1SH1.3 11:40 Rho Protein Structural Analysis: Similarity of RhoA and Rac1

Khaled Abdel-Raouf Ahmed (Khalifa University, of Science, Technology and Research, UAE); Suryani

Lukman (Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research, UAE)

Rho family of GTPases is a family of Ras superfamily that comprises over a hundred proteins with

diverse and important physiological functions. Physiologically, Rho proteins have been demonstrated to

be involved in cellular polarity, transport, mobility, vesicular trafficking, wound healing, phagocytosis,

cell cycle and division. Pathologically, impaired Rho proteins and/or their signaling are implicated in

neurological diseases and human cancers. Functioning as a molecular switch, Rho proteins control

multiple aspects of intracellular cytoskeleton dynamics, in particular those of actin. To understand their

molecular functions, structural analyses are essential. In this study, we focus on two members of Rho

family: RhoA and Rac1. We hypothesize that both RhoA and Rac1 have similar biochemical properties

and structures, at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. Using various bioinformatics tools, we studied

these Rho proteins to examine their evolutionary conservation using multiple sequence alignment, to

analyze their biochemical features, and 3-dimensional structures for functional clues.

D1SH1.4 12:00 Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome and Its Component Factors among Female Students at

United Arab Emirates University

Maysm Mohamad, Ayesha Al Dhaheri and Syed Shah (United Arab Emirates University, UAE)

This study determined the prevalence of MetS in Emirati females aged 17-25 years and its relation to

overweight and obesity. We enrolled 555 Emirati female college students in a cross-sectional study.

Anthropometric, blood pressure, and biochemical measurements were completed. Of the 555 participants

enrolled, 10.4% were classified as obese. The overall prevalence of MetS was 6.8%. MetS prevalence

was highest among obese participants (34.5%). MetS was significantly associated with overweight

(adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 3.8, 95% confidence interval [CI]; 1.15-12.52) and obesity (aOR = 11.2,

95% CI; 3.1-40.9), as compared with normal weight.The odds of MetS were significantly higher in

participants with glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) ≥ 6.5% (aOR = 22.5, 95% CI; 6.37-79.42) or 5.6%-

6.4% (aOR = 8.9, 95% CI; 3.4-23.5), as compared with HbA1c <5.6%.The prevalence of MetS among

Emirati female students is highly prevalent, therefore, urgent intervention programs are needed.

D1SH1.5 12:20 Impact of Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha on Oxidative Stress and Growth Factors in Kainic Acid

Induced Neurotoxicity

Sara Sharkawi and Abdu Adem (UAE University, UAE)

Oxidative stress has been reported to be a possible molecular mechanism of kainic acid (KA)-induced

neurotoxicity and it is associated with hippocampal cell death. Here, we study the impact of Tumor

necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) on oxidative stress and growth factors levels at several time points in

KA-induced neurotoxicity. KA (40 mg/kg body weight) was given intranasally to TNF-alpha knockout

(KO) mice and wild-type (Wt) mice. Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and nerve growth factor (NGF)

and markers of oxidative stress including Malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) were

measured in the hippocampus. TNF-alpha KO-mice showed significantly higher levels of MDA and

lower levels of GSH compared with Wt-mice. Hippocampal IGF-I levels were significantly reduced

while the levels of NGF were enhanced in TNF-alpha KO-mice compared with Wt-mice. These data

suggest that deficiency of TNF-alpha worsens KA-induced neurotoxicity resulting in uncontrolled

oxidative stress and consequent neuronal death.


Lunch

16

Recreation Hall, Room G032 (Male side), Building E1


Forum on Graduate Education in the UAE (By Invitation Only)

Auditorium, Room G020 (Male side), Building E1

The Forum on Graduate Education in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will provide an opportunity for leaders of

the higher education community in the UAE (1) to assess the state of graduate education in the country, (2) to

discuss the main challenges it faces as a whole and (3) to propose recommendations for advancing graduation

education whereby addressing needs and opportunities in the national and global contexts.



D1SA2.1 14:00 A CMOS Variable Gain Instrumentation Amplifier for EEG Portable Detection System with

Digitally Controlled Feature

Aisha Alhammadi and Soliman Mahmoud (University of Sharjah, UAE)

The variable gain instrumentation amplifier (IA) for EEG portable detection system is presented. The

proposed IA is designed using two digitally programmable operational transconductance amplifiers

(DPOTAs) and an operational amplifier (op amp). The results are based on 0.25µm CMOS process with

+/-0.8V. This IA gives gain from 40.053dB to 63.196dB, 1.387μV/sqrt(Hz )input referred noise, 0.52%

total harmonic distortion, and 40.457dB third-order intermodulation.

D1SA2.2 14:20 An Efficient Thermal Energy Harvesting and Power Management for μWatt Wearable

Electronics

Mohammad Alhawari (Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research, UAE); Dima Kilani,

Baker Mohammad and Mohammed Ismail (Khalifa University, UAE)

This paper presents an efficient thermal energy harvesting IC (EHIC) that supports a battery-less μWatt

system-on-chips. The EHIC consists of an inductor-based DC-DC converter that boosts a low input

voltage to a suitable output level. Further, a switched capacitor buck converter is utilized to regulate the

boost converter output voltage and support multiple output voltage levels, namely 0.6V, 0.8V and 1V. In

low energy mode and to enhance the efficiency, the EHIC is capable of bypassing the switched capacitor

so that the load is driven directly from the boost converter. The prototype chip is fabricated in 65nm

CMOS and occupies an area of less than 0.46mm2 Measured results confirm an efficiency of 65% at

0.6V output voltage and 42μW. In addition, the end-to-end peak efficiency is 71% at 0.8V output voltage

and 182μW.

D1SA2.3 14:40 A Universal Adaptive Stabilization Based Battery Modeling Technique

Daniyal Ali, Shayok Mukhopadhyay and Habib-ur Rehman (American University of Sharjah, UAE)

This work presents a novel application of a high gain adaptive observer-based technique for Lithium-ion

(Li-ion) battery modelling. The model used in our paper was originally developed by Chen and Mora.

However, in Chen and Mora's original work, the parameters required for the battery model were

estimated through intensive experimentation. In contrast, this work presents an adaptive observer for

estimating the battery model parameters, which results in a reduction of experimental effort required

when the battery parameters are estimated.

D1SA2.4 15:00 Novel Dispatching Techniques for Hybrid Wind and Photovoltaic Power Systems with Minimal

Use of Battery Energy Storage

17

Edward Ssekulima (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Amer Al-Hinai (Masdar

Institute of Science and Technology & Institute Center for Energy, UAE)

Power generation from renewable energy resources is on the increase in most countries, and this trend is

expected to continue in the foreseeable future. In an effort to enhance the integration of renewable power

generation from solar and wind into the traditional power network, there is need to address the

vulnerabilities posed to the grid as a result of the intermittent nature of these resources. Variability and

ramp events in power output are the key challenges to the system operators due to their impact on system

balancing, reserves management, scheduling and commitment of generating units. This paper presents a

novel technique based on forecasting to guarantee optimal dispatch of hybrid Wind and Photovoltaic

Power Systems (with minimal use of Battery Energy Storage) based on a case study of the 50 MW Wind

Power Project under development in the Sultanate of Oman.

D1SA2.5 15:20 A Comparative Study of PI versus FO-PI Controller

Adil Khurram, Habib-ur Rehman and Shayok Mukhopadhyay (American University of Sharjah, UAE)

Proportional Integral controllers tuned using classical methods may exhibit poor performance under

external disturbances or sudden load changes. Fractional Order Proportional Integral (FO-PI) controllers

are expected to perform better in terms of load disturbance rejection due to their Iso-damping property.

This paper investigates the potential of an FO-PI controller for the speed control of an indirect field

oriented (IFO) induction motor drive system with cascaded current control. The motor is first

approximated with a first order plus dead time (FPDT) model and consequently an optimal FO-PI

controller is designed. The FO-PI controller is implemented in both simulation and experimentation and

shows better performance than its integer order counterparts.

D1SB2: Chemestry & Chemical Engineering


D1SB2.1 14:00 Amine-blends screening and characterization for CO2 post-combustion capture

Abdullah Alhinai (Masdaar, UAE); Nabil El Hadri and Mohammad Abu-Zahra (Masdar Institute of


Post-combustion technology of carbon capture and storage (CCS) is highly suitable to reduce the CO2

released from combustion processes into the atmosphere. Alkanolamines have been widely studied for

this purpose and found to have high rate of reaction with CO2 as well as high CO2 loading and low heat

of absorption which are the required properties for an efficient CO2 capture. Results of the experimental

work being reported shows 2MAE as a suitable amine for carbon capture as it has a CO2 loading of 1.35

mole CO2/mole amine. Blends of 2MAE with three selected tertiary amines (2DMAE, TMDAP and

MDEA) were tested at 40oC for a total concentration of 30% weight amines. For the total of 30% weight

of aqueous amines, the 2MAE is varied as 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 30% while the respective tertiary

amine makes the remaining part to make a total of 30%.

D1SB2.2 14:20 Determination of Multiple Pesticides Residues in Imported Tea in UAE Using Liquid and Gas

Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Sarah Al Mulla (UAE University, UAE); Mohammed Meetani (UAEU, UAE); Nasra Ibrahim (Ministry

of Climate Change and Environment, UAE)

Tea, Camellia sinensis, is an agricultural product and one of the most popular and international drinks, so

it attracted an increasing attention to quality and safety. Pesticide residues are major chemical

contaminants found in tea samples. During farming the pesticide may be used to minimize problems of

pests. An accurate, rapid and reliable method for the simultaneous determination of many pesticide

residues in the imported tea to the UAE by liquid and gas chromatography coupled with tandem mass

18

spectrometry [LC-MS/MS] and GC-MS/MS will be used. Samples will be purified by a modified quick,

easy, cheap, effective, rugged, safe (QuEChERS) method, followed by analysis by LC-ESI (+)-MS/MS

and quantification using internal standards. In this research, in-house validation method will be applied to

the quantification of the pesticide residues contained in real tea samples obtained from local markets,

which greatly improve the detection performance and the range of the pesticide multi-residues.

D1SB2.3 14:40 Chiral separation and quantitation of cathinone related drugs by Gas chromatography - Mass

spectrometry

Rashed Alrumaithi (UAE University, UAE); Mohammed Meetani (UAEU, UAE)

In this work we are developing sensitive and selective method for detection and quantitation of cathinone

related compounds using GC-MS after indirect chiral derivatization with trifluoroacetyl-l-prolyl chloride

(TPC) to achieve enantiomeric separation of some of the cathine and cathinone derivatives. More than 30

compounds of synthetic cathinones are separated to their optical enantiomers successfully by using a 60m

HP5-MS capillary column. Nikethamide was used as internal standard in cathinones quantitation which

has similar chemical structure to cathinones. 12 of cathinones derivatives were separated in one

chromatogram after spiking in urine sample. Calibration curves of selected 12 cathinones derivatives in

urine were constructed for 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 ppm.

D1SB2.4 15:00 PEBAX/HKUST-1 (copper benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate, Cu-BTC MOF)-1 Metal Organic

Framework Nano-Composite Membranes for Carbon Dioxide Removal - Study of Different Solvents

Sara Al Khoori (The Petroleum Institute & GASCO, UAE)

Different solvents have been tested for dissolving HKUST-1 Metallic Organic Framework and PEBAX-

4533 for the preparation of Mixed Matrix Membranes by Solvent Evaporation Method. An equivalent

ratio of NMP and Ethanol solvents achieved homogeneous solutions of both HKUST-1 and PEBAX-

4533 individually. Although a good dispersion was achieved after adding HKUST-1 into the polymer

solution, the resultant films could not be removed from the casting dish. Dimethyl Sulfoxide was then

tested for PEBAX-MOF mixture but after stirring overnight at 110ºC it contained many chunks and again

could not be removed from the casting dish. greasing the casting dish before casting the solutions helped

in removing the films but they were either ductile or inhomogeneous. Dimethyl Formaldehyde was the

solvent of choice which gave films with very good filler dispersion. The optimum membrane preparation

method such as mixing temperature and duration was established after carrying out several experiments.



D1SC2.1 14:00 Qualitative Differences in Teachers' Enactment of Task-based Language Teaching in United

Arab Emirates Intermediate Classrooms

Shamsa Almagharabi (United Arab Emirates University, UAE)

There has been an increasing interest in task-based language teaching (TBLT) as an educational

framework by second language acquisition (SLA) researchers. TBLT is a teaching methodology in which

classroom tasks constitute the main construct of instruction. It is based on ideas issuing from the

philosophy of education, SLA theories, and empirical findings on effective instructional techniques.

While research regarding this area is growing worldwide, there is a very little experimental research in

the Gulf area and United Arab Emirates (UAE) in particular. Accordingly, my study investigates the

qualitative differences in teachers' enactment of TBLT in intermediate English as a foreign language

(EFL) classrooms in UAE, concentrating primarily on the way teachers focus on form (FonF) in a TBLT-

based context. The study also aims to explore teachers' and students' attitudes towards the

implementation of this framework and figure out the properties, complexities, and limitations that evolve

19

from such application.

D1SC2.2 14:20 Evaluation of the Bi-literacy Co-teaching Program in UAE Kindergartens

Iman AlAmirah and Saleha AlHarthi (UAEU, UAE)

Bilingual literacy model had been constantly implemented in the kindergartens of Abu Dhabi Education

Council (ADEC) with co-teachers educating children integrated language and subject areas in ways that

assist acquiring English and Arabic languages. This study investigated the quality of the bi-literacy co-

teaching program in terms of its alignment with the National Association for the Education of Young

Children (NAEYC)'s standards from the perspectives of Arabic and English teachers and administrative

staff in one of Al Ain city's kindergartens. Following a qualitative design, focus groups and interviews

were the tools used to collect data about the phenomena of the program practices, and then data was

analyzed into themes that reflected the evaluation standards. The discussion resulted in a thorough

understanding of teachers' views and practices at different elements of the educational process as well as

the general strengths and weaknesses of the bi-literacy co-teaching program in kindergarten.

D1SC2.3 14:40 Enhancing the Social Capital of Open Space in Abu Dhabi

Anfal Al Ali (Masdar Institute, UAE); Praveen Maghelal (Masdar Institute, India)

Urban planners propose that open spaces between developments can greatly contribute to enhancing the

quality of life in urban areas. This study concentrates on enhancing social and physical activities at

residential neighborhoods. Survey responses of the residents of an urban block in Abu Dhabi combined

with spatial data was used to conduct the analysis of this study. A population of around 200 volunteer

residents from the study area of Al Zaa'faranah in Abu Dhabi were surveyed for their perception, attitude,

and behavior in the block. The survey measures some features of existing urban blocks such as

accessibility, safety from traffic, safety from crime, easiness of walking and cycling, and social cohesion

and inclusion. The study finds a correlation between these measures and what influence they reflect on

resident's behavior and daily activities. The outcome of the study will help to develop standards and

regulations for future developments in Abu Dhabi.

D1SC2.4 15:00 On Translating Poetry

Wissal Al Allaq (United Arab Emirates University, UAE)

The question of preserving the poem's form or content has been a subject of great debate amongst

translation practitioners and scholars. To render a source poem into the target language, the translator

requires certain tools and strategies. It is crucial that the translator of poetry possesses the adequate

discourse (Gee, 1989) that enables him/ her to produce a target text (TT) poem. Poetry is not mere

language; rather it is a reflection of the original poet's style and technique in order to convey a certain

message or theme. It is argued here, that translating poetry must include the form and content to varied

extents, depending on the nature of the poem and the dominant attributes that particular poem possesses.

Regardless of the nature of these characteristics, translating poetry remains a challenging endeavor which

requires great cognitive efforts on the part of the translator in order to produce the 'good poem'

D1SD2: Micro/Nano Systems


D1SD2.1 14:00 A Steady-State Power Supply Chain Model For Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Tuhin Poddar (The Petroleum Institute & ADNOC, UAE); Alberto Betancourt-Torcat and Ali

Almansoori (The Petroleum Institute, UAE)

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) have emerged as an alternative to traditional fossil fuel-based

vehicles. Their fuel flexibility allows for reduced dependency on fossil fuels due to an in-built battery.

Thus, generating lower emissions than traditional vehicles. Little focus has been placed on the potential

utilization of excess power within a power grid for PHEVs. The model was developed in the GAMS®

system. The proposed model can help to determine strategic and operational decisions such as: 1) optimal

20

power infrastructure for PHEVs utilizing excess electricity from a regional/national grid; 2) required

upgrades in existing power grids to meet future demands.

D1SD2.2 14:20 Comparison between piezoelectric plate and hollow cylinder-based energy harvesters

Areen Allataifeh (UAEU & Engineering College, UAE); Mahmoud Al Ahmad (United Arab Emirates

University, UAE)

In this work, the design and analysis of two piezoelectric based harvesters are conducted. Piezoelectric

harvesters convert mechanical vibration from ambient to electrical energy. A CoventorWare 3D

simulation tools have been used to simulate the harvested voltage, input impedance, maximum

displacement and mechanical resonance for both structures. It has been found that deflection of hollow

cylinder is higher than the plate and delivers more power to the load under the same applied conditions

and pressures.

D1SD2.3 14:40 Broadband, Low-Power, Fast, 1x2 Electro-Optic Switch in Silicon

Bahawal Haq (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Mahmoud Rasras (Masdar Institute of

Technology, UAE)

We present a design of a compact broadband high-speed silicon electro-optic switch based on wavelength

insensitive directional couplers implementation. The device consists of a three directional coupler stages

separated by constant waveguide phase delay section. An active p-i-n diode phase shifter is embedded in

one arm of both the phase delay sections. The switch is only 154µm long and has two 57µm phase

shifters. The switch maintains the spectral bandwidth of 45nm with lower than -19 dB crosstalk level,

both in the on and off states with a power consumption of only 3.2mW. The switch is capable of

switching within 6ns and has aV π L π of 0.01254 V.cm at 1.51µm and -30dB crosstalk level.

D1SD2.4 15:00 Electro-thermal Modeling of V-Shaped Thermal Microactuators

Shahabeddin Vamegh Estahbanati, Rached Dhaouad and Maher Bakri-Kassem (American University of

Sharjah, UAE)

The experimental observation of the dynamic voltage-displacement relationship for a thermal

microactuator shows a complex characteristic indicating the simultaneous existence of electrical/thermal

energy storage and mechanical energy dissipation mechanisms. To completely characterize these

mechanisms and yet have a simple representation for control, a new electro-thermal model using lumped

modeling based on circuit elements is developed. The interaction between the non-electronic and the

electronic phenomena of the system can be easily modeled using this approach. The Lumped-Element

electro-thermal dynamic model accounts for both conduction and convection losses. Experimental results

along with numerical simulations with MATLAB and ANSYS are used to validate the accuracy of the

proposed modeling approach.

D1SD2.5 15:20 Process-aware Modeling and Design of Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters

Wajih Syed, Alabi Bojesomo and Ibrahim M Elfadel (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

In this work we present a process-aware modeling based design flow for unimorph piezoelectric energy

harvesters (EH). We demonstrate the device geometry optimization on a simple cantilever EH with a

proofmass and the electrode placement optimization on a doubly clamped EH device. The devices were

realized using a CMOS-compatible SOI MEMS technology with a wafer-level vacuum-package

employing AlN as the piezoelectric material.



