Wireless security Case Study Samiya Alshukaily and Mahalingam (NUST, Oman

Research Title

Biology and Biotechnology

Screening of medium variables for alkaline protease production by thermophilic bacteria using Plakett-Burman statistical design

Mohammed Taleb Alshaqsi, Avnish Pareek and Mohd. Zafar (UTAS-Sur)

Optimization of ultrasonication process variables for municipal sludge disintegration & COD solubilization

Walaa Subeit Yaqoot Al Farsi, Mohd. Zafar and Avnish Pareek (UTAS-Sur)

Optimization of nitrogen removal from natural gas processing facility of Oman North gas field

Shuruq Said Al Hashmi, Lakkimsetty Nageswara Rao, Varghese M J, Ahmed Al Azizi and Santosh Madhav Walke (NUST, Oman)

Production of calcium carbonate with 100 tpd capacity

Zubaida Alabdali and Santosh Walke (NUST, Oman)

Environmental health concerns of inappropriate use of drinking water bottles

Albaraa Al-Mahrooqi and Hameed Sulaiman (SQU)

Process plant design for production of ethylene glycol with capacity 1000 ton/year

Radhiya Al-Hinai and Santosh Walke (NUST, Oman)

Production of activated carbon from waste food

Zuwaina Ali Nasser Alshamsi and Santosh Walke (NUST, Oman)

Preparation of calcium from natural resources using extraction method

Nouf Al Yaqoubi, Mahra Al Balushi, Khairi Al Faraj and Santosh Walke (NUST, Oman)

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S# Research Title

Biology and Biotechnology

Optimization the composition of multi bio waste employing for waste water treatment

Ahmmed Saadi Ibrahim, Mazoon Rashid Almajarafi, Alyaa Mohammed Tabook and Noor Mohammed Qahoor (Dhofar University)

Breeding of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) for yield traits

Haitham E. M. Zaki UTAS-Sur , Ayat H. Mohamed, Asmaa S. Ezzat and Yossef Y. Abdelati (Mina University, Egypt)

Alleviation of adverse effects of salinity stress in diploid and tetraploid potato genotypes (Solanum spp.) by using osmoregulators

Haitham E. M. Zaki, Taima Almaawali, Fatma Almaamari, Layali Alsulaimi, Noha Alhashmi, Rudaina Alhinai, Bihar Albahri and Muna Alarimi (UTAS-Sur)

Development of bacterial cellulose based commercial products from waste food resources

Mazhar Ul Islam, Sumayia Yasir, Atiya Fatima, Md. Wasi Ahmad (Dhofar University)

Extraction of the protein content from the green microalgae using centrifugation & ultrafiltration

Alzahraa Alduwaiki and Santosh Walke (NUST, Oman)

Extraction of bio-oil from omani date seeds by using conventional extraction process and acoustic cavitation

Jehad Al Shukaili and Santosh Walke (NUST, Oman)

Wastewater treatment using protoype wetland model in UTAS-Shinas

Abdullah Ahmed Salim Al-Mammari, Abir Suweilem Sultan Al Maqbali and Maria Rajesh A (UTASShinas)

Coparative analysis of bioful production from waste corn and sunflower oil

Hebat Alla Al Hashmia, Taif Al Ghassani , Arwa Qalhati and Ganesh Patil (NUST, Oman)

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Paper Session: Biology and Biotechnology

RESURRECTION PLANTS METABOLITES INDUCED DROUGHT TOLERANCE OF PEA (Pisum sativum L.) GENOTYPES Zaki E. M. Haitham1,2* and Radwan S. A. Khlode3 *1Department of Applied Biotechnology, University of Technology and Applied Science - Sur, Sultanate of Oman 2Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Minia University, El-Minia, 61517, Egypt, E-mail:*haithamz.sur@cas.edu.om 3Department of Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, Minia University, El-Minia, 61517, Egypt E-mail: Khlood.radwan@mu.edu.eg

ABSTRACT

Drought stress is one of the high priority challenges facing the Sultanate of Oman in the agriculture sector. Resurrection plants are a unique variety of land species that can withstand the intensive desiccation of their growth during prolonged drought stress and frequently restore normal biochemical and physiological mechanisms after absorption of water within hours. The goal of this research is to investigate the effects of resurrection plant metabolites extracts on vegetative growth, fresh yield and seed yield of pea (Pisum sativum L.) genotypes under different levels of drought stress. Resurrection plants were collected from various regions of Sur, South Alsharqia, Oman. This study examined the variations of drought tolerance in three pea genotypes (Master B cv., Jaguar cv. and Balmoral cv.) and their resilience under a drought investigation. Cultivars were exposed to different levels of drought including 50% and 25% of soil moisture content with or without the application of the resurrection plants extracts which were applied at 50, 100 and 150 ppm. Drought stress significantly affected stem length, no. branches/plant, fresh pod length, fresh pod diameter, no. green pods/plant, no. fresh seeds/fresh pod, fresh pod weight/plant, fresh pod yield, seed weight/plant, seed yield and 100-seeds weight. Resurrection plants metabolites extracts induced drought tolerance in all examined genotypes. The tolerance increased with increasing the concentrations of the resurrection plants metabolites from 50 to 150 ppm. By comparison, the interactions between resurrection plant metabolites (150 ppm) and the maximum drought regime (25%) resulted in the largest number of fresh pods/ plant in Jaguar cv. and produced the highest fresh pod and the number of seeds/fresh pods in Master B cv. however, the highest values of the tested yield parameters were obtained in Balmoral cv. Analyzing total yield under drought stress without and with resurrection plant metabolites and drought-tolerance indices of variance, the Fischer and Maurer Stress Index, Fernandez Tolerance Index, Rosielle and Hamblin Tolerance Index, Baron Geometric Index and Modified Tolerance Index, showed that the examined 3 pea genotypes had high significant differences (p<0.05), suggesting the existence of genetic diversity to drought stress and the biological effect of the resurrection plant metabolites. From the results, it could be concluded that the use of adequate amounts of metabolites from resurrection plants is one of the factors which could improve pea plants productivity under drought stress. In addition, further study of resurrection plants and abiotic stress mechanism in vegetable crops are required.

Keywords: Pea (Pisum sativum L.), growth and yield, resurrection plants metabolites, drought stress, induced tolerance, drought-tolerance indices.

Paper Session: Biology and Biotechnology

THE NECESSITY OF TELEMEDICINE APPLICATIONS IN ARAB COUNTRIES DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC * Mohammad Hameed AlTaei1, Douha M. Badralddin Saoud2 *1Department of Information Technology, University of Technology and Applied Sciences–Suhar, Sultanate of Oman, Email: mohammad.soh@cas.edu.om 2Aleppo University – Syria (previously), Suhar – Al Himbar – Oman. (Now) Email: md11ath@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

With covide-19 pandemic and other epidemics facing humanity, and the current difficulties in travelling and social distancing, the world became in urgent need and under wider demand on Telehealth technology which can be considered as an ideal and safe solution for many patients in all societies especially in the developing countries including the Arab countries. Telemedicine today can be used to protect national healthcare resources and can be crucial for an effective healthcare system during pandemics. This paper will introduce the reality and ambition of Telehealth technology in the Arab region and study the needs of such technology and its requirements and elements of success in these countries during the current circumstances to face the difficulties of the pandemic via some analyses of the data that we got from the related resources. Also, it will focus on the main factors and fundamentals parameters which are special for Arabic patients such as the language and the role of medical translators in these services as well as the privacy and security of patients.

Keywords: Telemedicine; Telehealth; eHealth; Telediagnosis; Covid-19.

Paper Session: Biology and Biotechnology

IN VITRO STUDIES ON THE DETERMINANTS OF GROWTH REGULATORS ON

THE PHENOTYPIC TRAITS OF SWEET POTATO (Ipomoea batatas (L.) LAM.) GENOTYPES Zaki E. M. Haitham1,2*, Heikal M. Doaa1, Youssef S. Nasser3 and Abdel-Mageed T.Yousry1 *1Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Minia University, El-Minia, 61517, Egypt 2Department of Applied Biotechnology, University of Technology and Applied Science - Sur, Sultanate of Oman Email: haithamz.sur@cas.edu.om 1Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Minia University, El-Minia, 61517, Egypt Email: doaaheikal93@gmail.com; ayt2014@yahoo.com 3Vegetable Research Department, Horticulture Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Giza, Egypt Email: N-Youssef-elsh@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

Sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant belonging to the family of Convolvulaceae. It is an important root tuber crop which is cultivated in a number of regions. Sweet potatoes are the seventh most important crop in the world. The main objective of this study is to determine the most efficient genotype of sweet potato, as well as the form or combination of plant growth regulators that provide a balance between vegetative and root growth in seedlings. These seedlings could be used to produce sweet potato in early planting. Tissue culture is a competitive concern of biotechnology, capable of growing the quality and quantity of vegetable-propagated sweet potatoes. The experiment was performed In Vitro to study the reaction of three sweet potato genotypes; Abis, American and Menofia-6 to various forms of growth regulators, IAA at 0.5 mg L−1, GA3 at 1 mg L−1 and Kinetin at 0.1 mg L−1 either solely or in combination. The stem nodes of the previous genotypes were tissue cultured on MS medium complemented by seven treatments of growth regulators. MS medium without growth regulators was used as a control treatment. The findings revealed that Abis cv. was superior in many traits, showing the maximum plant height (23.92 cm) and roots fresh weight (314.0) on MS without growth regulators. It also showed the highest number of roots (4.200) and shoots fresh weight (1174.0) while using IAA + GA3 however, the highest number of leaves (15.63) was obtained with Kinetin alone. Abis cv. also recorded the highest content of chlorophyll B (2.775) with IAA and the highest content of carotenoids (0.6710) when using IAA + GA3 and Kinetin. On the other hand, Menofia-6 cv showed the highest shoot dry weight (17.20) and root dry weight (13.30) when using GA3 + Kinetin. In addition, the highest chlorophyll A content (2.049) was shown with IAA + Kinetin and the highest root length (16.37) with MS supplemented with IAA. Also, the American cv. had the highest shoot length (7.650) under the same treatment. By comparison, the American cv. generated the lowest values for most traits such as plant length (8.633), shoot length (2.350), root length (6.390), number of leaves (4.833), shoot fresh weight (70.67), root fresh weight (64.00) and root dry weight (3.700) under control treatments. From the results obtained, it may be inferred that the existence of growth regulators is essential, however, that the type and concentration would be different on the basis of the genotype. Roots is of immense value, as the development of a good root system is vital for the future acclimatization of the plantlets and for the subsequent growth in the field, since the roots facilitate the absorption of nutrients and water from the soil and produce yield. Keywords. Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.), plant growth regulators, vegetative and root growth, In vitro analysis

Paper Session: Information Technology (IT)

A SECURE AND AUTOMATIC ATTENDANCE SYSTEM USING RASPBERRY PI FACE RECOGNITION Fatemah Al Bahantah1, Jamilah Al Mashani2, Tarek Fatnassi3, Rhouma Rhouma4* Department of Information Technology, University of Technology and Applied Sciences-Salalah Sultanate of Oman Email(s):; fatemah.sal@cas.edu.om1; jamilah.sal@cas.edu.om2; tarek.sal@cas.edu.om3; rhouma.sal@cas.edu.om4*

ABSTRACT

In this digital era that relies on the use of artificial intelligence, setting up a fully-automatic in UTAS that allows the recording and management of students attendance based on face recognition has become an urgent need. Indeed, the attendance system that is currently used by UTAS is semi-automatic and has many limitations especially in terms of the time and energy teachers spend on entering attendance. The majority of access control and attendance management systems that exist in the present time are based on various technologies such as fingerprint, RFID, and Iris recognition. These systems also have time-consuming issues as they are queue based and of intrusive nature. In contrast to these systems, having an attendance system based on face recognition is more effective as it has been successfully used in several contactless and non-invasive processes. This study aims to develop a machine learning-based attendance management system using face recognition and Raspberry PI. The proposed system is composed of two main subsystems that can communicate together by exchanging relevant data. The first one is a raspberry PI, which will be installed in each class, and the second one is a web application that will be fed by data sent by the raspberry. In fact, the proposed attendance management system will function based on the following concept: First, an instructor will command a Raspberry PI camera through his web-based subsystem. After that, the Raspberry PI camera will take a picture for the whole class then detect various faces of the whole class using trained Haar Cascades. It then sends a file back to the web application with the class picture and cartesian coordinates of the detected faces. The web application then parses the file, looking for the coordinates of faces. For each ROI it uses Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm to recognize the detected face. The recognizer uses the pre-built dataset of that particular class which contains personal photos of each student saved with their particular name/ ID number. Once every detected face is recognized, the web application would generate a report for the instructor showing the list of students’ names along with attendance status.

Keywords: Machine learning; SVM; Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG); Haar Cascade; Raspberry PI.

Paper Session: Information Technology (IT)

INVESTIGATION OF IT INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABILITY AMIDST A PANDEMIC AND BEYOND Roselle Salazar-Solitario1*, Ferdinand delos Reyes2, Jeffry Palacio3 University of Technology and Applied Sciences – Ibri, Sultanate of Oman Email(s): Roselle.delosreyes@ibrict.edu.om1*; Ferdinand.delosreyes@ibrict.edu.om2; Jeffry.palacio@ibrict.edu.om3

ABSTRACT

IT infrastructure management includes activities such as hardware maintenance, software upgrades and the administration of networks and servers to ensure continuity of business operations. In educational institutions, technology managers see to it that the existing IT infrastructure can sufficiently support seamless class activities and other tasks that require the use of computers and network services. The fast evolution of technology in education has been making the technology support teams occupied with their jobs but the major challenge came when the Covid-19 pandemic reached its peak during the previous academic year. At the height of the pandemic, government-imposed lockdowns forced educational institutions around the world to make a sudden shift from on-campus to online mode of teaching. Consequently, technology teams had to keep up with the newer challenge of supporting both onsite and remote users who simultaneously access the IT resources. This paper investigates the strategies adopted by the technology managers to support remote work/classes in the previous academic year and how they addressed the technical issues encountered by both onsite and remote users. Additionally, this paper analyzes how to reform the educational technology infrastructure for sustainability in times of pandemic and beyond. Finally, owing to the lessons learned throughout this study, several recommendations are proposed ranging from restructuring the current IT infrastructure to implementing Industrial Revolution Technology (IR4) solutions to improve sustainability.

