Digital Commons Network^™

Dominance Of Blaoxa-48-Like Among Carbapenem Resistant Klebsiella Pneumoniae Isolated From Abu Dhabi Hospitals, Mohammed Awase Baig

Theses

Antibiotic resistance is a major concern for public health worldwide due to its associated morbidity and mortality, which is primarily attributed to the inappropriate use of antibiotics. This, in turn, leads to the evolution of bacteria which can develop genetic mechanisms to combat antibiotics. Despite the discovery of various antibiotics with different mechanisms of action, many have become ineffective due to the development of resistance over time. Carbapenems, in particular, are considered the last line of defense against some bacterial infections, making their resistance a major concern. Among the various carbapenem-resistant bacteria, Carbapenem-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) is of utmost concern …

A Magneto-Thermally Controllable Microstrip-Patch Antenna For Low Rcs Applications, Sallam Mohammad Al Hendi

Theses

This research focuses on the development of a novel technique for reducing the Radar Cross Section (RCS) of a microstrip antenna operating in the terahertz spectral regime. This can be accomplished by loading the antenna with Indium Antimonide (InSb); a thermally-magnetically controllable semi-conductor. The low-RCS feature of the antenna implies that it becomes hardly detectable by detecting radars; a desired feature in stealthy applications. For an optimal operation beside low RCS, the other antenna parameters (e.g., radiated power, gain, standing-wave ratio, and reflection coefficient) must be within tolerable ranges. Thus, a study on the effects of the temperature and the …

Assessment Of Microplastics Consumed By Fishes In The United Arab Emirates Waters Of The Arabian Gulf, Maisan Mhd Al Wattar

Theses

Microplastics are plastic particles that are between 1 μm to 5 mm in size. Microplastics are currently threatening the marine ecosystems, including the water, sediments, and biota. Due to microplastics being relatively mobile, evidence of microplastic pollution is found in all water bodies, even in remote places such as the Antarctica. Although the Arabian Gulf is subjected to a number of anthropogenic stressors, to date, only few studies on the presence of microplastics have been carried out. This study assesses the microplastic presence in 60 fish samples from the emirates Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Ras Al Khaimah. The 5 fish …

Establishing A Scootability Index To Prioritise Road And Footway Infrastructure Improvements For Smooth And Safe E-Scooter Usage, Nadia Jalal Maksoud

Theses

The intensifying use of electric scooters as a form of transportation calls for new infrastructure assessment methods to improve the smoothness and safety of facilities in which these devices are ridden. Despite the extensive research on the infrastructure requirements of bicycles, there is a dearth of studies on electric scooters. This study aims to define the main infrastructure requirements for electric scooters in an urban context. A mixed-methods approach is employed combining quantitative and qualitative data collection and regression analysis. To provide a basis for a so-called multi-dimensional “scootability” index that covers all aspects pertaining to the safety and smoothness …

Anti-Pancreatic Cancer Activity Of Rhus Coriaria (Sumac), Yassine Elmahi

Theses

Cancer is a major health problem and is considered a chronic disease globally. Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest types of cancer. That is because symptoms increase until the cancer is spread to other parts of the body in late stages. Among the many different therapeutic approaches to treat cancer, it appears that many plants have promising treatment effects, and one of these plants is Rhus coriaria, commonly known as Sumac. Previous studies have indicated that the Sumac plant, which is used in cooking, possesses various therapeutic values, including antioxidant and antibiotic activities. This study investigates the effect …

Digital Transformation In Local Governments: A Case Study Of Abu Dhabi Municipality Transport Department, Alia Sahmi Al Ahbabi

Theses

The new generation is rapidly adapting to the digital era, where government and private services are being transformed into electronic services, commonly known as Eservices. Cities are leveraging digitalization to streamline their business processes and business services. This digitalization has improved service delivery time and quality for individuals. With digitalization, business processes align with technology, enhancing performance and customer satisfaction. However, there are challenges associated with digitalization, particularly people working in various municipality departments who find it challenging to adapt to digitization. Employees may take time to adjust to the new techniques and technologies, which may hamper the actions of …

