bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Process-based knowledge management system for continuous improvement in a corporate environment
Authors: Al Balushi Saja Mohamed Murad , Al Adawi Halima Said Rashid , Al Anasri Azza Qais Abdullah , Pandey Jitendra
Published: September 2020

The acquisition of information is a vital part of the performance of a program of knowledge management. An effective performance assessment mechanism is needed to improve the accuracy of the retrieval. There is no standard evaluation system for assessing the retrieval of information nowadays, because the evaluation developed is still technology-dependent, relying on specific elements of the search context. The laboratory-based assessment is not appropriate for evaluating the method of information retrieval, as knowledge is fluid, constantly changing and evolving. In addition, unclear querying is also an important factor in the success of knowledge-recovery systems. To improve knowledge retrieval performance, this paper proposes an evaluation mechanism using Six Sigma methodology to help developers continually control the process of knowledge retrieval.
The method employed is innovative and combines many IT fields and strategies for process improvement. The resulting approach applies to large and small organizations without the need for big IT support facilities. The approach promotes the growth of true organizations of learning. Specifically, this research involves the following tasks: A general framework for the retrieval of knowledge based on the results of the knowledge retrieval analysis is proposed; designs the system for the retrieval of knowledge using Six Sigma's Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) process; and (iii) develops related technologies to incorporate the knowledge retrieval mechanism. The knowledge recovery assessment method helps program developers to easily manage the knowledge recovery system and, meanwhile, improve accuracy.
Design of Cooling System for Storage Tank
Authors: Mutashera Saad A. , Al Maamari Reem Said Awadh , Al Shezawi Maryam Hassan Abdullah , Al Maamari Hafsa Surour Ali
Published: September 2020

The aim of this project is to design and development sustainable system to cool down the temperature of the house tank in rang of (25 -30) oC. The system is consisted of heat exchanger which is similar to radiator of the car, solar pump, cooling fan, pipes and valves. The system is powered by a solar panel. Quality Function Deployment QFD process is used to define customer requirements and convert them into detailed engineering specifications, then generate different concepts design, and select the best design to develop. Several design criteria have been used as an example and are not limited to,  easy to install and use, low cost, easy to maintain, last long time and sustainable to set the engineering specifications. SolidWork software is used to model the final design.
Utilization of Sludge from Majis Waste Water Treatment for the Partial Replacement of Nature Fine Aggregate in Concrete
Authors: Al-Shehhi Ali Mohammed , Al-Marzouqi Ali Majid Ali , Al Nofali Mohammed Ali Mohammed , Kamalesini Jayaram Devaraj
Published: September 2020

This experimental investigation is to utilize the sludge waste as a replacement of natural fine aggregate. We can introduce a sustainable construction material which is proved to be an alternative for waste disposal, helping out to free from environmental pollution. By replacing the natural fine aggregate of sludge waste it helps us to save our nature. Per day for construction site, we are using a large quantity of natural fine aggregate. This study reviews various attempts that have been made to use sludge waste as the partial replacement of fine aggregate. The fine aggregate is partially replaced by a trial mix of 5%, 10%,15%,20%,25% and 30% with sludge waste .Then fresh concrete and hardened concrete is prepared by the partial replacement of fine aggregate. This process is to be done by dry condition. The mechanical and physical properties of the concrete after replacement is to be tested in the laboratory and the results are compared with the ordinary concrete. The comparison of results shows that the replace of 20% sand by sludge waste shows more compressive strength than that of the ordinary concrete with sand as fine aggregate. From the result we can understand that if the sludge contains finer particles the strength of the concrete will further increase.
An investigation of Driver Attitudes Towards Road Safety in Oman
Authors: Al-Maimani Eman Yousuf , Yahia Hussin A.M.
Published: September 2020

The Summary: Nowadays, road safety and associated behaviors received a lot of attention. Road Traffic Accident (RTA) is a combination of many factors comprising roads designs, vehicle and environmental conditions and human behavior. Human behavior is the most prevalent contributing factor for road traffic accidents. This study aims to identify accident risk factors associated with driving behaviors among the drivers in Oman and its risk perception. The study comprised the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative method included interviews with focus group from the Ministry of Transportation in Oman. The quantitative approach included analysis of road traffic accidents in Oman, followed by a survey questionnaire distributed to a random selection drivers in Oman. Both qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed using constant comparative and statistical techniques. The results showed that gender, age, and experience have significant influence on attitude towards the commission of traffic violations and risk behavior. The young and male drivers were found to be significantly more involved in road accidents, and the 26-33 years age group and those with minimal driving experience of 1-5 years constitute the risk-taking attitudes group. The results of this study will be of interest to the local community and transport planning in the Sultanate of Oman and it will help reduce traffic accidents and improve driver behavior.
Propose an advanced smart system of vehicle accidents detection
Authors: AL Mukhaini Muna Khamis Juma , Al Harthy Khoula
Published: September 2020

