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Item 21st Century Warfare: How Information Technology Has Fundamentally Changed Global Warfare - An Analysis of Insurgencies’ Use of IT(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2018-11) FIKRI, MOHAMMAD NADER MOHAMMAD ABDULLAHThis paper utilizes a qualitative approach to provide a case study analysis of the rising use of technology by insurgents. Examining the literature and making a comparative analysis of the trends of recent years allowed the researcher to come to the conclusion of the rising necessity of cybersecurity in contemporary warfare. A quantitative approach in such a case would have been limited due to the lack of reliable statistics available as well as the more sterile nature of results it would provide. The 21st century has seen a change in the type of warfare waged globally. Whereas the 20th century was characterized by decolonization and states warring against one another, the 21st century has witnessed a shift in global warfare where non-state actors such as radical groups are gaining momentum and causing significant mayhem. The accessibility of radical groups to wage war on a global level has been exacerbated in recent years by the widespread usage of information technology on an individual level and the resulting compression of time and space. Both these factors, the rise of non-state actors and the usage of information technology, has disrupted the way global warfare is waged. This dissertation focuses on examining the ways in which global security in the 21st century has changed due to insurgents’ access to information technology. By focusing heavily on the available literature and findings conducted of the insurgents in Iraq and Syria, this research aims to provide recommendations on the ways in which governments must now reassess their security needs by taking into account the changes in 21st century information technology. Information technology is a double-edged sword; the abuse of it by the wrong hands can cause global chaos, however, it is also a fundamentally important tool in the counterterrorism effort as well. As technology continues to advance and as social networks and IT equipment become more accessible to individuals, a major portion of global antiterrorism efforts will shift to the digital sphere. After reviewing the findings from literature and references of insurgents’ usage of IT, it became clear that social media was a catalyst for the rapid spread of their ideology and propaganda. Social media networks were used both to brainwash the public and recruit new members. Government websites and databases were hacked by cyberattacks and sensitive information made public. These findings from the literature review conducted; demonstrated that they had a well developed, deeply-strategized IT and media strategy and that when they emerged globally seemingly overnight, the world was taken aback and governments were unprepared with how to deal with their digital prowess. This has brought to light the importance of a globally concerted effort to give cyberterrorism the importance it deserves in counterterrorism efforts.Item 3- DIMENSIONAL CONCRETE PRINTING TECHNOLOGY(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2022-01) ABDULJAWAD, NORAN AMERThe structural engineers are always in a challenge between the responsibility for the people life and the development in the structural engineering sector, the long spans or the height of the buildings also the modern design that needs flexibility required from the structural engineer to discover new ideas and seek for a new solution to break the limitation of the traditionally used manufacturing processes of the concrete, and move to a new page which is a smart structure-based new technology, such as 3D concrete printing, that will help the structural engineer and the construction sector to be more creative. Taking under consideration that every complex structure gives complex loads and dynamic nature, in addition to that it will increase time and cost which is very critical points in the construction stage. The present paper reviews all the properties, features, advantages, and disadvantages of 3D printing will be discussed with approval. This dissertation or thesis is surveying research, the type of the survey is a questionnaire, it was done online by using SurveyMonkey or Google Forms, and the design of the question was developed and selected carefully which includes a critical point about 3D printing, the questions were distributed between engineers with different engineering background, like civil engineers, structural engineers, MSc. in structural engineering, PhD. in structural engineering, and researchers. And it was targeting engineers in different locations and in different fields. This survey research includes questions that are divided into different sections. The types of the questions are closed-ended questions and that means quantitative research which provides numerical data that can be statistically analyzed to find correlation, trends, patterns. On the other hand, the result of the responses is static analysis, usually using computer programs like SPSS, Stata, or Excel. Knowing that survey results are organized and discussed in the conclusion.Item A Comparative Analysis of Deep Learning Models for Facial Expression Recognition at COP28(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2024-07) ABDELQADER, KHALED J.; Professor Khaled Shaalan; Dr Manar Al KhatibFacial expression recognition (FER) has primarily been studied in controlled environments, which do not adequately represent the dynamic conditions of real-world events. This study aims to bridge this gap