Standardizing Sustainable Aquaponic Production Of Leafy Greens And Fish: A Comparison With Conventional Systems In The United Arab Emirates, Drishya Nishanth

Theses

The production of leafy green vegetables through aquaponics is established worldwide, but the production of herbs which are used in day-to-day life in the United Arab Emirates is not yet explored in this system in terms of production efficiency, water usage and the nutrient parameters. In the current study, basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) and coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.), the two commonly used herbs, were grown in a traditional aquaponics system using tilapia fish and catfish effluent water (soil-less agriculture) and an irrigation-based greenhouse cultivation system (soil cultivation). The study's major goal is to evaluate several growth techniques for …

Design Modular Command And Data Handling Subsystem Hardware Architectures, Abdullah Alsalmani

Theses

Over the past few years, On-Board Computing Systems for satellites have been facing a limited level of modularity. Modularity is the ability to reuse and reconstruct the system from a set of predesigned units, with minimal additional engineering effort. CDHS hardware systems currently available have a limited ability to scale with mission needs. This thesis addresses the integration of smaller form factor CDHS modules used for nanosatellites with the larger counterparts that are used for larger missions. In particular, the thesis discusses the interfacing between Modular Computer Systems based on Open Standard commonly used in large spacecrafts and PC/104 used …

Cloud Tracking Winds On Mars Using Emm-Exi Imaging, Shaimaa Ahmed Alblooki

Theses

The Martian atmospheric wind structure is a major unknown in our understanding of Mars’ climate because it is difficult to measure wind remotely. The Emirates eXploration Imager (EXI) instrument on board the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) takes visible and ultraviolet images of the whole hemisphere of the planet at a time, and can capture complete weather systems at once, along with their evolution over time. This project uses EXI 320 nm observations to measure winds on Mars using Correlation Imaging Velocimetry (CIV), a cloud tracking method based on software developed for laboratory fluid dynamics experiments, and with significant heritage in …

Novel Investigation Of Catalytic Hydrogenation And Oxidation Of 1,3-Butadiene, Ali M. Alabedkhalil

Theses

The hydrogenation of 1,3 Butadiene (BD) is an important industrial process that is generally used to generate butene, which is a key feedstock to produce a variety of chemicals such as polymers, plastic, and synthetic rubber. This process involves reacting BD with hydrogen using different metallic Ni-based catalysts. In this study, Ni/Al₂O₃ and Ni/Nb₂O5 catalysts were used and investigated to perform the hydrogenation reaction because of their commercial availability, effective hydrogenation activity, and affordability compared to Platinum Group Metal (PGM) catalysts.

The catalytic reactions were conducted using a quartz tube reactor between a temperature range …

جرائم المنافسة غير المشروعة والاحتكار في القانون الإماراتي, أحمد حسن الهاشمي

Theses

Unfair Competition and Monopoly in the UAE Penal Code

This study dealt with unfair competition and monopoly in the UAE penal code. The study was divided into an introduction and three sections. The first section dealt with the nature of competition and monopoly and their types, the second section dealt with the elements of the crime of unfair competition, and the third section dealt with the penalties prescribed for the crimes of competition law and monopoly prevention. The study concluded with the most important findings and recommendations. One of the most important results is that it was noted that the …

Understanding The Intracellular Positive Regulatory Interactions In The Metabolic Network, Sultana Mohammed Al Zubaidi

Theses

Metabolism is an essential cellular process that produces essential components such as energy molecules and cellular building blocks. It is regulated by intracellular metabolite-enzyme interactions, which can increase or decrease enzyme efficiency. Each metabolic process is not evolved in nature and may not contribute to the optimal efficiency of the organism's metabolism. However, this study aims to clarify the relationship between cellular positive regulatory interactions and the cell's metabolic network, especially how these relationships regulate metabolism and how it evolved in nature. To obtain that, for each enzyme, the activation molecules from the BRENDA database were downloaded, mapped data to …