In Oman, statistics show vehicle accidents that cause negative effects at the social and economic level, high mortality, injuries and heavy losses indirectly affect people and the property of the country and society. last year, the percentage of road accidents across Oman was about 33.3% compared to 2017, road accidents accounted for 28.8% less than in 2018. Furthermore, there are many minor accidents in difficult geographic area in Oman that resulted in deaths because of late and difficulty of rescues team to discover the accidents locations.  In addition, to reduce road traffic fatalities they took an effective way, they have taken an effective approach they reduce the time between the accidents the emergency team is sent to the scene, to determine accidents was used detection system about Accidents via sensors connected in cars.  The aim of this project is to proposes an advanced system for accident tracking and monitoring. This research targets the result to reduces the number of serious injuries and death tolls and from the other side will enable the competent authorities to monitor any accident in all vehicles registered at the system. The modified waterfall methodology used which it has applied. On the other hand, this form contains five different stages which contribute to the successful implementation of this system by tracking the project step by step for these stages you can refer to any previous stage in order to amend documents and jobs therein
Development of a Virtual Reality Simulation for Remote Controlled Container Crane Operator Training
Authors: Goel Aviral , Al Tubi Ali Humaid Abdullah , Eltayeb Alaa Ahmed
Published: September 2020

Any large scale cargo port requires the use of container cranes for loading of intermodal containers as well as unloading them. The operator of such a large crane must be appropriately trained to prevent any accidents at the cargo port. This should be achieved by training crane operators on all the protocols of crane operation with significant hours of practice. The aim of this project is to develop a virtual reality (VR) simulation for operator training of container cranes which are remotely controlled, situated at the cargo ports. The simulation consists of a virtual control room equipped with joysticks and display screens, container crane, container ships, trucks and a cargo port environment. We used an actual super post-Panamax quay crane as a reference model for this simulation. The project has been built using Unity3d for the programming and 3DSMAX for the designing of models. The virtual joysticks in the simulation can be interacted by using the Oculus Rift VR setup thus allowing to maneuver the crane and the container load in all three dimensions. This paper mainly discusses the structure and implementation of the virtual reality simulation for crane operator training, along with a proposal for further improvements.
Future of People Analytics: The Case of Petroleum Development Oman
Authors: Ishaq Zahra Bait , Matriano Maria
Published: September 2020

High employee turnover rate has been a major issue facing many organizations in the world. This research aims to discover the effect of people analytics on employee turnover rates as well as the employee’s performance on the job. This study contains a systemic review of articles and papers on people analytics.   Analytics has been taking a major factor in the everyday business operations whether that be in predicting consumer behavior in order to drive sales or to support theories by identifying patterns in the data. Therefore, it is vital for companies to capture, understand and analyze data to be able to stay competitive in the market. Big oil and gas companies focus on employee’s wellbeing and employees job satisfaction because they realize just how important employees are in the company and the role they play in operation excellence. In the case of PDO, this company depends solely on employees rather than consumers to cover the costs of operations hence, it is noticed that there is a higher emphasis on the employees and their wellbeing more than any other company. This paper focuses on the importance of people analytics in organizations and how analytics can help lower employee turnover rates and drive performance.
E- Government Service Quality And Its Effectiveness
Authors: Malek Inshirah Abdul , Pandey Jitendra , Dattana Vishal
Published: September 2020

We live in the era of “e-communication”. Governments around the globe rely on e-communication, that is “e-governance”, to govern the public and private activities according to their conditions. It’s also the fastest and the easiest mode of communication. The aim of this paper is to recognize patterns, themes, methodologies and approaches used in e-government and explore the usefulness of e governance with support of secondary data and reviewing the literatures and previous research papers. Moreover, the paper discusses the issues, challenges and limitations in the e-government and provide recommendations regarding how to overcome those limitations. To do so, the study critically analyzes the development and various definitions of the e-government concept such as: Explaining the processes of e-government projects with ethical environments. Addressing the, limitation and challenges faced and ways of strengthening e-government research. At last, findings related to strategies to make e-governance effective and conclusion will be drawn.
A Survey of Chatbot creation tools for non-coder
Authors: Al-Sinani Asia Hamdan , Al-Saidi Bayan Said
Published: September 2020