by conducting a comparative analysis of deep learning models tailored to the context of COP28, a large-scale public event in the UAE. The research evaluated several deep learning architectures, including the standard convolutional neural network (CNN), expanded CNN, multi-path CNN, pre-trained transfer learning Visual Geometry Group 16 (VGG16), recurrent neural network (RNN), long short-term memory (LSTM), gat-ed recurrent unit (GRU), and vision transformer (ViT) ones, using the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF) dataset for training and validation. Performance was then tested on unseen images from COP28. The findings revealed that CNN-based models, particularly the multi-path CNN and VGG16, outperformed sequential models such as the RNN, LSTM, and GRU, with the multi-path CNN achieving the highest accuracy (71.70%) on COP28 test im-ages. The expanded CNN showed a strong performance on the KDEF dataset, achieving a training accuracy of 97.7%. Although most models performed exceptionally well in con-trolled settings, their performance varied when applied to COP28, indicating areas for improvement in generalization. The limitations included dataset constraints and performance variability across different expressions. Future research should focus on diverse datasets, advanced data augmentation, ensemble methods, newer architectures, multimodal approaches, and understanding cultural impacts on FER while considering ethical implications. This work underscores the importance of adapting FER models to real-world scenarios and provides insights for improving FER accuracy and generalization.Item A Comparative Analysis of Green Financing Strategies for achieving Net Zero Energy in UAE(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2023-12) Al HEFEITI, NOUR OBAID; Professor Bassam Abu-HijlehNet zero energy buildings (NZEBs) are a concept that is gaining more and more attention as a feasible way to lower building energy usage. As a growing nation, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has established many policies and guidelines to coordinate the transition to zero energy by 2050. However, various studies conducted worldwide have classified the obstacles that stand in the way of achieving NZEB. This paper's backdrop examines several financial innovations and approaches to overcoming NZEBs' obstacles. In order to assess the viability of implementing these innovative techniques in the UAE, this research has selected three strategies—the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE), and Green Bonds—that are used worldwide. The study uses two methods to paint a realistic image of the application in the United Arab Emirates. The first method is a literature review to combine ideas from various conceptual frameworks for each of the three tactics. From the perspective of members of the public and commercial sectors in the UAE, the second way involves using interviews to validate the three strategies' practicability. The literature review indicates that while they were very successful in the US and EU union, they also had a significant disadvantage. Furthermore, the analysis of the interviews revealed that the respondents had a strong desire to see the mechanisms implemented in UAE because they thought they held great promise for advancing sustainability and energy efficiency in the built environment. But overcoming obstacles like awareness, standardization, and regulations is necessary for success.Item A Decision Modelling Approach for Perceived and Engaged Immersive Visual Interactive Applications on the Metaverse(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2024-09) IBRAHIM, SAMAR; Dr Mostafa Al EmranMany researchers have developed and implemented various immersive visual interactive applications that incorporate visualization and interaction techniques, support the visual construct and enhance exploration in the Metaverse. Benchmarking these applications is critical due to the absence of an ideal model, particularly given their varied development criteria. The multiple evaluations, significance, and the data variability of these criteria among various applications present challenges that necessitate using specific multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) methods. This study introduces a new decision modelling approach that extends the fuzzy-weighted zero inconsistency (FWZIC) method with the new Interval-Valued Fermatean Neutrosophic fuzzy sets (IVFN) and combines it with the extended ranking method, Više kriterijumska Optimization I compromise Rešenje (VIKOR) and Gray relational analysis (GRA). The modelling approach benchmarks the most perceived immersive visual interactive applications using the extended VIKOR-GRA method based on a decision matrix of 18 criteria and 29 alternatives for the four visualization scenarios. The new extended IVFN-FWZIC method weighs the criteria for benchmarking the optimal applications based on experts’ judgments. The results illustrate the effectiveness of the modelling approach and indicate that "spatial" and “haptics” are the most significant criteria in evaluating immersive visual interactive applications. The robustness and reliability of the results were validated and evaluated using sensitivity analysis, comparative analysis, and a systematic ranking process. This study offers a vision for decision-makers and stakeholders, contributing to improving visualization and exploration of the Metaverse.Item A Decision-Making Framework for Benchmarking Virtual Commerce Applications for the Metaverse using Spherical Linear Diophantine Fuzzy Sets(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2024-11) BILQUISE, GAZALA; Professor