Keywords: IT Infrastructure; Industrial Revolution 4; On-demand computing; Content Delivery Network; Edge Server computing.

Paper Session: Information Technology (IT)

IMPLEMENTING MACHINE LEARNING TECHNIQUES FOR THE PREDICTION OF COVID-19 SPAM AND HAM MESSAGES Vani Perumal Department of Information Technology, University of Technology and Applied Sciences - Sur Email: vanip.sur@cas.edu.om

ABSTRACT

The Director General of World Health Organization stated that only Epidemic is not fought by us but Infodemic must be fought by us. Following his statement, we have to apply sapience to extricate the real fact from the information we received. Especially during this pandemic period, distinguishing the real messages and the spam messages is a challenging task. Because this period not only triggered our physical health issues by the spread of virus but also challenged our mental health issues by the spam messages spread through various social network. Myriad information we received might be fake and could cause heap miseries. Machine learning is an approach which could be able to analyze huge volume of data and identify patterns that might not be ostensible to human. It doesn’t need any human intervention. Here prediction is done by forming clusters, statistical models and classifiers. Machine learning models simulates the function of a brain for decision making. But it could be attained only through proper training. Various algorithms must be utilized for creating this model. In this paper, a machine approach is employed to detect spam messages and ham messages related to COVID-19, which are received through short message service, WhatsApp, etc. To bring off this task, first statistical model is created using the appropriate and adequate training dataset. The training dataset contains sufficient number of spam messages and ham messages related to COVID-19. Different statistical algorithms are used and different models are created using those algorithms for predicting spam and ham messages. The performance metrics of each model is also analyzed. The accuracy score of all created models are displayed for the review of its performance. Each word in the message is treated as a token and the token wise spam, ham frequency is displayed. This frequency table could be further utilized for facilitating the token-based prediction regarding spam and ham messages. In addition to this, the spam ratio of each token is calculated and displayed in a table. In this pandemic period, starting from the beginning until now numerous spam messages related to COVID-19 and its vaccine are spreading through social network. After procuring proper training using the COVID-19 related dataset, these models aid a vital role in predicting spam and ham messages for the same. Thus the pandemic illuminate us with a vital knowledge that we should analyze the messages before believing.

Keywords: Prediction; COVID-19 Spam Messages; COVID-19 Ham Messages; Machine learning algorithms; Accuracy score.

Paper Session: Information Technology (IT)

UTAS SERVER LOAD BALANCING BASED ON CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK [CDN] Balaji R. D1, Senthil Kumar2 Department of Information Technology, University of Technology and Applied Sciences –Salalah, Email (s): balaji.sal@cas.edu.om1; senthilkumar.sal@cas.edu.om2

ABSTRACT

The University of Technology and Applied Sciences [UTAS] has 13 colleges under its umbrella. There are thousands of students who study in these colleges and numerous courses which are offered every semester. The post foundation students register online in a single UTAS server for the subjects which are offered for the semester. The students’ login onto the single UTAS server based on the cohort in which they have enrolled during a specific period during the first week which creates heavy workload on the servers. The registration process during the first week of every semester is the most crucial period for the network administrators, as the workload increases, the server sometimes crashes which leads to the delay in the registration process of the students and increases the pressure on the administrators to fix the server. Due to Covid-19 pandemic the exams have become online, and the same load problem occurs during the online examination. This paper is an attempt to propose a novel architecture for UTAS server workload balance based on Content Delivery Network [CDN] and attempts to link B-Trees as the data structures for the workload balance of UTAS servers. The advantage of using CDN is that the placement of surrogate servers decreases the UTAS server load and the latency of the registration process, it also increases the content availability during excessive usage during the registration week.

Keywords: University of Technology and Applied Sciences [UTAS], UTAS server, Content Delivery Network [CDN], Surrogate Server, Latency, Content Availability, Load Balance, Students’ Registration.

Paper Session: Information Technology (IT)

ANALYSIS SOFTWARE COST MODELS BASED ON EXPONENTIAL SOFTWARE RELIABILITY GROWTH MODELS Ahmed Ameyrah, Viswan Vimbi, D. R Prince Williams Department of Information Technology, University of Technology and Applied Sciences-Suhar Sultanate of Oman

ABSTRACT

Software reliability is one of the most important characteristic of software quality. Its measurement and management technologies during the software life cycle are essential to produce and maintain quality/reliable software systems. Software Cost Models are used to predict the cost of the total Software System at the beginning of software testing. In this paper we have discussed and analyzed three such cost models namely - Software Reliability Cost Model, Software Reliability Cost Model with penalty cost and Software Reliability Cost Model with risk cost. Finally, using numerical illustration and data provided in the literature have predicted, the best software cost model based on Software Reliability, total software cost and optimal time to deliver the software to the customer.

Keywords: Software quality, software reliability, cost model.

Paper Session: Information Technology (IT)

WIRELESS SECURITY CASE STUDY Samiya Al-Shukaily1*, Mahalingam2 National University of Science & Technology (NUST) Email(s): samiyaalshukaili@nu.edu.om1*; mahalingam@nu.edu.om2

ABSTRACT

Wireless networks are playing a vital role in our life as majority of users now are connecting via wireless network without begin connected through wired cable. As Nowadays all organizations are trying to make their staff to work using mobile, Laptops, anywhere anytime within the organization and join the wireless network with username and password. No one can argue that the need for wireless quickly takes place in each organization to provide easy access anywhere and at any time. Wireless is essential for a wide range of technologies in each device. In fact, development of the wireless security network is quite important, but it has serious problems on other sides with many cyber-attack. Since user information is sending through the wireless to the server over the internet. No debut that the attacker can easily join and listen to the communication. The obvious solution is the encryption of the communication over the wireless network. Where the firewall interference in securing the wireless network and how firewall can secure the traffic which coming in the wireless. One of the greatest challenges using WIFI is the security. There for, this research is to conduct an investigation of wireless security in Smart University by conducting interviews with a head of System security and administration department to provide real data about Smart University wireless security. A Clear description of IT Infrastructure of Smart University will be given with all hardware devices and software applications. This paper attempts to show that Wi-Fi security tools and Major Threats that occurred at Smart University. Then, Good Polices and rules will be discussed that smart university has been applied in order to control from cybercrimes. Moreover, deep comparison will be made with other real-world systems in order to obtain scientific evidence to show any weak points in Wi-Fi security at a smart university. For universities to pay attention for better future uses, the best solutions and recommendations will be given. Finally, some practical facts will be provided to reinforce the results of the analysis.

Keywords: WIFI Security; WIFI Major Threats; WIFI Policies and Practices; WIFI Solutions and Recommendation.

Paper Session: Information Technology (IT)

ROUTER FORENSICS PROCEDURE AS A PRACTICAL DF CASE STUDY Samiya Al-Shukaily1* and Nasser S. Al-Azwani2 National University of Science & Technology (NUST) Email: samiyaalshukaili@nu.edu.om1*; azwanin@nu.edu.om2

ABSTRACT

No One could argue about the role of digital forensic in securing institutes rights in tracing criminals and protecting organization cyber infrastructure. Indeed, it helps to have different techniques and methods to proof digital evidence and to present it to the court. While the incident Response refers to the set of processes that are handling after the crime has been identified inside the organization. Effective digital incident response will enhance confidentiality, integrity, availability and non-repudiation. Therefore, incident response aims to quickly restore the affected system. Network crimes are in growth and it is costing the organization huge amount millions of millions annually every year and to respond to this lose digital forensic is the corner stone to resolve this challenge. Network forensic is a digital forensic subdomain which deals with the capturing of network traffic and the analysis and reporting of intrusion for the purpose of collecting specific evidence or for detection of intrusion. In particular, network forensic focuses on volatile and dynamic information. All packets which are sent through the network are saved in the database. In fact, there are some network configuration tools which are capturing and recording the network traffic and it enables them to define specific rules. Basically, there are network forensics steps that include identification, preservation, examination and presentation of the evidence. Then Incident Response Report. In this paper we aim to describe smart bank network resources which is handling digital Services for their customers. Specifically, paper present a detailed incident response procedure as a cases study reflecting smart bank digital forensic procedures for an incident targeting smart bank network. Detailed analysis will be explained with a clear technical step before, during and after the incident. Some supportive digital forensic tools will be used in order to handle and proof the digital evidence. Finally, Evidence Report will be presented for the court to take the right action against who did this crime. And Some Recommended security mechanisms will be given for future use.

Keywords: Network Forensic; Router Forensic; incident Response; Policies and Practices; Solutions and Recommendation.

Paper Session: Information Technology (IT)

SOCIAL MEDIA AS PLATFORM FOR CONTAGIOUS FAKES & PANIC AND THE NECESSITY FOR IDENTIFICATION ALGORITHMS TO ENFORCE AUTHENTICITY Rima Solanki University of Technology and Applied Science – Ibri, Sultanate of Oman Email: rima.ibr@cas.edu.om

ABSTRACT

Fake information are not only shared as worded posts across social platforms rather also as image banners, video clips etc. Such media is hard to sort out and in general continues to be shared among users unnoticed till a certain level of influence is achieved. The study traverses through the impact of the spread of fake information, the severity of risk it has put people through during COVID-19 pandemic and the overview of how much social media has played a part in spread in this pandemic.

Keywords: Infodemic; COVID-19; Panic; Social Media; Machine Learning.

Paper Session: Information Technology (IT)

IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON CYBERSECURITY IN OMAN Nasim Al Balushi University of Technology and Applied Science – Ibri, Sultanate of Oman Email: Nasim.albalushi@ibrict.edu.om

ABSTRACT

It is becoming increasingly difficult to imagine our life without the internet. Despite the importance and benefits of the internet, internet connections are vulnerable to many threats; the number of phishing sites, spoofing of social networking sites, and other attacks have increased annually. As well as due to the COVID-19 pandemic., the majority of people are depending on the internet for doing their works, education, business, etc. The COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges for security specialists. Cybercrimes increase and the investigations for the crimes become a challenge for the investigators. It is very necessary to figure out the impact of COVID-19 on cybersecurity and the difficulties of the investigation and improve it, as cybercrimes can cause any damage or loss of sensitive information.

Keywords: Cybersecurity; investigation; COVID-19; Cybercrimes.

Paper Session: Information Technology (IT)

A MICROSERVICE FRAMEWORK FOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (HRMS) Shameer Mohammed1*, Shimaz Khan2, Rajasekar V.R.3 Department of Information Technology, University of Technology and Applied Sciences-Sur, Sultanate of Oman Email(s): shameer.sur@cas.edu.om1*; shimaz.sur@cas.edu.om2; rajasekar.sur@cas.edu.om3

ABSTRACT

ICT technologies have risen to prominence as a critical determinant factor for success in various domains, including Human Resource Management. Applying the ICT in the HRM results in the HRMS, and the HRMS reduces humans' effort in managing the information related to HR. Various HRMS have been developed and in usage, based on architecture paradigms such as monolithic. This paper aims to suggest the Microservice paradigm as an alternative for the efficient development and deployment of HRMS applications specific to the different modules of existing human resource functionalities at UTAS -Sur.

Keywords: Human Resource Management System (HRMS); Monolithic architecture; Microservice architecture; Employee.

Paper Session: Information Technology (IT)

SMART WATER MANAGEMENT FOR EFFICIENT DISTRIBUTION THROUGH AL DHAHIRAH WATER DISTRIBUTION NETWORK Arthur Davis1*, Geetha Bhaskaran2, Antony Judice Alexius3, Aaron James4 University of Technology and Applied Science – Ibri, Sultanate of Oman Email (s): j.arthur.davis@ibrict.edu.om1*; gettha.baskaran@ibrict.edu.om2; judice.av@ibrict.edu.om3; aaron.james@ibrict.edu.om4

ABSTRACT

DIAM the Potable Water providers in the Sultanate of Oman is sole responsible for the water supply and other services like water extraction through bore wells, Processing the water to ensure the purity, pumping it to the reservoir for distribution and maintaining the pipe network to ensure uninterruptible water supply to the consumers. Water extracted from the bore wells and stored in the reservoir is distributed to the houses through Transmission and distribution networks. Transmission network is responsible to carry the water through the region with the aid of 16 in pipelines and Distribution network pipes are taped from the transmission line, responsible to carry the water to the consumer end. Detailed information of Water transmission at transmission network, pumping station at bore wells and reservoir are keenly monitored by SCADA from two different places, one from the DIAM office and one from the pumping station. Wreckages, water fluctuations, leakages and blockages are few events or flaws occurs in the critical zones of transmission and distribution lines which worries the DIAM officials for they could not predict these early in advance. In this project work a research team of flow, mathematics and IOT specialists have proposed a solution for these events or flaws occurring in the transmission or distribution network. The solution will be made possible by locating the critical areas through a flow numerical modelling governed by Energy and momentum and continuity equations compared with the real time data extracted for SCADA. The research team will code the problem to manage the water flow parameters like pressure and discharge in the transmission network. A mobile app will also be developed for flow monitoring, expected to make the flow monitoring at ease. This will enhance an even distribution through the network irrespective of the distance from the reservoir. The outcome of this project work will serve the DIAM in nullifying the water loss and to manage the water distribution effectively and efficiently. Water conservation on the other side will be adding socio economic values to the nation.