21

D1SE2.1 14:00 Verification and Comparison of MANET routing protocols

Maha Kadadha (Khalifa University for Science, Technology and Research, UAE); Hadi Otrok (Khalifa

University of Science, Technology & Research (KUSTAR), UAE); Aamenah Siddiqui (Khalifa

University of Science Technology and Research, UAE)

The emerge of Internet of Things (IoT) led to a wide spread of infrastructure-less networks called Ad

Hoc Networks, where new protocols were needed to adjust to the new requirements of such a network.

The Cluster-Based Quality of Service Optimized Link State Routing protocol has shown to be the best

multimedia protocol for it. This paper verifies and validates the assumption about Cluster-Based QoS-

OLSR protocol and its impact on the network in terms of MPRs percentage and number of alive nodes

after a period of time. A comparison is shown to illustrate the improvement of the network when

applying Cluster-Based QoS-OLSR instead of OLSR on the same network.

D1SE2.2 14:20 High-ISO Image De-noising

Nour Abura’ed (Khalifa University, UAE)

International Standards Organization (ISO) is a camera setting that enables professional photographers to

take pictures under poor light conditions by controlling the sensor's sensitivity. This is achievable under

the expense of introducing noise in the image that is caused by the camera's sensor. The noise has a

random nature, and its characteristics differ between chrominance and luminance channels. In this paper,

the noise that results from high ISO will be investigated by filtering these two channels separately. The

results quantitatively using Structural Similarity (SSIM) and Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR).

D1SE2.3 14:40 Smart Meter: Toward Client Centric Energy Efficient Smartphone Based Solution

Salam Khanji and Asad Masood Khattak (Zayed University, UAE)

Smart city applications are developed to provision the urbanization streams and the massive development

all over the world. This can be achieved by offering real time responses to new challenges faced by

different sectors as in health, transportation, water and energy. Smart meter is one of the smart city

applied solutions which facilitate to overcome the increased demand on electricity. This paper examines

smart meter in the context of energy sector to exploit its related features in the process of Demand Side

Management (DSM) to facilitate energy efficiency. It studies the future of integrating client in DSM

through developing a client centric and energy efficient Smartphone based application. The feasibility of

such application is reflected on the smart meter business model adopted in Abu Dhabi. Consequently,

fundamentals are established to initiate cost-benefit analysis to evaluate the rolling-out of advanced

metering infrastructure.

D1SE2.4 15:00 Video CAPTCHAs: A DoS Trapdoor-Based Visual Client Puzzle

Mohamed Al Dhanhani, Bader Al Rasebi and Mansoor Al Buainain (Zayed University & MSIT, Cyber

Security, UAE); May El Barachi (Zayed University, UAE); Monther Aldwairi (Zayed University &

Jordan University of Science and Technology, UAE)

This paper examines the feasibility of implementing video trapdoor-based client puzzle in the current

Internet protocol as a strategy to reduce or eliminate the severity of DoS attacks. The study attempts to

determine whether trapdoor-based client puzzle is computationally efficient and applicable to the current

Internet protocol, and to investigate the security, practicality, and feasibility of visual trapdoor-based

client puzzle scheme. The findings demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed model considering the

computation cost, security, and implementation in existing infrastructure.

D1SE2.5 15:20 Review on IEEE 802.11 MAC Misbehavior in ad-hoc networks

Doaa Al-Terri (KUSTAR, UAE); Hadi Otrok (Khalifa University of Science, Technology & Research

(KUSTAR), UAE); Hassan Barada (Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research, UAE);

Mahmoud Al-Qutayri (Khalifa University, UAE); Raed Shubair (MIT, USA); Yousof Al-Hammadi

(Khalifa University of Science Technology and Research, UAE)

In non-cooperative environments such as ad hoc, nodes may deviate from following the standard medium

access protocol CSMA/CA to obtain an unfair bandwidth share. This will severely degrade the

performance of the normal nodes and the performance of the network as well. In this paper, we define the

MAC layer misbehavior in IEEE 802.11 in ad hoc networks. We also conduct a simulation in order to

22

show the impact of adopting such behavior in a network. Moreover, a review of several detection

schemes proposed in the literature to detect the selfish nodes is highlighted.



D1SF2.1 14:00 Adsorption of Dyes on Activated Carbon from Agricultural Wastes

Maliha Parvin (631/1 West Kazi Para, Dhaka- Bangladesh, Bangladesh); Ahmed Soliman (United Arab

Emirates University, Egypt); Thies Thiemann (United Arab Emirates University, UAE)

Adsorption of dyes as a remediation technique for dye-loaded wastewater remains an area of interest.

Adsorption using bio-derived, renewable sorbent materials can be seen as environmentally friendly,

trouble-free, commercially cheap operation. The main objective of this work is adsorption of Crystal

Violet (CV) and Nile Blue (NB) dyes on activated carbon derived from date palm leaf wastes. For this

purpose, activated carbon was prepared via chemical treatment of palm leaf wastes with H2SO4, H3PO4,

and HNO3, respectively, with subsequent carbonization through thermal treatment. Dye adsorption

studies were carried out under different conditions, and the influence of different parameters such as

temperature, time, pH, dye concentration, dose and particle size of activated carbon (AC) was

investigated in batch experiments. Furthermore, dynamic sorption experiments were performed

successively. The present study found AC from date palm leaves to be a promising low cost adsorbent to

remove CV and NB from aqueous solutions.

D1SF2.2 14:20 Beneficial Effects of Microwave-Assisted Heating versus Conventional Heating in 2-

Mercaptopyridine Glycosides Synthesis

Hany Abdel Aziz Eldeab (Taif, Saudi Arabia)

Microwave assisted synthesis methods guided by the principles of green chemistry has been employed to

synthesize a series of 2-mercaptopyridines (3a-j) and their related glycosides (9a-j). By comparison with

traditional conditions, microwave irradiation provides a powerful tool that leads to rise yields and

minimize reaction time. Chemical structures of the new products were confirmed on the basis of their

elemental analysis and spectroscopic data (FT-IR, 1D, 2D-NMR) as well as alternative synthetic routes.

The activity against a verity of cancer cells and different bacteria strains has been studied.

D1SF2.3 14:40 Differential degradation of a Thiazole pollutant by different peroxidases

Aysha Al Neyadi (United Arab Emirets University, UAE); Syed Ashraf (United Arab Emirets University

UAE, UAE)

Enzyme-based degradation of organic pollutants is a promising remediation approach due to the

promiscuous nature of the technique and the wide range of available enzymes. Oxidoreductases,

specifically, peroxidases are the most popular class of enzymes that have been used for the degradation

of organic pollutants. However, it is generously assumed that all peroxidases behave similarly and

produce similar degradation products. In the present study, we have carried out detailed degradation

studies on a model thiazole compound (Thioflavin T dye) using two of the most commonly used

peroxidases - Soybean peroxidase (SBP) and Chloroperoxidase (CPO). Our studies show that these two

enzymes have very different optimum conditions for the decoloration of Thioflavin T such as their needs

to redox mediator, H2O2 tolerance and thermal stabilities. The results show that the two peroxidases

have different optimum reactions conditions, suggesting that SBP and CPO behave differently in organic

pollutants degradation.

D1SF2.4 15:00 Genetic differentiation analysis between western and eastern populations of Socotra cormorant

(Phalacrocorax nigrogularis) in the UAE

23

Salama Al Mansouri, Sofyan Alyan, Sabir Muzaffar and Rabah Iratni (UAE University, UAE)

Habitat loss and, increased predator and hunting, threats, negatively impact the populations of Socotra

cormorants, Phalacrocorax nigrogularis, in UAE islands. Habitat loss and fragmentation reduces

connectivity among wildlife populations and ultimately could drive populations to extinction. Such

isolated populations are known to suffer from reduced genetic diversity that can limit the species'

evolutionary potential resulting in inbreeding depression. The dearth of information, increased threats,

and reduced breeding colony size, warrants an urgent investigation of the Socotra Cormorant population

in the UAE. The aim of this research is to investigate the subpopulation structure of this regionally

endemic seabird in the UAE, using molecular population genetic analysis. Understanding the genetic

structure of the cormorants' subpopulations could (i) improve the conservation management efforts

and(ii) help to predict future population status and viability.

D1SG2: Earth & Environmental Engineering


D1SG2.1 14:00 On the Analysis of the Climatology of Cloudiness of the Arabian Peninsula

Latifa Yousef (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology & National Center of Meteorology and

Seismology, UAE); Marouane Temimi (Masdar Institute, Tunisia)

This study aims to determine the climatology of cloudiness over the Arabian Peninsula. Time series of

total, high, middle and low cloud amounts from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project

(ISCCP) database from 1983 through 2009 are analyzed. Initial results show significant decreasing trends

in the total and low cloud amounts, at a 95% confidence interval. Significant correlations are found for

the cloud amounts and total column water vapor. Inferred cloudiness data is compared to in situ rainfall

measurements across the UAE, for the same time period. Significant correlation is present for average

rainfall over the UAE and total, middle and low cloud amounts. Total cloud amounts over the UAE in the

seasons of fall, winter and spring exhibit decreasing trends, at a 95% confidence interval.

D1SG2.2 14:20 Meta-Analysis of biofouling Desalination membranes

Muhammad Syafiq Kamarul Azman (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Muhammad

Zohaib Anwar (Masdar Institute, UAE); Andreas Henschel (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology,

UAE)

Desalination plays a central role in the UAE's economy and water security aspects. Membrane based

Desalination techniques are a promising alternative to conventional flash distillation, but are afflicted

with biofouling, which is currently not fully understood. Recent advances in biotechnology have enabled

the characterization of biofouling biofilms through marker gene (16S rRNA) profiling. We here strive to

see an emerging pattern in biofouling processes through a multi-study meta-analysis of 16S rRNA

profiles. For the first time we compare microbial communities in biofouling in the region and

contextualize by global samples. As a result, we observe a strong variance amongst Reverse Osmosis and

other biofouling membranes across different studies, suggesting that biofilm formation in desalination is

driven by complex environmental and random forces. Yet, we could identify the least common

denominators for biofilm formation, which in turn can inform anti-fouling strategies.

D1SG2.3 14:40 Mapping of Coral Reef Environment in the Arabian Gulf Using Multispectral Remote Sensing

Haifa Ben-Romdhane and Prashanth Marpu (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Hosni

Ghedira (Masdar Institute & Earth Observation and Environmental Remote Sensing Laboratory, UAE);

Taha Ouarda (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

Coral reefs of the Arabian Gulf are subject to several pressures, thus requiring conservation actions.

Well-designed conservation plans involve efficient mapping and monitoring systems. Satellite remote

24

sensing is a cost-effective tool for seafloor mapping at large scales. Multispectral remote sensing of

coastal habitats, like those of the Arabian Gulf, presents a special challenge due to their complexity and

heterogeneity. The present study evaluates the potential of multispectral sensor DubaiSat-2 in mapping

benthic communities of United Arab Emirates. We propose to use a spectral-spatial method that includes

multilevel segmentation, nonlinear feature analysis and ensemble learning methods. Support Vector

Machine (SVM) is used for comparison of classification performances. Comparative data were derived

from the habitat maps published by the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi. The spectral-spatial method

produced 96.41% mapping accuracy. SVM classification is assessed to be 94.17% accurate. The

adaptation of these methods can help achieving well-designed coastal management plans in the region.

D1SG2.4 15:00 Observing Land Deformation Phenomena with Conventional SAR Interferometry in Al Ain,

UAE

Nikolaos Liosis (Masdar Institute & Masdar Institute, UAE); Prashanth Marpu and Taha Ouarda (Masdar

Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Kosmas Pavlopoulos (Paris-Sorbonne University of Abu

Dhabi, UAE)

Ground deformation phenomena occur in many regions due to groundwater resources depletion caused

by their excessive exploitation. For the past fifteen years groundwater is massively extracted in the Al

Ain region, but the aquifer is also artificially recharged. SAR interferometry is one of the few techniques

that can provide estimations of the land surface displacements with millimeter accuracy in large scales. In

this study the two-pass interferometry method was applied in the city of Al Ain with the use of

ENVISAT satellite images by composing interferometric pairs based on the perpendicular and temporal

baselines of the scenes. From these pairs a series of Line-Of-Sight displacement maps were produced

depicting the surface displacements at independent time intervals with the use of NEST/Sentinel1-

toolbox/SNAP software. Using the same criteria small single-reference stacks were implemented in order

to estimate the surface LOS movement velocities with partial elimination of noise and atmospheric error

components.

D1SG2.5 15:20 Change Detection of Coastline using Multi-temporal Remote Sensing Images

Essa Basaeed and M. Sami Zitouni (Khalifa University, UAE)

Coastline, defined as the instantaneous divide between water and land regions, often provides crucial

information on complex dynamics of the sea level, tide/wave energy and coastal erosion. Coastline

detection and monitoring can serve important applications including but not restricted to: coastal resource

management, coastal environmental protection and sustainable coastal development and planning. The

proposed solution is an innovation in the combination of morphological operators, an interest point

detector, a water index, distance transform, and geometric transform for coastline change detection. It is

also completely autonomous that requires no intervention from the user, efficient with real-time

performance in most stages, flexible as the end-user can fine tune parameters, and platform-independent.

D1SH2: Energy & Fuels


D1SH2.1 14:00 2D TCAD simulation of planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells

Aaesha Alnuaimi (Masdar Institute Of Science And Technology, UAE); Ibraheem Almansouri (Masdar

Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Ammar Nayfeh (Masdar Institute of Science & Technology,

UAE)

Over the past few years, hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite solar cells have emerged as an attractive

technology within the photovoltaic (PV) community. Perovskite is considered a promising material for

high efficiency solar cells due to its ease of fabrication, low cost of production with excellent electronic

25

and optical properties. In this paper, we investigate perovskite planar heterojunction solar cells using 2D

Physics Based TCAD simulation. The perovskite cell is modeled as an in-organic material with physics

based parameters. A planar structure consisting of TiO2 as electron transport material (ETM),

CH3NH3PbI3-xClx as the absorber layer and Spiro-OmeTAD as the hole transport material (HTM) is

simulated. The simulated results match published experimental results indicating the accuracy of the

physics based model.

D1SH2.2 14:20 Performance Assessment of Gas Turbine Using Alternative Biofuels

Patroula Christopoulou (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Mohamed I Ali (Masdar,

UAE)

Majority of the current energy sources in the world are based on fossil fuels, which will someday be

depleted. In addition, greenhouse emissions are exponentially increased with the augmented energy

demand from the high carbon fossil fuel. The current research interest is to determine the sustainable

alternative biofuels that would provide environmental benefits. In this study, the effects of the

implementation of alternative fuels on the operation of an industrial gas turbine are investigated using

performance models. Considering the case of Abu Dhabi, the impacts of the atmospheric conditions, such

as ambient temperature, pressure and relative humidity on the engine's performance have been analyzed.

In a hot climate, the performance of a gas turbine deteriorates drastically during the high temperature

hours.

D1SH2.3 14:40 Modelling of Exergy and Efficiency Evaluation for Melting Furnace in Aluminum Smelters

Energy Consumption and Green House Gas Emissions

Adesola O Ajayi, Xiaomeng Chen and Mouhamadou Diop (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology,

UAE); Mohamed I Ali (Masdar, UAE)

In this paper, we explore the opportunities in aluminum smelter to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases

(GHG) and save energy and in ways that reduce cost and confer substantial competitive advantage to

companies that embrace them. This belief is inhibiting the eagerness of companies to join the Chicago

Climate Exchange (CCX) and the European Climate Exchange (ECX), which is one of the easier ways to

initiate a program to capture these opportunities. The opportunities for Greenhouse Gas Reduction

provide evidence to refute this limiting belief, demonstrating that deep cuts in GHG reductions can be

achieved with profit. Clearly, improvements in aluminum industry can offer a significant energy savings

as well as reduced emissions. The present study will present the achievements in the thermodynamics

exergy analysis and its capability in determining the energy and hence gases savings and emission

reduction by preheating metallic scrap before melting process in plant.

D1SH2.4 15:00 Thermodynamic analysis for biomass gasification integrated with chemical looping combustion

for hydrogen and electricity cogeneration

Peng Jiang and Abdallah Sofiane Berrouk (the Petroleum Institute, UAE); Kean Wang (The Petroleum

Institute, UAE)

in this work, pine-based gasification integrated with iron-based chemical looping combustion process is

proposed to investigate hydrogen and electricity cogeneration from a thermodynamics perspective. The

whole process is modeled using Aspen Plus. The effects of key parameters on the thermodynamics

performance, such as the hydrogen yield and energy efficiency of the process, are separately evaluated.

The variables assessed herein include steam to biomass mass ratio(S/B) for the gasifier, oxygen biomass

mass ratio (O/B), iron to carbon mole ratio in the fuel reactor (Fe/C) and iron to steam mole ratio in the

steam reactor (Fe/S). The results show that at optimum operating parameters, namely, S/B=0.07,

O/B=0.25, Fe/C=0.5 and Fe/S=0.40, the hydrogen yield is 85.41%, the CO2 capture efficiency is 99.9%,

and the energy efficiency is 63.28% which is at least 10% higher of the one of the most efficient

conventional technologies.

26

D1SH2.5 15:20 Analysis of Soot Emissions Produced During the Combustion of Diesel Blended with Biodiesel

Mujeeb Kareem (The Petroleum Institute, UAE); Abhijeet Gupta (Petroleum Institute, UAE)

In this study, the effect of using blends of diesel and biofuels on harmful pollutant emissions, which

result from incomplete combustion of fossil fuels like diesel, is explored. The smoke point experiments

for the blends of diesel with biodiesel is conducted using ASTM D1322 technique to observe the sooting

tendencies of blended fuels. The smoke point is found to increase with increasing percentage of biodiesel

in the blend, which indicates a reduction in the sooting tendency of diesel upon the addition of biodiesel.

To study the physical and chemical characteristics of the emitted soot particles during blended fuel

combustion, soot particles are collected using a vacuum-filter system, and are analyzed using several

techniques such as thermogravimetric analysis, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and X-

ray diffraction. Their reactivity and nonstructural properties that define their toxicity are reported.


Coffee Break

Room: Lobby (Male side), Building E1




D1SA3.1 16:00 Memristive Networks for Pattern Recognition: A Survey

Yasmin Halawani, Baker Mohammad and Mahmoud Al-Qutayri (Khalifa University, UAE); Said Al-

Sarawi (The University of Adelaide & Director of Centre for Biomedical Engineering, Australia);

Nicolas Christoforou (Khalifa University of Science Technology and Research, UAE)

A neuromorphic computing architecture combining the emerging memristive synapses with neural

learning algorithms promises an efficient bio-inspired computing paradigm. Software and hardware

based approaches were carried by researchers in an attempt to model the human brain cortex. Software

simulations were found to consume high power and occupy a large area. Moreover, previous CMOS

based architectures were hindered by the lack of a component accurately mimicking the synaptic

plasticity and learning behaviours. The invention of Memristor by Leon Chua and its physical

implementation by Hewlett-Packard has opened the doors widely for researchers to investigate its power

in bio-inspired applications. Its analog operation, low power consumption, high switching speeds and

CMOS compatibility makes it a good option as a synapse device. Hence, in this paper different

memristive-based structures of artificial neural networks implemented to learn and recognize real world

patterns are described.

D1SA3.2 16:20 Amplitude Optimization for Semi-Coherent M-ASK Detection

Lina Bariah (KUSTAR, UAE)

In this paper, we derive a closed form expression for the symbol error rate (SER) for 4-ary ASK semi-

coherent detection receiver. Then, optimum amplitudes for the adopted detection scheme were found.

Simulation result shows that the system performance using the optimum amplitudes is better than the

system performance using equally spaced amplitudes.