Chatbot is a natural language conversation which is considered a major revolution in customer service automation. Chatbot is an application of artificial intelligence that has a big role in saving time and effort by automating different aspect of human life. AI framework has several tools that help the non-coder to develop the Chabot for the organization.  The Chatbot becomes good solution for many organizations to communicate with their customers and to increase their productivity by serving the customers for 24x7.  This will help the organization to achieve customer services with low cost. This paper give glimpses on different AI framework tools, a survey is conducted to facilitate the non-coder to select the tools from the array of open source and proprietary tools.  There are a lot of open source tools, each one has different features. Additionally, some of them are useful for coder and others do not require any coding experience also they are capable to be used in different devices with different operating systems. The flexibility that is within using tools to develop the Chatbot without coding knowledge and integrated in different platform is attractive concept for each one.  Thereby this survey will help the non-coder to develop the Chabot without undergoing to learn the programming aspect of developing the Chatbot
IoT Based: Smart Traffic Light Controller
Authors: Al Kalbani Faisal , Al Bulushi Nada , Imran Syed
Published: September 2020

In this paper an improved smart light controller is created. The system is based on Internet of Things. The system is created by IoT components like Arduino UNO, RFID and IR sensors. The traffic density is measured by IR sensors. RFID technology is used for ambulance vehicles to give a green path. The system works automatically and interrupted only when an emergency vehicle sends an order to get a green path.
Autonomous Fire Safety System for Gas Leak Detection
Authors: Khan Jibreal , Al-Bassam Nizar
Published: September 2020

LPG and Natural Gas are the two primary gases used in Gas cookers all over the world , when these Gases leak in high concentration in enclosed areas the results can be fatal. Keeping this situation in mind this  paper proposes a solution which prevents the buildup of flammable  gases in enclosed area  by autonomously opening windows through linear actuators. The concentration of flammable gas in a room can be detected through the MQ-5 sensor , once the concentration of this gas exceeds the predefined threshold MQ-5 sensor sends an output to the Raspberry Pi which takes a series of steps in order to prevent the situation from taking a fatal turn. The steps include:  Opening the Windows in order to prevent the buildup of flammable gas, Alerting the Residents of the house via an E-mail and an indoor alarm, Sending the precise location of the house (GPS co-ordinates) to a fire station. All these steps are done autonomously in real time , thereby responding to the situation in the most efficient way
Distributed Generation and µ-Grid to Enhance use of Solar Energy in Oman
Authors: Al Sakiti Haya Said Matar , Al Belushi Shamsa Abdullah Ali , Al Shilla Wafaa Mohammed Hamed , Al Qassabi Bayan Khalifa Ahmed , Solanki Parmal Singh
Published: September 2020

This paper has presented the concept of distributed generation to endorse microgrid in Oman to enhance utilization of solar energy. The various components of a 3 kW solar photovoltaic based distributed generation system have designed to meet the lighting load of a laboratory. The HOMER Pro software has used to model and simulate the output power of PV system and per unit energy cost. The optimized energy cost determined under sensitivity scenario becomes US$0.17per kWh. During off peak duration, the microgrid can export 740 kWh surplus powers to the grid annually. Paper has also discussed the benefits and challenges of distributed generation and microgrid
The social and environmental impact of hybrid cars
Authors: Asima Nadia , Al Bimani Adnan Ali , Al Saqri Ahmed Said Mohammed , Matriano Maria
Published: September 2020

Technology is rapidly evolving in this 21st century era. It is a marvel to behold as it makes human lives much easier. With advancement of technology and increase of vehicles and factories, pollution and destruction of natural resources has increased on a huge scale. The study is based on a product substitute, introduced to replace vehicles which run on gasoline, with a hybrid of electric and gasoline vehicles. The objective of this research will be aiming at understanding the effect of hybrid cars on the environment. An analysis of the hybrid cars will be carried out along with evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of said vehicles from the perspective of customers, support and maintenance. The research will also aim on proposing a government policy that must be implemented to regulate the usage of hybrid vehicles. The methodology used for this research will consist of primary sources wherein meetings will be conducted with the company selling such cars or people who own them. Secondary sources will include literature review from research papers and online blogs. With this study, the researchers hope to achieve a clear understanding on the influence of hybrid cars on the environment and individuals, the way hybrid cars operate, its advantages and disadvantages and the proposed government policy that will regulate the impact of hybrid car on environment.
Evaluation of the Quality of Service Muasalat Oman Company
Authors: Ali Khaliah Al Bluish  , Hussin A.M Yahia
Published: September 2020