Keywords: DIAM, Transmission Line, Distribution Line, SCADA, Numerical Modeling, Water Conservation

Paper Session: Information Technology (IT)

DIGITAL FORENSIC AS A CORNER STONE IN PROTECTING INSTITUTIONAL CYBER RIGHTS Samiya Al-Shukaily1, Nasser S. Al-Azwani2 National University of Science & Technology (NUST) Email(s): samiyaalshukaili@nu.edu.om1*; azwanin@nu.edu.om2

ABSTRACT

Nowadays all organization are relying on the digital world. No one can deny cybercrimes are dramatically increasing in each organization. As cybercrimes that are increasing daily in every minute like fraud, rape, murder, thefts, kidnapping and more. Cybercrimes also affected large organizations with very confidential information and it cost a huge money. Therefore, the needs of digital forensics have become very necessary to prevent these crimes. Digital forensics is a process of recovering and investigating the evidence found in digital devices since the crime occurred. Digital forensics investigates the crime cases in order to collect proper information from different resources like phones, computers, notepads, tabs, servers, printers, chats, mails or from any devices which are storing real data and access daily through the internet. In fact, the investigator will collect the evidence from web history, log, Registry, deleted files, hidden files, or it can be from stored account passwords or retrieved data. Digital forensics involves collection, evaluating and analyzing then providing as evidence to the civil crime. The main goal of the digital forensic in any organization is to carry out a well-defined model investigation through clear structures. In deeded, digital forensic will help to reduce or prevent any cyber threats in the organization. In order to ensure the data integrity of the valuable information in case of the data breach by the cybercrimes. It is providing opportunity to browse and search through a huge volume of data quickly. Cybercriminals are professionally monitored from everywhere in the world. This will help to present the evidence in court and will lead the criminal being punished. All these factors will be benefits to the company by achieving the quality of services and products to satisfying the valued customers with enhancing the cyber security of the network. Thus, it will save organization money and time. So, organization will have strong competitive and Reputation. This research shows the importance of the digital forensic in each organization. A real world case study investigation will be demonstrated with a digital forensic model. Supportive commands and tools will be given to handle all digital forensic process and techniques. Then, analysis of all evidences will be given. Finally, Recommendation will be given to top management of the organization to provide well defined incident Response and Digital Forensic Procedures to prevent such crime and to have strong security inside the organization.

Keywords: Forensic; Digital forensics; Digital investigation.

Paper Session: Business Management

SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT STRATEGY BY EQUITY INVESTORS THROUGH FUNDAMENTAL ANALYSIS – IN SULTANATE OF OMAN Gopu Jayaraman1*, Viju Mathew2, and Imran Azad3 College of Applied Science, University of Technology and Applied Science- Salalah Sultanate of Oman Email(s): gopu.sal@cs.edu.om1*; viju.sal@cas.edu.om2; imran.sal@cas.edu.om3

ABSTRACT

To meet the increased cost of living due to inflation and to enhance the standard of living, people across the world prefer to save a part of their earnings and looks for suitable, attractive and safe investment outlets. Among the various investment outlets available, investing in the equity market has been considered as very attractive but challenging investment outlets, because it gives high returns but it involves high-risk aspects. The stock market plays an important role in capital formation and the investment in equity shares of listed companies is very popular, profitable but subject to considerable risk. Equity investments are known for their return as well as risk. The equity investors apply Fundamental Analysis for developing and managing investment portfolios, it involves analyzing the factors relating to the economy, industry and company. Fundamental Analysis aims at examining the intrinsic value of Equity investment outlet by examining the related economic, industry and company factors, to minimize the risk and enhance return prospects. The Fundamental Analysis will reveal whether the given equity investment outlet is underpriced or overpriced. The equity investors are supposed to have considerable awareness and knowledge about the pertinent fundamental factors which influences the intrinsic value of equity shares. The present study has a specific focus on studying the Equity Investors' awareness and application of Fundamental Analysis for their equity investment. The present study has been undertaken with reference to equity investors in Sultanate of Oman. To achieve the key objectives of the present study, a Descriptive research design has been adopted and a survey has been conducted by administering a well-structured questionnaire with the selected retail equity investors in Oman. The findings of the study will help the stock market regulators and participant to understand the perception, knowledge level and application of Fundamental Analysis by the equity investors and such understanding will certainly help in making policy decisions over the development of safe and wise equity investment culture.

Keywords: Equity Investment; Fundamental Analysis; Economy Factors; Industry Factors; Company Factors; Intrinsic Value; Risk and Return.

Paper Session: Business Management

FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC GROWTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY IN OMAN Naushad Alam Department of Finance and Economics, Dhofar University, Salalah, Sultanate of Oman Email: nalam@du.edu.om

ABSTRACT

The present works analyze the links amongst financial development, economic growth and environmental dilapidation in Oman. High economic growth ushered by financial development requires greater energy demand. The released gases due to fossil fuel burning to meet energy demands release many gases, mainly ����2, leading to serious environmental issues. The results indicate that ����2 emission, a proxy chosen for environmental degradation, has cointegrating relationships with the economic growth represented by the GDP and the financial development (FD) represented by domestic credit to private sector as percentage of GDP for the period 1972 to 2016. From the results obtained it is evident that the EKC hypothesis is present in the case of Oman. Hence an inverted U shape relationship is present between economic growth and the environmental degradation for Oman.

Keywords: financial development; economic growth, environment & green financing financial development; economic growth; environmental degradation; green financing green financing; Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC).

Paper Session: Business Management

EXAMINING THE ROLE OF ALTERNATIVE INDICATORS IN IMPROVING DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES OF THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Sandeep Ojha1, Sanyo Moosa2, Sandra Mascarenhas3 College of Applied Sciences, University of Technology and Applied Science- Salalah Sultanate of Oman Email(S): sandeep.sal@cas.edu.om1*; sanyo.sal@cas.edu.om2; sandra@cas.edu.om3

ABSTRACT

For the purpose of evaluating and ranking the wealth of countries, political theorists, and economists all across the world have traditionally regarded the measures of Gross Domestic Product, Gross National Product or other related indicators as the ultimate barometers. However, questions and concerns were raised regarding the true worth of GDP and at the same time, there was a surge in calls for employing alternative indicators to measure the wealth and welfare of nations across the globe. Increasingly, development economists have become aware that growth of output or income by themselves are not adequate indicators of development, and that the reduction of poverty and the satisfaction of basic human needs are goals that ought to be reflected in a measure of development. The heavy emphasis on GDP and its growth rate was based on doubtful assumptions. Either it was assumed that economic growth has a tendency to automatically ‘trickle down’ to the poor, or it was thought that, where there was no automatic tendency for benefits to trickle down, governments would take corrective action. The foremost objective of this study is to discusses how the economic trajectory of developing countries cannot be measured solely using the traditional indicators. Basic human needs have become more relevant in the recent time and thereby, a new measure paradigm has come into picture which involves various alternative indicators that play a significant role in the improvement of development outcomes of developing countries.

Keywords: GDP; GNP; Wealth; Indicators; Economic.

Paper Session: Business Management

THE SUSTAINABILITY COMPONENTS OF BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES FOR EXISTING AND NEW BUSINESSES Balaji. S.K. Swaminathan1, Amitabh Mishra2, Vishal Jain3 Department of Business Administration, University of Technology and Applied Science – Ibri Sultanate of Oman Email(s): balaji.ibr@cas.edu.om1; amitabh.ibr@cas.edu.om2; vishalj.ibr@cas.edu.om3

ABSTRACT

The role expectations from the “for profit-oriented” business organizations in the society at large have changed considerably from simple Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives to being part of the overall development goals of the society. Businesses with only economic viability focus will be institutions of the past. The term Sustainability that incorporates the discussion into the capacity of the Human Civilization to co-exist with the Earth’s Biosphere will be the only future. The challenges of the decision-maker manager in larger or entrepreneurial organizations alike to cater to this dynamic requirement from the environment that has traditionally been dominated by the concept of economic viability as the main focus in the identification of opportunities is the key problem that is addressed here. Can the business opportunity identification move from the paradigms of cost-benefit analysis of new ideas to the very “raison-de-etre`” of the businesses to contribute to the society? The study will explore the challenges on paradigms faced by managers with the traditionally conflicting views of Economic Viability Vs Environmental Protection & Social Equity. Methodology: The literature review of the secondary data and meta-analysis of the sustainability dimensions will include models of “PESTEL Environment Analysis”. The dimensions of the traditional Business Opportunity Analysis taken-up by decision-makers were tabulated and mapped for exploring a possible mapping of the sustainability dimensions as required by the policy frameworks of national and international institutions. The paradigms will be presented as models of the possible opportunities identification. Findings & Conclusions: The study to throw light on the dimensions of the thirteen national priorities of the Oman Vision 2040 and how they are linked with the UN’s framework on Sustainable Development Goals. The broad framework of the SDG’s namely People, Policy, Planet and the Human Condition give businesses, the framework of looking at mapping their opportunities against the new changes in the environment. The study will show how in the pandemic scenario, business organizations have or not got involved in the sustainable development initiatives developed for inclusive development of nations, and their perceived venture successes of business opportunities. The Oman Vision 2040 and the Sustainable Development Goals are today seen as drivers of business opportunity rather than an optional requirement CSR initiative. The paradigm of dimensions of sustainable initiatives will be presented in terms of future potential of growth & sustainability.

Keywords: Business Opportunity Guidance, Sustainable Businesses, Sustainable Development Goals, Oman Vision 2040.

Paper Session: Business Management

EUSTRESS FOR PANDEMIC DISTRESS: TOWARD SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL OF “GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING” Reynaldo Gacho Segumpan1 and Joanna Soraya Abu Zahari2 1Department of Business Administration, University of Technology and Applied Sciences-Ibri, Sultanate of Oman Email: reynaldo.ibr@cas.edu.om 2Department of Business Administration, University of Technology and Applied Sciences-Ibri, Sultanate of Oman Email: joanna.ibr@cas.edu.om

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has been continuously posing socio-psychological fear, threats, and stress to peoples from all corners of the globe – from Global North to Global South, in business and in personal life, at work and during leisure time, and the like. Stress may have been the subject of a myriad of studies but not much has been done during this pandemic owing to the novelty of the outbreak and its stress-related ramifications. Pandemic-related distress is so pervasive, and this needs attention from multi-disciplinary viewpoints. An organizational perspective is espoused in this paper. It discusses the contribution of stress to the organization, which is oftentimes construed negatively. It highlights the positive dimensions of stress, known as eustress, as well as emphasizes on how to nurture it in the workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion begins by unlocking some key concepts used in the paper and then presents an overview of the third sustainable development goal (SDG) of “Good Health and Well-being” of which issues on stress are linked. Moreover, the paper explores the conditions associated with work-related and pandemic-related stress, and concludes by offering practical measures or organizational interventions that are conducive in promoting eustress. Finally, it considers the implications of eustress to employees’ health and well-being as part and parcel of the previously mentioned SDG, one of which is for organizations to aggressively promote stress-reduction activities and support health programs with the hope of raising performance and in dealing with pandemic-related distress.

Keywords: Eustress, Distress, Pandemic, Sustainable Development Goal.

Paper Session: Communication Technology, Natural Sciences and Mathematics

A STUDY ON BIOLOGICAL NETWORK FUNCTIONAL MODEL DESIGNS USING DOMINATION TECHNIQUES IN GRAPH THEORY Senthilraj Swaminathan Department of General Requirements, University of Technology and Applied Sciences - Sur Sultanate of Oman. Email: senthilraj.sur@cas.edu.om

ABSTRACT

In this study, we present a new survey of graph theoretical techniques in biology, using the variation of dominance, which we call vertex domination. To determine the vertex dominant number ���� for several classes of fuzzy graphs, especially complete fuzzy graphs and complete bipartite fuzzy graphs. Bounds were obtained for the vertex dominant number of a fuzzy graph. The fuzzification ideas of the domination in the crisp graph using the membership values of nodes, α-strong and arcs. The relationship between the M-strong arcs and the α-strong is obtained. In a fuzzy graph, the monotone decreasing property and the monotone increasing properties are introduced. A modeling tool in biological networks allows the utilization of a graphical identification of a secondary RNA (Ribo Nucleic Acid) designs to be used in highly numerically, these graphical manipulations to identify the numbers. Those graphical changes are variations of the dominant number of a graph. The results of the research carried out to show that the dominant number variants can be used to correctly distinguish between trees that represent native structures to represent RNA. For the fuzzification of this problem, the location types (in terms of benefits) and the type of connection to the locations can be assigned by different values. It is therefore based on the values of the locations and the ratio of the total values of the adjacent α-strong connections and the total values of the adjacent connections. The relationship between several types of functions in fuzzy graphs is studied with their respective vertex domination number.

Keywords: Fuzzification; Feed Forward Loops; Orthologs; BLAST; Significance Profile Vector.

Paper Session: Communication Technology, Natural Sciences and Mathematics

THE CHALLENGES OF MATHEMATICAL TEACHING IN HIGHER INSTITUTION IN OMAN DURING PANDEMIC Faiza Bait Ali Slaiman1, Veeramani V2, and Manimaran Sambantha3 University of Technology and Applied Sciences – Salalah Sultanate of Oman Email(s): faiza.sal@cas.edu.om1; veeramani.sal@cas.edu.om2; manimaran.sal@cas.edu.om3

ABSTRACT

The pandemic has affected educational systems worldwide, where online classes has been relied on instead of conventional learning (face to face). This study investigated instructors’ perceptions of the challenges of online class tools in the teaching and learning of mathematics. The study is a descriptive survey design conducted on the higher educational institutions in Oman. A research questionnaire of instructors’ perceptions on the challenges of online learning tools in mathematics was used to elicit responses. The questionnaire has three sections which will explicit the perceived challenges of online teaching tools in mathematics such as availability, accessibility, and teachers’ information and communication technology skills towards utilization of online teaching tools.

Keywords: Pandemic, Mathematical teaching, online teaching.

Paper Session: Communication Technology, Natural Sciences and Mathematics

SMART LEAK DETECTION IN PIPES-AN ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE Senthil Ramadoss1, Laila Rashid Al Mezini2, Al Anoud Almur Alisaii3, Hajer Said Al Zaabi4 University of Technology and Applied Sciences-Shinas Sultanate of Oman Email (s): senthil.ramadoss@shct.edu.om1; 62S15236@shct.edu.om2; 62J16266@shct.edu.om3; 62J15280@shct.edu.om4

ABSTRACT

Leak in pipes is a major threat to any country as it involves huge loss in natural resources economy and production cost. Water is the major transport in pipes so contamination and transport in time becomes essential. Water scarcity in many countries due to climate change and over population. Most of the pipes are laid underneath the ground hence leak get unnoticed most of the time. Therefore, Leak detection in buried pipes becomes vital. Our project focus on smart leak detection based on the flow rate of water and intimation to the concerned authorities in time to save the valuable natural resource in Oman.

