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Ultrasound-Mediated Cancer Therapeutics Delivery using Micelles and Liposomes: A Review
No full textNanoparticles have proven promising as cancer theranostic tools. Nanoparticles are selective in nature, have reduced toxicity, and controllable drug release patterns making them ideal carriers for anticancer drugs. Numerous nanocarriers have been designed to combat malignancies, including liposomes, micelles, dendrimers, and, more recently, metal organic frameworks. The temporal and spatial release of therapeutic agents from these nanostructures can be controlled using internal and external triggers, including pH, enzymes, redox, temperature, magnetic and electromagnetic waves, and ultrasound. Ultrasound is an attractive modality because it is non-invasive, can be focused on the diseased site, and has a synergistic effect with anticancer drugs. This review will focus on the use of ultrasound-mediated liposomes and polymeric micelles in cancer therapy.American University of SharjahPatient’s Friends Committee-SharjahAlJalila FoundationTechnology Innovation Pioneer-Healthcare ProgramAl Qasimi FoundationTakamul programDana Gas Endowed Chair for Chemical Engineerin
I Hear You: Constructing Common Knowledge Practices in the Context of Organizational Meetings
No full textPurpose: The purpose of this study is to provide a granular description of how organizational members construct common knowledge practices in the context of organizational meetings. Design/methodology/approach: A longitudinal interpretative case study methodology was used to collect data from a US-based organization involved in an information system implementation project. Findings: Findings revealed that during meetings common knowledge was constructed through four practices of discernment, compliance, reconstruction and expedition. Findings also revealed that these four practices were influenced by intervening conditions such as calibration challenges and scenario-sharing tools. Research limitations/implications: The findings of this study have research implications related to common knowledge construction and co-participation practices in the context of organizational meetings. This study has limitations related to statistical generalizability that have been mitigated through a holistic approach to case study methodology that favors analytical generalizability of research findings. Practical implications: This study provides managers with recommendations that suggest a more strategic use of meetings as useful organizational contexts that may help construct common knowledge practices and shared understanding. Originality/value: This study contributes to current theorizations of common knowledge by providing an in-depth understanding of the construction of common knowledge practices in organizations. This study also sheds some light on the strategic role of organizational meetings to manage knowledge in project-based organizational contexts
Healthcare Disruption: Assessing COVID-19 Impact on Healthcare Delivery
No full textA Master of Science thesis in Biomedical Engineering by Maymunah Ahmed Fatani entitled, “Healthcare Disruption: Assessing COVID-19 Impact on Healthcare Delivery”, submitted in December 2021. Thesis advisor is Dr. Abdulrahim Shamayleh. Soft copy is available (Thesis, Completion Certificate, Approval Signatures, and AUS Archives Consent Form).Health emergency outbreaks, including COVID-19 pandemic, make it challenging for the healthcare (HC) system to ration medical resources and care delivered to patients. Such disastrous events have been increasing in the past years and are becoming inevitable, necessitating the need for HC to be well-prepared and resilient to unpredictable rise in demand. Additionally, quantitative- and qualitative-based decision support systems increase the effectiveness of planning, alleviating uncertainties associated with the crisis. The purpose of this study is to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the performance of the healthcare system in different areas, and to address the pandemic-related disruption. A cross-sectional online survey was distributed among healthcare workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who worked during the pandemic, and have many years of experience in hospital settings (sample size = 123). The pandemic-related disruption, and its psychometric properties are assessed using Structural Equation Modeling with 30 items related to Staff Mental Health, Communication Level, Planning and Readiness, Healthcare Supply Chain, and Telehealth. Results show that the model satisfactorily fits the data, and that those factors are correlated among each other, providing a direction for more research focusing on determinants of the efficiency of healthcare delivery. The proposed work will provide decision-makers an insight into the main factors leading to disruptions in HC systems, and how they are correlated, allowing them to shape their outbreak response and better prepare for future health emergencies.College of EngineeringMultidisciplinary ProgramsMaster of Science in Biomedical Engineering (MSBME
A Comparative Study of Energy Performance in Educational Buildings in the UAE