Fog Harvesting Using Chemically Functionalized Porous Membranes, Afra Saif Alhumaidi

Theses

This work explores the use of chemically functionalized porous membranes for fog harvesting. Fog water has emerged as a valuable alternative water source in regions where traditional freshwater resources are scarce. However, conventional fog harvesting techniques often suffer from low collection efficiency and limited scalability. To address these challenges, this research investigates the potential of chemically functionalized porous membranes for enhanced fog water collection. The study focuses on the development and characterization of specialized membranes with surface properties optimized for efficient fog droplet capture.
/="/">The current study proposes the use of aluminum mesh for fog collection, as it stands …

الطرق الإدارية للفصل في المنازعات الضريبية في دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة, محمد أحمد الشقفه

Theses

This thesis studies and analyses administrative methods for settling tax disputes in the UAE as set in the newly issued Federal Law No. 28 for year 2022 regarding tax procedures, which will take effect on June 2, 2023, as this new Federal Law includes new administrative tax dispute settlement channels.
/="/">
/="/">Additionally, this study explores the methods through which UAE’s procedural tax legislations handled the most complicated issue that most procedural tax legislators usually encounter, which is balancing between fair tax assessments and speedy tax collection procedures. Making such balance requires robust regulation of administrative methods to settle tax …

An Efficient Strategy For Deploying Deception Technology, Noora Abdulla Alhosani

Theses

Implementations of deception technology is crucial in discovering attacks by creating a controlled and monitored environment for detecting malicious activity. This technology involves the deployment of decoys, traps, and honeypots that mimic natural systems and network assets to attract and identify attackers. The use of deception technology provides an early warning system for detecting cyber-attacks, allowing organizations to respond quickly and mitigate damage. This article proposed a framework that focuses on maximizing the efficiency of deception technology in detecting sophisticated attacks. The framework employs multi-layered deception techniques at various levels of the network, system, and application to provide comprehensive coverage …

Biochemical Characterization Of Date Palm (Phoniex Dactylifera L) Seeds Maintained At Microgravity In Outer Space Iss, Shamma Khalid Aldhaheri

Theses

The UAE’s vision to reach space dates to 1976 when Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan met with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Apollo group; this meeting marked the first attempt of UAE to enter the field of space science. The UAE is currently one of the top countries executing space missions and research. This research focuses on the biochemical characterization of date palm seeds that are sent to the International Space Station (ISS) in outer space. The research methodology involves biochemical analysis of seeds maintained under two different environmental conditions-microgravity and standard gravity. In total, 30–45 seeds …

Thermohydraulic Performance Of 3d Printed Metal Heat Exchanger With Zig-Zag Minichannels, Aysha Rashed Alshamsi

Theses

This work proposes using zig-zag minichannels in heat exchangers for enhancing its performance while operating under balanced (heat capacity ratio of unity) and unbalanced flow (heat capacity ratio of 0.5) conditions for counter flow and parallel flow configurations. The performance of the heat exchangers is quantified in terms of effectiveness and pressure drops and studies are done for hot fluid Reynolds number ranging from 50 to 1500. This work employs a numerical study to investigate the performance of the heat exchanger with zig-zag minichannels.
/="/">Simulation is carried out using Fluent module of Ansys Workbench. The model used for simulation …

Fabrication, Characterization And Analytical Applications Of Planar Solid Metal And Planar Cavity Electrodes, Fatima Salmeen Alnuaimi

Theses

The present thesis describes the design, construction, and applications of a versatile flow cell (VFC) for used with different types of planar working electrodes. These included the commercially available planar 3-electrode screen-printed electrode chips (SPECs), custom planar metallic electrodes (PMEs), and cavity-type electrodes (CTEs). The PMEs are fabricated from platinum, titanium, stainless steel and copper rods inserted in a rectangular-PEEK housing, respectively. The dimensions of the PEEK blocks were 13.5 mm width x 39 mm length x 12.5 mm height. The VFC was constructed from a cell cover and base machined from acrylic sheets. The cover incorporated a built-in Ag/AgCl/Cl …