Keywords: Leak detection, Raspberry pi, Flow sensors.

Paper Session: Communication Technology, Natural Sciences and Mathematics

ESTIMATING THE POTABLE WATER MISMATCH IN THE IBRI WATER SUPPLYING NETWORK, AND TO LOCATE THE MISMATCHING ZONE Arthur Davis1*, Naveen Whatson2, Angeline Gladys3 , Suthagar John4 University of Technology and Applied Sciences – Ibri Sultanate of Oman Email(s): j.arthur.davis@ibrict.edu.om1*; naveen.ibr@cas.edu.om2; angelin.ibr@cas.edu.om3; suthagarjohn@ibrict.edu.om4

ABSTRACT

Water supply service delivered for domestic, private and government usage is crucial for its 24x7 service through the year. GCC countries register the highest per capita water consumption among countries, despite the fact that Oman has the lowest consumption. DIAM, the responsible authority for water distributuion trying its best to offer its services to the consumers with noticeable shutdowns caused by pipe wreckages, pressure accumulation and cavities. Beside there are issues in metering the water consumption at the consumer side probably due to faulty water meters and inaccessibility of the consumer point. DIAM officials are forced to follow a mechanism in billing the water consumption for these conditions called estimation system, a system of deriving the average of the water consumption for the past 6 months. Many a times the estimated reading-based billing exceed the actual water consumption by the consumer, makes them unhappy in paying excessive for their water consumption. The DIAM has tried viably to deal with this situation, presented Automated Meter Reading (AMR) which is a smart system to consolidate exact and computerized water metering with diminished labor. Internet latency failures provide insufficient information causes miscalculation in billing. Here in this work a research team of flow, mathematics and IOT specialists have proposed a solution to estimate the actual water consumption by the consumer hence to avoid the estimated billing. The work includes Flow based Numerical modelling, SCADA database and a software solution to compare the results of SCADA and Numerical modelling data for respective consumer points. This numerical modelling-based water consumption is compared to the SCADA data with the help of software solution prepared as a part of this project work at all consumer points, helps in estimating the mismatch existing. Alongside it will also benefit the nation by providing solutions in nullifying the water losses occur in transmission and distribution networks.

Keywords: Water management, Water Metering and Billing, DIAM, AMR, IOT, Smart meters, SCADA, Numerical Modeling.

Paper Session: Communication Technology, Natural Sciences and Mathematics

SUSTAINABLE COMMUNICATION, SINGULARITY AND EMPLOYMENT IN OMAN VISION 2040 Abduraoof Ahmed Ismail1, Pradeep Kumar A. V.2 Mr. Sultan Saif Al Sarai . 3 *,1Department of Mass Communication, University of Technology and Applied Sciences-Salalah Sultanate of Oman *1email: drabdulraoof.sal@cas.edu.om 2,3Department of Mass Communication, University of Technology and Applied Sciences – Sur Sultanate of Oman 2email: pradeep.sur@cas.edu.om 3email: sultans.sur@cas.edu.om

ABSTRACT

Accelerating economic growth using the productivity of information technology is a trend across various developmental models globally. Contextually, Oman Vision 2040 has multiple layers of strategies that embrace the ideations of the trends in IT and related areas. Employment generation being one of the sustainable development agendas of Vision 2040, the inclusion of IT and enabled areas in the developmental strategies has been discussed and debated across various stakeholders. However, societal singularity is an upcoming theory which signifies the inception of technology to replace human labour. The primary concern is on the rise of artificial intelligence and robotics displacing skilled and unskilled labour. Towards this end, this study analyses the immediate research problem of how far the scope of singularity and related concerns are envisaged and addressed in the Oman Vision 2040 with sustainable communication agendas. The study uses mediated qualitative semi-structured interviews with policy informants and multiple layers of stakeholders. The study findings indicate that technological adaptation encompassing all areas along with upskilling and knowledge creation, attains high priority in Oman. While technological adaptation is already in place in certain areas, Oman has plans to develop the technology required in various industries in the coming future. Revamping the educational system, collaboration of the academia with the industry and private-public partnership to accommodate the big data generated in all fields and to face the challenges posed by the digital economy are some important constituents of the entire process. The issue of job replacement that may arise as a result of automation is not a matter of social anxiety as majority of the population is constituted by the techno savvy youth who can rapidly adapt any innovation. Job security, it at all exists, will be for a shot period of time. The response to challenges that is sure to arise from time to time, will be goal-oriented, sustainable, productive, environment friendly, and rooted in Omani culture.

Keywords: Sustainable communication; societal singularity; sustainable development; artificial intelligence; skilled labour; Oman Vision 2040.

Paper Session: Linguistics and Education

ADAPTIVE TEACHING & LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES AND THE IMPACT DURING PANDEMIC IN UTAS: A PERSPECTIVE Balaji R.D. 1*, R. Malathi2 1*Department of Information Technology, University of Technology and Applied Sciences Salalah, Sultanate of Oman Email: balaji.sal@cas.edu.om 2Sri Shakthi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, India Email: bmalathisai@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The pandemic has changed every aspects of human activities in a short span of time. It has been proved that the changes are happening when there is a challenge. When compared to the previous pandemic situations, the humankind is able to adapt and back to the normal life fast with the help of the cutting-edge technologies. The development in the technologies in all the fields helped the people to perform their accomplishments using the electronic medium. The education field was already equipped with many contemporary technologies along with the traditional teaching and learning even before the pandemic. The extensions of Internet facilities, usage of smart devices and the maturity of people around the world have enabled the education to continue in a smoother way through online mode. Hence when the pandemic made all the businesses to shut down abruptly, the impact on the educational field is negligible. Within a week time the stakeholders of the educational institutions were able to bounce back and perform their tasks as usual. In this paper we have compared the technologies used before and after the pandemic used in the University of Technology and Applied Sciences – Salalah (UTASS) (Formerly called as College of Applied Sciences – Salalah). To do the further research we have taken UTASS as a case. We have shown the improvement in the attendance of the students in the online mode of teaching and learning. The results of the students have also been compared and presented with tabular data. The hurdles of the students and the teachers are also mentioned after a detailed interview conducted with them.

Keywords: Covid-19; E-learning; MOOCS; Online classes; LMS.

Paper Session: Linguistics and Education

METALINGUISTIC COMPETENCIES IN HIGHER TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATION Gayane Hovhannisyan The University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Muscat email: gayane.hovhannisyan@hct.edu.om

ABSTRACT

Global integration of higher technological education occurs through English as the international language of science and education. Respectively, English language teaching for higher education acquires new features. New concepts emerge that describe the core principles of language and linguistic competencies inherent in the technological university student profile. The proposed theoretical framework and recommendations have been developed during the past seven years of research and teaching at the Higher College of Technology, Muscat, promoting developing student language and linguistic and overall cognitive competencies. The rationale underlying the study is that the tech university graduate should dispose of specific metalinguistic competencies encompassing social and logical-mathematical intelligence and independent cognitive skills throughout lifelong learning, career, and professional development. Language, per se, is a means of communication, but it is also a depository of knowledge: in this sense, it is the key to education in general. Furthermore, to extract and utilize the knowledge contained in the language units and structures, every educated person needs to master the key concepts of logical thinking and knowledge extraction or, in other words, metalinguistic competence. The proposed approach implies a review and renovation of the language services the colleges have been traditionally providing to the students, given the current unification of the colleges of technology and Applied Sciences under a complex university organization. The new approach suggests three levels of English (and native) language and linguistic competencies to be developed through even distribution and delivery over all the English language program levels: language competencies, linguistic competencies, and metalinguistic competencies. The presentation highlights each of them within the framework of language personality development and university graduate profile. It may be of interest to both teachers and learners of foreign languages.

Keywords: linguistic; metalinguistic; cognitive; competencies.

Paper Session: Linguistics and Education

ONLINE LEARNING CHALLENGES AND STUDENTS’ ENGAGEMENT AND PERCEPTIONS: THE CASE OF OMANI ENAP STUDENTS DURING COVID-19 Mahmoud Ahmed1, Hope Melody Crick2, Kauthar Said Al Jabri3, Lailany Gorospe4, Daniel Nehemiah Oliver5 University of Technology and Applied Sciences-Nizwa, Sultanate of Oman Email(s): mahmoud_Ahmed.niz@cas.edu.om1; hope.melody.niz@cas.edu.om2; kawther-jabri.niz@cas.edu.om3; lailany.niz@cas.edu.om4; daniel.niz@cas.edu.om5

ABSTRACT

Inspired by the shift from face to face to online learning in Oman during the Covid19 lockdown starting March 2020, this study examines the experiences and perceptions of year 1 English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students in the University of Technology and Applied Sciences (UTAS). The study sample includes 39 participants enrolled in the course EAP at UTAS-Nizwa. The study addresses the positive and negative experiences of the participants in an academic online learning and teaching environment through the lens of transformative learning theory and threshold concepts theory. This mixed-methods study combines surveys and reflective journals to examine participants’ stuckness or transformation. The survey consists of 23 questions grouped into 4 sections including: a. platforms and programs, b. synchronous and asynchronous learning, c. engagement and interaction, and d. personal skills. Survey results show that students have developed some personal skills through online learning such as time management, making plans and autonomous learning. The study shows how negative emotions, dissatisfaction and doubts when analysed in liminal spaces could work as mechanisms of transformation. It also reveals how some students show resilient strategies and successfully adapt to using online learning. Our results reveal that when the students experience disorientation and uneasiness, this will take them out of their comfort zones, and help them manage their learning difficulties, transform and finally reach the stage of self-regulation. Our research, therefore, contributes insights into learner struggle and transformation by discussing the mechanisms that play a role in actualising university students’ transformation.

Keywords: COVID-19; Online learning; Student challenges; Student experiences; Academic performance; English for Academic Purposes; Mixed-method research.

Paper Session: Linguistics and Education

EXPLORING LEARNERS' READINESS FOR ONLINE LEARNING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND APPLIED SCIENCES Muna Kashoob1, Isamedin A. Ibrahim2 University of Technology and Applied Sciences – Salalah, Sultanate of Oman Email (s): munak.sal@cas.edu.om1; isam.sal@cas.edu.om2

ABSTRACT

Recently, learners’ readiness for online learning has become an essential concern for many stakeholders involved in education. Prior to 2020 this concern had not been a priority for many educational institutions in the Sultanate of Oman. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, learners have been forced to shift from an in-person classroom learning environment to an online learning mode in all subjects including English language courses. This study investigates the EFL learners’ readiness for online learning. An Online Learning Readiness Scale (OLRS) by Hung et al., (2010) was employed to investigate the factors affecting EFL students’ readiness for online learning at tertiary level. The factors examined included internet self-efficacy, selfdirected learning, learning control in an online context, motivation for learning, and online communication self-efficacy. The adopted survey was disturbed to 266 EFL students at different UTAS colleges in Oman. This study is part of a wide-ranging investigation to thoroughly explore the above-mentioned factors in quantitative and qualitative phases. For the current stage of the study, SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) was used to analyse the data quantitatively. This study has identified the key factors hindering the readiness of EFL learners for online learning in general and at UTAS in particular. Furthermore, the results of this study are expected to provide educators with possible solutions pertaining to learner needs and weaknesses regarding their readiness for online learning.

Keywords: EFL learners; Learners’ readiness; online learning; internet self-efficacy; motivation; online communication efficacy; self-directed learning.

Paper Session: Linguistics and Education

GFP TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING ENGLISH TO OMANI STUDENTS ONLINE Marwan Alyafaee1*, Shakir Al Hassan2, Mohammed Baqawir3 University of Technology and Applied Sciences – Salalah, Sultanate of Oman Email (s): marwanalyafaee.sal@cas.edu.om1*; shakir.sal@cas.edu.om2; baqawir.sal@cas.edu.om3

ABSTRACT

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, universities and colleges have adopted an online teaching mode where English at the General Foundation Program (GFP) is taught and assessed online. Addressing the new mode of teaching, many researchers have been advocating and proposing online English teaching materials and methods. However, it seems that teacher’s perceptions of the effectiveness of teaching English online have been largely ignored even though they play a vital role in shaping and reshaping the teaching beliefs, professional attitudes, and practical knowledge of teachers. Therefore, this research study aimed to investigate the GFP English language teachers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of teaching English to Omani students online in terms of lesson effectiveness at three colleges. In addition, it targeted to explore the biggest challenges which GFP teachers have faced when teaching English online. The final objective of the study was to propose some suggestions for improving the quality of teaching English online based on teachers’ perceptions. To collect relevant data, a mixed-methods questionnaire including Likert-scale statements and open-ended questions was administered and targeted the GFP English language teachers at three Omani colleges. The analysis of data and findings showed that English language teachers perceived that teaching English to Omani students online does not promote lesson effectiveness due to the lack of students’ participation.

Keywords: Teacher’s perceptions; Teaching beliefs; Practical knowledge; Lesson effectiveness.