No full textSustainability has gained popularity and importance around the globe due to the ever-increasing effects of climate change and global warming on Earth. As of the 21st century, human endeavour has caused an enormous amount of damage to the environmental ecological system. Among which, one of the major contributors to the increase in the environmental issues and CO2 emissions are the conventional sources of energy, especially in the built environment. Globally, the built environment accounts for 12 percent of the world’s drinkable water, 40 percent of energy wastage and 35 percent of scarce natural resources, which in turn produces 40 percent of the total global carbon emission. Among which are educational buildings which tend to be a major contributor (as most of these facilities are old and conventionally built in the mid 1900’s) Thus, with the education sector being an essential part of society, it becomes important to determine the energy performance and carbon footprint of these buildings. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) vision 2021 highlights the country’s approach to the importance of providing the best education and adopting sustainable environmental infrastructure. Therefore, this study adopts a methodological approach based on semi-structured interviews and surveys, in order to compare the energy performance of three educational buildings within Higher Education establishments in the UAE as a case study. The study also evaluates the end user’s awareness of the importance of sustainable practices in the buildings and their preference of these buildings. The findings of this study conclude that Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) are the most efficient buildings in terms of energy performance, carbon consumption and heat generated. Therefore, it is important that the integration of these types of buildings are considered in educational establishments
Investigation and Optimization of Mxene functionalized Mesoporous Titania Films as Efficient Photoelectrodes
No full textThree-dimensional mesoporous TiO₂ scaffolds of anatase phase possess inherent eximious optical behavior that is beneficial for photoelectrodes used for solar energy conversion applications. In this regard; substantial efforts have been devoted to maximizing the UV and/or visible light absorption efficiency; and suppressing the annihilation of photogenerated charged species; in pristine mesoporous TiO₂ structures for improved solar illumination conversion efficiency. This study provides fundamental insights into the use of Mxene functionalized mesoporous TiO₂ as a photoelectrode. This novel combination of Mxene functionalized TiO₂ electrodes with and without TiCl₄ treatment was successfully optimized to intensify the process of photon absorption; charge segregation and photocurrent; resulting in superior photoelectrode performance. The photocurrent measurements of the prepared photoelectrodes were significantly enhanced with increased contents of Mxene due to improved absorption efficiency within the visible region; as verified by UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy. The anatase phase of TiO₂ was significantly augmented due to increased contents of Mxene and postdeposition heat treatments; as evidenced by structural analysis. Consequently; an appreciable coverage of well-developed grains on the FTO surface was observed in SEM images. As such; these newly fabricated conductive mesoporous TiO₂ photoelectrodes are potential candidates for photoinduced energy conversion and storage applications
Seismic risk quantification and GIS-based seismic risk maps for Dubai-UAE_Dataset
No full textThe data provided in this article quantifies the potential seismic losses in multi-story buildings located in Dubai, UAE. Besides, it developed GIS-based seismic risk maps, which form essential inputs towards the seismic resilience of buildings. The GIS data described herein come from different sources. The base map including the major roads, key land use classes, and administrative boundaries are from the ArcMap maps library. The Dubai districts were digitized in ArcMap from a rectified Worldview imagery of Dubai. The seismic risk analysis data are represented as attributes of the centroids of Dubai districts, which is the main data layer. The GIS-based seismic risk maps are raster GIS layers, which are created in ArcGIS using the Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) interpolation method. The base map template is from the ArcMap maps library.American University of Sharja
Performance of RC Columns Strengthened with Fabric-Reinforced Cementitious Matrix (FRCM)
No full textA Master of Science thesis in Civil Engineering by Nour Al Huda Haitham Tello entitled, “Performance of RC Columns Strengthened with Fabric-Reinforced Cementitious Matrix (FRCM)”, submitted in May 2021. Thesis advisor is Dr. Farid Abed and thesis co-advisor is Dr. Tamer El Maaddawy. Soft copy is available (Thesis, Completion Certificate, Approval Signatures, and AUS Archives Consent Form).A recently emerging technique to strengthen existing concrete structures using Fiber-Reinforced Cementitious Matrix (FRCM) is introduced to retrofit structural members. FRCM is an inorganic matrix that consists of textile layers sandwiched between cementitious mortar layers. The main objective of this study is to investigate the response of reinforced concrete (RC) short columns strengthened with poly-paraphenylene-ben-zobisoxazole (PBO) FRCM under pure axial compression. The aim is to study the effect of the column cross-section shape as well as the number of FRCM layers on the effectiveness of PBO-FRCM systems in improving the strength and ductility of pre-damaged and non-damaged RC columns. A total of 10 columns with a clear height of 800 mm and a longitudinal reinforcement ratio of 1.5% were cast and tested monotonically until failure. Also, columns were either unwrapped which served as controls, wrapped with 2 PBO-FRCM layers or wrapped with 4 PBO-FRCM layers. Experimental results showed that strengthening pre-damaged RC columns with PBO-FRCM is highly efficient in restoring and increasing the original capacity, where the capacity increased with the increase of number of PBO-FRCM layers. Circular columns showed a better improvement in ultimate capacity where the capacity increase ranged from 38 to 71%. Also, strengthening short RC columns with PBO-FRCM increased the column ductility with a range of 19 to 82%. Finally, theoretical ultimate capacities of strengthened columns calculated using the provisions of ACI 549.4R-13 code showed that the code is accurate at estimating the capacity of short RC columns strengthened with PBO-FRCM.College of EngineeringDepartment of Civil EngineeringMaster of Science in Civil Engineering (MSCE