D1SA3.3 16:40 Comparative Study of Speech Morphing Algorithms

Abdulqader Nael Mahmoud (Khalifa University, UAE); Luis Weruaga (Khalifa University of Science,

27

Technology & Research, UAE); Raed Shubair (MIT, USA)

The paper presents two different algorithms to change the pitch of a speech signal in the time domain.

The first algorithm is pitch modification without preserving the vocal tract while the second algorithm is

with preserving the vocal. The aim is to preserve the humanity nature on the voice and to implement

them on the real time. The two algorithms have been implemented and tested on different audio files and

then implemented on a DSP board in the real time with the aid of Simulink and Code Composer.

D1SA3.4 17:00 Channel Characterization in Human Body Communication for Wearable Biomedical Systems

Hadeel Elayan (Khalifa University, UAE); Raed Shubair (MIT, USA)

The emerging intra-body communication (IBC) and networking system is a prospective component in

advancing health care delivery and empowering the development of new applications and services. Using

the human body as a transmission medium unfastened the research perspective towards Human Body

Communication which has been introduced by the IEEE as a third physical layer. In this paper, the

concept of galvanic coupling is first discussed as an approach for wireless transmission inside the human

body. Then, the channel characteristics of the HBC based on the IEEE 802.15.6 standards are addressed

where we focus on both the frequency response and the noise characterization. The results obtained are

necessary for developing a realistic human-body channel model capable of estimating the performances

of wearable systems using HBC technology.

D1SA3.5 17:20 Enabling High Data Rates in Visible Light Communication Systems with OFDM

Sarah S. Bawazir and Sami Muhaidat (Khalifa University, UAE); George K. Karagiannidis (Aristotle

University of Thessaloniki, Greece); Yousof Al-Hammadi (Khalifa University of Science Technology

and Research, UAE)

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is an important enabler of high-speed transmission

in wired and wireless communication systems. The increasing popularity and accessibility of bandwidth-

demanding indoor applications such as real-time video streaming and gaming make it imperative for

indoor communication technologies to support high transmission speeds. visible light communication

(VLC) is a promising technology that offers a wide and an unregulated bandwidth. The employment of

OFDM techniques in VLC is the perfect combination to answer for bandwidth demanding applications.

However, the implementation of OFDM in VLC requires modifications in the nature of the waveform.

This paper discusses the different methods that exist in the literature to facilitate for the application of

OFDM in VLC. Each scheme is briefly explained displaying its concept, pros and cons.

D1SA3.6 17:40 Silicon Nanoparticles for Scattering and Downshifting of Light to Improve Thin-Film a-Si:H p-

i-n Solar Cells Performance

Farsad I Chowdhury (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology & Masdar Institute of Science and

Technology, UAE); Munir Nayfeh (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA); Ammar Nayfeh


A simple and low-cost method for enhancing the efficiency of a-Si solar cells is reported. By coating

2.85 nm silicon nanoparticles (Si NPs) on the top of the solar cells, efficiency improvement above 6% is

observed, with respect to the uncoated reference cells. The efficiency enhancement can be attributed to

scattering and photo luminescent (UV absorption followed by red re-emission) properties of Si NPs. Spin

coating technique was used to integrate Si NPs on the cells. Compared to uncoated solar cells, Si NPs

coated solar cells show an average improvement of 5.68% and 6.4% in short circuit current (Jsc) and

efficiency respectively.

D1SB3: Chemistry & Chemical Engineering

28


D1SB3.1 16:00 A Kinetic Study on Destruction of BTEX and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Claus

Furnace by Oxygen Enrichment

Ramees Rahman and Salisu Ibrahim (The Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, UAE); Abhijeet Gupta

(Petroleum Institute, UAE)

Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX) are aromatic feed contaminants known to cause

catalyst deactivation by soot formation in the catalytic section of Claus process. At high temperature,

polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), which are known to form soot, are also formed inside Claus

furnace. Both BTEX and PAH reduce Claus process efficiency and increase operational cost. In this

work, we develop a detailed reaction mechanism based on the existing ones in literature, to improve the

quantitative predictions of aromatics decomposition/formation in Claus furnace. This mechanism was

validated successfully using different sets of experimental data from previous works and used to

investigate suitable Oxygen enriched feed conditions that mitigate the impact of BTEX and PAH in

Claus process. The results proved that use of oxygen enriched air in Claus process enhances destruction

of BTEX and PAH, while more of carbonyl sulfide (COS) was formed.

D1SB3.2 16:20 Effect of ethanol in water coagulation bath on PVDF hollow fiber membrane employed for CO2

absorption

Abdul Rahim Nihmiya (United Arab Emirates University, UAE); Nayef Mohamed Ghasem (UAE

University, UAE); Mohamed Al-Marzouqi (UAEU, UAE)

The main objective of this work was to investigate the effect of ethanol composition in water coagulation

bath on polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) hollow fiber membrane (HFM) structure and performance.

Thermally induced phase separation method was employed to fabricate HFMs at four different ethanol

compositions in water coagulation bath. It was found that the increase in ethanol composition in water

coagulation bath increased the membrane pore size and porosity and mechanical strength. In contrast it

reduces the hydrophobicity of the membrane and significantly reduces the LEPw. From the CO2

absorption experiments it was observed even though the membrane with high ethanol composition have

high absorption flux its long stability was very poor and membranes made with ethanol wet easily. In

conclusion, as addition of ethanol to the coagulation bath reduces the performance of the membrane

PVDF HFM made with ethanol in water coagulation bath is not suitable for GLMC application.

D1SB3.3 16:40 Solubility of Benzene and Hexane in the Ionic Liquid 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium

Tricyanomethanide ([bmim] [TCM])

Ismaila Shittu, Mamoun Althuluth, Maaike Kroon and Cornelis Peters (The Petroleum Institute, Abu

Dhabi, UAE)

The potential application of the ionic liquid 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium Tricyanomethanide ([bmim]

[TCM]) as absorption solvent in de-aromatization of natural gas is the main focus of this research. The

unique properties of ILs include their non-volatility, high thermal stability, high absorption capacity and

low regeneration energy compared to conventional amine based solvents, which are the most common

solvents used for the removal of various natural gas contaminants such as aromatic hydrocarbons.

Solubility measurements of the hydrocarbons were performed in a jacketed liquid-liquid equilibrium cell

and samples from the ionic liquid rich phase were analyzed by gas chromatography with a flame

ionization detector. The ionic liquid [bmim] [TCM] was very effective for BTEX absorption because the

solubility of benzene was about 99.5 mol% in this IL at room temperature and generally, benzene showed

a higher solubility in the aforementioned ionic liquid than hexane at the same temperature.

D1SB3.4 17:00 Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) and MOF/Graphene Oxide (GO) composites for Natural

Gas Sweetening

Jeewan Pokhrel, Nidhika Bhoria, Stavroula Anastasiou and Georgios Karanikolos (The Petroleum

Institute, UAE)

29

Metal Organic Framework HKUST-1 and Graphene oxide composites were synthesized using

solvothermal process for acid gas removal. XRD confirmed that the basic structure of MOF is preserved

in the MOF/GO composite while GO is fully exfoliated. SEM revealed uniform dispersion of MOF

crystallites in the MOF/GO composites. The BET of the HKUST-1 and HKUST-1/GO composite was

434 and 369 m2/g, respectively. The HKUST-1/GO composite showed enhanced H2S sorption kinetics

(mg H2S adsorbed/ mg MOF*min) as compared to the parent MOF. The results indicate that the

MOF/GO composites hold positive prospect for further study towards industrial gas sweetening

applications.

D1SB3.5 17:20 Investigation on Carbon Nanotubes Reinforced Laminated Composites Characterization

Omar Ayad (United Arab Emirates University, UAE); Ashfakur Rahman (United Arab Emirates

University, Bangladesh); Mohamed Al Mansoori and Ahmed Mohamed Gafar (United Arab Emirates

University, UAE); Maryam Al-Kuwaiti (United Arab Emirates University & STRATA Manufacturing,

UAE); Abdel-Hamid Ismail Mourad (Unietd Arab Emirates University, UAE)

This work is concerned with the synthesis and characterization of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube

(MWCNT) reinforced Kevlar KM2Plus composites with various MWCNT contents (0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4%,

0.5%, 0.6%, 0.8 wt. %), by the wet lay-up technique. These samples were experimentally investigated for

their thermo-mechanical properties using Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning

Calorimetry (DSC) and tensile testing. The mechanical properties showed remarkable improvement with

increasing MWCNT wt.% up to certain content.

D1SB3.6 17:40 Fly ash based sorbent development for CO2 capture

Abdallah Dindi, Dang Viet Quang and Mohammad Abu-Zahra (Masdar Institute of Science and

Technology, UAE)

In the past years, there has been a growing interest in the use of cheaper adsorbent materials for CO2

capture process which has been recognized as an important technology for sustainable energy generation.

Fly ash is a cheap solid material that has attracted a lot of interest recently. Although its adsorption

properties are limited, it can be modified through various means to achieve better performance. This

work looks at amine impregnation as a method to improve fly ash performance. The impact of the amine

solvents will be investigated using a micro reaction calorimeter which also provides information such as

specific heat capacity and heat of desorption that will be used to evaluate the energy requirement of the

fly ash based CO¬2 capture process. The results obtained from this work will be used as basis to develop

more effective methods for the synthesis of cheap CO2 sorbents from fly ash.

D1SC3: Information Security


D1SC3.1 16:00 A New Dynamic Trust Model for Mobile Agent Systems

Dina Shehada, Chan Yeob Yeun, Jamal Zemerly and Mahmoud Al-Qutayri (Khalifa University, UAE);

Yousof Al-Hammadi (Khalifa University of Science Technology and Research, UAE)

Mobile agents (MAs) are an important element in the creation of efficient distributed applications in

many fields. The motivation behind interest in MAs is derived from the various advantages they offer.

However, the dynamic behavior of agents and hosts in MASs is considered a serious issue. Moreover,

maintaining good performance is an important feature that affects MASs and the provided services.

Addressing both of these issues, we propose a new dynamic trust model for MASs. The proposed trust

model provides users with the means to assess service providers and base a decision on who to interact

with.

30

D1SC3.2 16:20 Multi-Layered Clustering Model for Intrusion Detection and Prevention Tasks

Omar Al-Jarrah (Khalifa University of Science, Technology & Research, UAE); Sami Muhaidat (Khalifa

University, UAE); Yousof Al-Hammadi (Khalifa University of Science Technology and Research,

UAE); Kamal Taha (Khalifa University of Science, Technology & Research, UAE); Mahmoud Al-

Qutayri (Khalifa University, UAE)

Due to their powerful generalization ability while maintaining model flexibility, ensemble Machine-

Learning (ML) models have been well accepted for Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDPSs).

However, such models require high computational cost to find an optimal model. The problem is further

exacerbated by the new forms of large-scale data (i.e., big data). As such, not only the detective accuracy,

but also the scalability and efficiency are important. In this paper, we propose a Multi-Layered Clustering

Model (MLCM) based on data clustering. In addition, a novel Imbalance Ratio (IR) analyzer is designed

and used to identify the prior probability at which cluster labeling does not degrade the detection

capabilities of the classifier, leading to lower model's complexity. Theoretical analysis and experimental

results on a real intrusion detection and prevention data as well as paired significance t-test prove that the

proposed MLCM outperforms other well-known ensemble ML models in the literature.

D1SC3.3 16:40 Preliminary Assessment of the Security for Cyber-Physical and Industrial Control Systems

Syed Dabeeruddin and Tao-Hung Chang (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

We live in a smart society that tremendously relies on the smooth and secure functioning of the critical

infrastructure and its services and the crucial processes in the critical infrastructure are in turn, reliant on

the cyber-physical and the industrial control systems that the infrastructure is comprised of. For the past

decades, securing the cyber-physical and industrial control systems has been of top priority as few attacks

have been reported publicly. The main fact to take note of is that these systems were deployed over

decades ago and were developed with the sole intention of monitoring and controlling processes in

critical infrastructure without considering the security requirements. So there is an urgent need of

protecting the cyber-physical and industrial systems from external vulnerabilities. Also, the systems are

prone for various cyber threats that could compromise their functions and jeopardise the framework of

the critical infrastructure.

D1SC3.4 17:00 Security Health Assessment of Wi-Fi Environment

Aysha Al Kharoossi (Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research, UAE); Khaled Salah

(Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research (KUSTAR), UAE); Joonsang Baek (Khalifa

University of Science, Technology and Research, UAE)

In this paper, we demonstrate how to assess the security health of a given Wi-Fi hotspot. We accomplish

this by using HosTaGe honeypot for mobile devices which has the ability to detect various malicious

activities. In this paper, we show how HosTaGe can be configured to catch and report abnormal and

suspicious activities, or simply alerting users of Android smartphones when there are imminent threats in

the wireless network.

D1SC3.5 17:20 Automated recovery and reassembly of fragmented video files for forensics file carving

Khawla Alghafli (Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research, UAE); Thomas Martin

(Khalifa University, UAE)

In digital forensics, carving of video files is an important process to recover video evidence of several

criminal cases. The traditional carving techniques recover video files based on their file structure.

However, these techniques fails in the cases if the file is split into several fragments over storage media.

In this paper we present the fragmented video file carving Framework. This framework consist of three

stages which are Identification, weight assessment and reassembly. The identification component

presents a method to recover fragmented video. The purpose of weight assessment is to assign weight of

adjacency between video fragments. Using these weights we propose to adopt a greedy to reassemble

these fragment into correct sequence that produce playable video file.

31



D1SD3.1 16:00 Effects of Interaction Parameters in the Simulation of the Behavior of Iron-based Shape Memory

Alloys

Cheikh Cisse (Kustar, UAE); Wael Zaki (Khalifa University of Science Technology and Research, UAE)

This paper presents the influence of interaction parameters in the simulations of the thermomechanical

behavior of Iron-based shape memory alloys. Such parameters account for the interactions between

martensite variants, between plastic slips, and between martensite variants and plastic slips. The

constitutive equations of the model were derived within the framework of generalized standard materials.

The model parameters were first calibrated at different temperatures.The effects of their variation in the

macroscopic stress, inelastic strain recovery and nonlinearity of the model were then explored. The

simulation results exhibited steeper slope of the stress-strain curves for higher values of the hardening

parameters, and increasingly linear curves for higher value of the interaction exponents.

D1SD3.2 16:20 Numerical Modelling of Sonicated, Continuous Transesterification and Evaluation of Reaction

Kinetics for Optimizing Biodiesel Reactor Design

Mohammed Hussain (Masdar Institute, UAE); Tala El Samad (Masdar Institute of Science and

Technology, UAE); Mohammed Daqaq (Masdar Institute, UAE); Isam Janajreh (Masdar Institute of


Biodiesel is an alternative and sustainable fuel that can reduce the dependence on fossil diesel. It is being

promoted even in developing counties like Indonesia, Brazil. Production of biodiesel through

transesterification is a slow reaction which is conventionally carried out in a mechanically stirred batch

process. An advanced method to achieve high yield quality in less time is sonication of the reaction in an

integrated continuous process. In this work, a cylindrical reactor is considered in which reactant mixture

will be circulated and sonicated by a sonotrode type ultrasound equipment. To simulate the sonication

effect the linear, time independent wave equation is solved using a complex wave number for bubble

attenuation. To account for the chemical reactions, laminar reacting flow is solved using Navier-Stokes

equations and transport equation for dilute species. A logical reaction rate coupling model evaluates the

kinetics of the reaction, used for judging the reactor design.

D1SD3.3 16:40 Effect of Specularity and Restitution Coefficients on Hydrodynamics of an Annular Fluidized

Bed Reactor

Mohammed Nazeer ul Hasan Khan (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Tariq Shamim


Hydrodynamics in annular fluidized bed (AFB) reactor is very complex as there are two wall surfaces

with which the particles interact and fall along. Therefore, in this study the effect of wall boundary

condition i.e. the specularity coefficient and restitution coefficients of interaction between particle-wall

and particle-particle is investigated. Simulations are performed using an open source code MFiX by

employing the two-fluid model which considers solid and gas as the interpenetrating continua where the

solid viscous stress tensor is calculated using the kinetic theory of granular flow. A circumferential core-

annulus structure is observed in the reactor. The hydrodynamics of AFB is very sensitive to all the

coefficients. Lower specularity coefficient values produce higher particle velocities in the bed as there is

reduced loss of tangential momentum to the walls. Particle-wall restitution coefficient has a very minor

effect on the solid particle velocity consistent with the previous studies on cylindrical reactors.

D1SD3.4 17:00 Characteristics of 90°Water-Air-Water Impinging Jets Atomizer

32

Yakang Xia and Lyes Khezzar (The Petroleum Institute, UAE)

Impinging jets disintegration is a widely used process in various applications like propulsions, especially

in propellant rocket engines. However, no complete agreement has been reached about liquid jets

breakup mechanisms. This research involves a novel air assisted atomizer configuration consisting of two

water jets and an impinging air jet, which has scarcely been investigated. High speed camera was used to

visualize the disintegration phenomena. The effects of water and air jets velocities on the breakup

performance were studied. The breakup phenomena were analyzed and the spray angle was obtained.

Besides, Phase Doppler Anemometry (PDA) was utilized to measure the size generated droplets 75mm

downwards the impinging point. The results indicated that the existence the air jet improved the

atomization performance significantly. In conclusion, this study showed the performance of the novel

atomizer, and provided information for related simulation works.

D1SD3.5 17:20 An experimental and numerical study in prediction of weld quality in similar ultrasonic spot

welding of aluminum sheets

Shamsa Awes and Shadi Balawi (Khalifa University of Science, Technology & Research (KUSTAR),

UAE); Wael Zaki (Khalifa University of Science Technology and Research, UAE); Zuheir Barsoum

(Khalifa University of Science, Technology & Research (KUSTAR), UAE)

Ultrasonic metal welding (USMW) is a solid-state bonding process highly applicable to join lightweight

alloy materials. The strength of parts welded using this process varies depending on the used control

parameters such as welding time, power, clamping pressure, etc. This study is an experimental and

numerical investigation of the ultrasonic welding process for aluminum sheets with thickness of 1.4 mm.

Experiments were conducted to test the effect of welding time and power on the weld quality and weld

strength while measuring the temperature distribution. As a future step it is possible to use the

experimental measured temperature as an input to heat flux models in finite element analysis (FEA) to

simulate the USMW process and to develop a model that would evaluate the weld quality by predicting

the maximum failure load under lap-shear test.

D1SD3.6 17:40 Numerical and experimental investigation on the effect of the electric field on non-premixed

counterflow methane-air flames

Abdul Rahman Farraj and Ahmad AL-Naeemy (Khalifa University of Science, Technology and

Research, UAE); Ashraf N. Al-Khateeb and Dimitrios C. Kyritsis (Khalifa University, UAE)

Results of a computational and experimental study of laminar, non-premixed counterflow methane

diffusion flame under the effect of the electric field are described. The flame position could be

manipulated experimentally through control of the applied electric field independently of variations in

the momentum of the reactant stream. The governing equations were solved using the ANSYS-Fluent

platform by implementing the GRI-Mech 3.0 mechanism that was complemented by three reactions

generating three chemi-ions: H2O+, HCO+ and e-. The electrostatic effect was coupled with the

governing equations by introducing the appropriate terms to the momentum, species evolution, and

energy equations of ANSYS-Fluent solver.



