A flash flood is the most common natural hazard that endangers people’s lives, the economy, and infrastructure. Watershed management and planning are essential for reducing flood damages, particularly in residential areas, and mapping flash flood-sensitive zones. Flash flooding is an interface dynamic between geoterrain system factors such as geology, geomorphology, soil, drainage density, slope, and flood, rather than only water movement from higher to lower elevation. Consequently, the vulnerability to flash floods necessitates an awareness of and mapping topographical features. A flash flood vulnerable zones (FFVZ) map is essential for thorough flash flood risk assessment and management to minimize its detrimental effects, particularly in residential areas, especially in cities like Fujairah with seven wadis flowing into the city and even though it has two main dams and fifteen breaker dams. So, in this work, eight satellite image-derived parameters rainfall, elevation, slope, land use/land cover (LULC), drainage density, geology, geomorphology, and soil were combined to predict the flash flood-vulnerable zones using a weighted overlay technique based on geographic information systems (GIS). Each element of the thematic maps is ranked and weighted according to how vulnerable it is to flash floods in the study area, with 55 km² being classified as a very highly vulnerable area, 78 km² as a high-risk area, 9.3 km² as a moderate risk area, 70 km² as a low vulnerable area, and 257 km² as a very low vulnerable area. In addition, places with a very high vulnerability level include the Fujairah Airport, Fujairah Port, some residential neighborhoods in the city’s center, oil storage areas, two hospitals, and universities. Additionally, from 1990 to the present, Landsat and Sentinel 2 data showed consistent changes in vegetation and built-up areas. Therefore, in addition to helping policy and decision-makers make the best choices about the efficacy of the study area’s protective structures against the risk of flash floods in the future, the results can also be a valuable source of information.

The introduction of exotic plant species in the UAE poses substantial environmental challenges. Both poorly and well-adapted species can be detrimental to the local ecosystem by outcompeting native species and disrupting ecosystems. Native plants play a critical role in maintaining the ecological balance of any region. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), native plants face significant threats due to habitat loss, climate change, and invasive species. Despite their ecological importance and potential benefits, a comprehensive and accessible database of native plant species for the UAE is currently lacking. Our review paper aims to address this gap by presenting an in-depth analysis of the native plants in Fujairah and the UAE. Our work covers almost all the native plants reported to date, which have been verified and added to our database. We provide valuable insights into the type, nature, physiology, habitat types, and other key aspects of these native plants. By presenting this information in a comprehensive and accessible manner, we hope to facilitate efforts toward biodiversity conservation and sustainable ecosystem management in the UAE. To address this issue, we have developed UAE Flora: The Native Plants Database of Emirates. This Web-based, virtual database contains over 760 plants identified from more than 400 published articles, online resources, and books from national and international authors. Each entry in UAE Flora includes over 50 data fields representing various ecological, biological, and pharmacological properties that have been manually extracted from the literature. This review paper will serve as a valuable resource for researchers, policymakers, and the public interested in promoting the conservation of native plants in the UAE. Flora will serve as a plant data repository that is the first of its kind in the United Arab Emirates.

Blockchain technology has increasingly drawn the attention of governments seeking to modernize public services through transparent, secure, and efficient digital infrastructures. Drawing on case studies from diverse regions, including the UAE, Estonia, Georgia, Colombia, and multiple Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations, this systematic review synthesizes implementation patterns across domains such as land administration, digital identity, procurement, and intergovernmental payments. The critical analysis highlights blockchain’s capacity to establish tamper-evident records, automate verification, and reduce administrative overhead while also addressing technical and institutional factors that shape its impact. Outcomes across successful deployments suggest that benefits are most pronounced when blockchain aligns with real governance needs and is supported by robust legal and digital infrastructure. This review also identifies key barriers to adoption, including interoperability challenges, regulatory uncertainty, limited technical capacity, and resistance to organizational change. Notably, this review highlights a critical but underexplored dimension involving the need for public accountability not only in service delivery but also in the governance of blockchain systems themselves. By examining real-world use cases alongside technical and policy frameworks, this review advances a deeper understanding of blockchain’s role in reshaping public administration and sets a research agenda for building more trusted, auditable, and inclusive digital government systems.