Public transportation is one of the significant contributor towards the economic growth and development of a country as it facilitates the movement of people, labour, products and services and raw materials among others. With the increasing competition and options in the public transportation sector, the customers have become highly demands and expect to be served better by the companies. There are many factors affecting the customer perception and the customer satisfaction level considering the public transportation including the quality of the buses, timing and punctuality of the business. The aim of this research is to examine the degree of service quality and customer satisfaction in the transport service industry in Oman, a case on Mwasalat Bus Way Company.  The data was collected via the questionnaire distributed among the   medium among the travelers. The data collected has been transformed into numerical format for ease of analysis using the SPSS software 23. The researcher has relied on the software for conducting the reliability test, frequency distribution test, cross tabulation and correlation analysis for assessing the potential relationship between different variables of the study. The research finding has indicated that through Urban transportation sector in Oman is focused on offering high quality service to the customers, there is need for the sector to offer additional benefits to reflect their adoption of market trends as in the free Wi-Fi access while travelling, electronic devices charging points and the latest means of payments like over the phone among others.
An investigation of risk management practices in electronic banking in Sultanate of Oman
Authors: Al Siyabi Amira Mohammed Musabah Nasser , Al Araimi Sarah Muslem Mubarak , Pandey Jitendra
Published: September 2020

The growth in Internet has led to expansion of e-banking, forming online services, like financial services, account opening and facilities (Kolodinsky et al, 2004). Banks manage risks in some areas like: strategy, credit, market, liquidity etc. (Gorgisco, 2006). However, the growth of e-banking become vulnerable to the challenges it faces. All organisations conducting their business on-line have to focus on controlling the associated risks; e-banking is no exception. Malisuwan (2006) categories these e-banking risks into three main areas to be managed: Board and Management Oversight, Security Controls and Legal and Reputational Risk Management based on the fourteen “risk management principles” identified by the Electronic Banking Group (EBG) of the BCBS. Georgescu (2006) suggests that the competitive pressure to launch new innovative products in very short time scales intensifies the management challenge to ensure that adequate strategic assessment, risk analysis and security reviews are undertaken. Over the past two decades, e-banking has become an increasingly important area of interest, with the risks associated with e-banks during this period of significant growth requiring effective risk management processes. Based on the results of our research, the security risks are clearly identified as the most important as banks are working hard to mitigate the risks and this is very encouraging and effective.

The main objectives are to investigate the risks of e-banking services in Oman, and their impact on population. Initially a semi-structured interview is conducted as a pilot study with four knowledgeable and experienced staff from one of the leading banks in Oman, to study employee views on risk management issues in e-banking. After the pilot study, the questionnaire was developed and used in major banks in Oman to determine whether it operates in line with basic risk management principles.
An advanced implementation idea for detecting real-time object occupancy
Authors: James Claremary , James Varghese
Published: September 2020

Object detection is a title that has earned significances over several fields which have always benefitted socially during circumstances, namely incidents involving human endangerment such as natural disaster where threat may occur in the form of an earthquake, human entrapment underneath rubbles per se. The usage of PIR (Passive Infrared Rays) motion detector to detect humans, objects and other living beings through their movement, has proven the ability in handling situations where such detection is the best chance. However, this approach is not utilized in every situation. In the proposed research paper, an object occupancy detection technology notion is detailed which will describe the function to detect the occupancy or presence of human in an area, specifically transport vehicles that will help in determining passengers inside and to find lost objects as well. The motive behind raising this technological need is to aid or assist in occurrence wherein facing difficulty to find an object being lost or misplaced in a space, as well to detect the humans occupied. This assistance shall ease the detection of occupancy and identifying the lost object. The comprehended object occupancy idea is utilized to recognize the humans and object detection. The implementation idea shall facilitate the utilization of PIR-based motion detector sensor to recognize human presence as well as SlimYOLOv3 framework to identify objects. Circumstances where the occupancy of humans are counted and object to be identified are the main output.
The Effect of Surface Roughness of Low Carbon Steel by Heat Treatment in Turning Operation
Authors: AL-Malki Abdullah Tariq , Khidhir Basim
Published: September 2020

This research focuses on enhancing the surface roughness of low carbon steel by heat treatment of low carbon steel in turning operation. Heat treatment is mainly used to improve the mechanical properties of materials. Two sets of specimens used during the experiment where each has 5 pieces of mild steel that heat-treated of two-level of temperatures of 650 oC and 900oC. After the heating process of all specimens, it will be exposed to different coolant media which are quenching, normalizing and annealing. A carbide single-point tool, one level of cutting parameters selected as one level of cutting speed and depth of cut and two levels of feed rate used during this research. The results show that specimen quenched by oil bath measures the highest value of the surface roughness of 8.26 µm at 900oC and machined with a feed rate of 0.113 mm. While quenched water specimens show less surface roughness of 4.91µm at 650oC in the same feed rate.
Mitigation of the Health and Environmental Impact of Waste Water Treatment Plant in Oman
Authors: Al Maskari Ali Abdullah , Suhail Adeel H.
Published: September 2020