D1SE3.1 16:00 Comprehensive Evaluation of Univariate and Multivariate Models for Forecasting Mean and

Volatility of Short-term Wind Speed

Aamna Al-Shehhi (Masdar Institute, UAE); Zeyar Aung (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology,

UAE)

Wind power becomes an increasingly significant source of generation in power systems and clean energy

33

initiatives. Consequently, wind speed forecasting plays an important role in the wind energy industry in

terms of wind turbine operation, wind energy scheduling, wind energy project design and assessment,

efficient energy harvesting, and so on. In this work, we will approach different univariate and

multivariate parameter estimation models for the discrete-time wind speed. Comprehensive evaluation of

the different models for forecasting the mean and volatility of Abu Dhabi International Airport, UAE

wind speed is undertaken.

D1SE3.2 16:20 Real-time pricing in electricity markets: When Everyone Uses Adaptive Automation

Ghaneya Al Darei (Masdar Institute, UAE); Jacob Crandall and Khaled Elbassioni (Masdar Institute of


Consumers of electrical power are charged with an average price that does not reflect the consumption of

electricity at the time of usage, which could cause allocative inefficiency. The idea of real-time pricing

(RTP) is to allow real-time changes in the prices. RTP works as an economic incentive to control

consumers behavior. RTP algorithms try to predict the consumer demand in the future and set the prices

accordingly. Here, we consider two types of consumers; the price takers and adaptive consumers. For

price takers, we give a procedure that computes the operating price, as a fixed point computed by a

randomized version of the bisection method, resulting in a relatively flat consumption. On the other hand,

adaptive consumers who predict the prices in the same way may render the market unstable; however,

our experiments show that when there is a slight difference in the prediction, such instability can be

reduced.

D1SE3.3 16:40 Arabic reCAPTCHA Service: Architecture and Design Challenges

Hanin B. Abubaker (Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research, UAE); Khaled Salah

(Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research (KUSTAR), UAE); Hassan Al-Muhairi

(Khalifa University (KUSTAR), UAE); Ahmed Bentiba (University of Sharjah, UAE)

reCAPTCHA is a security measure that guards web applications against automated abuse by presenting a

random auto-generated challenge to the unknown user to solve. These challenges typically are hard to be

solved by computers, yet easy for humans. In this paper, we present a brief overview of an Arabic

reCAPTCHA service architecture and discuss key design challenges of Arabic reCAPTCHA service.

These design challenges primarily include the extraction of individual word-images from the scanned

pages and handling multiple users at the cloud-based server side. We show how our design addresses

both of these challenges.

D1SE3.4 17:00 Dynamic Textures Based Background Modeling and Foreground Detection

M. Sami Zitouni (Khalifa University, UAE); Harish Bhaskar (Khalifa University of Science Technology

and Research, UAE); Mohammed Al-Mualla (Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research,

UAE)

In this paper, a dynamic background modeling and hence foreground detection technique using a

Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) of spatio-temporal patches of dynamic texture (DT) is proposed.

Existing methods for background modeling cannot adequately distinguish movements in both

background and foreground, that usually characterizes any dynamic scene. Therefore, in most of these

methods, the separation of the background from foreground requires precise tuning of parameters or an

apriori model of the foreground. The proposed method aims to differentiate between global from local

motion by attributing the video using spatio-temporal patches of DT modeled using a typical GMM

framework. In addition to alleviating the aforementioned limitations, the proposed method can cope with

complex dynamic scenes without the need for training or parameter tuning. Qualitative and quantitative

analysis of the method compared against competing baselines have demonstrated the superiority of the

method and the robustness against dynamic variations in the background.

34



D1SF3.1 16:00 Does Growth Factors and Oxidative Stress Play a Role in Survival of Hippocampal Neurons?

Ahlam Abi Issa (United Arab Emirates University, UAE); Naheed Amir (UAE University, UAE);

Naserddine Hamadi (United Arab Emirates University, UAE); Abdu Adem (UAE University, UAE)

Glucocorticoid (GC) levels cause degenerative changes to hippocampal neurons. Growth factors and

antioxidant molecules have potent neuroprotective role on hippocampal neurons. However, the role of

growth factors and oxidative stress on hippocampal neurodegeneration after GC removal is not clear. We

study the time-dependent effect of adrenalectomy (ADX) on glutathione (GSH), malondialdehyde

(MDA), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and beta-nerve growth factor (beta-NGF). Hippocampus

samples were collected from bilateral adrenalectomized and sham operated male Wistar rats at 0.5, 2, 4,

12 hours also 1, 3, 7, 14 days. Samples were used for measuring IGF-1, beta-NGF, Glutathione and

MDA levels. IGF-1 was significantly reduced at 12hr and remained consistent while beta-NGF showed a

significant decrease at 14 days in ADX compared to Sham. GSH significantly decreased whereas MDA

showed a significant increase from 7 days compared to controls. ADX may increase susceptibility of

hippocampal neurons to degeneration through early changes in IGF-1 levels.

D1SF3.2 16:20 Halofuginone Induces a Non-genetic Drug Resistance Phenotype in Plasmodium Falciparum

Lola Fagbami and Jonathan Herman (Harvard University, USA); Amy Deik and Clary Clish (Broad

Institute, USA); Ralph Mazitschek and Dyann Wirth (Harvard University, USA)

Halofuginone (HFG) is a derivative of the active ingredient of the Chinese medicinal plant Dichroa

febrifuga, which has been used for millennia as a traditional remedy for malaria. We have identified the

cytoplasmic prolyl tRNA synthetase (cPRS) in Plasmodium falciparum as the long-sought biochemical

target of HFG and further discovered a novel mechanism of drug tolerance through the modulation of

proline homeostasis. We found that a non-genetic adaptation to HFG precedes mutation or amplification

of the target cPRS gene. The specific upregulation of proline levels in response to HFG treatment

constitutes an unprecedented mode of drug tolerance and is necessary for the development of genetic

drug resistance. We now seek to identify the primary source of increased intraparasitic proline using

mass spectrometry-based metabolite profiling.

D1SF3.3 16:40 Role of sequences at the 5' end of the MMTV genome in nucleocytoplasmic transport and

translation of unspliced RNA

Shaima Akhlaq (UAEU, UAE); Farah Mustafa (United Arab Emirates University, UAE); Pretty Phillip,

Lizna Ali and Tahir Rizvi (UAEU CMHS, UAE)

Retroviral genomes contain untranslated regulatory sequences at both the 5' and 3' ends of the genomic

RNA (gRNA) implicated in critical aspects of virus replication. The mouse mammary tumor virus

(MMTV) has been hypothesized to contain a putative second 5' Rem responsive element (RmRE) at the

5' end of the viral genome, overlapping the packaging signal (psi) and may play a role in both gRNA

nuclear export and translation. To address this hypothesis, several mutations were introduced into the

MMTV psi RNA and tested in stable transfections to determine their effect on nuclear export of Gag

mRNA and protein expression. Our data suggest defects in both RNA transport and expression of Gag

proteins in some mutants. If confirmed, these data reveal that MMTV contains sequences at the 5' end

which regulate gene expression by facilitating the nuclear export and/or stability of unspliced RNAs.

D1SF3.4 17:00 Role of Epstein-Barr Virus Small RNAs (EBERs) in Inhibiting Apoptosis

Waqar Ahmed (United Arab Emirates University, UAE); Pretty Phillip (UAEU CMHS, UAE); Gulfaraz

Khan (UAEU, UAE)

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is an oncogenic herpes virus implicated in the pathogenesis of a number of

human malignancies. Latently infected cells express around a dozen latent gene products, two of which

35

are the non-protein coding small RNAs (EBER-1 and EBER-2). These RNAs are highly expressed (>106

copies per cell) in all forms of EBV latencies, but their function remains unclear. A growing body of

evidence suggests that EBERs can inhibit apoptosis, increase cell proliferation and induce tumorogenic

properties. To investigate the molecular steps that may be involved in bringing about these biological

changes, we have created EBER1/2 expression plasmids and established stable EBER expressing cell

lines. These cells express EBERs in the nucleus as well as excreting detectable levels of EBERs into the

supernatant. Our data suggests that EBER transfected cells are resistant to apoptosis and have an up-

regulation of some of the genes involved in apoptosis.

D1SG3: Sustainability in Built Environment


D1SG3.1 16:00 Investigation Form-related Regulations Vs. Form-Based Code in Abu Dhabi Urban

Neighborhoods

Arwa Sabri and Khaled Galal Ahmed (United Arab Emirates University, UAE)

Form-Based Code is a sustainable planning tool that helps realize sustainable urban form and sustainable

communities from different perspectives including mixing of land uses, diversifying housing types,

achieving walkability and cycling as well as permitting for community involvement in design processes.

Locally, Abu Dhabi lacks FBC which could help in promoting its sustainable identity. Accordingly, this

research aimed at reviewing the form-related regulations for developing Abu Dhabi new urban

neighborhoods to investigate to what extent they coincide with the components of FBC as a universal

practice. It has been found that the form-related regulations in Abu Dhabi are fragmented and they lack

some essential components from FBC applications. There is a need for adding requirements to reflect the

urban local identity of Abu Dhabi. The research ended up with developing a proposed FBC model for

Abu Dhabi. Further research is planned to investigate the applicability of adopting this model

D1SG3.2 16:20 Axiomatic Design Approach to Building Retrofitting for Energy Efficiency

Mouza AlKaabi (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

This paper proposed Axiomatic Design approach to systematically build a retrofitting scheme for an

office building in the climate of Abu Dhabi. The aim of the retrofitting scheme is to reach the most

energy efficient solution. The retrofitted building is treated as a large fixed system, because it includes a

number of high level requirements and number of layers of decomposition necessary to generate a

complete set of required retrofits, as well as, a great number of physical components. Furthermore, the

components are fixed within the system, to satisfy a fixed set of requirements that do not change with

time. The architecture of the system was mapped using the FR/DP dual hierarchy method of representing

Axiomatic Design, the dual hierarchy is represented using Axiomatic Design Design matrix.

D1SG3.3 16:40 Integrating Building Performance Simulation in Agent-Based Models

Sokratis Papadopoulos and Elie Azar (Masdar Institute, UAE)

Building Performance Simulation (BPS) is an established method used in the design phase of buildings to

predict energy consumption and guide design choices. Despite their advanced abilities to model complex

building systems, BPS tools fail to account for different and changing energy use characteristics of

building occupants, leading to important prediction errors. In parallel, Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) has

emerged in recent years as a technique capable of capturing occupants' dynamic energy actions and

behaviors in buildings. However, ABM lacks the building simulation capabilities of traditional BPS

tools. This research proposes a new modeling framework that integrates BPS in ABM using trained

regression surrogate models, hence levering their "technical" and "human" modeling capabilities. The

framework is tested on a prototype office building, showing an excellent fit between the BPS and the

36

trained surrogate model, with an adjusted R-squared of 0.975 and a mean absolute percentage error of 2.2

percent.

D1SG3.4 17:00 Smart Building: IoT Implementation Based on Human Behavior Pattern

Chien Chen, Tao-Hung Chang, Fatma AlShowab and Jiin Baek (Masdar Institute of Science and

Technology, UAE)

Based on the behavior pattern of users in both office and residential buildings in Abu Dhabi, we

discovered a huge amount of energy waste. In order to achieve the sustainable lifestyle, we proposed an

implementation which combines the idea of IoT(Internet of Thing) and Smart building. Moreover, we

will conduct a survey to discover the user behavior pattern in Masdar Villas residential area as a case

study to estimate how much energy and money we can save by applying our implementation.

D1SG3.5 17:20 Potentials and Benefits of Building Integrated Photovoltaics

Daniel Attoye (United Arab Emirates University, UAE); Kheira Anissa Tabet Aoul (UAEU, UAE);

Ahmad Hassan (UAE University, UAE)

Buildings are a main source of global energy consumption and CO2 emission; accounting for about 40%

of earth's energy consumed yearly [1]. Advancements in photovoltaic (PV) technology have birth an

innovative strategy leading to more energy-efficient buildings. This paper aims to investigate the

possibilities and potentials of this strategy; along with its unique benefits and challenges; highlighting

also possible research opportunities.

D1SH3: Energy & Fuels


D1SH3.1 16:00 Validation of a Ray-Tracing Model of the Beam Down Optical Experiment at Masdar Institute

Solar Platform

Miguel Diago, Juliana Beltran Torres, Benjamin Grange, Victor Gutierrez Perez and Peter Armstrong

(Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Alexander Slocum (Massachusetts Institute of

Technology, USA); Nicolas Calvet (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

A ray-tracing model of a beam down solar concentrator available at the Masdar Institute Solar Platform is

validated. The solar reflection of operative heliostats on a lambertian target at the top of the tower is

compared to the solar flux density distribution predicted by the ray-tracing model. Each image is

captured by a CCD camera installed at the base of the tower, and processed to derive the solar flux

density concentration distribution on the target. The ray-tracing model is implemented in TracePro 6.0.2,

following the geometrical specifications of the beam down facility. The results indicate that the model is

able to capture the shape of the reflection, although significant deviations are noticed between the

experiments and the predictions.

D1SH3.2 16:20 Performance of Organic Rankine Cycle for Waste Heat Recovery Using Different Working

Fluids

Anas Alkhazaleh (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Mohamed I Ali (Masdar, UAE);

Peter Armstrong (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

Heat recovery using organic Rankine cycle is a widely used technique. Rankine cycle usually uses water

as working fluid, but for heat recovery purposes especially low grade heat source, organic fluids are used.

The heat source in this paper is the aluminium melting furnaces' flue gases. This paper presents the

performance of organic Rankine cycle using different working fluids and its impact on the amount of fuel

recovered and CO2 emission reduction. It also shows how changing heat source parameter such as flue

gases' mass flow rate and temperature would impact the output power and the performance of the cycle.

37

D1SH3.3 16:40 Activation Methods of Carbon Paper Electrodes for use in the Positive Half Cell of VRFBs

Ibrahim H. S. Mustafa, Ali Al Menhali, Ayoob Al Hammadi and Saif Almheiri (Masdar Institute of


Owing to their high porosity, low density, and low electrical resistance, carbon paper materials embody

important characteristics for use as high performance electrodes in Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

(VRFBs), yet only little has been done to investigate the methods and effects of their activation and

enhancement. In this work, thermal and electrochemical treatment methods are investigated in an attempt

to enhance and unlock the potential of carbon paper electrodes. The respective electrochemical

performance is characterized by employing cyclic voltammetry and tafel plot electrochemical techniques

to understand the effects induced on reversibility and performance. Significant improvements of

performance have been attained by the different treatment methods employed, of which the most

significant is the thermal treatment method.

D1SH3.4 17:00 Hybrid petri network sliding mode control of wind turbine for maximum power point tracking

Aghiles Ardjal (Mouloud Mammeri University, Algeria); Maamar Bettayeb (University of Sharjah,

UAE); Rachid Mansouri (Mouloud Mammeri University, Algeria)

This paper describes a new synthesis of hybrid Petri net sliding mode control (PNSMC) applied to reach

the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) of a variable speed wind energy conversion system. To solve

the main and major undesired phenomenon faced by conventional sliding mode control, the high

frequency oscillations known as chattering, the design of a hybrid controller based on Petri network

sliding mode control (PNSMC) is proposed, in which a Petri network controller replaces the

discontinuous part of the classical sliding mode control law. The new hybrid controller law has been

tested in Simulink/Matlab environment. Simulations results of the proposed control theme present good

dynamic and steady-state performances compared to the classical SMC from aspects of the reduction

chattering phenomenon.

D1SH3.5 17:20 Genetic Algorithms vs. Particle Swarm Optimization in the Parameter Identification of PEM

Fuel Cell's Models

Reem I Salim (UAE University, UAE); Hassan Noura and Abbas Fardoun (United Arab Emirates

University, UAE)

Fuel cell systems are considered to be very complex systems that are very difficult to model. This is

because their models consists of thermal, electrical, mechanical, chemical, and fluidic phenomena that

are inter-acting with one another. The use of Evolutionary algorithms (EA) proved to be successful in

approximating solutions to various types of problems in vast areas such as since, art, mathematics,

biology, chemistry, physics and engineering. In this paper, the ability of two famous EAs to correctly

identify the parameters of two PEMFC systems will be explored and compared to one another.

Thursday, April 28

Thursday, April 28, 08:00 - 09:00

Registration & Coffee


Thursday, April 28, 09:00 - 11:00

38



D2SA1.1 09:00 Simultaneous Microalgae Lipid Content and Cell Quantification Using Electrical Parameters

Leena Saqer and Mahmoud Al Ahmad (United Arab Emirates University, UAE)

In this work, the lipid content and the count of microalgae cells suspended in a cultivation medium are

quantified electrically without the need for any preprocessing. The proposed technique is based on

finding the cell effective dielectric constant which is directly related to the cell composition and can be

used as figure of merit to be correlated with the lipid content. The electrical measurements of the

capacitance voltage concept is employed to determine microalgae cells counts, suspended in a cultivation

medium without any sample treatment or pre-processing steps. In the proposed technique, the microalgae

cells are considered as dopants embedded inside a relevant medium. The cells count is then estimated by

subtracting the intrinsic impurities of the medium from the effective ensemble impurities of the

suspension inside a defined volume.

D2SA1.2 09:20 Autoscaling of Cores in Multicore Processor using Power and Thermal Workload Signatures

Rupesh Karn (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology & Mubadala Company, UAE); Ibrahim M

Elfadel (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

Autoscaling of virtual machines based on real-time dynamic workload variation on cloud clusters are

well known. These techniques can be applied on dynamic scaling of cores in mega-core servers.

Frequently known performance metrics such as CPU utilization and latency are used to estimate the

scaling of the number of cores irrespective of the type of workloads. It results into excess power

consumption and chip temperature resulting in performance degradation. In this work, the hardware

performance counters (PCs) of the processor are used to predict the characteristic of workload executing

on multicore processors. It includes only those PCs that are most correlated with the workload power or

thermal behavior. Such PC subsets are considered as workload signatures and it is used to trigger core's

scaling in real-time. Experiments are performed using workloads from the SPEC CPU 2006 and

PARSEC benchmark suites.

D2SA1.3 09:40 Speech enhancement using extended Kalman filter to train multi-layer perceptron

Tarek Mellahi (Badji Mokhtar University, Sidi Amar, Annaba, Algeria); Rachid Hamdi (Badji Mokhtar

Annaba University, Algeria); Mounir Bousbia-Salah (University BADJI Mokhtar Annaba, Algeria)

In this work, we are concerned by non-linear Kalman filtering scheme where the extended Kalman filter

(EKF) is used to train multi-layer perceptron (MLP) to be applied to noisy speech. However, when only

noise-corrupted speech is available, our enhancement experiments use a NOIZEUS corpus where the

proposed method achieves higher Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality (PESQ) score and better

subjective tests than the basic scheme of Kalman filter as well as other enhancement methods.

D2SA1.4 10:00 Dynamic Voltage Restorer Application for the Voltage Compensation of Sensitive Industrial

Loads

Aram Kirakosyan (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Mohamed El-Moursi and Vinod

Khadkikar (Masdar Institute, UAE)

Significant economic impact may be caused by the deterioration of the power quality supplied to the

sensitive and expensive industrial loads. Monetary losses can be in the form of decrease in production as

well as damage to industrial equipment caused by voltage related problems. Dynamic Voltage Restorers

(DVR) are considered as one of the most efficient and advisable solutions that can alleviate the dynamic

power quality problems. In this paper comparison of various topologies of DVR is made, with the further

implementation of DVR with energy storage unit. Elaboration of the relevant control technique for

voltage compensation is carried out. The results of extensive simulations in MATLAB/ SIMULINK are

provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the DVR for ensuring the power quality in response to grid

39

disturbances.