Honey is globally recognized for its substantial nutritional and therapeutic properties. However, its high market value makes it susceptible to counterfeiting, negatively impacting consumers and beekeepers. This paper presents a blockchain-based framework to monitor the honey trade supply chain, ensuring authenticity. The framework employs an oracle component to verify honey quality and origin using IoT data. Additionally, it integrates fungible and non-fungible tokens to track honey batches. The study evaluates the economic feasibility of this approach, demonstrating that the cost of performing a trade is less than USD 1, with the oracle component achieving an average accuracy rate of 90% in detecting falsified sensor data.

Selecting highly nutritive fodder plants in arid regions can be a key to improving the livestock productivity. This work explores the variation in nutritive value of the leaves, stem, and shoots of five potential fodder plants of the Emirates of Fujairah, Erucaria hispanica, Haplophyllum tuberculatum, Convolvulus virgatus, Teucrium stocksianum, and Cleome Ibrachycarpa. influenced by two weather conditions, winter and spring. The plant samples underwent mineral composition, proximate, phytochemical, and heavy metals and two-way ANOVA. Weather data were accessed from National Center of Meteorology (NCM). Our findings reveal significant influences of collection time and species on nutritive content. Shoots collected in March exhibited higher ash (6.167%), crude protein (11.9%), crude fiber (14.89%), dry matter (45.86%), and total digestive nutrients (TDS) (48.35%), with lower tannin (5.11%) compared to January. Conversely, January-collected shoots had greater total sugar content (1.28 g/100 g). Plant organs played a crucial role, with leaves surpassing stems in Mg, P, Ca, K, Na, Mn, Zn, and Ni. Leaves also showed higher crude protein (23.33%), dry matter (92.26%), total ash (4.8%), and TDS (87.58%) compared to stems, while stems exhibited elevated crude fiber (17.45%) and tannin (4.53%). There is a need to assess the bioactive compounds found in these fodder species for the enhancement its effective use and maximize browsing of these species.

Henna (Lawsonia inermis) is a versatile that has been highly regarded for centuries due to its cultural and medicinal significance. Henna boasts a rich array of phytochemicals, each contributing to its numerous therapeutic benefits. This study provided a comprehensive assessment of the henna plant and aimed to explore the potential of phytochemicals as candidates for drug development through various analyses including nutritional and mineral composition, antimicrobial activity, docking analysis, and theoretical ADMET (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion and Toxicity), toxicity, and druglikeness evaluation. The 2 plants Samples collected from 2 different locations in Fujairah emirate exhibited significant amount of Potassium, Magnesium, and calcium, making them a valuable source of essential minerals. The nutritional and mineral content of the sample was measured using international standard methods (Association of Official Analytical Chemists; AOAC 2001.11, AOAC 920.39, AOAC 962.29, and AOAC 942.05). Antimicrobial assessment done by disc diffusion method revealed potent antibacterial activity against Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus with inhibition of 30-32 mm and 15-20 mm, respectively, Similarly, it shows antifungal activity against Aspergillus flavus and Candida albicans with inhibition of 9-10 mm and 11-12 mm, respectively. Docking analysis provided insights into the interactions between henna phytochemicals and AcuA protein which elucidate the higher interactions of Agrimonolide-6-O-glucopyranoside with binding pocket and surrounding residues with highest binding energy. Similarly, theoretical ADMET, toxicity, and drug likeness analysis highlighted Agrimonolide-6-O-glucopyranoside as a promising compound for drug development as well. These findings hold promise for henna plant and Agrimonolide-6-O- glucopyranoside’s potential use as a natural alternative to conventional antimicrobial agents. However, additional studies are needed to assess the safety, efficacy, and potential mechanisms of action of these phytochemicals in the henna plant extract.