Developing countries' experience is a huge gap in the coverage of collection-system and domestic wastewater treatment. Wherever the wastewater treatment facilities are available, they are running below the design standards. This leads to the discharge of pollutants into the natural water bodies and creating a negative impact on the environment and human health as well. Odor nuisance has become a major environmental issue worldwide with increasing public demand for better control of odor emissions from the municipal wastewater treatment facilities. Odor get affects the population directly and there is a trend that more and more peoples are becoming less tolerable with more odor emissions. Bad smell is often an indicator of the public potential health risk.
Performance assessment of Haya water treatment plant in Manuma Village has been done. The main objective of this study is to assess the performance of the treatment plant with respect to produce high quality of treated water and reduce odor complaints. Influent and effluent samples were collected at critical treatment steps of the plant and analyzed for chemical, physical and microbial parameters. The study will be used to monitor the Manuma wastewater treatment plant and compare its performance to that one that uses the Sequence Batch Reactor (SBR) process. Study shows that process with wet scrubber technology will be the suitable treatment process to create an environment without any health-related issues, and selecting these alternative treatment facilities with the latest technology will lead to creating high-quality of treated water without any odor issues.
Why Business Intelligence Is the New Oil for the Upcoming Enterprise
Authors: Al Anasri Azza Qais Abdullah , Al Balushi Saja Mohamed Murad , Pandey Jitendra
Published: September 2020

Much has been said about data being the new oil that will fuel businesses in the future. But the reality is that it’s not about the amount of data that organizations have access to, but how effective their decisions are based on that data. Therefore, data alone will not be the new oil, rather intelligence will fuel the digital economy, and organizations that can create intelligent business processes to deliver contextualized and consent-based experiences will win in this new data-driven world. As intelligence (and technology in general) increasingly underpins future business models, there is a big question around the role of IT moving forward. The CIO needs to be part of boardroom discussions driving decision-making around the broader business (and digital) strategy. This raises yet another debate about the role of the CIO in this context. In parallel, there is clearly an emerging role in a digital platform architecture to drive “moments of truth” into these intelligent business processes. The next phase of the application landscape evolution is going to all be about integration, and IDC believes that integration and extension capabilities are critical to drive the business-process orchestration strategy enabling future business processes. This platform will provide a unified set of connection points across multiple systems’ applications and digital apps that might be distributed across on-premises, hosted, or public clouds. Based on these capabilities, the digital platform can be used to fast-track integration and trigger new workflows/business processes, leveraging applications that could be a mix of legacy on-premises and SaaS applications.

The proposed research focusses on how Knowledge Management and Business Intelligence could potentially play out in many futuristic organizations.
IoT Based Framework for Remote Monitoring of Heartbeat Alert System by Using Arduino
Authors: Al-Musheifri Sharouq Aamir Mohammed , Ahmed Syed Ateeq
Published: September 2020

The heart is one of the most important organs of the human body. It acts as a pump that circulates the blood, carrying oxygen and nutrients in the body to keep it functioning. Today, several advanced methods have emerged in the field of medicine, which aim to improve the efficiency of the medical services.  And these new methods are akin to a technical identification of the disease with high precision, a new radiological technology and a fashionable identification of medical health. In the medical department, several studies are underway to provide the latest technologies. There are some people suffer from bradycardia or tachycardia. Might their lives are in danger if the patients are alone. In this research paper, a framework is developed to solve and improve equipment that constantly monitors heart rate and prevent casualties due to the heart related problems. The research is done to reduce deaths resulting from irregular heartbeat.  Uneven heart rating which is greater than determined value raises an alert and messages with heart readings are sent to doctors and other related persons. It also provides this information via Bluetooth and exposes it in the Arduino application platform to ensure the information is not corrupted and recalled on demand. Doctor can remotely access the sensing element. For this reason, Arduino-based sensors dealing with these problems are used in this smart application. An Arduino-based sensing element evaluates the patient's heart rate. Coupled with this, doctors remotely follow the patient and take quick action to save patients life.
Green Home: New Application for Monitoring Indoor Air Quality Using Arduino Platform
Authors: Al-Fazari Ameera Ali , Al-Risi Mahra Said Ahmed , AbdulWahhab Rasha
Published: September 2020