Khaled Shaalan; Dr Manar Al KhatibThe rise of the Metaverse has ignited a surge of interest among researchers and decision-makers, seeking to develop effective virtual commerce (v-commerce) applications that cater to business demands and customer preferences. V-commerce, an emerging concept, redefines the future of shopping experiences and customer-product interactions. While businesses are actively exploring the potential of immersive technologies to deliver engaging shopping experiences, there remains a lack of consensus on what constitutes an ideal v-commerce experience and how to identify optimal virtual commerce stores effectively. Moreover, despite numerous efforts to design v-commerce applications, none of the current applications exhibit all the desired developmental attributes. Considering this, benchmarking v-commerce applications for the metaverse is crucial for its development. This endeavor falls within the realm of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM), considering various critical issues such as the numerous design attributes, uncertainty regarding their relative importance, and data variability. This study defines thirteen essential design attributes of v-commerce applications through an investigative approach and proposes a novel decision-making framework to benchmark the v-commerce applications based on the identified attributes. The novel method extends the Fuzzy-Weighted Zero-InConsistency (FWZIC) method with Spherical Linear Diophantine Fuzzy Sets (SLDFS), integrated with the Ranking Alternatives by Trace Median Index (RATMI) method, to formulate a strategy for selecting an optimal v-commerce application for the metaverse. Three decision matrices are constructed by intersecting 24 v-commerce application alternatives, labelled A01 to A24, with thirteen application attributes. Subsequently, the proposed method is utilized to determine the significance of these attributes and rank the applications. Criteria weighting results reveal that “Ease of Navigation” and “Recommendation Agents” are the most significant criteria in assessing v-commerce solutions. Based on ranking results, applications “A04”, “A15” and “A19” were ranked the most optimal solutions in the augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) categories respectively. Finally, sensitivity analysis, systematic ranking, and comparative analysis procedures are used to assess the robustness and validity of the proposed decision-making framework. This research provides essential insights for decision-makers and practitioners to facilitate business growth, consumer satisfaction, and further research in this domain.Item A Research Study on the Effect of eLearning Platforms on Employee: Employee Participation, Job Satisfaction, Employee Commitment and Employee Productivity in UAE(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2023-06) ALHANAEE, AWAD JUMA; Dr Sa'ed SalhiehPurpose The main objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of eLearning over employee engagement, job satisfaction, employee commitment and employee productivity in medium and large firms in UAE. This study's proposed questionnaire underwent pilot tests to ensure the questionnaire's validity, terms, relevance, and suitability for the target group. A final sample of 97 participants was studied after excluding cases with unsuitable responses. Results prove a significant positive relationship between eLearning and job satisfaction, employee engagement, employee commitment and employee productivity. Therefore, it is quantitatively and theoretically proven that eLearning has a positive effect on above mentioned dependent variables. Using correlation and regression analysis via SPSS to understand the relationship between independent and dependent variables. The results have been validated using Cronbach Alpha and existing literature review. The information obtained from this paper will help organizations obtain the best eLearning practices and employ the best eLearning platform and module for their employees. Also, it would add additional value to existing literature and close the current gaps related to eLearning and how it would affect professional development. Design/methodology/approach/Findings This paper aims to examine possible relationship between eLearning and employee participation, job satisfaction, employee commitment and employee productivity in medium and large size firms throughout qualitative research (a survey) using statistical analyzing method SPSS. The findings of the research prove a positive relationship between eLearning and employee participation, job satisfaction, employee commitment and employee productivity, where implementing eLearning programs at workplace increases employee participation, job satisfaction, employee commitment and employee productivity. The information obtained from survey can be used to improve the quality of existing eLearning modules or to prove the importance of eLearning and its effect on professional development. Research limitations/ implication Since employee requires continual learning and improvement in a variety of areas, this research will aid in understanding how an eLearning platform would affect employees in general organizations. Additionally, management and other stakeholders would benefit from an understanding of current practices and how it would benefit their staff members professionally. Originality/ value There is a non - availability of research in this area, particularly in the United Arab Emirates, according to a review of various literature on eLearning platforms and employee engagement, job satisfaction, employee commitment, and employee productivity. Understanding