Search results for: Fatemah Alzubairi
6 The Utility and the Consequences of Counter Terrorism Financing
Authors: Fatemah Alzubairi
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Terrorism financing is a theme that dramatically evolved post-9/11. Supra-national bodies, above all UN Security Council and the Financial Action Task Form (FATF), have established an executive-like mechanism, which allows blacklisting individuals and groups, freezing their funds, and restricting their travel, all of which have become part of states’ anti-terrorism frameworks. A number of problems arise from building counter-terrorism measures on the foundation of a vague definition of terrorism. This paper examines the utility and consequences of counter-terrorism financing with considering the lack of an international definition of terrorism. The main problem with national and international anti-terrorism legislation is the lack of a clear objective definition of terrorism. Most, if not all, national laws are broad and vague. Determining what terrorism remains the crucial underpinning of any successful discussion of counter-terrorism, and of the future success of counter-terrorist measures. This paper focuses on the legal and political consequences of equalizing the treatment of violent terrorist crimes, such as bombing, with non-violent terrorism-related crimes, such as funding terrorist groups. While both sorts of acts requires criminalization, treating them equally risks wrongfully or unfairly condemning innocent people who have associated with “terrorists” but are not involved in terrorist activities. This paper examines whether global obligations to counter terrorism financing focus on controlling terrorist groups more than terrorist activities. It also examines the utility of the obligations adopted by the UN Security Council and FATF, and whether they serve global security; or whether the utility is largely restricted to Western security, with little attention paid to the unique needs and demands of other regions.Keywords: counter-terrorism, definition of terrorism, FATF, security, terrorism financing, UN Security Council
Procedia PDF Downloads 3245 Design of Residential Geothermal Cooling System in Kuwait
Authors: Tebah KH A AlFouzan, Meznah Dahlous Ali Alkreebani, Fatemah Salem Dekheel Alrasheedi, Hanadi Bandar Rughayan AlNomas, Muneerah Mohammad Sulaiman ALOjairi
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Article spotlights the heat transfer process based beneath the earth’s surface. The process starts by exchanging the heat found in the building as fluid in the pipes absorbs it, then transports it down the soil consuming cool temperature exchange, recirculating, and rebounding to deliver cool air. This system is a renewable energy that is reliable and sustainable. The analysis showed the disposal of fossil fuels, energy preservation, 400% efficiency, long lifespan, and lower maintenance. Investigation displays the system’s types of design, whether open or closed loop and piping layout. Finally, the geothermal cooling study presents the challenges of creating a prototype in Kuwait, as constraints are applicable due to geography.Keywords: cooling system, engineering, geothermal cooling, natural ventilation, renewable energy
Procedia PDF Downloads 874 Monitoring and Evaluation of the Reverse Osmosis Reject Wastewater from the Sulaibiya Wastewater Treatment Plant in Kuwait
Authors: Mishari Khajah, Mohd. Elmuntasir Ahmed, Abdullah Al-Matouq, Farah Al-Ajeel, Fatemah Dashti, Ahmed Shishter
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The overall aim of this study was to monitor and evaluate the effluent quality of a reverse osmosis (RO) reject wastewater from the biggest wastewater treatment plant in the world that is using RO and ultrafiltration membranes in their processes to reclaim water for indirect potable water reuse from municipal wastewaters. The RO reject wastewater or brine included various contaminants that could harm the human health and the environment such as trace organics, organic matters, heavy metals, nutrients and pathogens. Unfortunately, there are no legally binding regulatory guidelines for brine management in Kuwait as many countries around the world. This study monitors and evaluate the RO reject wastewater (brine) generated from the Sulaibiya Wastewater Treatment Plant. Samples were collected and analyzed about 37 parameters for one-year period, twice a month, and compare it to Kuwait Environment Public Authority, KEPA. Results showed that the heavy metals parameters were above KEPA standards, which needs to be treated.Keywords: domestic wastewater, management, potable water, RO reject wastewater, Sulaibiya wastewater treatment plant
Procedia PDF Downloads 963 A Bivariate Inverse Generalized Exponential Distribution and Its Applications in Dependent Competing Risks Model
Authors: Fatemah A. Alqallaf, Debasis Kundu
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The aim of this paper is to introduce a bivariate inverse generalized exponential distribution which has a singular component. The proposed bivariate distribution can be used when the marginals have heavy-tailed distributions, and they have non-monotone hazard functions. Due to the presence of the singular component, it can be used quite effectively when there are ties in the data. Since it has four parameters, it is a very flexible bivariate distribution, and it can be used quite effectively for analyzing various bivariate data sets. Several dependency properties and dependency measures have been obtained. The maximum likelihood estimators cannot be obtained in closed form, and it involves solving a four-dimensional optimization problem. To avoid that, we have proposed to use an EM algorithm, and it involves solving only one non-linear equation at each `E'-step. Hence, the implementation of the proposed EM algorithm is very straight forward in practice. Extensive simulation experiments and the analysis of one data set have been performed. We have observed that the proposed bivariate inverse generalized exponential distribution can be used for modeling dependent competing risks data. One data set has been analyzed to show the effectiveness of the proposed model.Keywords: Block and Basu bivariate distributions, competing risks, EM algorithm, Marshall-Olkin bivariate exponential distribution, maximum likelihood estimators
