Research Profiles

Attaining self-sufficiency in fresh food item production is a long-term process. Qatar needs to prepare its institutions, researchers, and a new generation of students (especially Qatari students who are the future of Qatar) to step into this noble cause. Therefore, the significance of this project becomes vital since this project also aims at providing training and research capacity building for Qatari students to contribute to the national initiatives of attaining food security in the country. The specific objectives include 1) Determining artificial light requirements for various growth stages of the major vegetable crops grown in Qatari greenhouses, 2) Assessing suitable sources for greenhouse artificial supplemental lights; LED (light-emitting diode) lights and/or HPS (high-pressure sodium) lamps, 3) Designing and developing an interactive and efficient decision support system for major vegetable crops grown in Qatari greenhouses, and 4) Providing training and research capacity building for Qatari students to contribute to the national initiatives of attaining food security in the country.

A detailed study is proposed to explore the options for climate-smart farming in Qatar to meet its food security and sustainability targets as a part of the National Food Security Program and Qatar’s National Vision 2030. The proposed project illustrates: I) Precision soil conservation for improving soil health by introducing bio-solids and organic amendments, II) Developing and applying artificial intelligence-based machine vision technologies to identify plant pests (diseases) in real-time for targeted applications of agrochemicals, III) Introduce sustainable sensor-based smart irrigation systems to optimize quantity and timing of water allocation for crop production, IV) Drones-assisted monitoring and mapping of plants and soil health for early warning and field terrain to attain sustainable resource allocation, and V) Promoting circular bio-economy and performing life cycle analysis of wastes to improve current agriculture management practices.

Objectives of the project are to i) Utilize the existing research infrastructure at the UDST and suggest improvements in agricultural experimentation at UDST, and ii) Study the effects of environmental control conditions, nutrient source types, and irrigation regimes on the growth of tomatoes and resultant dynamics of water and nutrients in the soil, and iii) Conduct capacity building of the participating undergraduate students about applied research within available resources.

The specific objectives are to i) Explore ingenuities in the cultivation of selected vegetables in the context of food security in Qatar, ii) Evaluate greenhouse feasibility for adaptation to Qatar’s harsh climate to meet Qatar’s food security targets, iii) Collect, organize, and analyze data from the cooperating industry’s existing greenhouse(s) and ongoing cultivation of vegetable crop(s) crucial to Qatar, and iv) Conduct capacity building of the participating undergraduate students and knowledge transfer to Qatar’s greenhouse operators for the efficient functioning of greenhouse control systems.

The research study explores current status and best practices for integration of FinTech technologies in Qatar’s economy. It engages a couple of high school students in basic applied research. The aim of the study is to understand and describe current situation in Qatar for educational offering at all levels and in all forms, and targeting the development of local talent for FinTech. Eventually, the study can suggest what may work for Qatar, considering what methods and programs of education are currently adopted by nations that are leading in FinTech, such as the United States (Satchel, 2021). The question that is at the core of the study is: What are the methods and programs that are and could be offered for the development and retention of Fintech talent in Qatar?

Semi-structured, interview with experts is the main research method. The target population of the interviews includes two categories of individuals: a) practitioners who are engaged in FinTech entities in different roles such as: data scientist, blockchain developer, cybersecurity programmer, compliance expert, financial analyst, and finance manager; and b) educators who are engaged in the research and/or educational programs related to FinTech, such as: trainers in incubators and bootcamps, and university professors running academic programs.

Recycling is an important and crucial part of waste management that has many benefits, such as: combating climate change, reducing pollution levels and waste, increased reuse and repurpose of resources and goods. Recycling is vital, as it “conserves natural resources such as timber, water and minerals, increases economic security by tapping a domestic source of materials, prevents pollution by reducing the need to collect new raw materials and saves energy” (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2021).

The aim of the study is to understand and describe current situation and, eventually, suggest a model for best practices that should be implemented in Qatar, to address the recycling needs in schools and other educational institutions. The question that is at the core of the study is: What are the ways to improve current practices of recycling at schools in Qatar, especially regarding collection and transportation to recycling facilities? The target population of the survey are school administrators who have a role in facilities management at schools in Qatar, such as: facility manager, school operations manager, school principal, catering operations, and so on.

The study builds the foundation for, and is the first one in a research agenda with a broader scope – adoption and use of business simulations for strategic marketing and sales education in Qatar and the Gulf region.

One of most common challenges faced by instructors is to gain and keep the attention, the interest and the motivation of students over the duration of classroom activities. Accordingly, our instructors spend considerable effort and resources to identify and deploy educational and learning tools and techniques that can address this challenge.