current practices and how it would help their staff members professionally will benefit management and other stakeholders in UAE. Keywords: eLearning, Employee Engagement, Job satisfaction, Job Commitment, Employee performance, United Arab EmiratesItem Achieving Sustainable Outdoor Thermal Comfort in the American University of Sharjah Campus(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2016-09) AL KHAWAJA, SARAH JAMALThere are many factors that impact and influence the success of an urban space. Numerous physical and social environment components and location of the given space in the city are all key components that play part. This study however, mainly focuses on one physical environmental aspect known as the thermal environment. Thermal environments are components of physical environments that dictate the human thermal comfort. The control of this comfort is conducted through exchange of energy between the body and its consequent surroundings, and it can generally be stated that it exists in the circumstance that a body can readily sustain a constant and deep temperature of approximately 37°C. Therefore, thermal comfort can be defined as the relationship between the thermal condition and an individual’s awareness of warmth that makes the impression. The study will carry out a comprehensive research on the layout of the American University of Sharjah (AUS) campus in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Multiple data categories will be collected from the campus users through a series of surveys and interviews to obtain an understanding of the site conditions and their comfort levels. Human thermal comfort is an environmental quality that is directly impacted by the outdoor conditions of the university’s campus. It is among some of the most affected qualities of the environment in the urban outdoors. Since the microclimate of AUS is hot humid, the thermal adaptation of the university’s occupants is quite challenging due to exposure to variation air temperatures. Despite the control the outdoor thermal environment being difficult, there is a need to avail thermal comfortable conditions, which are able to cater for the outdoor activities such as walkability, driving, parking, greenery, shades, water features among others. This study is based on investigating the problem of lack of sufficient thermal conditions to facilitate comfort amongst the University’s occupants. It’s aimed at solving this problem by recommending new improvised design elements for the campus’ thermal adaptation through creating areas with sufficient shades as well as outdoor sophisticated space planning.Item Achieving sustainable regeneration and walkable communities through investigation of different urban configurations in Dubai, UAE(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2017-10) ALMULLA, MOHAMMEDOne of the major challenges facing urban planners in Dubai is the rapid growth of population. New developments were constructed within the last few years which caused the urban sprawl to reach the edge of the city. In this research, historical contend and sustainability factors were analysed to achieve sustainable regeneration within the Central Business District of Dubai along with enhancing walkability in the district through achieving thermal comfort within the urban form. The thermal comfort was analyzed through the simulation of different configuration to analyze the main three parameters which includes air temperature, relative humidity and wind speed. ENVI-met modeling was used in this research to simulate the three urban configuration divided into three phases including the following: analysis of building form, analysis of building heights and the analysis of landscaping and vegetation on thermal comfort. Throughout the research it was analyzed that creating wind channel form buildings has the best effect compared to the other proposed form. moreover, uniformed building heights shared similar results while the best height selected was the proposal of different heights in which air temperature was lower than other height configurations. Finally, the best configuration selected within the configuration of landscaping and vegetation was the optimization of grass, trees and water elements which had the lowers air temperature in comparison to the other configurations. It was concluded through the research that there are potentials in enhancing walkability through sustainable regeneration in Dubai.Item Achieving thermal comfort by applying passive cooling strategies to courtyard houses in Dubai (UAE)(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2014-05) Feroz, Sheikh MehreenA passive design approach is centered upon integrating the microclimatic requests into the design to accomplish advanced comfort levels with lower energy depletion. The purpose of this research was to examine the cooling effect of designated passive parameters on the outdoor air temperature, wind speed , shading, indoor and outdoor daylight of an open courtyard. Numerous variables that demonstrated formerly to improve the outdoor environments were assessed conjointly to achieve the effect that passive design has over outdoor air temperature. The computer simulation was discovered to be the utmost appropriate tool for analysis affording to the resources accessible. Three variables were examined originally, orientation, geometry and vegetation among these the coolest parameter were combined into one scenario titled the enhanced scenario. Two scenarios entitled the existing scenario presents a specific site circumstances and the enhanced scenario conjoining the coolest parameters, were equated and assessed. The NW orientation, the