Paper Session: Linguistics and Education

EVALUATING THE USABILITY OF BLACKBOARD IN UTAS USING THE SYSTEM USABILITY SCALE Tarek Fatnassi1*, Lamiya Al-Shanfari2 Department of Information Technology, University of Technology and Applied SciencesSalalah, Sultanate of Oman Email(s): tarek.sal@cas.edu.om1*; lamya.sal@cas.edu.om2

ABSTRACT

In this digital era that heavily relies on the use of artificial intelligence and scientific data applications, Learning Management Systems have become an indispensable tool in higher education for the delivery of knowledge. The need for such systems has been intensified especially during the crisis of COVID19 pandemic. In fact, LMSs have given the opportunity to students to stay at home and attend their classes as if they were studying in actual classrooms. In order to find solutions to the issues faced by students and cope with the increased reliance on Blackboard, an evaluation of its usability has become very crucial. There is an essential need to assess how well this learning management system works for all students and to make sure that usability measures are not violated. However, evaluating the usability of the blackboard learning management system between students based on their prior experience was not yet explored in UTAS. In this context, the current research aims to investigate the usability of the Blackboard for foundation and post-foundation students, to find out how to improve the usability of this system to meet the students’ needs and to make the distance learning more effective. System Usability Scale (SUS) was calculated and used to evaluate the usability of the Blackboard system. A higher SUS score reflects a higher usability of the system. The results showed that prior experience had an impact on the usability evaluation of the Blackboard system. In addition, postfoundation students had better usability experience, but they could still face some usability issues which could be improved. However, foundation students seem to struggle in using the system. This study implies that intensive workshops need to be conducted to the foundation students to recover the barriers that may affect their performance during the distance education experience.

Keywords: E-Learning; LMS; Blackboard; usability, SUS score; prior experience.

Paper Session: Linguistics and Education

انوروك ةحئاج لظ ىف نييعماجلا ةبلطلل ةيسفنلا ةحصلا معد هللا اطع دمحم ميهاربإ دمحم /د قاتسرلاب ةيقيبطتلا مولعلاو ةينقتلا ةعماج ةيوبرتلا تاساردلا مسقب دعاسم ذاتسأ رصم – ةروصنملا ةعماج - ةيبرتلا ةيلكب ةيسفنلا ةحصلا مسقب كراشم ذاتسأ mohamed.atallah.rus@cas.edu.om

: صخلملا ةبيصع ةرتفب انوروك ةحئاج للاخ - عمتجملا دارفأ ةيقبك – ةعماجلا بلاط رم لئادب نع M ثحبلا رارقلا ىذختمو ،نييوبرتلا ىلع تضرفو ، ملعتلا ةيلمع ىلع ترثأ . ةيبلسلا اهراثآو اجئاتن نم فيفختلاو ، ةمزلأا كلت باعيتسلا ةديدج تايجيتارتساو ةحصلا تلاكشم ةدح ليلقتو فيفختل ةيسفن تلاخدت ىلإ بلاطلا ءلاؤه جاتحي ثيح ، بائتكلااو ، قلقلاك ةيقفاوت ريغ ةيبلس ضارعأ نم اهب طبتري امو ، ةيسفنلا ساوسولاو ، ةيعافدنلااو ، ةيناودعلاو ، زاجنلإل ةيعفادلا ىندتو ، للملاو ، مؤاشتلاو ةدحولاو ، ىباحسنلاا كولسلاو ، توملا قلقو ، لبقتسملا قلقو ، ىرهقلا كلتب مهرورم للاخ مهيدل ترهظ ىتلاو ، اهريغو .. ةيعامتجلاا ةلزعلاو ، ةيسفنلا ةيداشرلإا تايجيتارتسلااو ، بيلاسلأا عضوو ، هتلاكشمب مهراصبتسا ةدايزل ةحئاجلا . اهجلاعو اهفيفختل ةمزلالا نيجلاعملاو ، نيدشرملاو ، ةيسفنلا ةحصلا ىيئاصخأ قتاع ىلع عقيو : للاخ نم بلاطلل ةيسفنلا ةيجلاعلاو ةيداشرلإا تلاخدتلاب مايقلا نييسفنلا ةيجلاعلا ةطخلا عضو ، ةروطخلا ةجرد مييقتو ضارعلأل قيقدلا صيخشتلا رعاشملاو راكفلأا فاشكتساو ، ةيجلاعلا ةينهملا ةقلاعلا نيوكتو ، ةبسانملا مييقت ةداعإو ةعباتملاب مايقلاو ، ةيجلاعلا ةطخلا ذيفنتو ، ةيبلسلا تايكولسلاو ةمزلالا ةيجلاعلاو ةيداشرلإا تلاخدتلا كلت ةيلاحلا ةقرولا ضرعتستو .ضارعلأا ضعب ميدقت عم ، انوروك ةحئاج نييعماجلا لظ ىف ةبلطلل ةيسفنلا ةحصلا معدل . تاحرتقملاو تايصوتلا

. انوروك ةحئاج – ةيسفنلا ةحصلا – معد :

ةيحاتفملا تاملكلا

Paper Session: Linguistics and Education

CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF ONLINE EDUCATION ON STUDENTS MENTAL HEALTH DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC Yumna Jadallah1*, Tasnim Al Rajhi2, Alka Ahuja3 College of Pharmacy, National University of Science and Technology, Oman Email(S): yomna@omc.edu.om1*; Opcf-14-073@nu.edu.om2; alkaahuja@nu.edu.om3

ABSTRACT

Introduction: With the world health organisation announcing covid-19 as a global pandemic in March 2020, schools and universities shifted to online classes which seemed to be the ideal way for students to continue their education. However, the sudden shift was considered by some, as a pressurizing factor especially that it was a new concept for both teachers and students. This study is planned to investigate the effect of online classes on students’ mental health. Objectives: The objectives of our study were to compare between the pros and cons of online education and to state the effect of online classes on students’ mental health during the pandemic. Other objectives include measuring the impact of prolonged periods of online education on students. Method: This study is being conducted on both school and university students, evaluating the effect of online classes and the lack of in-person interaction due to covid-19 preventive measures. The study consisted of questions including comparison of stress levels between online and in person classes. It also included questions about the impact leading to depression and anxiety. Results: It has been seen that online classes had different effects on students at different educational stages. The detailed outcome of the study will be presented using Likert scale and tables.

Keywords: Online classes; mental health; pandemic; depression; anxiety.

Paper Session: Linguistics and Education

LANGUAGE TEACHER TRAINING FOR POST-COVID 19 EDUCATION: A SUSTAINABLE MODEL BASED ON NEEDS Osman Erdem Yapar Dhofar University, Salalah, Oman Email: omosmanyapar@du.edu

ABSTRACT

Language learning has been a key part of development including scientific, financial, political and socio-cultural aspects. English language has become a medium of instruction in many developed and developing countries to cater for the needs of their respective societies’ future and sustainable development. Covid-19, on the other hand, has brought about various challenges to every domain of life, particularly education. As part of the multidimensional response to the massive global problem of Covid-19, the United Nations suggest “new forms of remote formal and informal education, training and vocational capacity-building”. On the other hand, education for many teachers as well as decision makers has been traditionally associated with physical classrooms which may not be the norm of learning in the future. Therefore, reconstructing the image of quality education using online medium is a major but essential learning curve for existing educators and policy makers working in this field. In this particular paper the author examines an influential framework of teaching called Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). The various components of the model are discussed at sufficient length to understand the principle of the framework with particular reference to English Language Teaching. Moreover, he discusses its suitability in English Language Teaching based on the preliminary findings of interviews conducted in a private higher education institution in the Sultanate of Oman. Semi-structured interviews with teaching faculty as well as administrative faculty at various levels were conducted to collect data. The data was thematically analysed using NVivo 12 software. The results displayed that an emphasis on short courses on the use of technological tools was evident whereas pedagogical aspects of training for online teaching were not necessarily considered. The author suggests a more comprehensive approach to language teacher training using the TPACK framework in order to contribute to sustainable development in the Sultanate of Oman.

Keywords: Distance education, language learning, teacher training, sustainability, needs analysis.

Paper Session: Linguistics and Education

IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE HIGHER EDUCATION: GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES TO FOSTER SUSTAINABLE TEACHING, LEARNING AND RESEARCH Viju Mathew1, Gopu J.2 1Department of Scientific Research, University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Salalah 2Dept. of Business Administration, University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Salalah

ABSTRACT

The global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has started showing multifaceted impact from the beginning of 2020 with many countries implementing lockdown of their borders and society. With the start of imposed lockdown, education and research have been adversely affected globally. This paper aims to identify the challenges faced during the first wave of the COVID-19 crisis in early 2020 and the ongoing contagion situation and its impact on higher education (HE) and research. This study will use qualitative research methodology using secondary data and Interpretative phenomenological investigation for bringing out the objectives of this research. The finding of the study shows influential factors that significantly affect teaching, learning, and research. The major factors that influence HE include the use of technology and infrastructure limitation, adoption of pedagogy and assessment, outreach planning and inexperience, financial and non-financial restriction (social and personal), etc. While other factors like human resource, physical boundaries and collaboration influence the research domain. This study will be supportive to the regional and domestic regulatory authorities, HE institutions to develop policies and design strategies to overcome the challenges to deal with the ongoing and future crisis and achieve sustainable development in academic and research. This study will be a bridge to overcome the gap of knowledge and literature during the pandemic time.

Keywords: Sustainability, Higher Education, Online learning, COVID-19, Academic, Research.

Paper Session: Linguistics and Education

IMPACT OF COVID19 ON MEDIA EDUCATION IN OMAN: EFFECTIVENESS OF ONLINE LEARNING WITH THE DIGITAL MEDIA COURSES IN UTAS-SUR DURING COVID-19 Pranjal Medhi Department of Mass Communication, University of Technology and Applied Sciences-Sur Sultanate of Oman Email: pranjal.sur@cas.edu.om

ABSTRACT

The situation created by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) had compelled the higher education institutions in Oman and across the world to search for alternative methods of educating the students. The HEIs and the stakeholders strived to envisage alternative ways of delivering the lecture sessions to the students to minimize the impact caused by COVID 19. University of Technology and Applied Sciences-Sur too adopted alternative methods such as online teaching tools to compensate the lack of face-to-face learning environment. The study will try to explore the impact and effectiveness of these online learning tools used for Digital Media Major courses, which otherwise requires a face-to-face, direct practical learning approach in conventional classroom situation. Additionally, the study will try to investigate the challenges and issues faced by the students of digital media courses while learning through online mode implemented during the period.

Keywords: COVID-19, Online Learning Mode, Media Education, Digital Media Courses, Practical Courses, Oman.

Paper Session: Linguistics and Education

EXPLORING THE METHODOLOGICAL LANDSCAPE OF ONLINE LEARNING DURING COVID19: A SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS APPROACH Sepua Koketso, Mishra Naveen University of Technology and Applied Sciences-Sur, Sultanate of Oman Email(s): koketsos.sur@cas.edu.om1; NaveenM.sur@cas.edu.om2

ABSTRACT

In the backdrop of the pandemic, online learning has acquired centre stage of academic attention. The issues and challenges that always undermined its significance have become pressing issues overnight, particularly in the backdrop of COVID-19. While attempts have been made to address the myriad issues that hamper online learning, the various palpable, prevalent and emerging challenges that hinder its efficacy and acceptance are yet to be envisaged using a methodical framework that offers a holistic view into the scope of the problem. With an aim to envisage the universe of online learning on macro-micro-meso levels, this paper employs Situational Analysis as a methodological tool to capture the prevalent and emerging issues that demand multiperspectival attention. The significance of SA stems from the fact that a comprehensive analysis of existing and potential research desiderata, particularly in the backdrop of the pandemic, require zeitgeist approaches that are capable of delineating the complexities of the broader research landscape that have at once thrown open a host of challenges concerning online learning to practitioners, academics and policy makers alike. SA, as a methodological tool, not only helps offer an overview of the problem but also presents itself as a part of the solution in underpinning the evident and nuanced elements that may be overlooked. Using various mapping exercises offered by SA, this paper will sketch a broader overview of myriad actors, actants and situations emanating from the sociopolitical, socioeconomic, technological, pedagogical and academic conditions involving online learning. In that, it will map the challenges, opportunities and issues, both evident and elusive, that concern or influence the various actors concerning online learning. In so doing, the paper contributes to the existing discourse on online learning that has acquired pace and rigour with the onset of the pandemic.

Keywords: Situational Analysis; Oman; Covid19; Online Learning.

Poster Session: Information Technology (IT)

A SURVEY OF DIFFERENT TUNNELING SOFTWARE USED IN IMPROVING NETWORK SECURITY Athari AL-Shaaibi1, Vani Perumal2 University of Technology and Applied Sciences-Sur Email(s): 2017493097.sur@cas.edu.om1; vanip.sur@cas.edu.om2

ABSTRACT

Working from home has become a fundamental standard in this pandemic period. On tenth of April, the whole governorate in Oman was put under lockdown. The lockdown was extended twice and lifted in the month of May. During the lockdown all the organizations introduced working from home and it is even extended for some organizations, after the seizure of lockdown. It includes all the public and private sectors like Banks, Companies, etc. A new Threat post survey uncovered that 40% of organizations have seen an expansion in cyberattacks as they introduced working from home. Hence cyber security risk management plays an essential role in this pandemic. Private network tunnels taking an important part to improve network security. In networking, tunnels are used to set up efficient and secure connections between two different sites. Tunneling allows the movement of data from one network to another network. It includes permitting authenticated private network communications which will be sent across a public network communication by creating a Virtual Private Network. The public network communication explicitly depicts Internet. Tunneling is using encapsulation process to accomplish this task. It is also a way to move packets from one particular network to another network in a secured manner. In general, tunnels could be established through public networks, which is used to link a remote user. Many companies and organizations provide tunneling software for establishing secure connection. This paper provides a survey of those different tunneling software provided by different organizations. Each tunneling software is described in detail. It also analyzes the merits and demerits of those software. Along with this, the functionalities provided by such software are listed. The proprietary tunneling software and the Free and open source tunneling software (FOSS) are considered for this study. Different features of those software are compared. This study also pays attention to the cost-effective point. Different languages supported by these software are listed for boosting up the survey perspective. Requirements of each software for setting up the connection are also reviewed. Thus, the pandemic taught us the importance of secured network connection. It is also learnt that Virtual Private Network, which is used by tunneling is playing a vital role in improving network security.

Keywords: Network Security; Tunneling; Software; Review.