Air pollution is one of the most serious problems facing the atmosphere on the planet. Air pollution is defined as a collection of harmful chemicals and an organic material from factories are emitted in the atmosphere layer and causes many different diseases such as cough, eye irritation and even death. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of deaths per year due to pollution from gases is about 3.5 million. The main objective of this research is to develop a real time air pollution monitoring web application able to detect indoor toxic gases titled Aircom. The proposed application has a special feature in which IoT technology is embedded in one of its units. The main purpose of using such technology is to help individual to check and get real time information about air’s parameters such as Methane, Ethanol, Toluene, CO2, CO, Alcohol, Acetone, LPG, NH4, Benzene and Hexane along with the temperature, humidity and dust. Aircome will be implemented as an integrated pollution monitoring application which consist of MQ-2, MQ-3, MQ-135, MQ-9, GP2Y1010AU0F, GPS,DHT11, ESP8266 Wi-Fi, Arduino Uno board and web server.  All the collected data form the suggested sensors are transmitting using Wifi technology to IoT module and in an online database.  Moreover, the collected data later can be viewed using web browser which is installed in any of electronic media. The retrieved data will be displayed in the form of tables and graphs. An alert will be send by Aircom instantly in case the level of air‘s parameters reach above normal level. Generally speaking, Aircom will be developed by using different languages such as C++, Arduino, Java, Java script, PHP, html and MySQL.  For further verification of our proposal, we employed a quantitative study to check if what we proposed will have positive impact among different samples in the society. The outcome of the survey indicates that using such application helps to protect individuals from the bad air quality and decreases the potential health problems.
Innovations in the design of sewage treatment plants-A review
Authors: Al Maawali Fatema Abdullah Said , Al-Sheidi Ryan Said Abdullah Saif , Al Risi Mayasah Saud Nasser , Al Balushi Fatema Ali Muhammed , Shahulhameed Binumol
Published: September 2020

Rapid growth in the population and development of cities led to the increase in the quantity of waste water which in turn causes critical environmental issues. Management of wastewater and sludge will affect economic growth of any nation and challenges associated led to the research in this field. Innovative methods for sewage treatment were developed in many countries to solve the problems arising as a result of enormous production in waste water and sludge. Different approaches and techniques were evolved as a result of the studies conducted in order to attain a unique solution for maintaining a safe environment. The main aim of this paper is to provide details regarding the various researches in planning and design of sewerage systems in Oman. Various regulations in the treatment of waste water and sludge as well as policies adopted for the management are discussed in detail.  Based on the discussions and related review, it is clear that over decades the sewage treatment is considered to be a major issue in Oman. Further, applications related to the better utilization of the wastewater and the sludge in agriculture and other related fields are in progress in various parts of Oman. Research projects were ongoing in different universities of Oman on the sustainable utilization of the waste products and innovative methods to be adopted in the sewage treatment process.
A study on reinforcement corrosion of concrete structures near coastal areas of Oman
Authors: Al-Balushi Halima Ghulam , Gaur Himanshu
Published: September 2020

A lot of buildings and structures in coastline areas facing many issues such as huge number of cracks shown on the wall structures. Moreover, this issue is affecting the aesthetic and the beauty of the buildings. Research discover that reasons behind this problem is concrete corrosion or especially corrosion of steel that causes enormous damage to the structure. This issue starts when the chloride is containing in concrete and due to formation of the oxide film. Rapid chloride permeability test according to ASTM C1202 is performed to study the behavior of different concrete mixes such as normal concrete, concrete with fly ash and concrete with Ground Granulated Blast-furnace slag(GGBFS). In this experiment when the concrete blocks are dipped into the solution, the electric current passes through it in order to determine the permeability of the material. In addition, corrosion acceleration test is performed to observe the electric current flow through the different mixes with different time intervals and days when it is merged to sodium chloride (NaCl). From the rapped chloride permeability test results, it is found that the permeability of chloride of all mixes is categorized as a moderate. From the corrosion acceleration test, it is found that all specimen of concrete containing fly ash had an attack at the first days of the test. A little rust appears on the normal concrete mix in the second week as the magnitude of electric current passing through it was not stable.
Study the Impact of use of ICT on Organization Performance in Omani SMEs
Authors: AL-Amri Khulood Said , Sharma Arti
Published: September 2020

Traditionally SMEs have resource constraints in the form of information, finance and reach in the market, ICT is vital to promote strategy, performance, and growth. Moreover, Oman boasts of very high mobile phone penetration and highly connected youth, the impact of ICT in the performance of SMEs becomes all the more pronounced. This paper focuses to study the impact of the use of ICT on the organization performance in small and medium enterprises in Oman. In a knowledge-based economy, SMEs face both opportunities and challenges due to the development of ICTs. Within the country, SMEs are of huge economic and social importance and play an important role in mobilizing domestic financial resources and competencies, as well as increasing savings and channeling them into investment areas. Here comes the role of technology, where the development and innovation in ICT increase the productivity of the individual and benefit from the knowledge, science, and technology. The significance of the findings of this study is valuable to all the stakeholders – owners/managers, sponsors, entrepreneurs, financial institutions and government. The outcome of the study point towards the direction needed to make informed decisions and formulate policies about ICT investments in the country.
Governmental Stakeholders Impact on Construction Projects in Oman
Authors: Al Adawi Osama Salim , Al Hina Said Salim , Yahia Hussin A. M. , Manchiryal Ram Kishore
Published: September 2020

