Thesis (IT & Engineering)

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Smart Safe Cities Technology Architecture to Assure Citizens’ Happiness and Future Foresight to Achieve United Arab Emirates 100 Year Vision: Response Readiness, National Resilience and Future Accelerations
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2017-07) AL HASSAN, MOHAMMAD KHALED
Smart cities have emerged quite rapidly across the globe, be it the Masdar City in partuclar Abu Dhabi the capital of UAE, or in London, or Washington irrespective of the economy being developed, developing or emerging. This is primarily given the usefulness of such cities to enable transparency and efficiency within the city functions. In this research, the focus on the ‘safety’ aspect within smart cities, bringing forth the implementations requirement to transform a smart city into safety city for UAE. The aim of this research is to build a conceptual framework to enable the transformation of smart city into SSC, supporting citizen happiness, future accelerations and sharing future governments. Over the years, various models and theories were proposed to enable organizations into smart organizations, with one such being the institutional theory. The theory has been utilized extensively, in collaboration with other theories such as the Lewin’s model of 3-stage or the barrier-driver model developed for e-governments. The case considered for this research was Abu Dhabi Government in UAE, with the research questions and objectives set out and achieved through the aid of a quantitative survey questionnaire. The sample selected for the research was public sector of Abu Dhabi. With a detailed review of the factors (internal and external) of smart cities and e-government (as the base), the study reviewed the benefits, barriers as well as risks that entail the transformation of smart cities to SSC within the context of UAE. Based on the findings of the data analysis, the conceptual framework developed was validated followed by a re-conceptualization to suit the Abu Dhabi Government. Recommendations were built to support the extension of the framework to smart city models in other countries to focus and build on the safety aspect, thus achieving citizen happiness and boost future development.
Information Technology Disaster Recovery Plan (IT DRP) Framework – A study on IT Continuity for Smart City in Abu Dhabi Smart Government
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2017-07) AL HASSAN, LINDA KHALED MOHAMMED
The growth in urbanization in the world of today in unprecedented, supported with information technology to meet the growing demands of the humankind. Over the years, technology application in various fields of business has increased, with one such concept been seen in the form of smart cities. The heavy reliance on technology today has facilitated governments to improve public services and achieve satisfaction amongst its users. Similarly for businesses, it has boosted global communication, trade and development. However, the reliance on information technology has also increased the challenges with one such being disaster recovery. In this research study, the aim was to develop a IT DRP framework to support the Abu Dhabi Government in the initiatives of smart city services to assure its system and IT continuity. An extensive literature review was conducted to identify the key parameters that dictate the efficiency of an IT framework, and the challenges, barriers and risks that are involved in securing IT disaster recovery. Past literature in the area of smart cities and information technology had led to the identification of the gap of IT disaster recovery which is found missing. While a large extent of the literature deals with securing firms in the event of a natural disaster, however, no significant finding was made in terms of a well-developed IT disaster recovery framework. This applies especially in the area of public services such as those offered by Abu Dhabi Smart City. Also, given the focus of the past researchers on IT continuity for corporates, this research study design was framed to incorporate the case of Abu Dhabi Smart City. Based on the factors identified in the literature review, i.e. factors influencing smart city services and the components of IT disaster recovery, a conceptual framework was developed. The concept was reviewed and examined in light of the past literature in the area of IT disaster recovery and the challenges or barriers that restricted their application in smart city services. A quantitative method was adopted as the research design for data collection from experts, IT professionals and policy makers from Abu Dhabi Government, UAE as the sample. A detailed statistical analysis was conducted to identify the relationships between the key variables i.e. smart city services and IT DRP and how the framework can be implemented in case of an IT disaster to secure IT services continuity. Upon data analysis, the researcher was able to identify the core components of IT DRP and Smart city which were then conjoined together to formulate the revised framework. Post review of each individual factor, correlation testing and hypothesis testing was conducted that examined the relationship between smart city variables and IT DRP variables. The analysis revealed that all the components of IT DRP and Smart city are inter-connected. As per the findings from the responses of the IT personnel associated with smart city projects in Abu Dhabi Government and the analysis of data, distinct from data validation, some additional factors are discovered. Based on this, few changes are made to the framework which involves addition of new factors and removal of less dominant factors from the framework for smart city IT DRP. The new comprehensive framework for smart city IT DRP for smart government services was tested as well as evaluated for validity. It was found that the framework proposed with the subcomponents of IT DRP and Smart city have a strong relationship when integrated together. After conducting the research and drawing important conclusions, the researcher offers recommendations for policy makers as well as researchers. The government can adopt the proposed framework for analysis of the numerous external factors having the potential to impact the plans in one way or the other and to devise more intelligent plans and strategies accordingly. In case of academic researchers, his study suggests to investigate on how to identify and then manage the identified stakeholders effectively for better results. They can look into the details of how by keeping in view the specific needs of the public, government can formulate more effectual policies to administer such large ICT projects. They can explore the different techniques adopted by the government entities and how they determine the order in which they execute their different tasks. It is suggested that they should look into the several facets of this smart city project so as to make planning in compliance. It is also recommended that the organizations and government should constantly monitor their security systems to avoid any sort of data breach and keep them up to date.
Framework for Minimizing Critical Information Infrastructure Threats from Insiders
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2017-10) AL KATHEERI, AHMED OMAR
Malicious insiders are posing unique security challenges to organizations due to their knowledge, capabilities, and authorized access to information systems. Data theft and IT sabotage are two of the most recurring themes among crimes committed by malicious insiders. This research aims at investigating the scale and the scope of the risks from malicious insider’s activities and exploring the impact of such threats on business operations. The developed framework targets minimization of the insider threats through profiling the user activities using information from the log files of several components participating in these activities, like IDS, IPS, firewalls, network devices, sever hosts and workstations. Malicious activities potentially leave suspicious patterns and references to users which can be used to infer the main actor or actors and mitigate the threat before they actually occur. The analytical backbone of the framework can be build upon Actor Network Theory. Organizations need to implement a multi layered defensive approaches to combat insider risks; safeguarding sensitive business information from malicious insiders requires an effective security framework that can identify the malicious group members involved and predict their offensive intentions something like a black box. To open this black box and explore the intention of the insiders, the framework developed here relies on two different security technologies: Security Information Event Management (SIEM) and User Behavior Analytics (UBA). They allow extracting the data from different entity logs, analyzing and separating the malicious activities from non-malicious ones on the base of the User Security Profile (USP). On the other hand, the security engine must allow formulating different hypothesis, which have varying degree of flexibility to address the security requirements and have the ability to identify the main actor and the other participants using analyzed information. Organizations need to implement multi layered defensive approaches to combat insider risks; safeguarding sensitive business information from malicious insiders requires an effective security policy that communicates widely the consequences of stealing or leaking confidential information in an unauthorized manner. Secondly, logging and monitoring employee activity is essential in detecting and controlling system vulnerabilities. Thirdly, conducting periodic and consistent vulnerability assessments is critical to identify any gaps in security controls and to prevent insiders from exploiting them. And last, but certainly not least, taking extra caution when dealing with privileged users is important to proactively protect the information infrastructure from insider risks.