Poster Session: Information Technology (IT)

OPTIMIZATION OF SHELL AND TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER USING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK AND GENETIC ALGORITHM Esra Al Ruhaili, Santosh Walke1, Varghese M J, Lakkim Rao College of Engineering, National University of Science and Technology, Muscat Sultanate of Oman Email: santoshwalke@nu.edu.om1

ABSTRACT

Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) techniques have been widely used for thermal analysis and multi-objective optimization of heat exchanger systems across the world. This report investigates the applications of artificial neural networks (ANN) and GA for enhancing the efficiency of heat exchangers and thereby improving the quality of the production of crude oil. The world of artificial neural network is increasingly growing in the fields of engineering applications, and the examples of these applications are detections of faults, processing of signal, process modeling and control. The ANN technology is able to provide models that are able to solving complex nonlinear processes that can be widely used since the world is constantly developing their processes to being fully automated and the need for quick fixes to errors arising is very crucial for maintaining the flow of the processes. It is also worth noting that designing a heat exchanger with optimal specifications in a timely manner is cost effective and time efficient as well. The study will focus on the modeling and optimization aspect of the heat exchanger using artificial neural networks.

Keywords: Heat exchanger; Artificial Neural Network; Genetic Algorithm; Crude oil; Optimization; Modeling.

Poster Session: Information Technology (IT)

A SIGNIFICANT FEATURES VECTOR FOR NETWORK ATTACK BASED ON HYBRID FEATURES SELECTION TECHNIQUES Hanan Alkitani1, Ali Abdulrazzaq2, Alhamza Munther3* 1, 3*IT Department, University Technology and Applied Sciences - Sur Sultanate of Oman 2Department of Computer Science, College of Education for Pure Science University of Mosul, Mosul, Iraq Email(s): 2015493026.sur@cas.edu.om1; alhamza.sur@cas.edu.om3*

ABSTRACT

Feature Selection is one of most significant processes for preparing raw data before passing to classifier engine. It’s targeted to reduce dimensionality of data by selecting the most significant subset of features which helps to the classifiers to detect the attack traffic. The major challenge for features selection is how to select subset of features with less number, high quality and without negative impact on quality of decision (classification accuracy). Hence, in this paper we proposed a hybrid features selection technique by adopting three techniques namely: Fast Correlation-Based Filter, Significance feature evaluator and Chi-squared. The resulted features vector from each technique is u. The features with high votes will use to classify the dataset using two supervised traffic namely random forest and support vector machine. The accuracy of proposed method will be evaluated based on different benchmark datasets size compared with other techniques to detect the attacks.

Keywords: Data Mining, Machine Learning, Features Selection, Supervised Machine Learning.

Poster Session: Information Technology (IT)

DEEP LEARNING BASED FAKE NEWS DETECTION SYSTEM Al Shima Mohammed Said Al Nasseri1, Shurooq Said Khamis Al Abri2, Umar Sathic Ali3* University Technology and Applied Sciences - Ibri, Sultanate of Oman Email(s): 2016593048.ibr@cas.edu.om1; 2016593020.ibr@cas.edu.om2; umar.ibr@cas.edu.om3

ABSTRACT

Fake news have become a serious threat to the prosperity and security of a nation. Sultanate of Oman has recently witnessed many fake news stories such as the spreading false reports on the spread of pandemic. The problem of tackling the fake news has gained much attention in disseminating the news stories online. The popular social media platforms such as face book, and tweeter are being used to spread misleading or unreliable content in the form of news articles, videos and posts. As a result, the regulatory bodies in government and news agencies are in great distrust to overcome this issue with the help of software tools. These software tools can aid regulatory bodies to speed up the verification process for the content that has been circulated in social media. Motivated by the consequences and impact of such fake news on society and at individuals, this paper aims to propose a state-of-art fake news detection system for text-based data and evaluate its relative performance with other classifiers developed for this purpose.

Keywords: Fake News Detection; Deep Learning; Neural Network; Transfer Learning.

Poster Session: Information Technology (IT)

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF BIG DATA TECHNOLOGIES MAP REDUCE, PIG AND HIVE Shaima Al-Maskari1, K.Vijayalakshmi2, T.Shahida3 College of Engineering, National University of Science and Technology, Sultanate of Oman Email(s): shaima190679@nu.edu.om1; vijayalakshmi@nu.edu.om2; shahida@nu.edu.om3

ABSTRACT:

In recent years, Big Data has gained huge attention in the field of data analytics. An enormous amount of data is generated by different sources and this data is very complex and not easy to process, analyze and filter using traditional tools. Analyzing Big Data is required today and needs efficient ways and technologies to get meaningful insights from it. Every organization wants to analyze the behavior of its customers to stand in the market and to maintain its reputation by offering high quality services to its customers. Understanding customer behaviors is a biggest challenge that any organization faces. Customers’ behavior can be analyzed from the data shopping data contains details of the customers and their purchases which can be analyzed to understand customers’ behavior. Apache Hadoop is one of the best solutions for Big Data storage, processing and analysis. Hadoop framework allows distributed processing of huge data set in a distributed computing environment. The main component of Hadoop is Hadoop distributed file system that handles large data sets running on commodity hardware. The Hadoop ecosystem has many other tools such as MapReduce, Pig and Hive, etc. This paper evaluates and analyzes the performance of the MapReduce, Pig and Hive by analyzing an e-shop dataset. To analyze this data, a MapReduce program is written in Python and compared with Pig program written in Pig Latin. The performance analysis of MapReduce and Pig shows that pig consumes 40% less time compared to MapReduce but Pig consumes 71% more cumulative CPU time for a task. Moreover, MapReduce consumes 10.9 more physical space and 26.5 more virtual memory space for a task compared to Pig. Similarly the technologies Pig and Hive are compared with a Pig program and SQL queries written in Hive. The performance analysis of Pig and Hive shows that Hive consumed 55.9% less time to execute the task than Pig.

Keywords: Big data; Hadoop; Mapreduce; Pig; Hive

Poster Session: Information Technology (IT)

SDAS: IOT-BASED SILENT DEATH AVOIDANCE SYSTEM Ahmed Al-Amayreh1, Noof Qasim Al-Sheyadi2, Manal Mohammed Al-Moqbali3, Asma Ateeq Al-Klbani4 Department of Information Technology University of Technology and Applied Sciences-Suhar, Sultanate of Oman E-mail(S): ahmeda.soh@cas.edu.om1; s2016293076.soh@cas.edu.om2; s2014293047.soh@cas.edu.om3; s2014293069.soh@cas.edu.om4

ABSTRACT

Winter could be a very cold season in some countries, in which people are forced to use some type of heaters that keep the temperature moderate and warm. However, it has been found that using fuel heaters -gas or kerosene- in closed areas without take precautions could be dangerous and in some cases it may cause death. These dangers include: Fire or explosion, Burns, Indoor air pollution and Asphyxiation. Asphyxiation could be happening when fuel heaters are operated in a small room or in an inadequately ventilated area where the oxygen in the air could be reduced to a dangerous level. Lack of oxygen could lead to incomplete combustion of fuel and the production of carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas, so it is difficult to be detected in the air. Breathing the carbon monoxide gas over a short period of time with sufficient concentrations can kill silently without warning. Our project is aimed to build a safety system that can detect the level of oxygen gas and the level of harmful gases like carbon monoxide in the room and alert the people there. Our system will be designed not to alert people only but also to perform some actions to save people's lives and avoid the silent death. The system actions include: switching on a ventilation system, opening windows and doors and switching off the heater.

Keywords: Fuel Heater, SDAS, Arduino, Sensor, Mobile Application

Poster Session: Information Technology (IT)

THE BENEFIT OF INSTAGRAM FOR OMANI WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS Reem Ali Al Hashmi1, Uhoud Said Al Sarhani2, Roya OmranAl Abri3 1,2University of Technology and Applies Sciences-Sur, Sultanate of Oman 3University of Technology and Applies Sciences-Salalah, Sultanate of Oman 2016481110.sur@cas.edu.om, 2016481119.sur@cas.edu.om, 2018381032.sal@cas.edu.om

ABSTRACT

Oman long-term development strategy, “Vision 2020” has encouraged Omani women to become an entrepreneur and to contribute to Oman economic development. Social media has made it easier for women to work and become entrepreneurs even from home. Recent studies have shown that utilizing social media can help women to empower themselves in economic, social, political, and cultural sectors. In addition, it has shown that the most popular application for purchasing and searching for goods and services in Oman is Instagram (Times of Oman, 2019). Due to a large number of Omani women entrepreneurs, it has become significant to explore how they are benefiting from Instagram as an empowerment tool for them. The researchers will use the qualitative-interpretivist-exploratory methodology to gather and analyze the data. The data of the research will be collected from 10 Omani women entrepreneurs and their Instagram business accounts. The 10 women entrepreneurs will be chosen by convenience method. The researchers will bring a list of entrepreneurships from the ministry of commerce and industry, and then they will choose 10 businesses owned by Omani women that use Instagram accounts in their businesses. For gathering data, the researchers will use semi-structured one-to-one online synchronous interviews with the 10 women entrepreneurs. The in-depth interviews will help the researchers to investigate the benefit of Instagram on women empowerment and to investigate the reason behind using Instagram for their business. Moreover, the researchers will use qualitative content analysis of the Instagram business accounts of the 10 women entrepreneurs to investigate the activity and engagements of the entrepreneurs on their business accounts. It will include analyzing the types of posts (photos, texts, videos, links, stories), Instagram profiles (number of followers, number of posts, number of comments, and number of likes), and types of content such as products information. The researchers expect to find that Instagram is a resource for empowering Omani women. Also, it suggested that Omani women entrepreneurs are using their business Instagram accounts effectively, and this helps them to have easy and inexpensive access to the market. Moreover, it anticipated that women entrepreneurs would choose to use Instagram for their business because of its popularity in Oman and the features it provides such as sharing videos, photos, and texts and because of the easy contacts with their followers.

Keywords: Women entrepreneur; Vision 2020; Social media.

Poster Session: Information Technology (IT)

SURFACE MODIFIED CARBON NANOTUBES AS A HIGH ENERGY AND LOW COST SUPERCAPACITOR MATERIALS. Md Wais Ahmad*, Atiya Fatima, Mazhar Ul Islam Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, Dhofar University, Salalah, Sultanate of Oman E-mail: mwahmad@du.edu.om*

ABSTRACT

Supercapacitors have found their applications in devices requiring rapid charge/discharge cycles and are most commonly used in automobiles, elevators etc. They have gained considerable attention owing to their unique characteristics such as high-power capacity, prolonged cycle life and environmentally benign nature. In this study, we have synthesized a binder free supercapacitor electrode material based on nanostructured polyaniline (PANi) and carbon nanofibre (CNF) synergizing pseduocapacitance of PANi nanofibres and double layer capacitance of CNFs. Spectroscopic studies revealed the appearance of PANi on CNF surfaces interacting via non-bonding forces. The PANi/CNF hybrid mat-based electrode exhibited a maximum gravimetric capacitance of 482.15 F/g at 1 mA/cm2 and energy density of 59.4 Wh/kg, where the energy density was maintained to a value of 29.8 Wh/ kg at 7.5 kW/kg. These results provide an insightful approach towards the development of high energy density and lowcost supercapacitor materials with desired flexibility.

Keywords: Super capacitor; Carbon Nanofibres; Polyaniline; Electrode .

Poster Session: Biology and Biotechnology

SCREENING OF MEDIUM VARIABLES FOR ALKALINE PROTEASE PRODUCTION BY THERMOPHILIC BACTERIA USING PLAKETT-BURMAN STATISTICAL DESIGN Mohammed Taleb Sulaiman Saif Al-Shaqsi1, Avnish Pareek2, Mohd. Zafar3* Department of Applied Biotechnology, University of Technology & Applied Sciences -Sur Sultanate of Oman Email(s): 2014496019.sur@cas.edu.om1; avnishp.sur@cas.edu.om2; mohdz.sur@cas.edu.om3*

ABSTRACT

A thermophilic bacterial strain was isolated from the water sample collected form hot spring located at Ain-al Thawara, Rustaq, Oman using minimal synthetic medium. The isolated bacterial strain was preliminary examined for production of extracellular thermophilic alkaline protease at high temperature (~70°C) and pH (9.5). In this study, screening of synthetic medium components such as casein, starch, sucrose, glucose, and urea along with temperature and pH were carried out under statistical based Plakett-Burman design with aim to identify the significant variables having impact on extracellular alkaline protease production. Under PlakettBurman design, eight shake flask experiments with varying concentration of medium variables were conducted in two replications. The observed extracellular alkaline protease activity was varied from 24.65 to 33.95 APU/mL (Alkaline Protease Unit/mL) in Plakett-Burman design. Furthermore, the statistical analysis for test of significance (F-test) revealed that temperature has highly significant effect with F-value of 284.489 followed by pH, glucose, and urea have significant effect with F-value of 35.325, 25.386, and 25.250, respectively, on extracellular alkaline protease production. The significant variables of medium and physical environments were computed at two degree of freedom (d.f) and tabulated critical F-value at α = 0.05, i.e. 19.00. The identified significant medium and physical variables will be further optimized using suitable statistical design for maximum sustainable extracellular alkaline protease production.

Keywords: Hot Spring; Alkaline Protease; Plakett-Burman design; Thermophiles; Alkaliphiles.