Games and web-based applications are part of the daily life for our students, and the acceptance and familiarity can work in favour of instructors who can bring into the classroom business games. Ultimately, business games and simulations can enhance the learning/educational experience and facilitate the meeting of range of educational objectives.
 

The aim of this project was to design, built and test a low-cost locally manufactured occupancy sensor for single door spaces such as offices and bathrooms. This occupancy sensor detects the occupancy/non –occupancy with humans in living spaces with only one door access, such as office rooms or bathrooms. Such sensor enables the automatic control of light or air condition loads. Typical occupancy sensors on the market are not very reliable for automatically controlling the light loads in single offices and bathrooms, as they operate on the principle of motion detection.

One project team was assembled with students and instructors with engineering and business background. Business student conducted a preliminary market research. The focus was on identifying similar, competitive products in the market, and define the price range for similar products (motion sensors). The secondary data collected helped to determine a competitive price point for the newly designed motion sensor.

"Many emerging cyber physical systems are composed of a large number of mobile intelligent agents. In these systems, each agent travels along a trajectory that is often not pre-determined. At any time interval, new agents might appear in the system, and some existing agents might disappear. Additionally, these agents are normally capable of communicating with each other or outside stations using wireless communications. We refer to these systems as Trajectory-Based Cyber-Physical Networks (TCN). Examples of such systems are abundant and range from future generations of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) to networks of human or robot agents that are deployed in an area to perform missions such as disaster recovery. The goal of this research is (1) to develop a unifying theory called ""Trajectory Process Theory"" for TCNs, and (2) to design, implement, and test two specific real-life TCNs based on the proposed theory.
This research has two main thrusts: Thrust 1 builds the foundations of Trajectory Process Theory. Thrust 2 applies the theory to UAS technologies, specifically aerial base stations and unmanned aircraft delivery systems. This research brings together concepts from probability theory, stochastic geometry, wireless networks, and transportation engineering. The proposed research can directly impact the design of important emerging real life systems such as UASs. Educational and outreach activities including workshops for underrepresented groups as well as creating open educational content are undertaken."

Weather/climatic conditions affect the agricultural productivity and irrigation planning. This project is aimed at design and development of a low-cost solar powered weather station solution. This weather station will be equipped with sensors to measure atmospheric conditions like temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction. With embedded Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity, the proposed weather station will upload the collected real time data to IoT cloud ad can be used for further analysis.  The user can access the information uploaded by the system anywhere from the world with the help on mobile app or web link on laptop/desktop. These weather stations will be deployed at strategic locations across Qatar for precision farming and agriculture. Potential results of these deployments will improve irrigation and agricultural resource management

This project aims to develop a solar powered real-time ambient air quality monitoring system based on low cost commercially available air quality sensors and Long-Range Wide Area Network (LORAWAN) wireless and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. The proposed system will be deployed across CNAQ campus to collect and report real-time data on air pollutants (CO2, CO, O3, SO2, and Particulate Matter (PM)), temperature, and relative humidity. The network will enable the transportation of sensor data securely and seamlessly through gateways and a Network Server to the Cloud data and analytics platform for data storage, visualization, alerts (of odour incidents exceeding a pre-set threshold) and analysis. 

New molecularly imprinted polymer film (MIP-film) will be prepared by in-situ photo-radical polymerization on a substrate and used as a selective adsorbent to remove refractory sulfur compounds such as dibenzothiophene (DBT) from gasoline and diesel. High content levels of sulfur in fuels affect their quality and increase the emissions of hazardous gases such as sulfur dioxide (SOx) gases which contribute significantly to atmospheric pollution and have adverse health effects. Optimization of the MIP films will include the selection of the best templates, functional monomers, crosslinkers, and solvents. Adsorption behavior of the films, including adsorption kinetics, capacity and selectivity, will be investigated. Characterization and analysis of sulfur compounds and the composition of the film will be carried out using UV-Vis spectrometer, FTIR, SEM, EDXRF, and GC-PFPD. Successful MIP-film will be evaluated based on the obtained results and the calculated percentage removal of sulfur from gasoline and diesel. Each undergraduate student will be assigned several tasks to perform and work with. The final drafts and research papers will be prepared by students and reviewed by the primary mentor of the project and other peer reviewers.

The State of Qatar falls geographically in one of the driest regions in the world. Conventional fresh surface water bodies, such as rivers and lakes, are non-existent and for water consumption, Qatar prominently relies on the desalination of seawater. This document presents a proposed project to investigate the viability of extracting water from air humidity. It includes designing a condensation device that will be optimized throughout the project period to maximize water collection from air. The design will also utilize solar energy power source and therefore it could be deployed in regions where electric power sources are limited or not available.