Predicting Mobile Game Success Using Data Analytics
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2017-11) ALOMARI, KHALED MOHAMMAD
Since the advent of arcade games and the development of the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) at the close of the millennium, the mobile game app industry has exploded; and subsequently has transformed the ideologies of mobile technology and software developers to forward thinking within the dimension of innovative mobile game development. After the first decade of the new millennium has passed, and even though billions of dollars in revenue have been realized from mobile game apps, there is still a gap in literature with regard to mobile game user behavior and methodologies for predicting the likely success of mobile game apps during the development phase. Game features and ARM strategies are analyzed and discussed as primary drivers of mobile game app success. This study addresses these challenges through data driven research of the mobile gaming application market, mobile gaming application features, user acquisition and retention trends, and monetization strategies using the CRISP-DM model for data mining in order to prove a successful method for predictions of mobile game application success. The attainment of the prediction of one mobile game app from a sample of 50 was accomplished by running a batch prediction for the game features dataset, and a separate batch prediction for the user behavior dataset. The lists were then integrated, a final list of games which appeared in both lists was generated for further comparison. According to the prediction model results for the dual datasets, the most successful mobile game app from the 50 game sample was Game of War-Fire Age; the most successful genre was Puzzles, and the most successful developer was EA Sports. Where success is described based on the best match with the results of the study. The most successful game predictions were extracted and compared to the predominating user behaviors for further analysis and implications. Significant outcomes for the comparisons included the predominance of the Social Networking features, Offers, and IAP 90% to 100% of the sample. A model of mobile game app success prediction based upon the game features values that are created proposed.
Urban Geometry: The Effect of Height Diversity and Buildings Configuration on Thermal Performance and Cooling Load at Urban Scale. A Case Study in Dubai / UAE
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2018-05) SHAREEF, SUNDUS LUAY
Urban geometry and buildings morphology are important factors that affect both thermal behaviour of the spatial environment as well as a building’s energy performance. This research aims to explore the effect of the urban block with different building configurations on energy performance at the urban level. For this aim, a literature review was conducted to identify the previous and recent studies relevant to this research topic. It has been proven that the compactness element is a key urban geometry variable that controls the desired thermal performance of the built environment in hot climates. However, the previous studies have primarily focused on traditional methods of increasing the shading effect, such as by increasing buildings height / canyon width H/W ratio to provide the required compactness for desired solar access and energy saving target. This research attempts to provide alternative methods to achieving the required compactness and increase the shading effect by adapting building height variations and configurations in urban block design. As observed in the previous literature, the energy consumption assessment and the strategies that can be adopted to reduce this consumption are generally implemented and evaluated on the scale of individual buildings. Therefore, further investigation of both the diversity in building heights and the effect of this on the energy performance, and the evaluation of the energy consumption at the urban scale is required to fill the gap identified in previous literatures. This study utilised two software packages to simulate a base case urban configuration and evaluate this case against the proposed suggested scenarios of different configurations. The proposed scenarios depending on the urban configuration sustainable strategies were implemented and simulated to find the effect of adopting these strategies on the building’s total energy performance within the case study area, i.e., the Dubai / UAE local context and weather characteristics. Three groups with 56 proposed scenarios were simulated, where in different ratios of building height variation were implemented in the first two groups, and different building configurations were adopted for the third group. The research found that a significant variation in building height reduces the cooling load more than a gradual height variation, and consequently offers more energy saving. The variation along the short direction of the urban block has a greater positive effect and the saving in cooling energy consumption reaches 4.6 %. The significant variation in building height along the short axis of the urban block provides more shading to the canyons and the adjacent buildings compared to the base case. This over shading reduces the air temperature by 1.1 ͦ C within the canyon and directly reduces the conduction heat gain through the buildings envelop. This is in addition to the other effect represented by reducing the direct solar access to the building surfaces and decreases the solar energy gained by the buildings envelop through direct radiation. Furthermore, building orientation plays a significant role in the thermal performance of the urban block, and it contributes to the total cooling load energy saving of the urban block by 6.6 % at the peak time of cooling demand. Moreover, the research found that the variation in building heights will increase the wind velocity by up to 23 %, and this improvement in air flow affects the outdoor air temperature positively. This positive effect of the height variation on the outdoor air temperature of the urban canyons reduces the conduction heat gain through the buildings envelop by 4 %, and consequently reduces the energy required for cooling purpose. In addition, the alternative arrangement of the buildings within the block is another geometrical variable that affects the thermal performance of the built environment. It has been found that the alternative, or stagger arrangement, provides more shading effect on both canyon and building surfaces. However, this arrangement reduces the wind speed due to the obstruction created by the buildings mass and decreases the air velocity in the canyons. On the other hand, this type of configuration improves the distribution of the air around the buildings block and consequently enhances the outdoor thermal comfort around most of the buildings within the urban block. The reduction of 1.9 ͦ C in outdoor air temperature, and 4.9 % in cooling load is achieved by increasing the H/W ratio of the main canyons from 0.96 to 1.2. Therefore, designing the urban block with a significant diversity in building heights, or gradual height variation will have the potential of a shading effect and wind speed increase to enhance the thermal performance of the urban block. Finally, adopting the rectangular shape of the urban block, creating diversity in building heights and alternative building morphology are some of passive urban design strategies that can be followed for the optimised urban block configuration, with high efficient morphology and less environmental impact. This prototype is recommended for the new urban development in the UAE and other areas of the same climate zone.