D2SA1.5 10:20 Development of a Quantitative Performance Index for Optimization of Controllers in the

Frequency Domain

Baraa Mohandes (The Petroleum Institute, UAE); Igor Boiko (Petrolum Institute, UAE); Youssef Abdel-

Magid (The Petrleum Institute, UAE)

This paper proposes a new mathematical tool to optimize controllers in the frequency domain. The new

tool is much faster and less computationally intensive compared to time-integral criteria (i.e ITAE). The

outcome of this research is a set of mathematical formulae that calculate optimal PID settings as a

function of plant's parameters. Finally, the obtained tuning rules are tested in an application study.

D2SA1.6 10:40 Full-order sliding mode control of a nonlinear suspension system

Mohamed Serry (American University of Sharjah, UAE)

In this paper, one of the recent techniques of sliding mode control (SMC), namely full-order SMC, is

applied to a nonlinear quarter car suspension model that belongs to a class of second-order nonlinear

uncertain systems. The governing equations of the model are derived based on force analysis. Moreover,

the full-order control law is designed to satisfy the design requirements of preventing damage and

providing human comfort. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed control is illustrated through a

numerical example.



D2SB1.1 09:00 Titania-based thin films deposited by e-beam evaporation

Corrado Garlisi (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Gabriele Scandura (Masdar, UAE);

Giovanni Palmisano (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

TiO2 and Cu-TiO2 thin films were deposited by e-beam evaporation and then annealed at 350 and

500°C. Film properties were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy

(SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The catalytic activity was tested by

monitoring the discoloration under visible light of methylene blue (MB) pre-adsorbed on the films and

degradation of 2-propanol under simulated solar light in a gas phase batch reactor. Cu-doped films

resulted the most reactive samples during the degradation of MB under visible radiation, whereas the rate

of photodegradation of 2-propanol was the highest in pure TiO2 films due to the greater crystallinity and

less electron-hole recombination phenomena.

D2SB1.2 09:20 Solubility of CO2 in amine based deep eutectic solvents

Idowu Adeyemi (Masdar Institute & Masdar Institute, UAE); Mohammad Abu-Zahra and Enas Muen

Nashef (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

In this study, we measured the solubility of carbon dioxide in three deep eutectic solvents (DES),

(Choline chloride + Monoethanolamine, Ch-M), (Choline chloride + Diethanolamine, Ch-D) and

(Choline chloride + Methyldiethanolamine, Ch-MD), for three different choline chloride:amine molar

ratios of 1:6, 1:7 and 1:8. The CO2 absorption was conducted with a solvent screening set-up (SSS) and

the CO2 loading was measured with a total organic carbon (TOC) analyzer. The solubility experiments

were performed based on the conditions of the absorber in the post-combustion capture process (PCO2 =

15kPa and T = 40oC). Thereafter, qualitative and quantitative analysis with FTIR and HPLC were

conducted to determine the extent of chemical and physical CO2 absorption. Results revealed that amine-

based DESs have absorption capacity that is comparable to pure amines . The solubility of CO2 was

found to increase as the molar ratio of the amine in the DES increased.

40

D2SB1.3 09:40 Formation and Growth of Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Claus Process

Evgenia Georganta (PETROLEUM INSTITUTE, UAE); Abhijeet Gupta (Petroleum Institute, UAE)

Elemental sulfur is recovered through Claus process in oil and gas industry from gas streams rich in H2S.

Several contaminants in H2S Claus feed, lead to large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and

soot formation causing catalyst deactivation. Catalyst replacement increases sulfur production cost. Thus,

PAHs and soot formation should be inhibited by understanding more the reactions responsible for them.

In this work, a detailed reaction mechanism for PAHs growth through its armchair site mediated by

methyl radicals' addition is studied. The reaction is modelled using phenanthrene with an armchair site as

the reactant and pyrene as the product. The chemically accurate energetics and molecular parameters for

all the species involved are determined through quantum calculations. The rate constants are evaluated

using transition state theory. Based on these calculations and potential energy diagrams, the energetically

favored pathways for the formation and growth of aromatic hydrocarbons in Claus furnace are presented.

D2SB1.4 10:00 A Novel Improved Oil Recovery approach for increasing capillary number by enhancing depth

of penetration in Abu Dhabi Carbonate reservoirs

Arsalan Ansari (The Petroleum Institute & ZADCO, UAE); Mohammed Haroun and Mohammed Motiur

Rahman (The Petroleum Institute, UAE); George Chilingar (University of Southern California, USA)

Electrokinetic Low-concentration acid IOR (EK LCA-IOR) is one of the emerging IOR technologies,

which involves the application of the Low-concentration acidizing integrated with electrically enhanced

oil recovery (EK-EOR).This research focusses on analyzing the effectiveness of the EK LCA-IOR

process in Abu Dhabi carbonates, improving the capillary number and enhancing depth of penetration.

Core-flood tests were conducted at reservoir conditions and correlations have shown that the application

of EK LCA-IOR, provided an additional 17-28% oil recovery as compared to waterflooding. In addition,

EK LCA-IOR also improves the capillary number by 500%-1500%, mainly due to a decrease in

interfacial tension. SECTS results indicate that EK LCA-IOR precisely delivers the acid front to

penetrate 60% of core-length. This study takes one step forward towards the development of EK Low-

concentration acid IOR method feasible for Abu Dhabi oil fields in order to make smart waterfloods

applicable for complex fractured reservoirs of UAE.

D2SC1: Information Security


D2SC1.1 09:00 Cloud Forensics: Towards a Unified Solution for Meeting Technical and Legal Challenges

Rima Masri, Haneen Hassan and Farkhund Iqbal (Zayed University, UAE)

Cloud computing is a very promising technology. It became popular at a short period of time since it can

serve people, organizations, companies, institutes, governments and much more. At the same time,

technology doesn't stop as it keeps improving every single day. As a result digital crime became popular

due to this improvement. Despite cloud computing advantages, it can represent a challenge and cause

problems if it suffers a breach. Cloud forensics is a new forensic filed that apply the digital forensics in

cloud computing, and due to its new age, cloud forensics encounter different types of challenges that can

be categorized into technical, legal, and organizational challenges. This paper proposes solutions to both

technical and legal issues that cloud forensics is facing.

D2SC1.2 09:20 Forensic Analysis of Gaming Console Engine

Salam Khanji, Raja Jabir, Farkhund Iqbal and Andrew Marrington (Zayed University, UAE)

The rapid technology evolution dramatically changed the users experience and reshaped the current

electronic systems functionality. Gaming consoles are categorized as small scale digital devices and have

41

evolved from just being restricted to gaming to perform computing functionality such as storing images,

creating videos, accessing Internet, and watching movies. With this dramatic change in functionality, the

usage of gaming console devices in criminal activities have increased; however it's still considered a

vague area for today's forensic examiners. This paper highlights the challenges faced during gaming

console forensic analysis and exemplifies the lack of reliable specialized forensic tools. A framework

was developed to examine the current state of existing forensic acquisition and analysis tools, by

exploring their applicability to gaming console engines, employing two gaming consoles Xbox-one and

PlayStation-4; validating the acquired images, comparing retrieved artifacts before and after restoring the

console to the factory settings, and conducting network analysis.

D2SC1.3 09:40 Cloud Storage Forensics in Tablets: Dropbox, OneCloud and Google Drive as a case study

Liza Ahmad and Farkhund Iqbal (Zayed University, UAE)

Cloud Storage services keep increasing in popularity as users are increasingly depending on storing data

in the cloud using small scale digital devices due to the: ease of access and cost effectiveness of those

services, as a consequence, an expansion is occurring in the field of cloud forensics. As a case study,

three Cloud storage applications were used: Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive to investigate and

analyze artefacts remaining on iPad and Samsung tablets from accessing those applications. It was found

that the artefacts recovered are of significant forensic value and can be used as potential evidence in the

cloud forensics process concerning the client side.

D2SC1.4 10:00 Android Forensics against Man-in-the-Middle Attack

Khulood Al Zaabi and Farkhund Iqbal (Zayed University, UAE)

Due to the increased usage of social-networking application's built-in Android devices via Wi-Fi

connections, cyber-attacks are also increasing which has resulted in privacy issues. Several studies have

been conducted to investigate Android devices; however, none of these studies have proposed a

comprehensive Android investigation method, which begins with a man-in-the-middle attack and ending

in a criminal investigation. The purpose of this research is to propose an Android forensics framework

against such Wi-Fi attacks using advanced forensic extraction and analysis tools. We believe that such a

framework is needed to implement guidelines for forensic examiners, especially for those who are new in

the field of forensics. Furthermore, we have evaluated the employed forensic tools in terms of their

effectiveness, advantages, disadvantages and limitations, and then recommended the best data extraction

methods designed for Android devices.

D2SC1.5 10:20 Investigation on Digital Forensic Requirements of Cloud Based Snapshots

Sameera Almulla (Khalifa University of Science, Technology & Research (KUSTAR), UAE); Youssef

Iraqi (Khalifa University, UAE)

This abstract paper discusses part of a research on digital forensics investigation of cloud based

snapshots. An overview and results of both practical and theoretical assessment will be discussed.



D2SD1.1 09:00 Simplified Thermal Model for Thermal Management of a Secondary Solar Concentrator

Radia Lahlou (Masdar Institute, UAE); Nicolas Calvet (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology,

UAE); Tariq Shamim (Masdar Institute of Science & Technology, UAE)

A simplified thermal model is developed for a secondary concentrator integrated with a high-temperature

open volumetric solar receiver. The secondary concentrator allows the reduction of thermal losses from

the receiver by reducing the tank aperture. It is exposed to high solar fluxes, a part of which is absorbed

42

by the reflecting material leading to elevated wall temperatures. Proper thermal management is hence

required. The thermal model describes the passive cooling behavior under most extreme conditions, and

is intended to help design the active cooling system. It shows a substantial reduction of active cooling

requirements by the use of high-emissivity paint on the concentrator outer wall. Based on the results,

suitable locations of temperature measurements are determined for the first prototype tests, which will be

used for model adjustment.

D2SD1.2 09:20 Energy Cost of Architectural Walls Around A Cooling Tower

Omer Qureshi (Masdar Institute, UAE); Peter Armstrong (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology,

UAE)

This work estimates excess energy usage when cooling tower fan operates at higher speeds to

compensate for the entrainment and recirculation of exhaust air caused by architectural walls around a

cooling tower. Air properties (i.e. temperature and relative humidity) for both near the cooling tower,

inside the walls, and away from it, outside the walls, (i.e. air properties of free stream air) were

monitored and analyzed. Results show that 9% excess energy was used to overcome this increase in

entering air humidity.

D2SD1.3 09:40 VAWT Performance Prediction - Investigation of Different Models

Sayyad B. Qamar and Isam Janajreh (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

Vertical axis wind turbine has potential advantages for small domestic application, as they can be

effectively used in urban areas where wind is intermittently unsteady and turbulent. This work highlights

the progress made in the development of aerodynamic models for predicting the performance of straight

bladed fixed pitch vertical axis wind turbines blade profile. An improved low fidelity blade element

momentum algorithm using a hybrid database is built to investigate the performance of the turbine. This

is followed by 2-D numerical investigation to compare the performance prediction capability of the CFD

and mathematical model. The results show good match between the models and experimental work.

D2SD1.4 10:00 Design and Performance of Passive Radiative Cooler under Direct Sunlight

Afra Alketbi, Jin You Lu and TieJun Zhang (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

Exposure to strong solar radiation can easily result in a significant increase in temperature. However, a

proper design of selective surfaces helps dissipate the absorbed heat and lower the surface temperature.

This work presents an optimized design for a one-dimensional photonic structure that is capable of

passive radiative cooling under direct sunlight to temperatures below ambient. An imbalance between the

heat absorbed by the object and the heat emitted within the atmospheric transparency window (8 to 13

micrometers) enables the cooling. A perfectly sealed structure can achieve a net cooling power of

approximately 208 W/m2, leading to a steady state temperature of 38.6°C below ambient temperature.

D2SD1.5 10:20 Near Perfect Broadband Absorber Based on Random Metal Nanoparticles with Varied Spacer

layers

Sumaya Noor Ullah, Jin You Lu, Aikifa Raza and TieJun Zhang (Masdar Institute of Science and

Technology, UAE)

Introducing an absorber having patterned surface with tens of nano-meters in the feature size, can

enhance the absorptance, but the fabrication process is usually complicated and cost effective for large

area and mass production. Recently, an alternative approach was proposed by introducing randomly

distributed nano-particles on the absorber structure to achieve similar effect due to localized surface

plasmon resonance. In this study, we propose a broadband absorber by combining the ultra thin film

absorber with nano particles randomly deposited on the absorber surface, where the ultra thin absorber

composed of an ultra thin semiconductor layer and the metallic substrate. The absorber is premeditated

by utilizing 3D simulation of FDTD. The design will be fabricated using the sputtering and thermal

evaporating processes, and it will be characterized using the UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer and

43

Variable Angle Ellipsometer.

D2SD1.6 10:40 Numerical Simulation of Solar Assisted Gasification for Glycerol Byproduct

Tala El Samad (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Mohammed Hussain (Masdar

Institute, UAE); Isam Janajreh (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

Transesterification of waste oil into biodiesel is a reversible multi-reactions process which yields in a

byproduct, crude glycerol. The cost of biodiesel production can have a 6.5% decrease if appropriate

employment of glycerol is adopted. An option would be using the byproduct as an energy source either

by direct combustion, blending, steam reforming or gasification. Syngas, Carbon Monoxide (CO) and

Hydrogen (H2) can be produced from gasification of glycerol. Solar assisted gasification can enhance the

enthalpy of the reaction by restoring solar heat. In this work, a solar assisted gasifier is designed whereby

the residual glycerol can be converted thermo-chemically into syngas. The solar energy substitutes the

partial combustion that is needed for gasification; this inhibits the release of emissions resulting in

cleaner syngas. Temperature, species and velocity distributions are analyzed. Results show that glycerol

depletes completely almost instantly to form H2 and CO2 without a high solar irradiation.



D2SE1.1 09:00 An Empirical Study of Contributors Diversity and Software Quality in GitHub Projects

Muhammad Syafiq Kamarul Azman and Khawla Masood Al Dhaheri (Masdar Institute of Science and

Technology, UAE)

Contributors on GitHub are diverse in terms of demography and technical level across different projects

but are highly transient. Previous works have suggested that diverse communities are more productive

but does not take into account the quality of the software that is produced. This paper provides an insight

into the quality of software that is available using quality metrics suited for open source software (OSS)

on various large projects on GitHub with high developer diversity. This study investigated more than 100

releases of 5 different Python projects and between 6800 - 20000 commits per project were validated

against the more than 1300 contributor details. It was found that diversity measures were partially

positively correlated to software quality. Employment diversity projected loss in software quality as

diversity increases. There was good evidence that increase in location diversity and commits diversity

showed an increase in software quality.

D2SE1.2 09:20 On Testing and Evaluation of ECG Bio-Sensor Algorithms

Hussam Al-Hamadi (Khalifa University for Science, Technology and Research, UAE); Amjad

Gawanmeh and Mahmoud Al-Qutayri (Khalifa University, UAE)

The use of bio-sensors, be it attached or embedded inside a human body, to monitor various

physiological parameters is increasing at a significant rate due to continued advances in miniaturizations

and materials. Testing and verification of the algorithms used in processing the physiological parameters

of concern is essential, given the sensitivity of their usage. Simulation is a technique that is widely used

to achieve this. However, proper test cases are required in order to carry out the simulation process.

ElectroCardioGram (ECG) is one of the most commonly used and studied physiological signal, yet,

algorithms that handle ECG recorded data are not being tested and verified thoroughly due to the lack of

proper test cases. This paper presents a test case generation algorithm that can be used to provide ECG

records for testing purposes.

D2SE1.3 09:40 Extraction of Abu Dhabi Downtown Road Network from Satellite Images using Ensemble

Machine Learning and Graph Theory Approach

44

Prajowal Manandhar, Zeyar Aung, Prashanth Marpu and Sameh El Khatib (Masdar Institute of Science

and Technology, UAE)

This paper presents two-level ensemble machine learning approach to identify and update roads from

satellite images with the help of graph theory approach. The proposed framework consist of two main

stages. In the first stage, we create a model based on One Class - Support Vector Machine which helps to

extract the first impression of the road using central road line pixels, as initially we only have data for a

single known class. And then in the second stage, we use the output of the first stage to model both road

and non-road classes. The model based on ensemble Random Forest approach is used to get more proper

estimation of roads and non-roads. As with additional information of non-roads, we expect the second

model to be better than first one in distinguishing roads and non-roads. Further, we use the concept of

graph theory to generate the road network.

D2SE1.4 10:00 Evaluation of Cooperative Localisation Algorithms under realistic indoor environments for IEEE

802.11 WLAN Systems

Ebtesam Almazrouei (Khalifa University, UAE); Nayef Alsindi (Etisalat-British Telecommunications

Innovation Centre (EBTIC), UAE); Saleh R Al-Araji (Saleh Engineering, USA); Nazar Ali (Khaifa

University, UAE)

Localisation for indoor environments has gained considerable attention over the past decade. There are

many localisation techniques with varying degrees of accuracy and complexity. However, it is more

convenient to take advantage of an existing wireless network infrastructure in indoor environments, such

as WiFi/wireless local area network (WLAN)Access points (APs). Recently, the IEEE 802.11v standard

was proposed to enable accurate Time Of Arrival (TOA)-based distance measurements between WLAN

devices. Thus, one promising approach to providing accurate localisation in indoor environments is to

integrate IEEE 802.11v with Cooperative Localization (CL) in WLAN networks. The main challenges

facing WiFi CL in indoor/urban environments are the multipath and Non Line Of Sight (NLOS)

problems. Hence, the main contributions of this research are to 1)integrate TOA-based ranging models

into well-known centralised CL algorithms; and 2)evaluate the performance of the centralized CL

algorithm in realistic indoor environments for IEEE 802.11 WLAN Systems.

D2SF1: Biomedical Engineering


D2SF1.1 09:00 A 138 dB-CMRR Low Power Instrumentation Amplifier with Programmable Gain for EEG

Mohamed Elamien and Soliman Mahmoud (University of Sharjah, UAE)

In this paper, a design of current feedback instrumentation amplifier (CFIA) for EEG detection systems

has been presented. The proposed CFIA consists of two digitally programmable operational

transconductance amplifiers (DPOTAs) and a two-stage CMOS operational amplifier. The DPOTA

circuit utilizes class AB voltage buffers to provide low standby power consumption. The proposed CFIA

achieves 138 dB common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) with total power consumption of 9.4 μW. The

design can provide a digitally programmable gain varies from 34.4 dB to 54 dB with a constant lower

cutoff frequency of 330 Hz. PSPICE simulation results are carried out using 0.25 μm CMOS technology.

D2SF1.2 09:20 Multifunctional Gold Nanoparticles for Breast Cancer Treatment

Nahla Rizk and Sung Mun Lee (Khalifa University, UAE)

Cancer is the third leading cause of death in Abu Dhabi and it poses major health problems to people

worldwide. Currently, cancer treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. These

treatments can prolong life or permanently cure cancer, but most treatments have side effects such as

pain, blood clots, and infection. The main goal of the cancer treatment is to remove cancer completely

45

without damaging the rest of the body. Thus, research has been conducted to find new treatment methods

that reduce these side effects. Recently, gold nanoparticles are being used for cancer therapy. The

multifunctional properties of gold nanoparticles allows them to be coated with anticancer drugs and

targeting molecules, to treat cancers efficiently. The goal of this project is to investigate the optimum

ratio of conjugating folic acid, methotrexate, and TGF-β1 antibody to gold nanoparticles to cause the

highest uptake by breast cancer cells and the highest toxicity.