Energy-Aware Resource Control For Dual Connectivity Devices Running Multipath Tcp, Ramiza Shams

Theses

The introduction of Multipath Transmission Control Protocol (MPTCP) allows uninterrupted data transmission through different wireless interfaces simultaneously. It surpasses the performance and reliability of conventional Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). Alternatively, Software Defined Networking (SDN) has revolutionized traditional network management and control by introducing significant changes. It enables the networks to be programmed through a centralized controller that oversees the entire network. Despite that, energy consumption is a remarkable issue when using dual-connectivity wireless devices, most of which are battery-powered. This thesis work primarily investigates the energy value differences of devices under different congestion control algorithms by using different interface configurations …

The Evaluation Of Carbon Benefits Produced By Urban Street Trees, Hanyu Wang

Theses

Urban tree service and urban forestry are important fields that focus on the care and management of trees in urban areas. Urban trees provide numerous benefits around all aspect, including carbon storage, improving air and water qualities. Carbon storage refers to the process of removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and storing it in various reservoirs, and in this case, in trees and forests.

i-Tree is a suite of software tools developed by the United States Forest Service that provides a range of resources for assessing and managing forests. i-Tree Eco is one of the more used tools from …

Characterization Of Low Power Hfo2 Based Switching Devices For In-Memory Computing, Aseel Zeinati

Theses

Oxide based Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM) devices are investigated as one of the promising non-volatile memories to be used for in-memory computing that will replace the classical von Neumann architecture and reduce the power consumption. These applications required multilevel cell (MLC) characteristics that can be achieved in RRAM devices. One of the methods to achieve this analog switching behavior is by performing an optimized electrical pulse. The RRAM device structure is basically an insulator between two metals as metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure. Where one of the primary challenges is to assign an RRAM stack with both low power consumption and …

The Effects Of Antecedent And Consequence Strategies On Data Collection In A Human Service Organization, Sarah Love, Robbie Hanson

Theses

Antecedent and consequence strategies in the research literature to improve employee performance within human service organizations have included behavioral skills training (BST) and performance-based incentive programs, among others. The current study continued this line of research in which participants were members of a human service organization and were responsible for collecting data on clients’ responding during programming. The purpose was to evaluate the effects of antecedent and consequence-based strategies on the accuracy of data collected by participants. The results showed that BST was effective at increasing accurate data collection across all participants and that the consequence-based intervention, in the form …

Increasing Independence With The Picture Exchange Communication System (Pecs) For An Adult With Developmental And Intellectual Disabilities, Jessica Moore, Robbie Hanson

Theses

Numerous studies have evaluated the effectiveness of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) among children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; Rosales & Marin-Avelino, 2022). However, there remains limited research that indicates the same effectiveness for adults (Rosales & Marin-Avelino, 2022). The purpose of the current study was to examine the use of Phase I of PECS to increase communication with an adult with ASD and developmental disabilities. Prior to intervention, the participant independently exchanged picture icons 0% of opportunities. Following intervention, the participant reached mastery criterion for independently exchanging picture icons across preferred items. Additional data showed that the …

A Computational Study Of Adsorptive Desulfurization In Metal Organic Frameworks, Kyle Concha

Theses

Fossil fuel usage has been related to several concerns about the environment and human health. One of these concerns is related to fuels containing Organic Sulfur Compounds (OSCs) which upon burning produce hazardous compounds such as SO₂ which contributes to acid rain and affects respiratory health. Removal of these OSCs is an important field of study as it can prevent the production of SO_x compounds. One technique to remove OSCs is Adsorptive Desulfurization (ADS) in which Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are potential candidates to be used as adsorbents. Two archetypal MOFs, HKUST-1 and Cu₃HHTP₂, …