An Effective Anticancer Nano-approach for Melanoma and Breast Cancers Using Annona muricate Gold Nanoparticles
No full textChemotherapy is preferred for the treatment and management of cancer; however, its efficacy is hindered by the off-target side effects of the currently used synthetic drugs. Thus, anticancer drugs with higher safety and efficacy from renewable resources are needed. Nanostructured particles can enhance the drug specificity for target tissues, thus enhancing their clinical efficacy and safety. The synthesis of Annona muricata gold nanoparticles is reported for enhancing its anti-cancer potential. Green nanoparticles were synthesized through reduction of gold with Annona muricata followed by their extensive characterization through atomic force microscope, UV-spectrophotometer, zetasizer, and FT-R. They were investigated for their anticancer activity against two melanoma and one breast cancer cell line. The nanoparticles were rounded in shape and were monodispersed with 89.34 ± 2.76 nm size and - 22.41 ± 0.27 zeta potential. FT-IR study showed the hydroxyl and carbonyl groups of Annona muricata were involved in the stabilization of nanoparticles. The extract anticancer activity significantly improved against all cancer cells upon loading on the surfaces of the synthesized NPs. The findings suggest that Annona muricata gold nanoparticles can lead to promising therapeutic anticancer results, however, to reveal their anticancer effectiveness at molecular levels, further in vivo studies are required.University of Sharja
Improvement of Dialysis Dosing Using Big Data Analytics
No full textA Master of Science thesis in Biomedical Engineering by Syeda Leena Mumtaz entitled, “Improvement of Dialysis Dosing Using Big Data Analytics”, submitted in April 2021. Thesis advisor is Dr. Abdulrahim Shamayleh. Soft copy is available (Thesis, Completion Certificate, Approval Signatures, and AUS Archives Consent Form).Data is transforming the healthcare sector and making it more dependent on data science. Data science is becoming a critical tool that allows looking at the data generated from various sources, such as patient health records, diagnosis, treatment, smart devices, and wearables. Extracting insights from health data has the potential to transform the healthcare from traditional symptom-driven practice into a precision personalized medicine. The dialysis treatment generates a vast amount of data that can be utilized. Data of each dialysis patient constitutes over 100 parameters that must be regulated every dialysis session. Moreover, an individual dialysis dosing may depend upon complex linkage within multiple clinical and demographical parameters, early dialysis prescriptions, medications, or other health interventions. With dialysis complications, understanding the electrolyte parameters and predicting their outcome for each patient to deliver the optimal dialysis dosing is a challenge. This research approach is intended to improve dialysis dosing from the emerging data and the rising volume of dialysis patients, with the purpose of increasing patient’s quality of life and their welfare from the right dialysis treatment. Exploratory data analysis and data prediction approach were performed to provide insights on how to improve the patients’ dialysis dosing. Analysis of vital electrolytes displayed high variability amongst patients, which identified the needs to improve the dialysis dosing. Four data prediction models were used to predict patient electrolytes from various parameters. The models include decision tree, neural network, support vector machine, and linear regression. The results from the prediction identified that pre urea (BUN), anticoagulation, HBA1C, gender, and cumulative blood volume, had the most significant predictor weights. The important predictors interpreted that patient’s lifestyle and diet patterns are the major factors towards improper variability of the electrolytes.College of EngineeringMultidisciplinary ProgramsMaster of Science in Biomedical Engineering (MSBME
Experimental quantification of punching shear capacity for large-scale GFRP-reinforced flat slabs made of synthetic fiber-reinforced self-compacting concrete dataset
No full textThis article provides experimental data on the punching shear behavior of synthetic fiber-reinforced slabs reinforced with glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars and cast from self-consolidating concrete (SCC). The data was collected from tests performed on six full-scale specimens centrically loaded until failure as indicated by penetration of the column stub into the slab and achieving a sharp drop in the load carrying capacity. Three different reinforcement bar spacings were used to consider the effect of reinforcement ratio on punching shear resistance. Three of the specimens tested were reinforced by 1.25% of volume of synthetic fiber, and three were control specimens cast from regular SCC. Applied load, central deflections, and bar strain were monitored during the experiment and are provided in the supplementary data. Any future models for analyzing the punching shear behavior and capacity of flat slabs reinforced with GFRP rebars will find this data valuable for model validation, and for establishing suitable safety factors for design. Numerical studies on the simulation of fiber-reinforced concrete would also find value in this data to validate the numerical model and enable it to be used for further studies.American University of SharjahBrugg Contec AGEmirates Stone precast factoryDextra Building Products Co., Ltd