Organizations and companies who are working on construction sector within Oman are suffering from running into the bureaucracy process which established within the governmental stakeholders to obtain approvals and permissions like NOCs (No Objection Certificates). The objectives of this Research are to identify the impact of governmental stakeholders on delaying projects completion as a result of lengthy process of granting NOCs and subsequently design a platform which will guarantee a flat process for approaching information and issuing approvals. Three research methodologies have been implemented in this study. The first one was a quantitative where questionnaire distributed to selective personnel who are working in construction project environment and representing different local companies. The second one was a qualitative method where interviews with project managers, senior engineers and leaders in the construction field has been conducted to understand the impact caused by long approval process in their projects’ lifecycle. The third one was an expert system where an online platform is developed and sought to expedite the approvals process from governmental stakeholders and accordingly evaluate the compatibility and reliability of the system through selective personnel from the construction sector. The expected outcomes of this study are to achieve a solution with an aim at speeding up issuing NOCs and approvals obtainment as well as diminishing the needless processes practiced by governmental stakeholders in the built environment within Oman.
Big Data Analytics for Enhancing Students Experience in Higher Education – A Case Study
Authors: Muhsin Teba Fadhil , Bhat Anjum Zameer , Khan Imran Ahmed Mohamed Samiulla
Published: September 2020

Big Data analytics in the recent past has evolved as an innovative branch in the field of information technology that has contributed in a significant manner to various areas of human endeavor. Some of the evident sectors in which big data is contributing in huge manner are natural disaster management and forecast, healthcare, agriculture, insurance, welfare schemes, cyber security, banking and many others. The education sector one amongst the other areas which has huge scope for enhancement by implementation of big data analytics. Big data analytics can provide insights about various unknown facts which can result in enhancement of student learning, better classroom planning, enhancement in lecture delivery and overall enhancement of student experience. Moreover, it can also result in easy decision making for management in a higher education institution and less administrative work for academic staff. This research is aligned in the same direction where a sample group of students in higher education are monitored with sensing devices to observer their attention levels while various pedagogical approaches are adopted for the comparison. This research yields specific facts about student attention levels based on the analysis that is done using SPSS analysis tool. This research considers students at different levels of bachelors study program in a higher education institution and monitors same cohort of student with various pedagogical methodologies. This research work is a mere effort to enhance student experience in higher education institutions by analyzing different learning approaches with student’s attention levels.
LEADERSHIP & DIVERSITY: SYNERGISTIC CROSS-CULTURALISM
Authors: Bassett Pierce
Published: September 2020

As the harbinger of change, globalization has led to increased demand for leaders who exhibit a broad range of competencies. The required nature of cross-cultural interaction has emerged as an area of major importance for leaders within the private and public sectors. Leaders in distinct roles and sectors are likely to find themselves in situations where they must navigate a range of contrasting cultures while learning to cooperate with others from diverse backgrounds. To adequately equip leaders from divergent fields, it is quintessential to have a firm understanding of six key areas of cross-cultural synergism and leadership: approaches to conflict and conflict resolution, communication styles, decision-making, task completion, levels of disclosure, and epistemological approaches. This article describes each of these areas and explains the ways in which it is imperative for future leaders to succeed.
Fall Prevention for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities
Authors: Calvert Corissa , Hasan Tasneem , Hicks Allison , Kumer Michaela , Seymour Meghan , Wallock Andres , Wanka Elizabeth
Published: September 2020

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Hand Sanitizing Within the College Setting
Authors: Alvarez Mayra , George Hollyanne , Wheeler Kathryn , Sexton-Radek Kathy
Published: September 2020

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate, educate and promote the importance of hand sanitizing within the Elmhurst College community. We are looking to provide insight into the impact hand sanitizer plays in the everyday activities of our students. Our proposed findings would indicate that increased usage of hand sanitizing with the use of hand sanitizer would lower the chances of illness, illness spreading and doctor visits associated with poor hand hygiene.
Role of Interactive Multimedia to support MOOC for Enhanced E-learning in the Higher Education Sector in Oman
Authors: Al Raisia Juhaina , Al Mahfudhi Jomana , Naidu Vikas Rao , Hasan Raza , Jesrani Karan , Al Farei Khadija
Published: September 2020