D2SF1.3 09:40 Acoustic Triggered Drug Release from Estrone and RGD-Targeted Liposomes

Najla Salkho, Christian Christian Momah, Shaima Suwaidi, Mohamed Elkhodiry, Dina Gadalla and Rute

Vitor (American University of Sharjah, UAE); Hesham Moussa (AUS, UAE); Ana Martins and

Mohammad Al-Sayah (American University of Sharjah, UAE); Ghaleb Husseini (AUS, UAE)

Estrone and RGD-targeted liposomes are promising nanocarriers for the delivery of doxorubicin to

specific cancer cells. In this study, these liposomes were synthesized and characterized as large

unilamellar vesicles by dynamic light scattering. Low- and high- frequency ultrasound were used to

trigger the release of the model drug calcein from the liposomes in vitro. Calcein release was monitored

by measuring the fluorescence changes, and the results showed that release from both estrone and RGD-

targeted liposomes was positively correlated with power density at low frequency. The total release

percentages from both types of targeted liposomes were statistically similar to that of the control non-

targeted liposomes, when using low and high-frequency ultrasound. Keywords— Cancer treatment, drug

delivery, ligand targeting, liposomes, trigger, ultrasound.

D2SF1.4 10:00 Utilization of DSPE-PEG-p-nitrophenylcarbonyl (pNP) as the Lipid of Choice for the

Conjugation of Proteins in Preparation of Proteoliposomes Used in Ultrasound-Triggered Drug Delivery

Pierre Kawak, Renad Turki, Fatehia Banamah, Rute Vitor, Ana Martins and Mohammad Al-Sayah

(American University of Sharjah, UAE); Ghaleb Husseini (AUS, UAE)

Proteoliposomes can significantly improve liposomal structures and make them more effective drug

delivery structures with good affinity towards diseased areas. Once there, ultrasound can be used as a

stimulus, allowing the temporal control of the drug release. In this study, DSPE-PEG-pNP was studied as

a liposome component that is appropriate for protein conjugation on the surface of liposomes. Two

proteins were utilized for the test, human serum albumin and human plasminogen. The sizes of both

targeted and control liposomes were determined by dynamical light scattering, and while control and

albumin liposomes were not significantly different diameter-wise, the plasminogen ones were

significantly larger than the control. Release experiments using low-frequency ultrasound with optimized

parameters were conducted. Calcein release was monitored by the increase in fluorescence as a function

of time and it was observed that all three liposomal formulations had similar behavior once exposed to

ultrasound.

D2SG1: Water Engineering


D2SG1.1 09:00 Photocatalytic treatment of waste water under visible radiation

Diego Toledano Garcia and Giovanni Palmisano (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

During the last years, extensive investigation has been done regarding photocatalysis and its applications.

Photocatalysis enables the process of degradation of organic and inorganic species with the action of an

irradiated solid, most commonly TiO2 and its derivatives, to simple harmless components such as

inorganic oxidized ions and CO2. This research project aims to apply this technology to the treatment of

synthetic and real waste water. The expected outcome of the research is to assess the application of

photocatalysis activated by solar light in an environmentally friendly fashion to treat waste water in a

46

rather unselective way and get rid even of trace amounts of pollutants, which are recalcitrant to biological

treatments.

D2SG1.2 09:20 UV254 Treatment of Cooling Water from an Oil Refinery

Haolat Jimoh, Kean Wang and Abdul Rasheed Pillanikath (The Petroleum Institute, UAE)

The cooling water from a local oil refinery was sampled, analyzed and experimentally treated with UV

light irradiation at a wavelength of ~254nm. Total Organic Carbon (TOC), Chemical Oxygen Demand

(COD) and absorbance at 254nm were analyzed for the water samples over years to monitor the water

quality. The experimental results showed that: 1) The degradation of biocides and chemicals by UV were

observed over the treatment period; 2) The UV treatment was not highly effective for the complete

photodegradation of natural organic matters (NOM) in cooling water. Within a 120h a 30% reduction

was observed in the COD with an insignificant decrease in TOC. For a rapid photodegradation in NOM

use of photocatalyst is recommended.

D2SG1.3 09:40 Monitoring Water Resources From Space In An Arid Watershed Of Al Ain City

Dawit Ghebreyesus (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Marouane Temimi (Masdar

Institute, Tunisia)

Water storage variation over Al Ain city was determined from 2005 to 2014 by calculating the difference

between monthly inflows and outflows. The outflow included evapotranspiration and discharged

wastewater after treatment. A series of Landsat images were used to monitor the changes in Zakher lake

extent and infer total water volume using a high resolution (15m) digital elevation model.

Evapotranspiration was estimated from NCEP reanalysis data over green areas in the watershed that were

delineated using Landsat images. The inflow included precipitation, desalinated water supply, and water

reuse. Time series of GRACE observation over the study area were used to assess the inferred water

storage variation. The inferred water storage and GRACE anomalies were in phase and showed

reasonable agreement as the obtained correlation coefficient was 0.53. Both time series showed a

significant decreasing trend suggesting that water storage in the study area is being excessively depleted.

D2SG1.4 10:00 Modeling of groundwater flow for management strategy in the coastal aquifer of Wadi Ham,

UAE

Modou Sowe (United Arab Emirates University, UAE); Sathish Sadhasivam, Mohamed Mohamed and

Mohsen Sherif (UAEU, UAE)

The UAE has limited groundwater resources due to its arid environment and harsh climatic conditions.

The study area; coastal aquifer of Wadi Ham in the emirates of Fujairah is facing severe groundwater

decline due to increased agricultural activities and many production wells and farms have been

abandoned. Hence this study was carried out to investigate the vulnerability of groundwater resources

and suitability of artificial recharge in the coastal aquifer of Wadi Ham. This study employed numerical

simulation of groundwater flow to assess the impacts of pumping and recharge of groundwater. An

increase in groundwater level under various rate of artificial recharge was analyzed. The simulated

results is expected to improve groundwater levels in the study area. Hence, the present modeling of

groundwater flow can be considered as effective method to control groundwater decline in the study area.

D2SG1.5 10:20 Climatology of Precipitation and Water Storage and their Interactions in the Arabian Peninsula

Youssef Wehbe (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology & Mubadala Company, UAE); Marouane

Temimi (Masdar Institute, Tunisia); Mijael Vargas and Haile Woldesellasse (Masdar Institute of Science

and Technology, UAE)

Understanding the spatio-temporal characteristics of water storage changes is crucial for the arid region

of the Arabian Peninsula which is facing many challenges in water management inflicted by

anthropogenic impacts and climate variability. Additionally, the scarcity of in situ measurements of soil

moisture and groundwater, combined with intrinsic ''scale limitations'' of traditional methods used in

47

hydrological characterization are limiting the ability to assess the region's water resources. The data used

in this study includes; monthly gravity data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment

(GRACE) mission and rainfall data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). The

objective of this study was to apply remotely sensed data for the Arabian Peninsula to analyze the inter-

annual and seasonal variability as well as changes in total water storage and precipitation, before finally

exploring their spatially distributed - time lagged correlations which were directly related to drainage

conditions, topography, and climatology.

D2SH1: Robotics & Automation


D2SH1.1 09:00 Inspection of Large Geometrically Complex Structures Using Quadrotors

Randa Almadhoun and Tarek Taha (Khalifa University, UAE); Lakmal Seneviratne (KURI, UAE); Jorge

Dias and Guowei Cai (Khalifa University, UAE)

In this paper, we propose a coverage planning algorithm for inspecting large complex structures using a

quadrotor platform. Inspecting structures (e.g. bridges, buildings, ships, wind turbines, aircrafts) is

considered a hard task for humans to perform, and of critical nature since missing any detail could affect

the structure's performance and integrity. Therefore, the proposed method follows a model based

coverage path planning approach that generates optimized path passing through a set of admissible

viewpoints to fully cover a complex structure. The algorithm predicts the coverage percentage by using

an existing model of the complex structure as a reference. We developed an optimized coverage path

planning algorithm with a reward function that exploits our knowledge of the structure model, and the

quadrotor's onboard sensors' models to generate optimized paths that maximizes coverage. Preliminary

experiments were conducted on a simulated environment to test the validity of the proposed algorithm.

D2SH1.2 09:20 Haptic Teleoperation System for Indoor Environment

Reem Ashour and Shafiqul Islam (Khalifa University, UAE); Lakmal Seneviratne (KURI, UAE); Jorge

Dias (Khalifa University, UAE)

In this paper, we propose using Virtual impedance force as a haptic feedback in a haptic based

teleoperation system for remote navigation, tracking and control of robotics system in indoor

environments. The proposed method can increase the remote operation capacity of the robotics system in

an uncertain environment. The system estimates the pseudo environment force that acts on the slave

reflects it back to the control device for collision avoidance system. The designed and developed UAV

platform is equipped with a laser range finder and an on-board computer that can communicate with the

autopilot using MavLink protocol for multi channel communication. Experiment results on laboratory

illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for real-time applications.

D2SH1.3 09:40 Multi Objective Optimization of Planar 3PRR (Prismatic-Revolute-Revolute Joints) Mechanism

for 5-Axis Hybrid Kinematics Manipulators

Abdur Rosyid, Bashar El-Khasawneh and Anas Alazzam (Khalifa University, UAE)

This paper proposes a multi objective optimization of a novel hybrid kinematics mechanism using planar

3PRR kinematics mechanism, to improve the mechanism performance. Workspace area, minimum

eigenvalue across the workspace, and stiffness condition number across the workspace were chosen to be

the objectives in the optimization based on their relevancy to the application of the mechanism. The multi

objective optimization has been conducted by using multi objective genetic algorithm. It is shown that

the multi objective optimization compromises the improvement of all objectives by providing non-

dominated solutions.

48

D2SH1.4 10:00 Trajectory Analysis of Endoscopic Capsule Images: A Feasibility Study

Yasmeen Abu-Kheil (Khalifa University, UAE); Marco Mura and Gastone Ciuti (Scuola Superiore

Sant'Anna, Italy); Lakmal Seneviratne (KURI, UAE); Paolo Dario (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Italy);

Jorge Dias (Khalifa University, UAE)

Standard endoscopy is a screening method that allows the detection of GI tract lesions. However, it

suffers from a significant miss-rate for cancer detection. Therefore, there is a need to establish a standard

protocol that can quantify the quality of endoscopic procedures, assist physicians in analyzing their

performance and train them on how to select navigation techniques that result in different levels of

quality inspection. In this paper, we propose a method to evaluate the performance of endoscopists by

analyzing the trajectory produced by the endoscopic camera. The proposed method consists of three

major modules: i) the image analysis module for estimating camera positions; ii) Kalman filter for

estimating velocity and acceleration profiles; and iii) analysis module to analyze the trajectory based on

the density of observed images and the acceleration profile. The approach was preliminary tested with

images collected from an ex-vivo experiments, with porcine tissue.

D2SI1: Micro/Nano Systems


D2SI1.1 09:00 Design and Simulation of 1-axis MEMS Capacitive Accelerometer

Zakriya Mohammed (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Mahmoud Rasras (Masdar

Institute of Technology, UAE)

MEMS Accelerometer based on capacitive sensing principle is designed and analyzed using MEMS+ and

Matlab. The design focuses on high sensitivity, linearity and low cross axis sensitivity. Preliminary

results shows excellent displacement sensitivity of 0.0076μm/g and differential capacitive sensitivity of

55fF/g. The cross axis sensitivity is calculated to be 0.015fF/g.

D2SI1.2 09:20 Optimal Finger Design for Low Concentration Thin-Film c-Si Solar Cells

Hiba Riaz (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Ammar Nayfeh (Masdar Institute of

Science & Technology, UAE)

Here we investigate the optimal finger design for low concentration thin film c-Si solar cells using 2D

TCAD simulation. The Si cell studied has a 2μm absorber layer and 1μm emitter layer with 185μm finger

spacing. We confirmed the TCAD model by matching 1 sun simulation to experimental data. The solar

concentration studied is from 1 to 60 suns and the finger spacing is from 185μm to 1000μm. We observe

that there is an optimal number of suns and finger spacing where the efficiency is maximized. Results

show efficiency is maximized at 15 suns and 700μm finger spacing and with this design the efficiency

increases from 14.68 % to 17.37%.

D2SI1.3 09:40 InN Nanoparticles and Graphene Nanoplatelets for Charge Trapping in Non-Volatile Memory

Devices

Nazek El Atab (Masdar Institute Of Science And Technology, UAE); Ammar Nayfeh (Masdar Institute

of Science & Technology, UAE)

In this work, non-volatile MOS memory devices with two different charge trapping nanomaterials are

studied. 16-nm InN nanoparticles and 4.4-nm graphene nanoplatelets are embedded in a ZnO charge

trapping layer and their effect on the memory performance is analyzed using high-frequency C-V,

retention and endurance measurements. The memory with InN nanoparticles showed enhanced retention

characteristic due to the larger electron affinity of InN, however, the memory with graphene

nanoplatelets showed larger memory window which indicates that graphene provide larger charge

trapping states density. Moreover, the results show that the tunneling mechanism in the memory devices

49

dictates the needed operating voltage.

D2SI1.4 10:00 Nanotip radius estimation using spherical crystal ball model

Ahmed Ali (Khalifa University, UAE)

The rapid advance in microscopy in the past few decades had enabled researchers to fabricate,

manipulate and characterize materials in nano-scale. The fabrication of ultra-sharp tips with an apex of

few nanometers (thus called nanotips) had remarkably optimized the image resolution of Scanning Probe

Microscopes and Electron Microscopes to reach the level of atomic resolution. With this advance,

nanotip characterization using the conventional ring counting method had shown some limitation in

terms of its accuracy and reliability. In this paper, we present the crystal ball models of nanotips to show

the limitations of the ring counting method.

D2SJ1: Materials Science


D2SJ1.1 09:00 Characterization of cerium dioxide using co-percipatation method with different solvents

Aseel Hussien and Kyriaki Polychronopoulou (Khalifa University, UAE)

Nanomaterials have a promising future in various industries. However, the inadequate knowledge on the

effects of these nanomaterials on humans and the environment has led scientists to further investigate

these materials. One of the most abundantly used nanomaterials in the petrochemical industry is cerium

dioxide (ceria). This report uses different solvents to synthesize ceria and then uses XRD and TPR to

characterize cerium dioxide.

D2SJ1.2 09:20 Weaving As a Strategy to Make A Covalent Organic Framework

Yuzhong Liu (University of California Berkeley, USA); Omar Yaghi (University of California, Berkeley,

USA)

A three-dimensional covalent organic framework (COF-505) constructed from helical organic threads,

designed to be mutually weaving at regular intervals, has been synthesized by imine condensation

reactions of aldehyde functionalized copper(I)-bisphenanthroline tetrafluoroborate, Cu(PDB)2(BF4), and

benzidine (BZ). The copper centers are topologically independent of the weaving within the COF

structure and serve as templates for bringing the threads into a woven pattern rather than the more

commonly observed parallel arrangement. The copper(I) ions can be reversibly removed and added

without loss of the COF structure, for which a ten-fold increase in elasticity accompanies its

demetalation. The threads in COF-505 have many degrees of freedom for enormous deviations to take

place between them, throughout the material, without undoing the weaving of the overall structure.

D2SJ1.3 09:40 Assessing the stability of inkjet-printed CNT films for scale sensing applications

Khalid Marbou (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Hammad Younes (Masdar Institute

of Science and Technology & Masdar, UAE); Irfan Saadat (Faculty - Masdar Institute of Science and

Technology, UAE); Amal Al Ghaferi (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

Scale formation in pipelines presents a serious problem in gas and oil industry. Our approach to tackle

this issue relies on the use of real-time sensing of specific Ions in brine. In order to do so, electrochemical

sensors based on Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) were developed, taking advantage of their unique properties

facilitated by various fabrication methods. One of these promising methods is inkjet printing of CNT

films, which is relatively new. This method indeed seems to be a very promising. Overall, it offers

unique advantages over other methods of depositing the CNT films. It does not require prefabrication of

templates, and allows for rapid process at significantly lower cost. As scale sensors are exposed to hostile

environment, the stability of the CNT films is of great importance, as it undergoes continuous exposure

50

to brine. In this study, we present a comprehensive investigation of the stability of CNT surfaces upon

exposure.

D2SJ1.4 10:00 From sewing thread to sensor: Strain/Pressure sensing from slightly modified Nylon® fibers and

fabric

Yarjan Abdul Samad (Khalifa University of Science Research and Technology, UAE); Yuanqing Li

(Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research, UAE); Kin Liao (Khalifa University of

Science Technology and Research, UAE)

Commercially available Nylon® fabric and fibers are modified with non-destroyable and smooth

graphene coating. The graphene coating induces electrical conductivity as well as piezo-resistivity in

Nylon®. Due to its piezo-resistive functionality the modified Nylon® fibers sense both pressure and

strain. When a Nylon® fiber is bent with a bend radius of 3mm, the resistance of the fiber changes about

300 kilo ohms relative to its original resistance. With the help of a read-out circuit it is also demonstrated

that a grid of modified Nylon® fibers sense both position and pressure. Therefore, advanced force touch

laptop trackpads can be made using these simple fibers.

D2SJ1.5 10:20 Effective Young's modulus modulus of multiwall carbon nanotubes

Nguyen Viet (Khalifa University, UAE); Quan Wang (Khalifa University, Canada)

This study develops a formula based on the viewpoint of Rule of Mixtures to identify the effective

Young's and shear modulus of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The identified effective

Young's modulus based on theoretical analysis is calculated and found a good agreement with that of

other experimental studies. Results indicate that effective Young's modulus of MWCNTs is observed

lower than that of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). Also, it is found only when the ratio of

half CNT length to outermost radius is higher than 500, the effective Young's modulus of five-walled

CNTs can reach the maximal value as equal as that of SWCNTs. The load transfer efficiency is also

found to play a significant role to improve the Young's modulus of MWCNTs. The influence of layer

number, aspect ratio and interlayer shear modulus on the MWCNT's Young's modulus is investigated in

detail.

D2SJ1.6 10:40 Controlled Synthesis of Graphene on Roughened Copper Surface for Improved Heat Transfer

Sohail Shah (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Hammad Younes (Masdar Institute of

Science and Technology & Masdar, UAE); Md Mahfuzur Rahman, TieJun Zhang and Amal Al Ghaferi

(Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

Graphene is a 2-D allotrope of carbon which has ultrahigh electron mobility and exceptional mechanical

properties. Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) synthesis yields high quality (monolayer) and large size

graphene used for multiple applications. This is synthesized to maintain uniform transparent nature of

graphene which has less thermal resistance. Copper is an excellent conductor of heat, and since copper is

hydrophilic and graphene hydrophobic keeping into account the hydrocarbon impurities present on it, the

surface wetting nature can be changed. To reduce the surface energy of copper and bring about drop wise

condensation, copper surface be coated with monolayer graphene which is mechanically/chemically

stable compared to long chain fluorocarbons or fatty acids. This enables better heat transfer by allowing

drop wise condensation as to film wise on copper. Graphene is synthesized on another substrate which is

transferred onto a second roughened copper surface as a comparison to study the wettability.