highest geometry of a height to width (H:W) ratio of 1.35, groups of trees and continuous grass were discovered to be the coolest parameters included in the enhanced scenario. The enhanced scenario was then equated to the existing case scenario constructed with NNE orientation, 0.85 H:W ratio and no vegetation which had the higher temperature ranks. The outcomes discovered had a small increase in improvement of the outdoor air temperature owing to the passive principles pertained. The proportional outcomes performance cased a smaller progress among the enhanced scenario and the existing scenario presenting the site conditions of Dubai the villa owed to the assimilation of a these principles only. The outcomes of temperature and wind patterns verified and helped in accepting numerous outdoor performances which are helpful for directing an ecological design for courtyard spaces. One of the foremost conclusions was the reality of a limit to the amount of passive applications to accomplish a substantial enhancement still, an increase in it was achievable. Nevertheless, the performance of the outdoor parameters remains somewhat complicated and impulsive that involves additional exploration.Item ADAPTATION OF BIM WORKFLOW IN STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING PROJECTS & THE NEED TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL BIM STANDARD(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-02) Thomas Thampy, TonyThe Introduction of the concept of BIM into the construction industry, have made significant changes to the working standards and workflow pattern. This thesis examines the said changes in comparison to the traditional working methods in all phases of project starting from pre-concept to demolition with respect to the structural engineering discipline. Case studies are done to check the typical workflow in a BIM environment for structural design. Thus analysing the skills required and deliverables that are to be produced in BIM working environment for optimum workflow. The BIM implementation strategies and the rate of BIM adaptation in 5 selected countries including UAE are analysed. The relation between national BIM standards and the rate of BIM implementation in the respective countries are also evaluated. The current BIM awareness in the UAE is also analysed by a market survey conducted among industry experts in the UAE, focusing on the obstacles for the implementation of a national BIM strategy. The adaptation of the BIM into the structural engineering workflow has shown many improvements in comparison to the traditional workflow such as software interoperability, ease of production of schedules and drawings, 3D representation of reinforcement and other technical data, etc. National mandates and standards in relation to BIM have shown to increase the rate of BIM adaption in respective countries and also achieve a sense of regularity in the construction industry and authority standards. From the market survey conducted, the professionals have expressed the need for similar BIM standardisation in the UAE and also the current obstacles for the same.Item Adaptive Secure Pipeline for Attacks Detection in Networks with set of Distribution Hosts(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2022-01) ALSHAMSI, SUROURCurrently, malware continues to represent one of the main computer security threats. It is difficult to have efficient detection systems to precisely separate normal behavior from malicious behavior, based on the analysis of network traffic. This is due to the characteristics of malicious and normal traffic, since normal traffic is very complex, diverse and changing; and malware is also changeable, migrates and hides itself pretending to be normal traffic. In addition, there is a large amount of data to analyze and the detection is required in real time to be useful. It is therefore necessary to have an effective mechanism to detect malware and attacks on the network. In order to benefit from multiple different classifiers, and exploit their strengths, the use of ensembling algorithms arises, which combine the results of the individual classifiers into a final result to achieve greater precision and thus a better result. This can also be applied to cybersecurity problems, in particular to the detection of malware and attacks through the analysis of network traffic, a challenge that we have raised in this thesis. The research work carried out, in relation to attack detection ensemble learning, mainly aims to increase the performance of machine learning algorithms by combining their results. Most of the studies propose the use of some technique, existing ensemble learning or created by the authors, to detect some type of attack in particular and not attacks in general. So far none addresses the use of Threat Intelligence (IT) data in Ensemble Learning algorithms to improve the detection process, nor does it work as a function of time, that is, taking into account what happens on the network in a limited time interval. The objective of this thesis is to propose a methodology to apply ensembling in the detection of infected hosts considering these two aspects. As a function of the proposed objective, ensembling algorithms applicable to network security have been investigated and evaluated, and a methodology for detecting infected PAGE 2 hosts using ensembling has been developed, based on experiments designed and tested with real datasets. This methodology proposes to carry out the process of detecting infected hosts in three phases. These phases are carried out each a certain amount of time. Each of them applies ensembling with different objectives. The first phase is done