E-learning is the best way of getting knowledge at present especially when it comes to distant education. E-learning is a computer-based educational system that allows you to learn in any place at any time. Earlier e-learning solutions were delivered on CDROMs but nowadays, an online platform is making easier ways for such implementation in terms of scalability as well as usability. Online courses such a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), which is a way of delivering the content of learning online for any person with easy access from any part of the World is becoming much more popular for certification courses. This research paper focuses on the requirements of such implementation as a part of teaching and learning strategy in one of the higher education institutions in Oman. The existing system in these days is Moodle which is one of the Virtual Learning Environments. Through Moodle, teachers are sharing many eLearning based tools with students. It is based on PowerPoint in Moodle learning and different activities on papers. The methodology used in this project is a mixed methodology – quantitative and qualitative, which includes a questionnaire to get more opinions from different people about this research and there also interviews. The study is performed in context to one of the leading private higher education institutions (HEI) in Oman. The proposed research will suggest a new E-Learning application, especially for some practical modules. Based on the above study, researchers have a plan to propose a new framework and solution for practical modules in HEI especially with the integration of MOOC. The large scale implementation of the proposed research and its solution will be on a cloud, in order to provide easy access along with scalability.
The Effects of Using Ceramic Waste Powder and Palm Fiber on Mortar properties
Authors: AL-RUQAISHI AL-AZHAR ZAHIR MOHAMMED , Khaleel Omar R.
Published: September 2020

There are multiple industries that generate ceramic in the world. The ceramic waste ends as a landfill; and there is no it’s recycle. Moreover, palm fibers can be used for various purposes such as it can be mixed with mortar in order to minimize cracks. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of using ceramic waste powder and palm fiber on properties of mortar. OPC is partially replaced with ceramic waste powder with different percentages such as 10%, 20%, and 30% and palm fiber is added with 10% of replacement only at 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% of the weight of cement. The specimens are compared with the reference mix in the water absorption test under 105co for 24/h and compressive strength test after 7 and 14 days. The results showed that the optimum percentage of cement replacement with ceramic powder was 10%. Regarding the fiber, the percentage of water absorption got increased while increasing the fiber. The compressive strength of mortar with fiber was obtained more than the normal. More percentage of fiber led to more strength of mortar.
Role of Smart Applications for Teaching Mathematics at Government School in Oman
Authors: Mahfudhi Jomana Saif , Al Raisi Juhaina , Naidu Vikas Rao , Al Kalbani Bushra , Gupta Rajani Rani
Published: September 2020

Education technology is important for every educational organization in these days. With the advancement in smart technology and Wi-fi enabled campus, it is possible to implement various online and e-learning tools to support the educational content in order to enhance teaching and learning experience. This research aims to apply such technology into practice at the primary school level, where the teachers will be able to customize or develop their own applications using some freely available resources. This will facilitate an understanding of mathematics through customized user experience and even a teacher with minimal knowledge of computer will be able to make use of technology to make the mathematics class more interesting. This research collected data from different sources such as questionnaires and interviews. The authors found from the data that majority of the participants strongly agreed that such e-learning system was greatly beneficial, especially, for the abstract subjects such as mathematics.
The Path of UNITY or the Path of UNREAL? A Comparative Study on Suitability for Game Development
Authors: Al Lawati Hussain Ali Juma
Published: September 2020

Game development has become one of the major sectors in the world of programming. However, it requires a serious and a huge understanding on the features and usability with respect to different features of a game. Here the research intends give a detailed comparison between Unity and Unreal Engine that assists beginner game developers to choose the right engine for their development. The research is supported by literature reviews on Unity development and management as well as Unreal Engine’s development kit evolution. Each of the engines require the application of certain programming. Pros and Cons for both engines are mentioned with aids from several articles and reviewers’ opinions. In addition, visuals are attached to show the exact differences between both engines. This comparative research shall act as a guide to the game developers to choose wisely based on the requirements in terms of performance, functionality, configurability, practicability and accessibility. The results of this comparison will open doors of knowledge for us about the world of game development engines and unclear the fog for all game development seekers.
Modernizing Letter of Credit with Blockchain Technology in Oman
Authors: Al-Abri Khawla Mohammed , Al-Shukaili Anwaar Rashid , Al-Maqrshi Safa Rashid , Al-Badi Huda Mohammed
Published: September 2020

In the Commercial Transactions Act, the letter of credit is a primary requisite as it is intended to ensure successful business transactions between sellers and buyers. Basically, the buyer undertakes to pay the seller immediately upon receipt of the goods or services, and the seller accepts the promise because the letter of credit by issued-bank guarantees the payment. This process is considered as a problem where the costs and time required to process paper documents to complete transactions have a negative impact on the parties. Our system will be the solution to this problem as we rely on Bblockchain technology, a new way of organizing the data and dealing with it, where the commercial transactions are processed in an electronic system that is built primarily on decentralized distribution. This allows all parties to track information over a secure network and does not require a third party.