Courtyards as passive design solution for school buildings in hot areas: UAE as a case study
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2018-06) SALAMEH, MUNA MAHMOUD
The global concentration on green efficient schools is growing as schools represent a considerable sector in the built environment, which consumes a lot of energy to provide a standard level of thermal comfort for students. In the UAE, both private and public-school buildings are assumed to be a high energy consumption sector, in addition to universities, banks and shopping malls. Moreover, the energy consumption in schools seems to be encouraged rather than controlled, thus there is the potential for reducing the sector’s energy consumption. Traditional architecture adopted the courtyard design as a distinct form to create the core of houses and moderate the thermal conditions for the surrounding spaces, especially in hot climates. In most of the previous studies on the subject, courtyards were found to be related to houses or buildings in general, rather than educational institutions specifically, such as schools. This research aims to investigate the integration of a well-designed courtyard as a passive design strategy in buildings in the UAE to reduce the energy consumption required for cooling. In addition, the improvements in the thermal comfort conditions within the courtyards should translate to a more comfortable outdoor space for the students. This research adopted a qualitative approach based on case studies and computer simulations. The case studies were five present public schools’ buildings with different plan templates and different courtyard configurations; the schools are models 586, 596, KAT, UPA1 and finally UPA-fin. The computer analysis in this research was based on two software programs: ENVI-met software to evaluate changes in the schools’ microclimates due to the presence of courtyards and IESve software to calculate the energy consumption of the school buildings due to the changes of the microclimates affected by the courtyards. The thermal effect of the courtyards on the school buildings was investigated through two stages. The first stage discussed the orientation of the courtyard. The second stage investigated a range of courtyard configurations and designs through five phases, each focused on one of five relevant parameters which are: courtyard’s shape factor ratio (W/L ratio), courtyard’s area to built-up area (CA/BA ratio), courtyard’s outline shape, courtyard’s height (number of floors) and finally courtyard’s vegetation. There was third stage in this research that investigated the cooling loads for schools (case studies) in relation to the orientation and the design strategies. The cooling plant sensible load was investigated the beginning on specific dates and then it was investigated for the whole academic year. The outcomes of the research investigations concluded that the design and the properties of the courtyards can affect the indoor temperature of the school building, thus the cooling load. Moreover, the results of the computer simulation revealed that the school UPA-fin was the best school case with the optimum courtyards after adopting the following strategies 1- orientation to the north , 2-CA/BA ratio 20%, 3-square outline for the courtyards, 4-additional third floor on the east mass mainly 5- integrating vegetation in the courtyards, succeeded in reducing the Tin to 1.9 ˚C on 21st of September and 1.7 ˚C on 21st of March and that managed to reduce the cooling load by 19% on 21st of September and 27% on 21st of March compared to the basic UPA-fin to the north in phase one . The investigation of the annual cooling load after adopting only four strategies that included 1- orientation, 2-CA/BA ratio 20%, 3-square outline for the courtyards, 4-additional third floor on the east mass mainly and excluding the integration of vegetation, succeeded in reducing the cooling load by 16.5%compared to phase one UPA-fin basic to the north. The results showed that the optimum courtyard had the best predicted mean vote (PMV) performance also, as on 21st of September the max PMV reading for the poorest case of stage two equaled 4.35, which covered 48% of the courtyard’s area, while the max PMV reading for the best case of stage two (phase five) equaled 3.15 and covered 1.5% of the courtyard’s area with a reduction of about 1.2 on the PMV scale. On the other hand, on the 21st of March the max PMV reading for the poorest case of stage two equaled 3.0 and covered 48% of the courtyard’s area; while the max PMV reading for the best case equaled 1.9 and covered 1.5% of the courtyard’s area, with a reduction of about 1.1 according to the PMV scale. The research results revealed that the optimal design of the courtyard can reduce the temperature of the inner spaces of the school, thus it can reduce the cooling load for the school building in general. Moreover, it can improve the thermal comfort for the outdoor areas. The findings of this study will be important for architects, sustainable developers, educational developers, economic consultants and green buildings designers in UAE and in areas with similar climate to help them in designing green schools.
Relevance Feedback Optimization for Digital Forensic Investigations
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2019) Hanadi, Al Suwaidi
Digital forensics deals with the use of tools and techniques to preserve, identify, extract, document, and interpret any data stored or transmitted using a digital system. It is usually used to help support or refute a theory, for the occurrence of an offense or crime, or it might indicate intent or alibi. There are many challenges when it comes to the forensics discipline of digital evidence, and the sheer amount of data found on modern digital devices is one of them. In today’s society, it became the norm for one individual to own multiple digital devices with large storage capacities. If that individual was part of a group of people accused of a certain crime, the end result would be a large amount of data, possibly in Terabytes. Furthermore, such data would usually need to be investigated for evidence in a limited window of time. Digital forensic laboratories that rely on traditional forensic tools usually lack the resources required to handle the size of data found on digital devices today. The work presented in this thesis can be seen as a step forward into enhancing digital forensics investigations by optimizing the investigator’s relevancy feedback. The study proposes a framework that integrates different text processing and mining techniques to assist the examiner reach useful information faster. The framework has been implemented and evaluated using a real world crime dataset of Arabic text. A Proof-of-Concept implementation was evaluated by experienced senior digital forensics examiners. The results showed a good improvement in the average recall-precision rates and a reduction of the required time to complete the tasks by 53% over the time spent using traditional tools.
Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Multivariable Control System with Least Energy Dissipation
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2019-03) Touqan, Basim
The highest energy consumption in building sector is caused by building's services such as lighting units and thermal comfort systems. Heated Ventilated Air Conditioning (HVAC) system consumes approximately 50% of the total building energy bill. Many measures have been proposed to achieve energy efficient buildings. Accurate HVAC mathematical models, as well as suitable HVAC control system that leads to optimised energy consumption and improved system performance are part of the engineering efforts to achieve greater efficiency. This study is part of such engineering efforts. It concentrates on employing a ready developed reliable HVAC system mathematical model, namely hybrid distributed-lumped parameter model which handles HVAC as spatially and dimensional dispersed systems for specific HVAC components such as ventilated volume. Other components, such as fan motors, inlet and exit impedances, have physical properties that treated as concentrated lumped mass elements without compromising on the accuracy. Applying an appropriate automatic control strategy to achieve improved HVAC system performance associated with least control energy consumption is one of the major research objectives. This objective has been achieved by adopting and applying a multivariable Least Effort (LE) control technique to regulate a multivariable three inputs-three outputs HVAC system model that employs output feedback, passive compensators and proportional gains, avoiding employment of active integrators. Direct Nyquist Array (DNA), as an alternative multivariable control technique, was employed to compare with the LE performance in terms of system performance and proportional control energy cost. Contrasting the straightforward procedure used to decouple the interaction between the outputs in the LE controller, the identification of decoupling matrix in the DNA controller was based on a trial and error approach, which was very time consuming. After decoupling the plant transfer function matrix, the DNA controller was able to regulate and control the HVAC multivariable system based on using PID loop control, but on the price of consuming higher proportional control energy cost which contravenes with global efforts to minimize energy consumption inside buildings. The ratios of proportional control energy cost between LE and DNA at the time 900 seconds following disturbance unity changes on the system outputs are , and for three different disturbance scenarios. LE controller has shown also better system performance than DNA which at the end makes it superior to the DNA control solution based on the consideration of the simplicity of each controller, the system behaviour under closed loop control and the control energy dissipation.
Prevalence and risk factors of poor indoor air quality and sick house syndrome symptoms in Dubai
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2019-04) ALI, MUNA IBRAHIM
"Housing environment is a key determinant of health and wellbeing for individuals, communities, and public health at large. Recently, an increasing range of diseases related to poor Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) commonly referred to as Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) symptoms – or Sick House Syndrome (SHS) in case of housing related symptoms –which are evolving as a global concern. What exacerbate the concern regarding SHS is its’ being a product of intricate interactions between three multivariate factors involving the IEQ factors in addition to building and population characteristics. Due to that complexity; high levels of ambiguity and uncertainty enfold the associations between IEQ and SHS. Globally, previous research focused in investigating the associations between IEQ and health symptoms in offices more than houses. However, housing IEQ and its associated health risks is of growing concern because of the longer exposure to contaminants and its inclusion of vulnerable individuals. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), poor indoor air quality (IAQ) in housing – which is one of the IEQ factors – is considered as the 2nd environmental health risk. However, few population-based researches were conducted regarding poor housing IEQ and its associations with SHS. None covered a sample including the different nationalities living in UAE. That is important in revealing more realistic results reflecting the present IEQ and SHS in UAE housing. Furthermore, the impact of many building variables on IEQ and SHS is under-researched by previous studies i.e. applied HVAC system, building age and type. Therefore, this research sought to respond to a number of questions aiming to: (1) Explore the IEQ conditions and prevalent SHS in Dubai housing; (2) Identify the risk factors affecting IAQ and SHS; (3) Investigate the impact of the applied heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system on IEQ and SHS; (4) Assess the sufficiency of provided AERs; and (5) Propose appropriate strategies to mitigate poor IEQ and SHS prevalence. The two major methods employed by this study were a cross-sectional survey and a field study. The survey collected data from 770 Dubai residents. The utilized questionnaire was adopted and adapted from the MM 040 NA questionnaire, EPA IEQ in addition to EPA IAQ and work environment questionnaire. A pilot survey covering 120 Dubai households was conducted to examine the reliability and validity of the proposed questionnaire and to develop it accordingly. SPSS Statistics Version 23 software was used for the survey analysis and it encompassed the conduct of principal component analysis (PCA) and multiple linear regression (MLR) models. Regarding the field study; it was conducted in the living hall of 60 Dubai household and it included measurements, questionnaire, and AERs calculations using CO2 steady-state method. Performed measurements were: (1) Continuous measurement of indoor PM2.5, PM10, CO, CO2, TVOC, RH, and T levels for 24 hours; (2) A single sample of indoor HCHO drawn for 30 minutes; and (3) A spot measurement of outdoor CO2, CO, TVOC, RH, and T levels. The survey results revealed that prevalent health symptoms experienced at least 1 – 3 days/week in Dubai households were ergonomic symptoms experienced by about 18% of Dubai households, general (17%), skin (17%), fatigue (17%), nose (17%), neurological (15%), cough (12%), eye (10%), throat (9%), chest symptoms (8%), and fever (5%). Prevalent SHS symptoms – occurred at least once a week and became better outdoors – were about 30%. The most prevalent IEQ conditions at least 1 – 3 days/week was dust and dirt experienced by about 29% then “Too quiet” (22%), “Too hot” (22%), “Too humid” (19%), “Too noisy” (19%), “Too cold” (17%), “Too glary” (13%), “Too dim” (14%), “Little air” (15%), “Too dry” (16%), and “Stuffy bad air” (14%). The most prevalent odors at least 1 – 3 days/week were “Fishy/food odors” reported by approximately 21%, “Body/cosmetics odors” (20%), “Tobacco smoke” (20%), “Incense smoke” (19%), “Chemicals odors” (7%), “Dampness odors” (6%), “Diesel/engine exhaust” (6%), “New carpets’ odors” (4%), and “Paint odors” (4%). Moreover, following is a summary characterizing measured indoor IEQ parameters and estimated AERs in the 60 Dubai households: • PM2.5 levels exceeded the 35µg/m3 limit (ASHRAE 2016) in all households. • PM10 levels exceeded the 150µg/m3 limit (DM 2016) in 88% of households. • TVOC levels exceeded the 300µg/m3 by DM (2016) in 67% of households. • CO2 levels exceeded the 800ppm limit (DM 2016) in 45% of households. • T range was not complying with DM (2016) requirements in all households while RH range was not complying with DM (2016) requirements in 60%. • Estimated AER insufficient as per (ASHRAE 2016) in 38% of households. • CO and HCHO levels were acceptable as per national and international standards. According to survey results; perceived IAQ discomfort was significantly associated with: perceived odors, Thermal, Lighting, and Noise comfort, dust allergy, age, migraine, other Africans, in addition to new wall covering. IAQ discomfort was positively associated with all above parameters except the new wall covering. Regarding the signicant associations with prevalent