Thursday, April 28, 11:00 - 12:00

Projects & Posters Exhibit & Coffee Break

51

Room: Exhibit Hall & Lobby (Male side), Building E1

Thursday, April 28, 12:00 - 13:00

Plenary Session: Research in Semiconductor: the Roles of Universities by Dr. Kwok Ng, Senior Science

Director, Semiconductor Research Corporation Research Triangle, NC (USA)

Dr. Kwok Ng, Senior Science Director, Semiconductor Research Corporation Research Triangle, NC (USA)


Abstract:

The semiconductor industry is unique in that it has been enjoying tremendous prosperity and having huge impacts

on the society. This comes about because of the non-stop technological progress year-over-year, characterized by

the Moore's Law. In order to keep the industry healthy, continuing progress is a must. The burden and requirements

of semiconductor R/D is shared and helped by the expertise and resources in academia. This talk examines the

critical roles played by university research in this industry. A brief introduction to different areas in semiconductor

research is also presented.

About the Presenter:

Kwok Ng received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1979 and B.S. from Rutgers University in 1975, both in

Electrical Engineering. He joined Bell Laboratories of AT&T in Murray Hill, New Jersey in 1980, and continued

in its spin-offs Lucent Technologies and Agere Systems until 2005. He was with MVC in San Jose, California

during 2005-2007. Since then he has been with Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC) in Research Triangle Park,

North Carolina, serving as Sr. Director in areas of devices and nano-manufacturing.

Thursday, April 28, 13:00 - 14:00

Lunch

Recreation Hall, Room G032 (Male side), Building E1

Thursday, April 28, 14:00 - 15:40



D2SA2.1 14:00 In-Vivo Terahertz EM Channel Characterization for Nano-Communications in WBANs

Hadeel Elayan (Khalifa University, UAE); Raed Shubair (MIT, USA)

This paper presents an analytical study concerning nanoscale networks operating at the THz frequency.

Both the path loss and absorption coefficients of a simplified human body model are investigated. From

the results, it has been concluded that with the rise of distance and frequency, the path loss increases.

Actually, the path loss difference across the THz band ranging between 0.1THz and 10THz at a distance

of 1mm is around 40dB for the various body parts. This value is acceptable especially in the context of

in-vivo communication. At 1 THz, the path loss between 1mm and 1.5mm ranges between(36dB−40dB)

for the different body parts. Thus, it can be seen that even though the distance is in the order of

millimeters, it is enough for the electromagnetic communication among nano-devices since the path loss

is not significantly high.

52

D2SA2.2 14:20 Physics Model of Memristor Devices with Varying Active Materials

Heba Abunahla, Dirar Homouz and Baker Mohammad (Khalifa University, UAE)

This paper presents a physics-based model for memristors with different active layer materials. The

model predicts the effect of changing the active material on the electrical characteristics of the devices. It

captures the essential characteristics of the memristor such as coupling between ion mobility and electron

current in addition to the nonlinear effects of electric fields. The parameters in the model depend on

material (metal-oxide) properties that have impact on the device behavior. In this work, the effect of each

parameter is highlighted and explained. In addition, the physics-based Matlab model is used to analyze

the electrical characteristics of simulated memristor device using the following oxide materials; ZnO,

TiO2 and Ta2O5. The simulation results of the model are validated with experimental data reported in

the literature. The value of this contribution is to enable the selection of suitable oxide materials for the

target memristor using correlated mathematical models.

D2SA2.3 14:40 Differential Dual-Hop System Over Asymmetric Rayleigh-Weibull Fading Channels

Sara Ahmed AlMaeeni and Sami Muhaidat (Khalifa University, UAE); George K. Karagiannidis

(Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece)

Multi-hop relaying technology is a promising technology for future wireless communication. It provides

high data-rate coverage with low transmitting power. In this paper, novel analytic expression derived for

the bit-error-rate (BER) in dual-hop system based amplify-and-forward (AaF) relaying strategy. The

proposed system is considered over asymmetric Rayleigh-Weibull fading channel.

D2SA2.4 15:00 Study of Frequency and Voltage Regulation of Distribution System using Demand Response

Samrat Acharya (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Amer Al-Hinai (Masdar Institute

of Science and Technology & Institute Center for Energy, UAE)

It is evident that increasing penetration of renewables has been the matter of interest in deregulated

power industry. This is leading the world to clean and sustainable energy. However, the issues of power

quality, control, and coordination is still challenging. The issues of voltage regulation, and frequency

control is not satisfactorily achieved by conventional control techniques in the power system after the

penetration. Thus, demand response (DR), a new control strategy for frequency regulation is studied in

this paper. This paper presents the study of DR for frequency regulation in microgrids with distributed

generation (DG). Simulation studies in Power Analysis Toolbox (PAT) in MATLAB is carried out on

IEEE 13-bus standard industrial system. Simulation based results proved effectiveness of DR to regulate

the system frequency at various conditions of frequency deviation. It is observed that on regulating

frequency of the studied distribution system, voltage is also found to be regulated.

D2SA2.5 15:20 Electrode-Electrolyte Interface Studies on Porous LiFePO4 Electrodes by means of AC

Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy

Lama Mahmoud and Boor Lalia (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Raed Hashaikeh

(Masdar, UAE)

In response to the increased demand on high power electronics and more efficient energy storage devices,

this article is dedicated to investigate the performance of a range of Lithium-ion batteries. The main

scope of this work is to provide an insight about how much surface porosity and conductive additives

could enhance electrode-electrolyte interactions by means of AC electrochemical impedance

spectroscopy (EIS) test. For this purpose, bare LiFePO4 as well as a range of LiFePO4/CNS porous

composite films were fabricated and tested as a cathode electrodes. While porosity levels as well as

LiFePO4 vs. CNS composition are sequentially changed, solution resistance, charge transfer resistance,

Warburg resistance and double layer capacitance are recorded. This work suggests that electrodes with

73% porosity and 30% composition of the active material showed best performance and therefore could

be witnessed as promising candidates for next generation power-hungry portable devices.

53



D2SB2.1 14:00 Investigation of Using Ionic Liquids in Pre-treatment of Saline Water in Desalination

Anaam Abu-Sharkh (Masdar Institute of Technology, UAE); Shadi Hasan and Enas Muen Nashef

(Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

The use of Ionic Liquids (ILs) offers the opportunity to revolutionize the way we do business and opens

the door for many processing options that are already available to us using the conventional organic

solvents. ILs have unique properties, such as low volatility and melting point, and have a large variety of

applications in the chemical industry. This research is dedicated to evaluate the potential of using ILs in

desalination plants as a pre-treatment technique, to reduce the load and energy use in the plants. We

hereby investigated the ability of selected hydrophilic and hydrophobic ILs to dissolve the salts that are

present in seawater to decrease the salinity of the feed before the desalination process. The solubility of

sodium chloride, magnesium chloride and calcium chloride in ILs was measured at different

temperatures. It was found that both the structure of IL and temperature affect the solubility.

D2SB2.2 14:20 Validating high value chemicals production from organic solid waste using Aikan Technologies

percolation reactor concept for UAE

Usama Javid, Juan-Rodrigo Bastidas-Oyendel and Jens Ejbye Schmidt (Masdar Institute of Science and

Technology, UAE)

This study is done to verify the potential of producing lactic acid using Aikan Technologies percolation

reactor concept, as Aikan currently only focuses on producing high purity methane using this concept. In

Emirates of Abu Dhabi the market value of methane is as low as 4.4 AED/kg compared to 913, 134,

~200 and 3966 AED/kg of lactic, acetic, butyric and propionic acid respectively. The research team

successfully managed to construct a labscale garage type waste management sprinkler system inspired by

Aikan Technologies. The system constructed is a combination of a percolation unit along with a

fermenter. Initial results after 48 hours showed 1.08ml, 0.381ml, 0.41ml, and 0.234ml of lactic, acetic

propionic and butyric acid respectively. After 72 hours the results showed a percentage increase.

D2SB2.3 14:40 Nanoflower-like Bi2WO6 encapsuled in ORMOSIL as a new photocatalytic ecofriendly

antifouling and foul release coating

Gabriele Scandura (Masdar, UAE); Giovanni Palmisano (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology,

UAE); Rosaria Ciriminna and Mario Pagliaro (Istituto per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati, CNR,

Italy)

In this work, a coating based on ORMOSIL thin films doped with nanoflower-like Bi2WO6 have been

prepared and tested under visible light in water. Significant amounts of H2O2 have been produced via

photocatalytic oxidation of water. This result allows for the degradation of (bio)organic pollutants

adsorbed on the film. The thin films have been characterized by means of different techniques, i.e. SEM,

EDX-SEM, and UV-vis spectroscopy.

D2SB2.4 15:00 NaBH4, CH3CO2H, Pd/C as a reagent system to hydrogenate activated alkenes without O-

debenzylation

Nuha Alsoom (UAEU University of Testing, UAE); Thies Thiemann (United Arab Emirates University,

UAE)

NaBH4, CH3CO2H, Pd/C has been described as a reagent system to hydrogenate alkenoates and

alkenones. Here, we show that O-debenzylation does not occur under the conditions, making it possible

to hydrogenate a double bond under Pd/C catalysis without O-debenzylation.

54

D2SB2.5 15:20 Nitrogen-doped Brookite Rutile Nanocomposites as efficient Catalysts under Visible Radiation

Oluwadamilola Aderemi and Corrado Garlisi (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE);

Gabriele Scandura (Masdar, UAE); Giovanni Palmisano (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology,

UAE)

TiO2 nanoparticles were prepared from titanium butoxide using the sol-gel technique. CH4N2O,

C3H5N, NH3, NH4NO3 and C2H8N2 were investigated as nitrogen doping sources. Prepared catalysts

were thermally treated at 400 °C to ensure crystallinity. Photoreactivity experiments were performed

under visible light and the decrease in the concentration of 4-nitrophenol was monitored as a function of

its absorbance at a wavelength of 315 nm. The most effective nitrogen source was identified and weight

percentage of doping was varied until the optimal value was achieved. Characterization of the TiO2

catalysts was carried out by UV/vis diffuse reflectance, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray

diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis and BET surface area and porosity analysis. The results show that

N-doping improves the photoactivity of TiO2 and the crystal phases of the prepared TiO2 powders are

brookite and rutile.



D2SC2.1 14:00 Attitudes About Privacy Among Social Network Sites (SNS) Users in the UAE: What affects do

personality traits and culture have on the concept and practice of privacy?

Fatema Al Jawder (Zayed University, UAE)

This study investigates the influences of personality and culture upon perceptions of privacy in social

media usage in the UAE. Survey research will be conducted exploring social media user personality traits

and compared across cultural dimensions. Results will compare cultural influences on Internet privacy

relative to intrinsic personality traits, within the context of a common online media environment.

Implications will assist social media sites in tailoring online experiences across cultures.

D2SC2.2 14:20 Strategies for Developing Spoken Language Skills by Teaching Emirati Sign Language to Deaf

Preschoolers

Rabab Abdelwahab (Zayed University & Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services, UAE)

This research study draws attention to education programs intended for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (H/H)

children in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The purpose of the study is to explore learning of Emirati

Sign Language (SL) for three Deaf preschoolers and possible influence this has on learning Arabic

spoken language skills. Following a qualitative research design, a case study of three students took place

during autumn quarter 2015 in a kindergarten for the Deaf H/H in Sharjah, UAE. Data was collected

through classroom observations, and student reports. Data analysis indicated important themes: social

interactions, SL learning, and spoken language skills development. I show how spoken Arabic language

skills improved while students continued learning Emirati SL. This study is an exploratory study

providing an impetus for Deaf H/H education practices in the UAE. Further research should consider

different research designs and a larger number of participants to obtain generalizable results.

D2SC2.3 14:40 Common Denominators in Counterinsurgency Strategies among Coalition Forces in Iraq and

Afghanistan A Comparative Case Study of Selected Coalition Countries in Iraq and Afghanistan

Ahmed Al Ghaithi (Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research, UAE)

Terrorism and insurgencies have evolved and this has called for an evolution in how they are fought.

Counterinsurgency has emerged as an effective counter-terrorism strategy and a key component of the

whole of government approach to national security. The ethnic and religious roots of insurgents, ease of

collaboration between insurgent groups across national boundaries due to advancement in technology,

55

elusiveness and invisibility of insurgents altogether render a complex and multifaceted security challenge

to governments. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) have much to learn from the counterinsurgency

strategies of the Coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. A comparative assessment of

counterinsurgency strategies among key members of the coalition will reveal commonalities against

which counterinsurgency strategies of UAE will matched to reveal gaps for improvement.

D2SC2.4 15:00 The impacts of the high exposure to liberal dress on Emirati`s attitudes toward their conservative

dress code

Hessa AlYasi (University of Sharjah, UAE)

This study highlights the impacts of the high exposure to foreigners' liberal dress code, on Emiratis'

attitudes toward their conservative dress code and quest potential changes. To measure how Emirati

females perceive their dress code with the presence of diverse styles of dressing in the U.A.E, a

questionnaire with 26 items was developed. The sample included 179 females from Dubai. Results show

relevant changes in the attire style through generations with only (3%) of young females wear face veil,

compared to (43%) of mothers and (62%) grandmothers. Besides, 43% of young females don't wear

traditional clothes when they travel abroad. Based on the findings, the dress code in the U.A.E is

witnessing a progressive evolvement rather than a complete a direct change. This raises several questions

about the future of Emirati dress code with around (46%) predicting that it will be totally different in the

future.

D2SD2: Industrial & Communications Engineering


D2SD2.1 14:00 Enhanced Electric Vehicle Adoption Scenarios For Abu Dhabi Road Transportation

Deema Allan and Toufic Mezher (Masdar Institute, UAE); Amro M. Farid (Thayer School of

Engineering at Dartmouth, USA)

Electrified transportation has emerged as a trend to support energy efficiency and CO$_2$ emissions

reduction targets. Electric vehicles aim to reduce the use of non-renewable vehicle's fuel resources

(Petrol, Diesel, etc.) and depend on renewable energy. However, EVs interact with three interconnected

systems: the transportation system, the electric power grid, and their supporting information systems

often called Intelligent Transportation Energy Systems (ITES). Therefore, the true success of electric

vehicles depends on their successful integration with the infrastructure systems that support them. This

research aims to assess how can EV integration be systematically evaluated while preserving the quality

of service and ensuring the reliability and security of the power grid within an enhanced ITES within

Abu Dhabi context? A new methodological assessment based on hybrid dynamic model is proposed to

evaluate the technical feasibility of EVs adoption within Abu Dhabi island.

D2SD2.2 14:20 Dynamic Precoding for VLC

Hanaa Marshoud (Khalifa University of Science, Technology & Research (KUSTAR), UAE)

Motivated by the recent advances in light-emitting diode (LED) technology and the scarcity of spectrum

resources, visible light communication (VLC) has gained great interest over the past few years. One of

the key challenges in VLC is the limited modulation bandwidth (BW) of the light sources, which

typically spans a few MHz. Recently, multiple-input multipleoutput (MIMO) techniques have

demonstrated great potentials in VLC, as they overcome the modulation BW limitation and offer

significant improvement in link reliability. However, in such scenarios, multiple LEDs (i.e., transmitters)

and multiple photo detectors (i.e., receivers) share the same communication medium, thus resulting in

mutual interference among different data transmission channels. This paper proposes a new dynamic

precoding scheme that makes use of the constructive interference and eliminate the unwanted

56

interference

D2SD2.3 14:40 Dynamic Construction Facilities Planning Model for Large Scale Projects in UAE

Alaa Alhawarneh, Salaheddine Bendak and Firas Ahmed (University of Sharjah, UAE)

Construction site layout planning process is controlled by allocating site facilities to minimize the

movement of laborers and equipment. Due to the complexity of modern construction projects, dynamic

allocation was proposed as a solution for site layout planning problems. In this study, a safety based

dynamic optimization model is used to account for the planning changes throughout the construction

process. A comprehensive survey is done to investigate other qualitative aspects that may affect site

layout process in large construction projects in UAE, while Fuzzy TOPSIS will be used as a multi criteria

decision making approach to quantify and order those aspects. Safety relationship approach will be used

in the site layout model which will be prepared in a grid layout system. The facilities will be allocated

using a Binary Linear Optimization Model considering availability, overlapping and safety constraints.

This model is then validated through a real-life case study in UAE.

D2SD2.4 15:00 A joint AHP- Fuzzy Goal Programming approach for multi-criteria procurement and logistics

decisions

Azhar Rashid, Abdulrahim Shamayleh and Malick Ndiaye (American University of Sharjah, UAE)

A Firm can accomplish competitiveness by reducing total logistics costs through integration of its various

activities of procurement process. The objective of this research is to develop a mathematical model that

integrates a joint decision of supplier selection; order allocation; carrier selection and warehouse

selection which result in maximum attainment of cost and quality goals. The total cost would include

procurement related costs, transportation costs and warehousing costs. The model will be formulated by a

joint AHP-Fuzzy Goal Programming approach under conditions of multiple products being procured

from multiple suppliers in multiple periods under discount environments and where target goal values are

fuzzy. In the multi-objective formulation, net rejected items, net costs and net late delivered items are

some of the considered objectives that have to be minimized over the decision horizon. An illustration

would be provided in a fourth party logistics provider context to show the model's effectiveness.

D2SD2.5 15:20 The simulation of nitrogen removal by cryogenic distillation process from natural gas using

Aspen Plus

Peng Jiang (the Petroleum Institute, UAE); Kean Wang, Xiaoqian Huang and Mingxuan Du (The

Petroleum Institute, UAE)

natural gas with high nitrogen content will lower the gas heating value, and increase the gathering and

transportation power consumption. In regard to this problem, a nitrogen removal from natural gas process

using single-column cryogenic distillation method is established based on Aspen Plus. An expanding

refrigeration process using N2-CH4 is selected to provide the needed cold energy for this plant. The

effect of feedstock natural gas properties, the nitrogen content of the refrigerant, and the operation

pressure of distillation column on the plant evaluation indicators such as energy consumption, nitrogen

removal efficiency, and methane recovery ratio, are conducted. Moreover, at the optimization condition

of the above variables, the exergy analysis method is employed to evaluate the exergy loss distribution of

each unit in the plant.

D2SE2: Information Security


D2SE2.1 14:00 Big Data Privacy in the IoT

Tasneem Salah (Khalifa University, UAE)

57

Individuals data collected from various sources are stored in data sets which can be vulnerable to some

attacks resulting in violating the privacy of those individuals. Also, due to the fact that connected devices

are increasing which lead more data to be generated, big data privacy has become one of the major

concerns in the Internet of Things (IoT). This paper gives an overview about the issue of privacy in big

data including data collected from IoT. Then one of the most common privacy solutions is studied which

is the technique known as Anonymization. However, vulnerabilities of anonymization are listed and

studied which mainly focus around Re-Identification attacks. Finally, a fast encryption technique is

suggested to be used on the data which found to be non-critical in order to prevent from the re-

identification attacks.

D2SE2.2 14:20 Detecting Malware Domains: A Cyber-Threat Alarm System

Khalifa Alroum, Abdulhakim Alolama, Rami Kamel and May El Barachi (Zayed University, UAE);

Monther Aldwairi (Zayed University & Jordan University of Science and Technology, UAE)

Throughout the years, hackers' intentions' varied from curiosity, to financial gains, to political statements.

Armed with their botnets, bot masters could crash a server or website. Statistics show that botnet activity

accounts for 29% of the Internet traffic. But how can bot masters establish undetected communication

with their botnets? The answer lies in the Domain Name System (DNS), using which hackers host their

own domain and assign to it changing IP addresses to avoid being detected. In this paper, we propose a

multi-factor cyber-threat detection system that relies on DNS traffic analysis for the detection of

malicious domains. The proposed system was implemented, and tested, and the results yielded are very

promising.