This applied project aims to develop a smart and power efficient wireless charging mechanism for EV’s. The project is divided into two main parts: wireless charger design and autonomous mechanism design. Specifically, in wireless charger design, researchers targeted to achieve a power-efficient wireless charger design through examining the effects of using different coil geometries and sizes, examining coil materials, varying the number of coils turns, and varying the gaps. All such factors can be tuned carefully to reach to most optimal power efficiency.   In autonomous mechanism design, researchers aim to develop an autonomous-based mechanism such that a designed small robotic car, which carries a transmitting plate, reaches exactly to the EV’s receiver’s plate. The robotic car elevates the transmitting plate maximize charging efficiency by reducing the gap. The design also included collision avoidance and obstacle avoidance mechanisms such that if there are preventing obstacles, the robot avoids it and reaches its destination smoothly.

The State of Qatar falls geographically in one of the driest regions in the world. Conventional fresh surface water bodies, such as rivers and lakes, are non-existent and for water consumption, Qatar prominently relies on the desalination of seawater. This document presents a proposed project to investigate the viability of extracting water from air humidity. It includes designing a condensation device that will be optimized throughout the project period to maximize water collection from air. The design will also utilize solar energy power source and therefore it could be deployed in regions where electric power sources are limited or not available.

Air pollution, which causes over seven million deaths per year, is the most significant and specifically related to health impacts. Nearly 90 percent of the urban population worldwide was vulnerable to pollution not meeting the World Health Organization guidelines for air quality. Many atmospheric carbon oxides, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter emitting sources, such as inefficient energy and polluting transportation, directly impact health. Natural gas maritime transport from various parts of the world (carbon supplied to consuming areas) has become more critical. Natural gas liquefaction offers a cleaner and more efficient transportation option and also increases its storage capacity. It is expected that natural gas has reduced the human health impact compared with other traditional fuels consumed. This research establishes a life cycle assessment model of air emission and social human health impact related to LNG maritime transport to investigate the impact of each type of fuel used for the numerous maritime carriers. In order to build a model for air emissions and social human health impact assessments based on hypotheses on various unknown criteria, a calculation model is used. The results revealed Conventional-2 fuel type as the lowest human health impact for annual mode calculations, followed by Conventional-1, Q-Max, and finally Q-Flex. The analysis method for the per year demonstrated discrepancies in the relative human health impact due to the variation of the annual LNG demand by each destination and not only per the trip needs. The results show the importance of using a relatively cleaner fuel type like Conventional-2 in reducing the health impact of LNG maritime transportation. Moreover, it shows how the difference in the air emissions as well as the human health impact based on the destination’s location and annual LNG demand.

Global interest in LNG products and supply chains is growing, and demand continues to rise. As a clean energy source, LNG can nevertheless emit air pollutants, albeit at a lower level than transitional energy sources. An LNG plant capable of producing up to 126 MMTA was success-fully developed and simulated in this study. A hybrid life cycle assessment model was developed to examine the social human health impact of the LNG supply chain's environmental air emission formation. The Multiregional Input-Output (MRIO) database, the Aspen HYSYS model, and the LNG Maritime Transportation Emission Quantification Tool are the key sources of information for this extensive novel study. The research's findings began by grouping environmental emissions sources according to the participation of each stage in the supply chain. The MDEA Sweetening plant, LNG loading (export terminal), and LNG transportation stages were discovered to have the maximum air emissions. The midpoint air emissions data estimated each stage's CO2-eq, NOx-eq, and PM2.5-eq emissions per unit LNG generated. According to the midpoint analysis results, the LNG loading terminal has the most considerable normalized CO2-eq and NOx-eq emission con-tribution across all LNG supply chain stages. Furthermore, the most incredible intensity value for normalized PM2.5-eq was recorded in the SRU and TGTU units. Following the midpoint results, the social human health impact findings were calculated using ReCiPe 2016 characterization variables to quantify the daily loss of life associated with the LNG process chain. SRU and TGT units have the most significant social human health impact, followed by LNG loading (export terminal) with about 7,409.0 and 1,203.9 (DALY / million Ton LNG produced annually), respectively. Natural gas extraction and NGL recovery and fractionation units are the lowest for social human health consequences.

Chemical encapsulation is one of the important methods for manufacturing micro-nano-capsules of various core active substances. The conventional thermal method requires a batch microencapsulation for 6 hours at 80oC. Also, this method is not suitable for volatile or heat sensitive active materials.  A revolution innovative patentable method was developed. Monomers’ conversion of more than 90% can be achieved in 5 minutes or less using the new designed UV-LED photochemical stirrer reactor. The encapsulation efficiency can be up to 95.9% with PCM efficiency of 100%.  These results can be considered as a breakthrough and revolution in the field of photochemical micro- and nano-encapsulation.  This method leads to reduce significantly the amount of wastewater as well as the wasted monomers, and not losing any expensive PCM (active substance).