SHS symptoms; the population variables identified as risk factors that had positive association with prevalent SHS symptoms were: dust allergy, migraine, asthma, females, eczema, and other Arabs or MENA Nationals. The following list shows the building and IEQ variables identified as risk factors positively associated with prevalent SHS symptoms. Notably that no significant association was found between any of the three HVAC systems studied by this research with SHS symptoms as per the adjusted MLR models. • Dimness with all SHS symptoms. • Stuffy air, dust, dirt, paint odors, dampness odors, in addition to attached kitchen with Eye, Nose, Throat, and Chest symptoms. • High humidity, incense smoke, water leakage, in addition to Dubai Sector 1 with General, Ergonomic, Nervous, and Skin symptoms. The above results revealed the great opportunities in mitigating prevalent SHS symptoms in Dubai housing when controlling the identified risk factors. To achieve that, collaborative efforts are required from all related bodies i.e. governmental and academic institutions, building industry, and even occupants. Following are the major practical implications and recommendations that can be derived from findings of this research: • Developing related regulations by: o Mandating an appropriate exposure limit for indoor PM2.5 concentration. o Establishing rigorous policies to enforce compliance with mandated limits. o Establishing convenient policies to manage probable environmental risk of incense burning and new paints. o Incorporating the needs of atopic individuals and females in related policies. • Increasing public awareness about below risk factors and how to manage them: o The risk of having unacceptable indoor levels of PM2.5, PM10, TVOC, CO2, T, RH, and AERs that threatens a substantial number of Dubai housing. o The identified IEQ and building risk factors associated with SHS symptoms which were: indoor dimness, dust and dirt, stuffy air, paint odors, high humidity, water leakage, dampness odors, incense smoke, attached kitchens, and Dubai Sector 1. While population risk factors were: dust allergy, migraine, asthma, gender, eczema, and other Arabs or MENA Nationals. • Employing efficient management methods for the above identified risk factors i.e. indoor lighting solutions, moisture control methods, dust prevention strategies … etc. • Conducting further research to fill available theoretical gaps i.e. in-depth researches regarding identified risk factors exploring their sources and management methods. "
Neural Machine Translation for Arabic Language
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2019-07) Alkhatib, Manar
Translating the Arabic Language into other languages engenders multiple linguistic problems, as no two languages can match, either in the meaning given to the conforming symbols or in the ways in which such symbols are arranged in phrases and sentences. Lexical, syntactic and semantic problems arise when translating the meaning of Arabic words into English. Machine translation (MT) into morphologically rich languages (MRL) poses many challenges, from handling a complex and rich vocabulary, to designing adequate MT metrics that take morphology into consideration. The task of recognizing and generating paraphrases is an essential component in many Arabic natural language processing (NLP) applications. A well-established machine translation approach for automatically extracting paraphrases, leverages bilingual corpora to find the equivalent meaning of phrases in a single language, is performed by "pivoting" over a shared translation in another language. Neural machine translation has recently become a viable alternative approach to the more widely-used statistical machine translation. In this thesis, we revisit bilingual pivoting in the context of neural machine translation and present a paraphrasing model based mainly on neural networks. The thesis we present also, highlights the key challenges for Arabic language translation into English, and Arabic. Experimental results across datasets confirm that neural paraphrases significantly outperform those obtained with statistical machine translation, and indicate high similarity correlation between our model and human translation, making our model attractive for real-world deployment.
An Omnichannel Digital Banking Platform For Smart City Services: UAE Case Study
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2019-09) Al Nuaimi, Maitha
The main aim of the research is to examine the omnichannel digital banking platforms within the UAE and how banking sector in UAE is providing smart service for smart cities. Digital banking and financial technology are taking the world at the next level by storm and with constant advances in technology and developments in internet and mobile connectivity; the revolution of online banking is becoming a reality. The proposed study uses mixed research methods i.e. quantitative and qualitative, with key instruments being questionnaires, interviews, observation, and case design for data collection. Mixed research methods refer to the research approaches where the researcher collect and analyses the study data for quantitatively and qualitatively in the same study. This thesis addresses the proposed conceptual framework of the omnichannel banking that will fill the gap between the current digital banking services and customer need. Modelling and evaluating the omnichannel banking platform architecture design has been performed in chapter five, this chapter will further introduce simulation and automation software i.e. Arena, which will be used to demonstrate the facilities and capabilities of discrete event simulation tool (Arena Simulation 2019) by building the operational process of the omnichannel digital banking platform. Arena software is developed by Rockwell Automation, uses the SIMAN processor and simulation language on Microsoft Windows platforms. It provides an integrated environment for building simulation models for a wide variety of applications as well as provides enhancements in optimisation, animation, and modelling processes with big data. Through the analysis of the framework, the study highlighted the interoperation between system layers within the framework with diverse roles performed by a government department such as Abu Dhabi Globe Mark and Abu Dhabi Sandbox and others. This phenomenon of traditional banks being willing to work with and through FinTech companies has opened up an avenue through which the UAE government can unite its banking sector. The research proposed an alternative digital banking solution that delivers frictionless omnichannel banking experience and allows customers to enjoy a seamless, secure, smart lifestyle and personalised service across every touchpoint by smart device at any channel and anywhere in the UAE.
A Digital DNA Sequencing Engine for Ransomware Analysis using a Machine Learning Network
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-02) KHAN, FIROZ
The research work proposes a novel detection mechanism for ransomware using machine learning approach using Digital DNA sequencing. The proposed work contains three significant phases: Preprocessing and Feature Selection, DNA Sequence Generation and Ransomware Detection. In the first phase, data preprocessing and feature selection technique is applied to the collected dataset. The preprocessing of data includes remove missing value records and remove columns that have a negligible impact. The feature selection uses Grey Wolf Optimisation and Binary Search algorithms for choosing the best features out of the dataset. In the DNA Sequence generation phase uses design constraints of DNA sequence and k-mer frequency vector. A newly collected dataset after feature selection is used to generate the DNA sequence. In the final phase, the new dataset is trained using active learning concept, and the test data is generated using a random DNA sequence method. The data is finally classified as either ransomware or goodware using the learning methodologies. The results are found to be promising and reconfirm the fact that the developed method has efficiently detected ransomware when compared to other methods. The thesis concludes by a discussion of future work to advance the proposed method and future directions of research on the use of Digital DNA sequencing engine for general malware detection.