D2SE2.3 14:40 Cyber Threat Intelligence

Khulood Al Zaabi (Zayed University, UAE); Omar Alfandi (University of Goettingen & Zayed

University, Germany)

Cyber-attacks are becoming more prevalent across the globe, and organizations need to stay abreast of

the latest threats and risks that are occurring. Several studies have been conducted to demonstrate how to

counterintelligence cyber-threats (CT), in specific Advanced Persistent Threats. However, none of these

studies have proposed a comprehensive Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) program, beginning with the

initial threat, creating an attack profile based on the threat's behavior, and ending in a forensic

investigation. This proposal is aimed to mitigate the security breaches to ascertain how these attacks are

carried out. The researcher believes that such a CTI program is needed for the following reasons: 1. To

demonstrate the CTI issues and challenges; 2. To implement guidelines for CT analysts and therefore,

enhance it's features, and 3. To establish the advantages of a CTI program over traditional solutions.

Furthermore, we have identified and recommended the most effective CTI sub-types.

D2SE2.4 15:00 Survey of Visual Cryptography Schemes

Maya AlHemeiri and Ernesto Damiani (Khalifa University, UAE); Stelvio Cimato (Università degli

Studi di Milano, Italy)

Visual cryptography is based on dividing a binary image (the secret) into shares and distributing these

shares among n participants. The original image can be recovered by stacking together the shares. This

paper provides a survey for different Visual Cryptography Schemes (VCS) techniques.

D2SE2.5 15:20 Design of a Multi-Stage Authentication

Rima Masri and Haneen Hassan (Zayed University, UAE); Monther Aldwairi (Zayed University &

Jordan University of Science and Technology, UAE); May El Barachi (Zayed University, UAE)

This paper designs and implements a three-stage more secure authentication system. In the first stage, the

user's username coupled with the device serial number are required to complete the registration process.

In the second stage, the user must select m squares out of a grid with n squares. In the final stage, the user

must select s out of i images in the same exact order. This paper discusses the advantages and

58

disadvantages of the proposed system and we intend to experimentally prove that the proposed system is

very secure and immune to most of today's common attacks.

D2SF2: Electrical & Electronic Engineering


D2SF2.1 14:00 A Versatile Hardware Platform for the Development and Characterization of IoT Sensor

Networks

Shahzad Muzaffar and Ibrahim M Elfadel (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

We present an FPGA hardware platform for the prototyping and analysis of ultra-low power IoT sensor

networks using single-channel communication protocols. This FPGA-based IoT network platform is

based on three fundamental ingredients: a full HDL implementation of ultra-low power TI MSP430

microcontroller; a novel ultra-low power single-wire communication protocol that does not require any

clock and data recovery, the protocol is called pulsed-index communication (PIC); embedded C

implementation of the PIC transceivers within the TI MSP430. In one of our bus network analysis, we

have used the Virtex-7 FPGA environment to instantiate the TI MSP430 a number of times equal to the

number of IoT sensors to implement high-throughput, ultra-low power network communication between

the IoT sensors. The platform is also scalable in that the resources used for a two-sensor, point-to-point

communication link is less than 1% of the Virtex-7 available hardware.

D2SF2.2 14:20 Fractional wiener system identification using Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm

Lamia Sersour (University M. Mammeri, Algeria); Tounsia Djamah (University M.Mammeri of Tizi-

Ouzou, Tizi- Ouzou, Algeria); Maamar Bettayeb (University of Sharjah, UAE)

This paper presents the identification of fractional Wiener nonlinear systems. Such systems, consist of a

linear dynamic block followed by a static non-linear subsystem. In this work, Polynomial Non Linear

State Space(PNLSS) models are used to describe them. A non linear optimization algorithm in occurence

Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm is developped for the fractional wiener non linear system. Numericul

simulations test the efficiency of the method for various signal to noise ratios.

D2SF2.3 14:40 Breast Tumor Reconstruction Using Photoacoustic Imaging and Compressive Sensing

Umber Umber Mahrukh (UAEU, UAE); Hanan Al-Tous and Imad Barhumi (United Arab Emirates

University, UAE)

Compressive sensing (CS) is a rapidly evolving field in biomedical signal processing. Our objective is to

design low-cost photoacoustic system, which can be used to reconstruct Photoacoustic images of good

quality. In this work, photoacoustic simulations and compressive sensing are used to reconstruct

Photoacoustic images based on different number of sensors, different sensor locations and simulation

durations. Simulation results show that Photoacoustic images of better quality around the tumor can be

reconstructed using non-uniform sensor distribution based on CS framework compared with equal

number of symmetrically distributed sensors around the tumor.

D2SF2.4 15:00 Ultra-Low Power ECG Processing Architecture for Wearable Electronics

Temesghen Tekeste (Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research, UAE); Hani Saleh

(Khalifa University of Sciente, Technology & Research, UAE); Baker Mohammad and Mohammed

Ismail (Khalifa University, UAE)

Electrocardiography (ECG) represents the hearts electrical activity and has features such as QRS

complex, P-wave and T-wave that provide critical clinical information for detection and prediction of

cardiac diseases. This paper presents an ECG processing architecture for extracting ECG features. These

features are utilized to define intervals in order to detect or predict a heart failure. The architecture is

59

optimized for ultra-low power applications. The architecture is based on Curve Length Transform (CLT)

for the detection of QRS complex and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) for the delineation of TP

waves. Moreover ultra-low power design techniques such as clock gating and voltage scaling are

implemented so as to minimize the overall power consumption. The architecture is implemented on chip

and has a power consumption of only 4.2uW when operated from a supply voltage of 1V.

D2SG2: Aerospace Engineering


D2SG2.1 14:00 3-D printing of INCO 718 Nickel Superalloy

Ignacio Rubio (Research Assistant & Masdar Institute, UAE); Mamoun Medraj (Masdar Institute, UAE)

High temperature compression samples were manufactured by 3-D printing and tested to investigate on

the high temperature deformation behavior of Inconel 718 manufactured by 3-D printing in a laser

powder bed system.

D2SG2.2 14:20 Dynamic Modeling of a Tilt- Tri- rotor Hybrid UAV

Adnan Saeed, Guowei Cai, Ahmad Bani Younes and Tarek Taha (Khalifa University, UAE)

Hybrid UAVs combine the advantages of fixed-wing and VTOL UAVs where they have the ability of

vertical takeoff and landing as well as high cruising speed and enhanced endurance. In this paper, a

comprehensive high-fidelity model that considers rotor and propeller aerodynamics as well as coaxial

effects is constructed using first-principles approach for hovering mode. The overall model validity is

examined by practical flight experiment.

D2SG2.3 14:40 Pulse Doppler Spectral Moment Estimation by PCA Approach

Zineb Benchebha (Aeronautical Science Laboratory, Algeria); Mohand Lagha (University SAAD

DAHLAB Blida 1 - Algeria & Aeronautical Sciences Laboratory, Algeria); Maamar Bettayeb

(University of Sharjah, UAE)

This report relates to the pulse Doppler weather Radar digital signal processing field and especially about

the estimation of the spectral moments of weather Doppler echoes in severe meteorological situations

such as wind shears, tornadoes, We will analyze in first place the most known algorithms in the literature

such as pulse pair, and Fourier algorithm. We will develop an algorithm based on the Principal

Components Analysis which is a data reduction method. This PCA method will be paired with one of

spectral estimation algorithms. pulse pair in this report.

D2SG2.4 15:00 Effects of Outflow Boundary Location to Sweeping Jet Actuator Performance

Bartossz Jurewicz (KUSTAR, UAE); Kursat Kara (Khalifa University of Science Technology and

Research, UAE)

Innovative aerodynamic technologies will play a key role in improving the next-generation aircraft's

performance. Active flow control using the Sweeping Jet (SWJ) actuators is one of the most promising

technologies to solve critical problems of aerospace industry such as drag and weight reduction, flow

separation, and noise. The performance of SWJ actuator depends upon many parameters such as, flow

rate, size, geometry of feedback channels, design of Coanda surfaces, exit nozzle angle, etc. The main

objective of this paper is to understand internal flow physics, jet oscillation process, and pressure drop

mechanism using Two-Dimensional-Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged-Navier-Stokes simulations. This

understanding will help to the development of design methodologies for the sweeping jet with minimum

pressure losses, controllable sweeping frequency, and a more efficient flow control actuator for required

conditions.

60

D2SH2: Robotics & Automation


D2SH2.1 14:00 Human Motion Decoding for Robot Imitation Based Learning Using EMG Signals

Maha Hindi (Khalifa University, UAE); Shaikha Abdulmajeed and Enas Osman (Biomedical Engineer,

UAE); Jorge Dias (Khalifa University, UAE)

As the gap between robots and humans comes closer it is of utmost necessity to have efficient human-

robot control interfaces. The challenge is to build the bridge between observation and execution, the

mapping between human motions and motor programs. In this project, electromyographic (EMG) signals

from muscles of the human upper limb are used as the control interface between the user and robotic

platform which consists of the Mitsubishi arm and Barrett hand. The root mean square (RMS) method is

used to classify and analyze the object's hand gesture into either an open or closed grasp based upon

EMG signals. While the motion capture system is used to capture arm position which is then decoded

into robot motion. Those techniques are then mapped to the two platforms enabling the robot with

dexterous and intelligent manipulation skills through the continuous generalizations of human

demonstrations.

D2SH2.2 14:20 Unsupervised Learning of Behaviors for Virtual Robots using Neural Evolution

Abdullah Abduldayem (Khalifa University, UAE)

One of the challenges in robotics is the optimization of a controller to achieve a given task. With

improvements in simulation technology it has become possible to test behaviors virtually and rapidly

before attempting them on hardware. A method for automatically learning desired behaviors is presented

through a process that mimics biological evolution. The system was able to automatically discover a

variety of viable strategies that optimize a given fitness function. The system was also able to accept pre-

existing strategies and improve them through this process.

D2SH2.3 14:40 Modeling of Novel Passive Variable Stiffness Joint (KURI-PVSJ)

Mohammad Awad (Khalifa University of Science Technology and Research, UAE); Dongming Gan

(Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research, UAE); Jorge Dias (Khalifa University, UAE);

Lakmal Seneviratne (KURI, UAE)

In this paper we present the mathematical model of a novel passive variable stiffness joint, the Khalifa

University Robotics Institute Passive Variable Stiffness Joint (KURI-PVSJ). The main feature of PSVJ is

its capability of varying the stiffness from zero (transparent to the user) to infinity (rigid for the user)

condition with a simple mechanical system. More than that, the joint can rotate freely at the zero stiffness

case without any limitation. The stiffness varying mechanism consists of two torsional springs, mounted

with an offset from the PSVJ rotation center, and coupled the joint shaft with an idle roller. The variation

of the resulting output stiffness is obtained by changing the distance of the roller-springs contact point

from the joint rotation center (effective arm).

D2SH2.4 15:00 Identification and PID tuning of quadrotor pitch channel using MRFT

Mohamad Chehadeh (The Petroleum Institute, UAE); Igor Boiko (Petrolum Institute, UAE)

In this paper, we present a novel method for quadrotor modeling and tuning of PID gains using the

Modified Relay Feedback Test (MRFT). We show how to obtain the transfer function for the pitch

channel of the quadrotor and how to design the PID such that they minimize the ITSE performance

index. The proposed method provides several advantages over classical modeling approach.

61

D2SI2: Micro/Nano Systems


D2SI2.1 14:00 Microfluidic DEP separation device for detection of cancer cells in blood

Nicholas Hallfors, Anas Alazzam and Bobby Mathew (Khalifa University, UAE)

Here we describe the development of a novel microfluidic device for separation of cancer cells from

diluted blood by Dielectrophoresis (DEP). The separation is based on the balance between

dielectrophoretic and hydrodynamic forces. A microfluidic platform is fabricated using standard

microfabrication techniques. The device consists of a glass substrate and a PDMS block. The present

technique could be applied to find incident cancer at any stage and size that is not yet detectable by

standard diagnostic techniques. The AC signals used in the separation are 20 V peak-to-peak with

frequencies of 10-100 kHz.

D2SI2.2 14:20 GaAs0.7P0.3/Si Dual Junction Tandem "Step-Cell" Under Solar Concentration

Sabina Abdul Hadi (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE); Eugene A. Fitzgerald

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA); Ammar Nayfeh (Masdar Institute of Science &

Technology, UAE)

In this work we present performance of a GaAs0.7P0.3/Si tandem step-cell under concentration. Step-cell

is a multi-junction solar cell with bottom cell partially exposed to direct sunlight in order to boost current

in the bottom cell. Results show that optimum solar concentration is 50 suns with efficiency increasing

from ~31.5% under 1 sun to ~34.5% under 50 suns. This work shows that relatively low concentration

provides maximum efficiency boost for III-V/Si dual junction step-cell and that optimum step-cell design

does not change significantly with solar concentration.

D2SI2.3 14:40 Aluminum Doped ZnO as Anti-reflective Coating for Solar Cell Applications

Muhaira Al Eghfeli (Masdar Institute, UAE)

Simulation and fabrication of Aluminum doped Zinc Oxide (AZO)) as Antireflective coating (ARC) for

thin film-Si solar cell has been studied. Results showed that optimum performance is for absorber doping

NA = 1016 cm-3 and ZnO ARC thickness of 70 nm. 14.78% efficiency and 83% FF is reported for the

modeled device in this work (with ZnO ARC). 90-nm thick ZnO layer is found to have the lowest

reflectance that reaches less than 5% in the wavelength range from 2000 to 3000 nm. In addition, we

fabricate a-Si solar cells with AZO ARC using Atomic Layer Deposition.

D2SI2.4 15:00 Structural and electrical properties of (MOS) structures prepared by electrophoreses deposition of

gold nano-particles on Aluminum/ Hafnium oxides

Ghada Dushaaq (UAE, Abu Dhabi & Masdar Institute of Science & Technology, UAE); Mahmoud

Rasras (Masdar Institute of Technology, UAE); Ammar Nayfeh (Masdar Institute of Science &

Technology, UAE)

Aluminum/ Hafnium oxides on p-type Si substrate with embedded gold (Au) nanoparticles (GNP) were

prepared using Atomic layer deposition (ALD) and electrophoreses deposition (EPD) methods. Ultra

high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM) has been used to study the GNP distribution on

Al2O3/HfO2 thin films as a function of samples dipping time. Layers of GNP at the Al2O3/HfO2 /Si

interface were formed with approximately (6-9) nm thickness, thick films of GNP can be achieved for

longer time of deposition. Capacitive-Voltage measurements have been carried out on the metal-oxide-

semiconductor structures under high frequency (1MHz) and the results show wider hysteresis loop for

MOS capacitor with higher time of deposition.

D2SI2.5 15:20 Evaluation of Piezoresistive Sensors for Shoe-Integrated Weight Measurements

Nisrein Sada (Masdar Institute of Science and Techonolgy, UAE)

Congestive heart failure(CHF) affects 10% of the world's population above 65 years . One of the main

62

symptom of CHF is edema and recent studies have shown that it can be detected from weight increase up

to two weeks before hospitalization. In this work, we explore the use of shoe-mounted pressure sensors to

continuously, automatically and remotely estimate the weight. We have conducted an experimental study

of various pressure sensors. Our study has revealed that the pressure sensors used in wearable

applications exhibit undesirable properties for precise weight measurements. Specifically, we have

measured and characterized creep, repeatability and noise problems that limit the accuracy and reliability

of weight estimates. Our experimental study includes force sensitive resistors, flexiforce, Velostat,

Neoprene, and semi-conductive polymer composite materials. Different materials have been evaluated

for sensor electrodes and packaging such as copper plates, neoprene and conductive fabrics in order to

reduce noise and creep.

D2SJ2: Civil Engineering


D2SJ2.1 14:00 Sustainable High-Performance Self-Compacting Concrete with Recycled Ceramic Waste Powder

Sama Aly (United Arab Emirates University, UAE); Amr El-Dieb (United Arab Emirates University &

College of Engineering, UAE); Mahmoud Taha (University of New Mexico, USA)

Various regulating actions were imposed by governments and environmental organizations all over the

world to seize the negative impact on the ecosystem resulting from huge amounts of solid waste materials

being dumped in landfills causing major environmental problems. Recycling of industrial by-products is

a step forward towards sustainable waste management. Utilization of ceramic waste powder (CWP) in

the construction and building industry as a partial replacement for cement will play a significant role in

energy conservation and generation of CO2. This study will focus on determining the optimum

percentage of CWP to yield high-performance self-compacting concrete (HPSCC) with acceptable fresh

and hardened characteristics. The inclusion of CWP as an alternative constituent material will be

evaluated through various tests (i.e. slump flow, J-ring, column segregation test, strength, and durability).

D2SJ2.2 14:20 Identification of factors affecting cost overruns in UAE's road projects

Ihsan AlHosani and Senthilkumar Venkatachalam (University of Sharjah, UAE)

Cost performance is a concern particularly for critical infrastructure projects such as road projects. The

UAE's road projects too suffer from cost overruns. Hence, there is a need for a study substantiation to

identify the causes and its possible solutions. Literature on cost overruns was reviewed to understand

global perception and its major causing causes. With this background, the study focuses on identifying

the main reasons of cost overruns in UAE road projects. The data were collected through structured

questionnaire survey from various project participants and it was analyzed in term of frequency, severity

and importance indices. Investigation on causes of cost overruns with respect to the identified 44

common factors was done. Based on analysis, the top five reasons causing cost overruns are delays in

decisions making by approval authorities, changes in client requirements, construction cost

underestimation, poor site management and frequency of variation orders and additional works.

D2SJ2.3 14:40 Regional Frequency Analysis based on New River Network Information in Arid and Semi-arid

Regions

Kichul Jung, Taha Ouarda and Prashanth Marpu (Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, UAE)

Regional frequency analysis procedures are generally used to provide information to design hydraulic

structures such as irrigations, recharge dams, and reservoirs at ungauged locations. In this analysis, the

proper use of river network characteristics plays an important role in obtaining hydrological variable

estimation. The objective of the present work is to present new physiographical and meteorological

variables associated with the drainage network features by improving the accuracy of flood quantile

63

estimation in arid and semi-arid regions, USA. The 105 stations including streamflow records are used

for the analysis. The model to estimate flood quantiles consists of artificial neural networks and canonical

correlation analysis. The tenfold cross-validation approach is applied to assess the model performance.

Based on the study, it is observed that the new physiographical and meteorological variables affect the

performance of the proposed models by enhancing the accuracy of flood quantile estimation.

D2SJ2.4 15:00 A closed form solution for pull-out strength of variable modulus post-installed anchors

Mohd Khan and Kumar Shanmugam (MIST, UAE)

Stress transfer through the interlayer of the adhesively bonded post installed anchors with spatially

varying adhesive stiffness is predicted using a shear-lag model and hence will be used in determining the

pull-out strength of these anchors in comparison with homogeneous bondline anchors. A closed-form

solution is presented for the arbitrary distribution of shear stiffness of the bondline considering both

bonded and debonded embedded-end conditions. For validation, the distribution of shear stress along the

bondline is compared with that of equivalent axisymmetric Finite Element (FE) models and the results

are found to be in good agreement. The theoretical solution developed can be readily used to evaluate the

pull-out performance of post-installed adhesive anchors. Variable stiffness adhesive interfaces deserve an

interest in practical applications to estimate the effect of loss of interface stiffness due to degradation of

the adhesive material.

Thursday, April 28, 15:40 - 16:15

Coffee Break


Thursday, April 28, 16:15 - 17:00

Closing Ceremony


Closing Remarks

Best Paper Awards

Documents

UAEGSRC’16 (27-28 April 2016) UAE University Campus, Al-Ain, … · 2017-03-23 · 1 UAEGSRC’16 (27-28 April 2016) UAE University Campus, Al-Ain, UAE Detailed Program e ng ng