The Role Of Trees In Reducing The Urban Heat Island Effect On The New Jersey Institute Of Technology Campus, Newark, Nj, Dahlia Mansour

Theses

Every year, an estimated 12.3 million tons of glass are generated in the United States. Of all glass generated, only 3.1 million tons are recycled. Despite the near endless recyclability of glass waste, recycling rates in the United States remain low. This is primarily due to the lack of color separation and presence of non-recyclable materials associated with single-stream curbside collection used in many municipalities throughout the country. These factors make recycled glass unusable for many glass bottle manufacturers, causing the majority of glass placed in a recycling bin to eventually be landfilled. The purpose of this research is to …

The Impact Of Leadership Behavior On Employee Engagement: A Qualitative Study, Torie M. Bonnet

Theses

Employee engagement has been shown by previous researchers to improve the quality of work that is produced. Previous researchers have focused on how various leadership styles impact engagement. Researchers have revealed that the concepts of structural empowerment, authentic leadership, transformational leadership, and leader-empowering behavior have positively impacted employees' levels of engagement. The knowledge gap includes what behaviors lead to improved employee engagement, resulting in an upbeat team climate and decreased intention to leave a position. This study was designed to glean knowledge from experienced nurse managers regarding employee engagement and understand what skills could be taught to novice managers to …

A Novel Approach To The Treatment Of Degenerative Disc Disease, Alexandra Mckillop

Theses

Low back pain is estimated to affect 80% of the population at some point in their lives. It places a high economic burden on society, as individuals suffering from low back pain are often less productive and miss more work days, resulting in lost wages (Freburger et al., 2015; Katz, 2006; Taher et al., 2012). Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD) is among the most common causes of low back pain. It is a pathological process where the intervertebral disc (IVD) undergoes structural changes and is characterized by increased inflammation within the disc, in combination with nerve ingrowth causing pain. Structural changes …

3-D Printed Microstructures With Zno Nanoflower For Antimicrobial Applications, Henry Yuqing

Theses

Many studies have been conducted to combat the bacterial infections problem by creating antimicrobial surfaces. However, the majority of them require complex manufacturing processes and expensive equipment. In this study, a cheaper and easy to be fabricated antimicrobial surface has been developed. First, a micropatterned 3D printed structure was fabricated. Then it was coated with zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoflower. The study demonstrated that micropatterned structure served as an “armor” to the nanostructure from plastic scraper and finger abrasion. To test the antimicrobial performance of the surface, the chip was immersed in 2E8 CFU/mL Escherichia coli (E. coli) suspension and incubated …

Early Detection Of Autism Spectrum Disorder (Asd) Using Machine Learning Techniques, Mahra Musabbah Bin Beyat Alfalasi

Theses

ASD is a neurological disorder that affects over 1 in 44 chilren and this rate has increased. The diagnosis process can be timely and costly. This will make it difficult for the patients to adhere to the prescribed treatments and will hinder the progress of the patient. This project is focused on increasing the efficiency of this diagnosis process through machine learning techniques. The proposed datasets are; ASD Screening Data for Adult, ASD screening Data for Children and ASD Screening Data for Adolescent. These datasets are a categorical, continuous, and binary data type. They have 21 common attributes and a …

Shipment Containers Tracking Optimization Using Machine Learning, Omran Al-Ali

Theses

The container tracking data is crucial for the effective management of supply chains. In

this report, we analyze container tracking data to identify areas for improvement in supply chain operations. Our study aims to provide insights into the factors affecting container movements,

identify areas where delays and bottlenecks occur, and suggest ways to optimize operations. The supply chain is a complex system involving multiple parties, including shippers,

freight forwarders, carriers, ports, and customs agencies. The timely delivery of goods is critical for maintaining customer satisfaction and reducing costs. Therefore, it is essential to have a robust tracking system that enables …