Integration of Artificial Intelligence in E-Procurement of the Hospitality Industry: A Case Study in the UAE
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-05) Mathew, Elezabeth
The hospitality industry is growing at an increasingly fast pace across the world which results in accumulating a large amount of data, including employee details, property details, purchase details, vendor details, and so on. The industry is yet to fully benefit from these big data by applying Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The data has not been investigated to the extent that such analysis can support decision-making or revenue/budget forecasting. The data analytics maturity model is used as the conceptual model for evaluating both data analytics and data governance in this research. In this paper, the author has explored the data and produced some useful visual reports, which are beneficial for top management, as the results provide additional information about the inventoried data by applying ML. Demand forecasting is done using deep learning techniques. Long short-term memory (LSTM) is used to find the demand forecasting of spend and quantity using time lags. The research proposes an extended framework for integrating AI within the e-procurement of the hospitality industry. The AI integrated technologies will enable stakeholders of the industry to be interoperable with all the providers and sub-providers to obtain information easily and efficiently to identify the best solution for their requirements. The proposed framework of integrating AI in the conceptual framework could be used by medium to large enterprises for interoperability, interconnectivity and to take optimum decisions. This paper has uses six ML methods to check the accuracy scoring of the predicted duration of purchase. The duration is predicted using feature variables, including recent purchases, frequency of purchases, spend per purchase, days between the last three purchases, and mean and standard deviation of the difference between purchase days. Logistic Regression, XGBoost, and Naïve Bayes models have proven to be useful for this kind of study where three different scenarios are drawn. Other major results of the research include an answer to what to buy when to buy and how much to buy using demand forecasting for the e-procurement in the hospitality industry. The novel LSTM time series algorithm proved to work best for demand forecasting. Various descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive analysis is done on the e-procurement data. The deep learning model developed can perform thousands of routine and, repetitive tasks within a fairly short period compared to what it would take for a human being without any compromise on the quality of work. Finally, an interview with a subject matter expert is done to evaluate the result and confirm the importance of the study. A survey is also conducted with people involved in the procurement process as part of triangulation. The survey revealed 92% of participants agreed that having an integrated e-procurement framework is very important for the hospitality industry. The integration of AI and ML in e-procurement will revolutionise the hospitality industry.
Telemedicine in Practice: A Sociotechnical Analysis in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-06) Abdool, Shaikha
Telemedicine technology means providing healthcare services by utilizing telecommunication tools without being physically in the same location. The technology is new in the region although it is not the case worldwide and there are gaps that need to be filled in related to it. This research aimed to conduct a thorough sociotechnical analysis of telemedicine in a realistic environment using a large sample of subjects. Mixed methodology was followed (quantitatively and qualitatively). The sample size was randomly drawn from the UAE population. The results were in the form of statistical outputs attained from a proven and well-known model and theory [Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Diffusion Of Innovations (DOI) Theory]. Analysis and findings indicated that UAE is ready for telemedicine with few enhancements to be made. This research can be said as the first one in the UAE and one of the few in the region that examined telemedicine based on sociotechnical analysis and at the same time applied TAM and DOI Theory on diverse categories of subjects. Also, several hypotheses were tested within the UAE context. Additionally, it would enable decision-makers and healthcare organizations to identify telemedicine's current status in the UAE, demand and acceptance level.
Transforming Towards Secure Global Trade for Customs Administrations Powered by Blockchain
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-06) Abunqira, Hussam
As part of the international trade supply chain, Customs authorities act as the gatekeeper protecting the society and the economy. The trade supply chain involves several participants each performs its task based on the documents that are provided by the other participant in the trade supply chain. For instance, the customs officials process the customs declaration submitted by the broker and then send the results to the next participant. The customs authorities need to perform an accurate risk assessment to ensure that protection of society and trade are not impacted. The verification and risk assessment are costly processes. The isolation between the participants in the trade supply chain impacts the efficiency of the current international trade supply model. In this work, a blockchain-based solution with a plugin to empower the solution with risk assessment capabilities is proposed. To build this solution, a proof of concept (PoC) approach is followed using the IBM Hyperledger fabric and Python programming language. The participants of this international trade process are identified. Then, the detailed process, activities, assets, transactions that are performed by each participant are analyzed. After that, a solution architecture is designed followed by building the smart contracts and building the PoC. This computational model ensures secure transactions, traceable transactions, and an immutable data communication model for better coordination among the entities along the supply chain. To further enhance the blockchain solution, two models are proposed to provide Customs authority with online risk assessment capabilities; distributed risk assessment method and a hybrid risk assessment method that consists of distributed and centralized risk assessment processes. The real data used in this work was obtained from Dubai Customs and contains shipment declaration applications. This labelled data is used to evaluate two models. The first method reported significant results that can provide classification with 83% in terms of accuracy. While, the accuracy in the extended work for the first method achieved a higher accuracy of 92%. This work addresses important issues