Poster Session: Biology and Biotechnology

OPTIMIZATION OF ULTRASONICATION PROCESS VARIABLES FOR MUNICIPAL SLUDGE DISINTEGRATION & COD SOLUBILIZATION Walaa Subeit Yaqoot Al farsi1, Mohd. Zafar2*, Avnish Pareek3 Department of Applied Biotechnology, University of Technology and Applied Sciences -Sur Sultanate of Oman Email(s): 2014496070.sur@cas.edu.om1; mohdz.sur@cas.edu.om2* ; avnishp.sur@cas.edu.om3

ABSTRACT

The increasing amount of sludge generated from sewage treatment plants causing severely threat to environmental safety and human health. The available methods of sludge disposal, such as landfill disposal, incineration, and land application have potential environmental risks and costassociated factors. Thus, finding the sustainable, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly alternatives for sludge degradation/management is receiving more attention nowadays. In Sultanate of Oman, more than 350 WWTPs related to government, private sector and individual owners are distributed across different Wilayat and generated huge amount of waste activated sludge (WAS) after treatment of wastewater. This study focused the optimization of ultrasonic treatment parameters for sludge disintegration and chemical oxygen demand (COD) solubilization that can be further utilized for enhanced sustainable biogas production through anaerobic process. In this study, 17 experiments of ultrasonic treatment of WAS were conducted using Q500 Sonicator (QSonica, USA) at varying amplitude (%) and time (min) at different pH under statistical Box-Behnken design. The experimental data (COD solubilization) of these experiments were fitted well by response surface quadratic model with statistical constants: R2, 0.77; Std. Dev., 1.47; and CV, 24.47. Besides, a regression model based on Box-Behnken design of experiments was developed to predict the COD solubilization (i.e., % increase in COD) as a function of different amplitude (%) with varying time (min) with different pH of sludge solution. Based on the model F- and pvalues from Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), the main effect of amplitude (%) at different pH of WAS observed significant than interaction and square effects of these variables. The highest COD solubilization of 10.17 g/L was reported at 60% amplitude of ultrasonication process for 40 mins at 8.92 pH of WAS. Thus, it can be concluded that the optimized cost-effective and energy-efficient ultrasonication process could promoted a sustainable way of sludge-disintegration, which can further reduce the environmental risk and make WAS to be more readily usable.

Keywords: Sludge disintegration; Ultrasound treatment; COD solubilization; Box-Behnken design, Optimization.

Poster Session: Biology and Biotechnology

OPTIMIZATION OF NITROGEN REMOVAL FROM NATURAL GAS PROCESSING FACILITY OF OMAN NORTH GAS FIELD Shuruq Said Al Hashmi1, Lakkimsetty Nageswara Rao2*, Varghese M.J.3, Ahmed Al Azizi4 Santosh Walke5 1, 2,3,5College of Engineering, National University of Science and Technology, Sultanate of Oman 4OMN Engineering Team Leader, Al Athaybah, Muscat Email(s): shuruq170326@cceoman.net1; nageswararao@nu.edu.om2*; varghese@nu.edu.om3; Ahmed_Al_Azizi@oxy.com4; santoshwalke@nu.edu.om5

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to investigate the performance of employing the Nitrogen removal to treat Natural gas from Oman North Gas Filed, evaluate the performance of employing this process by a central composite design (CCD) with response surface methodology (RSM) and evaluate the relationships among operating variables such as pressure, temperature and flow rate to identify the optimum operating conditions. Quadratic models prove to be significant with very low probabilities (<0.0001) for the following two responses: Nitrogen Removal % in Production Gas and Reject gas in Flare Gas. Pressure and Flow Rate are the two main factors that improved the Nitrogen Removal % and Reject gas in Flare Gas removal while Temperature is the actual factor. The optimum conditions are a Pressure (750 psig), Temperature (125 F), Flow Rate (80 MMSCFD) in this method. Nitrogen Removal % and Reject gas in Flare Gas removal rates are 5.11 % and 8.522 %, respectively. Using Nitrogen Recovery Unit and treating the Natural Gas with minimum Flow Rate input make this method to be a unique treatment process for Natural Gas Processing.

Keywords: Natural Gas; Nitrogen Gas; Nitrogen Recovery Unit; Response surface methodology (RSM).

Poster Session: Biology and Biotechnology

PRODUCTION OF CALCIUM CARBONATE WITH 100 TPD CAPACITY Zubaida Ahmed Alabdali1*, Santosh Walke2 College of Engineering, National University of Science and Technology, Muscat Sultanate of Oman Email(s): zubaida150051@nu.edu.om1*; santoshwalke@nu.edu.om2

ABSTRACT

Calcium carbonate is wide world used in food manufacturing, health production, agriculture, construction industry and other applications. Calcium carbonate can be found in various shapes as it can be found as a rock in naturally or can be extracted from shells of marine life, snails, pearls, eggshells and coal balls. The main aim of this work is to study the process of manufacturing calcium carbonate in the industries with a capacity of 100 tons per day which is 320,000 ton per year and to design the major equipment’s used in calcium carbonate process plant. As there are about 28 marble factories in Oman the best location for the plant was found to be in Muscat, Al- Rusyl industrial area. In this paper, the material balance of each equipment and overall material balance was found. Moreover, the energy balance was studded for individual process and as overall energy balance. Both energy balance and material balance were approved and simulated by using DWSIM software. A shell and tube heat exchanger were designed with 62 numbers of tubes, and the actual cross section area need for the heat transfer was found as 43.25 m2. This paper state that the investment needs to run the business is about 925,000 OMR and the investment will be back after 4 years and 4 months. This paper shows that the product calcium carbonate is not harmful chemical from the material safety data sheet, but it may cause irritation when it targeted the eye and the skin. And finally, it concludes with the recommendation and future work for calcium carbonate plant.

Keywords: Calcium carbonate; Carbon dioxide; Energy Balance; Material Balance; Plant Location.

Poster Session: Biology and Biotechnology

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS OF INAPPROPRIATE USE OF DRINKING WATER BOTTLES Albaraa Al Mahruqi1* , Hameed Sulaiman2 Biology Department, Sultan Qaboos University Sultanate of Oman Email(s): s115631@student.squ.edu.om1*; hameed@squ.edu.om2

ABSTRACT

Frequent consumption of water is necessary in hot and humid climatic regions like Oman in order to maintain the body’s daily water requirements. Bottled water is used by many for convenience who are out for the work, commuting or on travel. However, the inappropriate use of bottled water might lead to public health concern due to various factors especially exposing to light and temperature in real life setting. The polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is predominantly used for bottling water. Deterioration of water quality might happen due to many factors that affect primarily water composition and substance release into the water through PET degradation. For example, it is common that people leave the water bottles in vehicles. The temperature and storage time are critical that might influence the drinking water quality especially in the summer. This paper will discuss the inappropriate practices, major environmental health concerns and the objective of the proposed study on the exposure experiment.

Keywords: Polyethylene terephthalate (PET); Bottled water; Environmental health.

Poster Session: Biology and Biotechnology

PROCESS PLANT DESIGN FOR PRODUCTION OF ETHYLENE GLYCOL WITH CAPACITY 1000 TON/YEAR Radhiya Al-Hinai1*, Dr. Santosh Walke2 College of Engineering, National University of Science and Technology, Muscat Sultanate of Oman Email(s): radhiya150242@nu.edu.om1*; santoshwalke@nu.edu.om2

ABSTRACT

Ethylene glycol is currently used in many industrial and commercial applications, including antifreeze and coolant. Ethylene glycol helps prevent the freezing of your car engine in winter and serves as a coolant in the summer to minimize overheating. Due to the increase, the demand for ethylene glycol in the industries they supply of ethylene glycol was less in Oman, why this project highlighted the design of the plant for the production of ethylene glycol with higher capacity (1000 TPY). Based on a set of research and literature reviews, the best process was chosen which was the hydrolysis of ethylene oxide, because as this process is more economical than the other process also it is the most widely used method. The other advantage of this method was about recycling of waste. In this process, both ethylene oxide and glycol can be produced together. As will as material and energy balance was performed for 1000 TPY capacity by using balance equations, the distillation column was designed. The plant cost and investment were calculated. Moreover, the simulation plant was done by using aspen Hysys software. Given the importance of health and safety for a plant worker, the risk of the main material, and how to prevent it was discussed. Also, a location plant was chosen based on some of the effects. Finally, it concluded by the conclusion and future work for the developing plant.

Keywords: Ethylene Glycol; Plant Design; Hydrolysis; Material Balance; Energy Balance; Aspen Hysys.

Poster Session: Biology and Biotechnology

PRODUCTION OF ACTIVATED CARBON FROM WASTE FOOD Zuwaina Ali Nasser Alshamsi1*, Santosh Walke2 College of Engineering, National University of Science and Technology, Muscat Sultanate of Oman Email(s): zuwaina150165@nu.edu.om1*; santoshwalke@nu.edu.om2

ABSTRACT

Environmental problems facing the mother Earth’s are increasing, including air pollution, waste disposal, global warming, climate change, acid rain, ozone layer depletion, water pollution and many more affect every human, animal and nation on this planet. One of the most important causes of environmental degradation and human health is the consumption of fossil fuels and waste disposal. The activated carbon production system was created by carbonization activation to reduce these problems. Moreover, activated carbon, carbon produced from carbonaceous source substances includes coals, coconut shells, waste food and woods. Activated carbon is widely used for Sewage treatment, purification of exhaust gas, Gas filter, Solvent recovery, H 2S and other waste gases purification, Tooth whitening, Hangover prevention and Skin treatment. In the economic viewpoint, recycling materials from waste streams reduces the consumption of natural resources and the cost of disposal, like landfill and incineration. Where lead the production of alternating current from wood wastes in sustainably and positive way on the protection of the natural environment. The aim of this project is Produce active carbon by thermal and chemical method from the specific type of food waste (Banana Peels, Orange Peels, Potato Peels and Sun Husks) having large amount of carbon. Activated carbon is capable of adsorbing undesirable components from gases, which makes it incredibly valuable and friendly of environment. According to literature review, it is anticipated to get activated carbon having properties near to other sources activated carbons which are suitable in different application.

Keywords: Activated Carbon; Waste Food; Adsorption; Chemical Activation; sical Activation."

Poster Session: Biology and Biotechnology

PREPARATION OF CALCIUM FROM NATURAL RESOURCES USING EXTRACTION METHOD Nouf Al Yaqoubi1*, Mahra Al Balushi2, Khairi Al Faraj3, Santosh Walke4 College of Engineering, National University of Science and Technology, Muscat Sultanate of Oman Email(s): nawf160117@nu.edu.om1*; mahra150132@nu.edu.om2; khairi170248@nu.edu.om3; santoshwalke@nu.edu.om4

ABSTRACT

The research problem identified is to utilize the wastage of natural resources that can be actually used in the production of calcium oxide. The objective of the project is to show the amount of calcium present in these natural resources, so the determination of a superior natural resource is found and hence an action plan to be taken to conserve this valuable resource. The proposed solution includes, to find an alternative for electrolysis in the extraction of calcium oxide from calcium carbonate present in the samples and then conclude by evaluating the amount of calcium present in each sample and figuring out which of the samples is more efficient for use. If not at all possible, then electrolysis will be used to do the extraction, but the second part of the plan will be put in action. The expected outcome for the second part of the project’s plan, is that the eggshell will be more efficient when it comes to the amount of calcium present in it and the availability of the resource. The project seeks a global environmental enhancement by the decrease in the amount of natural useful resources to be thrown to waste and it is vital for this study to be conducted now because of the rising prices of unnatural resources all over the world. The application of the topic varies from country to country, but the most well-known need for calcium is in the agricultural chemical industries. The main 3 recycled natural resources used for the extraction of calcium oxide from calcium carbonate using the electrolysis method are eggshells, squid backbone and prawn shells.

Keywords: Calcium oxide; Calcium carbonate; Eggshell; Squid backbone; Prawn shells, Extraction; Electrolysis; Recycling.

Poster Session: Biology and Biotechnology

OPTIMIZATION THE COMPOSITION OF MULTI BIO WASTE EMPLOYING FOR WASTEWATER TREATMENT Ahmmed Saadi Ibrahim1* , Mazoon Rashid ALMajarafi2 , Alyaa Mohammed Tabook3 , Noor Mohammed Qahoor4 Chemical Engineering Department, Dhofar University, Salalah Sultanate of Oman Email(s): ahmadsaadi47@yahoo.com1*; M201501069@du.edu.om2; A201500971@du.edu.om3; nqahoor@du.edu.om4

ABSTRACT

This paper represents, to use bio- waste of palm fronds and coconut to produce modified activated carbon. Depending on three treatments like physical treatment of coconut and palm fronds by placing them in the oven at 500 oC as well as chemical treatment using three types of solvents (acetone, methanol and benzene) then preparing 5 experiments to treat with different proportions, which is in the first experiment 100% palm fronds, the second 100% coconut, the third 50% palm fronds, 50% coconut palms and the fourth 75% palm fronds 25% coconut and the fifth 90% palm fronds 10%. Depending on the results as a basic data to make linear programming optimize method to reach to the optimum value of modified activated carbon of palm shell and coconut are equal (54 %) and (46 %) respectively to produce high quality outcomes.

Keywords: Optimization; Bio-waste; Wastewater; Solvents.

Poster Session: Biology and Biotechnology

BREEDING OF COWPEA (Vigna unguiculata L.) FOR YIELD TRAITS Zaki E. M. Haitham1,2* , Mohamed H. Ayat3, Ezzat S. Asmaa4 , Abdel Ati Y. Yossef5 1,3,4,5Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Minia University, El-Minia, 61517, Egypt 2*Department of Applied Biotechnology, University of Technology and Applied Science-Sur Sultanate of Oman Email(s): haithamz.sur@cas.edu.om1,2*; ayat.hassan956@gmail.com3; asmaasalah1986@yahoo.com4; h_alhame@yahoo.com5

ABSTRACT

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) is deemed to be among the most valuable vegetable crops and family of Leguminosae. In addition to the existence of cowpea as food and feed, it has a significant role in sustainable agriculture due to its potential to preserve soil fertility for the success of other rotational crops. The key goal of current research is to breed new cowpea highyield and high-quality hybrids. This experiment was carried out during the three summer seasons of the years 2018, 2019 and 2020. Our breeding program consists of 28 distinct cowpea genotypes with different cytological and morphological characteristics, out of which 5 potential parents were selected for this study. Successful hybridization was accomplished using Cream 7, Colossus and Dokki 331 genotypes as female parents and Asian Cowpea and Commercial-1 genotypes as male parents. Six hybrids were developed by crosses: Cream7 x Asian Cowpea, Cream7 x Commercial-1, Dokki 331 x Asian Cowpea, Dokki 331 x Commercial-1, Colossus x Asian Cowpea and Colossus x Commercial-1. F1 hybrid seeds were cultivated to produce viable second-generation seeds (F2). F1 of Colossus x Commercial-1 hybrid reported the highest pod length (12.6 cm), stem width (2 cm), number of seeds/pod (11 seeds/pod) and seeds weight/pod (2 g) however, F1 of Dokki 331 x Asian Cowpea hybrid produced the highest values of plant height (234 cm) and F1 of Cream7 x Asian Cowpea hybrid gave the lowest value of plant height (122.7 cm), stem width (0.7 cm), number of peduncle (30.1 cm) and pod length (6.3 cm). In the F2 generation, hybrids; Dokki 331 x Asian cowpea, Cream7 x Asian Cowpea and Colossus x Asian Cowpea recorded the maximum pod length 21 cm, 19.6 cm and 19.4 cm, respectively compared to F2 of Dokki 331 x Commercial-1 which produced the minimum pod length (13.3 cm). Dokki 331 x Asian Cowpea was superior and recorded the highest values of number of seeds/pod, seeds weight/ pod and seed length. Heritability values revealed significant variations between hybrids where the highest values for the Cream 7 x Commercial-1 hybrid were found in the F1 generation. All hybrids yielded major variations in Phenotypic and Genotypic Coefficient of Variation, Genetic Advance (GAM%) which gave low, medium and high values in the F1 and F2 generations.