to classify each network flow belonging to the time window, as malware or normal. The second phase applies it to classify the traffic between an origin and a destination, as malicious or normal, indicating whether it is part of an infection. And finally, the third phase, in order to classify each host as infected or not infected, considering the hosts that originate the communications. The implementation in phases allows us to solve, in each one of them, one aspect of the problem, and in turn take the predictions of the previous phase, which are combined with the analysis of the phase itself to achieve better results. In addition, it implies carrying out the training and testing process in each phase. Since the best model is obtained from training, each time it is performed for a given phase, the model is adjusted to detect new attacks. This represents an advantage over tools based on firm rules or static rules, where you have to know the behavior to add new rules.Item Adoption of Greywater Reuse Systems in Hotels in Abu Dhabi(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2021-12) Hammad, AreejAvailability of water resources has become a global issue that is imperative to resolve to achieve sustainable growth for generations to come. Various solutions have been launched to conserve the environment in all its aspects and the availability of clean water is one of the most challenges facing humanity today. The UAE is ranked in the top 10 countries in regards to high baseline of water stress. Innovative approaches need to be taken by authorities, businesses, and people alike to work together to conserve water resources. One such solution is the reuse of treated greywater. Greywater is the effluent from wash basins, showers, laundry, and kitchens. Treating and reusing greywater for purposes of irrigation and toilet flushing could relieve strain on water resources. The study examined the factors that can contribute to greywater adoption in hotels in Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi is an attractive destination with 168 hotels. A survey was designed and distributed to hotel professionals in Abu Dhabi. The survey was designed around the Theory of Planned Behaviour in order to identify the factors that will impact the behaviour in question in this case, greywater adoption. Greywater adoption in existing and new hotels was examined and results were obtained and analyzed using SPSS. The results showed that management perception, government support and risk associated with greywater impacted decisions to adopt greywater in existing hotels while customer perception and government support were the main factors that impacted adoption of greywater in new hotels according to hotel professionals in Abu Dhabi and the conducted statistical analysis. The study concludes by providing recommendations for future research.Item Advanced Composites as Reinforcement for Concrete(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2021-05) Alsamaraie, IbrahimRecently, the demand for building concrete structures reinforced with steel rebars is gradually increasing worldwide. The serviceability of these reinforced concrete structures is affected by multiple factors, one of which is exposure to extreme weather conditions. Deterioration of steel rebars is one of the most common issues caused by the harsh environment's weather. The degradation of concrete structure is mainly driven by steel corrosion. Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) rebar is considered an innovative and durable choice rather than conventional steel reinforcement for concrete structures. GFRP bars were classified as an excellent corrosion resistance compared to conventional steel due to their mechanical performance. Several researchers have performed numerous studies out to explore the flexural response of GFRP bars. As a result, it is crucial to establish effective FE models that can be employed to comprehend the essential structural behavior of such systems and the performance under applied loads. The flexural behavior of structural reinforced concrete beam components was presented in this study utilizing 3D ANSYS 21 FEA simulation. This study compares an FE model with experimental findings from previous works and the ACI 440.1 model. Graphical representations were discussed, including the deflection of the mid-span stress-strain relationship. The specimens are rectangular beams that are simply supported and have spans and clear spans of 2.4 m and 2.1 m. A four-point pseudo-static experiment was performed on the samples. The findings indicate that fibre-reinforced composites can be evaluated using ANSYS software with an adjusted model. The difference between FEA model results, experimental tests, and ACI 440.1 theoretical formulas predicting failure loads is within a 10% margin of error. The results have demonstrated the ACI 440.1 code conservatism compared to the remainder of the results obtained from environmental findings or FE simulations.Item Agent Based Modeling to Optimize Supermarkets Spatial Dimensions(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2019-05) NASIF, MAJDThe purpose of our research is to study the impact of supermarket size and spatial dimensions on crowding. To improve supermarkets layout from the social aspect, to increase the human comfort and reduce crowding. Despite the supermarket is a major part of our life, but there is one undesirable situation that a lot of people suffer from it, which is crowding. It is the situation where the shoppers feel that the supermarket is overloaded with people at certain times. We solved this problem by providing an optimal area range for the supermarket where we