related to security and risk assessment and provide powerful methods that complement the risk assessments performed at the customs authority by providing feedback from the early stage of risk analysis. كجزء من سلسلة توريد التجارة الدولية، تعمل سلطات الجمارك بمثابة حارس يحمي المجتمع والاقتصاد. تتضمن سلسلة التوريد التجارية عدة مشاركين يؤدون كل منهم مهمته بناءً على المستندات التي يقدمها المشارك الآخر في سلسلة التوريد التجارية. على سبيل المثال، يقوم موظفو الجمارك بمعالجة البيان الجمركي المقدم من قبل الوسيط ومن ثم إرسال النتائج إلى المشارك التالي. تحتاج السلطات الجمركية إلى إجراء تقييم دقيق للمخاطر لضمان عدم التأثير على حماية المجتمع والتجارة. تعتبر عمليات التحقق وتقييم المخاطر عمليات مكلفة على السلطات الجمركية. تؤثر العزلة بين المشاركين في سلسلة الإمداد التجاري على كفاءة نموذج الإمداد التجاري الدولي الحالي. في هذا العمل، يُقترح حل بالاعتماد على تقنية البلوك تشين ع مع مكون إضافي لتمكين الحل بقدرات تقييم المخاطر. لبناء هذا الحل، يتم اتباع نهج الدليل والنموذج التجريبي للمفهوم باستخدام نسيج اي بي ام هيبرلدجر ولغة البرمجة بايثون. تم تحديد المشاركين في عملية التجارة الدولية هذه. بعد ذلك، يتم تحليل تفاصيل العمليات والأنشطة والأصول والمعاملات التي يقوم بها كل مشارك في السلسلة. بعد ذلك، يتم تصميم هندسة الحلول متبوعة ببناء العقود الذكية وبناء النموذج التجريبي. يضمن هذا الحل المعاملات الآمنة والمعاملات التي يمكن تتبعها ونموذج اتصال البيانات غير القابل للتغيير لتحسين التنسيق بين الكيانات على طول سلسلة التوريد. لزيادة تعزيز حل البلوك تشين، تم بناء نموذجان لتزويد السلطات الجمركية بقدرات تقييم المخاطر بشكل آني؛ طريقة تقييم المخاطر الموزعة وطريقة تقييم المخاطر المختلطة التي تتكون من عمليات تقييم المخاطر الموزعة والمركزية. يتم استخدام هذه البيانات لتقييم أداء النموذجين المقترحين في هذا العمل. حققت الطريقة الأولى نتائج مهمة يمكن أن توفر تصنيفًا بنسبة 83٪ من حيث الدقة في المتوسط. بينما حققت الطريقة الثانية نتائج أفضل بدقة وصلت إلى 92٪. يتناول هذا العمل قضايا مهمة تتعلق بالأمن وتقييم المخاطر ويوفر طرقًا قوية تكمل تقييمات المخاطر التي يتم إجراؤها في مصلحة الجمارك من خلال توفير التغذية المرتدة من المرحلة المبكرة لتحليل المخاطر.
Fuzzy Techniques in Visual Performance and Illumination Applications
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-08) Alhamad, Issah
The lighting design calculation has many variables that do not realistically have crisp values and therefore can be considered fuzzy. By fuzzy we mean that a particular variable does not have an exact value. The vagueness of such variables will certainly lead to imprecise outcomes. In fact, many visual performance and luminous variables and metrics are- either by nature or by virtue of their inherent complexity- not precise. To come up with an exact output from input that is, by its very nature, uncertain and imprecise is virtually impossible. We believe that the uncertainty that is inherent in many lighting design variables leads to imprecise lighting design outcomes. Hence, Fuzzy logic technique is suitable for implementation in visual performance and illumination applications. Moreover, Fuzzy logic can solve the problem of complex mathematical formulas and a large number of correction factors currently used in visibility models. This work is exploring the possibility of applying the fuzzy techniques in both indoor lighting and road lighting by demonstrating how lighting variables can be represented in fuzzy sets rather than crisp sets. The first part of this study is related to indoor illuminance selection, three variables (Age, Task characteristics, and task importance) have been considered as an input for the fuzzy model with the target Illuminance as the output. This model allows for the lighting designer to select the precise target illuminance based on the actual conditions and avoid underlit or overlit situations. Moreover, a digital tool has been developed based on the membership functions established in this study that allows the lighting designer to check the state of the uniformity and compare the target illuminance (based on his choice or based on the application) with the achieved illuminance from lighting calculations. The second part of this study (road lighting) models the visual performance based on fuzzy techniques. This allows the proposed visual performance model to include more input variables compared to the current visibility models. The input variables are luminance contrast (positive and negative), age, visual size, retinal illuminance, eccentricity, background complexity, and disability glare, while the output variable is the Fuzzy relative visual performance (FRVP). The results of these models have been compared to the current visual performance model and it was found to be in good conformance. Moreover, the term ‘critical contrast’ is introduced, defined as the minimum contrast required to produce a change in the rating of the visual performance for a particular values of visual age, visual size, retinal illuminance, eccentricity, and background complexity. A digital tool has been developed to calculate the fuzzy relative performance and is available to be used
Data Analytics: Adaptive Network-based Fuzzy Inference System for prediction of computer science graduates’ employability
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-09) Khadragy, Saada
The increased amount of data generated in the world of today in all fields is considered to be an indicator for future predictions. In recent decades, in any field and as a result of developments in information technology, a huge amount of data has been provided from the educational field, by which students’ Employability Prediction has become a main concern for higher education institutions. The question of employability has become a critical consideration not only for graduates but for the educational institutions themselves. This research study compares a number of classifiers to determine the effective classifier that accurately and efficiently categorizes CS and IT graduates into employed, unemployed, or other, and predict the future employability of CS and IT students in Jordan. For this purpose, an Adaptive Network Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) is applied in this research study. The data of 1095 CS and IT graduates was obtained from three universities in Jordan. This data was collected through a set of tracer studies that were carried out by these universities. ANFIS, Decision Tree, SVM, MLP, and Naïve Bayes classifiers were applied in order to find the classifier with the highest accuracy and efficiency. The final outcomes showed that ANFIS has the highest accuracy, with a percentage of 94% accuracy for its predictions. A set of recommendations is presented by the researcher according to the most effective factors that influence the CS and IT employment market in the Middle East. The researcher suggests for the ministries of higher education to focus on developing the CS and IT students’ programming skills and communication skills, which emerged as essential for increasing CS and IT students’ employment prospects. affecting the employment market for CS and IT.