Procedia PDF Downloads 1432 Patient Service Improvement in Public Emergency Department Using Discrete Event Simulation
Authors: Dana Mohammed, Fatemah Abdullah, Hawraa Ali, Najat Al-Shaer, Rawan Al-Awadhi, , Magdy Helal
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We study the patient service performance at the emergency department of a major Kuwaiti public hospital, using discrete simulation and lean concepts. In addition to the common problems in such health care systems (over crowdedness, facilities planning and usage, scheduling and staffing, capacity planning) the emergency department suffered from several cultural and patient behavioural issues. Those contributed significantly to the system problems and constituted major obstacles in maintaining the performance in control. This led to overly long waiting times and the potential of delaying providing help to critical cases. We utilized the visual management tools to mitigate the impact of the patients’ behaviours and attitudes and improve the logistics inside the system. In addition a proposal is made to automate the date collection and communication within the department using RFID-based barcoding system. Discrete event simulation models were developed as decision support systems; to study the operational problems and assess achieved improvements. The simulation analysis resulted in cutting the patient delays to about 35% of their current values by reallocating and rescheduling the medical staff. Combined with the application of the visual management concepts, this provided the basis to improving patient service without any major investments.Keywords: simulation, visual management, health care system, patient
Procedia PDF Downloads 4761 Assessment of the Environmental Compliance at the Jurassic Production Facilities towards HSE MS Procedures and Kuwait Environment Public Authority Regulations
Authors: Fatemah Al-Baroud, Sudharani Shreenivas Kshatriya
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Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is one of the companies for gas & oil production in Kuwait. The oil and gas industry is truly global; with operations conducted in every corner of the globe, the global community will rely heavily on oil and gas supplies. KOC has made many commitments to protect all due to KOC’s operations and operational releases. As per KOC’s strategy, the substantial increase in production activities will bring many challenges in managing various environmental hazards and stresses in the company. In order to handle those environmental challenges, the need of implementing effectively the health, safety, and environmental management system (HSEMS) is significant. And by implementing the HSEMS system properly, the environmental aspects of the activities, products, and services were identified, evaluated, and controlled in order to (i) Comply with local regulatory and other obligatory requirements; (ii) Comply with company policy and business requirements; and (iii) Reduce adverse environmental impact, including adverse impact to company reputation. Assessments for the Jurassic Production Facilities are being carried out as a part of the KOC HSEMS procedural requirement and monitoring the implementation of the relevant HSEMS procedures in the facilities. The assessments have been done by conducting series of theme audits using KOC’s audit protocol at JPFs. The objectives of the audits are to evaluate the compliance of the facilities towards the implementation of environmental procedures and the status of the KEPA requirement at all JPFs. The list of the facilities that were covered during the theme audit program are the following: (1) Jurassic Production Facility (JPF) – Sabriya (2) Jurassic Production Facility (JPF) – East Raudhatian (3) Jurassic Production Facility (JPF) – West Raudhatian (4)Early Production Facility (EPF 50). The auditing process comprehensively focuses on the application of KOC HSE MS procedures at JPFs and their ability to reduce the resultant negative impacts on the environment from the operations. Number of findings and observations were noted and highlighted in the audit reports and sent to all concerned controlling teams. The results of these audits indicated that the facilities, in general view, were in line with KOC HSE Procedures, and there were commitments in documenting all the HSE issues in the right records and plans. Further, implemented several control measures at JPFs that minimized/reduced the environmental impact, such as SRU were installed for sulphur recovery. Future scope and monitoring audit after a sufficient period of time will be carried out in conjunction with the controlling teams in order to verify the current status of the recommendations and evaluate the contractors' performance towards the required actions in preserving the environment.Keywords: assessment of the environmental compliance, environmental and social impact assessment, kuwait environment public authority regulations, health, safety and environment management procedures, jurassic production facilities
Procedia PDF Downloads 187