Featured Projects
Project Title: Characterization of Dust and Debris near GCC Airports
- Dr. Sofian Kanan and Dr. Yehya Elsayed - Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Sciences Department
- Funded by: General Electric
- Estimated amount: 650,000 AED
Description: Increased concern about the impact of dust storms on air-quality and public health has occurred in recent years. Dr. Sofian Kanan and Dr. Yehya Elsayed from Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Sciences Department (BCE) have proposed a study to General Electrics (GE) in 2014 to carry out a comprehensive characterization of air dust near GCC airports and provide the scientific background for the further control of air pollution in airport zones. A research grant was approved on July 2015 for an amount of 650,000 AED. In addition, GE agreed to handle additional expenses associated with the purchase of nine sampling and tracking systems, sampling supplies, and civil work.
This project is very important because desert dust and environmental ashes were found to cause significant mechanical problems such as erosion, corrosion, tube obstruction or engine flame out. The proposed work is expected to deliver a better understanding about the chemical inorganic composition of the dust particulates. The fine dust particulates are known to have high affinity for different chemical species due to their surface selectivity and high surface area; therefore, their characterization is of special interest. The collection and characterization of dust and debris near Dubai and Abu Dhabi airports have been started. Sampling near Doha airport should follow. The work is expected to be completed in November 2017.
Project Title: The Study Quran
- Dr. Joseph E. B. Lumbard - Department Arabic and Translation Studies
Description: The Study Quran: A new Translation and Commentary (HarperOne, 2015) is a historic and ground-breaking work. It provides a concise, consistent and eloquent translation of the Quran, accompanied by an annotated commentary that brings together the traditions of metaphysical, spiritual, theological, and legal interpretation of the Quran. Fifteen essays by internationally renowned scholars provide further insight into the language and teachings of the Quran. Maps, a timeline, comprehensive indexes, and other features provide additional aids for study.
The project spanned a period of nine years, with renowned international scholar of Islamic Studies, Seyyed Hossein Nasr serving as editor-in-chief. The translation and commentary were written by Caner Dagli, Maria Dakake, Mohammed Rustom, and AUS Professor Joseph E. B. Lumbard, who provided the most extensive contribution, having authored 40% of the commentary and two of the essays. Major funding was provided by The Institute on Religion and Civic Values and the El-Hibri Foundation.
The Study Quran has been heralded as a landmark academic achievement in the field of Quranic Studies. As Bruce Lawrence writes, “No one will be able to offer a basic course on Islam, or to propose an in depth study of the Quran, without reference to this monumental achievement.”
Project Title: Industrial Internet: Energy Disaggregation Prediction
- Dr. Dmitry Efimov - Department of Mathematics & Statistics
- Funded by: General Electric
- Estimated amount: 163,498 AED
Description: The modern energy feedback system can display not only the total power consumption, but also continuously real-time usage, broken down by electrical appliance. Such a system could provide personalized and cost-effective energy saving recommendations. The challenge in this scenario is to sense end-uses of energy to provide feedback at the fine-grained, appliance level. A more recent approach to estimate appliance usage is to examine the Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) that most consumer electronic appliances produce as identifying signatures. This EMI is measured using a special sensor built at the Ubicomp Lab at the University of Washington as part of Sidhant Gupta's thesis work. Due to the large numbers of appliances in a home, the solution is not straightforward. Machine learning is required not only to make an inference about the appliance class given a particular signature, but probabilistic models are needed that take into account, for example, human appliance usage patterns (think using coffee machine and toaster in morning vs. lights in evening), weather patterns (very unlikely that AC came on during winters), and appliance electrical model.
In this project data provided by Belkin International Inc. will be analyzed to predict energy disaggregation with the aid of different machine learning approaches.
The outcome of the work is expected to be an effective model that can predict when and which appliance is being operated.
Project Title: The Last Dawn of the Dhows - Video Documentary
- Dr. Sohail Dahdal – Department of Mass Communication
- Funding Source: Dubai Maritime City
Description: The Last Dawn of the Dhows is a documentary examining the Emirati maritime heritage and the importance of preserving that heritage through the preservation of old maritime traditions like the making of Dhows - the wooden ships. An important part of this project is engaging AUS students (12 in total) on working on a professional production at all levels of the production process from researching, shooting and editing. The project outcome will be a professional documentary shot in 4k and ready for broadcast.
Title of the research project: Diagnostics study of high magnetic fields at Emirates Aluminum
- Investigator name: Dr. Mehmet Egilmez (PI) & Dr. Nasser Hamdan (Co-PI)
- Department: Physics Funding agency: Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA)
- Amount received: AED 175000
Description: All accelerated electrically charged objects generate electromagnetic fields (EMF). EMF results from the flow of electrical current (commonly measured in Amps) through a conducting material. This can be power lines, electrical connectors or the bus of a potline in an aluminium smelter. In particular, a bus line in a modern aluminium smelter can be as large as 400000 Amps which leads to significantly large static fields which have few orders of magnitude larger strength than earth’s magnetic field. Such large static magnetic fields interfere with the charges in a material if this material is within the vicinity of this field. This interaction/interference can be quite detrimental for sensitive electrical equipment and vehicles. Such vehicles and electrical equipment should be properly shielded from large magnetic fields. In collaboration with Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) we have started a research project which aims at shielding static magnetic fields several orders of magnitude larger than earth’s magnetic field. We have used various advanced high permeability magnetic materials to achieve the safeguarding task. Our measurements on these advanced materials lead us to suggest a viable shielding method for large static magnetic fields present at EMAL.