reduced the crowding levels dramatically, while avoiding unnecessary increase in space dimensions. We used a simulation methodology, using Massmotion software to create and analyse the proposed scenarios. Two sets of scenarios were tested, one with 1000 shoppers per day and the other with 2000 shoppers per day. It was shown that the area range from 1450 to 1650 square meters is the optimal area of the supermarket. The results shown that an increase in the critical zones, i.e. the fresh produce, pre-prepared zone and the sixth isle of general items, had the major cause in the reduction of congestion cost, journey cost, higher LOS, such as LOS E and F. We learnt how to find the optimal area of the supermarket or any other space with minimal effect on human comfort. Our research finding shows that the uncrowded isles can be 1.3 meters width, but the crowded isles, such as the fresh produce, pre-prepared food area and the sixth isle in the general items, should be larger with minimum 2.7 times the uncrowded zones, i.e. they should have a width of 3.6 meters, as shown in the seventh scenario.Item Aircraft wing flutter control(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2013-06) Tavalla, Sahar SadatThis research includes the design of a multivariable control system for aircraft wings. Two objectives are desired. The first is to control the vibrational problem for low-speed flight by applying a feedback control strategy. The second goal is to demonstrate that the controller for this wing assembly dissipates the least energy by comparing an alternative controller design technique. Simple procedures using established methods relating the wing vibrational problems, are outlined. The control strategies invoked using a simplified flutter dynamic model. A compensator designed to provide enhanced flutter suppression was employed. The transient performance of the system was computed for various flight velocities. Comparison of the energy dissipation for the gain ratios investigated was obtained. Numerical simulation was used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach advocated.Item ALNER: ARABIC LOCATION NAMED ENTITIES(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2010-10) KADDOURA, HAITHAM MOHAMADThis dissertation describes a rule based approach carried out to determine Location Named Entities in Arabic. ALNER, an Arabic Location Named Entities Recognition system, implements the rule based approach and is introduced in this thesis. This research is the first of its type to specialize in Location NER as a stand-alone system from other named entity types. Such dedication on one named entities helps in investigating the performance of comprehensive NER systems. The Named Entity Recognition (NER) task has great influence on various Natural Language Processing (NLP) applications (e.g. Information Retrieval, Question Answering, etc.). Various research works conducted toward building language independent NER systems that will work on any language but very limited work has been done for NER systems to work with Arabic language. It is known that Arabic language has complex morphology as a language which makes the NER task more difficult. Readers will find an overview about the Arabic language morphology and how it is different from other languages. We also highlighted the key challenges in Arabic language for the NER task. In addition, overall presentation about previous work toward Arabic NER is presented. ALNER system using rule-based approach was evaluated and achieved accuracy of 87.27% and further investigation was conducted to study per module effectiveness and contribution.Item Alternative Facades: Assessment of Building Integrated Photovoltaic and Electrochromic Glazing— Energy Benefits and Future Potentials in Office Building in UAE(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2010-12) Katanbafnasab, MohammadWith the decline of conventional fossil fuels and the rapid growth of human population, the importance of curbing our energy consumption and reducing our dangerous emissions is now more obvious than ever. Since buildings are one of the top consumers of energy, it is not surprising that many designers, engineers, and architects are starting to address the significance of the building envelope in minimizing energy demands especially in office buildings. While many new alternative façades offer such energy saving benefits, the use of two particular technologies has not been studied enough in the gulf region. Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) and Electrochromic (EC) glazing are perhaps also more important because the potential of both of these technologies is very closely related to the availability of sunshine, which is very abundant in this region. Thus, the aim of this research was to explore the energy benefits and future potential of these two systems within the climatic conditions of the city of Abu Dhabi. A computer energy modeling program was used to assess the energy performance, mainly the reductions in HVAC and lighting, of each system compared to a base case scenario for south, east, west, and north facing facades. Additionally, an economic analysis explored the feasibility of applications of these systems within Abu Dhabi’s construction industry. The result of this research showed that the BIPV is most advantageous on the south façade while the EC glazing performs best on the north facing windows. The BIPV model achieved a maximum energy consumption reduction of about 20.66%, 16.69%, 16.86%, and 1.35% for the south, east, west and north orientation, respectively against the base case model. On the other hand, the EC glazing model had much less benefit against the