Keywords: Cowpea, Hybrids, Heritability, Genetic Advance (GAM%), Genetic Coefficient of Variation, Yield traits

Poster Session: Biology and Biotechnology

ALLEVIATION OF ADVERSE EFFECTS OF SALINITY STRESS IN DIPLOID AND TETRAPLOID POTATO GENOTYPES (Solanum spp.) BY USING OSMOREGULATORS Zaki E. M. Haitham1,2*, AlMaawali Taima3, AlMaamari Fatma4, AlSulaimi Layali5 , AlHashmi Noha6, AlHinai Rudaina7, AlBahri Bihar8, ALArimi Muna9 *1, 3,4,5,6,7,8,9Department of Applied Biotechnology, University of Technology and Applied Science -Sur, Sultanate of Oman 2Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Minia University, El-Minia, 61517, Egypt Email(s): haithamz.sur@cas.edu.om1,2*; 2016496035.sur@cas.edu.om3; 2016496025.sur@cas.edu.om4; 2016496039.sur@cas.edu.om5; 2016496044.sur@cas.edu.om6; 2016496015.sur@cas.edu.om7; 2016496009.sur@cas.edu.om8; 2016496032.sur@cas.edu.om9

ABSTRACT

Over the past few years, shifts in the climate have had an impact worldwide, including the Sultanate of Oman, which is rising population density and diminishing agricultural land. This case allows farmers to extend onto farming-based land by widening the desert to satisfy food requirements. However, efficiency declined by more than 50% due to climate-resilient effects such as high temperatures, water scarcity, heavy metals, oxidative stress and salt levels. Salt flows contribute to the increased salinization of arable land in many arid and semi-arid regions. Farmers must either abandon salt-affected soils, cultivate tolerant genotypes or use an agronomic approach to alleviate the symptoms of salt stress. In Vitro studies were performed to research the impact of osmoregulators; ascorbic acid at 100 mg L−1, proline at 200 mg L−1 and glycine betaine at 400 mg L−1 to mitigate the harmful effects of salinity stress (0.0, 100, 200 and 300 mmol L−1 NaCl) on the wild diploid potato; Solanum chacoense (chc), six clones and commercial tetraploid potato; Solanum tuberosum (tubr), six genotypes. Plantlets were developed at the Department of Horticulture, Fac. of Agric., Minia Univ., Egypt. The subcultures were maintained at the Department of Applied Biotechnology, University of Technology and Applied Science-Sur, Oman. The characteristics of growth, physiology and potato mini-tubers yield were evaluated under salinity stress with and without osmoregulators. Results revealed that growth parameters significantly decreased with increasing salinity levels (300 mmol L−1 NaCl). In general, wild diploid potato (chc) showed more tolerance compared to tetraploid potato (tubr). Salinity significantly reduced the mass fresh weight of roots, mini-tubers yield and diminished K content while increasing contents of Na and Cl. Under salt stress but with applied osmoregulators, these adverse consequences were relieved. With osmoregulators, the plantlet water content % and K content showed significant increasing although the contents of Na and Cl were declined. In general, glycine betaine followed by ascorbic acid and exogenously applied proline could completely or partly reverse the adverse impact of salinity stress on potato growth and yield. These findings will address the vision of Oman 2040 to stimulate investment, especially in the agricultural sector, in order to achieve local food security. The implementation of the agronomic approach is linked to the perception of increasing the productivity of vegetable crops, prolonging production seasons and improving efficiency in a sustainable and clean direction and rationalizing the usage of natural resources.

Keywords: Salinity stress, diploid and tetraploid potato, osmoregulators, morphological and physiological characteristics

Poster Session: Biology and Biotechnology

DEVELOPMENT OF BACTERIAL CELLULOSE BASED COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS FROM WASTE FOOD RESOURCES Mazhar Ul Islam*, Sumayia Yasir, Atiya Fatima, Md. Wasi Ahmad Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, Dhofar University, Salalah, Sultanate of Oman Email(s): mulislam@du.edu.om* ; tariqm@du.edu.om; mwahmad@du.edu.om

ABSTRACT

Wastage of food materials has been reached to alarming stage considering its economic and environmental prospects. An average 1/3 of food is wasted worldwide, the recycling and proper utilization of which can resolve several hazards. Biomaterials are playing important role in various fields of life and have been utilized in numerous applications. Among all, biopolymer including bacterial cellulose (BC) is very important class based on its applications in medical fields. Their biodegradability, non-toxic nature and easy handling further increase their importance. To date themain problem associated with commercialization and extended applications their high cost. Common BC synthetic strategy involve expensive raw materials and processing techniques. Aim of this study was to synthesize bacterial cellulose from locally available cheap and waste food resources. Fruit juices and waste have the potentials to be used for producing bio products and biofuels. Herein, we aimed to utilize the juices of fruits and vegetables along with expired products for BC production. Several fruits and vegetables were collected from local market, sterilized, filtered and utilized as media for BC production. BC production was successfully observed from all samples at small lab level that was later scaled up for producing large sheets of BC. The produced BC sheets were modified with certain simple materials to produce economically important commercial products including; bags, key chains, clothes, facial masks etc. Structural analysis revealed 3D fibrous structure and porous geometry that could lead to the incorporation of pharmaceutical products for drug delivery and medical applications.

Keywords: Waste food, Bioprocessing, Bacterial Cellulose, Bioproduct, Future industry.

Poster Session: Biology and Biotechnology

EXTRACTION OF THE PROTEIN CONTENT FROM THE GREEN MICROALGAE USING CENTRIFUGATION & ULTRAFILTRATION A. Alduwaiki1*, Santosh Walke2

College of Engineering, National University of Science and Technology, Muscat Sultanate of Oman Email(s): alzahraa150030@nu.edu.om1*; santoshwalke@nu.edu.om2

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to extract protein content from the green microalgae using centrifugation and ultrafiltration. Study the optimum condition of microalgae Cultivation, study the extraction of protein from dried microalgae powder using mechanical extraction process and analyze the optimum operating parameter for protein extraction are project objectives. The culture process carried out in two stages. The growth was observed clearly after 11 days. Also, after 30 days, an increase in microalgae was observed with brown impurities (dead microalgae) in the first cultivation. Other cultivation, an increase in growth observed one day after the start of the culture process. After the fourth day, the growth of cells slowed and subjected to ageing. On the eighth day was observed that the culture changed its color and became dark brown (microalgae death). It found that adjusting the system by supplying the air pump to a direct supply of carbon dioxide increased the speed of growth. In this new system, microalgae exposure to premature ageing caused by nutrient depletion. Continuous and enough supply of nutrients with the system connected to the raw carbon dioxide pump without any mixture of gases can produce better results and are optimum conditions for microalgae cultivation. The microalgae suspensions centrifuged, and time parameter tested. Then the protein concentration was measured using a standard curve. Suitable duration of cell disruption by centrifugation increasing the concentration of the released protein in all solvents. The concentration of protein is highest at 5000 RPM than the concentration of protein at 1000 RPM at time 3 minutes. An ultrafiltration process was applied to remove impurities and chlorophyll. A qualitative evaluation carried out to remove chlorophyll (based on the color of permeation). So, indicating the removal of chlorophyll ultimately. Also, it found that the alkaline pH increases the average protein permeability fluxes.

Keywords: Microalgae; Protein; Cell Disruption; Centrifugation; Ultrafiltration.

Poster Session: Biology and Biotechnology

EXTRACTION OF BIO-OIL FROM OMANI DATE SEEDS BY USING CONVENTIONAL EXTRACTION PROCESS AND ACOUSTIC CAVITATION Jehad Al Shukaili1*, Santosh Walke2 College of Engineering, National University of Science and Technology, Muscat Sultanate of Oman Email(s): jehad150687@nu.edu.om1*; santoshwalke@nu.edu.om2

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to study the production of bio-oil from date palm seeds with help of acoustic cavitation. The date seed represents about 10–15% of the dating weight where Date Seeds contain carbohydrates, dietary fiber, fat, calcium, and protein. Instead of throwing them, it is used as an animal feed ingredient after soaking and the powder produced from Date seeds can be used as non-caffeinated coffee by the Arabs. In addition, it has many health benefits for skin and hair also it is a good source of antioxidants in order to meet consumer’s requirements. Many literature review has been studied and analyzed where it showed that the quality of the produced oil depends on the pretreatment of Date Seeds and then depends on the extraction method as the vital oil was extracted from the date seeds in several ways, including the most common extraction The method is Soxhlet extraction and other extraction methods are cavitation Acoustic, Microwave extraction, Supercritical extraction, Cold press extraction, Supercritical extraction, and many studies have been conducted on extraction methods and possible temperature in addition to the size of the powder, type of solvent and solutions that give high quality in production. The bio-oil was extracted from Omani Date Seeds by using Acoustic Cavitation, through use ultra-sonication cleaning bath for Ultrasonic Assisted extraction under standard conditions where the Ultrasound waves cause mechanical induction, resulting in tiny bubbles that break down hard when they reach the critical point, causing a cavity in the nucleus of dates. Low-frequency and high-power ultrasound creates the conditions for vital oil to be extracted quickly and with high efficiency Where the extracted oil was analyzed using the ICPOES device for metal detection in date seed oil and GC-FID for fatty acid analysis, and the results obtained will be compared with the method of Soxhlet extraction.

Keywords: Date Seed; Date Palm; Bio-Oil; Bio-Wastes; Seed Powder; Acoustic Cavitation; Soxhlet Extraction.

Poster Session: Biology and Biotechnology

WASTEWATER TREATMENT USING PROTOTYPE WETLAND MODEL IN UTASSHINAS Abdullah A Salim Al-Mammari1*, Abir Suweilem Sultan Al Maqbali2 , Maria Rajesh A3 University of Technology and applied Sciences-Shinas, Sultanate of Oman Email(s): 62j16326@shct.edu.om1*; 62j16140@shct.edu.om2; Rajesh.Amaladhas@shct.edu.om3

ABSTRACT

The project reviews an environmentally friendly technology for treating wastewater by natural method in UTAS - Shinas, which is the constructed wetland. Constructed wetland are designed ecosystem which utilizes both complex and ordinary interactions between supporting media, macrophytes, and microorganisms to treat almost all types of wastewater. Constructed wetland system can effectively treat multiple contaminants in secondary and tertiary wastewater with less production of sludge. They also have the advantages of providing an ecologically friendly approach such as wildlife habitat, aquaculture, groundwater recharge, flood control, recreational uses, and add aesthetic value, with low energy demand and operational cost. Therefore, they are a viable alternative to conventional wastewater treatment systems. In constructed wetland system plants, microorganisms, substrate media and different flow types play important roles in the removal of pollutants from the wastewater. However, microorganisms play the most crucial role in the transformation and mineralization of nutrients and organic pollutants. The treated water from wetland system can be reused in many uses, such as irrigation, showering, washing, in industries, etc.

Keywords: Constructed Wetland Model, Natural method, wastewater treatment, Sustainable technology.

Poster Session: Biology and Biotechnology

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BIOFUEL PRODUCTION FROM WASTE CORN AND SUNFLOWER OIL Hebat Alla Al Hashmia1, Taif AL Ghassani2, Arwa Qalhati3, Ganesh N Patil4 Chemical Engineering, College of engineering, National University of Science and Technology, Muscat, sultanate of Oman Email(s): hebatalla160220@nu.edu.om1; taif160233@nu.edu.om2; arwa160196@nu.edu.om3; ganeshpatil@nu.edu.om4

ABSTRACT

The increase of virgin vegetable oil price has contributed the problems to the biofuel manufacturing industry. Waste cooking oil recycling, with the pyrolysis and catalytic cracking process is used to transform waste cooking oil into biofuels. This study investigates the production of biodiesel by using waste sunflower and corn oil. Various methods were compared for waste oil conversion to biofuel. Besides, there is a comparison between the produced biodiesel by us with the biodiesel available in the market. Moreover, there is a design of a reactor for transesterification process using the Aspen Hysys program. Addition of waste cooking oil to alcohol in the presence of alkali catalyst will speed up the reaction perfectly with high yield conversion and reaction rates. In the transesterification process, the alkali catalyst will be mixed with alcohol, then the waste oil will be heated to a certain temperature. After that, the mixture of alcohol and catalyst will be added to the heated oil and mix for some time. Then it will be kept to be settled, two layers will be produced, the upper layer is the biodiesel and the below is the glycerol. The glycerol will be removed, and biodiesel will be ready. An analysis is done by the group which shows that the sunflower oil gives higher yield than corn oil. The result shows that Zeolitic tuff-based catalyst and Nano calcium oxide catalyst give the best production of biofuel by the rate of 100% at 50 _and 96% at 50 _respectively. Calcium oxide Nano-catalyst ℃ ℃ takes only 90 minutes to speed up the reaction and this is considered as a less reaction time compared to Zeolitic tuff-based catalyst where 2 hours were taken to get the biodiesel product.

Keywords: Transesterification; Sunflower Oil; Corn Oil; Zeolitic tuff-based catalyst; Nano calcium oxide catalyst; Methanol.