Towards Building a Secure Blockchain-Based Architecture for Internet of Things (IoT)
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-10) Pavithran, Deepa
IoT (Internet of Things) devices usually generate a large amount of data shared with a centralized cloud to provide various services. Traditional IoT architecture is heavily centralized, where data stored in a cloud environment, is prone to several kinds of threats. Blockchain is a very promising technology that spans many use-cases other than cryptocurrencies. For example, its implementation in the Internet of Things based networks (IoT) is still unclear and demands further research. The traditional adoption of the blockchain protocol for Bitcoin is common but it cannot be used for IoT because Bitcoin is a payment system, whereas the IoT eco-system has a different architecture. Implementing blockchain for IoT may still impose a variety of challenges. In this thesis, we proposed an architecture for the use of blockchain in event-driven IoT. In particular, we identified the key components along with their design considerations and challenges to consider while creating the blockchain architecture for IoT. We also defined gaps that hinder creating a secure blockchain framework for IoT. Various literatures have proposed blockchain architectures for IoT; however, most of them are applicable to use-cases related to smart homes and healthcare. In addition, we identified that the existing architectures have additional overhead of key management. Hence, we proposed a privacy-preserving blockchain architecture for Traffic Speed radars using Hierarchical Identity Based Encryption (HIBE). The proposed architecture uses edge and cloudlet computing paradigm as well as HIBE to preserve privacy. The performance of the proposed architecture is evaluated by conducting extensive experiments. We created the blockchain network using Ethereum and evaluated the system performance. Network performance was evaluated by simulating the network using Contiki OS. Finally, we analyzed the security of the scheme through theoretical analysis and threat-modelling tool that considers the existence of a malicious adversary.
Toward National Unified Medical Records (NUMR) and the Application of Nationwide Disease Registry
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2021-01) Harbi, Alya
Technology in healthcare has evolved, however, till this date many healthcare providers find it difficult to provide their services as intended as a result of fragmented systems and scattered data. The challenges are noticeable especially with the rapid population growth which demanded software engineering and state of art solution to be able to handle different constraints. Although couple of countries started to implement nationwide electronic systems that are interoperable, none have completely finalized the program yet. United Arab Emirates (UAE) started toward this initiative to integrate the different systems in healthcare whether public or private. In addition to that, managing the burden of diseases is becoming uncontrollable and National Unified Medical Record (NUMR) is a starting point toward proper management to raise the healthcare quality and cut the cost. The aim of this study is to set new directions toward establishing NUMR and its applications of nationwide disease registry and assess the current situations and needs to be able to establish a proper mechanism and standards for UAE and other countries to benefits from, as well as study the application of disease registry and how we can utilize the concept of data mining, and business intelligence for better nationwide population management. Having NUMR will facilitate having proper nationwide disease registry that would enable analytics and prediction for better management. This study will bring great benefits for all countries that are going toward nationwide and interoperable healthcare platform. Moreover, it should be mentioned that there are limited nationwide disease registries worldwide especially for cardiology and diabetes, making it difficult to strategize the prevention programs in these field. Hence, it is very crucial to study the standards and mechanisms with respect to this field in order to provide lessons learned from other countries having a similar direction. The future of implementation of NUMR in UAE is promising. Our findings offer beneficial guidelines for consideration in implementing NUMR system across UAE and also help in the drive to improve healthcare systems nationally.
Performance Optimization of Photovoltaic Thermal System under UAE Climate Condition: Experimental and Simulation Analysis
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2021-03) ALSHAAER, SHEIKHA ALI
One of the worldwide challenges is reducing energy consumption to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are associated with energy production and use. Delay in taking proper action will lead to the catastrophic effect of global warming (Ghoneim, 2016). In general, until today, the majority of energy is produced from fossil fuel sources (Riffat, 2011). There are various reasons for still depending on fossil fuel resources to produce energy. Fossil fuel energy has a lower production cost than renewable energy (Sharma, 2016). In addition, fossil fuel is very efficient in producing energy. On the other hand, generating power from solar energy is considered to be a promising solution. However, the Photovoltaic system has low efficiency resulting from the low conversion factor of Photovoltaic cells (Shaneb & other 2017). Accordingly, various researchers focused on enhancing the PV performance through avoiding shading and, using the sun tracking system. Photovoltaic thermal is considered to be one of the methods used to enhance the electrical performance of PV systems. The main working principle of PVT is passing fluid at the back of the PV panel that removes the excess heat from the PV panel surface and enhances electrical efficiency. The fluid used in PVT is either water, air, or refrigerant (Shaneb et al, 2017). The aim of performing the test was to evaluate and assess both electrical and thermal performance of the PVT system, under UAE climate conditions, in the first phase of the study. Then, enhance the performance of PVT, by optimizing some of the design parameters. To achieve the project aims, the research started with a review of previous studies related to PVT. The literature review focused on data required to be collected during the experimental phase, the capability of TRNSYS software, and optimization parameters. Therefore, the research methodology has been carried out in two parts: experimental and simulation. In the first part, the performance of PVT, in comparison with PV panel, was tested experimentally. The collected data from the experiment were utilized to develop a simulation model to represent PVT by using TRNSYS software. The simulation model was used to optimize the PVT performance by changing some of the design parameters. The design parameters were: number of collector tubes, tubes diameter, and PVT panel area, and water flow rates. Experimental results showed that the enhancement in electrical efficiency of PVT in winter was 0.7%, which is equal to 5% more in comparison with PV. The results in summer were 1.2%, which is equal to 8.9% more in comparison with PV panel. The overall PVT efficiency in winter was 53.8%, and in summer the overall PVT efficiency was 57.1%. A simulation model was developed for the PVT system, based on data collected from the experiment. The model has been validated, comparing the experimental results with simulation results, with a tolerance of 5% error. In the simulation part, some design parameters were optimized by testing a range of values: number of collector tubes, tubes diameter, PVT panel area, and water flow rates. The aim of changing the design parameters was to optimize the performance of PVT during winter and summer. The results showed that the optimum number of collector tubes was 12 tubes; the optimum tube diameter was 0.04 m; and the water flow rate was 2.5 GPM in both winter and summer. In addition, results showed that changing the PVT area was not feasible. There was no enhancement in the overall efficiency. Based on the identified optimum values of design parameters, the optimized model was created. The results from the optimized model showed further enhancement in comparison with the reference model. The percentage of electrical efficiency enhancement of PVT was 7.2% in winter and 7.5% in summer, compared to the reference model. In addition, the research compared the electrical performance of the PV panel with the PVT optimized model. The electrical efficiency of the PVT optimized model provided higher electrical efficiency than the PV panel by 6% during winter and 10% during summer.

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