base case model with ‐2.86%, 1.35%, 0.89%, and 7.41% energy savings for the same orientations, respectively. The increase in glass shading coefficient increased the energy savings (15%) in the BIPV model against the base case. Similarly, the EC glazing showed significant improvement in energy savings (11.17%) over the base case which used higher shading coefficient. Moreover, the change in sensor location from 2m to 4m increased the energy savings for both cases, although the change was very marginal compared to the change of the glass properties. The results of the economic analysis showed that due to high capital cost and low cost of electricity, neither system is currently feasible for investment. However, with future advances in each system and more efficient designs, the pay back periods would become tangible and therefore yield better performances. In conclusion, using an automated light control system with dimming for both models, compared against the standard on‐off lighting mechanism in the base case, the BIPV proves to have a higher energy saving potential than the EC glazing. If these two technologies were to be combined, the best configuration would be to install BIPV on the East, South, and West façade, while the EC glazing is used on the North façade.Item An Integrated Model for Metaverse Adoption in Higher Education Institutions: A Structural Equation Modelling and Artificial Neural Network Approach(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2024-06) MAGHAYDAH, SAFWAN SULEIMAN MGHIED; Dr Piyush MaheshwariInformation and Communication Technology (ICT) is experiencing a significant shift with the advent of the Metaverse, merging physical reality with a virtual world via virtual and augmented reality headsets. This development promises to revolutionize traditional online interactions, offering new educational opportunities through enhanced collaboration, communication, and immersive learning environments. The interest of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the Metaverse is notably high, attributed to its potential to transform education. However, research on the factors influencing Metaverse adoption in the UAE remains scarce, which limits the educational sector's progress and the effective utilization of Metaverse technology for educational purposes. This study aims to identify the determinants affecting the adoption of Metaverse technology within UAE's HEIs by proposing an integrative model that merges the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) with Task-Technology Fit (TTF) and Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) elements. The study focuses on the adoption behavior of students towards Metaverse technology in UAE's higher education setting. A conceptual model was developed to test 14 hypotheses and address the research questions, fulfilling the study's main objective. Three research objectives were formulated based on this model, with subsequent sections providing results and explanations. Data were gathered from 760 undergraduate and postgraduate students’ responses from different universities in the UAE. Hypothesis testing revealed significant influences of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivations, price value, task characteristics, technology characteristics, task technology fit, response efficacy, self-efficacy, and perceived vulnerability on Metaverse adoption, with only response costs and perceived severity not supported. The ANN analysis, conducted to avoid overfitting and to analyze nonlinear correlations, showed the superiority of ANN predictions over traditional regression methods, indicating high levels of precision and reliability of the ANN models. Sensitivity analysis highlighted technology characteristics as the most significant predictor of task-technology fit. In addition, performance expectancy is the most significant predictor of students' Metaverse adoption behavior, followed by self-efficacy, while perceived vulnerability had the least impact. This comprehensive analysis contributes significantly to understanding the factors influencing Metaverse adoption in HEIs, offering insights for policymakers and practitioners in integrating Metaverse technology into educational infrastructure.Item Analysing Pneumonia Disease Depending on X-Ray Images of Chest Using Deep Learning(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2023-10) Khamees, Ahmed; Professor Khaled ShalaanUsing Machine Learning (ML) in industry has vast applications, however using it in medical domain alerts a priority to help doctors determine unseen or hidden indicators of any probable illness or medical condition, which if not treated urgently may affect patient health. In this paper, the author aims to review and enhance Image recognition and classification using ML methodologies. The data input of X-ray images taken for medical proposes, used to gain better outcomes through advanced analysis of the training data, this includes specifying the average amount of data needed for training to make a good enough predictions using deep learning (DL) in order to save costs. In addition, exploring training data by applying data cleaning techniques to gain a well-balanced model for classification purposes. Author shown that setting 1600 x-ray images or more, as a training data input, tend to enforce a steady percentage of accuracy greater than 90%. Moreover, author described the results of using dirty (unclean) or unbalanced data to the ML model, which showed a clearly drop in precision, recall and F1 score percentages. Overall, our proposed experiments showed the importance of having a quality training data in achieving higher performance results.