Commercial computer programs such as Aspen-HYSYS or Chemcad software were used by students to investigate and study compression refrigeration systems. Students investigated all possible modifications that may increase the refrigeration efficiency and reduce energy consumption.  The optimum alternative refrigeration system should be checked for meeting sustainability requirements and all international standards, codes and regulations. The humidity of the air during summer season in Qatar is a major reason for a high peak electricity consumption due to a significant additional energy used by air conditioners for condensing the water vapor in the humid air.

This research is aimed to establish new lab facilities containing modifiable prototypes and kits for teaching and research purposes in the field of electrochemical devices.  Students prepared one modifiable prototype for determination of oxygen concentration in a gas mixture, and many prototypes for air-metal batteries. These modifiable prototypes enable student to investigate different alternatives, and work on developing commercially electrochemical devices .  The long-term goal is to develop novel smart devices used in detection and measurement of concentration of a selected chemical component in health, agricultural, medical, pharmaceutical and most of other industrial applications. 

Chemical encapsulation is one of the important methods for manufacturing micro-nano-capsules of various core active substances. The conventional thermal method requires a batch microencapsulation for 6 hours at 80oC. Also, this method is not suitable for volatile or heat sensitive active materials.  A revolution innovative patentable method was developed. Monomers’ conversion of more than 90% can be achieved in 5 minutes or less using the new designed UV-LED photochemical stirrer reactor. The encapsulation efficiency can be up to 95.9% with PCM efficiency of 100%.  These results can be considered as a breakthrough and revolution in the field of photochemical micro- and nano-encapsulation.  This method leads to reduce significantly the amount of wastewater as well as the wasted monomers, and not losing any expensive PCM (active substance).

A cost-effective mercury-free low temperature photo-microencapsulation method was invented in this project. The global market size for microencapsulation of materials including  thermosensitive ones  was USD 5.54 billion in 2015, and might reach USD 17.94 billion by 2025 in diverse range of applications from household chemicals,  to medicals, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, agricultural chemicals, food industries, smart textiles, printing, petroleum industry and others. Microcapsules phase change materials (PCMs), can be used for thermal energy storage and for saving energy in cooling and heating applications. Using PCM submicro-capsules in an aqueous slurry as a heat exchange medium might be realized in the future.

One of the most urgent challenge in the 21st century is the eco-friendly and cost-effective electricity storage required for the emerging and established technologies; particularly the modernized market needs for energy storage in portable electronics, large-scale stationary grid and vehicle applications. eco-friendly metal-Air Batteries (MABs) are selected as a promising technology for automobiles and grid-scale applications.  This is due to their fast-charging, light weight, compact and a high energy density compared to Li-ion batteries. Different electrode materials, different nanoparticle catalysts, and different electrolytes with different concentrations will be selected, investigated and tested for cost-effective, high-performance and eco-friendly metal air batteries

Energy used in air conditioning is estimated to be up to 70% of the total electricity consumption in Qatar as reported by Kahramaa. By end of year 2022, new regulations of Tarsheed law are set to reduce the electricity consumption per capita by 6%, water by 10% and carbon footprint by 7%. Integration of a desiccant wheel based on our invented design with air conditioners leads to reduce the dewpoint of the indoor air by more than  6oC.  This leads to saving electricity in air conditioners by 31 % of the total cooling demand energy.

Agri-food production is essential for achieving sustainable food security, which is a critical issue in Qatar because of the dependence of the country on the import of most needed food. There are many challenges faces Qatari farmers such as the lack for natural water, suitable quality potting soil and arable land, in addition to the harsh dominant weather as hot, humid and dusty conditions. Maximizing water saving and using the most cost-efficient cooling technology for conditioning and engineering an indoor greenhouse are ideal solutions for growing desired crop at a low cost during hot summer seasons in Qatar.

In Qatar, a large part of electricity is used for indoor lighting during daytime.  In this research, it was possible to collect and focus sunlight on optic-fiber cables that transfer the light to indoor rooms, buildings and stores.  Using fiber-optic lightning can reduce the electricity consumption required for indoor lighting. The benefits of fiber-optic lightning are numerous; including higher sales in stores, improved moods, more productive employees, and less draining of the electrical grid (reducing demand lowers the risk of overload on the grid during hot weather). Technical feasibility and economy prospect of bringing this technology to Qatar were investigated.